Elizabeth’s Reviews > A Little History of British Gardening > Status Update

I’m also deeply fascinated by anything to do with kitchen gardens. 😂

Another niche topic I didn’t know I was interested in: women’s gardening in the 19th and 20th centuries!

“[Scotswoman Frances] Hope linked her garden to her social and philanthropic beliefs, taking herbs to the women in Edinburgh tenements, supplying posies to the Royal Infirmary and Asylum for the Blind, and starting ‘Flower Missions’ —encouraging blind women to cultivate their own scented flowers, hyacinths and stocks and mint” (217).

“Mrs Beeton was adamant that a table for dinner for six to twelve people must hold two to four bowls of flowers, in simple colors, set off by asparagus ferns. And that was modest. From the 1860s the fashion was for two shallow bowls, small above, large below…with cascading arrangements…” (214).

The chapter on Cottagers, Florists, and Shows may be my favorite so far. I love reading about cottage gardens and reading about the shows, like who could grow the weightiest gooseberries and the biggest leeks.

“[Gilbert White] grew squashes, and green and yellow cantaloupes…On 12 September 1758 he noted, ‘Held a Cantaloupe-feast at the Hermitage: cut-up a brace and a half of fruit among 14 people” (152).

Remarkable! It’s so fun reading about when certain plants were introduced to England and what places in the world they came from.