The Daily Gardener

Do you change the oil in your window boxes and containers every spring? You really don't need to - I don't. Here's what I do: I remove about a quarter to a third of the soil in my containers, and I put it in my potting soil bin. Then, I add a little perlite and compost to the original container, and that's it. Any extra potting soil that I have leftover in my bin, I use for new containers. Brevities #OTD It was on this day in 1869 that the botanist Edwin Hunt collected the last known specimen of Arethusa bulbosa in the old Oriskany swamp in New York. Arethusa bulbosa is known as Dragon's Mouth Orchid, and it is found in the eastern and central parts of the United States and Canada, from South Carolina to Saskatchewan. One of Hunt's former students shared his recollections of his teacher: "Mr. Hunt was an expert in the preparation of his botanical specimens. Hunt was ever-guarded in his knowledge of locality. He did not believe in sharing it if he thought someone would exhaust it. He knew only too well how many years of patient industry he had spent on his collection." And then he recalled: "We journeyed many miles together and he always seemed 2 inches taller when we got into the woods. He was a very rapid walker and when on a botanical excursion, it was a difficult matter to keep up with him. I have a faint but pleasant recollection of running at his heels for a distance of 12 miles." The Crataegus huntiana is named in memory of Edwin Hunt. #OTD On this day in 1871, James Weldon Johnson was born. He's the lyricist of the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing." He had a summer home known as Five Acres, and he had a little writing cabin on a hill above a brook. Johnson was a founder and member of the Harlem Renaissance, and he wrote most of his famous works like God's Trombone and his autobiography Along This Way in his writing cabin on the hill. Johnson also loved poetry. Here are some excerpts from his Venus in a Garden: But the fair Venus knew The crimson roses had gained their hue From the hearts that for love had bled; And the goddess made a garland Gathered from the roses red. #OTD It was on this day in 1879 at the Botanical Gardens of Berlin, a monument of the late eminent botanist, Alexander Braun, was unveiled. Professor Adler did the granite pedestal. The bust of the Braun was said to be an excellent likeness. Braun was a botanist from Bavaria. He researched the morphology of plants. #OTD It was on this day in 1916, a photograph of Nellie McClung was taken with fellow suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst. Nellie McClung earned Canadian women the right to vote. Today you can explore Nellie's home and garden in Calgary. Although she is perhaps best known for her social activism, being an author was her "day job." Nothing inspired her more than her garden Her first book was called "Sowing Seeds in Danny." It has been compared to L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Both books were immediate best-sellers in Canada. #OTD It was on this day in 1934 that the University of Wisconsin's Arboretum was officially dedicated. The idea had first occurred in 1853, to Wisconsin's early naturalist, Increase Lapham. The University didn't actually begin purchasing land for the Arboretum until 1932. The following year, William Longenecker was hired to be the executive director, and Aldo Leopold, who has been a professor of wildlife ecology, was made research director. Unearthed Words Emily Dickinson wrote today's poem in the fall of 1877. She, like most gardeners, was reflecting the seasons, and she made some observations about critical growing times during the year. Dickinson never wrote a poem strictly about June, but she loved to reach back to June in her poems about Autumn. To Dickinson, June was sweeter and best appreciated through the amber lens of Fall. "Summer has two Beginnings -- Beginning once in June -- Beginning in October Affectingly again -- Without, perhaps, the Riot But graphicker for Grace -- As finer is a going Than a remaining Face -- Departing then -- forever -- Forever -- until May -- Forever is deciduous Except to those who die --" And here's a quote from my friend and fellow podcaster, Joanne Shaw, who said this one year ago: "A piece of our heart is in all our gardens." Today's book recommendation: The Plant Hunters: The Adventures of the World's Greatest Botanical Explorers by Carolyn Fry Most of the plants in our gardens are not native to our region. Although we take their accessibility and ubiquity for granted, we owe a debt to the naturalists and explorers who traveled in search of these unusual plants and then brought them back along with fantastic stories. Carolyn is the former editor at Geographical; The magazine of the Royal Geographical Society. Today's Garden Chore Attend to your geraniums. Regular deadheading prevents disease and increases flower production. Be sure to remove the entire flower stalk after the flowers fade. Also, remove yellowing or dry leaves from the plants. It's quite normal

Are you planning to grow Sunflowers this year? Five years ago, Hans-Peter Schiffer toppled the Guinness World Record for third year in a row - growing a sunflower that was 30'1" tall! Over atthe Facebook group for the show, you can check out a time lapse video of sunflowers growing from seed to seed heads; just search for The Daily Gardener Communitythe next time you're in Facebook and request to join. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe board on this day in 1811. Stowe is best known as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. When Stowe met Pres. Abraham Lincoln, he greeted her by saying, "So you're the little woman who started this great war." During the Victorian era, the language of flowers was all the rage. Stowe used that language in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her use of roses connotes both tragedy and Tom's loving nature. Ferns are a sign of both fortitude and memory. The most important flowers in the story are the brilliant scarlet geranium and one single white Japonica; Red and white conveyed suffering and purity. The character Topsy has the purity of a small child, but as a slave, she was forced to endure the beatings and punishments by her master. Uncle Tom's Cabin was a sensation. During its first year in print, it sold a record 200,000 copies. One year after it's publication, Eva became one of the most popular names for baby girls; Eva was the name of the beloved slave girl in Stowe's novel. #OTD It's the birthday of garden author Ruth Stout, born on this day in 1884. Ruth wrote a number of garden books including the No Work Garden and Gardening Without Work. Here's a sampling of her famous prose: "If you have the soul of a gardener, not for anything would you work with gloves on." "I read somewhere that a shallow pan of beer put into a garden at night will do away with slugs. (Whether they are dead or just dead-drunk in the morning, I don't know.) I wrote this to one inquirer and he answered: 'I'm certainly not going to carry beer out to the garden for slugs. If they want beer they can come in the house and ask for it, like everybody else.'" "If 'heartache' sounds exaggerated then surely you have never gone to your garden one rare morning in June to find that the frost, without any perceptible motive, any hope of personal gain, has quietly killed your strawberry blossoms, tomatoes, lima and green beans, corn, squash, cucumbers. A brilliant sun is now smiling at this disaster with an insensitive cheerfulness as out of place as a funny story would be if someone you loved had just died." #OTD It was on this day in 1922 that Pres. Harding's voice was heard on the radio. Just the year before, Pres. Harding and his wife had opened the grounds to the White House. The Harding enjoyed throwing garden parties; especially for veterans. During one event in the garden, in October 1921, Marie Curie visited the garden at the White House. She presented Pres. Harding with one gram of radium worth half a million Swedish kroner. Unearthed Words #OTD We celebrate the prose of Gilbert Keith or G.K. Chesterton, who died on this day in 1936. He was a British author creator of father Brown a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective of Chesterton's short stories. Known as the "prince of paradox", Chesterton is supposed to have handled episodes of writer's block by firing arrows from his window into the garden. From the Father Brown series, here's an excerpt from "The Secret Garden"... "The garden was large and elaborate, and there were many exits from the house into the garden. But there was no exit from the garden into the world outside; all round it ran a tall, smooth, unscalable wall with special spikes at the top; no bad garden, perhaps, for a man to reflect in whom some hundred criminals had sworn to kill" Here's a bit of philosophy from Chesterton: "When your father told you, walking about the garden, that bees stung or that roses smell sweet, he did not talk of taking the best out of his philosophy. When the bees stung you, you did not call it an entertaining coincidence; when the rose smell sweet you did not say, 'My father is a rude barbaric symbol enshrining (perhaps unconsciously) the deep delicate truth that flowers smell.' No, you believed your father because you had found him to be a living fountain of facts, a thing that really knew more than you; a thing that would tell you to truth to-morrow as well as to-day." Today's book recommendation:In Bloom: Growing, Harvesting and Arranging Flowers All Year Round by Clare Nolan In this gorgeous book, Clare Nolan shares her top tips for growing a bountiful harvest and styling spectacular homegrown arrangements. Clare expertly guides you through the entire process - from choosing the best plants to laying out your cutting garden. She even wrote an entire chapter on arranging - breaking down the secrets to styling flowers to maximum effect in your home. Today's Garden Chore It's another Photo Friday in the Garden. Today take close-ups of your s

My aunt Debbie in Des Moines sent me some fantastic pictures of a great portable elevated plantar idea. She was at Lowes and they had taken two old Weber grills and had spray-painted them different colors. Then, they turned them into planters. In between the two of them they placed a bench. What a great idea. Fantastic idea a great way to repurpose old grills turn them into elevated bed that you could use for annuals - which is what they did. In my case, I'm thinking it is a fun way to have a small edible or herb garden - right by your grill! Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Martha Washington, born on this day in 1731. The kitchen garden at Mount Vernon was said to have been Martha Washington's personal pride. Surrounded by 4-inch-brick walls her garden was protected and it also enjoyed a bit of a microclimate. In addition to the walls, there were pear trees and apple trees that lined the walkways and provided a windbreaker for the vegetables. There was even a cistern placed in the center of the garden; providing the garden with a steady supply of water. One expert stated, "Mrs. Washington had a passion for gardening and her summer residence at the Hasbrouck house allowed her to indulge in it." One admirer said, "Under her skillful hands, bloomed a garden like the desert of the Scriptures." #OTD It was on this day in 1832 that George Thurtell held his impressive ranunculus show. It was said that Thurtell had exhibited between 700 and 800 blooms; including 360 varieties. They were preeminent in beauty, variety, color, form, and size. Fourteen years after his ranunculus show, Thurtell was fined for horse-whipping a journalist on April 30, 1846. Two years later, he pled guilty to stealing from a house where he was living as the gardener. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and he died serving his sentence. #OTD It was on this day in 1833 David Douglas' luck ran out. On the Rocky Island of the Fraser river at Fort George Canyon, Douglas's canoe was smashed into bits and Douglas himself barely escaped alive. All of Douglas's work: his specimens and all of his writings - covering the years from 1829 to 1833 - were lost to time. Before losing all of his work, in the spring of that year, Douglas had written a friend: "We can be carried into regions where we contemplate the most glorious workmanship of nature and where the dullest imagination becomes excited." Unearthed Words Here's The Rose Treeby William Butler he who was born on this day in 1865. 'O words are lightly spoken,' Said Pearse to Connolly, 'Maybe a breath of politic words Has withered our Rose Tree; Or maybe but a wind that blows Across the bitter sea.' 'It needs to be but watered,' James Connolly replied, 'To make the green come out again And spread on every side, And shake the blossom from the bud To be the garden's pride.' 'But where can we draw water,' Said Pearse to Connolly, 'When all the wells are parched away? O plain as plain can be There's nothing but our own red blood Can make a right Rose Tree.' Here's a sweet diary entry for today by Canadian Naturalist Charles Joseph Sauriol ("Sar-ee-all") who wrote these words on this day in 1938. "A beautiful June day. The kind of day which has made June's reputation…. Tonight I finished my flower beds entirely…. How pleasant it is to water from a hose, when one has known the effort of hauling water pail by pail." Today's book recommendation: The Flower Fix: Modern arrangements for a daily dose of nature by Anna Potter (Author), India Hobson (Photographer) The Flower Fix was a new book out in May of this year. Potter arranges easy to find seasonal blooms, along with found items such as twigs and dried fruit. And, she uses all kinds of containers. Potter is a florist at Swallows and Damsons. You can get your daily flower fix with her inspiring arrangements. Today's Garden Chore Sow Love-in-a-Mist or Nigella in your garden. It's one of my favorite flowers and I know I'm not alone; it is such a romantic blossom. It's a member of the Buttercup family. Although it comes in white and pink and lavender most gardeners are blown away by the blue version of love of Love-in-a-Mist. It's a favorite with pollinators and it's self-seeding - which, if you're lucky, will bring you more love in the mist through the years. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart It was on this day in 1831 that the scientist James clerk Maxwell was born. Maxwell is remembered for his formulation of the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation. In 1922 but Albert Einstein visited the University of Cambridge his host announced that he is done great things because he stood on Isaac Newton shoulders. Einstein replied "No, I don't. I stand on the shoulders of Maxwell." In 1879 Maxwell wrote a letter to his friend William Thompson. It's a letter gardeners can delight in: Peacocks as Gardeners. We got our original stock from Mrs McCunn, Ardhallow. At that time (1860), the garden there was the finest on the

Fragrance in the garden... The most fragrant blossoms include: Cheddar pinks (a member of the carnation family) Lavender Peony Gardenia Honeysuckle Hyacinth Lilac Mock Orange Daphne Bee balm Brevities #OTD On this day, in 1805, Meriwether Lewis was just one day away from reaching the Great Falls of Missouri. He wrote his own brief description of a species that was previously unknown to science. He wrote, "The narrow leafed cottonwood grows here in common with the other species of the same tree with a broad leaf." Wonder if he saw all the cottonwood seeds floating through the air... #OTD It was a little over 200 years ago today, in 1817, that a forest ranger, named Karl Freiherr von Drais,invented the first bicycle. #OTD And it's the anniversary of the death day of Edward Newman who was an English entomologist, botanist, and writer. Newman wrote, An Illustrated Natural History of the British MothsIn 1869. He also enjoyed writing poetry. Just as the butterfly, child of an hour, Flutters about in the light of the sun, Wandering wayward from flower to flower, Sipping the honey from all, one by one; So does the fanciful verse I've created Love amongst the experts in Science to roam, Drinking their spirit without being sated, Bringing the sweets of their intellect home. #OTD It was on this day, in 1948, that the Michigan Botanical Club adopted its name. It wasn't agreed upon very easily. The Board of Directors and the executive committee couldn't agree. They decided to hold a vote. The choices included: The Michigan Association for Native Plants Protection The Michigan Wildflower Association The Michigan Native Plant Society The Michigan Botanical Club Although the rest of the state voted unanimously for the Michigan Botanical Club, the strong-willed southeastern chapter had taken a poll and they wanted the name The Michigan Wildflower Association. The matter was finally settled when the general membership voted. It's been The Michigan Botanical Club ever since. #OTD And it was on this day in 1918 that the botanist Frank Nicholas Meyer was buried in Shanghai. Six days later, his family, back home in the Netherlands, learned of his death. At the beginning of June, Meyer had traveled to Shanghai by way of Japanese riverboat on the Yangtze River. He was last seen leaving his cabin on the evening of June 1; then he simply disappeared. His body was found in the river four days later. Meyer was just 43 years old when he either fell over board or was murdered. In either case, his legacy continues; not only in the plants he introduced (like the Meyer Lemon), but also, in the magnificent photographs that he took in China. Unearthed Words Here are some short sayings about June: "If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance." - Bern Williams "Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June." - Al Bernstein "What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade." - Gertrude Jekyll, On Gardening "June is bustin' out all over." - Oscar Hammerstein II, 1945 Today's book recommendation: Sex, Botany, and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks by Patricia Fara Fara said, "Banks provided a marvelous illustration of how science and the British Empire grew rich and powerful together." Fara reveals how Enlightenment botany, under the veil of rationality, manifested a drive to conquer, subdue, and deflower―all in the name of British empire. Linnaeus trained his traveling disciples in a double mission―to bring back specimens for the benefit of the Swedish economy and to spread the gospel of Linnaean taxonomy. Based in London at the hub of an international exchange and correspondence network, Banks ensured that Linnaeus's ideas became established throughout the world. As the president of the Royal Society for more than forty years, Banks revolutionized British science, and his innovations placed science at the heart of trade and politics. He made it a policy to collect and control resources not only for the sake of knowledge but also for the advancement of the empire. Although Linnaeus is often celebrated as modern botany's true founder, Banks has had a greater long-term impact. It was Banks who ensured that science and imperialism flourished together, and it was he who first forged the interdependent relationship between scientific inquiry and the state that endures to this day. Today's Garden Chore Add perlite to your soil. Get a big bag of perlite like this oneand add it to the soil in your containers. Seasoned gardeners swear by perlite. If you want soilthat has good aeration, water retention and drainage, try adding,the mineral, perlite. A naturally occurring mineral, perlite has a neutral pH level; so it won't change the soil in that way. It's incredibly porous and it contains little pockets of space inside for air. It can also retain some amou

Garden journal - two columns Failures and Successes we learn equally from both Brevities #OTD NATIONAL CORN ON THE COB DAY – June 11 Corn is called maize by most countries, this comes from the Spanish word 'maiz'. Corn is a cereal crop that is part of the grass family. An ear or cob of corn is actually part of the flower and an individual kernel is a seed. On average an ear of corn has 800 kernels in 16 rows. Corn will always have an even number of rows on each cob. A bushel is a unit of measure for volumes of dry commodities such as shelled corn kernels. 1 Bushel of corn is equal to 8 gallons. With the exception of Antarctica, corn is produced on every continent in the world. There are over 3,500 different uses for corn products. As well as being eaten by the cob, corn is also processed and used as a major component in many food items like cereals, peanut butter, potato chips, soups, marshmallows, ice cream, baby food, cooking oil, margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and chewing gum. Juices and soft drinks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi contain corn sweeteners. A bushel of corn can sweeten 400 cans of soft drink. Corn and its by products are also found in many non-food items such as fireworks, rust preventatives, glue, paint, dyes, laundry detergent, soap, aspirin, antibiotics, paint, shoe polish, ink, cosmetics, the manufacturing of photographic film, and in the production of plastics. Corn is also used as feeding fodder for livestock and poultry and found in domestic pet food. As of 2012, the United States produces 40% of the worlds total harvest making it the biggest maize producer in the world (273,832,130 tonnes produced in 2012). An area termed the "Corn Belt" in the US where growing conditions are ideal includes the states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky. In the days of the early settlers to North America corn was so valuable that it was used as money and traded for other products such as meat and furs. Corn is now a completely domesticated plant so you're unlikely to find it growing in the wild. Corn can be produced in various colors including blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and the most common yellow. #OTD John Constable, RA(/ˈkʌnstəbəl, ˈkɒn-/;[1]11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the naturalistic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintingsof Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country" – which he invested with an intensity of affection. "I should paint my own places best", he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, "painting is but another word for feeling".[2 I see the elder is coming into flower. Reminds me of John Constable's oil sketch at Hampstead. c.1821-2 Private collection. Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree - by John Constable (RA), c1821 Golding Constable's Kitchen Garden, 1815 Golding Constable's Flower Garden, 1815 He considered spring and midsummer as the stirring times for the landscape painter, and not autumn. In his opinion an old tree, half decayed and almost leafless, presented no fitter subject to the painter than an emaciated old man.. .Constable was the first, I believe, in this country who ceased to paint grass yellow ocher, although it appears to me that we are now [1850-60's] in the other extreme. For by the non-employment of yellow, green pictures show a want of sunlight, and allowance is not made for the yellow of the frame, especially at the edge of the picture; still Constable is entitled to great praise for having brought the art back to a truer standard. Green is the colour for trees, and the midsummer shoot gives the green in its greatest variety. pp. 80-81 Nature is the fountain's head, the source from whence all originality must spring. Landscape is my mistress - 'tis to her I look for fame. I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. When I sit down to make a sketch from nature, the first thing I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen a picture. As quoted in Richard Friedenthal, Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock (Thames and Hudson, London, 1963), p. 40 But the sound of water escaping from mill-dams, &c., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things. Shakespeare could make everything poetical; he tells us of poor Tom's haunts among "sheep cotes and mills." As long as I do paint, I shall never cease to paint such places. They have always been my delight. Quote from John Constable's letter to Rev. John Fisher (23 October 1821), from John Constable's Correspondence, part 6, pp. 76-78 The world is wide; no two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world. Quoted in C.R. Leslie, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Composed Chiefly of His L

