In 1870,
the fashion of gardens began to change once again, as it always does and there
began a battle between horticulturist and architect. Out of this battle, two
people came together to take the best of both worlds and combine them into one.
This was the beginning of the Arts and Crafts gardens and Gertrude Jekyll and
Edwin Lutyens were the ones to behind it.
The Arts
and Crafts movement was a reaction. It was a reaction against the current state
of the arts at that time. It was all about traditional craftsmanship and simple
forms. The zeitgeist of this time was
all about good times and played a role in the design of gardens. Jekyll and
Lutyens came together and created harmony in their designs. Theirs strengths
and weaknesses complimented each other’s perfectly. Jekyll knew everything
there was to know about the horticulture part of designing gardens and Lutyens
strengths were in the design of architecture. They were able to create a flow
between the house and the gardens. The architecture would flow into the gardens
in the form of paths, terraces, walls, buildings and water features. The design
of the planting that Jekyll was responsible for was inspired by her training in
impressionist art. She planted flowers in beautiful clumps with soft lines. She
was the first to apply the color theory to flower planting. It was a
complicated process, much more than one would think. She had to take into
consideration the flowering times, the plant form and height, and the greenery
that was involved. The basic idea in the partnership between Jekyll and Lutyens
was that Lutyens created the buildings and the framework and Jekyll filled all
of the beds. This combination created beautiful gardens for example Munstead
Wood. The most popular feature of this garden was the iris and lupin border
that Jekyll created.
The Arts
and Crafts movement and the teamwork between Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens created
harmony between structure and plants. These gardens were truly the best of both
worlds.
For more
information on Munstead Wood, check out this link:
Photo
Links:
http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/rosa-munstead-wood--ausbernard--pbr/classid.2000018788/
I find it so interesting how to completely different types of design can come together in such a harmonious manor especially when a similar pair horticulturist William Robinson and architect Sir Reginald Blomfield were battling each other over beliefs about garden styles.
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