100 women who shaped North America’s gardening heritage
320pp, RRP £36.99
If you had told me that the first President of the United States, George Washington, asked a woman to help him design his greenhouse, I probably wouldn’t have believed it, imagining how sexist 18th-century American society could be. But that was before I read Stefan White’s latest book.
Heroines of Horticulture. A Celebration of Women Who Shaped North America’s Gardening Heritage, published by Schiffer Publishing and available from Tuesday 28 January 2025, not only changed my perspective but also opened up an entire world – uncovering the stories of pioneering botanists whose achievements had been forgotten for centuries. Now, these stories are finally recognised and collected in a publication that has been for me – and I am sure will be for you too – a brilliant revelation.
As the title suggests, Heroines of Horticulture celebrates 100 pioneering women who have deeply influenced, developed and shaped North America’s horticultural heritage. The need to collect these biographies arises from the fact that, for centuries, the credit for horticultural development has been given almost exclusively to men.
The book begins with an enlightening analysis of the state of education in the US and Canada in the late 19th century. For 200 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower in 1620, women were not admitted to colleges or universities. They could engage in basic gardening without formal training, but studying botany, landscape architecture or garden design was not an option. Enthusiastic women who undertook significant projects in the study of plants were not taken seriously because they lacked formal qualifications. However, when higher educational opportunities became available around 1840, women began making their mark through research and other contributions.
Among these 100 women there are landscape architects, naturalists, botanists, writers, plant hunters, collectors, garden designers, artists, journalists, nursery women, plant breeders, landscape photographers, businesswomen, horticultural school funders, conservationists, ecologists, broadcasters and botanical scientists.
Not only did they distinguish themselves in the field of horticulture, but they also campaigned for women’s rights, challenging the social norms of the time that tried to keep women on the margins of scientific development and confined to the home. By forging their way into the North American academic world, these 100 pioneers advanced gender equality, becoming feminists without even knowing the meaning of the word.
Each biography, accompanied by a photograph or a portrait painted by artist Pablo Jose Martinez, draws the reader into a new world. As you progress through the book, White not only takes you forward in time, from the early 1700s to the late twentieth century. Page after page, the author also invites you to open new doors, celebrate new achievements and fight new battles.
One of my favorite stories is that of Buffalo Bird Woman (ca. 1839–1932), a member of the Hidatsa tribe of Native Americans. Her story proves that horticulture wasn’t just a privilege of the highest American society – where many women in the book come from – but an integral part of tribal culture.
Another remarkable figure is Margaret Tilghman Carroll (1742–1817), who helped design George Washington’s greenhouse for his renowned gardens at Mount Vernon after the first US president personally sought her advice.
Among these 100 women, many were pioneers in their fields. Elizabeth Lamboll (1725–1760) was the first woman in America to hybridise flowers; Susan Hallowell (1835–1911) was the first woman in North America to establish a botany department; and Annie Linda Jack (1839–1912) became Canada’s first professional female horticultural writer, to name a few.
But we also have many “firsts.” Full stop. Like Martha Daniell Logan (1704–1779), the first person to publish a gardening calendar in colonial America, who opens this book. Or Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer (1851–1934), who introduced the term “landscape gardening.” Or, again, incredible women like Wanda Kirkbride Farr (1895–1983), who discovered the mechanism by which cellulose forms in plant cell walls, and Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discovery of genetic transposition.
So, why are these 100 women heroines? Because they were brave, determined, creative, and, most of all, influential. They overcame barriers imposed on them simply for being women, making a difference that is now finally recognised in this book. A read that is both captivating and inspiring.
