The Daily Gardener

Today we celebrate the first grapes that were grown down under and the poet who saved a tree that looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale. We'll learn about the painter who was supposed to paint pineapples but never did and the florist who did the flowers for Queen Elizabeth's coronation. We'll hear some thoughts on autumn from a Swiss philosopher and poet. We Grow That Garden Library with a riveting biography of a floral artist extraordinaire and the founder of the cordon bleu cooking school. I'll talk about how you can repurpose a big bulky item taking up space in your kitchen cupboard, and then we'll wrap things up with the Florida State Flower - think citrus! But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Bob Randall's gardening book explains how to cope with Houston's hotter temperatures. Dr. Bob has a new book for Houston gardeners - and great tips for dealing with warmer temps: 1. Grow your own food — even if it's just a single pot of lettuce on a balcony. Food gardening cuts your carbon footprint. It sharpens your awareness of the natural world. And it's an excellent way to fight depression about global warming. 2. If you're a long-time gardener, accept that the time-honored planting dates you used ten years ago may no longer work for specific crops. If old reliables such as corn or lettuce are now failing year after year, ask yourself: Is it because the average temperature is too high for germination, pollination, or some other crucial stage of plant life? Adjust your planting schedule accordingly. 3. To cope with both flooding and droughts, add a pond or rain garden to your yard. During heavy storms, it will store rainwater. And over time, it will release it into the water table below your yard, keeping deep roots happy for months to come. 4. When doing your long-term planning, remember that Houston's summer is hard both on plants and people. Plan to do as little hard outdoor work in your garden in the hot months as possible. Water with a soaker hose and automated timer. Plant cover crops to recharge the soil and keep out weeds. 5. Plant what grows well here in the warming subtropics — even if it means trying new foods or plants. Citrus trees, blackberries, figs, and persimmons grow exceptionally well here. And even in the dead of August, you can harvest crops such as long beans, tindora perennial cucumbers, and leaf amaranth. Episode 50: Top 50 Plants - FineGardening@FineGardening Zoo-Wee Mama! I LOVE looking through favorite plant lists! Here's a great list from Danielle & Steve with 50 Top Plants in Episode 50 of the Let's Argue About Plants Podcast. Get out your notebooks... Ornamental Fall Berries Provide Year-Round Awe Here are some excellent plant picks from @uie_hort that provide many seasons of interest. Not only do these plants offer beautiful flower displays & pretty foliage, but they also have a remarkable presentation of fruits called drupes: 'Brandywine' possumhaw viburnum (Viburnum nudum), Beautyberry (Callicarpa Americana), and White fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus). Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1791, Australia's first thriving grapevine was planted. The Australian wine industry began with the arrival of the first fleet into Sydney Cove. In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip of the First Fleet brought grape cuttings from South America and South Africa. Philip planted a small vineyard at Farm Cove - the site of the present Sydney Botanical Gardens. In the beginning, the settlement in New South Wales experienced great difficulty. Supplies were limited, so cultivating crops for food was the top priority. The soil in and around Sydney was poor, and the convicts lacked horticultural experience. Starvation was a real issue during those early days. Not surprisingly, Philip's vines did not bear, but they were able to be transplanted to a new location - a three-acre vineyard at Parramatta. By this time, Arthur Philip had become the first Governor of New South Wales. Philip's grapes were Crimson Grapes, which require warm, deep, and fertile soil. Fortunately, many regions in Australia are perfect for growing Crimson Grapes like areas in Victoria, New South Wales, and southeastern Queensland. Australian Crimson Grapes are harvested from November to May. #OTD Today is the birthday of the poet, Dodgers baseball fan, and founding member of the Friends of Prospect Park, Marianne Moore, who was born on this day in 1885. Moore was an eccentric intellectual who had a range of interests outside of poetry. In 1967, when she was 80 years old, Moore created a citizen group called the Friends of Prospect Park. Moore f

Today we celebrate the botanist who discovered osmosis and the botanist who helped popularize the poinsettia. We'll learn about the painter who made an indelible garden out of waste marshland and the Edwardian Landscape Architect who designed the Peace Palace gardens at the Hague. We'll celebrate the birthday of the royal gardener who turns 71 today. We'll hear the oft-quoted November poem with the lines "The last lone aster is gone; The flowers of the witch hazel wither;" We Grow That Garden Library with a book that helps gardeners create a garden worthy of painting. I'll talk about seedheads, and then we'll wrap things up with the Spanish grape that is the sixth most widely planted grape in the world. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. How to grow your own wellness garden | @HomesProperty @ChelsPhysicGdn's head of plant collections, Nell Jones, shares her tips for the best "wellbeing" plants to grow at home: Peppermint, Rosemary, Tumeric, Aloe Vera, and Chamomile. All are fantastic options for houseplants with health benefits. How to collect and sow astrantia seeds | Gardener's World | @gwmag Here's an A+ video from @gwmag featuring Carol Klein - who couldn't look sharper with her Suit & Scarf - showing us How to Collect and Sow Astrantia, Hesperis, & Hardy Annuals. She's the Real Deal - right down to the dirt under her fingernails! Ep. 237 - The Fall of the Torreya & What is Being Done to Save It — In Defense of Plants | @indfnsofplnts This IDOP podcast is a good one! Ep. 237: The Torreya taxifolia Asa Gray recalled when Hardy Bryan Croom discovered it along with a little plant that grows beneath it: the Croomia pauciflora. So, in botany, as in life, Croom grew happily in the shadow of Torrey. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the French physiologist and botanist Henri Dutrochet, who was born on this day in 1776. Dutrochet discovered and named the process of osmosis working in his home laboratory as he was investigating the movement of sap in plant tissues. Dutrochet shared his discovery with the Paris Academy of Sciences on October 30th, 1826. Like the cells in our own bodies, plants don't drink water; they absorb it by osmosis. Dutrochet also figured out the green pigment in plants is essential to how plants take up carbon dioxide. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Robert Buist who was born on this day in 1805. Robert Buist came to America from Edinburgh "Edinburgh," where his dad was a professional gardener. He had trained at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and immigrated to Philadelphia when he was 23 years old. One of his first jobs was working for a wealthy Philadelphia businessman named Henry Pratt, who had a tremendous summer estate named Lemon Hill. At the time, Lemon Hill was regarded as having one of the most beautiful gardens in the United States. Eventually, Buist bought the history Bernard M'Mahon nursery - one of the oldest nurseries in the country and the nursery that supplied plants to Thomas Jefferson. Today, on the spot where the nursery used to be, is a large old Sophora tree - known as the Buist Sophora. The tree was brought to the United States from France, and its origin can be traced to China. In addition to the nursery, Buist grew his company to include a seed division and a greenhouse. In 1825, the Plant Explorer Joel Poinsett sent some specimens of a plant he discovered in Mexico home to Charleston. Buist heard about the plant bought himself one and began growing it. Buist named it Euphorbia poinsettia since the plant had a milky white sap like other Euphorbias. The red bracts of the plant were so unusual and surprising to Buist that he wrote it was "truly the most magnificent of all the tropical plants we have ever seen." Of course, what Buist had been growing is the plant we know today as the poinsettia. Buist gave his friend and fellow Scot the botanist James McNab a poinsettia when he visited in 1834. McNab brought the plant back to Scotland and gave it to the head of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Robert Graham. Graham promptly changed the botanical name of the plant to Poinsettia pulcherrima - a move that greatly disgusted Buist for the rest of his life. And, here's a fun little side note about Robert Buist. His books on gardening were very popular. When Stonewall Jackson discovered gardening in middle age, he relied heavily on Robert Buist's book "The Family Kitchen Gardener: Containing Plain and Accurate Descriptions of All the Different Species and Varieties of Culinary Vegetables, that became Jackson's gardening bible and he wrote little notes in the mar

Today we celebrate the writer who dedicated his book called A Child's Garden of Verses to his childhood nurse and the German botanist who lost all of his work in the Columbia River. We'll learn about the big chrysanthemum show of 1916 in our Nation's capital and the botanist who was one with Agaves. We'll hear some November poetry. We Grow That Garden Library with a book now in its 3rd edition from the man who loved to say "Happy Gardening, friends." I'll talk about setting up a regular spa day for your Houseplants, and then we'll wrap things up with a little something Jane Powers wrote back in 2010 that I think was just so incredibly cool and memorable. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Coleus Cuttings | @WDCGardener I can't think of anyone I'd rather learn to take Coleus Cuttings from than @WDCGardener and her cat Santino - who is THE master when it comes to supervising cuttings. btw Santino means "little saint" Aw.... Recommended Air Plants | HEIRLOOM GARDENER Know Thy Air Plants - Here's a nice little post from Heirloom Gardener to help you Tell Your Air Plants Apart. My favorite? Tillandsia xerographica - "Queen of Tillandsias." I recently saw one in a wedding bouquet. Long Live the Queen! Make a Christmas seedhead wreath| @GardensIllustrated I. Cannot. Stand. How. Adorable. This. IS! Just when I thought I was out of the garden... you pull me back in! @GardensIllustrated came up with this adorable project - Make a Christmas seedhead wreath. I love this idea for the She Shed at the cabin. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Scottish-born writer and poet Robert Louis Stevenson, who was born on this day in 1850. Stevenson sickly little boy with no brothers or sisters. When he was just a toddler, a woman named Alison Cunningham was brought into the Stevenson home to help care for Robert. When Stevenson wrote a collection of poems called "A Child's Garden of Verses," he dedicated the book to Alison. Gardeners will be surprised to learn that Herbert Jekyll and Robert Louis Stevenson were friends. Herbert was the brother of the British horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll. Jekyll's last name was used in Stevenson's most famous work Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but of course, the popular pronunciation of the Jekyll name became Jekyll thanks to the book. It was Robert Louis Stevenson who said, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant" And, here's an excerpt from Stevenson's The Gardener The gardener does not love to talk. He makes me keep the gravel walk; And when he puts his tools away, He locks the door and takes the key. Silly gardener! summer goes, And winter comes with pinching toes, When in the garden bare and brown You must lay your barrow down. #OTD Today is the 76th anniversary of the day that the German botanist, Frederick Lueders, lost all of his botanical work. On November 13, 1843, Lueders was botanizing along the Columbia River in Oregon. He'd been collecting specimens for three years. He had just encountered the explorer John Freemont, when all of his work, which was secured in a canoe nearby, was drawn into the rapids. Lueders plunged into the river and managed to retrieve only a copy of the Flora by Torrey and Gray. The devastating loss was recorded in Freemont's journal who wrote: "In the natural concern I felt for his misfortune, I gave to the little cove the name of Lueders' Bay." For Lueder's part, the loss of his specimens was devastating. However, the loss of his instruments and his correspondence with Asa Gray and Dr. Englemann was almost too great. Lueders determined his best course of action was to return home. He traveled south around the tip of Chile and then onto England. It took him a year to return to Hamburg a year after his mishap on the Columbia. Lueders didn't stay in Germany long. In fact, he returned to America within the next year. By 1851, he had made his way to Wisconsin; he spent the rest of his life in Sauk City, and he dabbled in astronomy. A biographical sketch said that in his old age, Lueders was mainly devoted to his flowers. #OTD On this day in 1916, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shared a sweet little article about the 16th annual chrysanthemum flower show that had just been held in Washington DC. It began this way: "If you ever get the idea that people aren't interested in flowers, just give a flower show." said one of the guards at the government chrysanthemum show last week. All morning he had been repeating "Keep to the right!" to the mass of visitors streaming into the greenhouse. There had been a couple of disastrous jams that injured s

Today we celebrate the French admiral and explorer who had a female botanist posing as a male valet on his voyage. We'll learn about the botanist who is remembered by the State Flower of California and the Landscape Architect who restored the entire Landscape of Colonial Williamsburg. We'll learn about the Spanish rose breeder who is remembered for cultivating the white Nevada rose, We'll hear some prose about November from three of the country's top naturalists. We Grow That Garden Library with a fabulous old book about growing your own herbal tea garden, I'll talk about potting up some Paperwhites and Amaryllis and then we'll wrap things up with the codebreaker who also cracked the code on preserving England's garden history. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Cancer, Libra, Virgo: THESE Zodiac Signs love nature and find gardening therapeutic | @Pinkvilla Finally, a horoscope I find myself wholeheartedly agree with - Cancer, Libra, Virgo: THESE Zodiac Signs love nature and find gardening therapeutic. That said, to borrow a phrase from Ratatouille, "Everyone can garden." Someone keeps stealing my compost, and I have no idea why they want my rotting food | @billy_penn @amandahoovernj Good Lord. As Compost Services are introduced in new areas of the country, thieves need to understand the contents are only golden if you're a plant. This is Australia's most popular indoor plant. | @bhgaus @Bhg A delicious choice, mate! The Monstera deliciosa appears in most Australian homes. The mesmerizing sculptures you can see at The Savill Garden | @SurreySculptors @surreylive Yes, to all of them! The Savill Garden is hosting the @SurreySculptors 25th Anniversary Exhibition. Take a load off and scroll through the 60 pieces of Art in the Garden! Thank you to all the Artists, Excellent Post @surreylive Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the French admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who died on this day in 1729. On Bougainville's expedition, a woman named Jeanne Baret joined the crew after posing as a valet to the expedition's naturalist: Philibert Commerçon. Commerçon had terrible health, and he likely needed Baret to help him. Baret herself was actually a botanist in her own right. When the ship stopped in Rio de Janeiro, it was Baret who ventured out into the tropics and returned with the lovely tropical vine that would be named to honor the expedition's commander: Bougainvillea. #OTD Today is the birthday of Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, who was born on this day in 1793. When the German poet Adelbert van Chamiso ended up in the San Francisco Bay area, and he wrote about the California poppy, which he named Eschscholzia California after his friend Johann Friedrich Von Eschscholz. In return, Eschscholz named a bunch of plants after Chamisso - a little quid pro quo. In 1903, the botanist Sarah Plummer Lemmon put forth a successful piece of legislation that nominated the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) as the state flower of California. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the Landscape Architect Arthur Shurcliff who died on this day in 1957. Shurcliff's path to Landscape Architecture was not clear cut. His dad had been a successful businessman, and Arthur was supposed to follow in his dad's footsteps and become a Mechanical Engineer. But after receiving his degree from MIT, the field of Landscape Architecture was making waves thanks to the Olmsteds, Charles Eliot, and the Chicago World's Fair. Since no formal degree programs existed at the time, Shurcliff cobbled together his own curriculum at the Lawrence School of Science at Harvard. All his life, Shurcliff loved being outside. He enjoyed camping and canoeing. He loved scenery and sketching the landscape. Looking back on his decision to pursue Landscape Architecture, Shurcliff remembered, "All led me away from mechanics toward scenery, toward planning and construction for the scenes of daily life..." In 1904, Shurcliff opened his own firm. Shurcliff designed recreational spaces in and around Boston like the Rose Garden, the Washington Garden at old North, and the park Back Bay Fens. But, Shurcliff will forever be remembered for the work he did at Colonial Williamsburg. It was the first time an entire American community was to be restored. John D. Rockefeller financed the project. Shurcliff had over 30 years of experience behind him when he officially started the project on St. Patrick's Day of that year. He didn't just bring his Landscape Architecture skills; he brought everything he had; his training in engineering, his

Today we celebrate the botanist who bred more than 40 types of pears - including our most popular varieties. We'll learn about the cultural meanings associated with the chrysanthemum and the Swedish botanist who posed as a Dutchman to botanize in Japan. We'll hear some thoughts on November from one of my favorite garden writers And, we Grow That Garden Library with one of the best books on Gardening for Butterflies I'll talk about straightening your ornamental trees, and then we'll wrap things up with the story of the woman who loved blueberries so much she shared them with the world. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Gardens, Paradise, & Kashmir| Searchkashmir.org | @SearchKashmir It's no surprise that the word 'paradise' was first used to describe a garden. This Farsi poem about Kashmir by Amir Khusrau does the same: If ever there is Paradise on Earth, It is here! It is here! It is here! How to grow orchids by Alys Fowler| @guardian @guardianweekend This is an excellent post about orchids, and I always love to hear how people approach caring for their orchids. Alys says: "An east-facing window... plus consistent watering (every week in the growing season, every other during winter) & Lou's Poo, dried alpaca poo." Every gardener reading this now will search online for Lou's Poo... but just a heads up - they don't deliver to the US. Vermont Garden Journal: Some New Ideas For Perennial Garden Care| @charlienardozzi @vprnet I couldn't agree more! Love this post from @charlienardozzi @vprnet The first thing I tell my student gardeners is that plant material doesn't leave the property. The second thing I teach them is Chop & Drop. https://buff.ly/32aL8TI Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Jean-Baptiste Van Mons, who was born on this day in 1765. The name of the game for Van Mons was selective breeding for pears. Selective breeding happens when humans breed plants to develop particular characteristics by choosing the parent plants to make the offspring. Check out the patience and endurance that was required as Van Mon's described his work: "I have found this art to consist in regenerating in a direct line of descent, and as rapidly as possible an improving variety, taking care that there be no interval between the generations. To sow, to re-sow, to sow again, to sow perpetually, in short, to do nothing but sow, is the practice to be pursued, and which cannot be departed from; and in short, this is the whole secret of the art I have employed." Jean-Baptiste Van Mons produced a tremendous amount of new pear cultivars in his breeding program - something north of forty incredible species throughout his lifetime. The Bosc and D'Anjou pears, we know today, are his legacy. #OTD On this day in 1790, Chrysanthemums are introduced to England from China. Chrysanthemums are the November birth flower and the 13th wedding anniversary flower. The greens and blossoms of the chrysanthemum are edible, and they are particularly popular in Japan, China, and Vietnam. Generally, chrysanthemums symbolize optimism and joy - but they have some unique cultural meanings around the world. Back in the Victorian language of flowers, the red chrysanthemum meant "I Love," and the yellow chrysanthemum symbolized slighted love. In China, the chrysanthemum is a symbol of autumn and the flower of the ninth moon. During the Han dynasty, the Chinese drank chrysanthemum wine - they believed it made their lives longer and made them healthier. As a result, the chrysanthemum was often worn to funerals. On Mother's Day down under, Australians traditionally wear a white chrysanthemum to honor their moms, and Chrysanthemums are common Mother's Day presents. In Poland, chrysanthemums are the flower of choice to be placed on graves for All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Finally, in 1966, Mayor Richard Daley declared the chrysanthemum as the official flower of the city of Chicago. #OTD On this day in 1799, the Leonids meteor shower was seen from Europe and South America. The famous German explorer and botanist Alexander Humboldt had just arrived in South America to begin his great five-year exploration, and he wrote this in his journal from Chile as he saw the Leonids: The night between November 11 and 12 was calm and beautiful... During 4 hours, we observed thousands of huge fireballs, often with a brightness like Jupiter. Long smoke trails were left behind, lasting 7-8 seconds, often the meteors exploded, leaving trails too. It wasn't just Humboldt who witnessed this event. Andrew Ellicott Douglass, an early American astronomer who was born in Vermont, observ

Today we celebrate the plant named in honor of Queen Victoria and the President of Peru and Bolivia. We'll learn about the Mother of Balboa Park and how the world seed bank was saved during WWII. We'll hear the Garden Poem that celebrates the end of the apple-picking season. We Grow That Garden Library with a book from the author who was pulled out of her grief by nature walks with Marion Satterlee. I'll talk about an on-trend and portable way to display your houseplants, and then we'll wrap things up with a set of botanical stamps that commemorated the bi-centenary of Captain Cook's first voyage to New Zealand. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. How to lift and divide herbaceous perennials Now's the time for all good men to come to the aid of their... Whoops - nope - Really now is the perfect time to lift and divide perennials with @GWmag - It's not too late! Dividing or not - you should check out the garden in this video. Swooning now... 11 things to know about the Agius Evolution Garden Here's a Behind the Scenes Look at Kew's Brand New Garden called the Agius. Learn about the mulch @kewgardens makes for the garden, the pergola that supports 26 roses & the drought-resistant asterids - like sages, olives, and rosemary. What to grow in a medieval herb garden - English Heritage Blog Medieval Herb Gardens grew the tried & true herbs. Learn more about Sage, Betony, Clary Sage, Hyssop, Rue, Chamomile, Dill, Cumin, & Comfrey in this post by @EnglishHeritage featuring a beautiful pic of @RievaulxAbbey Never Underestimate the Intelligence of Trees Gardens are plant communities that need these pillars of protection- yet many gardens are treeless. As gardeners, we should plant Micro Forests. Dr. Suzanne Simard - Professor of Forest Ecology: Older, bigger trees share nutrients w/ smaller trees & they pay it back later. @NautilusMag Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1849, the very first Victoria cruziana flowered in a custom-built greenhouse at the Duke of Devonshire's estate at Chatsworth. After that initial bloom, the other specimens began blooming as well. And, one of the blossoms was, appropriately, given to Queen Victoria (Santa Cruz Water Lily). The Victoria cruziana is an exotic plant. It is named in honor of two people: Queen Victoria & Andres de Santa Cruz, President of Peru & Bolivia, who sponsored the expedition where the plants were first collected. In the wild, Victoria cruziana is native to open waters in northern Argentina and Paraguay. Sadly, the Victoria cruziana is endangered due to deforestation. Although in recent years, the Santa Cruz Water Lily has been returning by the hundreds in the Salado River in Paraguay. Locals take tourists out to see them in little canoes. Victoria cruziana produces enormous lily pads that can grow up to 2 meters or almost 7 feet wide. Today, greenhouses grow the Santa Cruz Water Lily from seed. In cultivation, pollination takes place by hand in the evenings when the plant is flowering. But in its native habitat, the pollination process of the Santa Cruz Water Lily is a fantastic spectacle: When the big flower bud initially opens - it is pure white and it emits a pineapple aroma. Then, as night falls, the flower goes through a chemical change that causes it to heat up.The pineapple scent and the warmth draw flying scarab beetles who venture far into the depths of the flower to find feast of starch. It's likeThanksgiving in there. While they are feasting through the night, the morning sunlight causes the flower to close up, and the feasting scarab beetles are trapped inside. During the day, the flower goes through a tremendous transformation. The pineapple scent goes away, and the flower turns from pure white to pink - all in the course of a single day. What's more, the sex of the flower changes from female to male. When the Santa Cruz Water Lily flower opens again on the second night, the scarab beetles are ready to go, and they fly off, covered in pollen to find the next freshly opened pineapple scented female flowers. Isn't that incredible? Now the underside of the giant Amazonian water lily, Victoria cruziana, is quite something to see. It consists of this intricate vaulted rib structure, which is perfectly designed by Mother Nature. The air pockets give it the buoyancy and allow it to handle the load of the enormous lily pad. Those ribs are what allows the lily pad to float. This pattern so inspired Joseph Paxton that he incorporated it into his design for Crystal Palace in 1851. And, to illustrate the strength of the lily pads, there's a famous old photo from the 1800s that sh

