Famous Women Gardeners Throughout History
When you think about some of history’s greatest gardeners, you might first think of Robert Mendel, whose work with pea plants help define laws of heredity, or Frederick Law Olmstead, the famous landscape designer who brought us Elm and Central Parks. However, men are not the only ones creating beauty and inspiring change in the garden.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
“The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. This Word manifests itself in every creature.”
Born around 1098 in what is now Germany, Hildegard of Bingen began to experience visions at a very young age. She grew up to take vows in the Benedictine Order, and her life as a nun is filled with stories of her brilliance in writing, language, philosophy, and composing.
In addition to her many skills, Hildegard was known for her prowess in healing. She approached medicine as a type of gardening, viewing the herbs she cultivated in her monastery’s gardens as directly in correlation with the functions and humors of the human body. Her work in the garden inspired much of her scientific writing, and she is still today associated with veriditas, the idea that the health of humans is directly correlated to that of the earth.
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)
“When the Queen took possession of her private domain, her interest was focused first and foremost on the garden…Marie-Antoinette set a new style, eager to create a setting for country walks and activities, reflecting her own personality: charming, modern and original.”
Former queen of France Marie Antoinette has a rather complicated legacy. While incredibly unpopular in her time, she is sometimes viewed as a victim of her circumstances under a modern lens. Whatever you may think of her personally, one thing is pretty uncontested: the woman knew her way around a garden.
Marie Antoinette had a private garden at Versailles known as The Queen’s Grove. She worked with landscape architect Michel-Barthélemy Hazon to create a place where she could wander freely, one that was focused less on the linear aesthetic as other parts of the grounds and more on the plants themselves. She imported shrubs, trees and flowers from North America, her favorite being the Virginia tulip tree.
The Queen’s Grove has been lost to time, but for those who wish to experience, there is hope: Versailles announced in 2020 that they are working on a $2 million initiative to restore Marie Antoinette’s gardens to their former glory, using the same plants and trees she so loved more than two centuries ago.
Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932)
“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.”
British-born Gertrude Jekyll is one of the most famous garden designers in modern history. Over her lifetime, she designed or planned over 400 gardens, and she was known for her use of flowering edges, vibrant varietals, and almost painterly swaths of color. She took inspiration from the Impressionist art period through which she lived, visible in the strokes of bright flowers set against verdant greenery in her garden designs.
Though very little of her work can be seen in its original glory, Gertrude Jekyll is still today considered a “premier influence in garden design” by both British and American gardening enthusiasts.
Edith Wharton
“Decidedly, I’m a better landscape gardener than novelist, and this place, every line of which is my own work, far surpasses The House of Mirth.”
Though better known for her timeless classics such as The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, writer Edith Wharton was a keen and skilled gardener. Growing up in Europe, she toured some of France and Italy’s most splendid gardens, even experiencing some designed by the great Gertrude Jekyll. She often wrote about gardens, both in her works of fiction as well as in one of her non-fiction pursuits, Italian Villas and Their Gardens.
She cultivated her own garden at her house, known as The Mount, where she lived with her husband, Edward “Teddy” Robbins Wharton. Her garden designs tended to break the popular mold: biographer Louis Auchincloss wrote, “In gardens and houses where it was fashionable to be haphazard and cluttered, she was chaste, classical and historically sound.”
Audrey Hepburn
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”
Audrey Hepburn may best be known as a star of the silver screen, but she shined in many other places. Hepburn was an avid gardener, and she made sure to plant one in each of the places that she lived. She once said that “Gardening is the greatest tonic and therapy a human being can have. Even if you have only a tiny piece of earth, you can create something beautiful, which we all have a great need for. If we begin by respecting plants, it’s inevitable we’ll respect people.”
Hepburn’s last on-screen appearance was as host of “Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn,” a documentary series that looked at some of the world’s most noteworthy gardens, infusing each with works of literature, art and history. The series earned an Emmy Award, which was granted to Hepburn posthumously.
Lady Bird Johnson
“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”
Growing up in East Texas, Lady Bird Johnson loved watching the wildflowers bloom each spring. During her tenure as First Lady, she dedicated her time to beautifying the less-than beautiful areas of the country, namely along major highways.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is now part of the University of Texas, and its gardens contain more than 900 native species of Texas.
https://blog.gardenuity.com/famous-women-gardeners-history/
I just had all my trees cut back this past week, hopefully, my roses will get more light and start blooming again.
This one, called "Parade Day" is in a sunny location and continues to pump out flowers:
My back wall, always a work in progress - husband did most of this (before he passed):
Taking a break after digging a large hole:
Getting ready for 4th of July celebration!
Possible Women Gardeners; Vita Sackville-West A gardener and a rather notorious woman! As keeper of the thread your choice to post!
https://www.greatbritishgardens.co.uk/vita-sackville-west.html
(Did Tolkien have her in mind when writing the Hobbit? (The odious Lobelia Sackville-Baggins ? I wonder?)
RE Marie Antoinette’s favorite: Virginia Tulip tree…
In the early ‘70’s, I built an icosahedron cabin, and for its “bones”, I found old (we thought they were about 100 years old!) yellow poplar 2x4’s. Whatever happened to junk yards, where you could find all kinds of used/reclaimed building materials? – I don’t see them around anymore!
Anyway, we were told that yellow/tulip poplars were the 1st tree to be logged because they were so straight (& strong!)
It was still standing when I passed through that area @ 20 years later...but when I went there in 2017 (for the eclipse) it had collapsed (we only used roll-roofing on it & it eventually wore out).