A ROSE FOR A GARDENER: Madison Cox is about to join the select circle of winners of Italy’s Rosa d’Oro, or Golden Rose, Prize.

The president of the Fondation Pierre Bergé — Yves Saint Laurent in Paris and of the Fondation Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech is scheduled to receive the award at a ceremony in Palermo, Italy, on May 17, the foundations said in a joint statement on Monday.

The recipient of the prize, established in 1984 by publishing house Novecento, is traditionally chosen by the winner of the previous edition. Cox was designated by the Italian editor and publisher Roberto Calasso in recognition for his decades-long work as a garden designer and his work to preserve Saint Laurent’s legacy.

Cox follows in the footsteps of luminaries such as Jorge Luis Borges, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Pierre Boulez, I.M. Pei, David Hockney and Saint Laurent himself, who won the 2001 edition. The couturier retired in 2002 and died in 2008, leaving behind thousands of drawings and pieces of clothing.

The Majorelle Garden in Marrakech. 
Fred Leloup

Until he tied the knot with Bergé, Saint Laurent’s longtime companion and business partner, Cox was best known as a gifted — though ultradiscreet — garden designer with a list of clients including Marella Agnelli, Michael Bloomberg and Sting.

In 1997, he was the first American to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, where he won a silver-gilt medal. He has written several books including “Private Gardens of Paris,” “Artists’ Gardens: From Claude Monet to Jennifer Bartlett” and “Majorelle: A Moroccan Oasis.”

Following Bergé’s death in 2017, Cox took over the responsibility of preserving the legacy of fashion’s most famous power couple.

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