“Southern Women, Southern Landscapes: Cultural Reflections on the Garden, 1870–1970” by Judith W. Page and Elise L. Smith

A fascinating blend of art, literature, and history, Southern Women, Southern Landscapes: Cultural Reflections on the Garden, 1870-1970 (University of Mississippi Press, 2026) by Judith W. Page and Elise L. Smith offers a richly researched and original exploration of the intersection between gardening and creative expression. The authors’ extensive scholarship, combined with the book’s thoughtful organization and generous use of photographs of gardens, properties, and artwork, makes this volume appealing to a wide range of readers.

The book is divided into four regional sections—Florida; Louisiana and North Carolina; Virginia; and Mississippi—examining the gardens and lives of Southern women, both Black and white. The subjects range from literary figures such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Zora Neale Hurston, and Eudora Welty to artists including Clementine Hunter, Corinne Melchers, and Caroline Dorman.

The opening chapter focuses on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s postbellum life in Florida. Stowe was deeply interested in “the way wild and domesticated elements of nature might coexist in an ecological balance, an interconnected wholeness of creation.” In Florida, she experienced “an outdoor existence, a space of freedom without the gendered restriction of the parlor.” Her Palmetto Leaves, a fictionalized collection of letters, is described as “a sophisticated and crafted text” whose literary techniques help shape the abundance of her subject matter. Stowe’s management of a large citrus grove—complete with over one hundred trees and a full staff of pickers—adds a new dimension to our understanding of her life, presenting her as far more than the author of the novel Abraham Lincoln famously credited with helping to spark the Civil War.

The second chapter examines Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Zora Neale Hurston, offering fresh perspectives on both writers. Hurston, we learn, was “crazy about flowers” and transformed “whatever rocky soil she landed on” into a flourishing garden. Rawlings, best known for her life at Cross Creek, also found deep satisfaction in the natural world and embraced the challenges and rewards of rural living.

The third chapter shifts to Louisiana, highlighting both writers and visual artists. Caroline Dorman, “a native plant specialist, forester, and artist,” not only admired John Muir’s reverence for wilderness but also collaborated with women’s clubs to promote environmental causes. The book features several of her striking iris paintings. Dorman’s friendship with Cammie Henry, founder of the Melrose Plantation artists’ colony, provides additional context for this creative community. The chapter also explores the work of Clementine Hunter, who labored in the plantation’s cotton fields while developing a remarkable artistic career, painting vivid scenes of flowers—especially zinnias. One of her works appears on the book’s cover.

The fifth chapter turns to poet Anne Spencer of Lynchburg, Virginia. An avid gardener, Spencer viewed her garden as “a creative retreat, a site for physical work and aesthetic pleasure, and a series of interrelated rooms well-suited for literary and political conversations.” This section includes numerous excerpts from her poetry, along with color reproductions of Corinne Melchers’s paintings.

Eudora Welty, one of the South’s most celebrated writers, is presented as a gardener who cultivated beauty as a counterbalance to the anxieties of World War II. Her novel Delta Wedding, with its recurring motif of roses, is central to this discussion.

The final chapter focuses on Margaret Walker, a Black poet and novelist based in Jackson, Mississippi. Like Welty, Walker engaged deeply with the Southern landscape, which she understood as “a place of both beauty and pain.”

Southern Women, Southern Landscapes is a worthwhile addition to the bookshelves of  those who love gardening, reading, or art. 

Judith W. Page, professor emerita of English at the University of Florida, has published extensively in the field of English literature. Elise L. Smith, professor emerita of art history at Millsaps College, is likewise a distinguished scholar. Together, they have coauthored Women, Literature, and the Domesticated Landscape: England’s Disciples of Flora, 1780–1870 and Women, Literature, and the Arts of the Countryside in Early Twentieth-Century England. Their combined expertise is evident throughout this thoughtful and engaging study.