Today we celebrate the Landscape Architect, who left a mark on over 50 towns in the United States. We'll learn about The Botany Man, who helped start The Sierra Club. We'll hear beautiful words about the mists of November from two of the world's best nature writers. We Grow That Garden Library with the book written by the wife of the author of Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web. I'll talk about getting your outdoor rugs cleaned, and then we'll wrap things up with the story of an award-winning botanical writer who was once tutored by Nathaniel Lord Britton. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. 1. Here's a very helpful video tutorial on How to Make a Compost Bin for Next to Nothing from Richard Spencer @RS_Garden_Care. I really like the simplicity and functionality of this. 2. Excellent Hedge Planting Advice from Buckingham Nurseries. It made me of that saying... The best time to plant a tree (or a hedge) was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. 3. Here are Six Hardy Annuals to Sow in Autumn for a beautiful Spring & Summer from @theenglishgarde Think California Poppy, Centaurea, Borage, Love-in-a-Mist, Calendula, & Clary sage. I'd also add Cornflower and Larkspur! Book Winner: Kathy Brown The Garden in Every Sense and Season by Tovah Martin Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Happy Winter's Day! In the Old English poem of the Anglo-Saxon Calendar known as the Menologium, November 7th is considered to be the first day of winter - 'Winter's Day.' According to the poem, winter has 92 days, lasting from November 7th to February 6th. #OTD Today is the birthday of the American landscape designer Warren H Manning who was born on this day in 1860. The day Manning was born, his father recorded the moment in his diary: "At five minutes past 12 this morning, we had a son born to us. He is strong and healthy to all appearances. I set Hackett at work to dig the hole while I planted the Elm tree to commemorate the day that our first child was born. I think that there should be a tree planted at the birth of every child so that in the after times it may be seen which is most useful." Manning's dad was undoubtedly proud of his son, who worked on design projects in almost every state in the country. Manning started out as an apprentice to Frederick Law Olmsted before going out on his own. Ultimately, Manning designed on all types of properties, from estates to golf courses and everything in between. All told, his portfolio included over 1,600 projects. One of the signature aspects of Manning's practice was promoting "Wild Gardens." Wild gardens appealed to Manning because they were more affordable (at least initially) for his clients compared to formal gardens. Adding wild spaces meant that Manning would generally get an opportunity to follow up on his projects as they usually needed some fine tunings. Then, third, many of Manning's private wild garden designs ended up becoming a gift to the community. And Manning was always thrilled to see more natural areas transitioned into public spaces. The Birmingham artist and Landscape Architect Frank Hartley Anderson gave a moving tribute to Manning upon his death: "Fifty other towns and cities today arc better places to live because of the vision of Warren H. Manning. Eleven hundred communities, in part, were made pleasanter places through his 50 years of wholehearted service." #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of The Botany Man Willis Linn Jepson, who died on this day in 1946. Carved on his tombstone are the following words: "Profound Scholar, Inspiring Teacher, Indefatigable Botanical Explorer, ... In the ordered beauty of nature, he found enduring communion." When Jepson was 25, he created the Sierra Club along with John Muir and Warren Olney. During Jepson's junior year at Berkeley, he decided to start a diary. His diaries became known as his field books. Like many botanists, Jepson was an archivist at heart, and he recorded everything - not just dates, but as much as he could. It was a practice Jepson never abandoned and resulted in over fifty Jepson field books. In 1894, Jepson began to think seriously about creating a Flora of California. As long as he was working on the flora, Jepson thought he might as well create a herbarium, which he considered to be his legacy. Although Jepson often said he disliked common names, he came up with many on his own. He once named a plant Mountain Misery after suffering the after-effects of walking through it. By the early 1900s, automobiles were becoming mainstream, but Jepson warned, "You must still go afoot if a real botanist. No field botanist should beco

Today we celebrate the Versailles botanist who started organizing plants in a new way but kept his method a secret. We'll learn about the young New Yorker and garden writer who met the perfect botanical illustrator for her garden books in the hospital as she was battling influenza. We'll hear some glorious thoughts on November from the author of "Butternut Wisdom." We Grow That Garden Library with a book that helps us grow more by going vertical in our gardens. I'll talk about burying your cold-hardy succulents, and then we'll wrap things up with the intrepid botanist who discovered a plant that's still almost too good to be true - the blue poppy. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Modern Monochromatic Wedding at Baltimore's Sagamore Pendry Hotel @ruffledblog shared this gorgeous @lemonlime_event Modern Monochromatic Wedding at Baltimore's Sagamore Pendry Hotel. Gardeners will love the green/white floral arrangements. And you MUST check out the bride's bouquet. That air plant!! https://buff.ly/2oFnKjj What is a Vegan Garden? I must confess I didn't fully appreciate all that it entails - so hats off to Garden Teacher Plews Garden Design @plewgd for a thorough and thoughtful explanation. Great article in @PsychToday by @peterbongi called Saffron for Emotional Health. Studies show the stigma & the petal of Saffron (Crocus sativus) are helpful for calming, mood support & more. And, love the Charlemange quote about herbs at the beginning... https://buff.ly/2WBvKyp Garden Betty share a really lovely post called A Guide to Saving and Storing Seeds As your end-of-season crops start to fade, now's the time to save the seeds from your favorite plants so you can grow them again next year! Here's a foolproof guide to show you how from @gardenbetty #gardenchat #gardening #growyourown https://buff.ly/2RzMpiN Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the French naturalist and botanist Bernard de Jussieu who died on this day in 1777. Jussieuwas a French botanist who developed the first natural classification of flowering plants. Today, there's a metro station near the botanical garden in Paris that is named in honor of the Jussieu family - which boasted five members over several generations as notable botanists. Bernard and his brother Antoine were both botany professors in Paris. Bernard was the stronger botanist, and there's a famous story about his incredible dedication to botany: One time, after botanizing in Lebanon, Bernard was sailing back to France. Of course, drinkable water onboard a long voyage home would have been a precious commodity. Yet, Bernard Jussieu purportedly shared his precious water with a little Lebanon Cedar seedling he was bringing home. He wanted to plant in the Royal Garden, and he was determined to bring the little tree back alive to Paris. The French say the seedling lived to be over 200 years old and eighty feet high. As for Bernard Jussieu, in 1759, he was brought to Versailles to develop the Royal Botanical Garden at the Petit Trianon. Unassuming and laid back, Bernard quietly began arranging the plants in the garden in a new way. Jussieu's system of organizing plants into a more natural order was revolutionary at the time and also something he wouldn't disclose to others. However, Bernard did put together a catalog of the plants in his garden. Bernard recognized a kindred spirit in his nephew, Antoine-Laurent. Bernard trained him for four years, and when he came of age, Bernard confided his methods of plant classification. As a result, Antoine-Laurent's work was an extension of his Uncle Bernard's ideas around grouping plants. It took Antoine-Laurent Jussieu almost twenty years of refinement and perfecting of his Uncle's work, but he finally published his work on natural classification as the Bastille was falling in 1789. In Genera Plantarum, Antoine-Laurent Jussieu kept Linnaeus' binomial nomenclature, but he grouped plants by genera and then into families. He called his system natural and strived to let nature be his guide. Today, many plant families can be attributed to Jussieu. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist and garden writer Alice Lounsberry who was born on this day in 1868. (Note: Online accounts, based on a Who's Who biography have the date of her year of birth as 1873 - which is incorrect as she was already two years old on an 1870 census with her brother and parents.) Lounsberry was a New Yorker, and she developed a love for botany as a young girl. In her mid-twenties, she was already serving as a board member for the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). Lounsberry

Today we celebrate the botanist who created the second botanical garden in the United States and the botanist who was a dear friend to Asa Gray and was with him as he saw first hand one of the most sought after plants of the 1800s. We'll hear some words about the falling leaves and autumn senescence. We Grow That Garden Library with a book that is so gorgeous that some folks buy copies to cut out the pages to frame them. I'll talk about the three things you need to do to winterize your pressure washer, and then we'll talk about a troublesome otter in Vancouver. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Who doesn't want MORE Small Garden Design Ideas on a Budget? I stumbled on a great video about this very topic by Alexandra Campbell @midsizegarden, who is the brains behind the middle-sized garden. What I love about Alexandra's video is that she culls the best tips from top garden designers she's interviewed over the years. Find out how to save money and still get the garden you'll love. The designers share tips like designing off of the house or a tree, making your boundaries look smart, and the secret benefits of using a large pot instead of buying lots of little pots. Alexandra has pulled together a handy set of clips with commentary. It's a great video. Plus, I love her voice... Boy, did Tom Brown @headgardenertom pick some wonderful plants for November in his article for Gardens Illustrated called "Best flowers and plants for November." There are beautiful photographs of these plants and flowers from Jason Ingram in this great post from @GdnsIllustrated. There's plenty for gardens across all different growing zones. Northern Gardeners should check out Rosa 'Geranium' and Acer griseum - they both caught my eye. The Irish Florist, Lamber de Bie, shared a post called A Romantic Garden Wedding at Waterford Castle. You know those breathe/calming apps? This is basically that - but with flowers. Check out @Lamber_de_Bie & @WaterfordCastle on a private Island SE of Ireland. Lamber's woodland birch arch includes blue & pink summer hydrangea & tall plumes of pampas grass. It's a unique combination, and it's just incredible. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Humphrey Marshall who died on this day in 1801. The Marshalls were cousins to the Bartrams - their mothers were sisters. John Bartram was known as the "Father of American Botany, and he ignited Humphrey's love of native plants. John had established the country's first botanical garden. In 1773, after Marshall inherited his family estate and a sizable inheritance from his father, he created the country's second botanical garden. He incorporated natives, naturally, but also exotics. Marshall forged a friendship with the British botanist John Fothergill who paid Marshall for his plant collecting. Fothergill was a collector and a connector, introducing Marshall to many of Europe's top botanists and a growing list of customers. Marshall's contacts helped him source new plants for his botanical garden. And Twenty-five years before Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark on an expedition to the west, it was Humphrey Marshall who first made the suggestion - in 1778, 1785, and 1792. He really wanted the United States to sponsor an expedition to explore the west. A fellow friend, Quaker, and botanist, Joseph Trimble Rothrock wrote this about Marshall: "The earth abounds in beauty, all of which is open to his chastened senses. He revels in the sunlight and the breezes. The songs of the birds fall, welcome, into his ear. The colors of the flowers attract him." Marshalltown Pennsylvania was named in honor of Humphrey Marshall. In 1785, Marshall published the very first American essay on trees and shrubs. Humphrey Marshall is also known as the "Father of American Dendrology" (or the study of woody plants, trees, and shrubs). The genus, Marshallia, is named in honor of Humphrey Marshall. #OTD On this day in 1896, the newspaper out of Buffalo, New York, reported that the John Redfield herbarium was looking for a home. John H Redfield was born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1815. In 1836, Redfield became friends with Asa Gray after joining the Lyceum of Natural History in New York, where Gray was the Librarian and Superintendent. The remained life-long friends. When Redfield married in 1843, he moved to Philadelphia and worked for his Father-in-law's company making wheels for the railroad. During his free time, Redfield went on plant hunting expeditions with Asa Gray and other botanists. During the 1840's Gray was trying to locate a plant called the Shortia gala

Today we celebrate fall through the eyes of a writer and naturalist from the year 1855 and the botanist honored with building on the University of Glasgow. We'll learn about the Indian botanist who bred a new species of sugar cane and the Arizona Palm - yes, it does exist! We'll hear some November Poems. We Grow That Garden Library with a book that helps us savor the garden through our five senses. I'll talk about the task some gardeners regret forgetting and then share a little story about the botanist who ended up becoming one of the most prolific orchid hunters. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Saturday morning, I woke up to a snow-covered garden. Winter is gaining on us... but don't despair. I found a lovely video clip from Katie Rushworth @queenofspades00 over at Silverline Tools, who shares that there are plenty of ways to add color to your winter garden. You can watch along in her video as she plants a colorful border and uses evergreens and semi-evergreens. She adds a lovely heuchera and huecherella. Next, she uses a beautiful false bamboo or Nandina and pittosporum for interest and texture. Then, she incorporates a Pyrrhus into the back of the border as well as a Sibirica dogwood. Katie points out that the more exciting foliage you can source, the more dynamic your border will become. Next up, Mary Ellen Ellis @gardenknowhow shared a great post over the weekend called How Many Kinds Of Ginkgo Are There? Well, the answer is lots! I love the Fairmount, the Majestic Butterfly, and the Lacy Ginkgo. "Fairmount. This is a columnar ginkgo, meaning its growth habit is narrow and upright. This is a good choice for narrow spaces with plenty of vertical room. Majestic Butterfly. This type has variegated leaves, green streaked with yellow. It is also a smaller tree at just 10 feet (3 meters) high at maturity. Lacy Ginkgo. The lacy cultivar is so-called for its leaves, which have a textured edge that gives the appearance of lace." Finally, as trends go, Houseplants are Hot! I found a great post that was reshared from last Dec by @batesbn and featured in the blog Greenhouse Management called Houseplant Comeback.The subtitle was: Tech-savvy Millennials are reviving the houseplant market. How will the latest indoor foliage trends affect growers and retailers in 2019 and beyond? The article featured @gardenmedia Katie Dubow: "Whether we're doing it consciously or subconsciously, we're putting more greenery in our homes because we're spending more time inside." "[Last year], the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) developed a series of infographics to promote the proven health and wellness benefits of houseplants. The #PlantsDoThat campaign illustrated how indoor plants can improve test scores in classrooms, lower blood pressure in hospitals and increase productivity in the workplace. "We started the #PlantsDoThat campaign to show people what houseplants actually do in their everyday lives," says Day, who is also the chair of the commercial council for NICH. "These benefits resonate with Millennials because they want something that does more than just look pretty." Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1855, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal: "The winter is approaching. The birds are almost all gone. The note of the 'dee de de' sounds now more distinct, prophetic of winter, as I go amid the wild apples on Nawshawtuct. The autumnal dandelion sheltered by this apple-tree trunk is drooping and half-closed and shows but half its yellow, this dark, late, wet day in the fall... Larches are now quite yellow, — in the midst of their fall... When I look away to the woods, the oaks have a dull, dark red now, without brightness. The willow-tops on causeways have a pale, bleached, silvery, or wool-grass-like look." #OTD On the same day Thoreau was recording his autumnal observations, the English botanist Frederick Orpen Bower was born (in 1855). Bower became the Regius chair of botany at the University of Glasgow, "Glass-go." When he arrived, the department consisted of two rooms and a small attic space for the herbarium. When Bower lectured, he had to vie for a lecture hall with other departments and faculty. In 1901, the University completed a new botany building, which was technically Britain's first botanical institute. As part of the University's 450th-anniversary celebration, Sir Joseph Hooker opened the building. It was renamed in the 1990s to honor Bower and became known as the Bower Building. On October 24, 2001, the Bower building was significantly damaged by a fire. The losses included first editions of Dar

Today we celebrate the botanist who is considered the Father of Taxonomy and the young Landscape Architect who learned by taking weekly walking tours of gardens. We'll learn about the botanist who saved Kew Garden and the most famous garden designer you've never heard of. We'll listen to a little garden folklore for November and an amusing poem about daylight savings. We Grow That Garden Library with today's book which features the gardens of Russell Page, and you can get it on Amazon for under $4, which is highway robbery - or Landscape robbery in this case. I'll talk about digging up those dahlias and then share the super cute story about a young botanist and the housekeeper who was sure he was up to no good. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. National Fig Week It's the start of National Fig Week which runs through the 7th of November. All of the figs that are growing in the United States are growing in the Central Valley of California where 28 million pounds of figs are harvested every year. It was Captain Bligh, who is honored as the planter of the very first fig in Tasmania back in 1792. The Greek word for fig is syco. It's why one species of the fig tree is called the sycamore. Fig trees are in the ficus genus and the Mulberry family. The popular house plant, the rubber plant, is also a species of ficus. And, figs are the sweetest of all fruits. They are made up of 55% sugar. Today Fine Gardening shared a great post called Treasures in the November Garden, and it featured posts from a gardener named Carla Zambelli Mudry Carla shared beautiful images from her November garden, where she commented that the fall witch hazel had started blooming, and her Sochi tea plant is still producing lovely white flowers. The post features pictures of her witch hazel in bloom. Gardeners have soft spots for the delicate yellow spidery flowers of the witch hazel. The common Witch Hazel virginiana can grow in zones 3 - 8. Sochi tea Camellia sinensis is hearty in zones 7 to 10. Now, to make the tea, the leaves are harvested. But again, as with the witch hazel, it's the beautiful blooms of this camellia that will steal your heart. This post was part of Fine Gardening's garden photo of the day. If you'd like to share your garden with Fine Gardening, you can send them 5 to 10 images of your garden to GPOD (which is short for a Garden picture of the day) at Fine Gardening.com ([email protected]) along with a few comments about the plants in the photos. You can share anything your successes and failures funny stories or favorite plants. Finally, my good friend, Kathy Jentz, over at Washington Gardener Magazine, shared 10 Things To Do With a Pumpkin After Halloween. Her list is so great I wanted to share with you here: 1. Compost it. 2. Puree and cook it. 3. Make it into a birdfeeder. 4. Turn it into a planter. 5. Use it as a serving bowl for soup. 6. Pickle the peel. 7. Apply a face mask. 8. Make doggie treats. 9. Wash and roast the seeds. 10. Save a few seeds to grow another pumpkin next year! Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Carl Linnaeus, who died on this day 1783. Thirty years earlier, on May 1st, 1753, the publication of his masterpiece Species Plantarum changed plant taxonomy forever. It gave Linnaeus the moniker Father of Taxonomy; his naming system is called binomial nomenclature. And, it was Linnaeus himself who said: "God created, Linnaeus ordered." One side note worth mentioning is how Linnaeus' collection ended up leaving Sweden and finding a home in London: When Linnaeus died in 1778, his belongings were sold. Joseph Banks, the president of the Linnean Society, acted quickly, buying everything of horticultural value on behalf of the society. Linnaeus' notebooks and specimens were on a ship bound for England by the time the king of Sweden realized Linnaeus' legacy was no longer in Sweden. He sent a fast navy ship in pursuit of Banks' precious cargo, but it was too late. And so, Linnaeus's collection is in London at the Linnaeus Society's Burlington House. And, it was Joseph Banks who secured the legacy of Linnaeus. Banks spread Linnaeus's ideas across the globe, which was easier for him to accomplish since he was based in London, the hub for the science of botany. #OTD Today is the birthday of Charles Eliot, who was born on this day in 1859. Eliot was the son of a prominent Boston family. In 1869, the year his mother died, his father Charles William Eliot became the president of Harvard University. In 1882 Charles went to Harvard to study botany. A year later, he began apprenticing with the land

Today we celebrate the gardener who had his home and garden trashed by the Russian Czar and the poet who wrote one of his most famous poems under the plum tree in his garden. We'll learn about the American Landscape Architect who never lived to see the big park he dreamed of, and we'll learn about the horticulturist who created the first International Flower show in NYC. We'll hear the October Poem about woodbines (or honeysuckle). We Grow That Garden Library with an herb-based cookbook. I'll talk about late-season cover crops (and no, it's not too late), and then we'll have a witty article about shortening tall sunflowers. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. The midwife and physician Tieraona Low Dog over at Medicine Lodge Ranch recently wrote a post called 4 Important Herbs for Women and Their Health. The list may surprise you: raspberries, nettles, ladies mantle, and sage. With regard to raspberry and nettles, Dr. Low Dog recommends using the leaves to make a tea. With the nettles, in particular, Dr. Low Dog cooks them just like she would spinach. She steams the nettles for 15 minutes and then sautés them in a little olive oil with garlic and salt. Dr. Low Dog reminds us that the Latin word for lady's mantle Alchemillastems from the Arabic word for alchemy. Historically people believed lady's mantle leaves were a fantastic source of water. Like the raspberry and nettles, this herb can be used as an herbal tea. Last but not least, sage should be used by women who are making the transition into their sage years. Sage can ease the symptoms of menopause like hot flashes and night sweats. And a cup of sage tea can help you sleep at night. So, bottom's up. In honor of Halloween, I wanted to share this fun post from Art's Nursery Garden & Homethat was shared back in 2014 the title of the post was 10 excellent plants with black foliage Here's the list: Black Lace Elderberry Sambucus 'Black Tower' Black Mondo Grass Black Scallop Ajuga Dark Horse Weigela Fine Wine Weigela Brunette Snakeroot Ninebark Platt's Black New Zealand Flax Purple Copper Beech Rebecca van der Zalmdid an excellent job describing all of these plants in this post. If you'd like to check out her detailed descriptions of each of these plants, just head on over to the Facebook group for the show - The Daily Gardener Community- and search for the words "black foliage." On this day in 2011, the United Nations reported that the world population had reached 7,000,000,000. Twelve years earlier, on this day in 1999, the newspaper out of Appleton Wisconsin reported that the population had reached the 6,000,000,000 mile mark - so we gained 1 billion In a dozen years. In that newspaper article, a botanist from the University of Wisconsin shared the state of botany. About Wisconsin, in particular, the botanist warned that in 20 or 30 years and will have the climate of Iowa much drier and warmer. According to current projections, the global population will hit 8 billion in 2024. And it will reach 9 billion by 2042. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - just head on over to the group the next time you're on Facebook - just search for The Daily Gardener Community- and request to join. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the English Gardner and writer John Evelyn who was born on this day in 1620. Evelyn kept a detailed diary for 66 years, and hehad an excellent understanding of trees. In 1664, Evelyn wrote a treaty called A Discourse of Forest Trees. It was basically an appeal to his fellow countrymen to plant trees. The English Navy was growing, and they desperately needed timber to build more ships. Over his lifetime, Evelyn updated his Discourse of Forest Trees a total of three more times; the final edition was released immediately after his death. In honor of Thanksgiving, which is now less than a month away, let me share this excellent quote by Evelyn about the benefits of chestnuts: "Chestnuts are delicacies for princes and a lusty and masculine food for rustics, and able to make women well-complexioned." Evelyn had a devoted passion for gardening. And, here's a little known fact: Evelyn was the first garden author to publish a book about salads (or Sallets). Listen to the benefits of salad as described by Evelyn: "By reason of its soporiferous quality, lettuce ... still continues the principal foundation of the universal tribe of Sallets, which is to cool and refresh, besides its other properties... including beneficial influences on morals, temperance, and chastity." (FYI: Soporiferous means Inducing or tending to induce sleep. Some lettuce secretes lactucarium - a milky fluid found in the base of the lettuce stems. It is known as lettuceopium because of its sedativeand pain-relieving properties. It has also been reported t

Today we celebrate the impressionist Landscape painter who included kitchen gardens as a subject and the botanist who gave a speech in 1916 about his four rules of home landscaping. We'll learn about the English botanist who saved many varieties of Japanese cherry from extinction and the botanist who braved the destruction of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to save plant specimens. We'll hear the Poem called "A Song of October" that debuted in 1890. We Grow That Garden Library with THE book on She Sheds. I'll talk about making a simple leaf compost bin, and then we'll wrap things up with a poignant diary entry by the quintessential southern gardener Elizabeth Lawrence. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Mother Earth News recently shared a post called When Age and Illness Invade the Homestead. The article asks this question: "How do you cope when long-term illness or a chronic health condition, even just aging, becomes a factor?" Gardeners need to consider: Reassessing and prioritizing their space. Maybe you don't need such a big garden space at this point in your life. Is it time to consider going small? Adapt and compensate with new ideas like elevated beds. Take more breaks when you are working. Farm it out - get help, so you don't overdo it. The Guardian just shared the results of research that shows that a healthy diet means a healthy planet. The research showed that, "fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains were best for both avoiding disease and protecting the climate and water resources." Michael Clark at the University of Oxford, who led the study, said: "Choosing better, more sustainable diets is one of the main ways people can improve their health and help protect the environment." So there you go: growing your own food, gardening, is not only good for you - it's better for the planet. Finally, Gardenista just shared an excellent article called 10 Perennial Gardens Inspired by Piet Oudolf. Oudolf's signature look includes soft drifts of grasses combined with striking perennials that look good even in winter. Oudolf's goal is getting all of it to work together to create dream landscapes that evoke a natural look. Gardenista did a great job of sharing ten images of different gardens that understand the Oudolf formula, and they created installations inspired by his work. When it comes to picking which perennials to include in the garden, Oudolf sees perennials through a lens that is focused on architectural elements. He's looking at the shape and the lines of the plant - but he's also incorporating the full life cycle of the plant. He wants to incorporate the way perennials look not only in early spring and summer but also in the fall and even in the winter. Seed heads, pods, dried blossoms, and stems; these are all embraced and part of the plan. So don't be too quick to tidy everything up in the garden. Especially when it comes to winter gardens, you've got to leave enough standing so that you have something to look at. If you'd like to learn more about Oudolf, I shared a great video in the Facebook Group from PBS that was featured in April of this year. The reporter, Jeffrey Brown, met with Oudolf at his home in the Netherlands to discuss his work. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - just head on over to the group the next time you're on Facebook, just search for: The Daily Gardener Community and request to join. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Alfred Sisley, who was born on this day in 1839. Sisley was an impressionist landscape painter. He painted landscapes almost exclusively, and he especially loved natural, untouched scenes. Gardeners enjoy his paintings called A Garden Path and The Kitchen Garden. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist George Plummer Burns who was born on this day in 1871. Burns was the chairman of the UVM botany department. He also had served as the superintendent of the park department for Burlington, Vermont. When I was researching Burns, I stumbled on a newspaper clipping from 1916, which shared a speech he gave to the Rutland Woman's Club called Landscape Gardening for the Home. He gave four rules for landscaping: "1.Avoid straight lines; 2. Keep open spaces; 3. Plant in mass; 4. Use common sense. Burns gave this advice about shrubs: Do not use a shrub simply because a man wants to sell it to you. Do not use a shrub or tree simply because your neighbor has one, and if you do, do not use it in the same way. After the house is built shrubs should be planted around the base to soften the lines. Next, a hedge should be placed around the' lot so that the owner, in looking from his place, can see the skyline and have the immediate surroundings hidden. In that way, a person owns as far as he can see. And, we get a little glimpse int

