| This thesis explores the meanings and implications of private gardening in the suburbs of southern Ontario in the post World War II era until 1962. It explores why gardening proliferated, the impact of tools and technology, the purposes of different spaces within the yard, and the gendered division of work and space in the yard. Gardening relates to a range of socio-historical questions, and provides an opportunity to understand, and reconsider, outdoor domesticity and leisure time as gardening related to life in the postwar suburbs. Gardening permitted residents to beautify their homes; however, this was only to be done within the confines of proper cultivation and organization. Gardening was modernized, as it appeared progressive and permitted self expression in the yard, but it also reinforced conformity and patriarchy. Private yards were not simply places where plants grew, but had specific aesthetic and functional purposes that shaped individual residences, neighbourhoods and communities. |
