Gertrude Jekyll: Artist and Gardener

Wednesday 4 June 2014 at 2.00 pm

Twigs Way

Twigs Way is a garden historian, author, researcher and lecturer. Her interest in garden history grew out of her original career in landscape archaeology and landscape history, and blossomed during a period of lecturing for the University of Cambridge. She now carries out freelance research in the history of specific gardens and parks for bodies such as English Heritage, the National Trust and various private clients. She has a specific interest in social and political aspects of the garden.  Her publications include Allotments, History of Garden Gnomes, History of Women in the Garden, and the highly illustrated A Nation of Gardeners. Twigs is currently working on the Eighteenth Century Diaries of the Marchioness Grey of Wrest Park.

‘What is needed for doing the best gardening is something of an artist’s training’ (Gertrude Jekyll).  Almost eighty years after her death, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) is still one of the most influential of all English garden designers. Best known for her superb use of colour schemes in her hallmark flower borders, she combined an early training in art with self-taught horticultural skills and won herself a place in the pantheon of Arts and Crafts. This talk explores Gertrude Jekyll through an examination of the influences of art, architecture and horticulture in her life and work.

The lecture notes leaflet can be downloaded here.

Below are photos of this lecture