LADIES OF THE BRIDGE

Meet three women who helped reshape American gardens for the 20th century

- JEFF COX

The Terrace Gardens at Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C., are a living example of the work of influential designer Ellen Biddle Shipman.

TO UNDERSTAND THE SEA CHANGE that occurred in gardening style from 1870 to 1920, we should begin by remembering what women endured in the early years of that time.

Before 1910, women had to contend with heavily layered, structured clothing. Corsets tightened waistlines. High necklines covered women from chin to waist, and floor-length dresses covered the rest. Skirts were fitted with bustles that lifted the fabric of their backsides so it wouldn’t drag on the floor. Women were so constrained that “fainting couches” were introduced so they could pant in peace.

This page: Today, visitors to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden can experience the work of Alice Recknagel Ireys in the Fragrance Garden, which is now named for her. Ireys designed this space to be welcoming to people with visual impairments, with accessible paths and raised beds containing scented and tactile plants.

When the new century arrived, the world exploded. Art shattered into Cubism and madness-colored Expressionism. Radical couture introduced straight, boyish and knee-length silhouettes that freed female movement. Curves were flattened with bandeaus. Women got the vote. Booze may have been outlawed, but that didn’t stop the drinking.

More quietly, but with energy and skillful focus, a group of women garden designers of the time took the pompous landscapes of the Gilded Age and transformed them into lush, voluptuous gardens that reflected the free and feminine spirit unleashed in the early 20th century.