Gertrude Jekyll 121
Her planned eff orts were successful, bringing professional repute to her
design and providing her with the opportunity to begin her long career as a
writer. William Goldring , contributor to the Garden, claimed ‘[t]he brilliancy
of the [Munstead House fl ower] border ... was beyond anything we had hitherto
seen in the way of hardy fl owers – as diff erent from the ordinary mixed border
as day from night’.^26 In 1881, Jekyll secured her fi rst publication in Robinson’s
journal.^27 Her fi rst series, on ‘Flowers and Plants in the House’, began the same
year, ran for two years, and included forty-nine articles.^28 Her writing and gar-
den design made an impression on her new employer. Robinson, not known for
fl attery or withholding criticism, wrote an article on her gardens at Munstead
House that conveys his pleasant, perhaps somewhat reluctant, surprise at the
use of a fl ower that he had dismissed, denoting respect for his colleague with
whom he would work for a further fi ft y years. ‘Tiarella cordifolia: this elegant lit-
tle plant used to pass for a curiosity generally, and we did not think much of it till
we happened to see a sparkling bunch of it last year in the gardens at Munstead’.^29
It is not known if the subject of her fi rst series was chosen by Jekyll or by
Robinson, as editor. Considering the challenges women professionals were
faced with, it is feasible that Jekyll deliberately chose the safer and more pub-
licly accepted feminine domestic environment as the subject for her fi rst series
as a tactic for success. Although other women writers were successful in their
professional pursuits, many of them gained acceptability by targeting a primar-
ily female readership. Jane Loudon’s book, Botany for Ladies, was successful
because it was written by a woman for women. Jekyll, however, was writing for a
mixed audience.^30 Th is topic enabled Jekyll to enter into discussions on seasonal
blooms and gardening alongside her points about colour eff ect, aesthetics and
interior design. Th e fi rst article of the series begins:
At this mid-October time, aft er the fi rst sharp frosts followed by hard rain and gales,
few fl owers remain out-of-doors; still there are plenty for our bouquets ... A walk by
hedgerows and in woodlands gives many treasures for house decoration.^31Although her awareness of the natural world is evident, Jekyll does not discuss
the practicalities of gardening. Th e description conveys a pleasantly acceptable,
appropriately situated, feminine activity for a woman with leisure time – walk-
ing down country paths collecting fl owers.
Judging from the increase in publications that followed, Jekyll’s focus on
domestic and feminine topics appears to have awarded her social acceptance
and, as a result, the confi dence to explore a wider variation of subjects. In 1882,
she began a similar series for another of Robinson’s journals, Gardening Illus-
trated. Th is one, albeit still domestic, included a less cultivated subject, and one
closer to Robinson’s own interest. ‘Wild Flowers in the House’ ran throughout
the year, concurrent with ‘Flowers and Plants in the House’, and totalled eleven