Dr. Catherine Horwood
Gardening Women
Their Stories from 1600 to the Present
Published by Virago in paperback
"A lively, superbly researched and highly enjoyable survey" — Literary Review
"Horwood has done a terrific, pioneering job. Beautifully structured and cogently written, Gardening Women is as rich, full and lasting as potpourri. Neither gardens, nor women, will seem quite the same again" — Frances Wilson, The Sunday Times
"Ambitious and packed with lovely detail and quirky stories" — Mail on Sunday
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.
An energetic, meticulously researched and wonderfully varied book, Catherine has uncovered some extraordinary gardening women and their stories. This book unearths the hidden history of female horticulturalists and introduces an absorbing debate surrounding women's place in the garden and in society as a whole.
Some gardening gems include:
- The story of Beatrix Potter, barred from submitting research to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew because she was a woman. Disheartened, it was only then that turned her hand to writing books for children.
- Why the Bramley apple should be called the Brailsford apple since it was first planted by Mary Ann Brailsford in 1809, who later sold her home to a local butcher, Matthew Bramley.
Dr Catherine Horwood is honorary research fellow of the Bedford Centre
for the History of Women. She has won numerous prizes for her own gardens,
as well as being honorary assistant organiser of the National Gardens
Scheme. Catherine is a fantastic speaker, has appeared on BBC Radio and
is often called upon to speak on gardening history.
Tickets: £3 (includes a glass of wine or a soft drink) Phone Bourne End Library (0845 2303232) to reserve a seat then pay at the door.
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