Who Are the Lost Ladies of Garden Writing?

And why am I interested in them?

Welcome to the home of the Lost Ladies of Garden Writing! This post is an introduction for those who have just landed here and might be wondering what this newsletter is all about.

Who are the lost ladies of garden writing?

The “lost ladies” are women who wrote gardening books in the 19th and 20th centuries and are now mostly forgotten by the vast majority of gardeners today.

That’s why I call them lost ladies. They are lost to time. Few gardeners today know about them, but I know they existed because I have their books. Lots of them. And every time I hold one of their books, I can’t help but ask a few questions.

Who were these women? What were their lives like? What did they write about gardening that is useful for us today? (Quite a lot!)

How do I research the lost ladies?

I start my research with a simple online search. Occasionally, I’ll find some useful information about the author that someone else has written, maybe even a full biography. Honestly, when that happens, I wonder how lost she really is. But then I talk to a few friends who garden who proclaim they’ve never heard of the author. Then I realize that even though someone took the time to write a brief biography about her, the author may still be a lost lady of garden writing.

But usually, I come up empty-handed in my initial search, and then the real quest begins.

I start with ancestry.com to see if I can find out when the author was born, when she died, and where she lived. Sometimes, I find out quite a lot; other times, I come up with just a few questionable pieces of information.

Next, I check out newspapers.com, an archive of old newspapers from across the U.S. Did she get written about? Did she write something for the newspapers? Is there a picture of her somewhere? Is there an obituary?

Onward to see what Google Books and Project Gutenberg know about what she may have written. I’m thrilled when I can find the full text of a book she wrote that I don’t have a physical copy of. Then I check out Bookfinder.com to see if her books are for sale, or if she wrote some books I don’t have. Original copies are preferred, but there are lots of reprints out there, too, if I’m desperate.

Of course, I look through her actual books. I usually have at least one book she wrote, which is often how I discovered her in the first place. Did the publisher include a brief biography? Is it helpful? Is there a dust jacket with more information?

What do I do with this information?

Once I’ve gathered all the information I can find online and in her books, I write an article about the lost lady. I include whatever biographical information I found and any interesting information from her books.

I try to be accurate and respectful because I realize that many of these lost ladies may have relatives who may be looking for what was written about their grandmother, great-grandmother, great-aunt, etc. If they find one of my posts, I want them to be thrilled that someone else is interested in their relative and her books.

How can you help?

If you have an old gardening book written by a woman, and you think she’s a lost lady of garden writing, I’d love to hear about her. Send me an email or leave a comment. I currently have a list of 30 lost ladies I’m researching, but I know there are more out there waiting to be found.

For now, I am mostly focusing on American authors, but that’s because of the limitations of the resources I have available for my research. But if you know of Canadian, British, etc. authors that you think should be on the list, send them my way, and eventually, I’ll figure out a way to research them.

What else can you do?

You can subscribe to this newsletter, which I plan to send out once a week on Wednesdays. And tell your friends about it.

Then, each week, you’ll learn about a new lost lady of garden writing or maybe become re-acquainted with one you’ve heard about but didn’t know much about.

Most of these lost ladies are long gone, so the likelihood of anyone living today knowing them personally is remote. But someone could have met some “newer” lost ladies, so if you’ve met one of the lost ladies I’ve written about, I’d love to hear first-hand accounts of your encounter with them.

Thank you!