Today we celebrate the botanist who was allowed to tend a garden while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. We'll learn about the Pioneer botanist of Tennessee and the botanist who used his love of trees to shape an optimistic view of humanity. We'll also celebrate Jamie Taggert, the young Scottish botanist, who set out on this day in 2013 for Vietnam but sadly never returned to his beloved home at the Linn Botanical Garden. We'll hear the Carl Sandburg poem with the famous line, "no beautiful thing lasts" We Grow That Garden Library with today's book which is all about mixing up a special batch of seeds for a natural garden that doesn't require buying any small plants. We'll talk about some ideas for a Garden-Themed Thanksgiving and then we'll close the show with some Autumn-inspired Ayurvedic principals for the Gardener. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. The blog of the award-winning Landscape team of Warnes McGarr @warnesmcgarr recently shared a very beneficial post called "Five things to consider before redesigning your garden." As a northern gardener, I love what they say right at the beginning of their post, which is that the coming colder months should be used to make plans for the garden. The design team encourages us to ask this question: "Do you use your garden enough, or is it an afterthought?" With this question in mind, they share some considerations for any garden redesign project: reducing the size of your lawn, adding a garden room, investing in a wood-fired oven, and keeping wildlife in mind when you select plants for your garden. Meanwhile, Gardens Illustrated reported on How to Prepare the Garden for Winter, and they shared a few useful tasks to tackle right now. In addition to general tidy up, suggestions like using a power washer to clean your stonework, setting up your bird feeders (something we discussed yesterday) as well as cleaning and culling through your pot collection are excellent activities to accomplish as we transition into winter. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - just head on over to the group - and join. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was executed. On the orders of King James, Raleigh had been a special prisoner at the Tower of London for thirteen years. During his time in the tower, Raleigh was allowed to tend a small apothecary garden in the courtyard below. Raleigh used his garden to grow exotic plants and plants from the new world. He also used the herbs to experiment with medicines. Last year marked the 400th anniversary of Raleigh's death. In celebration, Raleigh's "Lost Garden" was installed at the Tower of London. The garden is planted with herbs, flowers, and fruits that are historically appropriate for the time Raleigh was at the Tower. Historical records show that Raleigh created numerous cordials and herbal remedies. He once incorporated borage, rosemary, marigold, saffron, juniper berries, lemons, red roses, and red gilly to create a cordial for new mothers. #OTD On this day in 1908, The Tennessean newspaper reported that the botanist Thomas G. Harbison was in Nashville to collect a specimen of the clematis gattingeri for Harvard. The gattingeri clematis was regarded as a very rare plant that had been discovered by Augustin Gattinger. Gattinger was known as the "Pioneer Botanist of Tennesee". He had been born in Munich, Germany in 1825, but had immigrated to the united states in his twenties after being kicked out of the University of Munich for seeking more liberty for Germans and for celebrating George Washington's birthday. Gattinger served in the Union Army during the civil war, and he became a country doctor. He also started studying botany, and Gattinger counted many prominent botanists as friends. Gattinger is remembered for his published works, which include The Flora of Tennessee and Medicinal Plants of Tennessee. Gattinger's entire 50,000 specimen herbarium was donated to the University of Tennessee in 1890. Sadly, in 1934, the collection was destroyed in a fire. In the preface to his Flora of Tennessee, Gattinger wrote: "While the pursuit of botany never brought me any financial advantages, I acknowledge that it was a mighty protector in keeping me out of the way of social corruption, and it gave me many hours of the purest enjoyment of life and brought me into friendly relations with many excellent men and women." #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist William Henry Chapman who died on this day in 1970. Chapman was an American botanist, and his area of specialty was pomology or fruit. As a professor, Chapman taught at Cornell and later at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, where he was the Dean of Agriculture. A Biographical Memoir of Chandler, written by Jacob Biale, includes

Today we celebrate the Swiss botanist known as the father of geographical botany and the American botanist who went on a 500-mile nature walk for her honeymoon. And, just in time for Halloween, we'll learn about the botanist who followed in her father's footsteps to study slime mold. And, we're coming up on the 200th anniversary of the botanist who climbed Pike's Peak and discovered the Blue Columbine, also known as the State Flower of Colorado. We'll hear one of my favorite poems about Octob er with the line, "The leaves by hundreds came." We Grow That Garden Library with a beautiful book from one of the country's top gardens: Philadelphia's Chanticleer. I'll give you some helpful tips to attract birds to your garden over the winter, and then we'll wrap things up with a Scottish garden that is also a living work of art. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch shared last week that the Missouri Botanical Garden is gearing up to break ground this January on a $92 million brand new visitor center. It will be called the Jack C Taylor Visitor Center in honor of the Taylor family, who donated the lead gift for the project. Jack Crawford Taylor founded the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company. Taylor left a legacy of philanthropy. Taylor gave a $30 million gift to the Missouri Botanical Garden to fund global plant research - which is the most significant gift ever given to a U.S. botanical garden. The new Jack C Taylor Visitor Center is slated to open in the Spring of 2022. California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) has a fantastic tradition of environmental stewardship. Last week they put together a great video with tips on how to get started with composting. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - just head on over to the group - and join. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, who was born on this day in 1806 the year Linnaeus died. He was the son of the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. Candolle's ground-breaking book, Origin for Cultivated Plants begins, "It is a common saying, that the plants with which man has most to do, and which rendered him the greatest service, are those which botanists know the least [about]." Candolle set about correcting that gap in understanding, which had persisted for 50 years. In 1885, The Glasgow Herald reminded readers, "At the commencement of the present century but little was known respecting the origin of our cultivated plants.... Alexander von Humboldt in 1807 said : 'The origin, the first home of the plants most useful to man, and which have accompanied him from the remotest epochs, is a secret as impenetrable as the dwelling of all our domestic animals. We do not know what region produced spontaneously wheat, barley, oats, and rye. The plants which constitute the natural riches of all the inhabitants of the tropics the banana, the papaw, the manioc, and maize have never been found in a wild state. The potato presents the same phenomenon.'" Candolle named growing regions and came up with climate classifications. Gardeners use them today when we refer to growing zones. Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle is known as the father of geographical botany, and Harvard botanist Asa Gray remarked, "De Candolle's great work closed one epoch in the history of the subject and [Sir Joseph] Hooker's name is the first that appears in the ensuing one." Alphonse devised the first code of botanical nomenclature - the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature is its descendant. These laws ensure that no two species of plants have the same name. The botanical name is always in Latin. #OTD Today is the 175th birthday of the botanist Katherine Brandagee who was born on this day in 1844. Brandagee was the third woman to enroll at Berkeley's medical school and the second woman to be professionally employed as a botanist in the US. While getting her MD at Berkeley, Kate had learned that plants were the primary sources of medicine. Botany intrigued her, so she dropped the mantle of physician to pursue botany. Five years later, she was the curator of the San Francisco Academy of Sciences herbarium. There, Kate personally trained Alice Eastwood. When Kate moved on, Alice was ready to take her place; Kate was a phenomenal mentor. During her time at the academy, in surprise development at the age of 40, Kate had "fallen insanely in love" with plantsman Townshend Brandegee. Equally yoked, their honeymoon was a 500-mile nature walk - collecting plant specimens from San Diego to San Francisco. The couple moved to San Diego, where they created a herbarium praised as a botanical paradise. In 1906, when an earthquake destroyed the Berkley herbarium, the Brandegees single-handedly restor

Today we celebrate the Frenchman who designed the very first secateurs or pruners and the Italian orphan who grew up to discover the corpse flower. We'll learn about the Dutch botanist who was trying to figure out what was going on with his tobacco plants and made a significant discovery for science. We'll hear the Autumn Garden Poem that highlights the crimson of the sumac and the woodbine "For the pageant of passing days." We Grow That Garden Library with a cookbook called Flowers in the Kitchen by Susan Belsinger. I'll talk about gathering up your empty containers and pots as well as protecting any ironwork, and then we'll travel back in time to 1875 to hear some thoughts about Autumn Work in the garden. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Earlier this month, on October 10th, the world celebrated World Mental Health Day. There was a lovely article featured in Thrive - an organization using gardening to change lives. "As a charity focussed on promoting the health benefits of gardening, Thrive knows how time spent in gardens and nature can bring significant mental health benefits. [They] see and hear how it helps people cope when times are tough." "We see how gardening can reduce stress and anxiety, how the process of nurturing plants can give fragile people a sense of achievement which in turn builds confidence, self-esteem, quality of life and, ultimately, hope." Most gardeners often joke that gardening is cheaper than therapy. But the truth is that gardening is therapeutic. Connecting with nature is restoratives. Monty Don, Gardeners' World presenter, said this about gardening, "However you come at it, whoever prescribes it or gets you to do it, gardening heals." Thrive shared the comments of young people they had worked within the garden. The kids were 12-16 years old with severe psychological and psychiatric disorders like bulimia and anorexia. They worked in the garden and reported: 'Gardening takes my mind off things.' 'I feel happier and less anxious.' 'It has helped me be more sociable and to be able to distract myself when I feel bad.' This is why, at The Daily Gardener, I make a point of giving you ideas and ways to keep connecting with nature all year long - even throughout the winter. It's why I end the show every day with: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day." So, there you go - the best reason to garden - staying physically healthy and mentally healthy. If you see or know of someone struggling, please tell them about the surprising benefits of gardening. Here's a friendly reminder to keep visiting your farmer's markets and local farmers. They still have plenty of excellent produce to buy. Think pears, apples, winter squash, pumpkin, brussel sprouts, broccoli, parsnips, beets, and sweet potatoes. And, if you feel so inclined, bring along an extra hot chocolate or coffee for the sellers, I know they always appreciate that this time of year and who knows? You might just make a new friend. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck- because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - just head on over to the group - and join. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Count Bertrand de Molleville, who was born on this day - 275 years ago - in 1744. During the French Revolution, Molleville escaped to England, where he developed the secateurs or the pruner. He created them to help with pruning grapevines - something he was all too familiar with back home in France. Before the secateurs, a knife or small machete was the primary tool used to prune grapes vines and fruit trees. That said, by 1840, there was actually a riot over the use of the secateurs in a small French town. When the town agricultural committee met to decide whether the secateurs should replace the pruning knife in the vineyards, over 300 farm workers showed up and marched in the streets to protest the decision. The workers felt that the humble secateurs would replace the need for so many vinedressers. Ah, technology. #OTD On this day in 1843 the New England Farmer shared a simple update to the nation: Wisconsin, it is said, will have for sale this year, 1,000,000 bushels of wheat. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Odoardo Beccari, who died on this day in 1920. After growing up an orphan, Beccarri managed to get an education in his native Italy, and he eventually traveled to England to study at Kew. Beccarri was friends with Hooker and Darwin, but he also befriended James Brooke, which meant he was able to spend three years exploring Borneo. During his lifetime, Becarri traveled all over India, Malaysia, and New Zealand. But it was on a little voyage he took to central Sumatra (in Indonesia) in 1878 that Beccarri discovered the plant with which he will forever be associated: the Amorphophallus titanum - or the Titan arum- the largest flower in the

Today we celebrate the scientist who set the stage for Plant Anatomy and the amazing botanical illustrator Marianne North who traveled the world, capturing exotic flowers with her magnificent oil paintings. We also celebrate Margaret Owen, the English galanthophile and gardener we lost five years ago today. We'll hear some thoughts from Emily Dickinson about Autumn - it's her Nature 27 poem - with the famous line "I'll put a trinket on." We'll Grow That Garden Library with today's book The Daylily by John P. Peat and Ted L. Petit I'll talk about the perennials you can cut back right now and then wrap things up with a sweet story about the rose poem that went viral in 1885. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Early this month, Hoodline published an article about Ink Dwell's latest installation as part of their Migrating Mural project. Ink Dwell selected a location at 455 Hyde Stin San Francisco as the site of their next Monarch Mural. The 44-unit, 11-story apartment building was due for a new paint job anyway, so it was the perfect canvas for the project. Imagine an 11-story mural dedicated to the monarch! Ink Dwell has installed similar murals at eight other locations across the country to raise awareness about the declining monarch butterfly population. The project on Hyde street will be the largest installation - covering three sides of the building, and Ink Dwell hopes the mural makes Monarchbutterflies "impossible to ignore." Ink Dwell and its conservation partner, the Xerces Society, work with communities to provide information and educational materials about the butterflies' migration, and the current population declines for pollinators. Gardenista recently shared an excellent article by Barbara Peck called 10 Things Your Landscape Architect Wishes You Knew (But Is Too Polite to Tell You). I'll share 3 of my favorites from this list right now: First, your children will quickly outgrow your space. In the piece, landscape architect Kate Stickle y says: "Your children will outgrow, out-throw, and out-kick your small lawn long before you finish creating your garden, so don't plan your space around them." She suggests that while your kids are young, let them blow off steam in the neighborhood park. Meanwhile, plan an outdoor space for your future teenagers and their friends—one that feels private (but is still within the property lines)." Second, gravel can't replace mulch. Some folks prefer gravel because it stays in place. But, gravel offers nothing nutrient-wise for the soil. Landscape Architects Gretchen Whittier and Kate Stickley suggest "planting ground cover near walkways and giving it time to spread out. You may still need mulch, but perhaps only for one season." Third, a specimen tree won't live forever. "Designing and building your new house around a beautiful specimen tree isn't always the best course of action. Before even starting the design process, consult an arborist to find out the tree's health and longevity." Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there's no need to take notes or track down links - just head on over to the group - and join. Brevities #OTD Today in 1632, the "father of microbiology" Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born. Leeuwenhoek's interest in making lenses led to his discovery of microbial life. Leeuwenhoek's work set the stage for plant anatomy. #OTD Today is the birthday of the intrepid traveler and botanical artist Marianne North who was born on this day in 1830. Marianne's father was friends with Darwin and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who was the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. When she was 25 years old, Marianne's mother died, and she turned to flower painting as a way to cope with her grief. Fifteen years later, right before she became forty, Marianne's father died. By this point, Marianne was an experienced traveler and painter. She had means and autonomy. Marianne decided to spend the rest of her life traveling the globe to find and paint the exotic flowers of the world. Among her many excursions, Marianne spent a year living in a hut and painting the flowers of the Brazilian forest. She painted the giant redwood trees of California and was heartbroken at their destruction. It was Marianne North who said, "It broke one's heart to think of man, the civilizer, wasting treasures in a few years to which savages and animals had done no harm for centuries." In September 1880, based on the recommendation of her father's great friend Charles Darwin, Marianne visited Australia. As for Marianne, she referred to Darwin as "The greatest man living." Darwin specifically suggested Australia for Marianne because the flora and fauna down under were less known and more unique. Marianne traveled by coach between Brisbane and Sydney, painting at every stop when she lamented, "they never stop where th

Today we celebrate the young botanist who disappeared in Australia 171 years ago and the pioneering female lichenologist who worked for the British Museum but was never officially on the payroll. We'll learn about the French botanist who had a life-long love affair with the trees of North America and the Los Angeles woman who found a trailblazing career in botany after getting a job at an employment agency. We'll hear some beautiful prose about bluebirds in autumn, "they linger like the last leaves on the tree". And, we Grow That Garden Library with the book New Vegetable Garden Techniques by Joyce Russell. I'll talk about harvesting the black walnut and then wrap things up with a bittersweet story about the founder of the Boy Scouts. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Andrew van Egmond recently wrote a post on Landezine called Into the Forest. It's about a property in the Netherlands that backs up to a nature preserve and the images are inspiring. What I love about this post is that the owners have made the forest in their garden. There are floating runners that allow visitors to walk above the forest floor, and the long lines make the tall Larch trees seem even grander. There is a feeling of "being a guest in the landscape." "From the living room and the kitchen, you have a poetic view through the big windows into the forest. The play of vertical gestures is the basis for this design. The viewer's perspective is steered towards a group of long vertical trunks of Larches. A composition of horizontal lines and floating boardwalks create a frame which steers the view." Another great story in the world of horticulture recently ran in budburst.org, which is a project of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Budburst aims to understand how plants respond to changes in their environment. Their citizen science activity, Fall into Phenology, is a fun way for everyone to get outside and observe fall changes from around the country. They invite you to join them, watch a plant or tree near you, and then report all your phenology observations to your Budburst Account. They say: "[There's] no need to limit your Fall into Phenology observations to leaf color and drop. Watch for fall flowers, such as asters, and record first flower, or full flower. Seeds and fruiting abound in the fall months. All observation reports - whether life-cycle or one-time events - help understand how plants respond to changes in climate and atmosphere. The goal of this campaign is to collect at least 500 observations from around the country (that's only 10 per state!)." Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the Prussian botanist Ludwig Leichhardt who was born on this day in 1813. Leichhardt is remembered for his impressive and arduous collecting efforts in Australia. For his part, Leichhardt loved Australia. He wrote, "I would find it hard to remain in Germany, or even in Europe, now. I would have returned to the scene of my wanderings, to the clear, sunny skies of Australia." In October in 1845, Leichhardt wrote in his diary after losing his work to a fire: "... tears were in my eyes when I saw ...[the] results of my expedition vanish ... my collection had the great advantage of being almost complete in blossoms, fruit, and seed." A year later, in 1846, Leichhardt wrote a letter to his botanist contact and friend the Italian, Gaetano Durando, who was living in Paris. Leichhardt's message conveys the extreme difficulties and dangers faced by the early plant explorers. He wrote, "My dear friend, You have, no doubt, noticed and regretted my long silence...But you must bear this in mind, my good friend, ... it was not my lot to travel all at my ease... Gladly would I have made drawings of my plants, and noted fully all particulars of the different species which I saw; and how valuable would such memoranda have been... [as] four of my pack-horses having been drowned. Botanical and geological specimens thus abandoned—how disappointing! From four to five thousand plants were thus sacrificed..." In the spring of 1848, Ludwig Leichhardt and a small group of explorers began what was to be a two- to three-year expedition across Australia. Shortly after beginning the trek, the entire party vanished with barely a trace. Known as the 'Prince of Explorers,' Leichhardt was 35 when he was lost to time. #OTD Today is the birthday of the lichenologist Annie Lorrain Smith who was born on this day in 1854. Smith was a British fungal biologist specializing in lichens. Her siblings all went by the last name "Lorrain Smith", but Annie published under the name "A L Smith." - - - - - Let's pause for a minute to talk about Smith's favorite topic: lichens. Lichen grow on bark and rocks. They are not plants. When you look at them microscopically, you'll see they are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership between a fungus and an alga. The fungus calls the shots and they give the lichen its characteristics. Some lichens even have two fungus. Lichens fal

Today we celebrate the daughter of a millionaire who found solace in nature and the refreshing approach of one of the country's top naturalists. We learn about the discovery of vanilla (complete with a ravishing recipe for vanilla coffee liqueur from 1974), and we'll commemorate the Doctor's Pit where the botanist David Douglas died. We'll hear the oft-quoted poem that begins, "The scarlet of maples can shake me like a cry of bugles going by," and we Grow That Garden Library with a new book for 2019 called The Sanctuary of My Garden: Poems by Fotoula Reynolds. I'll talk about the last call for bringing your houseplants back indoors and then wrap things up with the sweet story of a botany curriculum for 4th graders in Louisville, Kentucky. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. I ran across the most delightful wedding story the other day. It was shared in the blog Plans and Presents. It was a wedding that had a garden theme, and it took place at The Asylum Chapel in London. Helen Abraham Photography captured the gorgeous images of this wedding. I shared the post in the Free FB community for listeners of the show. You can check out the full post there. But, here's a quick overview of how the couple (who share a love for gardens and garden history) met from the Bride, Nancy: "As a life-long learner, an avid gardener and fan of early American history, I had embarked upon a trip to follow up the research I had done on the plant exchange between Philadelphia and London in the 18th century, and a botanist named Peter Collinson who had lived at that time in Peckham. Journeying to London, I made contact with people who suggested I get in touch with Derek, as he had written an article about Collinson. Eventually, Derek and I met up, talked endlessly about Collinson, research, and other things. Back in California, we exchanged many emails, and when I was next in London, we met up again, and as time transpired, we spent more and more time together. Derek and I are an older couple, he being in his late 80s and I am in my late 70s. Having been happily single for 40 years, I was never expecting a marriage proposal. But it did happen…" Now for the good part. Here's how Nancy decided to incorporate the garden into her beautiful wedding: "I wanted the flowers of the day to be a peach/pink/apricot color scheme, and I knew they would add a punch of color alongside the black outfit I planned to wear, also coordinating with the colors of the inside of the Chapel. Because of our background, I wanted the Chapel to look like a garden. Rather than have typical flower arrangements, Anya turned Asylum Chapel into an amazing and magical garden, with plots of the garden here and there and a path through the garden to the altar. Even the staff said they had never seen the Chapel look so wonderful." I reached out to Alison over at Plans and Presents to tell her how much I enjoyed her post, and she said: "That wedding was stunning, and it was my honor to feature it." Another great story in the world of horticulture recently ran in the Denver Post. It turns out, there's a fun new collaboration between the Denver Botanic Gardens and Mythology Distillery, a cocktail bar and distillery in the heart of the LoHi neighborhood in Denver. Blake Burger is a horticulturist at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and Scott Yeats is the founder of Mythology Distillery. And, they're also old college buddies from their days back at Colorado State. I love this story so much that I reached out to the Mythology Distillery to learn more. Btw, the bottle of Forager Gin is beautiful. And I love how Mythology tells the story of the gin on their website: "Two Friends, a Distiller, and a Horticulturist …. Forage for a missing ingredient in a garden one mile above the sea. Two pounds of chamomile and elderflower along with three pounds of lemon verbena were all it took to make3,000 bottles of Forager botanical gin. If you're in Denver, you can pick up a bottle of Forager Gin for yourself or as a gift for around $35 from Mythology. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1910, the news out of Pittsburgh announced the creation of a new chrysanthemum named in honor of Henry Clay Frick's only daughter Helen who was 22 years old. The public was invited to view the lovely blossom in Frick's million-dollar conservatory. The newspaper reported that it took Frick's "high-priced gardeners" four years to create the flower. A few years earlier, when Helen became a débutante, her father offered to give her a gift of whatever her heart desired. Helen asked for a park - but not just any park. Helen requested a wilderness park. She wanted a place where the land would remain in a natural state, and she hoped the children of Pittsburgh would use the park to connect with the natural world. Helen's birthday present became known as Frick Park, and today it remains the largest park in Pittsburgh with 561 acres of trails and wooded areas. Helen's request doesn't seem so peculiar once you learn

