"The love of flowers is calculated to improve our best feelings, and subdue our bad ones; and we can hardly contemplate the beauty and richness of a flower-garden without feeling our hearts dilate with gratitude to that Almighty Being who has made all these lovely blossoms, and given them to us for our use."

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Said Jane Webb Loudon, a statement that embodies the deep admiration she felt for her botanical subjects.

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Books of floral illustration were a popular form of publication in the 19th century. Loudon's Ladies Flower Garden, published by W. Smith, London, was one of the earliest examples of this genre. The series included five titles illustrating hundreds of specimens of flowers with their scientific names. Each illustration is a work of "chromolithography", a 19th century form of color printmaking. The rigor that Loudon applied to depicting each plant's detailed anatomy, in its seasonal phases, speaks to her dedication as a scientist and naturalist. Loudon created the series for women, and the publications inspired many ladies of Victorian England to participate in science, gardening, and exploration of the natural world.