Women Who Shaped Garden History
Penelope Hobhouse is one of the most respected garden designers, historians, and authors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her work combines scholarly depth with practical wisdom, and her books have shaped how gardeners and designers think about color, history, and design.
Hobhouse managed the gardens at Tintinhull House in Somerset for the National Trust from 1980 to 1993 and used the experience as the basis for several books. Her design practice has taken her to projects in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, and her books cover an unusually wide range: garden design, color theory, garden history, and practical horticulture.
Among her most important books are Colour in Your Garden (1985), which explored the use of color in planting design with a rigor that built on Gertrude Jekyll's work; The Story of Gardening (2002), a comprehensive global history; and Penelope Hobhouse's Garden Designs (1997). She has also written about her own gardens and her design process, offering insight into how a professional designer approaches the creation of a garden.