Gardening with Galligan: Grande dames of gardening

The two grande dames that come to mind immediately are Gertrude Jekyll and Edith Wharton.

Gertrude Jekyll was born in London in 1843. Her father was an officer in the Grenadier Guards and her younger brother was a close friend of Robert Louis Stevenson — so close that Stevenson felt free to borrow the family’s last name for his famous story, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

When Jekyll was five, her family moved to Surrey, 30 miles south of London, to a house with a large garden where she spent her formative years, surrounded by a countryside of pinewoods, heath, heather and ponds. Her father had retired at a young age due to poor health and she spent many hours with him, a full partner in his extensive interests, which included science, music and craftmanship. As her later life proved, she was certainly her father’s daughter.

When she was 18 and already a talented painter, she enrolled in the South Kensington School of Art in London, where she enthusiastically studied botany as well as other sciences, including the science of color. Some years after her graduation, the family moved to Berkshire and Gertrude had her first opportunity to focus on the creation of a garden. She had already begun to exhibit her paintings and when friends saw her work, she was given commissions.

In time, and partly due to failing eyesight, her creative interests were increasingly channeled towards garden design. When her father died in 1876, her mother built a house on Munstead Heath. The garden that Gertrude designed there delighted the English architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, who had designed the house; the two ended up in an historic partnership in the Arts and Crafts movement.

During her lifetime, she designed over 400 gardens. Her work was known for its radiant color; many thought that the themes of impressionism could be found in her borders. She began to write and after the age of 55, authored over 13 books and published more than 1,000 articles. Her most famous book, “Colour in the Flower Garden,” can be found today and “Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden” was reprinted as recently as 1988.

In one year, 1930, then over the age of 86, she wrote 43 articles for the magazine “Gardening Illustrated.”

Her style was meticulous and she paid great attention to detail. One of her editors said, “I would rather have clipped the wings of an archangel than tamper with any text that she supplied to a publisher.”

It’s not surprising that her interests went beyond the specifics of the garden to the plants themselves. She was breeding new species in her nursery well into her 80s. She designed a series of glass flower vases, Munstead flower glasses. If flowers were going to be brought inside, she thought they should be displayed in the most beautiful way possible.

She died in December 1932 at her home in Surrey and was buried nearby in the churchyard of Busbridge Church, formerly known as St. John the Baptist, Busbridge. Sir Lutyens designed her tombstone. Along with the dates of her birth and death are three simple words: “Artist, Gardener, Craftswoman.”

This was not her only monument. In 1986, David Austin, the well-known breeder of roses, designed a deep-pink shrub rose, which he named in her honor. It’s not hard to guess which one she would have liked more.

Next week, we’ll visit with Edith Wharton at her home, the Mount, which I have actually visited.