Home and Garden

Written as a result of her first book "Wood and Garden", this contains Gertrude Jekyll's original photographs with 16 colour plates and comments from the 1982 edition. Subtitled "Notes and Thoughts, Practical and Critical, of a Worker in Both", the book assumes, at times, the form of a diary, at others there are reflections and experiences which the author has enjoyed and wishes to share with her readers. In "Home and Garden", she describes the building of her own home to her own design with the help of Sir Edwin Lutyens and the garden she created around it. Her eye for detail, both in the home and outside it, is one of her greatest strengths and it is often the commonplace we all see but fail to examine that she observes so acutely and draws to our attention. Moreover, she talks to the reader as someone with the same interests and problems so that although some of the experiences she describes may now seem dated, the common sense remains. Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) studied painting as a young girl, then fulfilled many commissions, enjoying a reputation as an artist and craftswoman before becoming a gardener.