Women and Gardens

Judith M. Taylor is the author of The Olive Tree in California: History of an Immigrant Tree; The Global Migrations of Ornamental Plants: How the World Got into Your Garden; Tangible Memories: Californians and Their Gardens, 1800–1950; and Visions of Loveliness: Great Flower Breeders of the Past.

"'Women hold up half the sky'—so the saying goes. But they have almost certainly done more than half the weeding, watering, and digging. This book will certainly help set the record straight, revealing and documenting the contribution of countless women through garden history." - Noel Kingsbury, author of Garden Flora: The Natural and Cultural History of the Plants in Your Garden"Judith M. Taylor is, without doubt, recognized internationally as today's foremost horticultural historian. Her body of work ranges across a wide spectrum of horticultural facets. In all her work Judith is relentless in seeking information, irrespective of the language in which it is recorded. Her latest book, Women and Gardens, is especially timely as long-term gender bias, in all fields of endeavor, is being challenged throughout the western world. Judith demonstrates and records conclusively that despite earlier bias, many women have indeed made significant and lasting contributions to ornamental horticulture worldwide for a long time." - Keith Hammett, past president of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture"Although the influence of women on gardens is deep and persistent, the role of women in gardening across the centuries has been largely undocumented, except by women themselves in letters and very infrequently in books written by women. This sampling of the history of women in gardens brings together wonderful stories of the effort, skill, and intelligence women have brought to the discipline." - Judith Phillips, author of The Gardens of Los Poblanos