Museum of Garden History Gertrude Jekyll room

Miss Gertrude Jekyll, Garden designer and prolific writer on gardens and gardening (photographed left in 1923 - courtesy J.B.Tankard). Her name is much associated with the development of herbaceous borders, arranged and grouped in individual colours (i.e. 'gold' borders composed entirely of material in various shades of yellow and orange). Miss Jekyll worked extensively with Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect. Her work may be seen in gardens throughout the British Isles and in North America. Many of the designs, since planted over and lost, are now being restored. Having been advised to give up embroidery and paint on account of her poor eyesight, she turned her efforts fully to plants and gardens. Her work with Lutyens consisted mainly of country houses and gardens in which they elaborated ideas developed from vernacular art and materials matched with plants, beautifully orchestrated in colour and texture.
Jekyll's influence is still strong, fuelled by her powerfully evocative writing in such books as Wood and Garden, Old West Surrey, and Colour in the Flower Garden. Examples of her gardens such as Hestercombe (Somerset) and Upton Grey (Hampshire) have been restored, as have parts of her own much-loved garden at Munstead Wood in Surrey (photographed below in 1916). A substantial collection of her drawings, plans and original photographs is lodged with the Reef Point Gardens Collection (University of California, Berkeley).

The Museum has a small collection of memorabilia associated with Miss Jekyll which includes:

Jehu Driving Furiously : An oil painted by Jekyll in 1865 illustrating a biblical text and remarked upon by Ruskin.

- Munstead Wood potting shed desk made to Gertrude Jekyll's own design and purchased from the sale at Munstead Wood in 1947.

- Plan for Sir Henry and Lady Wood's garden at Chorley Wood, Hertfordshire c.1920 (above).

Above left : her gardening diary for 1928. Right : Invoice for plants to Mrs Redhead., 1914. Gertrude Jekyll would often send clients a detailed planting plan together with the plants from the nursery at Munstead Wood.

- Zinc plant labels annotated by Miss Jekyll and found in a bucket retrieved from a dried up pond in the garden of Pasture Wood House.

Above left : These miniature flowers were made for Queen Mary's Doll's House by Beatrice Hindley in the 1920s. The Doll's House was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and had gardens by Miss Jekyll. Centre : Jekyll's hatpin. Right : a monogrammed keyring

The catalogue of an exhibition 'Gertrude Jekyll - A Celebration', held at the Museum in 1993 is available from the Museum shop.

1885 - Learns the art of photography
         
1889 - First meeting with Edwin Lutyens

1891 - Consults eye specialist      
  
1894 - Moves to 'The Hut'                                                    Godalming banner by Gertrude Jekyll
                                                                                        
1895 - Death of her mother

1896 - Writes 'Notes from Garden to Woodland' series for The Guardian

1897-  Receives the Victoria Medal of Honour from the Royal Horticultural Society 
          Moves into Munstead Wood

1898 - Goddards designed

1900 - Home and Garden published
          Appointed Country Life gardens advisor
          Begins editing The Garden with E. T. Cook

1901 - Lilies for English Gardens and Wall and Water Gardens published

1902 - Roses for English Gardens published

1903 - Lindisfarne Castle designed

1904 - Old West Surrey and Some English Gardens published
          Hestercombe designed

1906 - Death of her friend the artist Hercules Brabazon

1907 - Flower Decoration in the House published

1908 - Colour in the Flower Garden and Children and Gardens published
          The Manor House, Upton Grey designed

1912 - Gardens for Small Country Houses published
          Phillips Memorial designed

1916 - Annuals and Biennials published

1917 - Barrington Court designed

1919 - Articles in the Garden Club of America's Bulletin

1918 - Garden Ornament published                                               Jekyll's bag and umbrella

1920 - William Nicholson paints her portrait & gardening boots                

1925 - Old English Household Life published

1932 - Death of Gertrude Jekyll, 8th December 1932






SOME GERTRUDE JEKYLL GARDENS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Amport House, Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre, Amport, Andover, Hampshire SP11
(Open by appointment only - apply in writing)
Little-known garden resulting from a Lutyens/Jekyll partnership with fine water gardens and
rills.

Barrington Court, Ilminster, Somerset (National Trust - 01460 241 938)
Planting planned by Jekyll in 1917 for the Lyle family.  The garden has developed but the
sunken Lily Garden remains close to her original scheme.
 
