Sneak Peek from the Stacks: Happy Birthday Gertrude Jekyll

Today is Gertrude Jekyll's birthday. In the garden design and horticulture world, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) is considered one of the most important garden designers of the twentieth century. She was particularly noted for the use of color in her garden designs, thanks to the plant palettes she chose. The Archives of American Gardens honors her life's work and influence on American garden design by taking a 'sneak peek' at Orchards, one of her designs in Surrey, England, photographed in 1906 by another garden designer, Thomas Warren Sears.

Orchards, a collaboration between Gertrude Jekyll and architect Edwin Lutyens in Surrey, England, 1906.
Thomas Warren Sears, photographer.
 Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Thomas Warren Sears Collection

For more information: Judith Tankard, a landscape historian, author, and preservation consultant, has written numerous books and articles on Jekyll including "Gertrude Jekyll and the Country House Garden: From the Archives of Country Life" published in 2011. A review of it by librarian Maureen Horn at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is located here.

Kelly Crawford

Museum Specialist

Smithsonian Gardens