Women And Their Gardens

From the golden age in English history to today s gardeners and designers, this volume recognizes women s contributions to gardening in Britain and around the worldspanning more than four centuries. Despite growing vegetables for their kitchens, tending herbs for their medicine cupboards, and teaching other women about the craft before agricultural schools officially existed, women have been mere footnotes in the horticultural annals for specimens collected abroad. These pioneers influence on the style of gardens in the present day is illustrated here in a style both accessible and scholarly. Presenting a rare bouquet, this collection shares the stories of more than 200 women who have been involved withgarden design, plant collecting, flower arranging, botanical art, garden writing, and education."

Countless garden books tell us what, when, where and how to plant. Few explore the reasons why gardening becomes central to so many people's lives. In Garden Voices, Carolyn Rapp explores the relationships of women with their gardens, revealing sources of joy that go far beyond the pleasure of harvesting flowers, herbs or vegetables. As the 12 women tell their stories, readers will share the heartache and triumph set within plots of lovingly cultivated land. Everyone who reads Garden Voices will hear a whisper of themselves in the words of these creative, courageous, wise women. This is not just a book for people who love gardens; it's for people who love stories.

From Flora, Roman goddess of plants, to today's gardeners at Kew, women have always gardened. Women gardeners have grown vegetables for their kitchens and herbs for their medicine cupboards. They have been footnotes in the horticultural annals for specimens collected abroad. They taught young women about gardening twenty-five years before women's horticultural schools officially existed. And their influence on the style of our gardens, frequently unacknowledged, survives to the present day. From these triumphs to the battles fought against male-dominated institutions, from the horticultural pioneers to the bringers of change in society's attitudes, this book is a celebration of the best of the species -- gardening women.

Eighteen masters of American gardening open the gates to their beloved gardens--and to their more than 1,000 collective years of horticultural passion, wisdom, and knowledge--in this exquisitely photographed gift book for every gardener to treasure. 250 color photos.

Charles Valley’s legendary dowagers, the three Miss Margarets, have lost one of their own: Peggy Garrison, who married into a huge fortune but was constantly overshadowed by the legacy her husband’s first wife, the great Myrtis Garrison. When Peggy’s will is read, the news of who will take over the Garrison fortune shakes the town to its core. To everyone’s shock, Peggy has left all of the Garrison holdings–the world-famous botanical gardens, the massive resort, and the lovely Garrison “Cottage,” where FDR once visited–to the town’s down-and-out wild child, Laurel Selene McCready. Laurel was like a daughter to Miss Peggy, but the last thing she wants to do is step into Miss Peggy’s shoes as the wealthiest, most powerful person in town, especially since the Garrison fortune never bought Peggy any happiness. On top of that, when Laurel reluctantly explores her hew home, the storied Garrison Cottage, she discovers that mysteries abound when it comes to the great Miss Myrtis. What clues are hidden in an old suitcase containing a child’s dress and sheet music dating back to the Southern Vaudeville circuit? Who is the elderly woman outside Atlanta who has been keeping track of the Garrison estate’s every development via the Charles Valley Gazette? And how will Laurel avoid the fate of her two predecessors whose secrets have far greater implications than Laurel could ever have imagined? Culminating in an unforgettable sleight of hand, proving that behind every great fortune there is a great crime, The Ladies of Garrison Gardens is as page-turning and irresistible as its predecessor.

An elegant new edition of a classic book from one of the twentieth century's greatest garden writers. This landmark work on creating a garden was first published in 1956 and has rarely been out of print since. We Made a Garden is the story of how Margery Fish, one of the leading British gardeners of the mid-20th century, and her husband Walter transformed an acre of wilderness into a stunning cottage garden, still open to the public at East Lambrook Manor, Somerset, England. Quirky and readable, this book details her creation of a world-renowned cottage garden, as well as her battles with Walter in the process, who preferred the standard suburban approach. In this beautiful and timeless work, she recounts the trials and tribulations, the successes and failures of her venture with ease and humour. Topics covered are colourful and diverse, ranging from the most suitable hyssop for the terraced garden through composting, hedges and making paths to the best time to lift and replant tulip bulbs. This book has been hailed as everything from a blueprint for the creation of a modern cottage garden to a feminist manifesto, and the author's practical knowledge, imaginative ideas and general good sense will encourage and inspire gardeners everywhere.

This that I now tell is as I saw my mothers do, or did myself, when I was young. My mothers were industrious women, and our family had always good crops; and I will tell now how the women of my father's family cared for their fields, as I saw them, and helped them. --Buffalo Bird Woman

The Earth in Her Hands celebrates the important contributions women make to the wide world of plants—in the fields of horticulture, environmental science, botany, floral design, farming, landscape architecture, herbalism, food justice, and more.

Women and Gardens celebrates the achievements of women in gardening and horticultural history. Today, women outnumber men in landscape architecture and related fields. But for centuries, male historians overlooked women's important contributions to horticulture. During her long and distinguished career, feminist historian Susan Groag Bell (1926-2015) published several seminal works on women's place in history and how it had been written out. Upon her death, Bell left behind a fascinating, unfinished project, exploring women's roles as gardeners and founders of horticultural schools. Now, horticultural historian Judith M. Taylor has completed Bell's work. Women and Gardens expands upon Bell's original research and features new material from Taylor-including a full chapter on the accomplishments of women flower breeders and a comprehensive listing of women rose breeders in Australia. In Women and Gardens, Taylor and Bell offer gardening and horticulture enthusiasts an exclusive look into the previously unexplored world of women and gardens. Order your copy today. ----- Praise for Judith M. Taylor's Work "For many years, the distinguished pioneer feminist historian, Susan Groag Bell, was fascinated with women's involvement with gardens, gardeners themselves and also as teachers through the schools they established for other women. Over the years she had worked on this project but hadn't completed it at the time of her death. Now the superb horticultural historian, Judith Taylor, using and expanding Susan's material, has created a joint work devoted to the extremely interesting and important world of women and gardens." - Dr. Peter Stansky, Frances and Charles Field Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University "One of the most important studies in garden plant history in English for a long time...for anyone interested in the history of garden plants and plantmanship it is essential reading." - Noel Kingsbury on Taylor's Visions of Loveliness ----- About the Cover The famous early twentieth century artist Childe Hassam painted Celia Thaxter's garden in the Isles of Shoals off the Maine coast in 1896. Thaxter was a noted poet in her day. She ran an hotel on Appledore Island and planted many flowers to decorate the hotel's rooms. Writers and artists spent their summers at the resort.