Today we celebrate the poet who wrote lustrously of Kubla Kahn's summer garden and the French flower breeder who made our favorite plants even more sumptuous with double-flowers. We learn about the descendant of Olaf Rudbeck, who sought to create a legacy of peace and the rainforest expert who wrote the flora of Mexico. We'll hear a lovely prayer for Autumn from the poet Rainer Marie Rilke. Today's Book Recommendation to help you Grow That Garden Library is A Way to Garden by Margaret Roach. I'll talk about the benefits of buying bagged mulch and then wrap things up with the sweet story of an iconic flower photo from 1967. Before we get going, I want to say thanks for all the well wishes. I finally caught this horrible virus that has been making its way through the family. It started with a sore throat, then body aches, and then a cough with no voice. It knocked me out for over a week and I'm still on the mend. And, I did get my flu shot but it's one of those years I guess. Anyway, I started to use the last few days as I was waiting for my voice to return to incorporate a few new ideas into the show format here so if you're a regular listener you might hear a few new things - you'll have to let me know what you think. So, I had a little growing zone reinforcement situation happen while I was sick. I had put these baby crotons in a planter out front for fall and I know they are a tropical and I should have thought to get them inside when I heard the forecast but they looked so healthy and tough I didn't give them another thought and then bam. Sure enough, that temperature dropped into the thirties overnight and as I was backing out of the driveway this week going to get more cough syrup - what did I see? All the little crotons (about 8 of them - don't worry I got them on sale) were collapsed and dead in the planter. I can't tell you how many times I hear from friends this time of year about a houseplant or tropical that gets left outside and then looks dead and then they wonder if it will come back. The answer is usually probably not. But you know, I get that this is sad and we can kick ourselves but really it's just one more reminder of the constraints we face as gardeners. I know we get by with zone pushing thanks to microclimates and that feels so great when it works, but every now and then I'm actually good with a reminder like this about the limits of my zone. It's kind of grounding. It's like - hey, fall is here and it's serious and in Minnesota that means get your houseplants in by October 5 period. Respect One of the Facebook groups I belong to asked for some good side salad Recipes to bring out to the field for the Harvest crew. The suggestions were so good. But, one, in particular, caught my eye. It was for: Dill Pickle Pasta Salad and the recipe was from the blog Together as a Family. If you love pickles and pickle juice, then this is salad is for you. They wrote: "Dill Pickle Pasta Salad will be an instant favorite! Tender spiral pasta, 2 cups of diced pickles, cheese, and onion covered in an ultra-creamy homemade dill dressing with pickle juice." It is phenomenal! Something different and something the kids actually eat - which is such a bonus. So if you're looking for a fun, new side for your harvest meals, try making the Dill Pickle Pasta Salad: 1 box (16 oz) rotini pasta 1/3 cup dill pickle juice (from the pickle jar) 2 cups chopped baby dill pickles 1 block (8 oz) Colby Jack cheese, cubed small 1 small white onion, finely chopped Creamy Dill Dressing 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1/3 cup dill pickle juice (from the pickle jar) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or 1 tablespoon dried dill) 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Instructions Cook pasta according to package directions. Don't forget to add some salt to the boiling water before adding the pasta. I add about 1 teaspoon, give or take. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Add 1/3 cup of the pickle juice to the drained and rinsed pasta and let it sit while you prepare the rest. (Move the pasta from the colander into a mixing bowl and then add the pickle juice) Chop the dill pickles, and cheese into small cubes/pieces. Finely chop the white onion. Drain the pasta again that was sitting in the pickle juice. Add it to a large bowl along with the chopped pickles, cheese, and white onion. In small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and pour over the pasta salad. Stir everything together to combine well. Salad can be eaten right away but I prefer it cold, and if you do too, then cover it and refrigerate it for 1-2 hours. Notes: I would recommend not making this too far ahead of time. For best results serve this salad within a few hours of making it. Either right away or after the refrigeration time. Leftovers do keep well in the fridge (are still delicious) but the dressing thickens up and it's not as "creamy" as when you first make it). Use any dill pickles you want. I prefer the baby dills cause they are already small in sha

Does your Christmas Cactus have red on its leaves? If so, that red is an indication that the plant is stressed out. It could be that it has that color on the leaves when it's blooming because blooming puts pressure on the plant. In general, those leaves will turn a little red if you're watering them too much or If you have them too much sun. One of my oldest Christmas cactuses came from my husband's grandmother that was a very craggy looking. I managed to keep it alive for about a decade and then it was time to start over with a new one. Don't forget that you can propagate your Christmas cactus with the required simply graph one of the leaves The leaves in twisted off you can put the water or you can have a little booty or you can add a little rooting hormone And twisted off you could you can put the cutting in water or you can have a little breathing hormone and put it directly in the soil If you want to keep your Christmas cactus compact now is the time to prune it just take all those little cuttings and get the routing and then share them with friends Brevities #OTD On this day in 1801, the botanist François-Andre Michaux returned to Charleston. François-Andre was the son of the botanist Andrea Michaux. His father named an oak in his honor. Michaux's mom died just a few short weeks after he was born. His father was so despondent, he turned to botany to deal with his grief. Given his position in France, his mentors were the top gardeners in the French Royal Gardens. The expert guidance helped Michaux accelerate his learning. When François-Andre was 15 years old, he and his dad set sail for North America. His father had a very clear goal for his time in America; establish a botanical garden and send specimens back to France. When they arrive, the year was 1786 and the location chosen by Michaux for the garden was on property that's now occupied by the Charleston Area National Airport. Today, as you leave the airport, you'll notice a stunning mural that honors the Michaux's. It includes scenes depicting the rice fields along the Ashley River and the Charleston Harbor where Michaux introduced one of the first camellia plants. In one panel, Andre-François and his father are depicted in the potager or kitchen garden. The mural was installed in 2016. #OTD On this day in 1887 the Los Angeles Herald ran an interview with the superintendent of the botanical gardens William Smith about the senators in Washington during the 1880's who had a passion for plants. Here's what he said: Senator Charles Sumner from Massachusetts was a great enthusiast... He used to tell me that when traveling he would peer out of the car windows by the hour, on the lookout for a beautiful tree, and when his eye for the lovely and symmetrical was satisfied he would go into raptures. ... The last enjoyment I had with him, shortly before he died, was in visiting a favorite elm of his own Boston Common. Senator John James Ingalls, of Kansas, ...is a most devoted student of arboriculture. Some of the most valuable suggestions about distributing plants in the west come from him. Senator William Pitt Fessenden, of Maine, was an ardent apostle [of gardening] all through his long public life. I remember that his wife had a sweet verbena in their home in Maine, of which she was very fond. She watched it tenderly as a child, and Mr. Fessenden shared the feeling so thoroughly that for thirteen sears ho would journey home from Washington to take up the plant in autumn and make another trip in the springtime to set it out. No pressure of public business could make him forget that verbena. It was really a paternal devotion. Senator James A Pearce, of Maryland, was one of the most cultivated botanists ever in Congress. Scarcely a day passed that he did not drop in on me to watch the growth of some favorite plant or some new experiment, and his ideas were always scientific and valuable. And then there was Senator Benjamin Gratz Brown from Missouri, a very warm lover of flowers and a thorough master of their cultivation. During all the time he was in the Senate I don't believe he missed a day at the garden, and we would chat for hours when he felt in the humor. There's another botanist in Congress,... I know the name will surprise you— Senator William Steele Holman, of Indiana ... It seems almost a contradiction that one of his reputation should be a lover of flowers, but he certainly is. No one has been in Congress since I can remember, and that's a long time, with a more hearty and intelligent love for the garden. He is a frequent visitor [of the botanical garden], and you can see from his conversation that he watches every new phase of the science as keenly as he does the money bags of the treasury. It seems to be a mental exhilaration for him to commune with these curious plants from all over the world, and study their hidden life. He is quite as familiar with the botanical names and the habits of plants and flowers as most professional botanists. He pi

Last night, I met with my Social Media team and we were having so much fun coming up with designs and quotes and all kinds of things for merchandise for the show. We're putting together t-shirts, tote bags, and stickers. With any luck, we'll have Daily Gardener gear and merchandise ready to go live for you on November 1st. So keep that in mind. If you're a fan of the show, you can add The Daily Gardenermerchandise to your wishlist for the holidays. Stay tuned for updates on that. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the German botanist, Johann Baptist Ziz, who was born on this day in 1779. The genus Zizia, which has three species, was named for him. Zizia plants are one of my favorites; they bloom for a long time and they are a great source of pollen and nectar. Zizia is in the carrot family with stems 1-3 feet tall. The flowers are a compound umbel with many small flower heads. The root of Zizia was used by Native Americans used to treat pain. In the wild, Zizia is found in meadows, the edge of woods, and thickets. In the garden, it's a nice plant for part shade and it makes for a lovely ground cover plant. Zizia aurea is known by the common name Golden Alexanders. Aurea from the Latin word for "golden-yellow". Golden Alexanders are easy to grow and a host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly. They also attract loads of other pollinating insects like the golden Alexanders mining bee—which was named for its special relationship with the Zizia. The early leaves of Zizia aurea have beaded magenta edges which adds to their charm in the garden. In private plant sales over the past decade, Zizia aurea sells like hotcakes. They make a beautiful cut flower. Golden Alexander pairs beautifully with exuberant purple blooms like the False Blue Indigo or Salvia 'May Night'. #OTD Today is the birthday of the English naturalist, William Swainson, who was born on this day in 1789. Swainson subscribed to the quinarian system; a taxonomic theory that grouped animals and plants into groups of five or multiples of fives. He stubbornly adhered to the system even after Darwin's origin was gaining traction. In 1840, Swainson immigrated to New Zealand with his second wife and all but one of his children. He faced numerous setbacks while there, including the fact that many of his belongings, including his books and proofs which were aboard a separate ship, were lost at sea. Once in New Zealand, he struggled financially, survived a fire, and an earthquake. Before he died, Swainson sent a letter to his son Willie. He wrote: "I am much pleased with your increasing fondness for gardening and shall always be happy to send you anything I can spare from this place. A garden as Bacon says 'is the purest of human pleasures,' and truly do I find it so, as in youth, so in age, and no other outdoor recreation is so delightful to me." #OTD Today is the birthday of the Florida botanist Hardy Bryan Croom who was born on this day in 1797. Croom was trained as a lawyer, but since his inheritance from his father was substantial, he never practiced. As Croom matured, he began pursuing specialties like geology, mineralogy, and botany. When it came to botany, there was no botanist Croom admired more than John Torrey with whom he corresponded. In 1834, Croom became an early landowner in Tallahassee. At the time, Florida was still a territory. Hardy Croom loved the Tallahassee region and he set about building a home there for his family. In fact, Croom bought not one, but two plantations with his fortune. As he traveled between them, he would study the exciting natural flora and fauna. One day, as he traveled between the two plantations, Croom was waiting for a ferry along the east bank of the Apalachicola River when he discovered a new tree species and a new little plant growing in the shade canopy. Croom named the tree Torreya taxifolia in honor of his mentor, John Torrey. One of the oldest tree species on earth, the Florida Torreya is also known by various common names, including gopher-wood, yew-leafed Torreya, Torreya wood, savin, stinking savin, and stinking cedar (for the strong odor of the sap and from the leaves and seed when crushed). The local legend is that the Torreya was the Biblical "gopher wood" used by Noah to build the ark. To this day the rare tree grows naturally only in this part of the world; along the roughly 30 mile stretch of the Apalachicola river between Chattahoochee and Bristol. There is another species of the same genus growing in California and it is known as the California nutmeg. In a newspaper account from 1947, the Torreya taxifolia that Croom had planted by the Florida capital building, over a century earlier, was still standing. Disease and aggressive harvesting nearly annihilated the tree species during the 20th century. Since the wood of the Torreya does not rot, it was used especially for fenceposts and shingles, as well as Christmas trees. Only 200 survive today. At the same time Croom discovered the Torr

Mark from Little Prince nursery and I became friends on Facebook over the past month. I was immediately taken with the images on his feed, which is so full of the most beautiful blooms. His dahlias were to die for. Anyway, at some point I gave him a call and we were talking away and Mark asked if he could send me some plants. Um... yay! They arrived right as we were headed up to the cabin, so I grabbed the box and brought it along. I unwrapped my new plants this morning and I'm sharing the video in the Facebook Group- so you can check it out there. I just wanted to say a word about ordering plants through the mail. That used to be such a crazy concept. But, our attitudes toward shipping have changed. Most us get things in the mail that we never dreamed we would get shipped to us. My groceries and toiletries get shipped to the cabin free now courtesy of Walmart. (The groceries aren't free but the shipping is.) My point is, that shipping has become the norm; it's only natural that plants would make their way into the process. The chief concern when shipping plants is how to send plants in a responsible and effective way without having to charge a fortune for shipping. I think Little Prince has cracked that code. Anyway, check out the video in the FB group- you'll get to see the lovely view to the lake ; it was simply pastoral today - the perfect Fall day. Then, watch as I unpack the box from Little Prince. It's so much fun - you'll see the wonderful unique specimens Mark sent, the superb packaging, and my method for acclimating newly shipped specimens. With any luck, the video will make you feel brave enough to order some for yourself. By the way, this not a sponsored post. This is just Mark being Mark, and me loving plants. Check out the Little Prince website and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to give them a call. Little Prince's customer service is so good, you'll feel like you are getting the royal treatment! Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the colonial botanist John Clayton who was born on this day in 1773. Clayton's home in Virginia was called "Windsor". He created an excellent botanical garden, (and one of the first for this country), at Windsor. Five hundred of Clayton's herbarium specimens were referenced for the "Flora Virginica" and were compiled by Gronovius with along with input from Carl Linnaeus. #OTD Today is the birthday of the gardener, nurseryman, and expedition sponsor, Joseph Knight, who was born on this day in 1778. Knight was a gardener to George Hibbert and he was also a private nursery owner - and a very successful one. His ability to sell plants and feature plants in his welcoming showroom was tremendous. When John Claudius Loudon visited Knight's nursery in 1831, he wrote: "The effect on entering is excellent; the termination of the telescopic vista being [a] bronze vase... which is about 6 ft. in diameter and weighs several tons, [and] is painted blue on the inside, ... has a very cheerful and elegant appearance." Loudon reported on a number of plants at Knight's nursery. On the rhododendron , he wrote: "So abundant is the honey secreted by [the rhododendron] that when they are shaken it falls from them like large drops of rain." On the Knight's orangery, he wrote: "The mandarin orange, [is] remarkable for its perfume as well as its flavor. It separates from the rind like the kernel of a nut from its shell, without any trouble of peeling or paring, and has been very appropriately designated by the Chinese as the aristocrat of the orange family... In 1829 after Hibbert retired, Knight received his entire collection of plants which he added to his nursery called "Knight's Exotic Nursery. Knight used his nursery as a training ground for young gardeners. At the time, Knight's nursery was truly one of the best in the world. In addition, Knight was able to obtain plants from explorations he sponsored. Knight had a knack for tending to new plants and Knight's nursery was a frequent source for specimens featured in the latest botanical magazines. A little over two decades later, in 1856, Knight's nursery was bought by John Gould Veitch and became the world-famous "Royal Exotic Nursery" after he bought it. But we remember Joseph Knight for introducing rhododendrons from Nepal, azaleas from China and the Robin Redbreast bush to the gardens of England. #OTD On this day in 1805, the botanist Robert Brown returned from a four year expedition to Australia after having found thousands of new plant species. His work brought him fame and professional opportunities. Brown became the librarian of the Linnean Society. His knowledge of new plant species made it possible for him to write breakthrough papers and books that had to do with plant classification and Australian flora. Brown also became the Librarian for the Banks herbarium and he enjoyed the friendship and trust of Joseph Banks. When Banks died in 1820, he left everything to Brown - his herbarium, his library and even his ho

Every autumn, we owe a debt of gratitude to our trees. They give our gardens the best gift: leaves. Over the past decade, there's been a resurgence of interest in the restorative power of leaves in the garden. For some gardeners, this is new news. Yet, we've known about the wonderful contributions of leaves in the garden for a long time. As proof, here's a little post from the The York Daily out of York Pennsylvania on October 23, 1879: "Fallen leaves make excellent compost for the garden." And, theSunday News out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania from November 16, 1952, wrote this: "Many city gardeners and suburban farmers... now realize the value of leaves as fertilizer and mulching material and are glad to take the leaves off the Street Departments hands... This helps solve the problem of what to do with the fallen leaves, but it doesn't help the raking aches." Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the English watercolorist and founding advocate of the picturesque landscape, William Gilpin, who was born on this day in 1762. As an early headmaster and vicar of the Cheam School, Gilpin taught vegetable, as well as ornamental, gardening to the students. In 1777, Gilpin became the parson at the Boldre church of St. John the Baptist in the New Forest district of Hampshire. The church dates back to the 11th century. Gilpin was a fount of knowledge about the area surrounding Boldre Church and its flora and fauna. Gilpin served as the Boldre church parson until his death in 1804 at the age of 80. Gilpin is buried, alongside his wife, in the church cemetery beside an old maple tree. His inscription reads: "It will be a new joy to meet several of their good neighbors who now lie scattered in these sacred precincts around them." Gilpin would travel around the English countryside, creating beautiful watercolors of the landscape and keeping journals where he refined his thoughts on the picturesque landscape . Gilpin filled his sketchbooks with drawings and observations on landscapes and how to paint them. Gilpin wrote, "In order to color chastely and harmoniously, use only 3 tints: red, yellow, and blue..." Gilpin's accounts of his travels were published in guidebooks and created popular interest in natural beauty and the picturesque landscape. Gilpin's bestselling book, "Observations on the River Wye: And Several Parts of South Wales, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty: Made in the Summer of the year 1770" (often referred to as the River Wye guidebook), brought scads of tourists to the area during the 18th century. Gilpin wrote: "Every distant horizon promises something new; and with this pleasing expectation we follow nature through all her walks." During his time, Gilpin was an arbiter of artistic taste, and he thought that artists should try to find the most "picturesque" view of a landscape. Gilpin didn't enjoy artificial creations and lines in the garden. He was a fan of more natural-looking landscapes that were often savage and less domesticated. To Gilpin, the best landscapes offered ruins and mountains along with trees. Gilpin's watercolors were created on site and he wasn't opposed to using a little artistic license to make the scene more compelling; adding a little bridge or tree or making a ruin ever more ruinous. In 1786, Gilpin wrote, "A ruin is a sacred thing. Rooted for ages in the soil; assimilated to it; and become, as it were, a part of it ..." A simple way to remember the picturesque style, is to remember that Gilpin was a painter and he was seeing the landscape with "a painter's eye". The picturesque was a view that was worthy of being painted and Gilpin said it was "that kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture." The bottom line is that the images were designed to get your attention. Gilpin wrote: "Our eyes are only glass windows; we see with our imagination." Gilpin was the first president of The Royal Watercolor Society and he is remembered for his books including one of his most popular called "Forest Scenery" which included 45 watercolors and descriptions of trees and shrubs; and instructions for how to capture a picturesque effect through the clumping of trees. Gilpin adored trees. He wrote: "It is no exaggerated praise to call a tree the grandest and most beautiful of all productions on earth!" For instance, the "roan-tree" was noted for having "glowing berries". Rowan was the common name for the Mountain Ash, also known as "the witch" or "quickening-tree". The origin of the word rowan comes from a german word meaning "to redden" and it refers to the little, red berries. On the other hand, Gilpin was not a fan of the Hawthorn, writing that it had , "little claim to picturesque beauty... It is but a poor appendage. Its shape is bad. It does not taper and point like the Holly, but is rather a matted, round, heavy bush. Its fragrance indeed is great ; but its bloom, which is the source of that fragrance, is spread over it in too much profusion." In 1832, Gilpin published Practical Hints

I always write down little things the kids say that strike me as funny or sweet. Here's a little blast from my past on this day in 2010: At bedtime tonight, PJ told me he wanted to bring cold lunch to school. I told him no because we have paid for hot lunch. (Apparently many kids in his class bring cold lunch.) I told him that they probably bring cold lunch because they have allergies and their mommies don't want them to get sick. So, then PJ told me he had allergies too... he said "I'm allergic to pumpkins". I said "really." He said yes. I said "Well then you won't have fun on Halloween because there are pumpkins all over that night". LONG PAUSE while his jaw drops. Heavy sigh. "You caught me mom. I was just trying to trick you." Pumpkin allergies... at the time I thought that was a made-up thing. While this story is super sweet, there are folks who are actually allergic to pumpkin. Typically, they are allergic to the seeds. That said, other parts of the pumpkin can negatively effect the body. People with allergies who touch the pulp or the seeds can get dermatitis or even hives. If they smell pumpkin cooking, sensitive people can have an allergic response from the vapors. And, kids with pumpkin allergy can feel sick just from carving a pumpkin. Uninformed parents can easily dismiss coughing and wheezing during pumpkin carving time as signs of a cold. Thanks to Starbucks and other retailers, our society goes a little crazy for all things Pumpkin Spice this time of year - the Pumpkin Spice Latte actually has a little pumpkin puree in it. But just know, there is such a thing as pumpkin allergy and be sensitive to folks have it. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Luis Nee who died on this day in 1807. Luis Née was a Frenchman living in Spain. He worked at the Madrid botanic garden and he botanized in the mountain ranges of Spain. Nee went on an expedition to South America in 1789. When he collected in Chile, he discovered the Lapageria rosea which is now the national flower of Chile. Lapageria rosea plants, are also known as Chilean bellflowers. They are named after the Empress Josephine Lapagerie, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. #OTD Today is the birthday of the German botanist, Frederick Lueders, who was born on this day in 1813. On November 13, 1843 Lueders was botanizing along the Columbia river in Oregon. He'd been collecting specimens for three years. He had just encountered the explorer John Freemont, when all of his work, which was secured in a canoe nearby, was drawn into the rapids. Lueders plunged into the river and managed to retrieve only a copy of the Flora by Torrey and Gray. The devastating loss was recorded in Freemont's journal who wrote: "In the natural concern I felt for his misfortune, I gave to the little cove the name of Lueders' Bay." For Lueders part, the loss of his specimens was devastating. However the loss of his instruments and his correspondence with Asa Gray and Dr. Englemann was almost too great. Lueders determined his best course of action was to return home. He traveled south around the tip of Chile and then onto England. It took him a year to return to Hamburg a year after his mishap on the Columbia. Lueders didn't stay in Germany long. In fact, he returned to America within the next year. By 1851, he had made his way to Wisconsin; he spent the rest of his life in Sauk City and he dabbled in astronomy. A biographical sketch said that in his old age, Lueders was devoted largely to his flowers. #OTD On this day in 1807, the botanist Frederick Pursch visited David Hosack. Hosack was happy to have Pursch collect specimens from all around the United States for him. He wrote, "I shall have a very industrious and skillful botanist [begin] to collect from different parts of the Union." #OTD On this day in 1856 John Torrey's Office at the Mint was described in the NY Daily Times. When Torrey was 57, he made the decision to leave Princeton after 24 years of teaching botany and he went to work for the Mint; it would be the last step in his long career. The description of the room where the bullion was measured is quite fascinating. It said: "During the process of ... gold and silver are... weighed on ... scales. Floors are covered with iron gratings which are removed at stated periods, flooring beneath carefully swept and particles of precious metal separated from the dust." Torrey 's quality of life improved while he worked at the Mint; he could leave work by 3pm and be home in time to work in his herbarium a couple of hours before dinner. #OTD On this day in 1883, Charles Sprague Sargent wrote to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker with an update on the Arnold Arboretum: "The Arboretum is getting on at last. ..Roads, belts, grades, etc. are making grand progress & I really begin to see daylight ahead. We have in the nurseries an immense stock of plants &certainly the largest number of living species ever collected togetheron this side of the ocean." ' Unearthed Wo