My neighbor, up at our cabin, has this amazing copse of lilacs. We've become good friends and he invited me to take some cuttings of his lilac as a gesture of goodwill. (He also give me all of his jack-in-the-pulpit - but that's another story.) Over time, lilacs have met different things to different people. The Celtic's thought the sweet scent of lilacs made them magical. During the Victorian age, widows wore lilacs because they were a symbol of old love. In Russia, in order to bless an infant with intelligence, they placed a little sprig of lilac over a baby's crib. Brevities #OTD Today is National Herbs and Spices Day. It is the season for growing fresh herbs. I just helped a friend put together a sweet little kitchen Garden right outside her front door. Herbs are so wonderful to grow because as aromatics they generally don't have any pest issues and they offer tremendous texture and interest. If you're new to gardening and looking for something maintenance to grow, it won't get any easier than growing herbs. #OTD On this day in 1793, the botanical garden, Jardin des Plantes, opened in Paris. The very next year, it becomes the first public zoo. #OTD It's the anniversary of the death of Scottish botanist Robert Brown, who died on this day in 1858. Brown is best known for being the first to notice natural continuous movement of minute particles. It's known as the Brownian movement. Brown had experimented with all kinds of materials - including plants- and he saw the same jittery behavior. He wrote, "These motions were such as to satisfy me … that they arose neither from currents in the fluid, nor from its gradual evaporation, but belonged to the particle itself" Brown was unable to explain why the particles moved, but 50 years later Einstein was able to fully understand Brownian motion. Today, Brownian Motion helping to explain "spin" from black holes. Brown also named the nucleus in living cells. Nucleus in Latin means "little nut". Brown published the remarkable survey on Australian flora which he called The Prodromus. The Prodromus opened doors for Brown when it attracted the attention of Joseph Banks. Brown was asked to serve as Banks' botanist librarian. They became great friends. So much so, that when Banks died in 1820, his left his home, his collections, and his library to Brown; and he also endowed him with a large yearly allowance. #OTD On June 10, 1922, Frances Ethel Gumm — aka Judy Garland — was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (about 165 miles north of lovely, Maple Grove.) When the famous professional wrestler George Raymond Wagner known as "Gorgeous George" retired, he quipped, "No more wrestlin' .. I'm takin up gardening." When Garland heard this comment, she sent him a couple pots of her hibiscus. Unearthed Words It's the anniversary of the death of Frances Theodora Parsons who died on this day in 1952. She was an American naturalist and author, remembered most for her book on American wildflowers. Frances or "Fanny" Smith was born in 1861 in New York City. She developed a lifelong love of nature and especially wildflowers during summers spent with her maternal grandparents near the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains. When she was 23, Fanny happily married William Starr Dana who was 16 years older than her and a Commander in the U.S. Navy. After they married, they lost their first baby and five years later, William died in a flu epidemic in Paris. Following the Victorian widows custom, Fanny wore black and isolated herself. A few years later, her friend Marion Satterlee managed to get her to take nature walks which rekindled her love for wildflowers. In 1893, Fanny published her popular book, How to Know the Wildflowers,under her husband's name "Mrs. William Starr Dana." It sold out in five days and was a favorite of Theodore Roosevelt and Rudyard Kipling. Three years later, in 1896, Fanny married a childhood friend; professor, politician, and diplomat James Russell Parsons. The following year, Fanny gave birth to their son. Parsons was not well off, so Fanny wrote "How to Know the Ferns"; this time, using her own name Frances Theodora Parsons. A year after Ferns, Fanny gave birth to their only daughter, Dorothea who tragically died at two and a half years old 5 days before Thanksgiving in 1902. Three years later, James was killed when his carriage collided with a trolley car. A widow once again, Fanny published this poem in Scribner's Magazine in 1911: When Laughter is Sadder than Tears. The marshes stretch to the dunes and the dunes sweep down to the sea, And the sea is wooing the meadow which waits with an open door; Then a melody sweet to the hearer floats up from the murmuring lea Till the sea slips seaward again and the land is athirst as before. And athirst is the heart whose worship is not the worship of yore, Whose visions no magic can conjure, whose plenty is suddenly dearth; And parched as the desert the soul whose tears no grief can restore, Whose laughter is sadder than te

I ran across a fascinating old journal as I was researching this show - what I especially loved about it was the layout. If you want to copy it here's what you do: Dedicate a page of your journal to each type of plant in your garden. Make some notes about the characteristics of the plant. (Maybe what you like about it as well) Then leave room to chart the major events with the plant. For instance, after describing Kalmia Angustifolia, it says this: June 7, 1908 First Flowers June 15th Generally comes into bloom July 13 Still in flower Rarely any flowers in the autumn. Doesn't that make for a very handy and personal reference guide for your garden? Brevities #OTD It's the anniversary of the death of one of the most eminent botanists of his age: Louis Claude Richard who died on this day in 1821. His great grandfather had been in charge of the menagerie at Versailles. His grandfather had been charge of the botanic gardens at Trianon. Even his own father was placed in charge of the King's Garden. A biography of Richard was featured in international Gazette in 1831. It said: "Louis Claude Richard was therefore born in the midst of plants; he learnt to know them sooner than the letter of the alphabet; and before he he was able to write correctly, he could draw flowers, or plans of gardens... He did not recollect a moment of his life in which be had not been a botanist; and if he ever engaged in other studies, botany was always the object of them." In 1781, he was the naturalist to the king. Richard sailed from France to French Guyana. Eight years later, when he returned to France, he brought his herbarium; which contained over 1000 plants. #OTD It was on this day in 1769, that Daniel Boone first laid eyes on the forests of present-day Kentucky. Boone wrote in his journal: "Not a breeze shook the most tremulous leaf. I had gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and, looking round with astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains, the beauteous tracts below." 30 years later, Boone left Kentucky and followed his son to Missouri. He was often asked why he left Kentucky. He always answered the same way: "Too crowded! too crowded! I want elbow-room!" #OTD It's the birthday of Fletcher Steele; an American landscape architect who designed over 700 gardens. He was born on this day in 1885. His most iconic work was nestled into the Hillside in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. It's called The Blue Staircase at Naumkeag. Steele designed the staircase for Mable Choate in 1926. She would become his most important client. She was 56 and he was 41. Choate had a history of working with designers and she knew how to collaborate with them. Steele was one of the first landscape architects to speak of plant material as one of the elements in a composition. It was Fletcher Steele who said "Gardening seems to be the most ephemeral of the arts." #OTD It's the birthday of the botanist Jack Harlan, born on this day in 1917. Harlan followed in the footsteps of his botanists father Harry Harland. He loved going on plant collecting expeditions - mainly in search of new genetic material for the USDA's crop breeding programs. Harlan was worried about genetic vulnerability and genetic wipeout Harlan said: "We MUST collect and study wild and weedy relatives of our cultivated plants... we cannot afford to ignore any source of useable genes." Harlan wrote those words in 1970. And one of his final works contain these words: "We will not and cannot find a time or place where agriculture originated. We will not and cannot because it did not happen that way. Agriculture is not the result of a happening, an idea, an invention, discovery or instruction by a god or goddess. It emerged as a result of long periods of intimate coevolution between plants and man. Animals are not essential; plants supply over 90% of the food consumed by humans." Unearthed Words Here's a quote from poet, sculptor, and artist Jean Arp who died on this day in 1966. "Art is a fruit that grows in man, like a fruit on a plant, or a child in its mother's womb." Here's a quote from Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was born on this day in 1868. "Art is the flower - Life is the green leaf." Today's book recommendation: Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect: An Account of the Gardenmaker's Life, 1885-1971 by Robin S. Karson Karson wrote this book back in 2003. The cover shows Steele's signature work: The Blue Staircase. The beginning of Karson's book includes Steele's most famous quote. He said, "The chief vice in the garden is to be merely... pretty." Today's Garden Chore It's another Photo Friday in the Garden. Water your plants and then go take pictures. I did this with my student gardener today. Her images of blossoms with water droplets on the petals were absolutely incredible. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart The First-Ever Southeastern Plant Symposium is taking place in North Carolina. Mark Weathington and Tony Avent are launching this event

I made another trip to the garden center today; that's my fourth of this week. The reason I keep going back, is they're clearancing out the annuals already. When it comes to my garden budget, I try to be as frugal as possible with my spending on annuals. I'm not too picky when it comes to the types of annuals,I generally just try to find purples, pinks and whites. Today, I was getting annuals in the large pots for just $3 apiece. I was standing there filling up my cart while everyone around me was buying all of the full price annuals. Go figure. Brevities #OTD Today, June 6th, is National Gardening Exercise Day. As I mentioned in a previous episode, many people think of calming, relaxation, beauty, and food as the reasons to garden; but don't forget - it's a workout. So, go ahead and celebrate that workout on National Gardening Exercise Day today. #OTD It's the birthday of Andrea Cesalpino; the Italian physician, philosopher, and botanist, born on this day in 1519. Cesalpino helped establish botany as a science and he did great initial work classifying plants Unlike many of his peers who were classifying plans based on their medical properties or even alphabetically, Cesalpino classified plants according to their fruit and seeds. He also enjoyed the plant exploration. He loved to go out into the field collecting specimens for his herbariums. One had over 700 specimens that he dedicated to the bishop. It survives still today at the University of Florence in Italy. In 1583, Cesalpino wrote a book about plants and it is considered to be the very first textbook of botany. Unfortunately, Cesalpino included no illustrations in his book. He wrote that he didn't think they were necessary. One of the consequences of that decision, is that today, Cesalpino is less well-known than many of his contemporaries. #OTD And it's the birthday of Cleo Virginia Andrews better known as VC Andrews born on this day in 1923. Her most popular series of books all had a garden theme: Flowers in the Attic Petals on the Wind If There be Thorns Seeds of Yesterday Garden of Shadows Out of that first series of books, Flowers in the Atticis the book that she, will forever, be known for. It is about four children locked in the attic of a very wealthy Virginia family and it just gets worse from there. #OTD Tonight from 6:30 to 8 PM Gordon Hayward is going to be giving a talk at the Westminster Institute and his lecture is called The Intimate Garden. Hayward,and his wife Mary, have created a garden around their 220-year-old farmhouse. For the past 36 years, they've integrated its design with the house and the surrounding landscape. Hayward's talk will be illustrated by slides and it will follow the itinerary of their garden and it's 14 rooms or spaces. As Haywardsaid, "It's a practical lecture. We both have our feet on the ground and a shovel in our hands." Haywardwas recently recognized by the Garden Club of America. Just this past May, he was named an honorary member. Hayward has designed gardens professionally for more than 30 years. He's written 11 books and authored over 70 articles on gardening. Haywardgrew up with his two brothers on his family's orchard in New Hartford, Connecticut. The orchard featured apples, peaches, and pears. Haywardsaid, "We worked as a family in the orchard for nine months of the year," he said. "Then for three months, from late summer into fall, people came to our barn to buy fruit. Our parents greeted everyone, engaged with everyone, and accepted everyone — there was no judgment of social class. I carry with me the openness and acceptance of their world, traits that have influenced how I interacted with students when I was teaching, and with clients when I became a garden designer." Unearthed Words It's the anniversary of the death of the poet Hannah Rebecca Hudson who died on this day in 1920. Hudson wrote a little book of homes in 1874. Here's a poem from Hudson's book called My Garden. My Garden It is set by fields of clover And sentinelled with trees, Hosts of sunbeams range it over 'T is owned by birds and bees. Larkspurs, leaning out of places Where bashful myrtles creep, Peep at monk-flowers' hooded faces And poppies gone to sleep. There are wild and headstrong briers And thistle knights and dames, Bloomless weeds, like jovial friars, Grasses with ancient names ; I am queen and lady in it, — Queen over leaf and flower; Crowned with sprays of purple spinnet, I own no higher power. Today's book recommendation: We Made a Garden by Marjorie Fish In the 1960s, Marjorie and her husband Walter, decided to transform an acre of wilderness into a stunning cottage garden. In the forward of her book, Marjorie says, "You mustn't rely on your flowers to make your garden attractive. A good bone structure must come first - with an intelligent use of evergreen plants - so the garden is always clothed." You can click on the link above to get this book on Amazon. Used copies are selling for a little over $3. Today's Garde

Is your garden new to you this year? Recently at a garden center, I ran into a woman who had just moved. She was tentatively buying just a few plants - curious to see what would work in her new space. One of the things we ended up talking about was the micro-climate she had enjoyed living in an inner-ring suburb of the twin cities - one with milder temperatures thanks to the heat island from the buildings but also helped greatly by the older, dense tree canopy. Even little moves can be big moves when it comes to a new garden space. Just as with the interior spaces, figuring out what you want to do with your exterior space - your garden - takes time. Remember - it's a garden. There's no rush. Brevities #OTD It's the anniversary of the death of the botanist and Scottish explorer Sir John Richardson who died on this day in 1865. Richardson explored with his friend, John Franklin. Their first expedition to Northern Coast of Canada was disastrous. After they were shipwrecked, the men split into groups, attempting to get back to civilization. Richardsons group were forced to survive by eating lichen from rocks and even the leather of their boots. After hearing a gun shot, Richardson and others found one of the men, named Terohaute, standing over the dead body of another group member. Terohaute claimed the other man had accidentally shot himself ... Richardson didn't buy it after examining the man. He'd been shot in the back of the head. Even worse, the men believed that Terohaute had resorted to cannibalization to help keep them alive. Convinced Terohaute was about to kill the rest of the group, Richardson shot Terohaute dead. Richardson is commemorated in the names of numerous plants, fish, birds, and mammals (including Richardson's ground squirrel and Richardson's owl). In his work as a naval physician, he collaborated with Florence Nightingale. As his biographer David A. Stewart said: "[Richardson] ....was perhaps a life of industry more than a life of genius, but it was a full, good life, and in many ways a great life. It is not every day that we meet in one person - surgeon, physician, sailor, soldier, administrator, explorer, naturalist, author, and scholar, who has been eminent in some roles and commendable in all." #OTD It's the birthday of British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume born on this day in 1829. Hume had worked in India for more than three decades. Hume said, "I look upon myself as a Native of India." Hume was a lifelong naturalist. In his late twenties, Hume began to accumulate materials for his dream: a masterwork on the bird of the Indian Empire. Hume's job with the Customs Department of India provided exceptional opportunities of collecting birds. called the 'Pope of Indian Ornithology'. Hume had set up enthusiastic ornithology assistants all over India. As his team of volunteers collected specimens, they were thoroughly debriefed. Hume recorded decades of data and interviews in notebooks and journals in his home, called Rothney Castle, at Shimla. When Hume was 55 years old, he experienced a devastating loss that would spell the immediate end of his work in ornithology. Over the winter, Hume had left Shimla only to return in the Spring to find Rothney Castle ransacked by a disaffected servant who stole and destroyed all of his written manuscripts. Just like that, his dream was gone. All of it. A Lifetime of work. It took the starch right out of him. There would be no master book by Hume on the birds of India. Thankfully, Hume's specimens were spared. But his passion for ornithology had vanished with his papers. Heartbroken, Hume offered his entire collection of over 82,000 birds and eggs to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. The Museum's curator Richard Bowdler Sharpe went to personally pack up the collection. He was blown away by Hume and his staggering collection. He wrote, "It did not take me many hours to find out that Mr. Hume was a naturalist of no ordinary calibre, and this great collection will remain a monument of the genius and energy of its founder long after he who formed it has passed away." Hume returned to England as well. He turned his sharp observation and exploration skills to the field of botany. For the remainder of his life, he found solace and purpose in the garden. He went on expeditions annually and created an impressive herbarium. He designed custom cabinets to store his specimens. He was especially interested in seeds and seedlings - showing the progression of early growth in plants. Hume was a fanatical collector. In the months before he died in 1910, Hume finalized plans to transfer his botanical library and his herbarium to his lasting legacy and gift to the world: The South London Botanical Institute. Btw - There is a lovely Gingko biloba tree standing tall in front of the Institute and it is also in their logo. #OTD Today, June 5th is World Environment Day. One of India's most famous living environmentalists is 107 years old this year. Her name i

Ground cover roses. I had someone ask me about them recently. They are fantastic for a rose that has a low spreading habit. But, they are really not a classic ground cover in terms of their ability to crowd out weeds. I used to grow this rose called "The Fairy" which is a pink rose - it blooms all summer long. It's a ground cover rose and it would amble over this brick garden wall that I had, and I absolutely loved it. It sent out these long tentacles like an octopus and all the way down the arms were these beautiful pink blooms. It's a great rose - tons of thorns - but it didn't stop the Canadian thistle or any other weed that decided to make its home among the branches. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1738 King George the third was born. He's the King who appointed Capability Brown as the royal gardener and planned for the redesign of the Richmond gardens and Kew in 1764. #OTD It's the anniversary of the death of Dr. Nathanial Bagshaw Ward, who died on this day in 1868. Ward developed the first terrarium in 1829. When he accidentally grew a fern in an insect jar. It was quite by accident. A fern spore had gotten into the jar;Ward was using to observe insect behavior. When the jar was sealed, the spore grew into a fern plant. Ward suddenly realized that if plants were enclosed in airtight glass cases, they could survive without watering for long periods of time. That's how the Wardian case came to be. Wardian cases were very simply constructed; they were made out of wood and glass. They looked like little portable greenhouses that could be put on the deck of the ship. They had to sit on the deck of the ship, not placed down below in cargo, because Wardian cases needed the sunlight to hit the glass in order to create the perfect microenvironment for plants. The cases were an enclosed system. The side flaps, that would open to allow plants to be placed inside, would close before starting the long voyage. They would get nailed down and then get tar paint applied over any seams to seal the case. The plants inside would be in pots or there will be soil on the bottom of the case. There would also be a series of battens to prevent the plants from rolling about inside the case. It was a game changer for plant explorers. The plants lived on the ship in the cases for 6 to 12 months. Prior to the Wardian case, salt water and sun killed most plants on their way back to England. With the Wardian case, plantation crops like tea, rubber, and sugar - as well as medicinal and ornamental plants - could be moved among the botanic Gardens of the British Empire Today's Unearthed Words are by Sarah Martha Baker who was an English botanist and ecologist. Baker studied brown seaweeds and zonal patterns on the seashore. Her family had a house on an Island which was the backdrop to her first introduction to seaweed. Baker had noticed that different kinds of seaweed lived in different tidal limits. Baker's theory was that the seaweed boundaries were determined by competition; faster-growing seaweeds taking control in areas with deeper water while slower-growing seaweeds were found in shallower water and had the advantage of being more resistant to drying out. Academically, Baker also had a passion for art. Before pursuing botany she studied for a time at the Slade School of Art; her scientific illustrations were excellent. Tragically, she died young at the age of 29 and her personal story remains a bit of a mystery. The Times indicated in her obituary that she was highly gifted and highly strung and that she worked herself to death. Five years before she died, Baker was invited to lecture at the University College in London in 1912 - a rare honor for a woman or an artist. Her Quaker Sunday school class recalled her telling them, "The universe is always singing, And we must learn to listen, So that our heart may join the universal chorus." Unearthed Words Today's Unearthed Words are by Sarah Martha Baker who was an English botanist and ecologist. Baker studied brown seaweeds and zonal patterns on the seashore. Her family had a house on an Island which was the backdrop to her first introduction to seaweed. Baker had noticed that different kinds of seaweed lived in different tidal limits. Baker's theory was that the seaweed boundaries were determined by competition; faster-growing seaweeds taking control in areas with deeper water while slower-growing seaweeds were found in shallower water and had the advantage of being more resistant to drying out. Academically, Baker also had a passion for art. Before pursuing botany she studied for a time at the Slade School of Art; her scientific illustrations were excellent. Tragically, she died young at the age of 29 and her personal story remains a bit of a mystery. The Times indicated in her obituary that she was highly gifted and highly strung and that she worked herself to death. Five years before she died, Baker was invited to lecture at the University College in London in 1912 - a rare honor

Half-Hardy Plants. That's a term you don't run into very often - but when you do, it can be confusing. Just this morning, I swung by a garden center to check out their clearance plants and I ended up chatting with a gardener who had running to a label that had that term: Half-Hardy Plants. The term Half-Hardy simply means that the plant will not survive a frost - that they can't handle a dip in temperatures. So think about your tropicals; maybe you have some citrus - an orange tree or a lemon tree - or simply your patio pots. Those would all fall into the category of Half-Hardy Plants. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1868 Aristides Simoni was born. He helped discover the role of the mosquito in the transmission of yellow fever. #OTD And it was on this day in 1830 that David Douglas finally arrived at the Columbia River. He had departed from England on October 31st, 1829 after visiting his mom. Before he got on the boat, he wanted to make sure that he got his hands on a Bible with large enough font for him to be able to read it as his vision was feeling him Douglas was excited to go on this trip. He wanted to get to the interior of California to discover the botanical treasures there. But apparently, plant exploration was taking a toll on Douglas. He ran into someone at Fort Vancouver who thought he was 48 years old; he was 30. Despite his physical challenges, Douglas was eager to get going. When he reached the Columbia, he immediately thought about botanizing in the area. In just a few weeks, he was able to send home three chests of seeds and plants. In a letter to Prof. Hooker, he wrote: "You will begin to think that I manufacture pines at my pleasure." One of the pines Douglas sent back was the Pinus nobilis. It commanded a hefty price tag at the time– 15 to 20 guineas per plant. #OTD It's the birthday of Josephine Baker, one of the greatest entertainers of the past century. Josephine's path led her to Paris where she became an instant sensation. By 1929, she was the highest paid entertainer in Europe. Baker bought a Château just outside of Paris and she loved to garden there. She also loved to throw glamorous parties on the lawns of the estate which were flanked by magnolia trees and the enormous rhododendrons. The property boasted its own orchards, multiple greenhouses, vegetable plots, and even a rivulet. Unearthed Words Here's a little snippet about June from Nathaniel Parker Willis. He was an American author and poet. During the mid 1800s, he was the highest paid magazine writer of his day. It is the month of June, the month of leaves and roses. When pleasant sights salute the eyes, and pleasant scents the noses. Today's book recommendation: Kiftsgate Court Garden by Vanessa Berridge The subtitle of the book is intriguing; three generations of women gardeners. It features the influences of Heather Muir who began gardening at Kiftsgate a century ago with her husband. Heather's daughter Dianny took over the estate, including the garden, in the 1940s. Four decades later, in the 1980s, Dianny's daughter took over the property and she owns it to this day. If you like gardens, garden history, and mix in some personal biographies - this gorgeous book is right up your alley. You can click the link above to purchase it. Today's Garden Chore It's time to find perennials for those wet but sunny areas in the garden. There are a number of plants that like these kinds of conditions and many of them are favorites of mine: Ligularia Filipendula (rubra is known as Queen of the Prairie - with the pink tops. I love this one!) Lysamachia Rodgersia btw - I fell in love with Rodgersia a few years ago. The magnificent leaves of this plant are huge and look positively prehistoric once it gets established. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day in 1909 at the Irish immigration reformer Charlotte to Grace O'Brien died. After a life devoted to improving the lot of others, O'Brien at devoted her leisure time to writing and to the study of plant life. O'Brien had found a place for herself along the river Shannon which she called at Ardenoir - which means the height of gold; in reference to the golden gorse that covered the hillsides in spring. She once mused: "The baby heather that blossoms so soon, in the splendid heat that comes after June." When one considers O'Brien's humanitarian work across both sides of the Atlantic, as well as her genius for gardening, it's stunning to discover that by the time O'Brien reached adulthood, she was completely deaf. In 1879 she wrote about her deafness, saying, "Oh bitter loss! all natures voice is dumb Oh loss beyond all loss! About my neck the children cast their arms. No voices break upon my ear, no sounds of laughter come - Child's laughter wrought of love, and life, and bliss; Heedless, I leave the rest, had I but this." In the last half of her life, O'Brien firmly established herself as a writer, a poet, and a plant collector. Her last article contain

