Photo by John Whittlesey, 2019
I have been meaning to pick up and read Jennifer Jewell’s new book, The Earth in Her Hands, 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants. I finally finished up my other stack of reading and started her book over the weekend.
All I can say is WOW. If you are looking for an incredibly inspirational read, you must get this book! And it begins with her introduction, highlighting the impact women are having on the broader plant world, no matter the related field – horticultural-botany, environmental science, landscape design/architecture, floriculture, agriculture, social justice, plant hunting, photography, public garden administration, research or public policy. Jennifer explores how the plant world is improved through greater social and environmental responsibility, by its large representation of women in these fields.
You’ll love the wonderful introductions and overviews of the 75 inspirational and formidable women in the world of plants she has chosen to highlight. Some of these women you know such as locals Marion Brenner and Flora Grubb, as well as well-known national and international plantswomen such as Jinny Blom and Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd. But most are new to me. I am choosing to read a few overviews at a time, letting them sink in.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jennifer Jewell, she “is a gardener, garden writer, and gardening educator and advocate. Since 2016, she has written and hosted the national award-winning, weekly public radio program and podcast, Cultivating Place, a co-production of North State Public Radio in Chico, California. Particularly interested in the intersections between gardens, the native plant environments around them, and human culture, she is the daughter of a garden- and floral-designing mother and a wildlife biologist father. Jennifer has been writing about gardening professionally since 1998, and her work has appeared in Gardens Illustrated, House & Garden, Natural Home, Old House Journal, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, and Pacific Horticulture.”
Enjoy this very special read.
