Any Gertrude Gekyll books out there?

Could someone out there please recommend to me a book, even if way out of print, about Gertrude Gekyll? I just learned that she was the founder of the concept of the perennial bed, and was responsible for a kind of gardening revolution sympathetic to the Arts and Crafts movement in England.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I ran a search on Amazon.com and a number of books written by her and about her are available some for under $20. I can't personally recommend any in particular but I'm sure any of them would be worth reading if you are interested in that style of planting.

Im not quite sure about her being a conceptual founder of perennial beds, I'd be interested to know a bit more about this if you have the time please.

This is a short piece from the Museaum of Garden History

http://www.cix.co.uk/~museumgh/jekyll.htm

Dear Baa,

The site you referred me to was excellent, thank you. There are links there that go directly to the Jekyll Estate-what a find. As I plow through those sites (figuratively), I'm sure to find much more about GJ. While I'm at it,I'm going to try a couple of rare book collections in the city.

Check out http://www.chicagobungalow.org and you'll see an example of one of the houses I purchased last year, as well as the absolutely horrible sense of gardening in the community. This is the main reason why I'm interested in Gertrude Jekyll.

Some background info regarding my search:

Last night I attended a seminar about garden theory and planting. Gertrude Gekyll (which I have learned is a misspelling-although Amazon uses that spelling-I'll use Jekyll from now on), was introduced at the beginning with her work regarded as being one of the most influential in American gardening.

The seminar focused on a history of "natural" garden design originating in England. The "natural" garden was viewed as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, and fit in perfectly with the ideologies of the Arts and Crafts movement in the mid to late 1800's in England. Many of the beliefs in the Arts and Crafts movement didn't become popular in the U.S. right away, as manifest destiny was still underway and many people were just beginning to homestead the western U.S.

With the Arts and Crafts movement, and everything it supported, happening later in America than in England, there became a dichotomy of ideologies because the Industrial Revolution gained more support faster. It wasn't too long before interest in the movement stopped because of World War 1. After the mechanized war ended, it gave birth to mechanized machines for the home. The power lawn mower was popularized in America at that time, and has been popular in determining garden design ever since. Before the war, Victorian ideologies were popular in the U.S. and Victorian landscaping around the house was all about hiding the foundation which storehoused coal, and all the dirty things in life. To this day foundation plantings are just as strong as they were 100 years ago, even though the houses today are made and used differently.

There's been a lot of history in the U.S. that has gone unwritten because of the lawn. All across the U.S. there has been an eagerness to tear out indigenous plants and replace them with turf. A personal means of conquering and claiming territory.

Theres a new school of thought in Chicago, where I live, about doing away with traditional U.S. gardening techniques (go to the Landscaping forum and you'll see illustrations of "lawn" gardening from people obtaining a new home and eager to change the blandness of their inherited surroundings) and focusing more on gardening specifically with native species.



This message was edited Wednesday, May 8th 5:36 PM

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Square Root

That was interesting, thank you for taking the time :)

Indeed, her breaking up of hard edges by using 'floaty', more 'natural' plants was a trademark of her work. It has also been the cause of a considerable design rut in the larger British gardens although her style does lend a very pleasant aspect to a garden. The Victorians took the natural planting style of gardens from a German garden designer who did some work here, if I recall correctly he was considered somewhat of an eccentric so he probably fitted in with the British quite well. If I can find the article on him (he seemed to be an interesting chap) I'll post it up.

Try eBay and half.com@eBay for used books - you can search for books by the author's name :)

Thanks, go_vols, I'll take a look.