Folly Farm, Sulhamstead, near Reading, Berkshire (Open by appointment: 01635 841 541)
Outstanding example of Jekyll/Lutyens partnership linking the house to the garden with
fine architectural details. Although no longer planted to Jekyll's plan, the garden retains
the spirit of her ideas.

Godalming Museum, 109a High Street, Godalming, Surrey (01483 426 510)
Features borders to her designs for cottage gardens at Millmead and a summerhouse by
Lutyens.  The Museum houses an important collection of Jekyll artefacts and copies of 
her garden plans/records

Goddards, Abinger Common, Dorking, Surrey (The Landmark Trust - open by
appointment: 01306 730 871)
A Lutyens house from 1898 and Jekyll assisted with the garden structure and planting - 
most of which has been restored authentically.

Hatchlands, East Clandon, Guildford, Surrey (National Trust - 01483 222 482)
Jekyll's 1914 plan for the south parterre has been meticulously recreated with herbaceous
plants and roses.

Hestercombe, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton, Somerset (Somerset County Council:
01823 413 923)
Another good partnership between Lutyens and Jekyll, fine achitectural detailing in rills,
pergola and orangery.  Restored Jekyll planting - the Formal Garden being the most recent 
area to be recreated.

Knebworth House, Nr Stevenage, Hertfordshire (01438 812 661)
A Lutyens designed garden c.1900 with unique quincux patterned herb garden by Jekyll
designed in 1907, but not planted until 1982.

Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberland (National Trust)
Small walled flower and herb garden restored to Jekyll's plans but detached from the rebuilt
Lutyens castle.

The Manor House, Upton Grey, Basingstoke, Hampshire (01256 862 827)
Fine example of a domestic-scale Jekyll garden lovingly restored to her 1908 plans by the
owner Mrs Ros Wallinger since 1986.

Munstead Wood, Heath Lane, Busbridge, Godalming, Surrey (Open several days a year
and by appointment: 01483 417 867)
Gertrude Jekyll's own garden begun in 1883 to complement the house designed by Lutyens
and restored to her original plans.

Phillips Memorial, Godalming, Surrey (Waverley District Council)
Situated near the church and river the memorial garden restored and replanted to Jekyll's
original plan.

Vann, Hambledon, Godalming, Surrey (Open several days a year and by appointment:
01428 683 413)
Has a woodland water garden designed with advice from Jekyll in 1911, who supplied the
plants.







PHOTOGRAPHS BY GERTRUDE JEKYLL

Although with self-effacing modesty she decribed her photographs as requiring 'want of technical 
ability', she had an excellent eye and produced most of the images for her books, recording many
aspects of the plants and garden at Munstead Wood, local craftsmen and the venacular 
architecture of Surrey. The images below illustrate 'Wood and Water', first published in 1899.


Above left : Pens for storing dead leaves: 'Oak-leaves are best, then hazel, elm, and Spanish  
Chestnut....slowly rotting into wholesome plant-food.'  Above right :  The Woodman: 'It is 
good to watch  a clever woodman and see how much he can do with his simple tools, and how 
easily one man alone can deal with heavy pieces of timber.



Above left : Holly stems in an old Hedge-row: 'The trunk of an old Holly has a smooth pale-grey 
bark, and sometimes a slight twist, that makes it look like the gigantic bone of some old-world 
monster.'  Above right : Grubbing a Tree-stump. 'Stam is  the word always used by the men 
for any stump of a tree left in the ground.' 



Above left : Free Cluster-Rose as standard in a Cottage Garden. 'I have also learnt from cottage 
gardens how pretty are some of the old roses grown as standards. The picture is of my 
neighbour, Mrs Edgeler, picking me a bunch from her bush.'  Above right :  Hollyhock, Pink 
Beauty. 'The wide outer petal (a heresy to the florist) makes the flower infinitely more  beautiful 
than the all-over full-double form that alone is esteemed on the show-table.' 



Above left : Jack, her 'handsome' donkey waiting outside the studio door, while his cart-load 
of logs for the ingle fire is being unloaded. Centre : The Giant Lily (Lilium giganteum), the 
blooming of which she described as 'one of the great flower events of the year.' 
Above right :  Pathway across the South Border in July. 'A path cuts through the border...I 
thought it would be well to...plant groups of Yuccas...to make a handsome full-stop...and glorify 
the doorway.'

Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932)