Women Who Shaped Garden History
Sussex, England. The estate of William Robinson (1838–1935), the champion of the wild garden and natural planting. While Robinson created the garden, his ideas were deeply connected to those of Gertrude Jekyll, and the two influenced each other profoundly.
Robinson bought Gravetye Manor in 1884 and spent the next fifty years creating a garden that embodied his principles of naturalistic planting. He argued against the Victorian taste for formal bedding schemes and carpet bedding, advocating instead for the use of hardy plants in natural-looking arrangements. His book The Wild Garden (1870) was hugely influential, and Jekyll was one of his closest allies in the campaign for a more natural approach to gardening.
Jekyll wrote extensively for Robinson's magazine The Garden, and the two shared a belief in the importance of using plants that were naturally suited to their conditions. The philosophical alliance between Robinson and Jekyll shaped the direction of English garden design for the next century and created the context in which many of the women profiled on this site did their work.
Gravetye Manor is now a country house hotel. The garden has been restored and is open to hotel guests and visitors.