Why do we garden? This was a question that was posted in a Facebook group I belong to, and it received over 1400 responses. The most popular were: its calming to bring beauty into my life to connect with nature healthy food There's another benefit that many people often overlook: staying physically active. If you take a look at your Fitbit after spending time in your garden, you'll realize it's a workout. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Charles McIlvaine born in Chester County Pennsylvania. He was a captain in the Civil War, an author and a mycologist. He was born on this day in 1840. When he was 40 years old, McIlvaine moved to West Virginia. He started writing for magazines like Centuryand Harpers. However, McIlvaine is best known for his study of mushrooms. He took copious notes which he compiled into his book called, 1,000 American Fungi. What most distinguished McIlvaine, is the fact that he experimented on himself; eating hundreds of mushrooms and toadstools. This is how McIlvaine came to be known as Old Iron Guts. Since McIlvaine had a love for writing before he had a love for mushrooms, when he wrote about mushrooms his language was often very flowery. Consider what McIlvaine wrote about the Oyster Mushroom: "The camel is gratefully called the ship of the desert. The oyster mushroom is the shellfish of the forest. When the tender parts are dipped in egg, rolled in bread crumbs, and fried as an oyster, they're not excelled buy any vegetable and are worth of place on the daintiest menu." Here's the Vomiting Russella: "Most are sweet and nutty to the taste. Some are as hot as the fiercest cayenne, but this they lose upon cooking. Their caps make the most palatable dishes when stewed, baked, roasted or escalloped." Finally, I have to share a poem that McIlvaine wrote called Our Church Fight. "I'm that nigh near disgusted with the fight in our old church, Where one halfs 'g'in the t'other, an' the Lord's left in the lurch, That I went an' told the parson if he'd jine me in a prayer, We'd slip out 'mong the daisies and' put one up from there." #OTD On this day in1920, Virginia Woolf was gardening with her husband, Leonard, at the new home they had bought the previous year. She wrote about it in her diary: "The first pure joy of the garden... Weeding all day to finish the beds in a queers sort of enthusiasm which made me say this is happiness. Gladioli standing in troops; the mock orange out. We were out till 9 at night, though the evening was cold. Both stiff and scratched all over today, with chocolate earth in our nails." #OTD It's the death day of naturalist, artist, and taxidermist, Martha Ann Maxwell who died on this day in 1881. She helped found modern taxidermy. At just 5 feet tall Maxwell became an accomplished hunter. One historian wrote, "What distinguished Martha from other taxidermists of the day was that Martha Maxwell always attempted to place stuffed animals in natural poses and amongst natural surroundings. This talent was what would separate her work from others and make her animals so popular with exhibitors and viewers alike." People who saw Martha's exhibits of Colorado wildlife, doubted that a woman had actually done the work. Martha had heard these comments over and over. At one point, she wrote the words "Woman's Work" on a small sign and placed it in front of her exhibit. Unearthed Words #OTD Today is the birthday of Walt Whitman who was born on this day in 1819. When Whitman was 54 years old, he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed. He spent the next two years immersed in nature and he believed that nature head help to heal him. "How it all nourishes, lulls me, in the way most needed; the open air, the rye-fields, the apple orchards." Here's an excerpt from Whitman's Poem called This Compost: "Now I am terrified at the earth! it is that calm and patient, It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions, It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless successions of diseased corpses, It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor, It renews with such unwitting looks, its prodigal, annual, sumptuous crops, It gives such divine materials to men, and accepts such leavings from them at last." Today's book recommendation: No One Gardens Alone: A Life of Elizabeth Lawrence by Emily Herring Wilson Lawrence was one of the premier gardeners and garden writers of the 20th Century. Little is known about her personal life until this book - which took the author over 10 years to complete. You can get a copy of this book on Amazon using the link above for a little over $3. Today's Garden Chore It's another Photo Friday in the Garden. It's time to take a hosta inventory, recording the hostas that you've forgotten you even had in your garden. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart In May 1979, Dr. Calvin Lamborn bread snow peas and shelling English peas together to create the Sugar Snap Pea at Magic Seed Farm in Twin Falls Idaho Today,

Today I'm heading over at 1 o'clock to Walmart to pick up my mobile order. It has a ton of things I need to get for my student gardeners. When the kids help me out in the garden, I put them in teams of two and I generally have 6 to 8 kids helping me out in the garden on any given day. That means, I need to have multiples of some of my favorite garden tools. So, today I'm picking up ate whisk brooms and eight pruners. The whisk broom's are for some of the detailed work we will do along the garden paths. This year we will be adding some polymeric sand. And the pruners, of course, are for all the pruning will be doing. In fact, one of the first things they learn is to chop and drop; Allowing little pieces of plant material to fall and return to the earth. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1778, the great French writer Voltaire died. Voltaire's seventeenth-century novel: Candide: or, Optimism, follows a young protagonist as he ventures all over the world. Despite all the terrible things that happen to him, Candide never loseshis optimism. Here is the most cited passage from the story: "'All I know,' said Candide, 'is that we must cultivate our garden.' 'You are right,' said Pangloss, 'for when man was placed in the garden of Eden, he was put there 'ut operaretur eum', so that he might work: which proves that man was not born for the rest.' 'Let us set to work, for that is the only way to make life bearable.'" #OTD Today is the birthday of Gustav Leopold Miller, born in 1884, on this day, in Henry, Illinois. His claim to fame was the invention of the brush weeder. It was described in the Daily Times out of Davenport, Iowa in 1918: "It's composed of two brushes– whisk brooms in reality. The brushes are placed directly ahead of the principal shovels of the cultivator, felling the weeds about the corn plant... And as the weeds are laid low, they are covered with earth which is thrown up by the shovels. Miller donated the first weeder to the Red Cross and at a recent auction, sold one for the price of $60 Which is about 12 times the cost for which it will be retailed." #OTD It's the death day of Brian Lawrence Burt who went by "Bill." He died in 2008. He was an English botanist and taxonomist noted for his contributions to the family Gesneriaceae; the family that Includes African violets. When Burt started going on and plant expeditions in 1951, the Gesneriaceae family was poorly represented. Thanks to Burt's work, Edinburgh became the hub for the family. It led to the popularity in England of both the African violet and the Streptocarpus. Both became beloved windowsill plants. If you look online, you will see a picture of Bill Burt, standing In a forest in South Africa on one of his botanizing trips. In his hands, he is holding a very large Streptocarpus grandis leaf that looks to be about 4-feet tall. #OTD It's National Mint Julep Day. A mint julep is made with a mint leaf, bourbon, sugar and water. If you ask any Southerner, spearmint is the mint of choice if you are going to make a Mint Julep. Unearthed Words Here's a poem from Cicily Mary Barker; an English illustrator known for her work depicting fairies and flowers. The poem mentions Laburnum; a small tree that has hanging clusters of yellow flowers. After it flowers it produces slender pods which contain poisonous seeds. The Lilac Fairy from Cicily Mary Barker White May is flowering, Red May beside; Laburnum is showering Gold far and wide; But I sing of Lilac, The dearly-loved Lilac, Lilac, in Maytime A joy and a pride! I love her so much That I never can tell If she's sweeter to look at, Or sweeter to smell. Today's book recommendation: Green Thoughts by Eleanor Perenyi. We lost Eleanor into 2009, at the age of 91. This book is widely considered by many to be a classic of garden writing. It was Eleanor's only book. She wrote about working in her Connecticut garden. Perenyi was not a fan of rock gardens, chemical pesticides or petunias. She once called petunias, "as hopelessly impractical as a chiffon ball dress" There are many Wonderful quotes and sayings that are attributed to Eleanor in her book Green Thoughts. Here are a few of my favorites: "A little studied negligence is becoming to a garden:" "The double hoops for peonies are beyond description maddening to unfold and set in place. Two people are needed, one of them with better control of his temper than I have." "I ordered a modern purple martin house myself and proceeded to construct a dreadful object: unpainted, it looked like a cheap motel; painted blue and white, it looked like a cheap Greek motel and had to be thrown out." Today's Garden Chore Incorporate more perennial vines into your garden. Vines have more uses beyond just climbing a trellis. Off-the-trellis ideas include —allowing them to amble their way through your garden, over walls, up into shrubs and trees, in pots, and more. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart In 1906, the Superior Timesout of Superior, Wisconsi

Do you have a little sun trap in your garden? The perfect spot for an afternoon of lounging while reading your favorite book? The definition of the sun trap is a small partially-enclosed outdoor space that receives a disproportionate amount of sunlight due to favorable conditions. Think of south-facing areas of your garden, areas without light-blocking trees, areas that are sheltered from the wind, and positioned to receive ample sunshine. Brevities #OTD On this day, on May 29, 1942, the actor John Barrymore died. (Barrymore's granddaughter is actress Drew Barrymore.) When Barrymore was 35 years old and on the verge of stardom, he rented a quiet space in the Greenwich Village from a wealthy widow named Juliette Nicholls. His flat was on the top floor of a Greek revival townhouse. When Nicholls left for a while to go to Europe, Barrymore wrote to her to ask if he could take some liberties with the roof. In his letter he said, "I'd like to build a little stairway to it and place a few plants there, with perhaps a small pavilion in which I could sit when the locust blossoms come to the courtyard ... It would be like living in Paris in the twelfth century." When he hired a contractor to do the work, Barrymore insisted that no measuring tools be used. He said, "I want everything crooked or off-center, like a Nuremberg poet's home. Just guess your way along, old, man, as we all do about most things." He called the little shed with the porch, "New York's First Penthouse," and it still stands today. He decided to add a full garden to the rooftop. He hauled up over 35 tons of long island topsoil In burlap bags no less. Then, he went to work, adding 8-foot Cedars, Cherry trees, and Wisteria's - not to mention the beehives. There was a flagstone path and hedges around the perimeter of the roof. When Nicholls returned from her trip, you can imagine her surprise at finding John Barrymore lounging in his rooftop garden; sitting serenely by an Asian reflecting pool.... feeding the birds. #OTD It's the death day of Joyce Winifred Vickery (15 December 1908 – 29 May 1979) An Australian, Vickery was a botanist who became famous for her work in forensic botany. In 1960, Australia was right in the middle of building the infamous Sydney Opera House. To pay for the construction, Australia held a lottery. Bazil Thorne spent 3 pounds - a quarter of his paycheck - and purchased a winning ticket; he won 100,000 pounds. Tragically, after his win, his eight-year-old son Graeme was kidnapped and brutally murdered - a crime that stunned the country. Ultimately, botanist Joyce Vickery helped police solve the Graeme Thorn kidnapping. She had been tasked with identifying two plant particles from the boy's clothing. Vickery recognized them as pieces from common garden plants and not plants that were not found in the area of scrub where his body had been found. Apart from the Graeme Thorn case, Vickery had "accumulated an unrivaled field knowledge of grass species. Unearthed Words Here's a poem called I am going to sleep by Latin American poet and feminist Alfonsina Storni, born today in 1892. Storni was known as one of Argentina's most respected poets. In 1916, she titled her first series of essays, The Restlessness of the Rosebush. In 1935, Alfonsina was vacationing in Uruguay when she discovered a lump in her left breast. Following a mastectomy, Storni resumed her work with renewed energy and determination. But by 1938, Storni confided in her closest friends that her cancer has returned. Storni sent I am going to sleep, her poignant final poem which she sent to the La Nación newspaper before drowning herself in the sea in 1938. I am Going to Sleep Teeth of flowers, hairnet of dew, hands of herbs, you, perfect wet nurse, prepare the earthly sheets for me and the down quilt of weeded moss. I am going to sleep, my nurse, put me to bed. Set a lamp at my headboard; a constellation; whatever you like; all are good: lower it a bit. Leave me alone: you hear the buds breaking through . . . a celestial foot rocks you from above and a bird traces a pattern for you so you'll forget . . . Thank you. Oh, one request: if he telephones again tell him not to keep trying for I have left . . . Today's book recommendation: A Gentle Plea for Chaos by Mirabel Osler When Penelope Hobhouse reviewed this book, she said, "Like no other writer, Osler captures the pure enchantment of gardening." In this book, Osler wrote, "Garden concepts are threaded through centuries: we pull on them as on a string, not knowing from where our inspiration germinated, only that we each gather up different threads to form whatever pleases us." Today's Garden Chore Stack up those annual flower seed packets like planes on a runway. Just as with vegetables, single sowing of flowers won't take you from early-season to late fall. That's why successively sowing your flowers is so important. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart #OTD It's the anniversary of the wedd

Gardeners. Horticultural experts. Professors, even. On the garden path, you can, from time to time, run into people that decimate you faster than a Japanese Beetle on green beans. Let's just set one thing straight. Gardening is good for you, but people who give garden advice can be bad for you. What they fail to realize is that gardening is an activity of the head AND the heart. I'm here to tell you, gardening is the absolute most wonderful pastime. But don't let anyone diminish your love for it. If the folks giving you advice aren't respectful, helpful, or loving - they shouldn't be in the business of helping people garden. The world needs every gardener it can get. The best thing you can give a gardener is encouragement. Brevities #OTD It's the death day of William Herbert (12 January 1778 – 28 May 1847). He was a British botanist, a distinguished scholar and poet, an Amaryllis breeder, and a clergyman who eventually became the first Dean of Manchester; the head of the Chapter of Manchester Cathedral. In 1837, Herbert wrote a book about the Amaryllidaceae ("am-uh-ril-id-AY-see-ee") or the Amaryllis ("am-uh-RIL-us") family. The Amaryllis was named after Virgil's shepherdess Amarysso from Greek mythology, meaning "to sparkle". Nearly two decades earlier, Herbert had split the genera in two – creating one genera for the original Amaryllis genera named by Linnaeus and for the other genera for what he called the Hippeastrum ("hip-ee-ASS-trum"). He explained his actions in writing saying: "Many years ago,...when I distinguished this genus,... I retained for it the name Amaryllis, and proposed that of Coburghia for Belladonna and Blanda. I was not then aware that Linnaeus had given the name Amaryllis to Belladonna, with a playful reason assigned; but as soon as I learned it, I felt, ... that the jeu d'esprit of a distinguished man ought not to be superceded, and that and that no continental botanist would submit to the change. I therefore restored the name Amaryllis to Belladonna, and gave that of Hippeastrum or Equestrian star to this genus, following up the idea of Linnaeus when he named one of the original species equestre." Hippeastrum is Greek; hippeus for rider and astron for star - thus, "horseman's star". Gardeners surmise that the closed buds of the flower look something like a horse's ear and the blossoms are shaped like six-pointed stars. As is often the case in horticulture, the more popular name didn't end up with the more popular genus. The the original Amaryllis genus ended up with only one species - the belladonna - although another species has been discovered. Meanwhile the Hippeastrum genus has a whopping 90 species and over 600 cultivars. It's clearly more significant, botanically speaking, after being hybridized in the 19th century. Thus, it's the hippeastrum genera that gives us the large bulbs we pot up in the winter and lovingly call by their common name: Amaryllis... but they are really Hippeastrum. So this November, when you're potting up your Amaryllis, think to yourself - Hip Hip Hooray - it's Hippeastrum day! What's the likelihood that actually happens? Yeah. It doesn't roll off the tongue, does it? The confusion about the two different genera stems from the fact that folks didn't like and don't likesaying Hippeastrum. When the change was announced, the eminent horticultural empire builder, Harry Veitch challenged it eloquently when he said, "Are we wrong in continuing to call these grand flowers after the name of the Virgilian nymph, and should we therefore drop the pleasing appellative with which they have been almost indissolubly connected from our earliest memory, and substitute the rougher Hippeastrum for the softer Amaryllis?' Veitch was not alone. The century growers from the infamous bulb families refused to go along with the name change. To this day, the bulbs are exported from the Netherlands in crates clearly marked Amaryllis. Yet, William Herbert is remembered fondly through the ages. The genus Herbertia of Sweet - a small genus in the Iris Family - commemorated him. Charles Darwinwrote about Herbert in the On the Origin of Species(1859): In regard to plants, no one has treated this subject with more spirit and ability than W. Herbert, Dean of Manchester, evidently the result of his great horticultural knowledge. And, the International Bulb Societyawards The Herbert Medalto people who advance the knowledge of bulbous plants. #OTD It's the birthday of Carl Richard Nyberg (May 28, 1858, – 1939) the Swede who created the blowtorch which in turn led to the flame weeder. Nyberg worked in various industrial companies, eventually landing at J. E. Eriksons Mekanikus. While he was there, he came up with the idea for the blowtorch. He built a prototype complete with safety features. Convinced he was on to something, he quit his job at Eriksons in 1882 and set up a workshop in Stockholm making blowtorches. Nyberg hadn't set up efficient production and he didn't have a dedicated or tr

Emerson once wrote, "To science there is no poison; To botany no weed; To chemistry no dirt." As much as I like this quote, I know most gardeners will beg to differ. To gardeners, there areweeds. As I mentioned in an earlier episode this month, we often forget one key variable in gardening; the gardener. Each of us, as gardeners, has our own point of view when it comes to weeds. On May 12, 1957, Vita Sackville West reached the same conclusion when she said, "It was borne in on me, not for the first time, how the weeds of one country are the flowers of another. Recently in the tropics I had been shocked on seeing my host and hostess as they wandered round their garden tearing up green oddments as we should tear up groundsel, . . . saying, 'That wretched thing! All over the place as usual!' This was Gloriosa superba, which we have to grow carefully in heat if we want it at all." Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Ynes Mexia, A Mexican American botanist born in 1870. After a lifetime of turbulent personal challenges, Mexia discovered the Sierra Club at age 50. Throughout her life, nature had been a balm to her. She decided to enroll at Berkeley in order to take botany classes.She would take classes there on and off over the next 16 years; her goal was not to graduate but simply to learn more about plants. Mexia fell in love with fieldwork and she went on numerous trips through the southwestern part of the United States, Mexico, and South America. Mexia was especially drawn to unique plants and she absolutely adored sunflowers. In fact, on one of her botanizing trips, she discovered an entirely new genus of Compositae. Although Mexia was a late bloomer as a botanist, her collecting efforts proved extraordinary. Many scholars argue that she was the most accomplished plant collector of her time. Here are some highlights about her work: Mexia collected and preserved 150,000 plants, flowers, and leaves Her first trip yielded 500 specimens the same number that Darwin brought back on the Beagle. Mexia personally discovered 500 brand-new plant species. Her botanist peers were well aware of her staggering amount of work and expeditions. Specifically, Mexia enjoyed the thrill of working with botanist Alice Eastwood. Yet, not even lung cancer could stop her from collecting plants. In 1938, she had returned to Mexico in search of new specimens. But her illness got the best of her, she was forced to cut her trip short and returned to the United States. She died at Berkeley on June 12th. Mexia's estate was donated in part to the Redwood Preserve in California. A 40-acre grove, home to one of the tallest trees, was named in her honor. Today, some 80 years after her death, scientists are still processing the plants she collected. #OTD It's the birthday of Queen Victoria. Kensington Palace is marking the bicentenary, the 200th anniversary, of Victoria's birth with an impressive floral display at the sunken garden. The display will include Flowers from the Victorian period, such as heliotropes, cannas, pelargonium, and begonias. There are many plants named after Queen Victoria including the Victoria agave. The giant waterlily, Victoria amazonica, Is also named for her. Violets were Queen Victoria's favorite flowers. When Victoria married Albert, she broke with protocol. Instead of wearing a crown, she wore a wreath of orange blossoms. #OTD On this day in 2018, The Oakville Horticultural Society outside of Québec, offered a screening of the documentary "The Gardener" featuring horticulturist Frank Cabot and his masterpiece garden Les Quatre Vents or the Four Winds. The film reflects upon the meaning of gardening and its impact on our lives. Cabot passed away at the age of 86, But before he died he shared his personal quest for perfection on his 20-acre English style garden and the state. The Four Winds Garden has been in the Cabot family for over 100 years. There's a wonderful video of an interview that Martha Stewart did with Frank. He tells about the moon bridge being a copy of a moon bridge from Seven Star Park in China. "I'm a great believer in plagiarizing. I think all gardeners are. There's no reason why one shouldn't plagiarize. Why not take someone else's good idea and adapted to one's site. This garden really represents that; it's just Ideas that were gleaned from other sources." Unearthed Words: The Naming of Plants by Linda Leinen Linda was inspired to write this poem after reading T.S. Eliot's poem delightful "The Naming of Cats". When I was researching yesterday's show which honored Carl Linnaeus's birthday and his system of categorizing plants by genus and species - or binomial nomenclature, I came across Linda's poem. If you already know "The Naming of Cats," you'll hear its echoes below. The naming of plants? It really does matter. It isn't correct to think all are the same. You may think at first I'm indulging in patter, but I tell you — a plant must have four different names! First comes the name that tells us

