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Wood and Garden
Written in 1899, this is the gardening calendar of gardener Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932). The book is subtitled "Notes and Thoughts, Practical and Critical, of a Working Amateur" and, using her own photographs, the author traces the progress, month by month of the gardening year. She gives advice, information and ideas which should be as relevant to today's gardener as they were when she wrote the book nearly a century ago. As well as original photographs taken by the author, there are an additional 32 colour illustrations and comments from the 1981 edition.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1981
About the author
Gertrude Jekyll
70 books26 followersGertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 11, 2018
I am not a fan of the organization/layout
September 13, 2025
As a long-time fan of Gertrude Jekyll's style, this little garden companion book is full of hints, but more than that, it is written beautifully and the prose is a tonic to a gardener when separated from her garden due to distance, weather or conflicting priorities. An occasional and welcome step aside from real world demands.
September 7, 2015
Even after more than a century, Gertrude Jekyll's 1899 classic, "Wood and Garden," is amazingly relevant. In easy to read language, she offers modern gardeners organic solutions, help with difficult soils, and suggestions on finding the right plant for the right place. For anyone nostalgic for what may seem a simpler time, she's got descriptions of such old-time occupations as the barrel hoop making that kept her team of gardeners at work during slow times. And anyone who simply loves beauty will revel in the descriptions of garden and countryside.
The 1981 edition is illustrated both with Jekyll's own black and white photographs of her garden at Munstead Wood (much of which has since been lost) and color photos of modern gardens with approximations of her plantings.
Contrary to the popular conception of Jekyll's style, she didn't expect most garden lovers to have 200-foot long flower borders, offering scaled down suggestions, including some for window boxes and patio-sized gardens of potted plants. And far from being a plant snob, she loved annuals such as easy to grow zinnias, marigolds and geraniums.
"Not once but many a time my visitors have expressed unbounded surprise when they saw (geraniums) in my garden, saying, 'I should have thought that you would have despised Geraniums.' On the contrary, I love Geraniums. . . I love their strangely-pleasant smell, and their beautiful modern colourings of soft scarlet and salmon-scarlet and salmon-pink, some of these grouping beautifully together."
Of course, she had her pet peeves -- the still-seen lust for ugly on a stick new plant varieties whose only selling point is their novelty, people who place total dependence on their hired gardeners (for today, read "lawn care companies) and then complain about the results.
The only thing lacking in this 20th century edition of "Wood and Garden" is an updated plant glossary. Taxonomists are notorious for changing plant names. Not Jekyll's fault, but pity the poor gardener today looking for her beloved Funkia (now Hosta) or a Megasea (now Bergenia), and so on. Since some of the cultivars Jekyll used have since been lost, and suggestions of more modern alternatives also would be greatly appreciated.
The 1981 edition is illustrated both with Jekyll's own black and white photographs of her garden at Munstead Wood (much of which has since been lost) and color photos of modern gardens with approximations of her plantings.
Contrary to the popular conception of Jekyll's style, she didn't expect most garden lovers to have 200-foot long flower borders, offering scaled down suggestions, including some for window boxes and patio-sized gardens of potted plants. And far from being a plant snob, she loved annuals such as easy to grow zinnias, marigolds and geraniums.
"Not once but many a time my visitors have expressed unbounded surprise when they saw (geraniums) in my garden, saying, 'I should have thought that you would have despised Geraniums.' On the contrary, I love Geraniums. . . I love their strangely-pleasant smell, and their beautiful modern colourings of soft scarlet and salmon-scarlet and salmon-pink, some of these grouping beautifully together."
Of course, she had her pet peeves -- the still-seen lust for ugly on a stick new plant varieties whose only selling point is their novelty, people who place total dependence on their hired gardeners (for today, read "lawn care companies) and then complain about the results.
The only thing lacking in this 20th century edition of "Wood and Garden" is an updated plant glossary. Taxonomists are notorious for changing plant names. Not Jekyll's fault, but pity the poor gardener today looking for her beloved Funkia (now Hosta) or a Megasea (now Bergenia), and so on. Since some of the cultivars Jekyll used have since been lost, and suggestions of more modern alternatives also would be greatly appreciated.
