#10-'The Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll', by Richard Bisgrove
#10 was "The Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll', by Richard Bisgrove, which I read because I'd seen her name mentioned several times in the William Morris Arts & Crafts title I read last year and was curious. How do you make a garden "Arts and Crafts"?
The answer in part, at least as Jekyll did it, is to study Turner paintings in the Metropolitan Museum and make copies of them herself in order to understand his use of color better. To travel extensively and thoroughly learn about the local flora's habitats and growing tendencies; and then to send samples home to her own garden for cultivation before using them in her commissions. And to have a good working knowledge of architectural design so that she could work closely with various architects, using her landscaping to enhance the house and buildings-her longstanding friendship and collaboration with Edwin Luytens being a great example of this.
I was amazed by the variety of flowering plants, shrubs, trees, vines, etc, that she used in her designs, most of which I've never heard before. Jekyll used native plants as much as possible, and all stages of their growth were taken into account for her designs-from new planting to buding blossom to autumnal foliage and bare leaves, she layered the plants so that there was something interesting to look at year round. The color of the leaves mattered as much as the flowers, and the plants usually bloomed in waves.
The designs in her own hand-writing are interesting, very detailed, and there's some *beautiful* photos in this book. I was reading it at lunch one day and a man passed by, did a double take, and said, "Oh, I thought you were looking at an art book-that looks just like a Monet or somebody!" I laughed and showed him the book, and said he was very close. Her gardens *do* look like paintings with plants.
Someone who is actually a landscaper would follow this better than I did. But I enjoyed it very much, the writer did a great job in conveying Jekyll's expertise and was very enthusiastic about the topic. I long for a garden of my own now!
I'm amused to note that I have some books about her architect friend Edwin Luytens already on my amazon list, because I kept running across *his* name in the Morris book, too...one good read leading to another.