The Gardener's Essential Gertrude Jekyll

by Gertrude Jekyll, Elizabeth Lawrence (Editor)

This wonderful book contains a selection of the best and most important passages from Gertrude Jekyll's many books on gardening, including topics such as design and ornament, colour and scent, and flowers in the house.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

283 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 1991

About the author

Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read. Jekyll was a famous English landscaper from a century ago who wrote 13 books and planned, or helped plan, 350 gardens. This book has selections from 10 of her books, which are now out of copyright and at least some of them are available freely in Google Books. She was a former artist who became a gardener, and approached gardening as she would painting. She was quite strong in her opinions: "There are among Geraniums some of a raw magenta-pink that I regret to see in many gardens and that will certainly never be admitted into mine."

The most important part of gardening to her was harmonizing the colors. She thought complementary colors, which are popular in gardening today, were garish. She put blue/purple/white together, followed by light pink/light yellow, followed by brighter yellows and orange, then bright reds. I am going to try that in my garden, which currently is a mishmash of colors and needs some direction.

If you are a gardener, this is a good book to read.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and inspiring. A charming introduction to Gertrude Jekyll's plant-based wisdom.

[Robert Paul Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Garden Queen, without a doubt, a wealth of information.