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "But these young scholars... Love not the flower they pluck, and know it not, And all their botany is Latin names." There is more to gardening than nomenclature, and more than nomenclature there's actually growing and knowing plants. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Carl Linnaeus born on this day in 1707. It is said he liked flowers as a young child and whenever he was upset, he was given a flower to sooth him. On May 1st, 1753 the publication of his masterpiece Species Plantarumchanged plant taxonomy forever. It gave Linnaeus the moniker Father of Taxonomy; his naming system is called binomial nomenclature. Binomial means "two names" which in the naming game includes the plant's genus (which is capitalized or could be abbreviated by its first letter) and species or specific epithet (which is all lowercase and can be abbreviated sp.) If you have trouble remembering taxonomy, I like to think of it like the given name and surname of a person, but in reverse order. The names that Linnaeus assigned live on unchanged and are distinguished by an "L." after their name. And, it was Linnaeus himself who said: "God created, Linnaeus ordered." There are so many stories about Linnaeus; but I thought I'd share a few of the more obscure stories about him and his work. First, Linnaeus' friend Anders Celsius created the Centigrade thermometer in 1742; with water boiling at 0 degrees and freezing at 100. Three years later, it was Linnaeus who reversed the scale - sharing it in an article with the Botanical Garden at Uppsala University. Second, there is a memorable story about the genus Commelina; the genus for the Asiatic Dayflower. Linnaeus named the genus after the three Commelin brothers; two of whom achieved greatness in botany & one who died young before achieving anything in life. Linnaeus wrote: "Commelina has 3 petals, two of which are showy where the third is not conspicuous" Next time you see the Commelina communis or Asiatic Dayflower (with two large blue petals & one very small white petal) you can think of the Commelins and Linnaeus' kind memorialization of the three brothers. Another fun story about Linnaeus involved a trip he took to Lapland where he was given a raccoon named Sjupp. Linnaeus realized that he could use his new naming system to name animals as well as plants. He first classified racoons as Ursus lotor, the washing bear. Linnaeus kept Sjupp (who he described as 'tremendously stubborn') at the botanical garden of Uppsala. Fascinated bySjupp's interactions with his habitat, Linnaeus observed that his students would often find themselves pestered relentlessly by Sjupp if they carried food like raisins or nuts in their pockets. Linnaeus found himself in a number of predicaments. Once he was forced to leave Hamburg after he revealed that the mayor's prized "stuffed seven-headed hydra" was just a bunch of snake carcasses sewn to a weasel carcass. When Linnaeus published his taxonomy, he actually included a section for Animalia Paradoxa to debunk the existence of the fantastic like: unicorns, dragons, hydras and manticores. The national flower of Sweden is the Linnaea (Linn-ee-ah) borealisor the Twinflower; After naming over 8,000 plants, the Twin Flower was the plant to which Linnaeus gave his name. It was his favorite plant. Linnaea is the genus. Borealis is the species and it references where it is found (borealis means northern). As for the story of how he named it after himself, he was actually persuaded to do so by a Dutch botanist, his great friend, Jan Frederik Gronovius Twinflower belongs to the honeysuckle family. It's a sweet tiny plant, offering a faint scent of vanilla. 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. When the king of Sweden realized Linnaeus' legacy was no longer in Sweden, he sent a fast navy ship in pursuit; but it was too late. Banks precious cargo made it back to London first. Thus, Linnaeus's collection is in London at the Linnaeus Society's Burlington House. Unearthed Words The Swedish author August Strindberg said, "Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist". Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted the symmetry in taxonomy and poetry saying taxonomy was "the best words in the best order". Linnaeus wrote most of his prose and poetry in Swedish. Beautiful to swedish ears, much of his work outside of taxonomy is still unknown to the rest of the world. Linnaeus was a deeply religious man, and he often used parallelism in his writing, a method used often in the bible.The son of a clergyman, Linnaeus no doubt grew up hearing the scriptures which clearly influenced his writing as an adult. Here's a little tex

Here's a gardener's bedtime ritual for this time of year: Take sandpaper or a nail file and nick those nasturtium seeds before you soak them overnight; then sow them outside. They grow well in poor soil. The leaves and flowers are edible and are great in salads. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - born in 1859. Ten years ago, in 2009, aviolin made from a dying sycamore tree in Conan Doyle's garden was played to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. The violin was a nod to Conan Doyle's creation, Sherlock Holmes, who played the violin while solving cases. If you search for "Conan Doyle Garden" on twitter, you'll see a fantastic photographic portrait of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sitting at a table in his garden with his Irish terrier Paddy sitting beside him on a bench. Doyle and his wife, Jean, purchased a quaint, thatched cottage they called Bignell House. Running along the boundary of the garden was a trout stream and it also had a wicket gate leading directly to the forest. There was a miniature golf course and a croquet lawn. Jean added a number of garden gnomes and statuary to the garden. The Doyles were spiritualists. They believed in garden fairies, pixies, and elves. During the First World War, when two girls took created fake photographs of fairies, Doyle fell for the pictures. They inspired him to write The Coming of the Fairies a book making the case for the existence of fairies. The garden influenced Doyle's writing. He wrote about monkshood and other poisonous plants. When he has his character John Watson write a list of Sherlock Holmes limitations; Watson mentions he knew nothing of practical gardening however, he did note that Sherlock was, "Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally." In The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, Sherlock Holmes solves the case thanks to footprints in the garden. In Doyle's Through the Magic Door,he wrote about the value of understanding botany: "A very little botany will enable you to recognize every flower you are likely to meet in your walks abroad, and to give you a tiny thrill of interest when you chance upon one which is beyond your ken. In an interview with Doyle published in The Strand Magazine in march 1919, he shares his understanding of an odd message that had come to him during a séance. It said, "Food comes before etymology." He said, "On the day before that on which I attended this seance, I had told my two little boys, aged nine and seven (these are children of Sir Arthur's second marriage) that they must go to work and kill all the caterpillars and other predatory insects in our garden. They were not inclined to do it, for they are very tender-hearted little fellows, but I explained to them that these insects were just as much a menace to our food supply as the German submarines then were. They understood the necessity then, and started at once. So now you can see the significance of the message that I received : 'Food comes before entomology,' " Aside from his belief in the supernatural, Doyle greatly enjoyed being in his garden. He did most of his writing in the garden. He once remarked, "What a lovely thing a rose is!" And, Doyle once gave a speech heartily supporting the Early Rising Billor Daylight SavingBillwhich was published in the Daily Mailon April 21, 1909, where he stated: "Of every 100 people in the country ninety-nine would benefit by its passing. The only real objection is that it would set all the sundials wrong. (Laughter.) The need of this age is that people should get more in touch with nature; that they should have a little more fun in their lives; and I think that a measure which sends a man home one hour earlier to his wife and children, gives him a chance to cultivate his garden... would be of great benefit to the country." #OTD It was on this day in 1978 that the botanist Florence Meier Chase died. Meier studied the relationship between sunlight and algae at the Radiation Biology Laboratory (RBL), a part of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). Meier, and her fellow botanists, used rooms in the tower and basement of the Smithsonian Castle for their research. "In the early days, scientists traveled between floors of the tower by climbing up and down a ladder through a trapdoor, often carrying trays of specimens or scientific equipment. In 1929, a very small elevator was installed in the tower to make the trip safer and easier." In 1937, on Valentine's Day, Meier was giving people a tour around the Smithsonian Castle. She was demonstrating the how she and her group used the ladders and trapdoors to get around. As tour wrapped up, Meier let the group take take elevator down as there wasn't enough room for her. As the elevator door closed, Meier waved goodbye, stepped backwards, forgot that the trap door was left open, and fell through to the floor below, breaking her back. While she was recovering at Garfield Memorial Hospital, her doctor was Dr. William Wiley Chase, the head of the su

Is your rhubarb bolting already? When your rhubarb seems to be bolting too early, ask yourself these questions... Is your rhubarb an heirloom or a new variety? Older varieties tend to bolt sooner. Try planting a newer variety. Is your rhubarb very established? The older your rhubarb, the quicker it bolts. If you divide your established rhubarb, it revitalizes your plant and can thwart flowering. Has it been super cold, hot, or is your rhubarb otherwise stressed? These threatening conditions can cause rhubarb to bolt. Make sure to mulch around your rhubarb to keep it cool as a cucumber. Unlike other bolting edibles, bolting rhubarb does not affect the taste of the stems. So you can chillax about that. Now, for what to do with that rhubarb flower... well, I have a friend who cuts them and puts them in a vase and treats them like a cut flower. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Alexander Pope, a gardener poet who helped inspire the English landscape garden. Born to a Catholic family, Pope was an only child. He was exceptionally bright, self-taught in numerous languages and the classics. When Pope was twelve he contracted Potts disease (a form of tuberculosis); the illness impacted his spine - he was a hunchback- and he was only four and a half feet tall. He had a passion for gardens and garden design. Little details from Pope's garden plans show his regard for ancient Rome as he had incorporated both a vineyard and a kitchen garden. Pope's Palladian villa and garden were separated by a road. Pope cleverly used a tunnel to go under the road in order to create private access to the garden from his home. The tunnel became his grotto; a masterpiece of mirrors, candles, shells, minerals and fossils. He described the thrill of finishing the grotto in a letter to his friend Edward Blount in 1725: "I have put the last hand to my works... happily finishing the subterraneous Way and Grotto: I then found a spring of the clearest water, which falls in a perpetual Rill, that echoes thru' the Cavern day and night. ...When you shut the Doors of this Grotto, it becomes on the instant, from a luminous Room, a Camera Obscura, on the walls of which all the objects of the River, Hills, Woods, and Boats, are forming a moving Picture... And when you have a mind to light it up, it affords you a very different Scene: it is finished with Shells interspersed with Pieces of Looking-glass in angular Forms... at which when a Lamp ...is hung in the Middle, a thousand pointed Rays glitter and are reflected over the place." Pope's villa and grotto became a tourist destination. After he died, new owners of his property were so annoyed by the attention that they destroyed both the garden and the villa. Today, plans are underway to restore the grotto to its former glory. #OTD It's the birthday of Henri Rousseau was born on this day in 1844. Rousseau didn't start painting until he was 40 years old. He submitted his work to the Salon in 1886 and was ridiculed. Nonetheless, he returned every year for the rest of his life with new pieces. One harsh critic said that Rousseau painted with his feet. Rousseau became famous for his jungle paintings. Although he had never been to the jungle, he had been to the botanical garden at Paris. The place was his muse. Rousseau said, "When I step into the hothouses and see the plants from exotic lands, it seems to me that I am in a dream." Unearthed Words Alexander Pope on His Grotto at Twickenham Thou who shalt stop, where Thames' translucent wave Shines a broad Mirror thro' the shadowy Cave; Where ling'ring drops from min'ral Roofs distill, And pointed Crystals break the sparkling Rill, Unpolish'd Gems no ray on Pride bestow, And latent Metals innocently glow. Approach! Great Nature studiously behold; And eye the Mine without a wish for Gold. Approach; but awful! Lo! th' Egerian Grot, Where, nobly-pensive, St. John sate and thought; Where British sighs from dying Wyndham stole, And the bright flame was shot thro' Marchmont's Soul. Let such, such only tread this sacred Floor, Who dare to love their Country, and be poor. Today's book recommendation: The Land of the Blue Poppies by Frank Kingdon Ward During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on 24 impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. Ward discovered the legendary Tibetan blue poppy and thanks to Ward, the seeds were introduced into the world's gardens. Ward's accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Today's Garden Chore Take a cue from Alexander Pope and connect your house to your garden with a path. This is especially lovely if you have a kitchen garden or if you grow edibles. By uniting these two areas, you're conveying

Have you ever used a knife as a garden tool? Serrated knives are my favorite. The word serrated has latin origins meaning "saw shaped"; think of the serrated edges of Maple leaves. If you are a thrift shopper, at Goodwill, they keep most of the donated knifes in a case at the front of the store. You can just ask to see if they have any serrated knives - they are so handy in the garden for weeding and working with difficult spaces like between pavers or even just wearing out the root systems of weeds through continuous chopping above ground. Brevities #OTD Today is National Pick Strawberries Day Last year, instead of annual hanging baskets, I installed hanging strawberry baskets over my herb garden. They turned out great and it was fun to harvest (and eat) strawberries as I worked in the garden. There is undeniably something extra special about the taste of a sun-warmed strawberry picked straight off of the vine. Between me and my student gardeners, there weren't many strawberries left to bring in the house. Still, it was a fun alternative to an annual basket and I think I'll do it again this year. Strawberries are members of the rose family and they are unique in that their seeds are on the outside of the fruit. In the late 18th century, the first strawberries were grown in France. It's sweet to read early newspaper accounts of strawberries during the 1800s. In 1843 the New York daily Herald announced that the first strawberries went to Pattinson's on the corner of Ann and Nausau, and they reported that they were as red as the last day. It also noted that strawberries were selling in Baltimore at $.03-$.06 a quart for the best; While green peas were abundant - selling for two shillings a peck. Twenty years later, the first strawberries were announced in this adorable newspaper account out of Columbus Ohio - from the Daily Ohio Statesman, on May 27, 1864. Here's what it said: "The first strawberries of the season were visible to the naked eye and Charlie Wagner's show window yesterday– a window, by the way, in which everything new in the fruit line is always first seen in Columbus." Finally, news of the first strawberries of the season were shared with excitement in the 1800s and the early part of the 1900s. In an article in The Woodstock Mercuryout of Woodstock ,Vermont on July 27, 1854, strawberries made the list of a notable firsts that bring joy to life: "First things are good or bad, as it may happen or as you take them. The first shad or the sleighing, the first strawberries or first child, the first kiss of love or first pair of whiskers, these may be ranged among the primordial delights." #OTD On this day in 1902, America lost one of its most prominent horticulturalists – Horatio Hollis Hunnewell. Hunnewell was staggeringly wealthy. He was a railroad financier. But he also had a lifelong love of nature and gardening. When Hunnewell purchased over 40 acres of land along the eastern and southern shores of Lake Waban ("Wah-bin"), he built a magnificent estate there. He had married Isabella Pratt Wells and he decided to call his impressive home Wellesley in honor of his wife's maiden name Wells. When it came time for the nearby town and college to settle on a name, they also selected the name Wellesley after conferring with Hunnewell who was the most generous benefactor of the town. The Hunnewell estate was so large, that when the Hunnewell children grew up, seven of the nine had homes built on the property - right next to their parents original home. Aside from the impressive homes, Hunnewell added many magnificent features to the estate including a pinetum with over 325 specimen to conifers. Hollis Honeywell made the following remark in 1899 In reference to his trees,"No Vanderbilt, with all his great wealth, can possess one of these for the next 50 years, for could not be grown in less time than that." And, Hunnewell also installed the very first topiary Garden in America at Wellesley. He referred to it as the Italian Garden and it was ideally situated along the shore of Lake Waban. When it came to the Topiary Garden, Hunnewell went all out. Whenever he had guests, Hunnewell would have them hop aboard a large authentic Italian Gondola boat complete with an authentically dressed gondola man. After they would glide up to the Topiary Gardens, they would stop to take a tour. Hunnewell's shores rivaled that of Lake Como in northern Italy. It's difficult to fathom how much attention this one-of-a-kind garden received from the public. Thousands of visitors from all over the country came to Wellesley just to see the topiary garden firsthand. Many more took in its beauty through photographs and engravings published in the most popular periodicals of the time. To this day — a century and a half later — the Hunnewell topiary garden is among the most spectacular sites in the region. There are a few notable tidbits related to Honeywell that bear mention. The first is that Hunnewell and his friend Nathaniel Thayer

Are you feeling it yet? The urge to get going in the garden? I was reading a book from 1915 about spring, it started this way, "If you are not dead, you will feel the sap start within you..." Everyone comes to the garden in their own time. If you're not yet ready to put your pots together or take on gardening the way you did last year, that's completely fine. Sometimes the seasons of our lives, don't align with the seasons of the year. In seasons of loss or grief or depression, we can lose time. We can be out of sync. If that is happening to you this season, please know it is ok to take a break. Instead, enjoy the beauty around you in ways that feel right to you... until you feel the sap start within you again... Brevities #OTD Today in 1510, Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli died. His painting Allegory of Abundance or Autumn is one of his most elaborate and detailed drawings and it depicts an abundance of flowers and fruits. #OTD Today in 1874, the horticultural hornet, George Glenny died. He was 83 years old. Glenny was an opinionated gardener. Known for his sharp tongue and difficult personality, he was called the horticultural hornet by Will Tjaden. He was critical of John Claudius Loudon, Joseph Paxton, and Joseph Harrison. And yet, he was benevolent; assisting the efforts of numerous charities and causes during his time; including the Duke of York Column in London. Glenny started the Horticultural Journal, which was followed in 1837 with the first garden newspaper, The Gardeners' Gazette. These early accomplishments brought Glenny much satisfaction; he knew his work was taken to heart by his readers and his suggestions were being acted upon. As the editor of his paper wrote, "There will be few to deny that his vigorous pen has contributed as much as, that of any single writer to the great and ever-increasing popularity of gardening amongst the people." Through it all, Glenny was a devoted garden writer; sharing his knowledge of gardening with the people, week in and week out, through the very first gardening column and through numerous other articles and writings. His books were affordable; anyone could buy them - and they did. During the Victorian age Glenny was an active contributor to garden literature. No doubt Glenny's advice was swirling about in the heads of many new gardeners. #OTD Today in 1934, The Times Herald out of Port Huron Michigan, shared quite the article about Plant Exploration. With the onset of commencement season, The USDA Would receive an annual batch of letters asking about "agricultural exploring as a career, what the job Is, how to qualify, and what the future prospect are". The article shared that answers to those questions would be spelled out this way: "Knowles A. Ryerson, formerly in charge of the plant exploration before his promotion to Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, recognizes such ambition as the natural outcropping of adventurous spirits, and he sympathizes with the boy whose mind is turning that way. An agricultural explorer has to be a natural plant lover and must have studied botany and other plant subjects, and must have worked with plants in the field and garden. In addition, he must have a good general education as well as sound technical knowledge. He must have certain other Indispensable qualities - robust health and a good sense of humor. He must not only stand hard traveling in rugged countries day after day, but must be able to go to bed on an empty stomach after a trying day's work and sleep on a rough box without feeling abused. "I see no Indication that plant exploration will become unnecessary, but every indication that the requirements for plant exploration will continue to become even more exacting. I would not want to discourage any boy from the effort, but there is no denying that it would-be Plant Hunter has a man-sized job ahead of him if he is to prepare himself to qualify for one of the relatively few openings." #OTD Today is the birthday of Bernadette Cozart born in 1949. Cozart was a professional gardener and urban gardening advocate. She founded the greening of Harlem coalition in 1989. Her efforts transformed Harlem, bringing flower gardens and green spaces. It was Bernadette Cozart who said, "Instead of taking children on field trips to see farms and gardens, why not bring nature into the community? I don't think it's fair that they should have to go outside the community to have that experience of seeing things grow." #OTD Today in Lafayette Colorado, the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism starts their Rocky Mountain Field Botany Certificate Course. Designed to provide a thorough introduction to field botany, positive plant identification, wild-crafting ethics, and Sustainable harvesting and preservation techniques, this year they will have an additional focus on wild edible plants. #OTD Today in New Zealand, there is a one-day interactive workshop open to anyone interested in learning more about the concept of marke

