The Earth in Her Hands

75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants

Focus in a wholly unique way on how horticulture intersects with our everyday world, and on women whose work has enriched and expanded these intersections in the last 25 years. The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants by Jennifer Jewell explores and celebrates how the plant world is improved not only by greater representation of women, but also by diversity amongst those women. It chronicles how working in the world of plants is a more viable and creative career path for women than ever before and how the plant-work world is demonstrating greater social and environmental responsibility, in large part due to women’s contributions. Walking through profiles of women doing current and innovative work in all fields horticultural – botany, environmental science, landscape design and architecture, floriculture, agriculture, social justice, plant seeking and breeding, seed science, gardening, garden writing and garden photography, public garden administration, research, and public policy – we see how they often represent larger issues or shifts in our world. The work of these women illustrates how the many challenges of our world - environmental, economic, cultural/societal, individual - can be met through cultivating an interdependence with plants.

The group of 75 includes representatives from the United States, England, Ireland, Wales, Canada, Australia, India, and Japan. These paradigm-shifting women range beautifully across race, ethnicity, socio-economic and religious backgrounds, sexual orientation, and age - in a way that transcends preconceived notions of what horticulture/gardening is and what plantspeople/gardeners look like. These women and their work have profoundly positive impacts on the larger world - aesthetically, environmentally, culturally, and economically - making them joyful and encouraging role models and inspirations for us all.

Following the lecture will be a book sale and signing of The Earth in Her Hands.

Jennifer Jewell is the creator and host of Cultivating Place, an award-winning public radio program and podcast on natural history and the human impulse to garden. Her first book, The Earth In Her Hands, 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants, centering women transforming horticulture around the world, is due out in early 2020 from Timber Press.

Advance registration is highly recommended, but walk-ins are welcome, space permitting.