Upcoming Hamilton Talk: Jane Deans, Rebel Gardener: Power and Politics and the Making of a Nineteenth-Century Colonial Garden

The Garden History Research Foundation invites you to the following talk:

Jane Deans, Rebel Gardener: Power and Politics and the Making of a Nineteenth-Century Colonial Garden.

Where: Chartwell Room, Hamilton Gardens

When: 19 March 2026 at 7.30 p.m.

Recommended donation: $10 waged, $5 unwaged (Please bring cash)

This talk will examine the social and political history behind one of Canterbury province’s most famous gardens at Riccarton House, Christchurch. Nineteenth-century rebel gardener Jane Deans used her garden as a giant canvas in order to create “my masterpiece in the art of planting, and my memorial as a Scotswoman”. Her garden was not just a beautiful piece of landscaping but a political critique of the prevailing social and power structures of colonial Christchurch. Through her planting she channeled not only creativity and horticultural knowledge but a biting satirical wit that challenged the very founding myths of Canterbury and elite control of church and state.