Do you know what to look for on a plant tag? The first major thing I look at is growing zone. Often the plant tag will give a range for the growing zone like 5-9 or 3-7. This is why knowing your growing zone is key. If you don't know, you just need to ask someone at the garden center -they should know what growing zone you are in. Now, as an experienced gardener, let me tell you what happens to me a few times every summer. I see a plant at my garden center. I fall in love with it. I look at the tag and whaddya know - it's not for my zone. So, I put it back. If it's not for my zone, it will not be able to handle the winter temperatures here. I really don't like it when garden centers pass these plants off to unsuspecting gardeners. We've all done this - bought a plant that won't survive over winter because we forgot to check the tag. Sometimes, when I do catch a plant that is being sold that is not for my zone, I channel my inner gingerbread man - "ha ha ha- you can't catch me!" So know your zone... and check those plant tags for growing zones. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Luigi Fenaroli born today in 1899. Fenaroli Is known for his book Flora of the Alps and Other Mountains, as well as his work on chestnut varieties. #OTD On this day in 1901 The botanist Charles Theodore Mohr wrote a letter expressing his relief at completing his major work – a book called Plant Life of Alabama. "With the completion of this life work, a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I feel free to take on other tasks. As long as there is work, I will go to Tuscaloosa to the Herbarium which I helped start 20 years ago. Completing my work on the herbarium is my botanical goal for the remainder of my life." Mohr wrote those words two months before his death. At the time his book was published he was seventy seven years old. Mohr spent decades gathering the information and plant specimens for his work. He was a trained pharmacist and one of Alabama's first botanists. Born in Germany and educated in Stuttgart, Mohr traveled the world before settling in Alabama. He collected in Surinam, emigrated to the United States in 1848, took part in the California gold rush, lived briefly Mexico, Indiana, and Kentucky. In 1857 he started Chas. Mohr & Son Pharmacists and Chemists in Mobile, Alabama. His personal herbarium specimens were donated to the University of Alabama Herbarium (15,000 specimens) and the United States National Herbarium (18,000 specimens). The following plants are named for Charles Theodore Mohr: Andropogon mohrii (Hack.) Hack ex Vasey Mohr's bluestem Grass family Aristida mohrii Nash Mohr's threeawn Grass family Eupatorium mohrii Greene Mohr's thoroughwort Aster family Marshallia mohrii Beadle & F.E. Boynt. Mohr's Barbara's buttons Aster family Rudbeckia mohrii Gray Mohr's coneflower Aster family Silphium mohrii Small Mohr's rosinweed Aster family Tephrosia mohrii (Rydb.) Godfrey pineland hoarypea Pea family Quercus mohriana Buckl. Ex Rydb. Mohr oak Oak family #OTD If you're in Winnipeg today between 11:30 and 12:30 you should head down to the University of Winnipeg and grab yourself some free seedlings as part of the 4th annual biology department plant giveaway. The fruiting and flowering plants have been cared for and grown by students in the biology department. Some of the plants you can expect to find at the giveaway: -tomatoes -cucumbers -nasturtiums -sunflowers Unearthed Words Here's a poem called May from the lyrical poet, Sara Teasdale "The wind is tossing the lilacs, The new leaves laugh in the sun, And the petals fall on the orchard wall, But for me the spring is done. Beneath the apple blossoms I go a wintry way, For love that smiled in April Is false to me in May." Today's book recommendation: Wild at Home: How to style and care for beautiful plants by Hilton Carter Make your home a healthier and more beautiful place to be with Hilton Carter's inspirational ideas. "Hilton Carter's love for plants is infectious... His lush and exuberant displays are inspiring reminders that plants can be so much more than neat little containers on a window sill." Carter is a plant stylist. Take a tour through Hilton's own apartment and other lush spaces, filled with a huge array of thriving plants, and learn all you need to know to create your own urban jungle. As the owner of over 200 plants, Hilton feels strongly about the role of plants in one's home—not just for the beauty they add, but for health benefits as well: 'having plants in your home not only adds life, but changes the airflow throughout. It's also a key design element when styling your place. "For me, it wasn't about just having greenery, but having the right variety of greenery. I like to see the different textures of foliage all grouped together. You take a fiddle leaf fig and sandwich it between a birds of paradise and a monstera and…. yes!' You will be armed with the know-how you need to care for your plants, where to place them, how to propagate, h

Plant height is one of the factors often indicated on plant tags. But mature height often takes ten years - especially if you're talking about trees and shrubs. Most plants benefit from some amount of pruning - in which case their height can be controlled. BTW, Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on the planet. It can grow 3 feet in just 24 hours. Brevities #OTD President Abraham Lincoln created the U.S. Department of Agriculture today in 1862. When Lincoln signed the bill, he was bombarded with advice about who should be the first Commissioner of Agriculture. Perhaps he should choose the editor of a Farm magazine? Perhaps a scientist would be best? Maybe a simple pragmatist? A man named Isaac Newton - a direct descendant of Sir Isaac Newton - got the job. Newton was born in Burlington County, New Jersey on March 31, 1800. He had set up an impeccable farm in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Newton's farm was a model for others; efficient, orderly; and productive. After advocating for farmers for over two decades, Newton was picked to be the chief of the agricultural section of the Patent Office. A master relationship builder; every week Newton sent butter from his dairy farm to the White House. It wasn't long before Newton, and his entire family became friends with the Lincolns. That's why when it came time for Lincoln to make the appointment for commissioner of the USDA, Newton had a firm lock on the job in Lincoln's mind. When he was appointed, Isaac Newton, quoted Jonathan Swift saying, "It should be the aim of every young farmer to do not only as well as his father, but to do his best: to make two blades of grass grow where but only one grew before." Newton brought the same high standards and efficiency he had cultivated for his farm to the USDA. Three years after his appointment, on the evening of April 15, 1865, around 10:30 PM, it was Isaac Newton who had rushed over to the White House, and informed the doorkeeper, Thomas Pendall, that President Lincoln had been shot. In his account of the incident, the doorkeeper said Newton was a bosom friend the president. Sadly, Newton experienced a severe case of sunstroke while surveying the experimental farm in Washington, D.C. The incident debilitated him for a year before he passed a way. He died in office at the age of 67 in 1867 after serving for four years. #OTD On this day, Governor David B. Hill signed a law creating the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve; ensuring the land "be forever kept as wild forest lands." The previous year, Charles Sprague Sargent had been appointed to lead a three-member committee to investigate the Adirondack wilderness. Thanks to the Sargent commission, the area was preserved and Sargent's team created two historically important maps of the Adirondacks. On the 1890 map, Forest areas were outlined in red and the park was outlined in blue. Today, the "blue line" is a term used to mean boundaries of the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. And, if you get a chance to check out the original map, you'll see that the blue ink has turned almost black -after a century of aging. The park land around the Adirondack and Catskill has expanded over the years. Today, the two parks combined comprise more than 6,000,000 acres; larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined. #OTD An article called "The Prettiest Wild Flowers." by Ettie C. Alexander was featured in the San Francisco Call, May 15, 1898. In the article, Ettie shared her magnificent experiences collecting wildflowers around San Francisco before the turn-of-the-century. In the span of a decade, Ettie had noticed a remarkable decline in the quantity and quality wildflowers in the area. Here's her comment about the California Cream Cups - an Annual herb in the poppy family found mainly in California. She said, "Nine years ago, cream cups grew in great profusion all around San Francisco. The most beautiful ones that I have ever seen were near Holy Cross Cemetery. I have picked dozens of them in former years as large as a dollar. But now you can scarcely find a plant, and the blossoms are small and of an inferior quality. A great many other varieties of flowers that once were plentiful have disappeared entirely." In the article, it said that Alexander's wildflower collection was the best in the state of California. And Alexander, had teamed up with a chemist; and had worked to refine a process – a preservative – that would help the wild flowers retain their fresh-picked, original color. Alexander's process worked remarkably well. Yet, sadly she never disclosed her formula to the public. Two side comments about Alexander are worth sharing;: First, Alexander was never able to find a process to preserve the brilliant color of the poppy for more than two years. Second, in all of her works she's known simply as E C Alexander. I had to do a great deal of sleuthing just to discover that her first name was Ettie. Unf

Most gardeners share a common secret: they never feel like they know enough about gardening to call themselves an expert. If you feel this way after years of gardening, you're not alone. Over two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to his friend, the painter Charles Wilson Peale. He's lamenting the limitations of his garden at Monticello. He concludes with one of my favorite garden quotes of all time: "But tho, an old man, I am but a young gardener." Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Mary Delany Born today in 1700. Mary Delany led an extraordinary life. The family had forced her to marry a very old man when she was 17. He was an alcoholic. To make matters worse, when he died, he forgot to include her in his will. Despite her lack of inheritance, Mary realized that, as a widow, she had much more freedom than she had as a single young lady. In society, she could do as she pleased. Love came knocking on her door in June 1743 when she married a doctor named Patrick Delany - an Irish clergyman. Her family wasn't thrilled with the idea of her getting married again. But, Delaney did it anyway. She and Patrick moved to Dublin where Delaney had a home. They both shared a love for gardening. When Patrick died, Mary was widowed again; this time at the age of 68. But Mary's life was not over. She hit it off with Margaret Bentinck. Bentinck was the Duchess of Portland, and together they pursued botanical activities. They loved to go out into the fields and collect specimens. It was thanks to the Duchess that Mary got to know Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. When Mary was in her early 70s, she took up decoupage - which was all the rage at the time - and she created marvelous depictions of flowers. Today, historians believe Mary probably dissected plants in order to create her art. Botanists from all over Europe would send her specimens. King George the Third and Queen Charlotte were her patrons. They ordered any curious or beautiful plant to be sent to Delaney when in blossom so she could use them to create her art. Her paper mosaics, as she called them, were made out of tissue paper. She created almost 1000 pieces of art between the ages of 71 and 88. If you ever see any of her most spectacular decoupage pieces, you'll be blown away at the thought of them being made from tiny pieces of tissue paper by Mary Delany in the twilight of her life in the late 1700s. #OTD Today in 1796 Edward Jenner injected his gardener's son with cowpox. The boy's name was James Phipps. James was eight years old. Jenner injected him with fluid from a cowpox blister from a milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes and she had contracted cowpox from a cow named Blossom. In the late 1700s, people thought the folks who took care of cows and had been infected with cowpox, would then not be able to catch smallpox. What Edward Jenner essentially did was to vaccinate James against smallpox. The word vaccinate is from the Latin word for cow. #OTD It's the birthday of John Alexander Montgomery Cushnie, born today in 1943. Cushnie was a landscape designer, writer, and broadcaster. He was a tall, good-looking Irishman. Listeners were often surprised to see how handsome he was after just listening to his voice on the radio for so many years. Cushnie became a household name in England once he became a regular panelist on the show gardeners question time for 15 years. Cushnie was 66 years old when he appeared on the show for his final broadcast right before Christmas. He was enjoying his first week of retirement when it was cut short by his sudden death from a heart attack on New Year's Eve In 2009. On the show, Cushnie cultivated a wicked sense of humor. He was not a fan of poinsettias. He reacted to a discussion about dogs peeing in the garden by saying, "The dog is simply marking his territory... the only thing [the urine of] a male dog will not kill is a lamppost." When asked about lawn damage by playing children, John said let the children play, they aren't young for long. Many times, his ultimate response to a problem posed by a gardener would simply be - "just dig it up". Unearthed Words It's the birthday of Harold Glenn Borland Born today In 1900. Borland was known as the chronicler of the seasons. He went by Hal, and he was a naturalist as well as the writer. Borland wrote an editorial column in the New York Times for 35 years. His last column appeared the day before he died in 1978. He never signed his work, but everyone knew it was written by Borland. Like John Burroughs, Borland had sympathy for and simple communion with the natural world. His writings reflected his essence. Here's a sample of springtime according to Borland: "The violets will come, in their own time. That is all that was written in the sky by Friday's equinox. The sun's summons will not be answered overnight, but the answer is inevitable. The first hungry bee at the first crocus hums of June, and the first green leaf forecast cool summer shade. All is in order. Spring is the ear

Have you ever taken a class on gardening? If you're in the Calgary area, there's an excellent class taking place tonight from 7 to 9 PM It's part of the "Garden On" Lecture series. Tonight's focus is on herbs. If you're new to gardening, herbs make for wonderful starter plants. They are easy to grow, generally trouble-free, and versatile. They can be incorporated into almost any garden situation. Tonight's class will cover What makes an herb an herb Propagation Harvesting The class will be at the Acadia Recreation Complex in Calgary tonight at 7 PM. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Enid Annenberg Haupt, born today in 1906. The very woman the president of the New York Botanical Garden called, "The greatest patron American horticulture has ever known." Enid was one of eight children; her parents Sadie and Moses had one son and seven daughters. Her father was the founder of a large publishing empire. Enid followed in his footsteps was an heiress to the large family fortune. Enid's first marriage ended in divorce. Her second marriage to Ira Haupt launched her philanthropic activities and introduced her to the world of gardening. When they were engaged, Ira gave Enid a cymbidium orchid. At the time, cymbidium orchids were rare in the United States. Enid was immediately enthralled by it. She told Ira that for her wedding present from him, she would be very happy with a gift of 13 cymbidium orchids. She was set on learning how to grow them herself and propagate them on her own. In fact, the cultivar Cymbidium Enid Haupt was named in her honor. Enid found this ironic, since that particular orchid is known for its fertility. Enid could not have children of her own. However, she and Ira eventually adopted a little girl they named Pamela. Enid's brother, Walter, gave her a chance to be a publisher. Initially,Enid was terrified. Yet, Enid had proved she had many talents. She was a good writer. She loved to grow orchids. She had an impeccable sense of style. When it came to running a magazine, Enid felt she was over the tips of her skis. Walter insisted she give it a go. In 1953, Enid was put in charge of the magazine Seventeen. She ran the magazine until 1970. During her tenure, Seventeenmagazine was more popular than Glamour, and twice as popular as Mademoiselle. At one point, more than half of the teenage girls in the United States were reading Seventeenmagazine. When Enid died in 2005, she had donated more than $140 million to charities. Her favorite charities involved gardening. This is how Enid became known as "the fairy godmother of American horticulture" and "the patron saint of public gardens." One of Enid's largest gifts was to the New York Botanical Garden. Over her lifetime, Enid gave them over $34 million – $5 million of which was dedicated to the restoration of the stunning Victorian glass greenhouse now called the Enid Haupt Conservancy. Without Enid, the greenhouse would have been demolished. In 1993, Enid told the Times, "I must have a project.That should be my middle name; Project. I'm really and truly not happy without one." And it was in Enid Haupt, who said, "Nature is my religion. There is no life in cements and paint. " #OTD Today in 1995 Allison Hargraeves became the first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest unaided. When she got to the peak, Hargraeves planted a silk flower. #OTD On this day in 2013, Ohio State University's greenhouse smells like a mix of sauerkraut and dead fish. This scent was from the bloom of the corpse flower, the rare titan arum. The corpse flower is from Sumatra. Discovered in the late 1800s by an Italian botanist, there have been less than 200 blooms in the world since its discovery. In 1889, newspapers around the world were offering an account of the first recorded bloom at the Royal Gardens at Kew. Reports mentioned that it was hard to describe the appearance of the flower. That said, it reminded readers that many arums have a similar appearance; Calling to mind the jack-in-the-pulpit, the wild turnip, skunk cabbage, and the calla lily – all types of arums. In addition, many arums emit a repulsive odor. Finally, this week marks the beginning of National Public Gardens Week, which runs from today, May 13, through May 19. The kick off to this week begins today with National Public Gardens Day. This celebration started in 2009 as part of the effort to bring attention to the country's public gardens. You can be part of the celebration, by visiting a public garden in your area this week. Unearthed Words In 1982, on this day, Vassar College acquired the journals of John Burroughs. One of the countries leading naturalist Burroughs had kept a journal over the last 45 years of his life. The first entry in the first notebook happened on this day May 13, 1876. Burroughs writes about the Redstart; a medium sized bird known as a May warbler. Males are mostly black with bright orange patches on the sides, wings, and tail. Here's what it said: "Standing in the road over in the

Have you ever intuited the name of a plant? A few years ago, I traveled to San Diego. I was sitting on a bench outside the hotel and I spied the most amazing blossom - three bright orange petals and three blue petals - it looked like the head of a bird. My mind latched onto "bird of paradise," I looked it up on my phone and sure enough, it was just that. Brevities #OTD English author, translator, and Clerk to the Kitchen of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Leonard Mascall (died 1589) was buried at Buckinghamshire, in 1589. Mascall published a number of books; all were aimed at household management. In 1572 Mascall published, "A book of the Arte and Maner Howe to Plante and Graffe All Sortes of Trees."Along with cultivating fruit trees, this book was the first to refer to the secateurs or pruning knife. The word secatuers is taken from the Latin secare'to cut'. Mascall's last book was published a year after he died. Called "The Booke of Engines and Traps." In it, Mascall shared 34 traps and 9 Recipes for poison bates; most of which were dedicated to trapping mice. Mascall wrote about how to control slugs and snails - he described picking them off by hand early in the morning. #OTD It's the birthday of John Hope who lived during the Scottish enlightenment; he was a botanist , a famous professor, and founder of one of the leading botanical gardens in Europe, born on this day in 1725. Hope produced considerable work on plant classification and physiology. He was appointed to positions of the King's botanist for Scotland and superintendent of the Royal Garden in Edinburgh. At the time, Edinburgh was THE place to study medicine and all medical students had to take botany courses. Hope created a school for botanists after spinning off the materia medica (pharmacy) department of the school which allowed him to specialize exclusively on botany. Hope was a captivating instructor. He was one of the first two people to teach the Linnean system, he also taught the natural system. He was one of the first instructors to use big teaching diagrams or visual aids to teach his lectures. His students traveled from all over the world Europe, America, and India. Hope taught over 1,700 students during his tenure and they included the likes of James Edward Smith, founder and first President of the Linnaean Society, Charles Drayton and Benjamin Rush. A field botanist, Hope encouraged his students to go out an investigate the Flora of Scotland and he awarded a medal every year to the student who collected the best herbarium. With Hope's impressive resume came impressive wealth. By the time Hope died, he had amassed more than £12,000 which he left to his wife. #OTD It's the birthday of Alan Robertson Gemmell; a Professor of Biology at Keele University and a regular member of the panel on the BBC Radio program Gardeners' Question Time beginning in 1950 and co-hosting for some 30 years, Gemmel was born in 1913. When Gemmell was invited to appear on the Gardeners Question Time, Keele Univeristy allowed it provided the school would be mentioned in the credits and as long as Gemmell appeared during University time. Gemmell spoke with a calm, Scottish voice. In his obituary, it was said he could, persuade followers of Gardeners Question Time to plant, "the most vicious weed." An academic, Gemmel often disagreed with fellow panelists like Fred Loads or Bill Sowerbutts who offered more off-the-cuff or hearsay advice. It was Alan Gemmell who wrote in one of his columns, "One of the major loves of my life is the potato. In fact my colleagues on Gardener's Question Time sometimes referred to me as spud Gemmel, since not only do I enjoy devouring that delectable vegetable, I also enjoy devouring anything which has been written about it. #OTD This entire week, May 5 - May 11 is International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW). (ICAW) is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the compost industry. It is celebrated nationwide in Canada and in other countries each year during the first full week of May. Started in Canada in 1995, ICAW has continued to grow as the importance of composting and the long-term benefits from organics recycling. Each year, a theme is chosen. The theme for this year is Cool the Climate - Compost! #OTD This weekend is the 30th Anniversary of the Friend's School Plant Sale in Minneapolis/St. Paul. With more than 2,450 plant varieties — may be the largest plant sale in the U.S. It's a fund-raising event sponsored by theFriends School of Minnesota, a small Quaker K – 8 school in the Hamline-Midway area in Saint Paul. New Plants for 2019 include: Peony, Sweet Marjory: Neat and sweet pink cactus-style flowers with streaks of cream, green, and deep rose pink. Yellow fluff of stamens in the center. Slightly fragrant. Early to mid-season. French Hollyhock, Bibor Felho: Fuchsia with dark purple veins and halo surrounding a white center star. Blooms June–September. "Bibor Felho" is Hungarian for 'Purple Cloud.' Considered

Take two gardeners. They grow up learning to garden from the same person. They read the same books on gardening. They go to the same gardening workshops. They tour the same public gardens. Yet, their gardens will look different from each other. Unique. Gardens are art. They are personal. Remember that the next time you are trying to copy the look of another garden. The difference isn't just topographical... When it comes to your garden: yes, consider microclimates, plant varieties, soil, sun, and so forth. But also, make sure to add yourself to the list of variables. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of botanist Count Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini born on this day in 1781. His second great grandfather was the famous Italian astronomer, Giovanni Domenico Cassini; he discovered Jupiter's Great Red Spot and the Cassini division in Saturn's rings. By the time Alexander was born, his family had married into French nobility (that's why he was born in Paris). Unfortunately, it was a bad time to go to France. Their Italian heritage and scientific work would not insulate the Cassini's from public resentment as the stage was set for the French Revolution. Cassini took a decidedly different path than his ancestors. He was the fifth generation in a family of star scholars, so Alexandre is often distinguished from the rest of his family as Cassini V. Cassini pursued the bar instead of the stars; as in the legal profession. As a lawyer, Cassini worked his way to the highest legal position in France in his time; "President of the Chamber." Like many folks, botany was his hobby; not his day job. It is quite notable that Cassini's botanical accomplishments took place in his off time. Cassini's heart belonged to the sunflower family (Asteraceae) and he focused pretty much exclusively on the Compositae. It was fitting then, that the genus Cassinia(the sunflower genus) was named in his honor by the botanist Robert Brown. Over two hundred years later, many of Cassini's detailed descriptions are still valid. Cassini married his cousin. At the age of fifty, Cassini died of cholera. His father outlived him by thirteen years. Alexandre Cassini was the last of his name; a punctuation mark on the wonderful Cassini legacy. #OTD On this day in 1807, Lewis and Clark returned a book that they had borrowed from Benjamin Smith and Barton to help them on their expedition. Before they had started their track, Meriwether Lewishad visited Bartonat his home. Upon leaving, he left with a copy of The History of Louisianaby Antoine le Page. Lewis memorialized the gesture in the flyleaf of the book. Here's what he wrote: "Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton was so obliging as to lend me this copy of Mons. le Page's History of Louisiana in June 1803. It has been since conveyed by me to the Pacific ocean through the interior of North America on my late tour thither and is now returned to its proprietor by his friends and obedient servant, Meriwether Lewis. Philadelphia, May 9, 1807." #OTD On this day in 1888 in Delaware, the Peach Blossom was voted in as the State Flower. Peach blossoms are a beautiful, deep pink color. The blooms appear very early in the year. Frost is always a concern. The fruit is botanically known as a drupe; It has a fleshy outer layer that covers a hard shell which contains a single seed. The decision to go with the peach blossom, was prompted by Delaware's reputation as the peach state. At the time, Delaware was known as the peach state and she boasted orchards containing more than 800,000 peach trees (Prunus persico, a native of China). Delaware's peach trees were introduced by the Spanish. By the 1600s, peaches were so plentiful, it was said that Delaware farmers fed them to their pigs. By 1875, Delaware was the country's top peach producer... until the yellows. The yellows was a blight that destroyed Delaware's orchards. In the late 1800s, Delaware was knocked from the top spot as a peach producer. Today, Delaware produces roughly 2,000,000 pounds of peaches every year. America's leading peach grower is the state of California, producing 950,000 tons annually. Unearthed Words #OTD It's the birthday of botanist Hewett Cottrell Watson, the father of British plant geography born today in 1804. Watson investigated the variability of British plant species across their ranges & compared the flora of Britain to the Azores. In recognition of his great contributions, the botanical society of the British Isles named their journal Watsonia. Beginning in 1834, Watson was one of the first botanists to research plant evolution. Watsons work also paved the way for a new science now known as ecology. When Darwin created his theory of evolution, he was standing on the shoulders of curious early evolutionists like Watson. Darwin's popularity and success overshadowed the folks like Watson who came before him. Yet, it's obvious that when Watson read Darwin's Origin, his reaction was one of wonder... and also self reflection. He spent his adult l

