Gertrude Jekyll, Grey Walk at Hestercombe, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Somerset
ALTHOUGH FEW PEOPLE TODAY would replicate a period Arts and Crafts house and garden, the movement’s basic concepts continue to inspire homeowners and garden designers. Whether the house is an Edwardian manor, a modest suburban dwelling, a small cottage, or a contemporary family home, the companion garden can easily reflect Arts and Crafts design principles. Although many books have been written about garden design, few can surpass the timeless advice offered by Gertrude Jekyll, Lawrence Weaver, and Thomas Mawson. Published more than one hundred years ago, Jekyll and Weaver’s Gardens for Small Country Houses (1912) provides homeowners and designers essential guidelines for garden design and the use of simple but well-crafted ornamental features. Jekyll’s lavishly illustrated tome, Garden Ornament (1908), offers countless historic and modern examples of architectural features suitable for gardens both large and small. Mawson’s classic, The Art and Craft of Garden Making (1900), was the first book to provide practical design advice from a professional viewpoint. Examples ranging from garden structures, water features, and construction details to planting suggestions are still relevant today.
“It is upon the right relation of the garden to the house that its value and the enjoyment that is to be derived from it will largely depend,” Jekyll and Weaver wrote in the introduction to Gardens for Small Country Houses. “The connection must be intimate, and access not only convenient, but inviting.”1 Detailed discussions of several projects designed or admired by Jekyll, such as Millmead, Deanery Garden, and Munstead Wood (all involving architect Edwin Lutyens), outline how garden-makers can achieve the essential connection between house and garden. Mawson offered more practical advice, starting with site selection and treatment: “To produce a successful scheme, art and several crafts must be brought into line [in order to produce] a design which shall shew [sic] unity of feeling and good fellowship.”2 As a young designer, Mawson sometimes had trouble convincing his clients as well as the architect that his role as a garden designer was essential. On the other hand, he had much to say about the placement of the house and ancillary buildings. In his view, “a garden has to serve the double purpose of foreground to the landscape when seen from the house, and as a base or setting to the house when viewed from the surrounding country.”3 The garden should be treated in the simplest and most direct manner, with the different areas arranged in levels to suit the ground. The outer areas should not have “shaven lawns,” but wild gardens, “where snowdrops and daffodils, primroses and violets, wood hyacinths and anemones, and a host of other hardy plants may be naturalized.”4
Goddards, on the outskirts of York, is a perfect period example of a harmonious Arts and Crafts house and garden that closely follows the advice of Jekyll and Mawson. Designed in the mid-1920s by Yorkshire Arts and Crafts architect Walter Brierley (1862–1926), Goddards is a modest country house near the city of York, where Brierley carried out several commissions, including his own house, Bishopsbarns (with gardens designed by Jekyll).5 After Brierley’s garden scheme for Goddards was rejected by the client, chocolatier Noel Terry, George Dillistone (1877–1957), who famously worked with Lutyens at Castle Drogo in Devon, was engaged. The most memorable feature at Goddards is the water garden below the broad paved terrace on the south side of the house. The gently sloping ground was ideally suited for a formal treatment near the house and for informality where the ground slopes away from the house and merges with the countryside. Dillistone’s scheme is exemplar for its discretion rather than excesses of features. Gentle steps and simple paving enhance rather than compete with the elegant house. A long green walk flanked by double borders is featured on one side of the house, with a series of other linked areas, including a bowling green, screened by hedges. Dillistone’s book The Planning and Planting of Little Gardens (1920) is filled with excellent advice, ranging from misplaced garden seats and forced symmetry to the proper use of ornament and appreciation of fragrance and color in planting schemes.
Hollister House, in Connecticut, is an excellent example of the treatment of a steep site suited to the development of modestly scaled interlocking terraces. Each terrace has a different theme, yet is related to the others with hedging or paving. On the upper levels, the individual rooms are defined by formal English-style hedged enclosures with traditional borders, while on the lower levels, the scheme becomes more naturalistic, with large clumps of vigorous perennials that melt into the surrounding fields and woods.
After outlining the overall scheme, the garden-maker’s next essential step entails creating a sense of enclosure with walls, hedging, belts of trees and shrubs, or other means of defining the space. In general, a small-scale house requires a simple solution, such as dry-stone walls, while a larger, more formal house merits a grander solution that might include terracing and balustrades. As Jekyll wrote in Gardens for Small Country Houses, “Very often the designer of a small garden is faced by the difficulty of giving it privacy, and shrinks from the uninteresting solution of building a plain high wall,” which she did at Munstead Wood.6 Jekyll advocated that rough stone walls should allow space (and drainage) for growing rock plants. At Hestercombe, the substantial stone walls require bold plantings, while at Eolia, the Harkness family estate in Connecticut designed by Beatrix Farrand, the rustic stone walls and modest plantings are perfect for the seaside setting. Brick walls and arched openings, such as those at Great Dixter, are ideally suited to enclosing more formal garden areas.
