Books by Gertrude Jekyll
Listed below are books written by Gertrude Jekyll or books comprising collections of her writings.
Wood & Garden
First published 1899. Gardening month by month for every size of garden. The book describes the creation of her own house and garden at Munstead Wood, near Godalming, Surrey. It was her first collaboration with Edwin Lutyens; this was her first published book.
Home & Garden
First published 1900. Gardening, craftsmanship and the construction of her own house, Munstead Wood, reminding us of the Arts and Crafts influence on her work. The first chapter describes the building of the house, while the rest are devoted to garden and ‘allied home subjects’.
Wall, Water and Woodland Gardens
First published 1901. How to use some of the many beautiful mountain plants, and the plants of marsh and water. With many illustrations taken from Country Life and The Garden, publications with which Gertrude Jekyll had a close association over many years.
Lilies for English Gardens
First published 1901. With subtitle A Guide for Amateurs. A short, concise, illustrated handbook on the most stately and beautiful of garden flowers. Includes material already published in Country Life, together with some original chapters.
Roses for English Gardens
First published 1902. With Edward Mawley, a founder of the National Rose Society. All the possibilities for using roses in gardens; the practical aspects of growing roses. The finest rose manual for the amateur’ was how the first edition was described by The New York Times.
Old West Surrey
First published 1904. A nostalgic memoir of the old way of life in Gertrude Jekyll’s county of Surrey, before it was overrun by Londoners, helped into the county by the new railway system. For the spine of the original edition, she created a design of corn intertwined with vine (pictured).
Some English Gardens
First published 1904. Thirty six gardens in Britain attached to great houses or castles, with water-colours by the English artist, George S Elgood (1851-1943). Elgood painted more than 1,000 water colours of gardens in England and the European continent.
Flower Decoration in the House
First published 1907. Gertrude Jekyll gives month-by-month advice on the best use of flowers in the house, including vases and holders for plants.
Children and Gardens
First published 1908. Reminiscences of Gertrude Jekyll’s childhood and early interest in plants. Written in a simple style for the young, it describes seeds, germination, flowers, fruits and gardens.
Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden
First published 1908. A reminder of the painting skills of Gertrude Jekyll, who studied at the South Kensington School of Art; the book contains practical and aesthetic advice for making garden pictures. Preface by Richard Bisgrove.
Gardens for Small Country Houses
First published 1912. With Sir Lawrence Weaver. The relationship between house and garden, there are chapters on particular houses, gardens and owners.
Gertrude Jekyll and the Arts & Crafts Garden
Modern edition of Gardens for Small Country Houses. Shows the relationship between house and garden, there are chapters on particular houses, ‘gardens and owners’. For more information, see previous entry.
Annuals and Biennials
First Published 1916 the Best Annual and Biennial Plants and their Uses in the Garden’. Practical advice for those ‘bewildered’ by the number of annual plants on how to optimise their usage in the garden.
Garden Ornament
First published 1918. Ornament in relation to architecture; for example, gates, balustrades, urns, loggias, orangeries, dovecotes, parterres, sundials, pergolas, bridges etc. Many illustrations from Country Life. Homily against the dangers to masonry from ivy.
A Gardener’s Testament
First published 1937. Edited by her nephew and biographer, Francis Jekyll, and GC Taylor. Some of Gertrude Jekyll’s articles and notes, mostly from her later life.
Gertrude Jekyll on Gardening
Edited by Penelope Hobhouse. A selection of Gertrude Jekyll’s writings, taken from books and gardening journals. Her development as a gardener and her use of plants.
Cottage Garden Flowers
Observations by Gertrude Jekyll on garden flowers and the use of colour in the garden
The Gardener’s Essential Gertrude Jekyll
With an introduction by Elizabeth Lawrence. A selection of some of the best passages from ten of Gertrude Jekyll’s books.
Making of a Garden: A Gertrude Jekyll Anthology
A Gertrude Jekyll anthology. Edited by Cherry Lewis.