Description
Book SynopsisThe 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 ContentsIntroduction: 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