Today is National Pumpkin Seed Day. Pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, are native to the Americas. They were discovered by archaeologists in Mexico in caves that date back to 7,000 B.C. Today, China produces more pumpkins and pumpkin seeds than any other country. Pumpkin seeds are loaded with protein; a single cup provides 8-10 grams of protein. They are packed with nutrients and they are overall very good for your health. Next time you are whipping up a batch of protein bites; don't forget pumpkin seeds. Just mix up dates, whole nuts, chia seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, almonds, pumpkin seeds, 1tsp cacao bio powder, 1tsp peanut butter, a handful of raisins and dried cranberries. Then press the mixture into a pan and slice into bars. Couldn't be simpler. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the German botanist known as the Father of Plant Physiology, Julius von Sachs, who was born on this day in 1832. In the 1860's, Sachs tested adding a variety of nutrients to plants growing in water. He was trying to determine what plants need to live. It was early, early efforts on modern day hydroponics. In 1864, Sachs determined that blue light is the most important color for inducing phototropism in plants. Plants are generally blind to other colors; which is why you don't see plants bending toward the lamps inside your house; unless you are using grow-lights! In 1868, Sachs became Head of the botanical institute at Würzburg University. Sachs was a good friend of Frank Darwin. When Darwin needed a lab to conduct his experiments plants of growing toward light, he naturally used the world-class lab of his friend, Julius von Sachs, at Würzburg U. Sachs himself was studying how plants process light. He correctly identified that starch was a product of the sunlight process known as photosynthesis. He proved that chlorophyll in chloroplast is involved in photosynthesis. Sachs is responsible for identifying structures like the organelle and chloroplasts. Sachs used some ingenuity helped him come up with things like planter boxes with one glass side so that he could better understand the formation of roots. Using a magnifying glass, he could discern the development of root hairs and cellular protrusions. #OTD On this day in 1836, the HMS Beagle returned to England after a five year voyage around the world. It was a revelatory trip for ship's naturalist, Charles Darwin, who found the building blocks to his evolutionary theory in the many fossils and diverse species he discovered on his excursions. It would be another 23 years before he published the Origin of Species. Often, Darwin is depicted on the Beagle as an old man; but he was just 22 when he sailed away and still a young 27 when he returned with boxes full of specimens and a brain swirling with new ideas. #OTD Today is the 165th birthday of the Father of Town Planning and a botanist, Patrick Geddes, who was born on this day in 1854. Geddes accomplished much during his lifetime, despite being notoriously disorganized and easily distracted. In addition to his work in planning, Geddes was an ardent botanist and an environmentalist. People often forget that Geddes was trained most in the subjects of biology and botany; it was through that living scientific lens that he was first inclined to view the world. Geddes always conceded an undeniable truth in his work; nature is ever-changing and humans need to be in nature. Geddes had a profound appreciation and reverence for life. Like any gardener; he saw value in beauty. Geddes wrote: "No one who studies animate nature can get past the fact of beauty. It is as real in its own way as the force of gravity." When it came to planning towns, Geddes dismissed modernist plans for creating what he called "soulless suburbs and concrete slums". Instead, the ever-practical Geddes bought land in Edinburgh and created communities interwoven into the landscape. Bare spots on plans were turned into spaces for gardens. In 1918, Geddes delivered a farewell lecture to his students at Dundee. Here's is a little excerpt from this powerful speech: "How many people think twice about a leaf? Yet the leaf is the chief product and phenomenon of life. This is a green world.... and all dependent upon the leaves... The world is mainly a vast leaf-colony, growing on and forming a leafy soil, ... and we live not by the jingling of our coins, but by the fullness of our harvests. ...Growth seems slow... and people are all out for immediate results... A garden takes years and years to grow – ideas also take time to grow, and while a sower knows when his corn will ripen, the sowing of ideas is, as yet, a far less certain affair. Star-wonder, stone and spark wonder, life-wonder, folk-wonder, .... To appreciate sunset and sunrise, moon and stars, the wonders of the winds, clouds and rain, the beauty of woods and fields – here are the beginnings of natural sciences. ...[And] we must cease to think merely in terms of separated departments a

Today is International Coffee Day. There is a legend that tells of coffee's discovery: In Ethiopia, there was a goatherder who observed his goats didn't want to go to sleep at night after eating berries from a certain tree. After he reported this to the Abbot of a local monastery, the Abbott gathered the berries himself and then made a drink with them. The Abbott's discovered the drink kept him awake and alert for the long hours of evening prayers. The rest is history. The coffee plant is actually a shrub. It's an evergreen that has a light gray bark and shiny, dark leaves that are five inches long. If the coffee plant wasn't pruned back, it could grow up to thirty feet tall in the wild. It takes the coffee plant five years to be able to produce fruit. Coffee plants have an interesting life cycle; they can live to be 100 years old, but their producing years are between the ages of 7 and 20. And, the next time you think about the equator, reframe it as "The Bean Belt." Coffee plants grow best along the equator. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the "Dean of Landscape Architects," Jens Jensen, who died on this day in 1860. Jens Jensen was featured in The Living Green Documentary; he was an early pioneer in the conservation movement and used art as activism. He was ahead of his time. Jensen and Frank Lloyd Wright were contemporaries. Jensen made over 600 Landscapes and was known as the "Poet of the Prairie." The prairie was the theme of his work, and Jensen likened the prairie to the sea. He felt there was spiritualism that rose out of the long grass and that every person on earth needed the living green. He valued the natural lands, and he recognized that nature had restorative powers. Jensen was a maker of public parks and spaces. Later in life, Jensen moved his family into a remote part of Wisconsin called Ellison Bay, located in northern door county. Even in 2010, the population was just 165. It was Jens Jensen who said, "Where there is forest, there is peace." and "Trees are much like human beings and enjoy each other's company. Only a few love to be alone." #OTD Today is the birthday of California plant collector, LeRoy Abrams, who was born on this day in 1874. Abrams was born in Sheffield, Iowa. He moved west with his parents as a small boy. As a graduate student, Abrams performed yeoman's work botanizing the area around Los Angeles. A biographical sketch of Abrams said, "[Abrams] crisscrossed southern California in a wagon, on the back of a mule or burrow, and on foot to make field observations... and collect specimens from Santa Barbara to Yuma, from Needles to San Diego, and from the Salton Sink prior to its flooding to the summits of Old Baldy" In 1902, Abrams published a flora of Los Angeles and Vicinity. (The vicinity included a fifty-mile radius around LA). In 1909, Abrams married a fellow student at Stanford. Her name was Letitia Patterson; they shared everything together - especially the joys of their mountain cabin they had built with their own hands on the west side of Fallen Leaf Lake. When their only daughter died a few short years after her college graduation, they shouldered their grief together. Abrams served as the director of the Natural History Museum at Stanford, where he taught botany for thirty-four years. He did not live to see the completion of his dream, a four-volume work called An Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1923–1960, 4 vols.). However, it was Abrams's dream to carry out; he had been inspired by the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and their three-volume work, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the British Possessions, by Britton and Brown. Abrams was a loving teacher. His students called him "Father." #OTD On this day in 1887, the botanists John and Harvey Ruth made a trip to Wyker's Island to collect fall flora. Wyker's Island is now known as Lynn Island, in the Delaware River, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The Ruth's rowed their own boat to the island on this day in 1887, where they discovered the island was covered with asters and butterfly weed. #OTD On this day in 1891, the newspapers carried the obituary of the self-taught botanist and poet Cyrus M. Tracy who had died on September 29th. Tracy was the Chair of Botany for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He is remembered for his work in creating the noble forest park known as Lynn Woods. Three times the size of Central Park, Lynn Woods is a massive green space located outside of Boston. A hidden gem, Lynn Woods, enjoys less public awareness because it is not part of our National State Park system. It features a rose garden, three reservoirs, and a 48-foot-tall stone tower. In 1850, Tracy was working to secure protection for Lynn Woods, and he formed a group called the "Exploring Circle" with four other residents; the went botanizing in the woods and then shared their discoveries with others. When Tracy wrote his Studi

I was reading in Facebook yesterday, a friend had planted all of these autumn crocus, colchicums, in her garden. Like any bulb, it takes lots of dedication to get them planted and then you have all of the anticipation - waiting to see if they come up and if they meet your expectations. Anyway, she'd invited some friends over to come and check them out. Instead of being amazed by the beautiful autumn crocus, her friends were completely taken her gorgeous hydrangea. Isn't that the way it goes? We toil in our gardens and then we invite people over to come and see it. Yet, the plants we expect others to be amazed by, the plants that have stolen our hearts, are not always the plants that are the most popular with our visitors. So, my piece of advice, if you have an affinity for autumn crocus, is don't plant hydrangea. If you do have hydrangea, only invite other gardeners over. Only gardeners will appreciate the dedication that it takes to plant colchicum. Only gardeners are sensitive to the fact that if they've been invited over to "see the colchicum", they will ooh and aah only for the autumn crocus, and offer merely a passing nod to the show-stealing hydrangea. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Sarah Hynes who was born on this day in 1859, Hynes was born in Danzig, Prussia and she immigrated to Australia in the mid 1800's. After graduating from the University of Sydney, she and Georgina King brought in fresh flowers for a botanical display at the Sydney Technological Museum. This is how Haynes came to know the director of the Museum, Joseph Henry Maiden. Maiden hired Haynes as a botanical assistant and when he was promoted to be the director of the Sydney Botanic Garden, he hired Hynes to be in charge of the herbarium. Once Hynes arrived at the botanic garden, she ran into difficulties with her male bosses. She was pointing out disparities between herself and her male counterparts; she had requested better pay. In 1905, Hynes was suspended and cited for 39 counts of insubordination including the use of "unladylike" phrase "lowdown, dirty larrikin trick." Hynes stood her ground and denied the charges, which were ultimately dismissed. But, five years later, it happened again. After this suspension, Haynes had had enough; she transferred to the Department of Public Instruction. After this position, Haynes spent the rest of her professional life teaching science to high schoolers. William Fitzgerald named the (Acacia hynesiana) for her, in recognition of her work with Joseph Henry Maiden on his book Forest Flora. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanical artist Faith Fyles who was born on this day in 1875. Fyles was trained as a botanist, but her natural artistic talent became apparent early in her career. She was the first female hired by the Canadian Department of Agriculture. In 1920, she transferred to the horticulture division where she began producing colored illustrations of plant specimens; especially fruits and ornamentals. Fyles is remembered for her work on the 1920 bulletin, Principal Poison Plants of Canada. The bulletin was prepared for farmers so that they could discern the problematic plants on their properties and avoid pasturing animals with poisonous plants. The book was offered free through the Ottawa Department of Agriculture. Over her career, Fyles had the opportunity to study art with Stanhope Forbes in England and with Rene Menard and Lucien Simon in Paris. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Mexican botanist Helia Bravo Hollis who was born on this day in 1901. Bravo Hollis was the first woman to graduate with the title of Biologist in Mexico. By the age of 29, she was named curator of the University's herbarium where she was assigned the job of studying the cactus. In 1937, Bravo Hollispublished "Las cactáceas de México", making her a leader of global cactus research. Bravo Hollis focused on cactus in and in 1951, she cofounded the Mexican Cactus Society. Six cacti species are named in her honor. In 2001, the Cactus Society had planned to celebrate her 100th birthday, but she died four days shy of the century mark. Bravo Hollis also helped found the Botanical Gardens at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She served as the director of the Gardens throughout the 1960s. When a strike occurred, Bravo-Hollis offset the pay owed her workers with money out of her own pocket. Last year, Google commemorated the 117th birthday of Bravo Hollis with a Doodle. If you search for her online, you'll see a memorable image of Bravo Hollis, in a skirt and blazer with a knife in her hand, standing next to an Echinocactus platyacanthus, also known as the giant barrel cactus, that appears to be over 5 ft tall and just as wide; a very impressive specimen. This species is the largest barrel cacti. In Mexico, where the cactus is a native, the hairs are harvested for weaving and a traditional candy is made from boiling the pith. Today, the Helia Bravo HollisBotanical Garden, with more

What are you doing with all of your tomatoes? A few years ago, I stumbled on Ina Garten's Recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup - it's the best roasted tomato basil soup recipe out there if you ask me! Ina's recipe calls for fresh tomatoes and herbs and she doesn't use cream or milk. Best of all, Ina's soup is rich and full of flavor. Ingredients 3 lbs. ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 cups chopped yellow onions 6 garlic cloves, minced 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 1 (28 oz) can whole plum tomatoes, with juice 4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 tsp. dried) 4 cups chicken stock (homemadeor store bought) Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Gently toss the tomatoes from your garden with 1/4 cup olive oil and layer on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast for 45 minutes. In a large dutch-oven, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of salt. Sauté until onions are translucent and start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, roasted tomatoes, including the juices, and chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring the soup back to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes, uncovered. Transfer the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with drizzle of cream or dollop of sour cream, fresh parmesan, and side of grilled cheese. So that's what I do with any extra tomatoes this time of year. I'll share the recipe in today's Show Notes. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1843, the New England Farmer ran an ad about Chrysanthemums for nurseryman Joseph Breck: "The subscribers offer for sale twenty varieties of new Chrysanthemums of the most superb and rare sorts, at 50 cents per pot." #OTD Today is the birthday of Joy Morton who was born on this day in 1855. Morton's father was J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Dayand a former secretary of agriculture under President Cleveland. Not surprisingly, Joy's love of trees was instilled in him at a young age. Raised on a farm in Nebraska, Joy Morton became a powerful businessman in Chicago with his company Morton Salt. In December 1922, Joy established The Morton Arboretum - a tract of land dedicated to ongoing study of trees, shrubs, and grasses. In 1923, Morton donated his family's Ancestral home, Arbor Lodge, to Nebraska and the property became a state park and a memorial to his father. An article from the Chicago Tribune in 1926, offered a glimpse of the passion Morton felt about trees. Speaking at the Arboretum, Morton said, "I want to appeal to the gambling instinct of the American people. I want a man to come in here and say, 'What can I get out of tree planting?' I want to arouse his venturesomeness. A man old enough to think for himself comes in here and sees a group like that [pointing] group of walnuts over there which is doing so well, and then he says to himself, 'Well, how about it? What can I do now on my land that will mean something to my grandchildren thirty years hence? And, then I want him to keep looking at the walnuts, or what he likes best, until he says, I believe I'll go and do likewise.'" #OTD Today is the birthday of James Drummond Dole who was born on this day in 1877. Dole had gone to Harvard and then after graduation at the age of 22, he made his way to Hawaii in 1899. After living there two years, he honed in on growing pineapple as a business. The Smooth Cayenne strain of pineapple wasn't native to Hawaii. It was a Florida variety. Dole began growing 200 pineapple plants on 60 acres. The rest is history. Here are a few fun pineapple facts: Pineapples have Bromelain; a chemical that prevents gelatin from setting. But, once pineapple is canned, the Bromelain is destroyed, which is why you can add canned pineapple to jello. Christopher Columbus brought pineapples back to Spain from the Caribbean Island of Guadalupe in 1493. The Spanish introduced pineapples to Hawaii. Today, thanks to Dole, more than one-third of the world's commercial supply of pineapples comes from Hawaii. Unearthed Words How beautiful leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days. -John Burroughs Autumn arrives early in the morning but spring at the close of the day. - Elizabeth Bowen Autumn asks that we prepare for the future —that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping. But it also asks that we learn to let go—to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness. - Bonaro W. Overstreet Today's book recommendation: Hedgemaids and Fairy Candles by Jack Sanders This lovely little book is a personal favorite. It came out in 1995 and the subtitle is The Lives and Lore of North American Wildflowers. The hedgemaids referred to in the title is a reference to the common ground ivy, while Fairy Candles are the tal

Right now is the perfect time to bring some nature indoors. Why buy something manufactured to look like nature, when some of the most impactful pieces can be found right in your own garden? I love to bring in some of the bird's nests from my garden. I place them on top of a stack of books, in a crystal bowl or on a bookshelf. They add wonderful, texture and interest to help ground your interior for winter. Adding leaves and berries to ledges and to your arrangements accomplishes the same thing. And, an interesting branch placed on a mantle, suspended from the ceiling or propped in the corner of a room,, adds an attractive seasonal form; a natural element, that costs nothing, but brings a part of the garden, of the woods or the forest, into your home. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the Father of Plant Anatomy, Nehemiah Grew, who was born on this day in 1641. Grew was an English botanist and was the first person to illustrate the inner structures and functions of plants in all their wondrous intricacy. If you've ever seen a Nehemiah Grew drawing, you'll never forget it; you're probably able to spot them a mile away. But, if you've never seen a Nehemiah Grew drawing, imagine an etch-a-sketch drawing on steroids. The lines are impossibly thin. The level of detail is staggering. For instance, Grew's drawings of tree parts cut transversely look like elaborate Japanese fans. This is because Grew was one of the first naturalists to incorporate the microscope in the study of plant morphology. It was his use of the microscope that allowed Grew to give the first known microscopic description of pollen. Along those same lines, Grew was also the first person to analyze the ridges, furrows, grooves, and pores on human hands and feet. He published his incredibly accurate drawings of finger ridge patterns in 1684. Palm readers owe Grew a debt of gratitude. (Just kidding.... or am I?) #OTD Today is the birthday of John Chapman who was born on this day in 1774. You may never have heard of John Chapman, but you've probably heard of his nickname; Johnny Appleseed. Chapman was born in Massachusetts and the street where he was born is now called Johnny Appleseed Lane. As a young man, Chapman became an apprentice to an orchardist named Crawford. The image most of us have of Chapman, traipsing through the country planting one apple tree at a time is off base. Chapman actually traipsed through the country planting entire apple orchards, then he protected the orchard by building a fence around it, and then arranging a deal with a neighboring farmer to sell trees from the orchard in exchange for shares. It was a genius setup. During his life, Chapman had a special regard for and relationship with Native Americans who regarded him as a medicine man. At the same time, Chapman wanted early American settlers to succeed; he often acted as a one-man welcome wagon; showing up at door with a gift of herbs as a gesture of support. For his part, Chapman was an expert in more plants than just apple trees; he was one of our country's first naturalists and herbalists. Chapman used many herbs for healing like catnip, hoarhound, pennyroyal, rattlesnake weed, and dog-fennel. In fact, dog fennel (Eupatorium) was also called "Johnny weed" because Chapman planted it believing it was antimalarial. Whenever you hear Eupatorium, you can deduce that the plant is closely related to joe pye weed. Unfortunately, dog fennel was not a good thing to spread around; it's a noxious weed. The Johnny Appleseed Center on the campus of Urbana University in Urbana, Ohio holds the largest collection of memorabilia and information on Chapmen. In 1999, seedlings from the last-known surviving Johnny Appleseed tree were transplanted into the courtyard around the museum. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Oakes Ames who was born on this day in 1874. What a great name for a botanist, huh? Ames was trained as an economic botanist, but his specialty was orchids. He had his own orchid collection as a kid, and you know what they say about orchid lovers; once you're hooked, you're hooked. The author, Norman MacDonald, wrote in his 1939 book The Orchid Hunters: "For when a man falls in love with orchids, he'll do anything to possess the one he wants. It's like chasing a green-eyed woman [being consumed by desire] or taking cocaine. A sort of madness..." Ames was a Harvard man; he spent his entire career there. His work on the Orchidaceae was foundational to the study of orchids. His effort culminated in a seven-volume work on the Orchid Family. For his dedication, in 1924, Ames won the gold medal of the American Orchid Society. Today, Ames is recognized for his biggest contribution to the world of orchids; the Ames Orchid Herbarium (now part of the Harvard Herbaria) featuring 3,000 flowers in glycerine, 4,000 specimens that are pickled, along with 131,000 standard specimens, in addition to a magnificent library. Unearthed Words 'I grow old, I grow old,' the garden s

If you're feeling a little glum about the end of the gardening season, here are a few activities that can help you rebalance: First, support your local farmers by shopping at a local farm stand. Often the growers will have insights on plants and practices that are applicable to your own garden. Get inspired by seeing some of the different varieties of apples, gourds, zucchinis, pumpkins, and other vegetables. Second, refresh your mulch supply. Top dressing before winter feels as good now as it does in the Spring. Your beds will benefit from the extra layer of protection and you will feel a boost from the beauty of cleaned beds. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the German botanist Valerius Cordus who died on this day in 1544. Cordus was the author of one of the most influential herbals in history. In fact, centuries later, the botanist Thomas ArchibaldSprague re-published "The Herbal of Valerius Cordus" with his older sister who he considered to be the best botanist in the family. After the book was published, Sprague gifted her with a personal and gorgeous bound copy. He had the book dedicated to her in latin: "M. S. Sprague praeceptrici olim hodie collaboratrici d.d. T. A. Sprague" - basically saying that she had taught him and collaborated with him. Cordus died young, at the age of 29, likely from malaria. He had botanized in Italy over the summer of 1544 with two French naturalists. At some point, he had waded into marshes in search of new plants. When he became sick a short time later, his friends brought him to Rome and then, they continued on to Naples. When they returned for him, they found Cordus had died. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Swiss botanist Konrad Gesner who had the sense to collect Cordus' prolific writings and preserve and publish them. One expert once said, "There was Theophrastus; there was nothing for 1,800 years; then there was Cordus." The genus Cordia is named in honor of Valerius Cordus. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Landscape Gardener Edward Kemp who was born on this day in 1817. Edward Kemp was the landscape gardener and architect at Birkenhead under Joseph Paxton. He placed an ad in the Liverpool Mercury after the opening of Birkenhead, he was out of work and was offering his services, "[Edward Kemp] begs to offer his services to the Noblemen and Gentlemen in the vicinity of Birkenhead and Liverpool…The fluttering testimonials which he has received from numberless visitors to the Birkenhead park, induce him to believe that a simple reference to the past and present condition of the park …. will be sufficient to ensure for him a large and liberal patronage." Don't worry about Edward Kemp. He went on to be a leading Victorian Landscape Gardener and a successful one, at that. #OTD On this day in 1890, the Sequoia National Park was established to protect the giant Sequoia trees, among the oldest living things on earth. In 1847, Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher, a German botanist, came up with the genus name "Sequoia" after a Cherokee Chief named Sequoyah (1770-1843) who was the son of a British merchant and a Cherokee woman. Sequoyah developed an alphabet to enable his tribe's dialect to be written. In 1872, Asa Gray wrote about the sequoia and presented his work in Dubuque Iowa at the 21st annual session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During his presentation, Gray speculated on the origin of the trees. He offered three hypotheses: Either they are just coming into existence, and are destined, if unmolested by man, to spread over the world; They have long lived; on the Pacific Slope, and have never spread elsewhere, because no other climate is fit for them; They are the survivors of a race that once crowded the hills and valleys of the world. Gray felt the last hypothesis was the one with the most merit. He expanded on this point by saying, "Research has found the fossil sequoia gigantea throughout ... Northern Europe, Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and the Rocky Mountains. All of these fossil specimens are almost exactly the same as the " Big Trees" of today. The very slight difference can be readily explained by the modifying force of different conditions. This crucial test shows that, before man sprang from the dust of the Garden of Eden, according to Genesis, or was evolved from the ape of Northern Africa, according to Darwin, the sequoia gigantea belted Northern America, Asia, and Europe, and the islands of the Northern seas. The " Big Trees" of California are but the outlying sentinels of an army that has vanished." #OTD On this day in 1942, the newspaper in Spokane Washington had a headline that said: Noted Botanist Crosses Jungle (Takes Long Mule Route Through Tibet to Get a Few Flowers.) The article was about the botanist Francis Kingdon-Ward who had just arrived in New Delhi after a 500 hundred mile walk over mountains and through jungles to avoid the Japanese invaders of Burma. The article said this: "A thin, wiry little

