C.Z. Guest, 83; Fashionable Socialite, Gardening Expert

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.