August 16, 2022
Not Illustrated… there is a small picture in each chapter, sad really as Gertrude Jekyll
produced beauty with Nature :-)
produced beauty with Nature :-)
November 17, 2025
It's taken me nearly a month to read this, not because I haven't been enjoying it, but because I've wanted to spin out the pleasure of reading it for longer.
Jekyll starts her book with twelve chapters that go through the gardening year, month by month, considering the plants that are of most interest in that month and also the various gardening jobs that can be done then. The second half of the book narrows the focus onto specific gardening topics such as scent in the garden, weeds and pest, the difficulty of getting good garden staff (a chapter that will have less practical use for most modern readers!!!) and her views on bedding, growing for the show bench and flower colours, all subject on which she held trenchant views!
Although this book was first published in 1899, there is a surprising amount that is still relevant to today's gardener. Her comments on various plant types and her ideas for planting plans are still very valuable, although you may have to look up some plants, since their names have changed since then (for example, Funkia is now Hosta). Obviously, some of her remarks on current flower varieties, cost and availability of garden plants and advice on managing garden staff are now outdated, although still of interest to anyone wanting to know how people gardened in the late Victorian era. But Jekyll's real strength is in her prose, which remains as readable today as ever. Before her eyesight worsened, she was an artist, and this comes across so clearly in her writing, as she paints word-pictures of her beloved garden and encourages us all to look more closely at the beauty and complexity of the world around us.
Her opening chapter includes my favourite Jekyll quote of all time: "For the love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but always grows and grows to an enduring and ever-increasing source of happiness." And I had a real sense of connection with her when I read that "There is always in February some one day, at least, when one smells the yet distant, but surely coming, summer." This is something I've been saying for years, and everyone always acts as if I'm totally batty and says that I can't possible have noticed any difference in the air from yesterday, so I was delighted finally to find someone else who has experienced this - even if she was writing about it over 125 years ago!
This is not for you if you want a practical gardening manual, but if you want to read good garden writing from the past and imagine yourself back into a Victorian garden or woodland, try this.
Jekyll starts her book with twelve chapters that go through the gardening year, month by month, considering the plants that are of most interest in that month and also the various gardening jobs that can be done then. The second half of the book narrows the focus onto specific gardening topics such as scent in the garden, weeds and pest, the difficulty of getting good garden staff (a chapter that will have less practical use for most modern readers!!!) and her views on bedding, growing for the show bench and flower colours, all subject on which she held trenchant views!
Although this book was first published in 1899, there is a surprising amount that is still relevant to today's gardener. Her comments on various plant types and her ideas for planting plans are still very valuable, although you may have to look up some plants, since their names have changed since then (for example, Funkia is now Hosta). Obviously, some of her remarks on current flower varieties, cost and availability of garden plants and advice on managing garden staff are now outdated, although still of interest to anyone wanting to know how people gardened in the late Victorian era. But Jekyll's real strength is in her prose, which remains as readable today as ever. Before her eyesight worsened, she was an artist, and this comes across so clearly in her writing, as she paints word-pictures of her beloved garden and encourages us all to look more closely at the beauty and complexity of the world around us.
Her opening chapter includes my favourite Jekyll quote of all time: "For the love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but always grows and grows to an enduring and ever-increasing source of happiness." And I had a real sense of connection with her when I read that "There is always in February some one day, at least, when one smells the yet distant, but surely coming, summer." This is something I've been saying for years, and everyone always acts as if I'm totally batty and says that I can't possible have noticed any difference in the air from yesterday, so I was delighted finally to find someone else who has experienced this - even if she was writing about it over 125 years ago!
This is not for you if you want a practical gardening manual, but if you want to read good garden writing from the past and imagine yourself back into a Victorian garden or woodland, try this.
September 22, 2020
Such wonderful language, vivid personality, clear opinions, and love of gardening. This book from 1899 is a delight to read.
July 26, 2026
Lovely book. Could be 5 stars if I was more knowledgeable about gardening
March 5, 2020
Gertrude Jekyll
A resource which I will go back to again and again with the intention of writing my own play Lutyens
A resource which I will go back to again and again with the intention of writing my own play Lutyens
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews