Tell us about your new book and how it builds on or differs from your previous work.

Women & Gardens covers a broader topic than my six previous books, but to some extent does grow out of that work. In my other books, such as Visions of Lo!eliness: Great Flower Breeders of the Past, a few extraordinary women emerged. I made a mental note of these, and when I came to write this book, they were there, already lined up. Women have lately begun to make their mark in flower breeding. It is one of the most complex sectors of horticulture, requiring skill in genetics as well as plant care and growth. I may be the first person who has drawn attention to their achievements.

Women have long participated in gardening and horticulture, but were conveniently forgotten when it came to writing history. I hope to set the record straight and that other scholars will pick up where I have left off. The topic is very large, and there is still a lot to be discovered.

What did you learn from writing Women & Gardens?

Writing this book reinforced something I had found out a#er my first book, The Olive in California: History of an Immigrant Tree. It is like an addiction. You can no more write just one book than you can just eat one potato chip. It was heartwarming to discover the stories of women who had been very accomplished but got pushed aside. Some of the most poignant were widows who picked up where their husbands had le# off a#er dying too young.

Almost everyone with a garden grows the charming pink climber Rosa ‘Mlle. Cécile Brunner’, but very few know it was bred by a woman, La Veuve Ducher. %e Ducher men are all carefully listed and recorded in the family firm, but almost nothing is known about the widow. She was “only a woman.”

What did you learn from writing Women & Gardens?

So many wonderful, unexpected stories emerged, but I will just tell you about the Tasmanian nun, Sister Mary Xavier. She was born in Devonshire, UK, but emigrated to Australia in the mid-20th century. She joined the Presentation Order of teaching sisters in Tasmania. Crossing roses was her hobby, and a very broad-minded Mother Superior allowed her to do that for many years. Religious sisters are not supposed to be attached to earthly things.

Sister Mary won prizes at shows. She became an official of the Tasmania and Hobart Rose Society. Most touchingly, her senior pupils formed their own rose society and held shows conforming to all the rules of the adult group. Sales of her cultivars also helped to support the convent.

Aside from gardens and plants, is there a common thread that runs through your books?

I only write books about something of which I know nothing at all. I do not write about my specialty of neurology. %at would not hold my attention. It is learning about a topic and chasing down all the people I can find who are involved that enchants me. In some cases, I have had the privilege of talking to direct descendants of some nowforgotten contributor to garden history. %at makes everything worthwhile.

I also delve into the corners of a topic that others have neglected. No one had written about the amazing flower breeders who gave us the incredible variety of garden and cut flowers we now enjoy. It took someone 10 or 15 years to create that gladiolus or tulip.

Speaking of tulips, quite unexpectedly I have recently embarked on another book. %e tulip has exercised its hypnotic power over me and I am starting to do the research for The Tulip, Then And Now (working title).