Famous Women Gardeners

Lesson 6: The Final Verdict and Elizabeth von Arnim

THE SUMMARY

What have we learnt by delving into the books and lives of women gardeners? I left Elizabeth for this last lesson as she exemplified the beginning of women shrugging off the limited world that had been the expectations of society and husbands. She obstinately refused to attend to the servants or the new curtains so she could spend time in her beloved garden. She was not cowed nor frightened by the garden help and insisited on living her life as she thought best.

I must write mainly about Europe, and in particular what was happening in England and Australia. I was a little girl when the most striking revolutions began in the gardens.

The largest change for women came in the first to middle years of the 20th century. One thought of mine was that the two world wars came during this period. In Europe, the social life changes were dramatic: men left home to fight and the women were asked to turn their gardens over to growing vegetables. Gone were the head gardeners, the under gardeners and the bossy husbands. Food to feed the family was in short supply. Women went into their gardens and dug up their bedding gardens, planted vegetables and, those in the country in England, opened their houses and gardens to take in children from London that were in danger from the constant bombing. Prisoners of war worked on some of the farms and the lady of the house became used to telling men the jobs they should attend to. The Land Army was formed and young girls found themselves doing farm labour work and many discovered that they liked it. I remember, in our household in Tasmania during the years of the second world war, the Red Cross collected vegetables and eggs that had been laid down in isinglass to keep them from going bad. There was also a Land Girl organization formed. My mother worked (as a volunteer) in a factory making jam. Though she did not become a professional gardener, she was able to observe the bad working conditions and when the war was over, she stood for Parliament and was a member for twenty-three years, fighting for the workers.

When things on the home front began to settle down after the wars were finished, the luckier men returned home but sadly many of the men were weakened by war injuries and mental damage. It must have seemed natural for the women to continue working in the gardens and on the farms. In the big gardens, the gardening help of the past was a luxury long gone, the owners were fortunate if they found someone to do the heavy work for a few hours a week. There was only one answer: the lady of the house had to pick up the spade and get stuck into it. Simpler gardens which were not so labour intensive began to appear. Retraining began to take place in the horticultural institutions. Young men, back from the war front, having their training years taken away because they were fighting for their countries, needed to be helped to begin their careers. Teaching institutions were created and many of the young women started to attend them too. Women now had the vote and the feminist movement was becoming a strong force.

Pre 1914-1918, large gardens were formal gardens and part of a vast estate consisting of woods and grazing land. The properties started to become hard to manage and England was just getting back on its feet when the Second World War burst on the scene. After these horrific years, money was short in England and the old formal gardens were virtually gone. Estates were sold off and made into small farm lots [no longer did the whole village and villagers belong to the lord of the manor] and the gardens that we know and love began to be created by both husband and wife, or, in many instances, by the women alone. The women began to write journals of their experiences in the garden and then publish their thoughts, hints and feelings. These books were avidly read by the "cottage" gardeners all around the world. This, arguably, became the great period of "English" gardens. And home gardeners wanted to create the natural gardens, the little wood copses, the herbaceous borders and the cottage gardens they read about in these books, written by Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson and Vita Sackville-West, to mention only the few we have studied. With this shared knowledge and involvement in gardening matters, women realised they could also enter the professional field and they opened nurseries, became professional landscapers and teachers in horticultural colleges.

The effect of this change was to evolve into demands at our nurseries for exotic plants and trees. Garden makers, looking at the beautiful gardens in their gardening books, wanted to be able to plant little treasures in their rock gardens and oaks and elms to line their driveways. Many families from the war-torn countries in Europe wanted a new start in life and emigrated to the New World Countries - America, New Zealand and Australia. Homesick for the gardens of "home", their demand to create a "little bit of England" in their new back yards was another reason for the professionals in the garden businesses to consider the stock they were selling.

A period of exploration into the plant worlds of other countries also took place and exotics from all countries were tested for compatibility in the large nursery places and the Botanical Gardens and public gardens and large private gardens. This work demanded a larger work force and many women interested in horticulture found employment in these institutions. Overseas travel became obtainable for many folk as fares dropped in price and the importing of the new plants became a regular practice. This was not always for the best as it could also spread diseases and plant pests in gardens world wide. Some of the imported exotics became weeds growing in the milder conditions of, for example, Australia. But the demand was strong and mainly from the woman gardener who had fallen in love with the white garden of Syssinghurst Castle.

As the 20th Century passed, we saw the explosion into the homes of the Internet. Now we women gardeners are not only able to see the gardens of Europe and America but can order seeds from anywhere and order books, old and new, that have been unobtainable in our own countries. We can look for gardening jobs both at home and overseas. We are able to exchange ideas through forums such as this one. Will all this newly gained knowledge change our gardening habits? Women have joined the work force and are no longer able to spend many hours in the garden, even if the wish to do so is strong. Is the answer to create gardens with concrete instead of mown lawn? Will we women gardeners feel happy in such a garden? Or will we always long for the romance of the cottage garden?

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