In areas with accommodating climates, green hedges provide a soothing visual means of defining boundaries and delineating individual garden areas. Clipped yew hedges, such as those at Hollister House, offer a perfect background for flower borders, while informal groupings of trees and shrubs provide an easy transition from formal to informal areas of the garden. Whimsical topiaries, hedges, and other clipped forms were essential to many Arts and Crafts gardens, although their maintenance and upkeep may present problems for today’s busy gardeners. The High Garden at Great Dixter still remains one of the most captivating topiary gardens, as part of a suite of diverse garden rooms.
The progression from one area of the garden to another offers endless challenges for designers. Paths and walkways, whether gravel, stone, brick, or grass, help define spaces and keep visitors from wandering into the planting beds. In general, grass paths are used for more informal parts of the garden, while stone and brick work well in more formal areas. Farrand’s beautifully detailed brick paths at Dumbarton Oaks complement the formal, linear hedging, while the bold, geometrical paved paths at York Gate are more suited to a small modern garden. Farrand’s fanciful horseshoe steps at Dumbarton Oaks gracefully lead up to the upper terrace. Lutyens’s endless ingenuity at Great Dixter, such as the half-moon steps transitioning from the formal terraces to the informal wildflower meadow, is unsurpassed. Ideally, the garden-maker would use local stone for paving rather than importing stone from another region or using a material that is unsuited to the informality of the site. “Some of the most interesting methods of paving [for example] are those that are peculiar to a district,” Jekyll wrote. “In the case of places near the sea, pretty pavings can be made by collecting stones of different colours from among banks of shingle.”7 Unfortunately, the use of local materials and construction methods has largely vanished today in garden design, only to be replaced by the universal use of bluestone and similar paving, for example. Ever practical, Dillistone, who often judged amateur design competitions, eschewed paving just for the sake of paving.
Appealing architectural features are one of the hallmarks of an Arts and Crafts garden. Whatever the size of the site, consider small structures ranging from utilitarian garden sheds to gazebos, pavilions, and follies. Jekyll, of course, who looked to historical examples for inspiration rather than line-by-line replication, advised, “The quality to be aimed at in all garden architecture is coherence in the relationship of the parts. A pavilion [for example] should not stand alone, but be tied to the rest of the scheme by orderly design.”8 Mawson advised, “Nothing imparts character to a garden and gives more interest than well-designed and carefully executed architectural details.”9 He eschewed a rustic-style garden house near a classical house, for example. A well-executed pavilion (whether brick, stone, or wood) gives finish to a formal terrace and provides a focal point along a path in a wild garden.
Alfred Parsons, garden pavilion built from local materials at Luggers Hall, Broadway, Worcestershire
The attractive gazebo in the walled garden at Luggers Hall, which is built from local materials, provides a comfortable shelter and serves as a focal point. The steep roofline of Ernest Barnsley’s picture-perfect stone garden house at Rodmarton Manor, which is echoed in the clipped hedges, is an important focal point for the traditional English-style double borders. Simon Dorrell’s whimsical half-timbered dovecote at Bryan’s Ground opens on three sides for garden viewing. On one side, small beds of bright yellow and orange perennials complement the ochre color of the building.
Ellen Shipman excelled in designs for small structures and pavilions that were sympathetic in style and scale to the architecture of the house. These buildings served a dual purpose: an interesting focal point for her axial gardens and a practical place for storing pool or garden equipment. Shipman often used English-inspired dovecotes, which were not only eye-catchers, but practical buildings for storing equipment or providing a pleasant place for tea. She modeled the whimsical brick dovecote (or pigeonnier) in the wild garden at Longue Vue House and Gardens in New Orleans after one at a nearby plantation.
Pergolas and arbors can lend charm and beauty to a garden. Whether constructed of brick piers, rough stone, or masonry, and covered with climbing roses, wisteria, or fragrant vines, they afford a shady retreat in hot weather. Lutyens, who routinely used pergolas to great effect for reinforcing the geometry of the garden, often used alternating round and square piers to create visual interest, such as those at Hestercombe. Pergolas are versatile, because when densely covered with vines, they can enclose the garden entirely, but when sparsely planted or discontinuous, they draw the eye to the greater landscape in the distance. In kitchen gardens, rustic pergolas constructed of larch poles are perfect supports on which to grow gourds or small fruit. In smaller gardens, a simple arbor can become the essential design element that completes the garden picture.
