International Women’s Day invites us to look again at the landscapes around us — not just the gardens, parks and interiors filled with plants, but the histories rooted beneath them. Landscaping and horticulture have often been framed as male-dominated professions, particularly at institutional and leadership levels. Yet the story of our green spaces is incomplete without recognising the women who shaped them — often while navigating structural barriers to education, travel, pay and professional recognition.

 

 

From Victorian plant explorers to modern landscape architects, women have fundamentally influenced how we design, understand and live with plants. 

 

In the 19th century, global plant exploration was largely a male pursuit. Scientific expeditions were rarely accessible to women, and professional botanical careers were limited. Against this backdrop, Marianne North carved out her own extraordinary path.

 

Travelling independently across South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia, North documented more than 900 plant species in vivid oil paintings. At a time when photography was still developing, her work introduced British audiences to tropical flora they would never otherwise encounter. Her gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew remains a testament to her contribution.

 

North was not formally trained as a scientist. Yet her work expanded public botanical knowledge and fuelled enthusiasm for exotic plants entering domestic cultivation. In doing so, she helped lay the foundations for the houseplant culture that thrives today.

 

If North expanded what we could see, Gertrude Jekyll transformed how we arrange it. A polymath who was forced to give up painting due to failing eyesight, Jekyll applied her artist’s eye to the land. She didn't just design gardens; she created "living paintings." By collaborating with architects like Edwin Lutyens, she proved that the landscape was an essential, professional component of the home, not an afterthought.

 

While some women gained recognition through private commissions, others pushed directly into public and civic landscapes — areas even more resistant to female leadership.

 

Fanny Wilkinson became Britain’s first professional female landscape gardener, designing more than 75 public gardens across London. Working in an era when women rarely oversaw public infrastructure projects, Wilkinson not only delivered complex schemes but also trained other women in horticulture.

 

The history of horticulture also contains influential women whose contributions were less publicly visible but equally transformative.

 

Lady Dorothy Nevill was a powerhouse of Victorian horticulture, credited with sparking the "houseplant jungle" trend that transformed domestic spaces into lush, exotic sanctuaries. Her estate functioned as a horticultural landmark where she managed seventeen conservatories and a team of thirty-four gardeners to cultivate a massive collection of orchids and Nepenthes. These glasshouses served as sophisticated research labs, earning her frequent features in botanical journals. Far more than a hobbyist, Nevill was a vital scientific collaborator who famously supplied Charles Darwin with rare specimens for his evolutionary research.

 

Another formidable plantswoman of her era,  Ellen Willmott,  funded plant-hunting expeditions and cultivated rare species on her estates; she expanded the range of plants available to European gardens. Her influence reshaped ornamental horticulture and enriched botanical collections.

 

And then Constance Spry, the visionary entrepreneur, changed our approach to floral design and laid the groundwork for modern interior landscaping. She famously rejected the rigid, elitist "rules" of Victorian flower arranging, instead championing the use of "weeds," kale leaves, and architectural branches to bring the raw energy of nature indoors. By founding her own flower school and luxury business in London, she provided a roadmap for female financial independence, proving that interior "greening" was a serious industry driven by female creativity and commercial savvy.

 

 

Beth Chatto revolutionised modern landscaping through the scientific lens of ecology with her mantra, "Right Plant, Right Place." She moved away from the high-maintenance, water-heavy gardens of the past, instead advocating for choosing species that naturally thrived in their specific environments—be it a gravel pit or a damp hollow. Her award-winning work and influential writings elevated gardening from a decorative pursuit to an environmental science, ensuring that the legacy of women in landscaping is one of sustainability and deep biological understanding.

 

 

The modern resurgence of houseplants — from biophilic office design to curated domestic jungles — owes much to educators, growers, stylists and designers who reframed plants as essential components of wellbeing. Celebrating women pioneers is not about rewriting history for sentiment’s sake. It is about accuracy — and about creating visible pathways for future professionals.