Cultivators: Theodosia Burr Shepherd

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Theodosia Burr Shepherd (1845-1906) was an American botanist, horticulturist, and pioneer in plant breeding known as the “Flower Wizard of California”. She is known for developing new varieties of flowers including cosmos, poppies, and begonias. The most famous being the ‘Heavenly Blue' morning glory, and the ‘Golden West' California Poppy.

For Further Reading:

This month, we're talking about cultivators — women who nurtured, cross-pollinated, experimented, or went to great lengths to better understand and protect the natural world.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

Original theme music composed by Brittany Martinez.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Nicola Cochlin and for BBC Radio 4, this is history's youngest heroes. Rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth.
0:10.2	She thought, right, I'll just do it. She thought about others rather than herself.
0:14.8	Twelve stories of extraordinary young people from across history.
0:18.7	There's a real sense of urgency in them. That resistance has to be mounted. It has to be mounted now. across history. There's a real sense of urgency in them.
0:21.0	That resistance has to be mounted.
0:22.4	It has to be mounted now.
0:24.4	Follow history's youngest heroes, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:30.1	The championship is back in the bay for the first time in 40 years.
0:35.8	On the new limited podcast series, Dub Dynasty, we hear from head coach Steve
0:40.2	Kerr on how Steph Curry almost never even joined the Warriors. In fact, I thought we had a
0:45.9	draft day deal to end up getting him to Phoenix. For the entire behind the scene story of Golden
0:51.6	State's incredible 10-year run, listen to Dub Dynasty on the
0:55.3	iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
1:03.9	Hello, I'm Brittany Martinez, a senior producer at Wonder Media Network, and I'm one of the co-curators for this month.
1:13.6	I am so excited to be guest hosting this episode of Omanica.
1:18.2	This month, we're talking about cultivators, women who nurtured, cross-pollinated, experimented, or went to great lengths to better understand and protect the natural world.
1:28.7	Today, we're talking about a horticultural pioneer who not only hybridized countless flowers,
1:34.1	but established a business that laid the foundation of California seed industry,
1:38.4	earning her the title of the Flower Wizard of California.
1:42.2	Let's talk about Theodosia Burr Shepherd. Theodosia was born October
1:47.6	14, 1845 in southeastern Iowa. While little is known about her early life, one thing is clear.
1:55.0	She battled chronic illness. She suffered from tuberculosis or lung trouble, as it was called back
	...

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