Please join the Hanson Park Conservancy as we welcome Garden Historian Lesley Parness for “Suitable for Framing: A Victorian Woman’s Place in Botanic Art & Illustration” on Tuesday, February 25th at 7:00 PM at the Cranford Community Center.

When renowned British botanist John Lindley wrote Ladies’ Botany in 1834, he did so to block women from, not welcome them into, the academic world of horticulture. Learn how women figured it out anyway and managed to contribute to science, influence public taste and advance their own craft. The Victorian artists featured range from rebels to spinsters, suffragettes to missionary wives and are highlighted with strikingly beautiful imagery and humor. This engaging program is not to be missed!

​The Cranford Community Center is located at 220 Walnut Ave. in Cranford, NJ. This program is free and open to the public. No registration is required, but seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Lesley Parness is the retired Superintendent of Horticultural Education at New Jersey’s Morris County Park Commission where she oversaw programming at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Willowwood Arboretum and Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center. She is a member of the Herb Society of America, The Council on Horticultural and Botanical Literature, and Garden State Gardens, a consortium of New Jersey’s public gardens of which she is a Founding Member.

This history program is sponsored by the Hanson Park Conservancy and made possible in part by a HEART (History, Education, Arts Reaching Thousands) Grant from the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.