Boston Flora

The Arts and Crafts Movement sought a return to vernacular traditions in the face of increasing industrialization. It thrived for two decades or so around the turn of the twentieth century, although its effect is still obvious today in many decorative arts. In the garden, the movement was most clearly articulated through the work of William Robinson (1838-1935) and Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932). Their example was followed by a plethora of British architects and designers into the middle of the 20th century and beyond, and their influence spread to Europe, the US and further afield. What we today identify as Arts and Crafts gardens are perhaps typified by a geometric layout of compartments in close relationship with the house, alongside the use of architectural features in local materials and abundant, color-themed planting.

In this series, we will examine the origins of the Arts and Crafts garden, consider the work of Robinson and Jekyll in detail, and survey some of the many other British garden-makers who were influenced by the movement. The series will end with an international flavor, exploring the work of an American designer who was a life-long admirer of Robinson and Jekyll.

This ticket is for this individual talk (Click HERE) costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire fifth series of 5 talks in our History of Gardens Course at £35 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25). Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. Ticket sales close 4 hours before the talk.

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link, please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

Talk Four will take place March 25 with Jill Sinclair. Gertrude Jekyll described herself as working with a small band of contemporaries on ‘the revival of the right principles of garden design in England.’ So popular did these principles become that the small band became a multitude, seeking to emulate Jekyll’s approach and to create gardens in what is now often known as an Arts and Crafts style.

This talk will survey some of the most successful of these professional designers – from those early contemporaries of Jekyll such as H. Avray Tipping and Harold Peto – through to later figures including Norah Lindsay and Kitty Lloyd Jones. We’ll also examine the work of homeowners who poured a lifetime’s amateur devotion into a single plot. The talk will include gardens from across the UK and further afield, starting with those created in the 1880s and running into the 1950s. We’ll consider how far the chosen garden-makers followed the original precepts of the Arts and Crafts movement and why the appeal of this style of garden-making endures so strongly even today.

Jill Sinclair is a US-trained garden historian. She teaches garden history for Oxford University and is a trustee of the Gardens Trust, managing its extensive education and training program. Based in Sheffield, Jill is working with a local charity to restore an Arts and Crafts garden designed by Percy Cane in the 1920s.

Image: Easton Lodge, designed by Harold Peto, from Gardens Old and New (1900), Wikimedia Commons, public domain