Back to top

    Gertrude Jekyll Google doodle marks 174th birthday of the famous British horticulturist

    Google invited British artist Ben Lewis Giles to create the colorful image celebrating Jekyll.

    Gertrude Jekyll Featured Image

    Today’s Google doodle is a callout to British horticulturist and garden designer Gertrude Jekyll.

    Google says that Jekyll was born on this date 174 years ago in London and spent most of her life in Surrey, England, planting enchanting gardens.

    “As a student, she took inspiration from the landscapes of English Romantic painter J.M.W. Turner, capturing the seasons, the light, the textures, and the hues of every growing thing on her canvases,” writes the Google doodle team on the doodle blog, “Jekyll brought that painterly sensibility to her life’s work, designing about 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the US.”

    Leading to a search for “Gertrude Jekyll,” the doodle was designed by British artist Ben Lewis Giles. If you look closely at the image, you’ll notice Jekyll standing on the left, watching her garden grow.

    Gertrude Jekylls 174th Birthday

    Google also shared four of Giles’ preliminary artworks that led to today’s final design:

    Gertrude1

    Gertrude2

    Gertrude3

    Gertrude4

    The doodle is currently posted on Google’s home page in the US and the United Kingdom, along with a handful of other countries, including Canada, Hungary, Iceland, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Cuba.


    Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. Contributor was not asked to make any direct or indirect mentions of Semrush. The opinions they express are their own.


    About the Author

    Amy Gesenhues
    Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.