Gertrude Jekyll smells as good as everyone says it does!
Andrea zone 9b
11 months ago
I‘m loving this rose! Ive heard it can’t handle too much heat, so I will likely have to move it soon.
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sautesmom Sacramento
11 months ago
Steve_M in PA
11 months agolast modified: 11 months agoRelated Discussions
Gertrude Jekyll on the forum... :-)
Comments (11)timbu - I like playing with 'making pictures' too and usually have to rework them when they turn out wimpier than I expected them to, or as growth and maturity of the plants change the picture. Jekyll also had a 'pretty incidents' category - for small groupings that she didn't consider worthy of the label 'picture'. I'm not sure where the line gets drawn between those two, so probably a lot of my pictures are just incidents! I try to keep a lot of the pictures fairly simple in terms of a limited number of plants but try for striking but comfortable color effects. I like her comment: "In the case of my own garden, as far as deliberate intention goes, what is aimed at is something quite simple and devoid of complication; generally one thing or a very limited number of flowering things at a time, but that one, or those few things, carefully placed to avoid fuss, and to please the eye and ease the mind. In many cases the aim has been to show some delightful color combination without regard to the other considerations that go to the making of a more ambitious picture." And this comment: "If I have dwelt rather insistently on matters of color, it is not that I underrate the equal importance of form and proportion, but that I think that the question of color, as regards its more careful use, is either more commonly neglected or has fewer exponents. As in all matters relating to design in gardening, the good placing of plants in detail is a matter of knowledge of an artistic character. The shaping of every group of plants, to have the best effect, should not only be definitely intended but should be done with an absolute conviction by the hand that feels the 'drawing' that the group must have in relation to what is near, or to the whole form of the clump or border or whatever the nature of the place may be." By 'drawing' she meant "a right movement of line and form and group" that is necessary to provide "life, spirit, and reasonable justification" to the thing shown. (She also said "I am only too well aware that to many this statement may convey no idea whatsoever.") I'm not sure I understand it all either, but I do try to aim for what I think it means! I think many people have a very simplistic idea that Jekyll was all about masses of colorful flowers, when she was advocating something far more carefully considered than that....See MoreRemember my Gertrude Jekyll?
Comments (31)As for Gertrude Jeckyll, younger plants of GT tend to be pretty much once bloomers. However as they mature they are more likely to repeat. They will never be continuous bloomers, or anything like that, but you will get some repeat after several years. It is true that I live in a gentler climate than Lisa does, but if I recall accurately, Niels also had some repeat, and Lisa lives in a gentler climate than he does. Well, maybe not. I was thinking Ohio, but Lisa lives in Oklahoma. The deep midwest has an extreme climate, as I understand. I've never lived there myself. I've had other roses that behaved this way -- Pierre de Ronsard (Cl Eden) being one. As young plants they are essentially once bloomers. As time goes on they develop some remontancy. Rosefolly...See MoreBook Club: Gertrude Jekyll's Lost Garden
Comments (35)If you want to look at the Upton Grey gardens as a sort of living museum, the "unnatural" and "time-warp" comments are irrelevant. Many aspects of life as lived a hundred years ago would seem that way today: fashion, social conventions, etc. GJ herself would have been an anomaly, an independent thinker, and unmarried, though she did have the support of her well-off family. As a private garden for even the most enthusiastic gardener of moderate means, it's totally impractical. Could you imagine doing the tennis lawn maintenance she describes annually? In that sense, the time warp comment is apt. GJ was designing gardens at a time when household servants and gardeners were still affordable. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) it was around WWI that social changes in Britain made it impossible to find household help cheaply. I'm struck by the author's commitment to see the project through and admire her courage. She made a lot of mistakes (some of them over and over, inexplicably, like the pond debacle and the repeated planting of cannas too early) but you've got to give her a lot of credit for putting herself out there and risking embarrassment before the stream of gardening bigwigs who came to see her efforts in the early years. I personally don't think I could live with the restrictions she puts on herself regarding plant materials. Her strict adherence to the original plan and plant selections are the only way to give garden visitors a look at an authentic GJ garden, but I'm sure the designer would be using modern improved varieties if she were alive today. Especially with the thugs and disease prone roses. Yuck. Jo...See MoreGertrude Jekyll or Compte De Chabord?
Comments (7)I've only grown Gertrude Jekyll of these two for a period of time (Gertie is five years old this year, six growing seasons). Mine has a good flush of spring bloom with the most wonderful, pure, and full-bodied rose scent one could hope for. The blooms aren't the nicest shape or form. She is confident in her severely prickly nature and demands respect in close quarters. Mine is own-root from David Austin Roses USA and has just really settled in over years four to five. She now has four canes that are taller than I (5'8") that will give me some room for the inevitable die-back our extreme weather patterns and variations induce. She is decently hardy for me, but certainly not "tip-hardy". Her rebloom is unimpressive here, and I'm not in a "hot" climate, but that's moot for me personally because Japanese beetles destroy the blooms as soon as the sepals drop. Gertie does blackspot here, and she is currently going about half-nude, but that is a very recent development. She stayed nicely clothed most of the summer, bless her heart! She will set hips if not dead-headed. Comte de Chambord is an own-root addition this year that I may move to a different location from where I have it presently. I cannot comment to performance/blooming as I have not gotten blooms yet. It does have black spot as well. *I'd recommend Bishop's Castle over dear Gertrude for floriferousness, fewer prickles, more attractive foliage, better formed "poofy" blooms, much better rebloom, and still possessing a luscious and intense "buttery rose" scent as I'd call it. Oh, and Bishop's Castle is only in its first growing season with me, and has already out-bloomed Gertie by a notable margin.* Steven...See MoreAndrea zone 9b
11 months agoAndrea zone 9b
11 months agoAndrea zone 9b
11 months agoAndrea zone 9b
11 months agoAndrea zone 9b
11 months agoMarika Rose
11 months ago
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