Barbra and Martha
My two heroines: their influence, their gardens, and a war of the roses
I know what you’re probably thinking: it’s Women’s History Month, so why am I pitting two women against each other? I’m not! I love them both. They’re my heroines of the moment—my role models who both happen to be octogenarians.
In 2015 I saw Martha Stewart in person and it was by far the most exciting celebrity sighting I’ve ever had. Drew had a booth at the Architectural Digest Made show, and as I was leaving one afternoon I walked right past Martha Stewart and her entourage as they were going in. She was, of course, impossibly glamorous, and I silently gasped.
That said, if I ever manage to see Barbra Streisand in person I might faint.
It might sound sacrilegious, and my mom might get mad at me for saying so, but I do think that reading Barbra Streisand’s memoir was, for me, a spiritual experience not so very different from when I started going to church again last year. I read the book as soon as I could after it came out in 2023. I just wish it had come out earlier—say, when I was a teenager.
But in 2023 I needed it, too, moving to Brooklyn and feeling very uneasy about it. What would I wear? I had been living for months in a South Carolina Airbnb with a suitcase’s worth of clothes. How would I act? I’d lost whatever social skills I had during the pandemic, and they’re still not so great.
“Be Yourself” is the message that comes through loud and voice-of-an-angel-clear in Barbra’s book. While trying to become an actress she ignored all sorts of bad advice to fix her nose or get professional vocal training or to dress more conventionally. She leaned into her weirdness and wore her vintage clothing, and ended up the greatest star in Hollywood of the ‘60s and ‘70s. In my very biased opinion, at least.
I loved the book so much that I read it on Kindle and then listened to the audiobook, which is even better since Barbra likes to go off-script, especially when it comes to describing her favorite snacks. She’s particularly obsessed with coffee ice cream. She should have won the Grammy!
Barbra’s garden is a lot like her wardrobe: romantic and old-fashioned and over-the-top, without a trend to be found. You can read about her love for vintage clothing in this great piece from Sighs & Whispers: Barbra was buying and wearing vintage long before it was cool. The 1920s dresses and monkey fur coats she wore fed into the ‘kook’ narrative, but I doubt she really cared.
Her garden is a little bit 1920s-inspired, too, and I don’t think Barbra is trying to get into Gardens Illustrated or anything with it. It’s definitely not your typical modern Hollywood garden, with tall grasses and a tasteful color palette. The colors in Barbra’s garden are all over the place. It’s a little bit English cottage garden with some classic Hollywood film set thrown in. That poolside pergola with the climbing roses reminds me of the one in the 1940s melodrama Leave Her to Heaven: it hits you over the head with its romanticism. It’s not subtle, but then neither is Barbra.
Barbra Streisand may get ridiculed for her kooky taste, but Martha Stewart gets mocked for having taste that’s too perfect. Women just can’t win!
I’ve long admired and respected Martha—how could I not? But my eyes weren’t fully opened to her greatness until I started binge-watching old ‘90s episodes of Martha Stewart Living on Roku. This woman is amazing. She is a little too perfect, in a way that would come off as annoying to me if any of it ever seemed fake or inauthentic, but it never does. Martha is seemingly good at everything and usually knows more than her expert guests do, but that’s only because she’s so curious. She never seems to be putting on an act or trying to impress anyone other than herself. Which actually sounds a lot like Barbra Streisand.
Like Barbra, Martha doesn’t really follow trends. But she’s very, very good at creating them. On her old TV episodes she looks more contemporary than anyone around her—how does she pull it off? Her hairstyles change but somehow never look dated. Her ‘90s outfits show up all the time these days on social media as style inspiration. And her old gardens still look modern, too, almost eerily prescient. In late ‘90s/early 2000s episodes of the show she’s showing off her David Austin Roses and her custom Guy Wolff pots and her scented geraniums and her white-painted greenhouse like a garden influencer who’s about to get millions of followers and a Miracle-Gro sponsorship. Oh, wait—she already has those things.
Yes, I loved the Netflix documentary, and, yes, I need to get my hands on a copy of her new gardening book that was just released this week. But what I really want is a copy of her 1991 gardening book, if only for the photos alone. Can you imagine all of the outfit inspiration in there? Oh, yeah, and garden inspiration, too.
Do Martha and Barbra like each other?
According to gossip sites the two ladies are currently in a feud, initiated by Martha, who recently promised that her upcoming memoir won’t be as “long and boring” as Barbra’s (I could only wish that Martha’s memoir would be as long and “boring” as Barbra’s. How else will I ever find out what kind of junk food Martha keeps in her pantry?).
Barbra didn’t like that, of course, but part of me wonders if the feud started much earlier—say, around the time when Barbra, staying at Martha’s place, disapproved of the toilet paper holders in the guest bathroom and had the nerve to send Martha Stewart, of all people, some new ones.
Or could it be a war of the roses? The Barbra Streisand Hybrid Tea Rose came out in 2001, developed by rosarian Tom Carruth, after many years of work with Streisand, who he described as (positively, I think) “very picky.” “Barbra Streisand was very involved,” Carruth explained in a Vanity Fair article. “She took a good two to three seasons to make up her mind. We gave her four different, unnamed varieties, and she finally decided on which one would bear her name, and when she did, she was a great supporter of it.” Interestingly enough Martha Stewart turned down another rose that Carruth had developed and wanted to name after her. He later released it under the name Scentimental, and after seeing it I can’t say I blame Martha for not wanting her name attached.
The Martha Stewart Hybrid Tea Rose came out just a few months ago in January but it’s already sold out, and no wonder. It was bred in France by Meilland and looks very of the moment: pale pink, old-fashioned, and romantic. But maybe Barbra’s rose looked of the moment back in 2001? Anyhow I’d never pit these two ladies against each other, but I have no problem picking a favorite rose, and it’s definitely Martha’s.
Love this post about your two heroines - pretty amazing ladies! And why would I be mad! :)
This was so fun to read. I love any kind of peek into a celebrity’s garden!