Heroines of Horticulture by Stephan White, Schiffer, 2024
Books that celebrate women in gardening and horticulture are redressing the imbalance that exists between male and female practitioners in these fields. Stephan White’s book featuring women of the United States of America is doubly significant as it brings together amateur and professional women in one volume, each represented by an entry that sketches their fields of work, achievements, as well as examples of their contributions to the panorama across the nation.
The author has a background in business and entrepreneurship and has been a shipboard garden speaker for cruise lines. The change in careers has enabled White to explore his own interests as a lifelong gardener; he has put his time to good use. His survey begins with Martha Logan (1704−1779), who published a pamphlet in 1757 titled Almanac Gardeners Calendar based on her experiences as a plantation-owning home gardener and nurserywoman. The last entry is for Elizabeth Christy (1945−1985) who, among other achievements, set up the guerilla gardening movement in order to green abandoned sites in New York following the financial crisis experienced by the city government in 1975.
Between these two women, White adds 98 more he considers worthy of inclusion in his pantheon. Touching on the many obstacles women faced in getting educated, achieving qualifications, finding employment, overcoming racism and being accepted as serious participants in the worlds of business and finance, the author offers a clear statement of his priorities for inclusion in this book.
This theme of female disadvantage, exclusion and inclusion extends to women everywhere. The presence among White’s subjects of a few, very few, First Nations American women is hardly a shock, and sometimes he has to stretch himself to include Indigenous women more likely recognised in their time as herbal healers, medicine women and wise ones. This aspect of his book begs the question why there are almost no First Nations Australian women in Australian garden history.