The third in The Gardens Trust online course celebrating the bicentenary of The Gardener’s Magazine takes place May 6 at 1 pm Eastern.
It was exactly two hundred years ago that John Claudius Loudon (1782-1843) started publishing The Gardener’s Magazine, the first periodical devoted solely to horticulture. As Loudon described it, the aims of the magazine were ‘to disseminate new and important information on all topics connected with horticulture, and to raise the intellect and the character of those engaged in this art.’
In celebration of this bicentenary, the Gardens Trust is hosting a six-part online series that explores the ideas and inventions of this extraordinary Scottish writer and designer, and his equally industrious and radical wife, Jane (?1807-1858). Jane has her own centenary celebrations this year: her novel The Mummy! is set exactly 100 years in the future, in 2126. The career of Jane Webb Loudon is all too often overshadowed by that of her husband, leaving the impression that she did indeed owe him as she said “all the knowledge of the subject she possesses”. But research reveals that she played an important role in the production of The Gardener’s Magazine (with her contributions appearing under the initials ‘J.W.L’ shortly after her marriage to John in 1830) and that it influenced her own short-lived Ladies’ Magazine of Gardening. An examination of her key publications helps us understand her legacy as knowledgeable botanist, best-selling gardening writer and ground-breaking magazine editor, including the role she played in influencing, championing and challenging women’s roles within the garden, the home and wider society.
Dr Rachel Savage’s interest in garden history started over fifteen years ago whilst working as Head of Marketing for the RHS. Since then she has completed qualifications in horticulture, garden design, an MA in Landscape History at UEA and a PhD exploring house and garden design and the gendering of space in the nineteenth century. A trustee for the Gardens Trust, she has also contributed to Norfolk Garden Trust’s publications on Capability Brown and Humphry Repton.
Between them, the Loudons were the driving force behind the rise of the amateur middle class gardener, and also the real professionalism of the 19th century head gardener. Their story is fascinating and will make you realise how much we owe to their non-stop work ethic and enthusiasm.
Series tickets are being offered at the special celebratory sum of £21 for all six sessions, a 50% reduction on our usual ticket price for a six-part series. The ticket for this session may be purchased through Eventbrite HERE
