GENDER, CLASS, AND THE ART OF GARDENING Gardening manuals in early modern England

The formal garden in England in the early sixteenth century was largely the domain of the nobility and aristocracy. However, socio-economic changes during the sixteenth and early seventeenth century made it possible for men and women of the middling sort in particular to afford to plant gardens modeled after those of the elite. This essay traces the cultural significance of the development of gardening in early modern England from a primarily subsistence level to an aesthetic endeavor among members of the non-elite. By examining printed gardening manuals and manuscript writings from the period, this study argues that the early modern English garden was not only a site for growing things, but it was also a site where men and women found it possible to negotiate gender and class identity in new ways.