From Flora Roman goddess of plants to today's gardeners at Kew women have always gardened. Women gardeners have grown vegetables for their kitchens & herbs for their medicine cupboards. They have been footnotes in the horticultural annals for specimens collected abroad. They taught young women about gardening twenty-five years before women's horticultural schools officially existed. & their influence on the style of our gardens frequently unacknowledged survives to the present day. From these triumphs to the battles fought against male-dominated institutions from the horticultural pioneers to the bringers of change in society's attitudes this book is a celebration of the best of the species -- gardening women.