National Trust’s Munstead Wood Florilegium Project

Clematis montana by Jackie Gwyther

42cm x 29.7cm, oil on canvas

Created with investment from the National Trust, which commissioned this artwork as part of the Munstead Wood Florilegium, with the kind cooperation of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA)

A Signature Plant of Gertrude Jekyll

In late spring the Clematis montana bursts into a profusion of four-petaled delicate flowers in shades of white, pink or rose.  This vigorous, deciduous climber was used to great effect by Gertrude Jekyll in her Munstead Wood garden, where it softens the architectural features of the house and cascades through trees and structures in the garden. It perfectly embodies her Arts and Crafts philosophy of harmonizing architecture and nature.

Spring and Woodland Gardens

She often planted clematis at the base of trees or bushes, transforming a worn-out apple, uninspiring holly or silver birch, into flowing compositions of glorious leaves and flowers.  Beautiful examples can be seen in the Spring Garden and the Woodland Garden. As the blooms fade, they release a wonderful vanilla-like fragrance that drifts through the air, enhancing the sensory experience of the space.

It is also found gracing the walls of the Spring Garden and house, contributing to the relaxed charm of the cottage garden aesthetic.

The Iconic North Court Garland

The highlight of any visit to Munstead Wood is the striking floral swag of Clematis montana, found in the shady north facing court garden (North court).

Jekyll cleverly trained the Clematis into a dramatic visual display of looping streamers and garlands along a horizontal beam.  It is well documented in her ‘Colour in the Flower Garden’ article and has become an iconic image among Jekyll enthusiasts. 

Snowdrop Tree or Mountain Silverbell (Halesia monicola) by Jackie Gwyther SBAF

42cm x 29.7cm, oil on canvas

Created with investment from the National Trust, which commissioned this artwork as part of the Munstead Wood Florilegium, with the kind cooperation of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA)

Gertrude Jekyll’s Munstead Wood garden is home to three Snowdrop Trees, one nestled in the woodland garden and two more standing gracefully by the lawn beside the house. These ornamental trees offer visual interest in all seasons, but each are undoubtedly at their most captivating in May and June, when they burst into clusters of crisp, white, bell-shaped pendulous flowers set among simple green ovate leaves.  During a visit, I had the good fortune to see them resplendent in bright spring sunshine. It was a joy to admire their beauty, observe industrious bees collecting pollen, and contemplate the challenge of capturing this fleeting moment in paint.

“The first purpose of a garden is to be a place of quiet beauty such as will give delight to the eye and repose and refreshment to the mind.” Gertrude Jekyll, A Gardener’s Testament

Jekyll, though best known as a horticulturist and garden designer, was also a gifted artist and craftswoman. She embodied the Arts and Crafts ethos, which prized fine craftsmanship and celebrated the simplicity, utility, and beauty of nature.

Touring her home at Munstead Wood, Jekyll’s artistic touch is evident throughout, particularly in the exquisite inlay work on her workroom door, her most valued room, decorated with repeating floral motifs. Similar inlays can be found on other cupboard doors in the house, showing her love for rhythm and natural form.

Her sketchbooks (1843–1932), held by the RHS Lindley Collection, further reveal her deep engagement with decorative design and garden aesthetics. I was particularly drawn to her Trailing Vine wallpaper pattern (1875) and a floral-and-leaf spray tile design. These works, now reimagined as RHS fabric patterns, demonstrate how she allowed plants to flow naturally across the surface, valuing the negative space as much as the motifs themselves.

In my painting of the Snowdrop Tree, I aimed to express Jekyll’s dual mastery as both craftswoman and horticulturalist. Inspired by her floral patterns, I composed the branches to suggest a rhythmic, decorative inlay, with non-overlapping flowers and carefully considered negative spaces. To highlight the purity and delicacy of the blooms, I chose a viewpoint from beneath the tree, allowing the white blossoms to stand out against a radiant ultramarine sky. The sunlight enhances the petals’ subtle tonal shifts and brings luminescence to the scene.

Monuments are often seen as fixed points in time, commemorating shared values and collective history. Trees, however, offer a different kind of monumentality, one that exists in tension with the ephemeral. They stand for decades, some even centuries, yet they are never static; they grow, decay, and transform with the seasons. This duality is at the heart of my ongoing project, Extraordinary Trees of Sevenoaks, which explores the evocative power of trees, capturing their grandeur while acknowledging their impermanence.

Through this project, I aim to create a multi-layered artistic experience, combining a book, an exhibition, and an interactive Instagram platform featuring emotive oil paintings of remarkable trees in my area. Each painting is infused with personal narrative and imagined history, drawing attention to the tree’s role as both a witness to time and a fleeting moment of natural beauty. To further engage viewers, my images will be accompanied by maps and suggested walking routes, pinpointing each tree’s exact location using the What3Words app. By physically visiting these trees, observers can experience their scale, texture, and presence in real-time. My paintings are deeply personal responses to these trees. However, by transforming the countryside into an open-air exhibition space, I invite viewers to make their own interpretations. Through Instagram, I hope to extend this dialogue, encouraging visitors to share their thoughts, photos, and artistic responses inspired by these trees, documenting their own ephemeral encounters with nature.

Many of the trees featured in this project can be found in the beautiful landscape of Knole Park, part of the National Trust estate in Sevenoaks, Kent (TN15 0RP). I have an enduring affection for this historic deer park, which I walk through almost daily. Its diverse landscapes, ancient woodland, dry heathland, acid grassland, and wood pasture, offer endless inspiration. Knole Park’s trees embody both resilience and vulnerability. Each season brings a new perspective, reminding us that even the most enduring landscapes are in constant flux.

I have plans to capture a diverse range of remarkable specimens across Sevenoaks. Among them are a fire-damaged hollow beech, a ‘dancing’ hornbeam, a sweet chestnut adorned with basal burrs, a 200-year-old sycamore, and a beech with an intricate exposed root system. Each tree tells a story of endurance and change, standing as a testament to both time’s passage and nature’s quiet strength.