A major figure in the development of garden design, Gertrude Jekyll did not set out to make gardening her career. In her late teens, she had enrolled as a student at the Kensington School of Art, a bold step for a young lady in mid Victorian times. She had always loved flowers, and friendship with gardening neighbours encouraged her interest. She contributed articles to the gardening press, and these were later published in book form. She brought to garden design an artist's good taste, a knowledge of rural tradition and a respect for craftsmanship, and especially of the architect's craft, which so marks her work with Lutyens.