Lady Gardeners: Seeds, Roots, Propagation, from England to the Wider World

The Lady Gardeners to whom the chapters of this book are devoted are those women who, from the eighteenth century to the present day, have been working in a garden, from imagining and creating it, to sowing, planting, pruning, painting and photographing plants, and moving from garden design to more urgent themes such as landscape conservation and environmental issues. However, and this is the reason why this collection differs from other excellent models that deal with women and gardens, the essays also dwell on the personal lives and experiences of women who have lived in gardens, and enjoyed landscape, jotting simple notes in their diaries or working as landscape architects, describing it in stories for children, portraying strange exotic plants in their paintings, assembling bunches of flowers to decorate their home, and defending such spaces with their strong commitment to preservation. From England, and its long well-documented garden history, they have moved to Africa, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, the Far East: the chapters in this book thus also confirm the vocation of the English garden that can enlarge its boundaries, transform and adapt itself to modern times and distant climates without foregoing its old roots.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Lady Gardeners, from England to the wider world – Francesca Orestano   Chapter 1: The Eighteenth Century: three princesses at Kew Gardens – Anna Zappatini   Chapter 2: Dorothy Wordsworth: a Romantic garden in the Lake District – Anna Rudelli   Chapter 3: Jane Loudon, notes on gardening for Victorian ladies – Anna Zappatini   Chapter 4: Marianne North, the world is a garden to paint – Anna Zappatini   Chapter 5: Children and Gardens by Gertrude Jekyll: training young gardeners – Anna Rudelli   Chapter 6: Beatrix Potter, playful and scientific illustrations. From Peter Rabbit to landscape conservation – Anna Rudelli   Chapter 7: Garden and Landscape in North America: Beatrix Farrand’s inscription of Eden in the wilderness of the New World – Francesca Orestano   Chapter 8: Vita Sackville-West: a garden that looks like home, from Knole to Sissinghurst – Francesca Orestano   Chapter 9: Edna Walling and her gardening work, or ‘the happiest days of my life’ – Francesca Orestano   Chapter 10: History, design, vision: Sylvia Crowe – Francesca Orestano   Chapter 11: The adventure of an exotic species: Maria Teresa Parpagliolo Shephard – Francesca Orestano   Chapter 12: Rosemary Verey: re-reading English history in the modern garden – Anna Zappatini   Chapter 13: Beth Chatto: going along with the environment, or ‘the right plant for the right place’ – Anna Zappatini

About the Author :
Francesca Orestano, Professor of English Literature at the University of Milan, works in the areas of landscape aesthetics, garden history, Victorian and Dickens studies, art criticism and John Ruskin, the gothic and the baroque, and children's literature. Michael Vickers is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and Emeritus Senior Research Fellow in Classical Studies at Jesus College (where he was once Garden Master). His research interests include the archaeology, history and literature of the Greek and Roman worlds. Francesca Orestano, Professor of English Literature at the University of Milan, works in the areas of landscape aesthetics, garden history, Victorian and Dickens studies, art criticism and John Ruskin, the gothic and the baroque, and children's literature. Michael Vickers is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and Emeritus Senior Research Fellow in Classical Studies at Jesus College (where he was once Garden Master). His research interests include the archaeology, history and literature of the Greek and Roman worlds.