You know the saying bad things come in threes? The dishwasher stops working. You get in a car accident. Your credit card gets stolen. Well, when it comes to our plants; like us, they can be experiencing a constellation of problems as well. Yet, we often see plants as far less complex; minimizing their needs to a singular solution. "It just needs more sun." "Better drainage will do the trick." Instead of just trying one solution, consider that maybe multiple changes are needed. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1820, President James Monroe signed a bill granting "a tract of public land in the City of Washington, not exceeding five acres" for the America's botanic garden. Monroe genuinely liked the idea and he agreed to let them place the botanic garden on property adjacent to the Capitol on the west. Work was started to clear and drain the soggy land, and trees were planted. By 1827, Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush circulated a letter to foreign dignitaries calling for, "all such trees and plants from other countries not heretofore known in the United States, as may give promise, under proper cultivation, of flourishing and becoming useful... ." The letter included detailed instructions for preparing seeds and plants for travel so that they couldbe propagated in the Botanic Garden. In 1856, Congress officially named the United States Botanic Garden and established regular funding to nurture its growth. #OTD It's the birthday of botanistEmil Christian Hansen, born today in 1842. Prior to Hansen, brewing was a volatileexperiment and batches could easily get infected with disease. Hansen forever changed the brewingindustry with his discovery of way to separate pure yeast cells from wild yeast cells. Hansen's method was created while he was working for the Carlsberg Laboratory. Carlsberg Labs did not patent the process. instead, they decided to publish it. They shared a detailed explanation so that brewers anywhere could build propagation equipment and use the method. Hansen named the yeast after the lab– Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis – and samples of Carlsberg No. 1 (as it was called) were sent to breweries around the world by request and free of charge. Within 5 years, most European breweries were using Carlsberg No. 1. By 1892, American breweries, Pabst, Schlitz and Anheuser-Busch, were manufacturing their beers with pure yeast strains. Hansen was a renaissance man. At various points in his life, he attempted careers an actor, a portrait artist, a teacher, an author, (he wrote under a pseudonym). And it was Emil Hansen who made the first Danish translation of Charles Darwin's Voyage of The Beagle. #OTD On this day in 1904 botanist Paul J. Kremer was born. Kremer spent his childhood on a farm in Ohio and he got his advanced degrees atOhio State getting his M.S. (1929) and Ph.D. (1931) degrees in plant physiology. At Ohio State he learned ofthe importance of the relationship between plants and water relations. After graduating, Dr. Kramer joined the faculty of Duke University. He taught at Duke his entire career until his retirement in 1974. Kremer served as the James B. Duke Professor of Botany. Kramer influenced the careers of more than 40 graduate students and authored more than 200 publications. Building on his studies at Ohio State, Kramer developed a leading research center on plant water relations and tree physiology. Kramer recognized the difficulty of studying environmental stresses on plants because the variables are so interconnected Light, temperature, and humidity being so interdependent that a change in one affects the others. This lead Kramer to establish a controlled-environment laboratory to study and quantify plant responses. He set up labs for this purpose atthe University of Wisconsin and at Duke and North Carolina State University. Kramer's efforts were part of a growing trend in curiosityabout theeffects of environmental stresses on plants - an ongoing concern as scientists study climate change. #OTD On this day in 2014, the Veggie Plant Growth System was activated on the International Space Station. "Veggie" was the first fresh food production system and it was developed by Orbital Technologies Corp. (ORBITEC) in Madison, Wisconsin, and tested at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The purpose of Veggie is to provide a self-sufficient and sustainable food source for astronauts as well as a means of recreation and relaxation through therapeutic gardening. In 2018 one of the goals of the Veggie-3 experiment was to grow food for crew consumption. Crops tested included cabbage, lettuce, and mizuna. "I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was still unexplored." "There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive." "I can't pretend that I got involved with filming the natural world fifty years ago because I had some great banner to carry about conservation - not at all, I always ha

Deep dives. Gardeners love to fall in love with particular plants. We can fall so hard, that we tune out other possibilities for our gardens. Then, in a fascinating twist, our deep dives can suddenly stop. As is often the case, those deep dives can be followed by a pivot. I started out as a shrub gardener. Then, I made a pivot to annuals and ornamentals and had nary a shrub in my garden. Then I was anti-annual. Then I moved into herbs and edibles. Now I'm a little bit of everything. Deep dives and pivots. Part of the process of growing a gardener. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of the Dutch botanist Gerard van Swieten, born on this day in 1700. In 1740, Maria Theresa inherited the Habsburg Empire. When it came to medicine, Austria was about 200 years behind its European neighbors. Maria Theresa acted quickly, recruiting the best available medical experts to her court. Gerard van Swieten was one of the most important people she brought to Vienna. By May 1745, the Van Swieten family had sold all their belongings in the Netherlands and traveled to Vienna. Van Swieten laid the foundation for Austria's medical institutions. He totally reorganized the medical faculty of the University of Vienna; adding a botanical garden and a chemical laboratory, each headed by a professor. Swieten published, in Latin, five volumes on the writings of Boerhaave; the work influenced medical practice throughout Europe. It also contained the first description of episodic cluster headache. Swieten exchanged letters with Linnaeus on botanical matters for over a decade. He named his youngest daughter, Maria Theresia after the Empress, who was also her godmother. His son Godfried would become famous in his own right as Austrian ambassador and patron of great classical composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. One fascinating story about Swieten was his role in fighting superstition during the enlightenment, specifically with regard to vampires. In 1755 the Empress sent Swieten to Serbia to investigate. Swieten viewed the vampire myth as a "barbarism of ignorance" and his aim was to completely crush it. In 1768 "that all the fuss .... [comes from] vain fear, a superstitious credulity, a dark and eventful imagination, simplicity and ignorance among the people." Based on Swieten's report, Maria Theresa issue a decree that banned all traditional defences to vampires being put to the stakes, beheaded and burned. The genus of mahogany, Swietenia,was named after Swieten. #OTD in 1888, the first organizational meeting of the Rochester Parks Commission was held in Rochester, New York. They decided to invite the great American landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted to design a park system for the city. In fact, Rochester was the last municipal park system designed by the renowned Olmsted. Charles Sprague Sargent, the first director of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum, called Rochester "a city in a forest." Trees have been a vital part of Rochester since the city's founding. It was essentially an impenetrable forest when the first settlers arrived. In early Rochester, trees were so plentiful that early settlers built roads from them. Rochester's Plank Road, now paved, is a nod to the road's original construction. #OTD On this day in 1901, the Fruit and Vegetable Committee reviewed 16 stocks of radish in Drill Hall as part of the Royal Horticultural Society's trial of salad plants at Chiswick. All of the radish were sown in a cold frame on March 7. Except on cold nights the lights were not put on the frames. 1. Early Gem ''. Veitch).-Ready for use April 29. Roots longish oval, scarlet, tipped with white. Foliage moderate. A very crisp and pleasant-flavored variety. 2. Ever Tender (R. Veitch).-Same as No. 3. 3. Gem (Barr).-Distinct from No. 1, being rounder, paler scarlet, but ready for use at the same time, and similar in foliage and flavor. 4. Krewson's Oblong Black (Masters).-Not true. Roots white. 5. Lily White (R. Veitch).-Ready for use April 30. Roots long, white. Foliage short and distinct. Crisp, and of very good flavor. 6. Mortlake Gem (Carter).-Ready for use April 29. Roots turnip-shaped, white, beautifully speckled and mottled with scarlet. Foliage very short. Crisp, and of good flavor. A very pretty variety. 7. Olive-shaped Extra Early Scarlet (J. Veitch). Ready for use April 26. Roots deep round or olive-shaped. Foliage short. Excellent in all respects, and one of the earliest and best. This variety is the same as "Deep Scarlet Olive-shaped," which received a F.C.C. April 21, 1897. 8. Olive-shaped Extra Early White (J. Veitch).-Ready for use April 26. A white form of No. 7, and equally good and early. (Syn.) "Forcing White Olive-shaped" and " First of All White," which received A.M. May 10, 1898. 9. Olive-shaped Jewel for use. April 29. , Roots oblong, deep scarlet. Foliage remarkably short. Crisp and of good flavor. (Syn.) "Olive-shaped Bright Red," which received A.M. May 5, 1896. This variety is also known as "Leafles

We are on the cusp of continuous warm nights. Warm soil temps will take a few more weeks. Recently, I had a gardener ask me about their hearty hibiscus that was planted last year. They were worried it wasn't coming back; they didn't see any sign of life yet. In Minnesota, gardeners often start to freak out a bit if they don't see signs of life during these first sunny days in May. But remember, warmer weather plants won't start to do their thing until soil temps warm up. The soil temp has about a 2-3 week lag on the night time air temp. We are still about a week away from warm nights - nights over 60 degrees. Warm soil will happen at the end of the month or the beginning of June. So, don't be alarmed if some of your summer perennials still seem dormant, that's because they are waiting for warmer soil temps to get going. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1742, Jean Senebier, a Swiss pastor and botanist, is born. Where would we be without Senebier? Still breathing... but not appreciating the role Senebier played in getting the world to realize that carbon dioxide is consumed by plants and in turn, plants produce oxygen as part of the process of photosynthesis. Senebier's work is important because he had learned the function of leaves: capturing carbon for food. Prior to Senebier, the purpose of leaves and what they did for plants and people was unknown. It was Jean Senebier who said, "Observation and experiment are two sisters who help each other." #OTD Today, in 1806, along the banks of Idaho's Clearwater River, Lewis and Clark discoverd the Nine-leaf lomatium, Lomatium triternatum. A species of flowering plant in the carrot family and known by the common name nineleaf biscuitroot, the nine-leaf lomatium is so-named because each leaf divides into three narrow leaflets that, in turn, divide into three more (triternatum, from the Latin, means "three times three"). Lewis and Clark collected many varieties of lomatiums which are found only west of the Mississippi River. Lomatiums are used by herbalists as a remedy for viral illnesses. In 2018, the NIH reported the case of a woman who had taken lomatium extract - marked LDM-100 - for the flu and ended up with a severe rash all over her body for a week. The title of the article, "Worse than the Disease? The Rash of Lomatium Dissectum" #OTD The naturalist and Alexander Von Humboldt died today in 1859, he was 89 years old. In 1806, Friedrich Georg Weitsch painted his portrait, in 1806, two years after he returned from his five-year research trip through Central and South America. Humboldt didn't go alone; he was accompanied bythe French botanist Aimé Bonplant in 1799. Weitsch painted a romantic, idealized vista of Ecuador as the setting for the painting. Humboldt had climbed the Chimborazo Mountain in Ecuador, believed at the time to be the highest mountain in the world, so perhaps Weitsch imaged Humboldt viewing the landscape from Chimborazo. Surrounded by a jungle paradise, a large palm leaves shade Humboldt's resting spot.In the painting, a very handsome Humboldt is seated on a large boulder, his top hat is resting upside down on the boulder behind him. Weitsch shows the 37-year-old Humboldt wearing a puffy shirt that would make Seinfeld proud, a pinkish-orange vest, and tan breeches. In his lap, he holds open the large leather-bound Flora he is working on and in his right hand he has a specimen of "Rhexia seciosa" (aka Meriania speciosa). A large barometer leans against the boulder in the lower left corner of the painting. It symbolized Humboldt's principle of measuring environmental data while collecting and describing plants. King Ferdinand was so pleased with the portrait (which he had hung in the Berlin Palace), that he ordered two more paintings to be made featuring Humboldt's time in the Americas. Humboldt was a polymath; he made contributions across many of the sciences. He made a safety lamp for miners. He discovered the Peru Current (aka the Humboldt Current). He believed South America and Africa had been joined together geographically at one time. He named the "torrid zone"; the area of the earth near the equator. Apropos the area he was exploring, torrid means hot, blistering, scorching. He went to Russia and it was there that he predicted the location of the first Russian diamond deposits. Humboldt was also a pragmatist. It was the Great Alexandre Von Humboldt who said "Spend for your table less than you can afford, for your house rent just what you can afford, and for your dress more than you can afford." Humboldt developed his own theory for the web of life. "The aims I strive for are an understanding of nature as a whole, proof of the working together of all the species of nature," "Everything is Interaction," he noted in his Mexican diary in 1803. #OTD After afive-year, £41 million restoration Temperate Housere-opened to the public on this day in 2018. The ironwork was stripped and repainted with many coats, 15,000 pains of glass were replaced, 69,00

Today is National Garden Meditation Day. Forget about your troubles Go to the garden (if you're not there already). Feel the breeze or the sprinkles. Smell the rain. Look at all the signs of life around you... all the shades of green emerging from the ground. Listen to the sound of spring. Garden time is restorative and resetting. Use #GardenMeditationDay today when you post on social media. Brevities #OTD Born on this day in 1863, Walter Elias Broadway; a kew gardener and authority on West Indian plants. Broadway was recognized by George V for his work in horticulture, although his career was shaded by bad blood with his supervisor John Hart and a drinking problem. In 1888, Kew sent Broadway to Trinidad and Tobago to take up the newly created role of Assistant Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden. Initially, everything seemed wonderful; the islands were a tropical plant-lovers paradise and there was already a botanic garden and herbarium in place. All Broadway needed to do was launch himself into learning everything he could about the tropical plants without a definitive reference to guide him. How hard could that be? Along the way, his eagerness to get plant id's from Kew and the British Museum, led him to go around his boss. It wasn't long before Hart required Broadway to funnel all of his collected specimens through him. Things deteriorated further when Hart ordered Broadway to devote his discretionary time to the garden - calling him in from his beloved field time and severely limiting his ability to collect new plant specimens. Broadway found other pursuits to bring him joy and satisfaction. He adored learning about the history of Trinidad. He found he loved to collect insect specimens. He helped found the Trinidad Field Naturalists' Club. Despite Hart's limitations, Walter Broadway truly mastered the art of plant collecting. Broadway took the chance to get away from the day to day with Hart when the curator of the Botanic Gardens in Grenada opened up. It was there, that he started collecting for private herbariums. It didn't make him rich, but it helped alleviate his frequent financial difficulties. Broadway spent over a decade in Grenada before heading to neighboring Tobago. By 1908, Hart had been forced to retire. Broadway resumed collecting with great zeal; he even sent mosses to Elisabeth Britton. By 1915, Broadway was transferred back to Trinidad. He continued exploring remote parts of the island to collect plants. Broadway retired in 1923 and he lived his final years in Trinidad - the island that had stolen his heart. His devotion to the natural world never waned and he was always on the lookout for new or interesting plants to sell to his private clientele. Although a flora of Trinidad and Tobago was published in 1928, Broadway was not a part of it. That said, much of the works cited references Broadway's collections - there was simply no disputing his collecting contributions. botanist Andrew Carr described Broadway as "an exceptionally fine man. Entirely unselfish in spirit, he was always ready to share his vast knowledge of the botany of the island with other interested persons. I shall never forget his joy at discovering a new species of moss in a drain in Oxford Street. He was regarded, and justifiably so, as a walking encyclopedia on the botany of these parts ... " Today, at the annual flower show of The Trinidad & Tobago, the Walter Elias Broadway Memorial Trophy is awarded for the best foliage plant exhibit. #OTD On this day in 1819, botanist and philanthropist Henry Shaw arrived in St. Louis. St. Louis had been founded over fifty years before Shaw's arrival, and the population by 1820 was just over 10,000 people. Shaw is commemorated on the St. Louis Walk of Fame with this epitaph: Henry Shaw, only 18 when he came to St. Louis, was one of the city's largest landowners by age 40. Working with leading botanists, he planned, funded and built the Missouri Botanical Garden, which opened in 1859. Shaw donated the land for Tower Grove Park and helped with its construction. He wrote botanical tracts, endowed Washington University's School of Botany, helped found the Missouri Historical Society, and gave the city a school and land for a hospital. Of Shaw's gifts, the Botanical Garden is best-known. Said as early as 1868 to have "no equal in the United States, and, indeed, few anywhere in the world." In addition to the Botanical Garden, Shaw built the Linnean House in 1882. It is the oldest continuously operated public greenhouse west of the Mississippi River and was originally designed to be an orangery; a place to overwinter citrus trees, palms and tree ferns. #OTD On this day in 2015, all Saks Fifth Avenue stores simultaneously revealed their month-long May spring theme of Glam Gardens and each store was transformed into a garden paradise. Beauty-themed garden installations flourished in windows and throughout the stores with floral themes in the Glam Gardens catalog and on saks.com. W

Ah May... the Month of Plant Sales. When I started gardening, I would Plant Sale away my Saturdays in May with my dear friend Judy. We would plan our way to a successful sale day, waking up while it was still dark out. Then we'd arrive at the church or the building where the sale was to be held, we'd set up our lawn chairs at the door, and we'd pat ourselves on the back for being first and second in line. Then, we'd wait another hour or two for the doors to open. All the while, sharing our dreams for our gardens, checking our wishlists for the unusual plants we might find at the sale; and figuring out which plants we'd discovered the previous year that we wanted more of and which we deemed not worthy of getting again. Brevities #OTD Today May 2, maybe the original April Fools Day. In Geoffrey Chaucer'sThe Nun's Priest's Tale a fox tricks a rooster on a day32 days after March - which would be May 2, but many took it to mean March 32 or April 1. Many scholars now think Chaucer actually did mean May 2 as the foolish day. I guess you could say, the joke's on us! #OTD Today is the last day of Ridvan. The Ridvan ("Rez-vän") Festival is a holiday celebrated by those of the Baha'i faith, commemorating the 12 days when their prophet and founder resided in a garden outside of Baghdad. He called the garden Ridvan which translates to paradise. Today, Ridvan is a festival of renewal and peace. It celebrates the beginnings of the Baha'i Faith and the first law of the religion was an admonition to humanity to cease all warfare. #OTD Today is the Annual White House Gardens Symposium. It's an all-day event focuses on the history and the role of the White House Gardens. There are expert speakers and panelists, as well as a lunch program - and a surprise take away. This year's symposium highlights the gardens of Beatrix Jones Farrand and Rachel "Bunny" Lambert Mellon, as well as the present-day White House Gardens. #OTD On this day in 1969, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Cobo Center in Detroit. It reminded me of a story about a succulent that ended up being named for Hendrix. In 1995, Mark Dodero, was listening to Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" while on a little botanizing trip in Mexico with fellow students Kim Marsden, and Scott and Brenda McMillan. They had stopped to investigate a mesa in the Colonel Peninsula, about 70 miles south of Ensenada. They group had made a new succulent discovery years earlier. Dodero thought he saw something about the terrain that made him think he might find another. He hiked up the mesa and came upon a little plant - a succulent - that he suspected was new. Years later, University of California, Santa Cruz professor Stephen McCabe, "rediscovered" the plant in the same area described by Dodero during his original discovery. In 2016, the plant, Dudleya hendrixii, or "Hendrix's live forever," in honor of Jimi Hendrix, was recognized in the California Botanical Society's publication, Madrono. Unearthed Words #OTD Today in1863 Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men and I thought his life story contained many moving passages. In an article in the Washington Post called, Stonewall Jackson had a soft side, it was revealed that just before the start of the civil war, Jackson had developed a love for gardening. If you read any biographies on Jackson, his life was one tragedy after another. His father and sister died of typhoid when Jackson was two years old. His mother died when he was seven. By the age of seventeen, he had only one sister left from his immediate family. His first wife died after giving birth to his stillborn son. His first daughter with his second wife, Anna, died within a month of her birth. After all this personal loss and battling life-long mental and physical health problems, Jackson fell in love with gardening. It was, no doubt, a reprieve for Jackson. Jackson, who once wrote in a schoolbook, "A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds", used botanist Robert Buist's book for guidance. It was Buist's "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 margins as he worked his way through the guide. In the WaPo article, it noted that After tomatoes, asparagus, watermelon, spinach and turnips was the one-word notation "plant." Jackson dearly loved his wife, Anna. In his garden, he planted and picked flowers for her. Ever the military man, his garden was ordered and neat. In the Spring and Summer of 1859, Jackson wrote letters to Anna who sick and in New York for treatment. He loved to refer to her with romantic names and he often wrote about the garden... Here's an example: "I was mistaken about [our] large garden fruit being peaches... It turns out to be apricots and I enclose one which I found on the ground today... just think, my little Dove has a tree full of them." In another letter, he wrote: "Our po