One of my favorite shoulder season plants is my magnolia. The beautiful white blossoms in the spring and the glorious yellow leaves in the fall bookend a summer of hardy greenery. Then all winter long, the dormant flower buds will pop out adding interest and promise during those final snowstorms in late March and April. If you're looking for something that provides something new in every season, add magnolia to your list. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist William Herbst who was born on this day in 1833. As a child, William would accompany his father on horseback as he visited his patients across Bucks County in Pennsylvania. While his dad met with the sick in their homes, William stayed outside and passed the time collecting flora and fauna for study. When he grew older, he spent time formally studying botany, in addition to attending Medical School in Philadelphia. Although he became a doctor like his father Frederick, William Herbst was truly a botanist at heart. He developed a passion for fungi and he wrote a Fungal Flora of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania in 1899. Once, after sending a specimen to his botanist friend, a Professor CH Peck, Herbst received a kind acknowledgement letter, which read in part: "That was a splendid fungus you sent me. It is an undescribed species of Sparassis. I propose to name it, with your consent, Sparassis Herbstii." In 1906, doctors were still making house-calls. Herbst died after visiting a sick patient. His obituary in The Morning Call in Allentown, PA said, "[Herbst] suffered from a fall. Leaving a sick-room to go to the bath room, he opened a stairway door by accident and plunged to the bottom in the darkness... [Then] he sank into a coma from which he did not awake. The doctor was one of the most lovable of men. He was firm and honest in his convictions ... [and] His beautiful nature was exemplified in the poem, "Welcome Spring Flowers," which "he wrote many years ago... Many a time he was asked why he did not settle in some city where his [botanical] talents would receive prompt recognition, but his answer invariably was that he could study nature better in his old home." When Herbst died, his widow donated his collection of 5,000 fungi to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. #OTD On this day in 1886, the botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf began his journey by train to Cambridge, Massachusetts to go work for Harvard's top botanist, Asa Gray. Now I know what you're thinking. This must be another story about a budding young botanist who makes his way to Harvard and then writes his ticket to success and fame. But that is not the story of Wilhelm Suksdorf. Suksdorf was born in Germany, but his family soon immigrated to Iowa. The Suksdorf's had nine children, but after their two little girls died, the Suksdorfs were a family of seven boys; often referred to as the seven Suksdorfs. (Wilhelm was number six). Wilhelm was a sickly little boy; maybe that's why he ended up being such a homebody. When his older brothers went to Ames Iowa for college, botany was part of the curriculum. (Imagine that?!) It was through his older brothers that Wilhelm learned of Asa Gray's botany manual. After he heard about it, he wanted one for himself. So, when he was twenty years old, he bought himself a copy and he used it to learn about the plants around the family's Davenport Iowa farm. After his older brothers went West to find their fortunes, it wasn't long before the entire Suksdorf family followed suit. They ended up buying land along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest and they settled in an area they named Bingen. Wilhelm attempted to study botany at Berkeley. But, after two years, decided to quit. Suksdorf was 26 when he left Berkeley and returned to the family farm to help his brothers with their dairy operation. Back in Iowa, the Suksdorfs had been part of a large German immigrant population. They were able continue to speak German at home on the farm and with a fair number of other German settlers in the county. But, when the Suksdorf family moved west, the dense concentration of German families did not exist. Wilhelm's lack of formal schooling and his isolation on the farm, made him uncomfortable communicating in English. As a result, much of his botanical work was written and documented in German. As fate would have it, Asa Gray's manual was not helpful with the flora in the Northwest. Botanically speaking, Suksdorf was in uncharted territory. The lack of information spurred Wilhelm to reach out to none other than Asa Gray. Gray wrote him back. Corresponding with Gray gave Suksdorf something to do outside of the farm, yet it allowed him to at stay home (where he preferred to be). Suksdorf would collect specimens and send the ones he wasn't sure of to Gray and then wait for a response as to the identification. In the beginning, Suksdorf may not have appreciated how this relationship was actually a true quid pro quo. See, Suksdorf's work was

Today is the first day of Autumn also referred to as the Autumn Equinox. Equinox means 'equal night'. On this day, both day and night are nearly the same length. Thereafter, the dark part of the year begins. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the grandson of Genghis Khan, Kubla Khan, who was born on this day in 1215. Kubla Khan's Summer Garden at Xanadu is the subject of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1797 poem Kubla Khan. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round; And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. Coleridge's Kubla Kahn is regarded as one of his most important works. Coleridge said that he composed the entire poem while in a dreamlike state, drowsy from opium he had as medication. When he woke up, he remembered the entire poem and immediately set about writing it down. But then, he was interrupted by a knock at his door and he received a visitor. Sadly, when the visitor left, his perfect recollection of the poem failed him and he was only able to finish the poem in fragments. The poem begins by describing Kahn's palace and the garden contrasted with the setting of the ancient Mongolian forest. Although Coleridge wrote this poem in 1797, he didn't share it with the world until urged to do so by his friend Lord Byron. Together, Coleridge's poem and the adventurer, Marco Polo, brought world-wide attention to Kubla Kahn and his achievements. #OTD Today in 1806, Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis after spending over two years exploring the headwaters of the Missouri River in an effort to find a route to the Pacific. They returned with their journals and with plant specimens. Here's just a handful of the plants they discovered (I picked the ones you might be the most familiar with): Snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata) Creeping juniper (Juniperus horizontalis) False indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) Needle-and-thread grass also called porcupine grass (Hesperostipa comata) Purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) Rough gayfeather also called large button snakeroot (Liatris aspera) Wild four-o'clock (Mirabilis nyctaginea) Wild rice (Zizania palustris) Wild rose (Rosa arkansana) #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Stuart Robertson who died on this day in 2009. Robertson was a professional gardener in Montreal, although he was born in England. In 1981, Robertson began work as a gardening columnist for the Montreal Gazette. In 1982, Robertson added the title of broadcaster to his repertoire, as a member of the show Radio Noon on CBC Radio One. Robertson also wrote two books on gardening. A passionate, leading organic gardener, his first book was Stuart Robertson's Tips on Organic Gardening, which was published in 2007. The following year, he wrote Stuart Robertson's Tips on Container Gardening. At the age of 50, Robertson learned he had non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer of the lymph nodes. When it returned later in life, he received a bone-marrow transplant. Robertson's colleagues recall him as a gentleman; he had class, strength, and optimism. In an article announcing Robertson's passing in his hometown paper, The Gazette out of Montreal, poignantly reported: "His final column, which appeared Sept 19, read in part 'We're getting to the sad time of the year, when we have to start thinking about cooler weather and the end of the growing season.'" #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Ruth Patrick who died on this day in 2013 at the age of 105. Patrick was known for a little saying that went like this: you can't live a day without diatoms. Diatoms are a single-celled algae; this was Patrick's way of saying that all life is interconnected and that nature matters. Ruth Patrick understood this premise very well. She was a leading voice in the recognition that the smallest organisms, living in communities, were more reliable than an individual species as indicators of pollution. Ruth Patrick was born in Topeka, Kansas. Her father was an attorney and when he wasn't working he loved to take Ruth and her sister out into nature. The girls would collect samples from streams and ponds and then get a closer look with the brass microscope in their father's study. Later, Ruth would often say that her father had always encouraged her to leave the world a better place for having passed through it. In 1975, Patrick was the first woman elected president of the American Society of Naturalists. She worked for 80 years at The Academy of Natural Sciences. In 1996, she was awarded the country's National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton. Unearthed Words "When the goldenrod is yellow, And leaves are turning brown - Reluctantly the summer goes In a cloud of thistledown.

Folklore and legends are often intertwined with plants and gardens. Today, I stumbled on a Swedish Legend called "The Harvest That Never Came" and I thought you'd get a kick out of it. The story has been used in lesson plans, to teach kids problem solving. I'm going to abbreviate it a bit, but I'll share a link to a good English translation in today's show notes. A young man named Arild was the son of a Danish noble family. He had fallen in love with a girl from Sweden named Thale. But, in the midst of their romance, Denmark and Sweden declared war on each other. Arild, who served in the war as a Danish Knight, was captured by the Swedes and thrown in prison. While he was in prison, Arild received a note from Thala, his true love. "My dearest Arild, I promised to wait for you forever, but I fear I will not be allowed to. My father says you will never return, and he has chosen another man to be my husband... He has already set the marriage date. I will love you always. Your faithful Thale" Now, Arild was not about to die in prison, and he was certainly not going to lose Thale. So, he came up with an offer and he presented it to King Erik of Sweden in the form of a letter: "Your Royal Majesty, Grant me one favor. Let me go home to marry the woman I love. Then allow me to stay only long enough to plant a crop and harvest it. On my word of honor (as a knight), I will return to your prison as soon as the harvest is gathered." The King granted Arild's request and Arild married Thale. In the Spring, Arild decided on a crop and he planted the seeds placing them each of them six paces apart. In the Fall, after the Harvest season had passed, King Erik sent a messenger to summon Arild back to prison. Arild looked at the messenger with surprise, saying, "My crop is not harvested... Indeed it has not yet even sprouted!" The messenger looked perplexed and said, "Not sprouted? What did you plant?" Arild's reply revealed the cleverness of his plan: "Pine Trees." When King Erik heard Arild's story he wisely judged, "A man like that does not deserve to be in prison." "And so, Arild was allowed to remain home with his beloved Thale. And a magnificent forest stands today as a testament to his love." Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist and physician Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau who was born on this day in 1552. The information history has preserved about Scholz gives us a rare glimpse into the botanical life of a dedicated plantsman in the 1500's. Like many early botanists, he was very well educated and he was a polyglot; reading, writing, and speaking many languages. One of the most important endeavors accomplished by Scholz was translating medical references which were written in Greek and Arabic. He took that information, along with references written by peers around Europe, and put together a reference book that combined all of the best medical information of his time. His work proved so valuable in helping to teach people about the plague, that he earned a coat of arms and nobility title, the Scholz von Rosenau" name in 1596. As for botanical activities, Scholz was way ahead of his time. He grew potatoes - a dubious activity during his day and age, and one few gardeners would have pursued - because people were afraid of night shade plants. And, Scholz had a massive garden even by today's standards - over 7 acres. I love the description of the layout for Scholz's garden: four quadrants, big central pathways, and smack in the middle of all of it was a building that historians say was used to entertain; Scholz had designed it to serve both as a dining hall and an art gallery. Clearly, Scholz was a people person and he loved entertaining his friends and family at his garden. During the growing season, Scholz would hold gatherings he called "flower festivals" in his garden to delight his friends and family. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Margherita Caffi who died on this day in 1710. Caffi was an Italian painter who was able to have a long career painting still life flower & fruit compositions.The men in her family were painters, but Caffi was self-taught. A mother of four who was pursuing a craft outside of the norm for her times, Caffi had an incredible work ethic. But, her efforts paid off; Caffi achieved fame and even royal patronage during a time when female painters were not embraced. A quick Google search of Caffi will reveal that she loved tulips, roses, peonies and carnations; she loved to paint their delicate forms and felt that their tremendous colors - the soft pinks, the vibrant reds, the remarkable shades of yellow and orange - were best displayed against a dark background. Caffi's art is formal and elegant; she painted on silk, canvas and vellum. #OTD Today is the birthday of botanist and explorer Mary Sophie Young who was born on this day in 1872. In 2017, Nicole Elmer wrote a lovely profile of Young which was featured on the website for the Department of Integrative Biology at the U

There's are some lines from a TS Eliot poem that go like this : Oh, Do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit." If you've never visited your local botanic garden this time of year, you really should go. I have a friend who recently did this, and she posted amazing pictures from her visit to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. She said this: "This is my PSA : Get yourself to the Arb ....now . Don't wait to go just to see the change in color of the trees (like everyone else ) Go now ! The colors of the flowers are crazy ! This is just a couple quick snaps with my phone ( which doesn't do justice) no filters, editing or enhancing. The colors are just THAT bright and bold . I've never gone this time of year . I go in the spring, a few times mid summer then I wait like everyone else for the leaves to change and go again. I've even gone in the winter but never late late summer /early fall . For some reason I thought there wouldn't be anything to look at. I thought the flowers would be half dead ( like my potted plants at home ) I won't make that mistake again." Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist professor Mildred Mathias who was born on this day in 1906 in Sappington, Missouri. Mathias was a professor at UCLA for twelve years, until 1974. She also served as president of the American Society for Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America. Matthias is remembered as a pioneer in the area of ecotourism. She enjoyed bringing botanists and amateurs alike all over the world to study and discover plants. From her early days with Dr. Lincoln Constance at Berkeley, back in 1937, Matthias began to focus on Umbelliferae. The Umbelliferae ("Um-bull-iffer-EYE") is a family of aromatic flowering plants and it's commonly referred to as the carrot, or celery, or parsley family. It also includes other important herbs like Angelica and Annis Carraway, and chervil, dill, fennel, lovage, and parsnip, just to name a few. The growing habit in plants throughout the family varies. The taproots of carrot and parsnip are big enough to be harvested as food. Plants like cilantro, coriander, dill and parsley or harvested for their leaves which contain essential oils that are very aromatic. In addition, the seeds of these plants, like fennel and cumin and coriander are also harvested for cuisine. Umbelliferae prefer soil that is cool; and, they grow best in the shoulder seasons. Umbelliferae are favorites among ladybugs and parasitic wasps. The family Umbelliferae is named because of the tiny flowers that are clustered together to form in amble – a little flower overhang reminiscent of an umbrella. It's fitting then, that the Mathiasella bupleuroides is named in her honor. Mathiasella bupleuroides 'Green Dream' is native to Mexico; it was discovered in 1954. The umbelliferous flowerhead of Green Dream has these jade-green, bracts that appear from April to June. In the Fall, the flower heads turn a charming pink. Here's a fun fact; Green Dream was a bit of a sensation at Chelsea 2006. Over the course of Matthias's career she published over 100 articles and books about the Umbelliferae. Volume 26 of Madrono was dedicated to Mildred Mathias, and the tribute recognized Mathias' pioneering spirit and energy. In 1993, Mathias was honored a s the Distinguished Economic Botanist of the year. #OTD Today in 1907, Orville Redenbacher, was born. Redenbacher was a U.S. agricultural scientist and the co-creator of a new hybrid of popcorn called "snowflake." It was lighter and fluffier than traditional popped kernels and Redenbacher became a household name with his commercials for his popcorn. To this day, Orville Redenbacher is the number one selling popcorn in the world. Nebraska produces more popcorn than any other state in the country. #OTD Today is the birthday of the third son of Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin - known to his family as Frank. Francis published the results of his work with his dad in a book called The Movement of Plants. The book details their experiments which showed that young grass seedlings grow toward the light. In 1887, Frank shared a portrait of his father in a book called life and letters of Charles Darwin. The letters revealed Darwins fluid prose and clarity. Frank said that correcting his fathers proof sheets made him a better writer. There's no doubt, Frank had been taught by a master teacher and, in turn, he became a teacher as well. At Cambridge, he taught students of pure science and medicine. Frank Darwin received many honors during his lifetime including the President of the British Association in the 1908-1909 year. In 1913, he was knighted by the Queen. It was Frank Darwin who said, "The personal effect of teacher on pupil cannot be bought at a price, nor can it be paid for in any coin but gratitude. It is the possibility of earning this payment that makes the best part of a teacher's life." #OTD On this day in 1991, The New York Times printed printed an announcement about an up

Last night I shared the trailer for The Secret Garden remake which just dropped. It is a visual feast for lovers of gardens everywhere. The new adaptation of the children's classic stars Colin Firth and Julie Walters and is set for release in April (2020). It looks fantastic. The Secret Garden is a children's novel written by American author and gardener Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was first released in the early 1900's as a serial in The American Magazine. The story is about a young girl, Mary Lennox, who was living in India with her wealthy British family. She is a spoiled, neglected little 10 year old girl. When cholera kills her parents, she is sent to England to live with a widowed uncle, Archibald Craven, at his huge Yorkshire estate. Mary learns that her dead aunt had a walled garden which has been locked away 10 years, ever since her death. Determined to find it, Mary finds the key to open the garden and she discovers a lost paradise. Spending time in the garden is transformational for her; she becomes softer and kinder and more optimistic. That's why the trailer ends with this quote, "This garden; it's capable of extraordinary things. Now will you believe in the magic?" Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the Irish-born botanical steward of the plants collected by Lewis and Clark; the Philadelphia nurseryman, Bernard McMahon, who was born on this day in 1816. McMahon's lasting legacy was his American Gardener's Calendar. Packed with monthly directions and information about all things gardening, McMahon's Calendar was the most popular and most comprehensive gardening publication of the first half of the nineteenth century. Through his work, McMahon was helping to shape the gardening identity of America; which was becoming more distinct and defined as it transitioned away from English traditions. The Calendar was like a gardening bible to Thomas Jefferson and it was that connection that led McMahon to become his gardening mentor. It also meant that when it came time for Jefferson to pick a curator for the Lewis and Clark expedition, McMahan was his pick. Lewis and Clark are forever remembered for their famous expedition which led to many botanical discoveries. The live plants and the seeds they had collected were expertly curated by McMahon who didn't dither; especially with the seeds. Once the specimens were in his hands, he immediately set about cultivating them. There were constraints placed on McMahon. As the sole nurseryman fortunate enough to steward the collection, he could not propagate the plants for profit (they were the property of the United States Government) and he could not tell anyone about the collection (at least not until Lewis and Clark had a chance to write about it). In honor of his work, the botanist Thomas Nuttal named the genus Mahonia for McMahon. Mahonia is an evergreen shrub, also known as Oregon holly. The low-growing shrub can be kept tidy with pruning and looks like a holly, although it belongs to the barberry family. The Mahonia produces yellow flowers followed by clusters of bluish-green berries that turn red in the fall. The red berries attract birds and gardeners love that it is a favorite of cardinals. Mahonia has a glossy, dark green foliage that turns a gorgeous bronze in autumn. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and chemist John M. Darby who died on this day in 1877. In 1841, Darby wrote one of the earliest floras and he focused on the south eastern United States. His flora was practical and regional, so it's no surprise that his work became a textbook for botany in the South East. After John Torrey and Asa Gray had released their North American Flora, Darby's work was one of many regional floras that started popping up all over the United States. Sadly, Darby's work was basically dissed by Asa Gray who felt that Darby's work was amateurish. This dismissal was too hasty and ignored the rigorous botanizing performed by Darby throughout the South East and his obvious grasp of the distribution of plants throughout the South. Darby taught at Auburn University; at the time it was known as the East Alabama Male College. Darby was the "Julia Ann Hamiter" Professor of Natural Science. Darby taught there until 1861, when the college closed due to the Civil War. It reopened again in 1866 and Darby resumed teaching botany. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Panama Orchid Hunter and son of Lincoln, Nebraska, Abel Aken Hunter, who was born on this day in 1877. In a biography of his older brother, it was mentioned that all the kids in the Hunter family were, "born naturalists, for they knew all the birds and many of the plants and insects around Lincoln, [Nebraska]." When Hunter was just 15 years old, he was appointed to the United States Postal Service. It was a career choice that would supplement his collecting efforts all through his life. Hunter was like many Plant Collectors; he worked his regular job with the post office for almost 30 years w

There's are some lines from a TS Eliot poem that go like this : Oh, Do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit." If you've never visited your local botanic garden this time of year, you really should go. I have a friend who recently did this, and she posted amazing pictures from her visit to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. She said this: "This is my PSA : Get yourself to the Arb ....now . Don't wait to go just to see the change in color of the trees (like everyone else ) Go now ! The colors of the flowers are crazy ! This is just a couple quick snaps with my phone ( which doesn't do justice) no filters, editing or enhancing. The colors are just THAT bright and bold . I've never gone this time of year . I go in the spring, a few times mid summer then I wait like everyone else for the leaves to change and go again. I've even gone in the winter but never late late summer /early fall . For some reason I thought there wouldn't be anything to look at. I thought the flowers would be half dead ( like my potted plants at home 😜) I won't make that mistake again." Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist professor Mildred Mathias who was born on this day in 1906 in Sappington, Missouri. Mathias was a professor at UCLA from 1962 until 1974. Mathias also served as president of the American Society for Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America. Matthias was a pioneer in the area of ecotourism. She enjoyed bringing brightness and amateurs alike all over the world to study and discover plants. From her early days with Dr. Lincoln Constance at Berkeley and 1937, Matthias began to focus on the umbrella for I family or the carrot family The envelope for Reiff is a family of aromatic flowering plants and it's commonly referred to as the carrot or sell celery or parsley family. But it also includes other important herbs like Angelica and Annis Carraway and chervil, dill, fennel, luggage, and parsnip, just to name a few. The taproots of carrot and parsnip are big enough to be harvested as food. Plants like coriander and cilantro and dill and parsley or harvested for their leaves which contain essential boils that are very aromatic. In addition the seeds of these plants, like fennel and cumin and coriander are also harvested for cuisine. On both prefer soil that is cool; they grow breast in the shoulder seasons. The umbrella for I family is named because of the tiny flowers that are clustered together to form in amble – a little flower overhang reminiscent of an umbrella The above are favorites among ladybugs and parasitic wasps. Over the course of Matthias's career she published over 100 articles and books about the ambler fry. Mathias became an authority on #Apiaceae #taxonomy. Here's her namesake Mathiasella bupleuroides. She served as the president of the Botanical Soc. of America @Botanical_ & American Soc. of Plant Taxonomists @AmSocPlantTaxon When volume 26 of Madrono was dedicated to you, the final sentence of the citation read: "Mildred, your pioneering spirit, unbelievable energy, wit, humor, warmth, and effectiveness as a leader have made the world a brighter, greener, and more compassionate place for all of us." With these same words we also salute you, as you honor The Society for Economic Botany by accepting our award as Distinguished Economic Botanist for 1993. #OTD Today in 1907, Orville Redenbacher, was born. Redenbacher was a U.S. agricultural scientist and the co-creator of a new hybrid of popcorn called "snowflake." It was lighter and fluffier than traditional popped kernels and Redenbacher became a household name with his commercials for his popcorn. To this day, Orville Redenbacher is the number one selling popcorn in the world. Nebraska produces more popcorn than any other state in the country. #OTD Today is the birthday of the third son of Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin - known to his family as Frank. Francis published the results of his work with his dad in a book called The Movement of Plants. The book details their experiments which showed that young grass seedlings grow toward the light. In 1887, Frank shared a portrait of his father in a book called life and letters of Charles Darwin. The letters revealed Darwins fluid pros and Clarity Frank said that correcting his fathers proof sheets made him a better writer. Frank had been taught by a master teacher and intern he became a teacher as well. At Cambridge he taught students of pure science and medicine. Frank Darwin received many honors during his lifetime including The president of the British Association in the 1908 1909 year And in 1913 he was knighted. It was Frank Darwin who said "the personal affective teacher on people cannot be bought at a price, nor can it be paid for in any coin but gratitude. It is the possibility of earning this payment that makes the best part of a teachers life." #OTD On this day in 1991 The NY Times printed printed an announcement about an upcoming symposium at the NYBG featuring

