Garden Club Of Newtown To Host ‘Ladies In The Landscape’

“Ladies in the Landscape,” a program by Jenny Rose Carey, will be hosted by The Garden Club of Newtown on Tuesday, October 25, at 1 pm. The public is invited to join the club for the program, free of charge. It will be presented in the meeting room of Cyrenius H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street in Newtown.

Beginning with the social upheaval at the beginning of the 20th Century and the great changes that came to women’s lives from 1900 to 1940, Jenny Rose Carey will focus on the increasing prominence of organized women’s groups and the new opportunities that became possible for women who had previously been limited to jobs as teachers, nurses and librarians.

Garden clubs and farm and garden associations led women to educate their own members, carry out civic plantings, and participate in conservation projects. Horticultural education introduced women to new careers such as landscape design and architecture, botany, nature writing, land conservation and preservation, and ultimately changed the face of America. Mrs Carey’s discussion will center on some of these women and their remarkable accomplishments.

Mrs Carey was born in London, England, and grew up in an agricultural village in Kent. Her father is a botanist and her family included many gardeners. The first garden she remembers designing and installing, at age 16, was a little herb garden for her mother.

She has three university degrees: in biology from the University of Southampton, in education from the University of Oxford, and horticulture from Temple University in Pennsylvania, where she is currently Director of the Ambler Arboretum.

Married to an American and the mother of three daughters, Mrs Carey has lived in the Philadelphia area for nearly 24 years. She is currently working on the gardens of their Victorian era property, which has ponds and extensive gardens, including a shade garden, a cutting garden, an herb garden and a new sunset garden. She and her gardens have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Green Scene magazine and on the PBS program Victory Garden.

Her favorite flowers vary with the seasons, but Mrs Carey is perpetually interested in world gardens and garden history. She is passionate about regional gardens, especially those of the early 20th Century and the women who made them.

For more information call Ginnie Carey, 203-512-7320.