Happy May Day! Today, the tradition in France is to give a sprig of Lily of the Valley to loved ones. Originally from Japan, Lily of the Valley has long been considered lucky. It's sweet scent, belies it's high toxicity. Other names for Lily of the Valley include May Bells, Our Lady's Tears, and Mary's Tears. The French name, muguet, is a diminutive form mugue or muguete and means "musk". Brevities #OTD Today we celebrate the May 1st birthday of French BotanistAimee Antoinette Camus ("kah-MEW") in 1879. In terms of ranking among female scientists, Camus is second in authoring land plants - with a total of 677 species. It's especially impressive given that only 3% of land plants are authored by women! Best known for her study of orchids, Camus was the daughter of botanist and pharmacist Edmond Gustave Camus. Together, Camus and her father collected more than 50,000 specimens for their family herbarium. Her father sparked her passion for orchids and plant anatomy. More than that, he offered connections with some of the best French botanists of her day. She gave the name of Neohouzeaua ("Neo-who-zoh-ah")to a genus of seven tropical bamboo, in honor of the lifelong work that Jean Houzeau de Lehaie ("Who-zoh-do-lou-ay")had devoted to the understanding of the botany and propagation of bamboo in Europe and Africa. Camus also authored horticulture books to appeal to the masses and she was always forecasting the latest in botany. When plants arrived from the French colonies, she would attempt to calculate the economic value of the plants. She spent her entire professional career at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. To this day, Camus's monumental work remains the most comprehensive classification of the oak genus Quercus ("Qirkus"). Her book is simply called, The Oaks, and Camus wrote this in her introduction, "The oak forest that enabled our ancestors to fight against hunger, cold, darkness, that gave them shelter, weapons, construction materials, furniture, boats, means of transport, is today in part free from these obligations. Coal, iron, cement, concrete are all replacing wood; but the Oak with its qualities remains of great usefulness to man and its protection is of the utmost importance. Further, while industrial expansion has brought ugliness to so many places, is not the forest one of the last havens of beauty?" #OTD On this day in 1893, The Chicago World's Fair opened and drew in more than 27 million visitors. Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame, designed the Exposition's landscape. The vision for Chicago was to have it live up to its founding motto, "urbs in horto," or "City in a Garden". Flower Painter Augusta Dohlmann's work was displayed at the Fair. The Fair itself was a display of flora the likes of which the world had never seen. Designed by the inventor of the skyscraper, William LeBaron Jenney, the Horticultural building covered more than 4 acres of the fair grounds. There were eight different greenhouses at the Fair to help coordinate the elaborate schedule of flowers to be displayed over the Fair's six-month run. The various state buildings brought their own native flowers and fruits. The Midwest exhibit had a building made from corn-on-the-cob and Missouri created a St. Louis Bridge made entirely out of sugar cane. In the Agricultural Building, the Japanese exhibit included a garden. Denise Otis wrote in her book Grounds for Pleasure: "After Americans saw the Japanese garden ..., they became prized features on the estates of those who collected gardens in different styles." #OTD On this day in 1943, botanist Arthur Galston realizes that excessive use of a plant growth hormone causes catastrophic defoliation. Galston recognized that the effects of using the hormone could be harmful to humans and the environment. Nonetheless, the Army moved forward, using Galston's work to develop herbicides during war to destroy enemy crops and it would be shipped in steel drums marked with an orange stripe; inspiring in the common term for the herbicidal weapon: Agent Orange. Galstondecried the use of his early research saying:"I thought it was a misuse of science. Science is meant to improve the lot of mankind, not diminish it - and its use as a military weapon I thought was ill-advised." #OTD It's the birthday of Wolcott Andrews, a New York City landscape architect who lived in Wiscasset ("Wis-cass-it"), Maine. Andrews received a master's degree in landscape architecture from the Harvard School of Design in 1930. Andrews started out working with New York City's Parks Department. That experience afforded him the chance to partner with Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. in designing and constructing Fort Tryon Park in upper Manhattan, the site of the Cloisters. Andrews eventually became the senior landscape architect for the New York City Housing Authority for more than 20 years, retiring in 1966. A noted NYC landscape architect, Andrews was president of the New York chapter of the American Society of La

I realize you are very excited to get going in your own garden. But don't forget to schedule some time this spring to visit other gardens. The gardens of friends, neighbors, or public gardens can provide you with inspiration and teach you something new - even when you didn't think you'd learn anything. #BTW This entire week, April 27-May 4, is Historic Garden Week at Monticello ("MontiCHELLo") in Virginia . If you visit today, April 30, you can learn more about their flower and vegetable gardens. Brevities It's National Raisin Day. California is the biggest supplier of the sun-dried grapes. The California Associated Raisin Company (later known as Sun-Maid) was created with the idea for an ingenious co-op and the credit for this novel approach went to vineyardist, oilman, and attorney Henry H. Welsh. Welsh came up with the idea for a three-year grower contract, subject to a two-year renewal, binding the raisin grower to deliver all of his crop for a guaranteed price. Naturally low in fat, raisins contain healthy nutrients... unless you're eating the yogurt- or chocolate-covered raisins. In their natural state, they are good for humans, but not for dogs. Small quantities of grapes and raisins can cause renal failure in dogs. #OTD On this dayin 1789, Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States. A gardening President, George Washington oversaw all aspects of the land at Mount Vernon. Washington had a personal copy of Batty Langley'sNew Principles of Gardening. Inspired by the 18th century author, Washington adopted a less formal, more naturalistic style for his gardens and he supervised a complete and total redesign of his Mount Vernon. On Mount Vernon's website, they review in detail the four gardens that make up Washington's landscape: the upper (formal) garden, the lower (kitchen) garden, the botanical (personal or experimental) garden, and the fruit garden and nursery. #OTD On this day in 1873, bryologist William Starling Sullivant died. Sullivant was born to the founding family of Franklinton, Ohio. His father, Lucas, was a surveyor and had named the town in honor of the recently deceased Benjamin Franklin. The settlement would become Columbus. In 1823, William Sullivant graduated from Yale College, his father would die in August of that same year. Sullivant took over his father's surveying business, and at the age of thirty, he began to study and catalog the plant life in Central Ohio. In 1840, he published his flora and then he started to hone in on his calling: mosses. Bryology is the study of mosses. The root, bryōs is a Greek verb meaning to swell. It's etymology of the word embryo. Bryology will be easier to remember if you think of the ability of moss to swell as it takes on water. As a distinguished bryologist, Sullivant not only studied and cataloged various mosses from across the United States, but also from as far away as Central America, South America, and from various islands in the Pacific Ocean. Mosses suited Sullivant's strengths; requiring patience and close observation, scrupulous accuracy, and discrimination. His first work, Musci Alleghanienses, was: "exquisitely prepared and mounted, and with letterpress of great perfection; ... It was not put on sale, but fifty copies were distributed with a free hand among bryologists and others who would appreciate it." In 1864, Sullivant published his magnum opus,Icones Muscorum. With 129 truly excellent illustrations and descriptions of the mosses indigenous to eastern North America, Icones Muscorumfixed Sulivant's reputation as the pre-eminent American bryologist of his time. In 1873, Sullivant contracted pneumonia - ironically, an illness where your lungs fill or swell with fluid - and he died on April 30, 1873. During the last four decades of his life, Sullivant exchanged letters with Asa Gray. It's no wonder, then, that he left his herbarium of some 18,000 moss specimens to Gray's beloved Harvard University. When Gray summoned his curator at Cambridge, Leo Lesquereux, to help Sullivant, he wrote to botanist John Torrey: "They will do up bryology at a great rate. Lesquereux says that the collection and library of Sullivant in muscology are magnifique, superbe,and the best he ever saw.'" On December 6, 1857, Gray wrote to Hooker, "A noble fellow is [William Starling] Sullivant, and deserves all you say of him and his works. The more you get to know of him, the better you will like him." In 1877, four years after Sullivant's death, Asa Gray wrote to Charles Darwin. Gray shared that Sullivant was his "dear old friend" and that, "[Sullivant] did for muscology in this country more than one man is likely ever to do again." The Sullivant Moss Society, which became the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, was founded in 1898 and was named for William Starling Sullivant. #OTD On this day in 1943, the noted botanist who became president of Huguenot College in South Africa and founded of the South African Association of

Merriam-Webster gives the following synonyms for the word perennial: abiding, enduring, perpetual, undying Those terms can give gardeners unrealistic expectations for their perennials. They're not eternal. They will eventually part ways with your garden. But, for as long as they can, your perennials will make a go of it. Returning to the garden after their season of die back and rest. Ready to grow. Ready for you to see them, and love them, all over again. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of botanist who was a petite, fearless, and indefatigable person: Agnes Chase, bornon this day in 1869. Chase was anagrostologist—a studier of grass. A self-taught botanist, her first position was as an illustrator at the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C. In this position, Chase worked as an assistant to the botanist Albert Spear Hitchcock. When Hitchcock applied for funding to go on expeditions, authorities approved the assignment for Hitchcock, but would not support Chase - saying the job should belong to "real research men." Undeterred, Chase raised her own funding to go on the expeditions. She cleverly partnered with missionaries in Latin America to arrange for accommodations with host families. She shrewdly observed, "The missionaries travel everywhere, and like botanists do it on as little money as possible. They gave me information that saved me much time and trouble." During a climb of one of the highest Mountains in Brazil, Chase returned to camp with a "skirt filled with plant specimens." One of her major works, the "First Book of Grasses," was translated into Spanish and Portuguese. It taught generations of Latin American botanists who recognized Chase's contributions long before their American counterparts. When Hitchcock retired, Chase was his backfill. When Chase reached retirement age, she ignored the rite of passage altogether and refused to be put out to pasture. She kept going to work - six days a week - overseeing the largest collection of grasses in the world in her office under the red towers at her beloved Smithsonian Institution. When Chase was 89, she became the eighth person to become an honorary fellow of the Smithsonian. A reporter covering the event said, Dr. Chase looked impatient, as if she were muttering to her self, "This may be well and good, but it isn't getting any grass classified, sonny." #OTD On this day in 1924 it was Cornelia Vanderbilt's wedding day. When the Vanderbilt heiress married British nobility, the diplomat John Cecil, the wedding flowers had been ordered from a florist in New York. However, the train to Asheville, North Carolina had been delayed and would not arrive in time. Biltmore's Floral Displays Manager Lizzie Borchers said that, "Biltmore's gardeners came to the rescue, clipping forsythia, tulips, dogwood, quince, and other flowers and wiring them together. They were quite large compositions, twiggy, open, and very beautiful." If you look up this lavish, classic roaring 20's wedding on social media, the pictures show that the bouquets held by the wedding party were indeed very large - they look to be about two feet in diameter! I'll share the images in our Facebook Group The Daily Gardener Community. In 2001, the Biltmore commemorated the 75th anniversary of the wedding with a month long celebration among 2,500 blooming roses during the month of June. #OTD On this day in 1980 Alfred Hitchcock died. On social media, you can see images of a very young Alfred Hitchcock in Italy, on the set of what many believed to be his first feature-length silent film, The Pleasure Garden (1925). He filmed an extravagant "Garden Party" scene in his 1950 film Stage Frightstaring Jane Wyman and Alastair Sim. Then in 1989, the first three reels of Alfred Hitchcock's 1923 silent film "The White Shadow" was discovered in Jack Murtagh's garden shed in Hastings, New Zealand. The film was long thought to be lost. It was Alfred Hitchcock who said, "Places' are the real stars of my films: the Psycho house, the house in Rebecca, the Covent Garden market in Frenzy" #OTD On this day in 2017 The New YorkTimes tweeted that the Brooklyn Botanic Garden cherry blossom festival was set for today and tomorrow, regardless of when nature [decided] to push play. #OTD On this day in 2017, Ron MacBain owner of The Plantsman floral shop in Tucson died - just a few days short of his 90th birthday. MacBain was a floral force majeure. One article I read about MacBain began simply, "Ron McBain did the flowers. It's a refrain heard more and more frequently in Tucson. Whether the event is an elegant party or a posh charity ball; whether the bouquet cost $25 and was sent to grandma on Mother's Day or cost $100..." After selling his shop of 25 years in 1999, MacBain turned his to Winterhaven - a home he shared with his longtime partner Gustavo Carrasco, who died in 2011. The garden at Winterhaven was a destination spot for photographers, painters and garden lovers. In a charming twist, when he could

How close are your earliest bloomers to your front door? Your crocus, snowdrops, iris, daffodils, tulips, forsythia, daphnes, and magnolias. When I redid my front garden last year, the designer had put all my earliest bloomers right near the front porch and walk. When I asked her reasoning, she reminded me of our long winters. Her advice was spot on: When spring finally arrives, it's much more pleasurable to have those earliest blooms where you can see them first thing. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Eugene Delacroix born on this day in 1798. Delacroix is widely considered as one of the last great history painters. A son of France, he received his artistic training in Paris and was a major figure among the French Romance painters of the 19th century. His striking 'A Vase of Flowers' (1833) shows a crystal vase filled mostly with dahlias. It is his earliest surviving flower painting. #OTD American physicist Charles Townes sat on a park bench on this day in 1951 and came up with the theory that would lead to the laser. He recalled, "I woke up early in the morning and sat in the park. It was a beautiful day and the flowers were blooming." #OTD It's the birthday of Irma Franzen-Heinrichsdorff, a German-born landscape architect. In 1913, she attended the Elmwood School of Gardening. In the 1980's she recounted the experience in ten handwritten pages. Here's an excerpt: At 10:15 we went outside and did the currently necessary work in the fruit, vegetable or flower garden. Every kind of vegetable was cultivated. Countless flowers were multiplied through seeds, cuttings, etc. to be sold in the spring or fall. The morning hours passed quickly. At 1 o'clock we stopped work. At 1:30 we had lunch, and at 2:30 we went back to work until 4:30. We then drank tea and at 7 o'clock we appeared in festive evening dress for dinner. In the summer we had the same hours of work except for an extra hour in our greenhouse from 7 to 8 o'clock to water and spray our thirsty plants. But I must add, even if it means praising ourselves, that we did not content ourselves with the times I indicated. We were often found in the garden at 6 o'clock if not at 5 o'clock or even earlier. Also in the evenings we preferred to be active outside. Miss Wheeler had never had students as eager as we were. #OTD John James Audubon was born in Haiti on this day in 1785. Audobon said, "A true conservationist…knows the world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children" A naturalist and a lover of birds, The Ottowa Daily Republic published a charming story about his burial. "John J. Audobon, the naturalist and bird lover, is buried in Trinity, cemetery. There has been erected over his grave an Iona cross; the arms of which are connected by a circular band of stone, making apertures of the four corners at the intersection. In one of these, (apertures) robins built a nest last month. This fell under the eye of a caretaker, who got a pole and dislodged the nest. The birds flew about disconsolately for a time, then went away. So far as any one knows, Audubon did not turn over in his grave, neither did any of the carved birds on the [cross] cry out." #OTD in 1822 visionary 19th century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted is born. He was born to a prosperous family in Hartford, Connecticut. Aside from his legacy as a landscape architect, Olmsted dedicated his entire life to social reform. In many ways, his designs for public spaces played an important role in his social work. His vision for Central Park was an ordered oasis for all of the city's social classes; where everyone could come together and enjoy nature. Dubbed the Nation's Foremost Parkmaker, Olmsted designed Boston's Emerald Necklace, Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts and and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Considered the father of American landscape architecture, he situated his design firm in Brookline and named it Fairsted - a likely nod to his family's ancestral home in England. In 1893 he helped design the Chicago World's Fair. It was Frederick Law Olmsted who said, "The enjoyment of scenery employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it; tranquilizes it and yet enlivens it." "The root of all my good work is an early respect for, regard and enjoyment of scenery." Unearthed Words Every April, one should read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's words on Spring. This passage is from his "Kavanagh" written in 1849. It's a lovely reminder to appreciate spring's unfolding. "Ah, how wonderful is the advent of the Spring!—the great annual miracle…. which no force can stay, no violence restrain, like love, that wins its way and cannot be withstood by any human power, because itself is divine power. If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation would there be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change!… We are like children who are astonished and delighted

Today I learned how botanists used to say "hello" to each other. In the 1800's and 1900's, a common way for botanists to introduce themselves, often from the other side of the world, was to send each other plant specimens as the foundation for developing a relationship. When it comes to friendship, plants are icebreakers, communicators, and binding ties all rolled into one. Brevities There are many delightful anniversaries today. Today is National Zucchini Bread Day. Zucchini was discovered in the Americas. Explorers brought it back to Europe where, in Italy, was called "zucchino". #OTD On this day in 1958, President Truman planted a sugar maple in New York in honor of Arbor Day. #OTD On this day in 1981, The Native Plant Society of Texas(NPSOT) was founded at Texas Women's University. #OTD On this day in 2007 Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota held its second Linnaeus Symposium. The event, titled "Linnaeus @ 300," honored the 300th anniversary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist for whom the Gustavus arboretum is named. #OTD On this day in 1852, botanist Marcus Jones was born. His mom loved plants and sent Marcus to gather fresh flowers every day to display on the family's mantle. This daily chore was the beginning of his passion for botany. He won national recognition for his work as a prominent botanist of the American West and in 1923 he sold his personal herbarium for $25,000 - an impressive amount at the time. His collection represents the largest archive of plants from Utah. Jones died in 1934 in San Bernardino, California. He was returning from a plant collecting trip to Lake Arrowhead at the age of 81 when his car was hit by another driver. Seatbelts had wouldn't be invented for another 25 years; Jones was ejected from his vehicle and died from a skull fracture. Jones columbine, Aquilegia jonesii, is named for Marcus Jones. It is rare and does not transplant well. Plants and seeds are sold by select nurseries. #OTD On this day in 1912, author and botanist Julia Francis McHugh Morton was born. A Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, Julia Morton was a popular expert and lecturer on plants and especially plant medicine and toxicity. Known as the poison-plant lady, Morton worked to education the public through letters and phone calls, lectures and posters designed for hospital emergency rooms. Among the many ER calls she received was one from a doctor in Scotland. A patient, back from a Jamaican holiday was gravely ill. Morton deduced that a noxious castor bean from a souvenir necklace had been ingested. Over the years Morton has been the subject of many newspaper articles. Clever headlines showcase Morton's expertise, "She gets to the root of problems" and "She leaves no leaf unturned". In 1988, the Miami News published an article about Morton's help with a murder case of a teen-age girl. The girl's car was found in the Dadeland Mall parking lot, after the girl had disappeared. Police brought Morton a half-Inch blade of grass that was stuck to the door handle of the car, and some pieces of leaves that were wedged inside the door. Morton Identified the grass as Giant Burma Reed. Then, she spread the leaves out in water and determined that they were the undeveloped leaflets of Spanish Needles. Morton's conclusion was that somewhere a short distance from the Dadeland Mall, (perhaps off Galloway Road near a nursery in a tall patch of Burma Reed) police might find the body of the girl. And, she predicted that there were two killers. Morton correctly assumed that one had wet hands and had left Burma Reed on the driver's door; while the other had closed the passenger door so quickly that it caught the Spanish Needles in the frame. The next morning, policemen found an area that matched Morton's description and solved their case. It was Julia Morton who said, "Plants are always up to something. So I don't take a vacation. I operate on solar energy. I can only stay indoors a certain length of time." Like Marcus E. Jones, Julia Morton died from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1996. She was 84. #OTD On this day in 1949, botanical illustrator Alice R. Tangerini was born. Tangerini was hired as a staff illustrator for the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History by American botanist Lyman Bradford Smithin 1972. As of March 9, 2017, Tangerini remains the only botanical illustrator ever hired by the Smithsonian. In 2005, Tangerini lost sight in her right eye due to an injury, and she has diplopiadue to a subsequent surgery. She has received the "Distinguished Service Award" from Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the "Excellence in Scientific Botanical Art" award from the American Society of Botanical Artists. Unearthed Words It's National Poem in Your Pocket Day. Today you can share the joy that poems bring by carrying one in your pocket and sharing it throughout the day with others. Here's a brief one from Agnes Falconercalled Windflowers. (Windflowers is