#NationalIndoorPlantWeek is this week! Be sure to follow my friend, Lisa Steinkopf - the @HouseplantGuru- on twitter for a chance to win copies of her books and some houseplants. And remember, it's all week long - so Happy Indoor Plant Week. Go get yourself something new for the Indoor season which is just around the corner if you live in a colder climate. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Charles V of France who died on this day in 1380. He commissioned his cook, Guillaume Tirel, to create the first cookbook. The full title of the book is an exceptionally long one. In English, it translates to: "Hereafter follows the [recipe collection] describing the preparation of all manner of foods, as cooked by Taillevent, the cook of our noble king, and also the dressing and preparation of boiled meat, roasts, sea and freshwater fish, sauces, spices, and other suitable and necessary things as described hereafter." As the Culinary World was getting underway, it is interesting to note that during Charles V's reign, the first forks were found to be included in an inventory. And gardeners with some knowledge of mushrooms will find the death of Charles V intriguing; some historians believe that Charles V died as a result of eating the highly poisonous amanita mushrooms. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Scottish plantsman Robert Fortune who was born on this day in 1812. Robert Fortune's name is inextricably bound to China and to tea and the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. For centuries, China had a monopoly on tea. They, alone, grew the plants. They made black tea and green tea, and the rest of the world had no idea how they did it. By the 1700's, the British had started enjoying exports from China: porcelain, silk, and yes, tea. But, China was not interested in goods from Britain. The lop-sided relationship was a problem. This is where Robert Fortune enters the scene. By the early 1800's, he was a trained botanist learning at the hem of some of England's finest gardens and he gets hired to go to China by the Royal Geographic Society the RGS. At the time, China was off-limits to foreigners. So, in order to collect plants, Fortune figured out a way to blend in: he shaves his head and wears clothing like the locals, he picks up some of the Mandarin language and he learns about China more than any other westerner at the time. China is vast and Fortune stayed for three years before returning home to England. When he returned, Fortune wrote about his time in China and he drew the attention of The British East India Company. They were serious about obtaining tea plants from China. And, they were desperate to learn how to make tea. So, they wisely select Fortune, with his unique combination of botanical and Chinese expertise, and they send him back to China. This time Fortune was on a much more specific mission and he knew what he needed to do to. He went to China incognito; dressed as a Mandarin. He had shaved the front of his head he basically had extensions sewn in to the hair on the back of his head so he looked like he has this amazingly long ponytail. He looked 100% the part. Then, he hired guides to do the talking for him and since there was no national language, it all flew under the radar. Once in China, Fortune immediately began visiting tea plantations. He learned the methods and ways of harvesting tea plants to make tea. He learned that green tea and black tea come from the same plant; it's just the processing method that makes them different. Thanks to the Wardian case, Fortune was able to get live plants to India. All told, Fortune managed to smuggle out 20,000 tea plants and ships them to India. He even managed to get some of the Chinese tea farmers with their tools to leave China and help set up tea production in India. Sara Rose, one of the authors who has written a biography on Fortune, said that what Fortune accomplished was no less than the greatest single act of corporate espionage in the history of the world. Today, China is still the top tea producer with over 2.4 million tons of production. Followed by India at a little less than half and then Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam make up the next spots. So, tea being grown outside of China is a direct result of Robert Fortune and India, as the number 2 tea producer in the world (behind China) was a feat that was accomplished in a less than two centuries. And, again, it wouldn't have happened without Robert Fortune. #OTD 1835 Charles Darwin arrived at the Galapagos islands on board a ship called the HMS Beagle. Once he's on the islands, Darwin begins to check out all of the varied and unique plants and it gets him thinking. The experience basically shapes his theory of natural selection. Unearthed Words "But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness. The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head ... The harvest has dwindled, and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on." -

What's the secret to beautiful begonias? I asked this to a friend recently who has the most gorgeous begonias every single year. Her answer: fish emulsion. This means you should feed your begonias with fertilizer. Since we love that begonias flower and they do flower their hearts out, that makes begonias are heavy feeders. Since fish emulsion (5-1-1) is a low-intensity total fertilizer it's perfect for promoting large, healthy, beautiful begonias. Just feed every 3-4 weeks and follow the label directions. And remember, most begonias do best with plenty of filtered light but little or no direct hot sun. So don't fry them. At the same time, water and begonias don't play nice together in the sense that begonias can rot pretty quickly. They need a soil that's going to drain quick. They need to be in pots - like terra cotta- that breathe. Add perlite or leaf mold to your soil mix to make a very coarse, quick-draining potting mix to add more air pockets to the soil. Then, don't forget that those air pockets mean you need to water more frequently - especially during warm weather. One thing you can also do is mist begonias. They like humidity - but too much of that can invite fungus or powdery mildew, so keep an eye on them. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Caspar Wistar the Younger who was born on this day in 1761. His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in his honor (some people say Wistaria to reflect the proper spelling of Wistar's last name. Either is fine because guess what - the misspelling is preserved for all time under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature). It's like one of my kid's birth certificate - it can be amended but the original is wrong and will be until the end of time. Wistar had some pretty impressive friends: his best friend was probably Thomas Jefferson and his most famous botany friend was probably Alexander von Humboldt. Wistar died of a heart ailment unexpectedly on January 18, 1818. His final utterance was: "I wish well to all mankind." During his life, every Sunday Night, Wistar would hold a salon - an open house - at his home on the corner of Fourth and Locust Street. His friends would stop by - along with any members of academia, or the elite or high society, along with other accomplished people who happened to be in Philadelphia that evening. They all knew that Wistar's house was the place to go to meet up with the best minds of the day. When Wistar died, his friends continued holding Wistar parties for a core group of 50 members. They would each take turns hosting and the kept the tradition going for another forty years. #OTD Today is the birthday of the British author, Roald Dahl who was born on this day in 1916. Today, his birthday, is celebrated all over the world as Roald Dahl Day. Dahl was an avid gardener. In fact, his garden shed doubled as his writing nook where he wrote many books, including Charlie and the Chocolate factory. As romantic a notion as this sounds to a gardener's ears, it was also a pragmatic decision on the part of Dahl's wife. Dahl chain-smoked as he wrote and the garden shed kept the smoke out of the house. For Dahl's part, he loved the idea of using the garden shed as a place to write, especially after seeing the little writing hut used by the author Dylan Thomas. Gardeners with a passion for roses will no doubt praise the Roald Dahl Rose which honored Dahl's love of gardening. It's an absolutely stunning English shrub rose bred by David Austin. It's got a very blousy habit and scrumptious peach blooms that just go non-stop. They have a lovely fragrance as well - and not many thorns, so that's a bonus. Dahl's diaries have marvelous entries about his garden, and he was often inspired by his garden which you can ascertain when you read in his work. H ere are some examples: From Matilda: "I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery." From My Year: "There is just one small bright spark shining through the gloom in my January garden. The first snowdrops are in flower." From James and the Giant Peach: "And now suddenly, the whole place, the whole garden seemed to be alive with magic..." From The BFG: "But Mr Tibbs didn't hesitate for long. 'Tell the head gardener,' he whispered, 'that I require immediately a brand new unused garden fork and also a spade. And for a knife we shall use the great sword hanging on the wall in the morning-room. But clean the sword well first. It was last used to cut off the head of King Charles the First and there may still be a little dried blood on the blade." From Roald Dahl: "Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does yr garden grow? 'I live with my brat in a high-rise flat, So how in the world would I know.' Unearthed Words All week long The Daily Gardener has been sharing quotes from the author Beverley Nichols, who was bor

How's your garden doing? Is there something blooming that is stealing your heart? In my garden, I'm especially enjoying the Yellow wax-bells or Kirengeshoma palmata ("kih-ren-gesh-OH-mah palm-AY-tah"). Heidi Heiland installed these for me last summer during my garden renovation. They are right up by my front door in a North-facing garden - and I see them every day as I go in and out the front door. I have to say that this plant has slowly won my heart. All season, I watched this perennial grow into a clump of maple-leaves (the leaves look just like the maple tree but smaller and a lighter green.) Then as August comes on, you begin to see these pendulous pale yellow buds. They are quite enchanting and they hang there through September. Fine Gardening describes the plant this way: "This hardy, clump-forming perennial bears pendulous, shuttlecock-shaped soft-yellow blossoms in late August and early September. The plant has attractive, glossy, 4- to 8-inch-long, maple-leaf-shaped leaves. Noteworthy Characteristics This unusual flowering perennial is native to mountainous areas of Japan and Korea. Survives the -20ºF winters of USDA Zone 5, as well as winters of warmer climates. Care Grow in rich, moist, acidic soil. Shelter from wind." Anyway, when you think of yellow blossoms in the garden, that spectrum of color can be pretty wide; there are so many shades of yellow. I'm personally not a fan of the super bright yellows and I end up eliminating flowers if their bloom is too jarring to my taste. But, I've decided that the soft pastel, creamy-buttery yellow of yellow wax-bells, has to be hands-down my favorite yellow in the garden. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of America's first pteridologist, Daniel Cady Eaton, who was born on this day in 1834. A pteridologist is a person who studies ferns. The botanist Charles Frost told a charming story about how Eaton had fallen in love with ferns after going on a walk with his fiancé. At some point on their walk, she had apparently called Eaton's attention to a beautiful fern and Eaton's desire to please her was the origin of his hyper-focus on ferns. Eaton was born in to a botanical family. His grandfather, Amos, was an American pioneer in the field of botany. Amos actually was a teacher to John Torrey. His father was also interested in collecting. For his undergraduate work, Eaton went to Yale and then received another degree at Harvard. While he was in college, he excelled in Latin and he loved and used the language for the rest of his life. Eaton studied under Asa Gray. Asa Gray would have learned about botany as a student by reading Amos Eaton's textbooks. In any case, Daniel and Asa were kindred spirits; so much so, that Eaton dedicated his work on "The Ferns of the United States of America and British North American Possessions" to his beloved instructor. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Landscape Architect Arthur Shurcliff who was born on this day in 1870. Shurcliff's path to Landscape Architecture was not clear cut. His dad had been a successful businessman. Arthur was supposed to follow in his dad's footsteps and become a Mechanical Engineer. But after receiving his degree from MIT, the field of Landscape Architecture was making waves thanks to the Olmsteds, Charles Eliot, and the Chicago World's Fair. Since no formal degree programs existed at the time, Shurcliff cobbled together his own curriculum at the Lawrence School of Science at Harvard. All his life, Shurcliff loved being outside. He loved camping and canoeing. He loved scenery. He love sketching the landscape. Looking back on his decision to pursue Landscape Architecture, Shurcliff remembered, "All led me away from mechanics toward scenery, toward planning and construction for the scenes of daily life..." In 1904, Shurcliff opened his own firm. Shurcliff designed recreational spaces in and around Boston like the Rose Garden, the Washington Garden at old North, and the park Back Bay Fens. But, Shurcliff will forever be remembered for the work he did at Colonial Williamsburg. It was the first time an entire American community was to be restored. John D. Rockefeller financed the project. Shurcliff had over 30 years of experience behind him when he officially started the project on St. Patrick's Day of that year. He didn't just bring his Landscape Architecture skills; he brought everything he had; his training in engineering, his meticulousness, and his ability to get things done through his personal clarity, energy, and charm. It took Shurcliff 13 years to finish the project. But, once it was done, Shurcliff had redefined Williamsburg; helping it to lay claim to it's past and ensuring that Colonial Revival garden design found legitimacy in 20th Century Landscape Architecture. #OTD Today in 1930, Dr. Ernest H. Wilson also known as "Chinese" Wilson spoke at a banquet room at the Hotel Bond as part of the Connecticut Horticultural Exposition. Wilson's speech drew loud applause when he predicted that peo

If, over the course of the summer, you found yourself driving down the road and spying a little electric blue blossom by the side of the road; chances are, you are looking at chicory. Listener Danny Perkins shared a post at the end of August sharing beautiful photos of chicory. A few years ago, I used to drive the boys into St. Paul for basketball camp and when I pulled off the free way, there it was. Chicory. Impossibly growing in between cracks in the cement along the sidewalk. I went straight to my Mac when I got home and order seeds on the spot. The blue of chicory is positively luminescent. The plant is where chicory coffee and tea come from. Listener Diane Lydic posted this: "My father use to pick it on his way home from work. He made a map of all the patches so he could remember for next year. Delicious with olive oil and vinegar with hard boiled eggs. Always a treat!" Diane's father is a man after my own heart. Anyone who makes a map of roadside patches of precious plants is a friend in my book! Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Rudolph Jacob Camerarius the botanist who demonstrated the existence of sexes in plants. He died in 1721. Camerarius was born in Germany. He was a professor of natural philosophy. He identified and defined the male parts of the flower as the anther and he did the same for the female part; the pistol. And, he figured out that pollen made production possible. His work was recorded for the ages in a letter he wrote to a peer in 1694 called On the sex of plants. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the Spanish priest, botanist, physician, and naturalist José Celestino Mutis who spent almost 50 years in Columbia where he is regarded as a national treasure for his scientific work. In the 18th century, Columbia and the area around it was known as New Granada. Given his lifetime spent in Granada, Mutis was able to leave a lasting legacy. He created an impressive library complete with thousands of books on botany and the natural world. He also built a herbarium with over 24,000 species. Only Joseph Banks had a herbarium that rivaled Mutis; and Banks had more resources and more support from the English government. Mutis approached the job of documenting the flora of Granada in a very unique way; he accomplished his mission by enlisting others. During his time in Granada, Mutis worked with over 40 local Creole artists. He recruited them and trained them. He brought them to a studio where they could work all day long in silence. In short, Mutis set up a botanical production machine that was unsurpassed in terms of the output and the level of excellence for the times. At one point, Mutis had up to twenty artisans working all at one time. One artist would work on the plant habit while another would work on specific aspects or features. The Mutis machine created over 6,500 pieces of art; botanical sketches and watercolors painted with pigments made from local dyes which heightened their realism. On the top of the Mutis bucket-list was the dream of a Flora of Bogata. Sadly it never happened. Mutis died in Granada in 1808. Eight years later, the King of Spain ordered all of the output from the Mutis expedition to be shipped back home. All the work created by the Creole artisans and the entire herbarium were packed into 105 shipping crates and sent to Spain where they sat and sat and sat and waited... until 1952 when a handful were used in a large folio series. Then the Mutis collection waited another 60 years until 2010 when they were finally exhibited at Kew. Today, the thousands of pieces that make up the Mutis collection are housed at the Botanical Garden in Madrid, Spain. The pieces are large - mostly folio size - and since they haven't really seen much daylight over the past two centuries, they are in immaculate condition. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Harvard and Smithsonian botanist, taxonomist and plant collector Lyman Bradford Smith who was born on this day in 1904. Smith was homeschooled by his mother, but it was his mother's Aunt Cora that nurtured his love of horticulture. He went to college and pursued botany at Harvard where he found another passion: wrestling. Smith continued wrestling into his 60's. When he started his Ph.D. he attempted to focus on grasses. But that work required the use of a microscope and Smith didn't have good eye sight. It was the botanist Ivan Murray Johnston who encouraged Smith to choose Bromeliaceae because they didn't require so much microscope time. When he married his wife in 1929, their honeymoon was a tour of European herberia. When he returned home, Smith worked at the Asa Gray herbarium at Harvard. All through the Depression, Smith rode his bike to and from the Gray; 14 miles round trip. Smith began focusing on four Brazilian plant families Bromeliaceae, Begoniaceae, Velloziaceae, and Xyridaceae early in his career. Despite discouragement from older academics who felt the topic of North American Bromeliaceae

Right about now is the perfect time to get out the power washer. Clean your water features, edging, rocks, fountains, and your outdoor entertaining spaces. The reality is that once you start up that power washer, the list of things that you can clean with it goes on and on. As you're working, you invariably find more things to wash. When it comes to our maintenance free decking, I'll add a little Dawn dish soap to help release the dirt out of the grooves. And, this week and next is the exact best time of year to get your ponds netted so you can catch those falling leaves and save yourself some major cleanup. My neighbor has a huge maple tree that hangs over part of our yard. When that tree starts to let go the helicopter seeds, I'll cover some of the raised beds and planters with wedding tulle to minimize the number of baby maples growing in the garden.

I thought I'd start today's show off with a quote by Beverley Nichols from his book, Sunlight on the Lawn: "Why do insurance companies, when they want to describe an act of God, invariably pick on something which sounds much more like an act of the Devil? One would think that God was exclusively concerned in making hurricanes, smallpox, thunderbolts, and dry rot. They seem to forget that He also manufactures rainbows, apple-blossom, and Siamese kittens. However, that is, perhaps, a diversion." This quote by Nichols came to mind when I heard the wondrous story about the little tomato plant that had sprouted on a piling by the Brooklyn Bridge. It made the Nightly News after the story was first published by the New York Times on Wednesday along with a photo taken by a passerby, Matthew Frey. Paddle-boarding between Pier 1 and 2 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Frey saw the leaves first. His incredible image of a lone tomato plant growing straight up with no supports and with one perfectly red little tomato was heartwarming. It reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree but with only one red ornament hanging proudly in the middle of the plant. Frey, who is 54, told the times: "I'm used to seeing things grow here, but nothing as special as that... Things like that just make me happy." Beverley Nichols would have loved seeing the little tomato plant that could. To him, it would have been heaven sent - a little gift to us all from above. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1513, James IV of Scotland, along with other Flowers of the Forest, were killed in the battle of Flodden. The Scottish army led by James, was taking advantage of Henry VIII's absence in France but they were resoundingly crushed by an army organized by Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's 1st wife. It was the largest battle ever fought between England & Scotland, and it was a devastating defeat for the Scots who remembered the pain of an estimated 12,000 dead sons of Scotland in an old Scottish folksong called "The Flowers of the Forest." There are many variations of the lyrics that have surfaced over the years. One of the oldest verses ends this way: "'The Flowers of the Forest that fought at the foremost, The prime of the land are cold in the clay'" In 1765, the socialite Alison Cockburn wrote her own lyrics to the Flowers of the Forest. Here's the first verse: I've seen the smiling Of fortune beguiling, I've tasted her pleasures And felt her decay; Sweet is her blessing, And kind her caressing, But now they are fled And fled far away. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and the incomparable botanical illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret who died on this day in 1770. Ehret was born in Heidelberg, Germany to Ferdinand Christian Ehret, who was a gardener and also had a talent for drawing. He taught his son both skills- gardening and drawing - before he died. Ehret made his way to Regensburg. There, he met an apothecary who hired him to draw of specimens from his herbarium and garden. Ehret earnestly took on the job; drawing over 500 pieces in one year. Taking advantage of his young employee, the apothecary fired Ehret and told him he should have completed 1,000 drawings and was fired. It was basically his way of avoiding paying Ehret. After this dreadful experience, Ehret made his way to England and worked at the major botanical gardens - Including Chelsea Physic. Isaac Rand, the first director of the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, told Ehret to paint the rare plants in the garden. The uniqueness of the specimens added to the demand for Ehret's work. As a result, Ehret was on friendly terms with the plant collectors and naturalists of his time. Chelsea was formative professionally and personally for Ehret; He married the head gardener's sister-in-law, Susanna Kennet. In The Art of Botanical Illustration, Wilfrid Blunt noted that, "By the middle of the century he had become a popular figure in London society: the highest nobility in England clamored to receive instruction from him," Indeed, the wealthiest woman in England, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, (the Duchess of Portland) gladly retained Ehret as a drawing instructor. Struck by the luminescence of his work, and ultimately she would buy over 300 of his paintings. In 1737, Ehret was hired to draw by Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty. In August of that year, Wagner's personal garden is where Ehret first observed the Magnolia grandiflora flowering. The bloom was so inspiring that Ehret walked for an hour each way, from Chelsea to Wagner's house (in Fulham), to see and sketch every stage of the Magnolia grandiflora; from bud to full flower. Ehret's work provided the world with the first Magnolia to be illustrated in England. Beyond his work in England, Ehret traveled throughout Europe in pursuit of his craft. He met Linnaeus in Holland when he was visiting the botanical garden in Leiden. Linnaeus taught Ehret exactly how he wanted plants to be dissected and drawn. By this ti

September is my favorite month for planting trees, shrubs, and perennials. The cool air makes outdoor exercise a joy and the ground temperatures add the perfect amount of warmth for plants to get established. Planting in the fall is preferred because it's the time of year when perennials experience less transplant shock. At the same time, there is still sufficient time for plants to establish their roots in the garden in time for winter. After their season of dormancy, when the ground warms again, fall-planted perennials grow and bloom more vigorously than if they were planted in the spring. Bottomline: Now is NOT the time to stop planting. It's the perfect time to get your dig on. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Jean-Baptiste Van Mons who died on this day in 1842. The name of the game for Mons was selective breeding for pears. Selective breeding happens when humans breed plants to develop particular characteristic by choosing the parent plants to make the offspring. Check out the patience and fortitude that was required as Mon's described his work: "I have found this art to consist in regenerating in a direct line of descent, and as rapidly as possible an improving variety, taking care that there be no interval between the generations. To sow, to re-sow, to sow again, to sow perpetually, in short to do nothing but sow, is the practice to be pursued, and which cannot be departed from; and in short this is the whole secret of the art I have employed." Jean-Baptiste Van Mons produced a tremendous amount of new pear cultivars in his breeding program - something north of forty incredible species over the course of his lifetime. The Bosc and D'Anjou pears, we know today, are his legacy. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the day in 1847 when Henry David Thoreau left Walden Pond and moved in with Ralph Waldo Emerson in Concord, Massachusetts. His two years of simple living at Walden Pond were over. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of James Veitch Jr. who died on this day in 1869. Veitch was born into the famous family nursery business known the world over as Veitch Nurseries. His grandfather, John, had started the business. After growing up and learning the business from his father and grandfather, Veitch went to London to train with other nurserymen. After he quickly became a partner in the nursery, he married Harriott Gould. In addition to being a wonderful plantsman himself, James Jr. was an exceptionally bright businessman. He acquired a nursery called the Royal Exotic Nursery in London to ensure the Veitch Nursery stayed competitive and he turned Royal Exotic into the largest specialty nursery in Europe. James Veitch Jr created the RHS Fruit and Floral Committees which still exist today. His love of the plants and the business were carried on in his three sons. The oldest, John Gould Veitch, was one of the first plant hunters to visit Japan. The second son, Harry James, oversaw the business during a period of peak growth. The third son, Arthur, worked with Harry to send Plant Explorers on missions all over the globe. Of the brothers, it was the middle son, Harry, who outlived them both. His older brother John Gould died young at age 31 from tuberculosis. Harry outlived his younger brother, Arthur, who died young as well - he died after a short illness when he was just 36 years old. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Belgian botanist and dendrologist Joseph Hers who was born on this day in 1884. Dendrology is the science and study of wooded plants, like trees and shrubs, and their taxonomic classifications. Hers made his first trip to China in 1905; he was an interpreter for the Belgium ministry. He later founded organizations to promote good relations between China and Belgium. Later, Hers spent five years collecting in the north-central provinces of China from 1919-1924. The Arnold Arboretum had hired him to collect for them. As a dendrologist, Hers was especially focused on trees. The rapid rate of deforestation in China was especially alarming to Hers. Among Hers discoveries was the snakebark maple Acer tegmentosum. #OTD Today is the birthday of the British Botanist Kathleen Basford who was born on this day in 1916. As a young girl, Basford's nanny, Winny, taught her about the natural world; she learned to identify wildflower and trees. In the 1940's, Basford had three children of her own. She began gardening. When she wasn't with the children, she started breeding orchids. She became so interested in botany, she took evening classes on the subject. By the early 1950's, Basford published a paper on a fuchsia she discovered. It proved that the fuchsia had existed 20-30 million years ago - before the break-up of the continents. Her paper caught the attention of the chair of the botany department at Manchester University; a geneticist named Sydney Harland. He offered Basford a job on the spot. Later in life, Basford also wrote a book called "The Green Man." Before

