March is Women’s History Month. As women continue to make remarkable impacts around the world, we spoke to some of the remarkable women right here in the Garden’s horticulture division about their careers, ambitions, and advice.
Get to know the women of them by reading on!
MOBOT’s Horticulture Division
The Missouri Botanical Garden was created by Henry Shaw, a prominent St. Louis businessman who opened his garden to the public in 1859. Mr. Shaw intended his garden to be a center for education, scientific research, and horticultural display.
Today the Missouri Botanical Garden is a National Historic Landmark with the mission “to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life.”
The Horticulture Division supports this mission through:
- Curating, managing and developing the living plant collections
- Propagation and production of plants for the living collections and displays
- Managing data and databases associated to the living collections
- Conducting conservation horticulture
- Conducting horticulture research, including trials and testing for propagation and cultivation protocol development
- Designing and maintaining the Gardens landscape and displays
- Providing horticulture information and outreach including demonstration gardens
- Ensure excellence in horticultural principles and practices
Meet the women in Horticulture
Justine Kandra, Horticulturalist II
Photos courtesy of Nathan Kwarta, Justine Kandra
What’s your role at the Garden?
I assist visitors to the [William T.] Kemper Center for Home Gardening with gardening advice, plant identification, and pest and disease diagnoses. I also write blogs for the Garden, do interviews for TV spots, write profiles for our Plant Finder database, and take care of the plants inside the Kemper Center.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
The highlight of my career so far has been finding a job where I learn something new every single day.
Who’s your favorite female inspiration and why?
Rachel Carson for being a pioneer in the field of conservation and not being afraid to speak up against forces much larger and more powerful than her own.
Any parting message to girls and women out there?
This quote from Louisa May Alcott: “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”
Taylor AuBuchon-Elder, Living Collections Data Specialist
Photos courtesy of Nathan Kwarta, Taylor AuBuchon-Elder
What’s your role at the Garden?
Data specialists wear many hats, depending on where support is needed throughout the day, like helping horticulturists with their data-related questions. On any given week, I’m also working on code for wrangling and visualizing large sets of collections data, contributing to academic research, helping with garden inventories, or participating in field work expeditions.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Prior to joining the Horticulture department, I was lucky enough to have led a large wild plant collecting effort in Elizabeth Kellogg’s lab, which took me to Australia, Europe, and the Caribbean over the course of several years. It was a valuable learning experience in project management and international collaboration.
Who’s your favorite female inspiration and why?
I could never pick just one, but someone that comes to mind lately is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I admire her strength and grit and how she speaks truth to power.
Any parting message to girls and women out there?
Take up space, you deserve to be here.
Molly Rooney, Living Collections Acquisitions Manager
Photos courtesy of Lisa Francis, Molly Rooney
What’s your role at the Garden?
I am the point person for organizing and coordinating field work for the horticulture department at the garden. I manage permits, expedition supplies, coordinate staff and serve as the contact for our many partners both domestically and abroad. I work on the Collections Development team to support the work of the staff of the horticulture department.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I have been privileged to have many formative experiences in my career so far- hard to pick just one! I spent two years in the Peace Corps in the Upper West Region of Ghana as an agricultural volunteer in a small community called Bugubelle. I had an amazing time and continue to be touched by the support of the community I lived in and worked in for two years. I knew no one when I arrived and left with many new friends who I still am in contact with today. The experience remains a great reminder that I have so much to learn and a lot to offer wherever I am and whatever I am doing.
Who’s your favorite female inspiration and why?
One of the first female scientists I remember ever reading about was Dr. Meg Lowman. When I identified that an education and career in trees and plants was right for me, I drew a lot of inspiration from her life. Dr. Lowman pioneered the science of canopy ecology and has worked to map the canopy for biodiversity and to champion forest conservation around the world. She has done all of this while being a single-parent of two and excelling in a male dominated profession. Dr. Lowman believes in conservation through education and has studied canopies on every continent. Her pioneering studies have earned her all kinds of nicknames: Canopy Meg, the Einstein of the Treetops and the Real Life Lorax. “I’ve always wished I could be Einstein, but, you know, maybe there’ll be a day when someone says ‘You’re the Marie Curie of the treetops,’ they could use a woman instead.”
Any parting message to girls and women out there?
Gender inequity continues to shape our lives and our careers. Keep fighting for what you know is right and highlighting where the institutions that support you can do better. From adequate parental leave to equal pay, you have the power to change minds and attitudes in the places you work and live.
Anna Anderson, Seasonal Display Horticulturist
Photos courtesy of Nathan Kwarta, Anna Anderson
What’s your role at the Garden?
I design, plant, and take care of the seasonal displays in the south half of the Garden, including the Victorian formal area, the Boxwood parterre, the director’s residence, the Kemper entry court, and more. My background is in art and theatre, and I love to translate big dramatic ideas into living gardens.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Attending the 2024 Chelsea Flower Show to see all of the latest trends in display horticulture – I loved seeing all of the little garden vignettes, gorgeous and ephemeral. Another big highlight of my career is wielding a flamethrower to kill pesky weeds.
Who’s your favorite female inspiration and why?
Tina Fey – she’s hardworking, pulls no punches, and laid her own path in an industry known for being a ‘boy’s club”. After becoming the first female head writer of SNL, she opened doors for women in writer’s rooms and continues to be a vocal advocate for diversity.
Any parting message to girls and women out there?
“You get to live your life the way you want. That’s the whole point of not being in a bunker. No one gets to tell you what to do.”
Meghan Forde, Living Collections Data Specialist
Photos courtesy of Nathan Kwarta, Meghan Forde
What’s your role at the Garden?
I develop and maintain the bountiful data we collect in situ and ex situ that contextualize and bolster the value of plants in our collection. I support horticulturists in their data-related responsibilities; facilitate the sharing of plant material and data to support research projects; develop new ways of processing and leveraging our reservoir of data; and participate in field work expeditions to develop the living collection.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
To meet and become acquainted with natural communities and those who love them; from the Floridian scrublands to the Malagasy rainforest to the Missourian glades and beyond.
Who’s your favorite female inspiration and why?
Marjorie Harris Carr: the interdisciplinary biologist, environmental activist, and Florida conservation queen who earned a masters degree in zoology from the University of Florida at the time when it was officially a nobody-but-men-allowed institution. The cross Florida conservation corridor protecting fragile & biodiverse ecosystems from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Johns River bears her name, honoring her leading role in the opposition effort against the ultimately eschewed cross Florida barge canal project.
Any parting message to girls and women out there?
Persist in the pursuits of love and resistance against regimes which doubt our own volition.
Thank so much for sharing your journeys and the inspiring words, ladies!
Stay tuned for more highlights from the women in horticulture during Women’s History Month.
Cover photo courtesy of Claire Cohen
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