Virtual Program
From 7:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
As coal consumption increased in nineteenth-century Britain, so did the need to innovate new forms of gardening that could protect plants from smoke and air pollution. Advances in glasshouse technology, along with the emergence of parlor and window horticulture, subsequently allowed the Victorians to cultivate miniature gardens within their homes. Over time, these spaces became showcases for elaborate collections of ornamental plants, many of which were sourced from Africa, Asia, and other regions tied to British colonialism. This talk will explore the Victorian history of houseplants, highlighting how indoor gardens entwined a growing desire for environmental renewal with the global politics of imperial expansion.
Lindsay Wells is an art historian and scholar of nineteenth-century Britain, with a focus on histories of empire, the environment, and plants. She earned her PhD in art history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has held recent postdoctoral fellowships at the Getty Research Institute and UCLA. Her essays on botany, art, and horticulture have appeared in Victorian Studies, Victorian Literature and Culture, and Literature Compass.