If you have struggled to grow tomatoes successfully, maybe it's time to give cucumbers a try. They are much easier to grow than tomatoes. Just add some organic matter to the soil and mulch around the base of the plant. Cucumbers benefit from support, so install a trellis for the vines to climb. That's it. The saying, "cool as a cucumber" refers to the fact that it's about 20 degrees cooler on the inside of a cucumber. And, cucumbers contain loads of nutrients like magnesium, vitamin C, and potassium. Cucumbers are 96 percent cool water. The phytochemcials in cucumbers kill the bacteria that causes bad breath. Just press a slice of cucumber to the roof of your mouth with your tongue and in 30 seconds, you'll have better-smelling breath. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the first collector and cataloguer of Canadian plant specimens, Naturalist Michel Sarrazin, who was born on this day in 1659. In France, Sarrazin was a trained to be a surgeon. By the age of 25, he was appointed to help the troops headed to colonize Canada. When he arrived in Canada he tended to both the troops and civilians in Québec and Montreal. Helping sick people was dangerous work. In his early thirties Sarrazin himself became ill and in short order he returned to France to receive more training. He spent three years in France - obtaining his doctorate of medicine and finding himself spending more and more time at the Botanical Garden in Paris. It wasn't long before he met the nobleman and botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. Tournefort was an excellent teacher. He was the first botanist to develop the idea of creating a genus for plants. Later, Sarrazin would report that it was Tournefort who "stimulated [his] lifelong interest in collecting and classifying [plants]". Rested, educated, and passionate about horticulture, Sarrazin returned to Canada and he kept in touch with Tournefort through correspondence. He would send back various specimens of North American plants. Tournefort, in turn, would share Sarrazin's discoveries with the Royal Academy of Science back in France. Sarrazin's most noted discover was Sarracenia purpurea, the pitcher plant - which Linneaus would name in his honor. The pitcher plant grew in wetlands, bogs and marshes around Québec. From a medicinal standpoint, the pitcher plant was discovered to be an effective against smallpox. Ever the doctor, Sarrazin had studied the powerful pitcher plant. Incredibly, it was Michel Sarrazin who first suspected that the plant actually caught insects and ate them. When he shared his thoughts in writing, the academic community rejected his theory. Nearly 200 years later, Charles Darwin would validate Sarrazin's hypothesis in his work called Insectivorous Plants. There's a fascinating side-note in the Sarrazin biography; Sarrazin was the first doctor to perform a mastectomy in North America. His patient was a 38-year-old nun and her prognosis was so grim that Sarrazin was certain she would die without the surgery. Sarrazin acted quickly, the nun recovered, and lived a full life until the age of 77. #OTD Today in 1857, Harvard botanist Asa Gray received a confidential letter from Charles Darwin. In the letter, Darwin wrote: "I will enclose the briefest abstract of my notions on the means by which nature makes her species....I ask you not to mention my doctrine." Two years later, Darwin revealed his concept of natural selection in his book, "On the Origin of Species. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Katherine Warington who was born on this day in 1897. Warington was a twin in a family with five girls. After college, Warington ended up working with an entomologist who was researching the black fly. The point of the research was to make beans taste bad to the fly. Researchers took turns applying various elements to the beans and in the process, Warington discovered that Boron was essential to plant growth. Two years later, Warington published her work - amazing the scientific community at her discovery and the unlikely scenario of a scientist making a major discovery with their first research project after college. Unearthed Words "What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head; The luscious clusters of the vine Upon my mouth do crush their wine; The nectarine and curious peach Into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on melons, as I pass, Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass." - Andrew Marvell, Thoughts in a Garden Today's book recommendation: Tussie-Mussies by Geraldine Laufer This book on Tussie-Mussies is subtitled The Victorian Art of Expressing Yourself in the Language of Flowers and it came out in 1993. Laufer's book does a wonderful job of explaining the art of sending floral messages. Tussie-Mussies were originally called "talking bouquets" or "word posies." She describes how to make them (it's simpler than you might think). She also shares how the meanings of herbs and flowers have changed over time. Laufer has been called a Floral P

I had to chuckle the other day as I was putting together my fall containers. The first thing I do when I transition from one season to another, is determine which plants are salvageable - the ones that have enough gas to go another season. One of my pots ended up being a bit of a hodgepodge. I call it my "Must Go" Container in honor of my husband's Great Aunt Lena. Here's the backstory: Great Aunt Lena would babysit my husband and his siblings when they were little. She was helping out my in-laws while they were both at work and she was famous for making a casserole at the end of the week she called "Must Go" hotdish. Phil's dad used to tell how one particular Must Go hotdish was extra memorable because when he was dishing himself up a plate, he pulled out an intact piece of pizza out of the depths of this hotdish; which no doubt was combined with a can of cream of mushroom soup. In any case, my "Must Go" container ended up being a bit of an homage to Great Aunt Lena; individually, the plants looked fine. But, put together, the effect was jumbled - a "Must Go" container if ever there was one. I'll have to redo it this weekend. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the English gardener, designer, and nurseryman Henry Wise who was born on this day in 1653. One can't mention Henry Wise without talking about George London. The two worked together on gardens throughout England. The partnership began when Wise was a student of London. When Wise came of age, he became London's partner at the Brompton Park nurseries. Wise was one of the greatest gardeners and plantsmen of his time. Together, he and London became THE designers to work for over two decades until London died in 1714. Wise is remembered for being the gardener for Queen Anne, although he also managed the royal gardens during the reigns of William III and George I as well. London and Wise designed formal baroque gardens. Think - box hedges, gravel walk ways, beautiful statuary and magnificent fountains. Wise laid out the stunning avenue of Chestnut trees in England's Bushy Park as well as the walled kitchen garden made for the Duke of Marlborough in Blenheim which thrills visitors still today. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Arnold Arboretum taxonomist and dendrologist Alfred Rehder who was born on this day in 1863. A dendrologist studies trees and Rehder was the top dendrologist of his generation. Rehder learned about horticulture from his father who was an amateur gardener. He worked at a number of botanical gardens around Germany. At the turn of the 20th century, Rehder was sent to the US to study American grapes - which were resistant to phylloxera - the disease that was caused by aphids and that was threatening to obliterate wine production in Europe. There was no better place for Rehder to conduct his research than Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. It was a fortuitous assignment for Rehder who ended up meeting the director of the Arboretum - Charles Sprague Sargent. Sargent recognized Rehder's intelligence and diligence. He persuaded him to stay on and gave him the tremendous assignment of compiling a bibliography of everything written about woody plants published before 1900. It resulted in a five-volume, 3,789-page work. Rehder accomplished much during his time at Harvard. He launched a quarterly botanical publication known as the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum and he came up with a system to identify geographic zones based on the relationship between temperature and the hardiness of specific plants. Rehder's work helped establish what we know as the USDA Hardiness zone maps. #OTD Today is the birthday of Canada's first professional woman plant breeder - a woman called the "dean of hybridists" and the "Grand Lady of Canadian Horticulture" - Isabella Preston, who was born on this day in 1881. Vita Sackville-West once acknowledged, "I must confess I don't know anything about Miss Isabella Prestonof Ottawa. . ." Preston's name had become famous as the result of her lily hybrids. She bred the renowned George C. Creelman hybrid lily in 1919. Vita would have loved Preston's practical and hard-won advice. When a colleague asked Preston what she should do with her rock garden, Preston's advice was rather fascinating: "Use every bit of rock – Don't be afraid of it. Plant between, atop or along side. Presently, you will be convinced that flowers need near them the harsh stability of stone." Preston was a self-taught plant hybridizer. In 1920 she joined the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa. For almost three decades, she endeavored to create more blooms on more disease-resistant plants. She created over 200 cultivars of six different plants including lilacs, lilies, crab apples, columbine, Siberian iris and roses. Preston Lilacs are named in her honor. Preston received many honors for her work. Unearthed Words "She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting an

Have you ordered your spring bulbs yet? Here's a new perspective on planting spring bulbs - they're important resources for pollinators. Most gardeners think about spring flowering bulbs in terms of color - which is something we desperately need after a long winter. But spring flowering bulbs are valuable for another reason: they're an early source of nectar for pollinators. Think about planting these spring bulbs this October to help out bumblebees, native bees, and other pollinators in the early days of spring: Crocus, tulips, and daffodils are obvious choices. Other excellent spring bulb selections include options like fritillaria, grape hyacinths, winter aconites, snow drops, squill and glory of the snow (Chinodoxia). All of these bulbs can be planted now through the end of October. And don't forget you can plant early-flowering spring perennials to accompany these bulbs. Choose plants like early flowering hellebores and lungwort. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1802, a 13-year-old boy named George Thorndike, planted a tree at Bowdoin College in Maine. Thorndike was part of the first class at Bowdoin. The class was made up of 8 boys. Aside from being part of the charter class, Thorndike became an important part of the college's history. The story happened after Thorndike attended the very first service at the college chapel. As he was leaving the chapel, he spied a little acorn by the path. Thorndike knew enough about plants and trees to know that the acorn was a little out of place in the pine-laden forest around Bowdoin. Thorndike planted the acorn and the following year, it had made enough progress for Thorndike to move the sapling to the college president's garden. The year George and his class graduated, in 1806, they met under the tree to say farewell. The Thorndike Oak became an important symbol for Bowdoin College and a yearly commencement tradition; students would meet under the Thorndike Oak before the ceremony. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Sara Allen Plummer Lemmon who was born on this day in 1836. Lemmon is remembered for her successful 1903 piece of legislation that nominated the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) as the state flower of California. Asa Gray named the genus Plummera in honor of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Plummera are yellow wildflowers in the daisy family, and they bloom from July through September in southeastern Arizona. Lemmon and her husband, John Gill Lemmon, were both botanists. Her husband always went by his initials JG. Although Sara partnered equally with her husband on their work in botany, their papers were always published with the credentials "J.G. Lemmon & Wife." The Lemmons had found each other late in life in California. They had both suffered individually during the civil war. John was taken prisoner at Andersonville. He barely survived and his health was impacted for the rest of his life. Sara had worked herself ragged nursing soldiers in New York while teaching. In 1881, when Sara was 45 years old, the Lemmons took a honeymoon trip to Arizona. They called it their "botanical wedding trip." The Lemmons rode a train to Tucson along with another passenger - President Rutherford B. Hayes. When they arrived, the Lemmons set off for the Santa Catalina Mountains. In Elliot's history of Arizona, he recounts the difficulty in climbing the mountain range: "The Lemmons often sat on the stone porch of their cave and dug the thorns and spines out of their hands and feet" And once they saw, " . . . a lion so large he carried a huge buck away without dragging feet or antlers." When they returned to Tucson unsuccessful and discouraged, they were told to meet a rancher named Emerson Oliver Stratton. Thanks to Stratton, they were able to ascend the Catalinas from the back side. When they arrived at the summit, Stratton was so impressed with Sara's drive and demeanor he named the mountain in her honor - Mount Lemmon. Sara was the first woman to climb the Catalinas. Twenty-five years later, in 1905, the Lemmons returned to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. When they climbed the Catalina's in celebration, Stratton was again at their side; helping them retrace the steps of their "botanical wedding trip" to the top of Mount Lemmon. #OTD Today in 1893, The Times out of Philadelphia reported on a George Vanderbilt's mountain home; It said that the millionaire had transformed a forest into a blooming garden. Of course, it was describing the Biltmore - Vanderbilt's country mansion and estate. Here's what it said: "[Vanderbilt's] first step was to purchase, besides several mountains, 18,000 acres of land along the French Broad and the Swannanoa rivers. The next step ... was to restrain the natural temptation to carry out plans of his own and to employ the services of the greatest landscape artist in the country, Frederick Law Olmstead... Seven hundred men are employed, their wages running from $1 per day to the salary of $12,000 paid to the overseer. Three years ag

Now is the perfect time to play doctor in the garden. Look for the sick or injured. Look for plants that haven't thrived, plants with disease, and plants riddled with pests. You don't want to leave any diseased plants in your garden over the winter. If you are able to do only one fall garden chore, taking out the sick and infirm is what you want to do. All these babies get dug up and escorted out of my garden. Generally I say that nothing green or brown leaves the property, but these are items I don't dare chop and drop, or compost - these sick plants go out. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Lancelot Brown who was born on this day in 1716. Lancelot ended up at Stowe working for William Kent - the eminent painter and Landscape Architect. Stowe was commissioned in the 1730's. The garden at Stowe was a landscape garden. Lots of straight lines and formality. The garden looked like a painting with an 11 acre lake. The main area was the Elysian Fields; 40 acres featuring buildings and monuments that flank two narrow lakes called the River Styx. The monuments honored the virtuous men of Britian and Greece. The time spent with Kent at Stowe not only transformed the land, it transformed Lancelot from a gardener into a Landscape Architect. It was his big break. After Stowe, Brown traveled all over England as a freelancer. Brown' skill and his nickname came from seeing the "capabilities" of the landscape. He became so popular that everyone with means wanted a Capability Brown landscape - they craved his garden designs and garden temples. What everyone wanted was beauty and Capability delivered just that: beautiful gardens. Today, at least 20 of his gardens remain and are in the care of England's National Trust. #OTD Today is the birthday of Agoston Haraszthy who was born on this day in 1812. Haraszthy's family wasHungarian nobility. In 1840, he immigrated to the United States.Back home, Haraszthy had gotten hold of a book that reported the Wisconsin territory offered the finest land in America. So, he went there first. Since Haraszthy's dream was to make European wine in America, he quickly discovered Wisconsin was not the place for that. In short order, Haraszthy made his way to San Francisco with the gold rush. But San Francisco was not a fit with the grapes. It was foggy and cold. But then, Haraszthy found the Sonoma Valley in 1857. Sonoma Valley was called the "Valley of the Moon" by the writer Jack London and it turned out that Sonoma was the perfect place to grow purple gold. After a dozen years of searching Harazethy had found a place suitable for growing European grapes - which were more delicate and more finicky than North American wild grapes. Giddy and hopeful, Haraszethy built a white villa for his wife and six children on a property he named Buena Vista or Good View. Then he went to Europe and collected 100,000 cuttings of 300 varieties of grapes; There were the rare white grapes of the Pinot Chardonnay, the green Hungarian grape, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and the white Riesling grapes of the Rhine and Moselle river region, just to name a few. There is an old saying that the God of wine, Bacchus, loved the hills. Well, Haraszethy loved them, too. He was the first vine dresser to grow his grapes on the mountain sides in California. In fact, Haraszthy brought many european growing methods to his estate - which included growing the grape plants closer together. This was something other growers found unwise. But Haraszthy knew that growing grapes in close proximity stressed the vines, which in turn, made better tasting grapes. Haraszthy also performed a green harvest - something no one had ever done before. Today the technique is known as dropping fruit which means doing an initial harvest of some of the grapes; the fewer grapes on the vine - the better the flavor of the remaining grapes. That year Haraszthy also brought in a team of Chinese laborers and they worked to dig out the first wine caves in the state. The most impressive accomplishment included a 100-feet-deep stone wine cellar built on the side of a hill. In 1863, Haraszthy incorporated his vineyard as the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society Thanks to investors, Haraszthy purchased an additional 4,000 acres making Buena Vista the second largest vineyard in the state. In 1866, a vine disease swept through the area. Haraszthy and his unique growing methods were blamed for the small tasteless grapes and the brown, dying vines. The disease was actually Phylloxera - an aphid that attacks vine roots and causes grapes to harden on the vine. It wiped out Buena Vista. Haraszthy filed for bankruptcy. With his vineyard and his reputation in tatters, Haraszthy went south to Nicaragua. He planted a large sugar plantation and he planned to make and sell rum. But, on July 6, 1869, as he was reaching for a vine and crossing a river on his property, he apparently fell and was eaten by an alligator. Today, Haraszthy is considered the father of California Vitocu

Now is the perfect time to play doctor in the garden. Look for the sick or injured. Look for plants that haven't thrived, plants with disease, and plants riddled with pests. You don't want to leave any diseased plants in your garden over the winter. If you are able to do only one fall garden chore, taking out the sick and infirm is what you want to do. All these babies get dug up and escorted out of my garden. Generally I say that nothing green or brown leaves the property, but these are items I don't dare chop and drop, or compost - these sick plants go out. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Lancelot Brown who was born on this day in 1716. Lancelot ended up at Stowe working for William Kent - the eminent painter and Landscape Architect. Stowe was commissioned in the 1730's. The garden at Stowe was a landscape garden. Lots of straight lines and formality. The garden looked like a painting with an 11 acre lake. The main area was the Elysian Fields; 40 acres featuring buildings and monuments that flank two narrow lakes called the River Styx. The monuments honored the virtuous men of Britian and Greece. The time spent with Kent at Stowe not only transformed the land, it transformed Lancelot from a gardener into a Landscape Architect. It was his big break. After Stowe, Brown traveled all over England as a freelancer. Brown' skill and his nickname came from seeing the "capabilities" of the landscape. He became so popular that everyone with means wanted a Capability Brown landscape - they craved his garden designs and garden temples. What everyone wanted was beauty and Capability delivered just that: beautiful gardens. Today, at least 20 of his gardens remain and are in the care of England's National Trust. #OTD Today is the birthday of Agoston Haraszthy who was born on this day in 1812. Haraszthy's family wasHungarian nobility. In 1840, he immigrated to the United States.Back home, Haraszthy had gotten hold of a book that reported the Wisconsin territory offered the finest land in America. So, he went there first. Since Haraszthy's dream was to make European wine in America, he quickly discovered Wisconsin was not the place for that. In short order, Haraszthy made his way to San Francisco with the gold rush. But San Francisco was not a fit with the grapes. It was foggy and cold. But then, Haraszthy found the Sonoma Valley in 1857. Sonoma Valley was called the "Valley of the Moon" by the writer Jack London and it turned out that Sonoma was the perfect place to grow purple gold. After a dozen years of searching Harazethy had found a place suitable for growing European grapes - which were more delicate and more finicky than North American wild grapes. Giddy and hopeful, Haraszethy built a white villa for his wife and six children on a property he named Buena Vista or Good View. Then he went to Europe and collected 100,000 cuttings of 300 varieties of grapes; There were the rare white grapes of the Pinot Chardonnay, the green Hungarian grape, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and the white Riesling grapes of the Rhine and Moselle river region, just to name a few. There is an old saying that the God of wine, Bacchus, loved the hills. Well, Haraszethy loved them, too. He was the first vine dresser to grow his grapes on the mountain sides in California. In fact, Haraszthy brought many european growing methods to his estate - which included growing the grape plants closer together. This was something other growers found unwise. But Haraszthy knew that growing grapes in close proximity stressed the vines, which in turn, made better tasting grapes. Haraszthy also performed a green harvest - something no one had ever done before. Today the technique is known as dropping fruit which means doing an initial harvest of some of the grapes; the fewer grapes on the vine - the better the flavor of the remaining grapes. That year Haraszthy also brought in a team of Chinese laborers and they worked to dig out the first wine caves in the state. The most impressive accomplishment included a 100-feet-deep stone wine cellar built on the side of a hill. In 1863, Haraszthy incorporated his vineyard as the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society Thanks to investors, Haraszthy purchased an additional 4,000 acres making Buena Vista the second largest vineyard in the state. In 1866, a vine disease swept through the area. Haraszthy and his unique growing methods were blamed for the small tasteless grapes and the brown, dying vines. The disease was actually Phylloxera - an aphid that attacks vine roots and causes grapes to harden on the vine. It wiped out Buena Vista. Haraszthy filed for bankruptcy. With his vineyard and his reputation in tatters, Haraszthy went south to Nicaragua. He planted a large sugar plantation and he planned to make and sell rum. But, on July 6, 1869, as he was reaching for a vine and crossing a river on his property, he apparently fell and was eaten by an alligator. Today, Haraszthy is considered the father of California Vitocu

Well, it's time to get serious about remaking our containers – especially on the front porch and around the front door. Editing containers from time to time is essential to keep them looking great. Sometimes combinations don't work well, other times plants can grow in unexpected ways – too tall, too bushy, or just an abject failure. With the arrival of fall, it's the perfect time to remove spent plants and replace them with selections that are more seasonally appropriate. Fall pansies are wonderful to incorporate if you live in a cold climate. They can take the colder temperatures with no problem. Of course mums and asters and even grasses are wonderful in fall pots. I always like to look for bargains at my local nurseries and big box stores. Sometimes those finds get placed in containers temporarily before they find a home in the garden. And don't forget you can include houseplants when you're working with your fall containers. Pathos and Croton, even chopped up sections from an overgrown Boston fern are tremendous additions to fall containers. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the Irish botanist and friend of Linnaeus, Patrick Browne who died on this day in 1790. There are no photographs of Patrick Browne - who was also a physician; but we was described this way: "The Doctor is a tall comely man, of good address and gentle manners, naturally cheerful, very temperate and in general health." Browne's major work was The Civil and Natural History of Jamaicapublished in 1756 in which he described 104 new species. In fact, Browne's work was the first book in the English language to use Linnaeus' classification system. Linnaeus was very pleased with Browne's work. He told the botanist Peter Collinson (who was friends with John Bartram and Benjamin Franklin) that after he had read Browne's book he reflected "No author did I ever quit more instructed" and he gushed that Browne, "ought to be honored with a Golden Statue." Browne named the genus to which cloves belong: Syzygium aromaticum. #OTD Today is the birthday of the German Austrian rosarian Rudolf Geschwind who was born on this day in 1829. As a child, Geschwind loved gardening. As a young man, he studied Forestry and his first job was working for the Austro-Hungarian Department of Forestry. Although he performed excellent work in the field of forestry, Geschwind's true passion was roses. At the age of 30, Geschwind began experimenting with breeding roses. It was a pursuit he would perfect over the next five decades. Geschwind's speciality was breeding roses that were frost resistant. Geschwind created close to 150 rose cultivars. His prized collection of climbing roses were displayed at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. When Geschwind died in 1910, the Countess Maria-Henrieta Chotek, known as "The Countess of Roses," or "The Pink Countess," purchased Geschwind's entire collection - including some which had never been made public. As a member of one of the most distinguished families of the Czech nobility, Chotek had the means to handle this impressive transfer. In fact, Chotek was so serious about the effort to preserve Geschwind's work that she sent two of her gardeners to oversee the transfer of the collection. It was no small affair - it involved packing and moving over 2,000 roses to her estate - the Manor House or Castle known as Dolna Krupa. Over a century before Dolna Krupa was the place where Beethoven is presumed to have written his Moonlight Sonata. Maria-Henrieta's great grandfather, Jozef, was friends with Beethoven and he allowed Beethoven to live at Dolna Krupa for nearly a decade. Maria-Henrieta Chotek was born almost 60 years after Beethoven's stay at Dolna Krupa in 1863. As a woman who never married, her inheritance allowed her to pursue her passion for roses with abandon - and she did. She was in her 30's when she inherited Dolna Krupa. Once it was all hers, she set about creating one of the top three rosaria in Europe. During its prime, the rosaria at Dolna Krupa rivaled the roseria in France and the Rosarium of Sangerhausen in Germany. Chotek was a woman of action and she didn't just direct activities - she was very hands on. As a rosarian herself, Chotek developed new cultivars and conducted experiments. One time while visiting an exhibition, Chotek watched as a German horticulturist named Johannes Böttner presented a rambling rose called the Fragezeichen which means the "Question Mark" (What a great name!) The rose intrigued Henrieta Chotek so much, that she immediately left for Frankfurt to see the Fragezeichen trials personally. The year 1914 marked a turning point in Chotek's life and in the fate of many of Geschwind's roses. That year, in June, the Rose Congress was held at Zweibrücken. Chotek's work and rosaria were honored. But in the days following the event, Marie Henrieta's cousin, Sophie Chotek Ferdinand, wife of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was murdered alongside her husband in Saraevo and World War I had