The Well-Connected Gardener

284 garden history 39 : 2 were apt to be less architectural in layout than 5 George s. elgood and Gertrude Jekyll, those she designed with Lutyens’ (p. 18). in Some English Gardens (London: Longman, contrast, where appropriate, Jekyll’s designs Green & Co., 1906). included hard ground effects and were strongly 6 Michael J. Tooley, ‘Gertrude Jekyll as architectural. she was an excellent draughtsman, landscape gardener’, in Michael J. Tooley (ed.), working out layouts on cartridge paper and Gertrude Jekyll; Artist, Gardener, Craftswoman sending copies on tracing paper to her clients. (witton-le-wear: Michaelmas, 1984), pp. 63– examples in england include sandbourne (1911), 85 (pp. 70, 76). Drayton wood (1920) and west Barsham Hall 7 susan e. schnare and rudy J. Favretti, (1922);6 and, in the United states of America, ‘Gertrude Jekyll’s American gardens’, in The Groesbeck Place in Perintown, Ohio.7 Michael Tooley and Primrose Arnander The text of Gertrude Jekyll and the Country (eds), Gertrude Jekyll: Essays in the Life House Garden is enlivened by many quotations, of a Working Amateur (witton-le-wear: only some of which have attributions. it is a Michaelmas, 1995), pp. 163–74. pity Tankard did not follow the form adopted 8 richard Bisgrove, William Robinson: The in Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement Wild Gardener (London: Frances Lincoln, enabling the reader to find a source for each 2008), p. 250. quotation. However, we must give thanks that the author avoided the invitation in a recent book on robinson that ‘The author would be willing sue Minter, The Well-Connected Gardener: A to help anyone seeking to track down a specific Biography of Alicia Amherst, Founder of reference.’8 it would also have been helpful if the Garden History (Brighton: Book Guild, captions to the illustrations carried details of the 2010), 124 pp., 31 black-and-white illus., photographer, the date and an article reference. it 32 colour illus., £16.99 (hbk), ISBN 978-1- is necessary to look on the verso of the title page 84624-513-8 in the preliminaries to find an incomplete list of articles. For example, an article on Bishopbarns sue Minter’s The Well-Connected Gardener is the was published in Country Life, 28/706 (1910) and first biography of Alicia Amherst (1865–1941), the ‘Cumulative index for Country Life volumes a keen horticulturist turned historian whose i to CLXVIII to December 1980’ shows that there books are all but forgotten today. One reason for are innumerable articles on the gardens of houses Amherst’s obscurity is the number of names under listed here but not used. it would have been helpful which she wrote. Her first book, A History of to have had a note on the selection criteria. Gardening in England (1895), was written under Finally there are some inconsistencies and the name Alicia M. T. Amherst, but by the third text errors; e.g. on p. 123 Stachys byzantina but edition (1909) the author’s name had changed to on p. 130 Stachys lanata; on p. 130 spiraeas is Alicia M. Cecil or the Hon. Mrs evelyn Cecil. misspelt; and on p. 190 strict nomenclature To add to the confusion, her last books – Wild requires Nymphaea ‘Marliacea Albida’ and N. Flowers of the Great Dominions of the British ‘Marliacea Chromatella’. such errors, however, Empire (1935), Some Canadian Wildflowers are more than redeemed by the colour and black- (1937), and Historic Gardens of England (1938) and-white photographs which, now accessible, – were written under the name The Lady rockley. will be a great source of inspiration to garden Few readers, including librarians, are aware that designers and historians, for these photographs they are all the same person. Another reason do indeed ‘capture the enduring magic of Jekyll’s for Amherst’s obscurity is that until recently creative genius’. her archives have been in storage at the Chelsea Physic Garden or in the possession of her family. m i c h a e l t o o l e y As the author states in her Preface: ‘Alicia Downfield House, Down Law, Ladybank, Amherst is not a well-known name in horticultural Cupar, Fife KY15 7TG, UK history, unlike her near contemporaries, ellen Email: [email protected] willmott and Gertrude Jekyll, though she published far more than the former and as much as the latter.’ Although there is some truth to r e f e r e n c e s this general statement, by no means did Amherst 1 Judith B. Tankard and Michael r. van produce the body of work that Jekyll did – six valkenburgh, Gertrude Jekyll: A Vision of books and a handful of articles versus twelve Garden and Wood (London: John Murray, books and nearly 1,000 articles. As the wife of a 1989). Tory minister, Amherst had substantial political 2 Judith B. Tankard and Martin A. wood, interests and supported charitable endeavours in Gertrude Jekyll at Munstead Wood (stroud: addition to pursuing her passions for horticulture sutton, 1996). and scholarship. Of these three women, Amherst 3 Judith B. Tankard, Gardens and the Arts was undoubtedly the most scholarly in her and Crafts Movement (New York: Harry N. approach; her books reflect her love of research Abrams, 2003). and quest for original documentation. But despite 4 Gertrude Jekyll and Lawrence weaver, their usefulness, Amherst’s books quickly slipped Gardens for Small Country Houses (London: into oblivion because she was not the eloquent Country Life, 1912). and inspiring writer that Jekyll was. reviews 285 Minter is well qualified to write this brief intellect whose books need to be dusted off the biography. she comes armed with academic shelf again or even reissued. Thanks to Minter’s degrees as well as horticultural training. Before book garden historians will now have a chance being appointed Horticultural Director of the to study this remarkable woman’s life and her eden Project in 2001, she was Director of the contributions to horticultural history. Chelsea Physic Garden for many years and also worked at the royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. j u d i t h b . t a n k a r d Like her subject, Minter has devoted her life to 1452 Beacon Street, Waban, MA 02468, USA horticultural research, but it would have been Email: [email protected] useful to place Amherst within the context of garden history and thereby justify the book’s subtitle: founder of garden history. Jane Brown, The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot Amherst was the daughter of Lord Amherst ‘Capability’ Brown 1716–1783 (London: of Hackney (Conservative MP for west Norfolk) Chatto & windus, 2011), 384 pp., illus. in and spent her childhood at Didlington Hall, colour and black-and-white, £20.00 (hbk), Norfolk, where she was first exposed to estate ISBN 9780701182120 gardens and horticulture. Her early interest in history was the result of her father’s extensive Lancelot Brown was, and remains, a landscape library, which she acknowledged in her first book, designer about whom it is relatively easy to know and her early exposure to antiquities collections. a little – of his life, his landscaping style, his As a child, she and her sisters were imbued with working methods, his supporters and detractors a sense of social responsibility, plus she also was – but a good deal more difficult to know a lot. well travelled – her mother’s family had deep Much was written about him either by those connections with egyptian archaeologists. Like who knew him, or as often by those who did not, many young women of her era, Amherst sketched and the results of both have always to be read landscapes and plants on her travels abroad. it with an eye to the background and apparent was at the suggestion of Percy Newberry, a family intentions of the author. A sense of his relations friend who wrote articles for the Gardener’s with his clients can similarly be gleaned from the Chronicle, that she began her first book on surviving letters which he and they exchanged, english gardens. The importance of A History of but he appears to have been almost intentionally Gardening in England lies in the fact that it begins secretive in his dealings with his many foremen earlier than most books on the subject, mainly and superintendents and relatively few detailed because of her father’s antiquarian interests. Her records of the day-to-day management of his many book was authoritative and intellectual with commissions and contracts have been found. scholarly references and an exhaustive annotated Dorothy stroud first established Brown’s bibliography of records on english gardens until reputation as a landscape designer in her seminal 1837, and today it is still a valued resource. First Capability Brown (1950) and in so doing set the published in a small edition by Bernard Quaritch benchmark for future studies both of the man and in 1895, it was reprinted the following year. This of his legacy. Copious new evidence has emerged still remains her most relevant book, although it since then, much of it derived from field evidence, is long out of print. which would not have been readily available in addition to writing books, Amherst in the 1950s when garden history was treated delivered scholarly papers, wrote for various more-or-less as an adjunct to architectural and/ journals, participated in plant-collecting or art history. A more detailed understanding of expeditions for Kew and was an accomplished some of his designs is thus now possible, but still botanical artist. she was an outspoken advocate a detailed appreciation of Brown the man has for women in horticulture during a period when eluded his chroniclers.

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