In Lutyens’s and Jekyll’s day, pergolas were all the rage in gardens both large and small. The Edwardian architect and garden designer Harold Peto, whom Jekyll greatly admired, was a master designer of elaborate pergolas in grander gardens in England and the South of France. Most were far too large and elaborate for intimate Arts and Crafts gardens that were based on simplicity and practicality. For Jekyll, pergolas were a means of displaying climbing vines rather than design features, while Lutyens took pergolas to another level as important architectural components. Jekyll favored rough larch poles for constructing a pergola rather than solid piers of marble or rubble as was common in Europe. For many Arts and Crafts gardens, both British and American, architects used the pergola as an important means of connecting the house to the garden.
At Townhill Park, Hampshire, where Jekyll collaborated with architect L. Rome Guthrie, elevated pergolas on stone walls enclose the formal sunken garden. Jekyll planted Wisteria sinensis, Virginia creeper, and several varieties of clematis to create a stunning visual effect. Inside the enclosure, long flower beds were dedicated to labor-intensive annuals and perennials.10 Despite the complexity of the original scheme, the basic concept of ringing the enclosure, or even parts of it, with pergolas creates a dynamic framework for a larger garden. In smaller gardens or individual compartments within a larger garden, arbors can be effectively used in place of pergolas. The attractive arbor at Wollerton Old Hall provides the main interest for one of the compartments in a formal garden. Whether festooned with climbers or left bare, arbors provide a simple architectural touch to any garden.
Including garden ornament is a simple way to embellish any garden, but the pieces should best be suited to the specific site. Simple ornament, such as containers, work best; statuary and garden figures can be difficult to include, because they must be chosen to reflect the scale and individuality of the garden. Jekyll advised that ornament be used sparingly in a small garden; otherwise, it would look like a vision from a contractor’s yard. An obelisk used at York Gate has no place in an informal country garden; in a traditional English garden, such as Coton Manor, an antique urn fits comfortably in the setting. A rustic planter sits comfortably in a California garden; a locally make Lunaform pot works well in an informal woodland garden in coastal Maine.
Small containers offer endless possibilities for staging effects around steps, pools, and other important garden features. Jekyll’s small courtyard garden on the shady north side of her house was filled with a precise arrangement of containers featuring hostas, lilies, and cannas, while the edge of the nearby tank was lined with better planters filled with Francoa ramosa. At Great Dixter, the steps are softened with seasonal planters that help lead the visitor down to the lower gardens, while in Helen Dillon’s garden, the color and textural statements in her dazzling borders extend to a staging of individual containers along the edges of the pool.
A well-placed garden bench, either a stone bench built into the wall with plenty of paving in front or a wooden one of special design, adds to the enjoyment of a garden of any size. “Good design in garden furniture is just as necessary to the success of a garden as the furniture is to the house itself,” advised Mawson.11 Lutyens’s famous wooden bench, which made its first appearance at Munstead Wood in the late 1890s and now proliferates in gardens around the world, has somewhat overshadowed other thoughtfully designed benches.
Mawson recommended oak as the best choice for a bench because it lasted the longest, but for a painted bench, he advised using green painted pine. Jekyll thought the best material was untreated oak that eventually takes on silvery hues, and she also observed that regularly painted benches stood up well. As to the appropriate color, she said, green is doubtful, “as it is likely to quarrel with varied natural greens which are near it [and] white is safe, but looks rather staring during the seasons when there is no brilliant colour in the flower garden to relieve it.”12 Farrand’s various custom-designed benches and outdoor furnishings for Dumbarton Oaks were purposely left unpainted. Artists, such as the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, also took pride in designing their own furnishings for exact placement in the garden.
Garden gates, trellises, and fencing should also be in the proper scale and harmonious with other features in the garden. Metal gates often overshadow a small garden, while painted wooden ones that harmonize with seats and benches are more relevant to an Arts and Crafts aesthetic. A charming wooden gate with a squirrel motif is part of a suite of furnishings, including benches and a birdhouse, custom designed by Farrand for a small garden in coastal Maine. Shipman frequently used Chippendale-style gates in some of her gardens, including one in a North Carolina garden.
Both Mawson and Jekyll thought that water features, preferably with bubbling fountains or water jets, were essential to any garden. In fact, Mawson questioned whether a garden was complete without water. Jekyll loved the sound of water, which she put to good use at Hestercombe, with its numerous water features, including rills, tanks, and spouting masques. For a smaller garden based on Arts and Crafts design principles, however, only the simplest solutions are appropriate, whether a small reflecting pool or a tank filled with waterlilies. “Although very simple forms are the safest for pools, there is room for an occasional burst of gaiety in outline, especially when the rest of the garden plan is of necessity treated in a severe fashion,” Jekyll wrote.13 Whether surrounded by brickwork or paving, a simple pool can easily become a focal point for the entire scheme.
