Packed with portraits, garden plans, engravings, watercolors, plant studies, and photographs, the book also features biographical information on major figures in the history of English horticulture, including Bess of Hardwick, Queen Charlotte, Frances Wolseley, and Miriam Rothschild, while theme boxes provide additional bons mots on garden trends, ranging from the development of glasshouses in the 19th century to the profusion of books now devoted to all things on gardening.Even in times when women's lives were socially restricted, gardening and its many associated hobbies provided a haven for female creativity. From collecting plant specimens and studying botany through flower painting and the creation of grottoes, mazes, and knot-gardens, to the wartime gardens of the 1940s and the minimalist garden designs of today, this delightful book celebrates women's achievements in a quintessentially British artform.
