CZ Guest obituary

**Larry Maxcy l*@earthlink.net**

From the Los Angeles Times Nov. 10, 2003

OBITUARIES

C.Z. Guest, 83; Fashionable Socialite, Gardening Expert
 From Staff and Wire Reports

November 10, 2003

C.Z. Guest, New York society maven and expert on horticulture who
likened her garden to "a good and loyal friend," has died. She was 83.

Guest died Saturday of natural causes at her home in Old Westbury, N.Y.

Born in Boston to a wealthy investment banker, the former Lucy Douglas
Cochrane adapted her name "C.Z." from the nickname "Sissy" given her by
a brother.

She became interested in plants as a child, following the family
gardener around her parents' estate. Her gardening-centered writing
career began late in life when she was recovering from a riding accident
in 1976 and advised friends in lengthy telephone conversations about
everything from landscaping to planting tomato seeds.

The snippets of advice soon prompted her first book, "First Garden,"
which boasted an introduction by her friend Truman Capote and
illustrations by another close friend, Cecil Beaton.

By 1978, Guest was writing a gardening column for the New York Post,
which grew into a feature syndicated to some 350 newspapers across the
country.

The gardener's other books included one for children titled "Tiny Green
Thumbs."

Known for her cool blond, blue-eyed beauty and understated elegance, the
1937 debutante was a natural for the best-dressed list of the New York
Dress Institute. Wearing designs by Mainbocher, Givenchy and Adolfo, she
was on the list for several years in the 1950s until she was made
ineligible by her elevation to the Fashion Hall of Fame.

The eclectic philanthropist to such charities as the March of Dimes and
hostess to such celebrities as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor also
designed a fashion collection — principally cashmere sweaters — in 1985.
In 1990 she marketed garden products, including a fragrant insect
repellent spray.

Guest was equally at ease in jodhpurs while riding her horses, formally
gowned at a charity ball, or in sensible shoes walking the grounds of
her Long Island estate, hounds at her side. She thoroughly enjoyed
working with spades and trowels in her own gardens, whether she was
tending orchids or vegetables.

In her youth, Guest dabbled in acting after her selection as the glamour
girl of the Massachusetts North Shore in 1939. She appeared in a 1943
revue in Boston and in a 1944 Broadway revival of the Ziegfeld Follies.
She also studied at 20th Century Fox's studio school in Hollywood, but
never appeared in a movie.

During that period, the ingenue visited Mexico, where artist Diego
Rivera painted her nude. In 1947, when she married Winston Frederick
Churchill Guest, a second cousin of Winston Churchill, her fiance's
family reportedly bought the painting, which had been on display in a
Mexico City bar.

The couple also owned racing stables. Guest supervised the stables in
Middleburg, Va., and her husband, an international polo star, was in
charge of the stables in France. She personally exercised her horses
most mornings and for several years competed in major horse shows.

In 1962, Time magazine featured Guest on its cover as the model of horsy
American high society.

In 1984, she was named commissioner general of the American garden
exhibit of the International Garden Festival in Liverpool, England, a
memorial to those who died in World War II.

Guest, who was widowed in 1982, is survived by her son, Alexander, her
daughter, Cornelia; two stepsons, Winston and Frederick, and three
grandchildren.

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