WW1 and Horticulture

[Joy Lynch]

There is a small but interesting exhibition in the British Library , entitled The Writer In The Garden. The space devoted to WW1 memorials and gardens is in my opinion, quite inadequate, but the general exhibition is worth a visit. I could not find much reference to Lutyens and Jekyll but maybe it is there somewhere. I will be returning to check.

Apparently, after the first and second World Wars, there was a resurgence in garden maintenance due to a reaction to the damage to the landscapre previusly,

Many influential garden designers derived inspiration from the horrors of WW1 and WW2.

At this small but interesting exhibition many poets are quoted.

However, - disappointing space given to WW1, the poppies etc.

Nevertheless, worth a visit re literature and horticulture.

[swizz]

If anyone is interested in the horticultural aspect of the cemeteries, there's quite a good article in the academic journal Ecumene from a few years ago. Well written and not heavy on academic jargon. Here's the reference:

Mandy S. Morris, 'Gardens "For ever England": landscape, identity and the First World War British Cemeteries on the Western Front,' Ecumene, Vol. 4, No. 4 (1997), pp 410 - 433.

[Half-pint]

Re: Garden Influences after WWI:

When our grandparents emigrated to Windsor, Ontario (Canada) in 1919, Grandma immediately set to recreating her gardens from home (Croydon, Surrey) ... cedar hedges marking out garden rooms, allées, small orchard, nuttery (walnuts), brambles, etc. on 2-1/2 acres. She lived for that garden.

Re: the question of garden design after the Great War, none of my books addresses the subject per se. However, the following books have excerpts which might be helpful:

- "The Latest Country Gardens," by George Plumptre, pub. The Bodley Head Ltd., London (1988),

- "Arts and Crafts Gardens," by Wendy Hitchmough, pub. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York (1997), and

- "A Place in the Country," by John Brookes, pub. Thames and Hudson, London (1984).

The second book (Hitchmough) addresses primarily the period 1880 to early 1900s, but does address the post-Great War period in a few pages, including these themes:

- "... Women of all social backgrounds were liberated by the war effort, which encouraged them to engage in manual and professional work that had previously been the exclusive domain of men. ... The demise of the Arts and Crafts Garden in war time might be seen from a feminist perspective as a casualty of progress. ... " (pp. 196-7)

- "The proposition that the First World War blasted a chasm between the 'gardens of a golden afternoon' evoked in Jane Brown's book and the harsher realities of the 1920s and 1930s is valid in general. ... for many garden makers the war affected the detail rather than the structure of their lives: gardens were maintained by their owners and by a core staff who were too old or too young to fight." (p. 197)

- "Labour costs increased, but not as dramatically as is sometimes supposed. ..." (p. 197)

- "After the First World War the practice of building new country retreats and the customary exodus of the household with all its staff for the summer months were pared down. In Europe progressive designers of the 1920s and 1930s were committed to the opportunities and aesthetics of a Machine Age. ... Nostalgia for hand craftsmanship and cottage traditions was no longer avant-garde. They continued, nevertheless." (pp. 197-8)

ac

[Half-pint]

... and these few paragraphs from pp 18-19 of "The Latest Country Gardens," by Plumptre:

" Country-house gardens before the war, with a few notable exceptions, were conventional and, in many cases, dull. They were ornamental and important principally for the role they played in the country-house way of life that emerged as the Victorians turned from making money to enjoying it and that managed to survive the 1914-18 war, if in somewhat reduced circumstances. There were usually some special architectural features: sunken gardens with terraces or retaining walls, gateways, small buildings or pergolas, not only because building materials and labour were cheap, but also because of the widespread influence and popularity of the style evolved by the partnership of Gertrude Jekyll and Sir Edwin Lutyens. In attempts to emulate the planting skills of Gertrude Jekyll herbaceous borders became almost obligatory, as were formal rose gardens filled with neat beds of hybrid tea varieties. Contrary to the belief that William Robinson, the militant advocate of a natural style of gardening, had single-handed dealt a fatal blow to Victorian carpet-bedding during the twilight years of the nineteenth century, it survived with vigour into the twentieth, the greenhouses of many gardens monotonously continuing to turn out hundreds of plants to provide a display of spring annuals followed by one of gaudy summer plants.

" If anything new was introduced into gardens in the inter-war years it was perhaps more recreation than before. Wide lawns, shaded in places by ancient cedars, were battlegrounds for croquet which at this time reached the height of its popularity. Alternatively there was tennis, on the grass courts whose quality was being steadily improved by advances in grass seeds, weedkillers and lawn mowers. More of a novelty were swimming pools, which, if not as widespread as they became after 1945, were certainly more ornate. In only a few cases did owners themselves do any gardening more active than 'pottering'. Gardens were looked after by gardeners, who often hardly needed to be given orders, but ran their domains smoothly from one year to the next. ..."

ac

[Half-pint]

... and finally, a question: is it generally held that memorial gardens should emulate the garden designs & principles that were extant before 1914? or do matters of expediency take precedence?

Regards,

Alison Causton