Friday 2 June 2023
6.00pm: Registration (for those who have booked for dinner)
6.30pm: Dinner
7.45pm: Registration (for those who have not booked for dinner)
8.00pm: ‘From Gardens to Green Infrastructure: Brenda Colvin and the Women of the Welfare Landscape’ Luca Csepely-Knorr
Brenda Colvin (1897-1981) and her collaborators had a major impact on shaping post-war landscapes in Britain, as designers, educators, campaigners and advocates. This talk will discuss the influence of garden design on Colvin's practice and philosophy, and on the wider network of women who helped create the landscapes of the Welfare State.
9.15pm: End of day
Saturday 3 June 2023
8.00am: Breakfast (residents only)
9.00am: ‘Women’s Writing and Constructions of Gender in the Medieval Enclosed Garden’ Liz Herbert McAvoy
Images of enclosed gardens are everywhere apparent in medieval literature - from biblical narrative, to secular love lyric, to adventurous romance tale. This session, however, will engage with its representation in literary works written by, for or about women in order to demonstrate the powerful, gendered dynamics inherent to this multivalent space, a gendered representation that often afforded women more agency than traditional representation normally permitted.
10.00am: 'Frances Garnet Wolseley (1872-1936): A Life in Garden and Land' Twigs Way
This talk will examine Wolseley’s founding of the Glynde School for lady gardeners, her contacts with Gertrude Jekyll and other designers of the period, her wartime work in agriculture and later market gardening, and her lesbianism in the context of the unmarried status of many of the women associated with garden schools of the
period.
11.00am: Coffee/tea
11.30am: '“The Redoubtable Miss H.”: The Story Behind Waterperrry Horticultural School’ Catherine Horwood
Waterperry Horticultural School, established in 1932 by Beatrix Havergal, became a highly regarded women’s college in the mid-20th century. This talk will trace its origins through the life of Beatrix Havergal, from her strawberry sales in the Oxford Market to her lifelong determination to improve the status of women gardeners.
12.30pm: Break
12.45pm: Depart for Waterperry Gardens for afternoon tour led by Rob Jacobs and Ruth Todd
Packed lunches to be eaten on the coach – these are provided for those who have booked and paid for them in advance. Please bring your own packed lunch if you wish, and outdoor footwear suitable for walking and clothing for all weathers.
4.30pm: Arrive back at Rewley House (approx.) - free time until dinner
6.30pm: Dinner
8.00pm: ‘"An Almost Impossible Thing”: Pioneering Professional Women Gardeners’ Fiona Davidson
This talk will focus on the boom in female horticultural training that took place from the 1890s to the outbreak of the First World War. This research was prompted by finding a letter in the RHS archive that showed that the RHS had refused a scholarship to a Miss Harrisson who came top in their examination in 1898. Fiona Davison tracked more than 500 women who took the RHS examination to find out if Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was right when he said that it was ‘an almost impossible thing’ for a woman to garden as a career. This talk will focus on six women who exemplify the challenges, ambitions and achievements of this remarkable generation of female gardeners.
9.15pm: End of day
Sunday 4 June 2023
8.00am: Breakfast (residents only)
9.00am: ‘Nineteenth-Century Women as Botanical Collectors: Exploring the Gardens of Woodfield, Spencer Wood, and Château St. Louis’ Kimberly Glassman
From across the Atlantic, Canadian women of the early nineteenth century
botanised for both leisure and science. Today, the plants they collected can be found in the world’s most famous botanic gardens. This talk will look at how a network of women living in the small town of Sillery, Québec in the 1820s made botanical history by helping William Jackson Hooker, the first Director of Kew Gardens.
10.00am: ‘Jane Loudon: Author, Editor, Influencer' Rachel Savage
The career of Jane Webb Loudon (1807-1858) is all too often overshadowed by that of her husband John Claudius Loudon, leaving the impression that she did indeed owe him ’all the knowledge of the subject she possesses’. By examining some of her key publications, this talk explains her legacy as a knowledgeable botanist, best-selling gardening writer and ground-breaking magazine editor including the role she played in influencing, championing and challenging women’s roles within the garden, the home and wider society.
11.00am: Coffee/tea
11.30am: ‘Waving Goodbye’ David Marsh
David will draw together some of the main themes that emerge during the conference and add some additional stories of previously overlooked women, including those who really did wave goodbye.
12.30pm: Break / bar opens
12.45pm: Lunch and course disperses