At Hollister House, a rectangular tank in one of the hedged enclosures not only reflects the clouds above but also the dazzling borders surrounding the pool. Even in a small garden such as York Gate, a small water feature is nothing more than an elevated waterlily trough with a dolphin fountain. On the other hand, a naturalistic pond garden is an attractive, but high-maintenance addition to a large country garden, such as Jekyll’s wild garden at the Manor House at Upton Grey. The pond is filled with water-loving plants, while the edges surrounding the pond merge quietly into the meadow plantings and apple orchard.
Much has been said by Jekyll and her followers about flower borders, including how to design, plant, and maintain them. Mawson, who was more of an expert on ornamental trees and shrubs, deferred to William Robinson’s 1883 book, The English Flower Garden, for advice. As Jekyll famously wrote in Colour in the Flower Garden, “To plant and maintain a flower-border, with a good scheme for colour, is by no means the easy thing that is commonly supposed. I believe that the only way in which it can be made successful is to devote certain borders to certain times of year; each border or garden region to be bright for from one to three months.”14 Bill Noble’s country garden in Vermont does exactly that, with formal borders near the house and bolder, more vigorous plantings where the garden merges into the landscape. Jekyll’s overall advice is still timely today, but garden-makers should use plants that perform well in their own climates.
Slavishly replicating a plant palette meant for a specific Jekyll design is questionable, but adapting one of her designs, while challenging, is a possibility. Susanne Clark, in searching for a suitable layout for a new terraced garden in Massachusetts, was intrigued by a scheme Jekyll created for a terraced garden in Surrey in the 1920s. For the actual planting, she studied the plants specified in Jekyll’s plans and notes from the standpoint of color, texture, and bloom time, and then substituted plants that worked in her climate. The resulting garden is astonishing.15 Through trial and error over the course of many years, she was able to achieve the all-important hot and cool elements essential to the design.
Both American and British gardens can feature beautiful borders of every size and configuration. Whether in a single border flanking a grass path or in double borders meant to be admired from a terrace above, an appealing presentation of color and texture is the objective in an Arts and Crafts garden. Although there are no hard and fast rules for creating a border suited for an Arts and Crafts garden, informality rather than rigidity best reflects the aesthetic. At Gresgarth Hall, Arabella Lennox-Boyd’s home garden in Lancashire, newer borders reflect an interest in ornamental grasses, while earlier borders are more traditionally themed.
No Arts and Crafts garden is complete without the addition of some climbers, especially roses, on arbors, pergolas, or walls. Jekyll cautioned, however, that “the appearance of many a house is made or marred by the wise or injudicious use of climbing plants. A house of no special character may become a thing of beauty [while] one of architectural value may have that whole value obliterated and the structure greatly damaged.”16 Beautiful houses strangled by rampant ivy and untamed wisteria left to uproot stonework were among her pet peeves. Her favorite climbers were rambling roses and Clematis montana, which she used at Munstead Wood and in many of her garden commissions, including the Manor House at Upton Grey. At Cothay Manor, an historic manor house in Somerset, the entrance courtyards are covered with old-fashioned climbing roses, which provide a hint to the beauty of the gardens beyond. Jekyll often used nonclimbing shrubs trained to walls for an attractive architectural look. Among her favorites were figs, Pieris japonica, Chimonanthus species, Abutilon vitifolium, and ceanothus.
Mawson also extolled the judicious use of climbers, noting that “even architects, who . . . advised the banishment of all vegetable life from the walls which their ingenuity had contrived, are now . . . recognizing that they are indispensable, not only for the decoration of plain wall surfaces, but also for beautifying portions of buildings [which] otherwise might have been unsightly.”17 The Art and Craft of Garden Making provides a detailed list of hardy climbers, their habits, and their uses. High among his favorites is Clematis montana, which is well suited for small cottages or for covering a pergola.
For informal country gardens of several acres, less formal elements can be included along the edges where the property melts into the landscape, such as naturalistic groupings of trees and shrubs or more naturalistically planted borders. Mawson tried to steer his readers from creating “a tangled mess of thorn and briar” and specimen trees engulfed by rampant vines. Instead, he encouraged the landscape gardener to create a picture, much like an artist does on canvas.18 A judicious selection of trees and ornamental shrubs on the edges of the garden can help meld formality and informality. At Bragg Hill, the plantings are bolder along the edges, with informal clusters of shrubs and small trees. At Gresgarth Hall, the character of the individual garden rooms progress from formal to informal. No matter the size of the garden, whether it is in a backyard in a suburban setting or in large estate such as Dumbarton Oaks, masses of wildflowers and spring bulbs help connect the garden to nature.