I recently had a gardener ask me about the first herb I'd ever grown. That would be chives. Chives, like many herbs, are so easy to grow. Plus, you get the cute purple puffball blossoms. I had a chef friend show me how she liked to cut off the flower. Then, she snipped a little triangle off of the bottom where the bloom comes together (like cutting paper to make a snowflake). By doing this, you basically get "chive-fetti" and you can easily sprinkle the little chive blossom over salads or dishes. Mic drop. Goat cheese and chive blossoms pair very well together. You can serve that at a party or just add it to an omelet. Very decorative. Very pretty. Something anyone can do. Brevities #OTD Today, Japan celebrates "Botany Day". Held annually on April 24, the celebration honors the Father of Japanese Botany, Tomitaro Makino, on his birthday. Makino was born in 1862. His dad was a successful brewer of the Japanese national drink, sake. Sadly, by the time he was six, his father, mother, and grandfather had died. He was raised by his grandmother. Makino became fascinated with plants as a boy. He loved to collect specimens. Every spare minute, until he became bedridden before his death, he would roam the countryside adding to his personal herbarium which would ultimately max out at over 400,000 specimens. (The University of Tokyo is now home to the Makino herbarium). Makino adopted Linnaean principles for naming his plants. In 1940, he published the Illustrated Flora of Japan - an exhaustive work that details more than 6,000 plants. (I ordered myself a first edition online from Abe Books for the fine price of $67.) The Makino Botanical Garden was built in his hometown of Kochi City after he died in 1957 at the age of 94. Tomitaro Makino, Japanese botanist said, "Plants can survive without humans; but humans can't survive without plants". #OTD Today is the birthday of french botanist Lucien Plantefol (1891-1983). He developed his owntheory to explain how leaves are arranged on the stems of plants. He served in the first World War. Modern chemical warfare began in his home country, France; on April 22, 1915 German soldiers attacked the French by using chlorine gas. Plantefol was wounded during the war, but he went on to serve his country by working on a team at a national defense laboratory that developed the gas mask. #OTD On this day in 2017, Botanist, Vancouver's highly acclaimed new restaurant inside the Fairmont Pacific Rimhotel, officially opened... they started their first day with breakfast service. Very on trend, the restaurant boasts pastel tones and loads of houseplants. Divided into quarters Botanist includes: a dining room, cocktail bar and lab, garden, and a champagne lounge. The champagne lounge is surrounded by glass and planters filled with greenery indigenous to British Columbia. The Garden invites guests to chill in a glass-walled space filled with greenery, a trellis and more than 50 different types of plant species that include rare fruit bushes, and edible species such as green tea camellia, cardamom and ginger. #OTD On this day Paul George Russell was born in 1889 inLiverpool, New York. His family moved to DC in 1902 and this became Russell's lifelong home. Russell received his advanced degrees fromGeorge Washington University. He got his first job atthe National Herbarium; Russell would end up working for the government as a botanist for 50 years. Early on, Russell went on collecting trips in northern Mexico with botanists Joseph Nelson Rose and Paul Carpenter Standley. In 1910, during a Mexico trip, the Verbena russellii - a woody flowering plant - was named for Paul George Russell. Later, he accompanied Rose to Argentenia where the Opuntia russellii - a type of prickly pear -was named for him. Back in the States, Russell was a vital part of the team dedicated to creating the living architecture Japanese cherries around the Washington Tidal Basin. As the consulting botanist, he oversaw the planting of all the cherry trees and he authored a 72-page USDA circular called "Oriental flowering cherries" in March 1934. It was Russell's most impressive work and it provided facts on cultivation and historical details about varieties of ornamental cherries grown in the United States, introducing visitors to the magnificent cherry trees growing around the tidal basin in Washington, D.C. A compiler of over 40,000 seed vials, Russell honed a unique and rare skill: he could identify plant species by seed alone. After retiring, he began working on a history of USDA seed collection. Sadly, he never finished this endeavor. Russell died at the age of 73 froma fatal heart attack April 3, 1963. The following day, April 4th, Russell had made plans with his daughter to see his beloved cherry blossom trees in bloom around the tidal basin. Unearthed Words Here's a little verse from Fisherman's Luck by Henry Van Dyke in 1899. "The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference b

There's a soldier's prayer that goes, "Stay with me, God. The night is dark, The night is cold: my little spark Of courage dies. The night is long; Be with me, God, and make me strong. Dark. Cold. Long. It's easy to get so excited about the first nice days of spring. "It was 80 degrees today!" "It's going to be above 70 all next week!" Well, hold your horses. You're forgetting about those nights. Remember? Dark. Cold. Long. No fun for tender transplants. Over in the FB group for listeners of the show, listener Denise Pugh shared an awesome Facebook Live session put on by one of the best: Lisa Mason Ziegler from The Gardener's Workshop. In the video, Lisa mentions the secret to successful transitioning of transplants from indoors to outdoors - the secret is consistent nighttime temps of 60 degrees or higher. She's got a ton of other sage pieces of wisdom as well for growing warm weather crops - so head on over to the Daily Gardener Community on Facebook and check out the replay. In the meantime, remember to curb your enthusiasm about those first lovely warm days of spring. Save the real celebration for the arrival of warm nights. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1863, botanist, physician and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, William Darlington died. Like eminent botanists John Bartram, Humphry Marshall, and William Baldwin, Darlington was born in Pennsylvania as a Quaker. A native of West Chester, he received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. As a student, Benjamin Barton, the author of the first American botany textbook, encouraged his interest in botany. After an appointment as a surgeon for an East India merchant, Darlington traveled to Calcutta. A year later, when he returned from India, he married Catharine Lacey, the daughter of a distinguished Revolutionary War General. An abiding counselor and partner to William, they would be together for forty years; having four sons and four daughters. Their oldest son Benjamin Smith Barton Darlington and their youngest son William Baldwin Darlington were both named in honor of fellow botanists. 1826 was a big year for Darlington. He organized and presided over the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Sciences and he published his first edition of "Florula Cestrica," his catalogue of plants in West Chester. An archivist, Darlington worked to preserve correspondence and documents of Humphry Marshall and John Bartram; he compiled them, along with illustrations of their homes, under the title of "Memorials of Bartram and Marshall." In 1853, the botanist John Torrey named a new and remarkable variety of pitcher-plant found in California for Darlington, calling it Darlingtonia Californica. He had been similarly honored but Augustin de Candolle who named a genus after him. Darlington's large herbarium and works were bequeathed to the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science. He was buried in the Oaklands Cemetery, near West Chester. An epitaph in Latin is inscribed on his stone marker, written by Darlington some twenty years before his death: "Plantae Cestrienses, quas dilexit atque illustravit, super tumulum ejus semper floreant" or May the plants of Chester, which he loved and documented, forever blossom over his grave. And, Darlington's tombstone is crowned with a relief of Darlingtonia californica. #OTD It's the birthday of Thomas Grant Harbison born in 1862. Harbison was a self-taught in botanist earning advanced degrees including a PhD by correspondence - a fairly novel concept in the late 1800s. In 1886, Harbison and a friend created their own version of Survivor. They followed forest and mountain paths through Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. Cutting themselves off from civilization, they allowed themselves only five items for daily living: a wool en blanket, a rubber poncho, a tin bucket, a bag of wheat, and a tin of brown sugar. Their only other indulgence was a copy of Alphonso Wood's Manual of Botany to aid their study the plants. Harbison remembered that, in wartime, Caesar's soldiers ate wheat crushed and turned into a mush. This was their primary source of sustenance - which they would sweeten with the brown sugar and berries picked along the way. It was a formative event for Harbison. This survivalist experience helped Harbison develop his famed skill for finding any particular species in ways few other man could equal. Harbison was part of a corp of botanists hired by the Biltmore Herbarium - the famous Vanderbilt botanical garden at Asheville, North Carolina. As a plant collector for Biltmore, Harbison travelled throughout the United States - specifically searching for tree and shrub specimens. After leaving in 1903, Harbison was the only Biltmore collector who went on to work purely as a botanist. He brought attention to over 100 new or little known tree species as a field representative for Charles Sprague Sargent at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. When Harbison came to Highlands, North Carolina

Children's book writer and illustrator Tasha Tudor (Books by this author) once said, It's exciting to see things coming up again, plants that you've had for 20 or 30 years. It's like seeing an old friend. This made me think of the old saying; Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold. Perennials are old friends. Gold friends. They are the best kind of garden friends. They may not be as flashy or exciting as the gardener's silver friends; annuals. But, they have staying power. Peony, daylily, hosta, iris, baptisia, catmint; these are just a handful of some of the longest lived perennials. Brevities #OTD Today is Earth day - a celebration that started in 1970. Next year will be the 50th anniversary. #OTD It's the birthday of August Wilhelm Eichler, (born April 22, 1839, Neukirchen, Hesse, Ger.—died March 2, 1887, Berlin). Eichler was a German botanist and he developed one of the first widely used natural systems of plant classification. Most importantly, it was the first classification system based on evolution. In addition, Eichler divided the plant kingdom into non-floral plants and floral plants. Eichler spent many years of his life working tirelessly as a private assistant to the naturalist Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martinus. Martinus had traveled to Brazil and collected over 20,000 specimens. He spent the final three decades of his life documenting his findings in a book called Flora Brasiliensiswhich Eichler helped edit. Generally speaking, a Flora is a book describing all plants from a set geographic area. When Martinus died in 1868, Eichler carried on the work of Flora Brasiliensisunassisted. It was a labor of love. After Eichler died, botanist Ignatius Urban continued on with the project until its completion. Today, Wilhelm Eichler Strasse (Street) in Dresden is named in his honor. Wilhelm Eichler who said, "The felling of the first tree is the beginning of human civilization. The felling of the last is his end." #OTD On this day in 1958 Gloria Galeano was born. Known as "The Queen of the Palms," Galeano was a Colombian botanistand agronomistand she devoted her entire career to studying and classifying the palm family. Apassionate teacher and researcher at the National University of Colombia, She classified more than 260 species of Palm in 45 wild genera. It's difficult to imagine, but at the beginning of the 1980s, Colombian palm taxonomy was almost non-existent. Thus, Galeano worked in concert with her partner Rodrigo Bernal to resolve this issue. After decades of fieldwork, they published their groundbreaking work Palmas de Colombia Field Guide; the most exhaustive Flora of Colombian Palms. Galeano never tired in her devotion to the subject of Palms, she was the author or co-author of some seventeen books, fifteen book chapters, sixty-eight scientific articles and ten electronic works, mostly on the palm as highlighted by the Institute of Natural Sciences. When Gloria Galeano first saw pictures of the newly discovered Sabinaria magnifica palm (named for her daughter, Sabina with Rodrigo Bernal), she described it as "the most beautiful of all Colombian palms." She was remembered for telling her students, "any project in which we would get involved, should be thrilling and make our blood boil" Galeano was well aware of the harvest impacts of Colombian plants and Neotropical palms, and she was a leading voice for conservation efforts for Columbian palms. In June of 2015, Galeano co-organized the World Palm Symposium. At the event, Galeano revealed that less than four percent of tropical dry forest remains in the Colombia Caribbean region. Galeano died in 2016. Today, her legacy lives on in the plans for the conservation and sustainable use of the native wax palm. Unearthed Words #OTD in 1775, William Bartram left Charleston, South Carolina on horseback to explore the Cherokee Nation near Franklin, North Carolina. In addition to his botanical discoveries, his journal describes traveling through a terrible storm during his journey, "It was now after noon; I approached a charming vale... Darkness gathers around, far distant thunder rolls over the trembling hills; ...all around is now still as death, ... a total inactivity and silence seems to pervade the earth; the birds afraid to utter a chirrup, ...nothing heard but the roaring of the approaching hurricane; ...now the lofty forests bend low beneath its fury,... the face of the earth is obscured by the deluge descending from the firmament, and I am deafened by the din of thunder; the tempestuous scene damps my spirits, and my horse sinks under me at the tremendous peals, as I hasten for the plain. I began to ascend the Jore Mountains, which I at length accomplished, and rested on the most elevated peak; from whence I beheld with rapture and astonishment, a sublimely awful scene of power and magnificence, a world of mountains piled upon mountains." Today's book recommendation The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing House Plants:

Does your garden have a signature plant? If you can't decide, maybe it's time to let your garden do the talking. Complete the following sentence: My garden has the perfect spot to grow....(fill in the blank). For instance, you may have the perfect spot to grow anemone. I remember going to my friend Carmen's house in the spring. I came around the corner and stopped in my tracks when I saw her happy anemones - so cheerful, so vibrant,... and so demanding. Not everyone can grow anemones, but Carmen's garden had the perfect spot for them. And even though anemones are pretty ephemeral, I always think of them as her signature plant. Brevities #OTD Today is National Garlic Day - it is observed every year on April 19. Garlic, or stinking rose, is a member of the lily family. Onions, leeks, and shallots are also in the family. This time of year, wild garlic or ransoms, are returning to the woodlands, hedgerows, and riverbanks. Wild garlic is also called bear's garlic. Folklore says that bears are eating it after hibernation. If cows graze on wild garlic, it will taint the milk with garlic flavor. Garlic is a favorite foraged seasonal ingredient of top chefs. And it's not just a foundational ingredient for cooking - garlic is also used for medicinal purposes. Garlic has antibiotic properties, and it also helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. Herbalists recommend garlic as a remedy for colds. Gilroy, California is known as the Garlic Capital of the World. Will Rogers said this about Gilroy: "…the only place in America where you can marinate a steak just by hanging it out on a clothesline." Atlas Obscura wrote an article last year about Gilroy. They featured Gilroy's unique recipes for garlic ice cream saying, "The dessert divides ice-cream lovers." An online reviewer mediated the matter with this comment, "Actually the garlic ice cream is pretty good. But a little does go a long way." The Gilroy Garlic Festival is held every year in July. #OTD It's the birthday of E. Lucy Braun was born on April 19, 1889 in Cincinnati. The E stood for Emma, but she went by Lucy. In 1950, Braun was the first woman elected president of the Ecological Society of America. A quiet, bright, and dedicated field scientist, she worked as a botanist at the University of Cincinnati. Braun became interested in the outdoors as a child. Growing up on May Street in Cincinnati, her parents would take Lucy and her older sister, Annette, by horse-drawn streetcar to the woods in Rose Hill so they could spend time in the woods. The girls were taught to identify wildflowers. In turn, the girls helped gather specimens for their mother's herbarium. The girls both got PhD's - Lucy in botany, Annette in Zoology - and they never married. However, they lived together their entire lives, leaving their childhood May street for a home in Mount Washington. The sisters turned the upstairs into a laboratory and the gardens around the house into an outside laboratory. At the age of 80, Braun was still leading people on field trips in Ohio. Friends of Braun have recounted, "To be with her in the field was something. She made everything so real, so exciting she was just so knowledgeable." "She loved to be out in the field rain wouldn't stop her. She could walk forever." Lucy Braun said, "Only through close and reverent examination of nature can humans understand and protect its beauties and wonders." By the time she died, Emma had collected some 11,891 specimens for her own personal herbarium. This was the result of tremendous personal dedication; Braun drove over 65,000 miles during a 25 year quest throughout the eastern United States. Her heart belonged to the forests and her book, Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America, is still regarded as a definitive text. When asked about her time in the field, Braun would happily recount how she had managed to dodge moonshiners' stills in the hills of Kentucky; gathering up plant samples unseen by the botanists of her time. When she died of heart failure in March, 1971, at the age of 81, she was one of the top three ecologists In the United States. Her herbarium was acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum in Washington D.C. OTD In 1792, Naturalist Gilbert White wrote in his journal in Selborne, England: Redstart appears. Daffodils are gone: mountain-snow-drops, & hyacinths in bloom; the latter very fine: fritillaries going. Vast flood at Whitney in Oxfordshire, on the Windrush. Then, four years later in 1796: Sowed holly-hocks, columbines, & sweet Williams Unearthed Words #OTD It's Primrose Day. Primrose Day commemorates the death dateof Queen Victoria's favorite Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. His favorite flower was the Primrose. The name comes from the Latin primus meaning first rose. In 1889, London newspapers reported that, "They received, no fewer than 811 sets of verses from 'poets' who have attempted to carry off the small prize awarded for a Primrose poem. In 1884, when the competition started, only 77

Do you have pet names for your plants? Amy the Amaryllis. Jerry the geranium. Once I bought some dahlias at a private plant sale. Before I drove away, I rolled down the window to ask for the sellers name; they've been my "Doris" dahlias ever since. Doris and I have stayed in touch over the years, and I have to say; she's as lovely as the bloom on those dahlias. So whether they are called Howard or Bertie, Harry or Liz; if you've named your plants, you are not alone. The gesture of honoring a loved one or the little laugh evoked from a cleverly name to plant all add it to the joy of gardening. There's nothing wrong with that. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1855 Paul de Longpré (Books By This Author)was born. Known as the "King of Flowers", de Longpré painted exceptional portrayals of roses (his first love), and wildflowers (his second love). If you look at his work, you'll find somewhere in his composition his signature accent – a bumblebee. After exhibitions of his work on the East Coast, reviewers praised, "No one but a poet could paint as he does." "De Longpré has the rare gift of reading down to the heart of his loved flowers." De Longpré was raised in northern Paris. His father left the family early one - a hurt that de Longpré hid from reporters; telling them that his father was dead. De Longpré's family was artistic and he helped his mother financially by painting silk fans with his brother. (The fans were quite fashionable at the time). After marrying the delightful Josephine Estievenard, de Longpré was mentored by Francois Rivoire. Like Rivoire, de Longpré's mastery of watercolors are said to rival the richness of oil painting. When de Longpré lost his savings in a Paris bank crash, he immigrated with his wife and their children to the United States - ultimately calling Hollywood their home in 1900. At the time, Hollywood was a brand new development just west of Los Angeles - De Longpré built a lavish Mission Revival style villa and it quickly became the most famous estate on the boulevard. He bought an additional three blocks of property from socialite Daeida Wilcox Beveridgein exchange for three of his flora watercolors. On the property, de Longpré planted over 4000 rosebushes the muses for his work – and he turned the main level of his magnificent home into an art gallery. The place became a sensation; a hub for elites, as well as a tourist destination, with over 8,000 visitors a month. De Longpré's guests were greeted by a very courteous Japanese butler who would hand them a list of the paintings titles and prices. Pauls daily habit was to get up in the morning and pick flowers with his youngest daughter, Pauline, by his side. After creating more than 2,000 paintings, de Longpré died in 1911. Josephine and the girls sold the house and sadly agreed to a final exhibition of de Longpré's work, which included his masterpiece the Cherokee Rose. It was a Josephine's lifelong regret to part with these paintings. Thirteen years later, the architectural wonder of the de Longpré's villa and the lavish gardens were all destroyed to make room for commercial buildings and parking lots. #OTD On this day in 1734, Elsa Beate Bunga was born. She was a pistol. Married to the handsome Swedish Count Sven Bunga, Elsa was a passionate amateur botanist. At her Beataberga mountain estate, she had many large greenhouses. Bunga wrote a book called, "About the Nature of Grapevines", which brought her notoriety and authority. She even corresponded with fellow Swede Carl Linnaeus (who is almost 30 years older than her). Bunga also drew attention because of her way of dressing. Like the women of her time she wore a skirt, but she distinguished herself by dressing as a man from the waist up. When King Gustav III (1771 - 1792), inquired about a peculiarly dressed woman at the Royal Swedish opera, Bunge boldly replied, "Tell his Majesty that I am the daughter of statesman Fabian Reder and married to statesman Sven Bunga". Unearthed Words #OTD Maryland selected the Black-Eyed Susan as the State Flower. This was after much debate. The Baltimore Sun, among many others, was not in favor of the Black-Eyed Susan selection, writing dismissively: "Susan came to Maryland, not on the Ark or the Dove, but a migrant from the Midwest mixed in clover and hayseed." Before the plant received it's popular common name, there was a song by John Gay called Black-Eyed Susan - popular in British maritime novels. The song tells of a love story between Susan and her Sweet William. As the two say their final farewells before his departure on a long sea voyage, Susan had crying and had black circles around her eyes. Today, their stories continue; folklore sharing that Black-Eyed Susans and Sweet William share the same bloom time to celebrate their undying love for each other. Here are a few verses: All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd, The streamers waving to the wind When black-eyed Susan came on board; Oh! where shall I my true love find? Tell me, ye

William Cullen Bryant wrote, "There is no glory in star or blossom till looked upon by a loving eye; There is no fragrance in April breezes till breathed with joy as they wander by." That pretty much sums up what happens with the plants I've dubbed "double-takes". A double-take plant is the one you first ignore or blow off - but them something about them causes you to take another look; to appreciate what you didn't see the first time around. Until the first spring I saw Lungwort in bloom, I never looked at it with a loving eye. But then, that very first time I saw it in bloom, it about knocked me over. THAT BLOOM Bluey-purpley-pinky little delicate thing. It took my breath away; Pulmonaria making me need a Pulmonologist. I suddenly didn't mind the speckled foliage. And now? Now, I love it. It's a classic double-take plant. Brevities #OTD Buried on this day, 381 years ago, in the churchyard of St Mary at Lambeth, alongside his son; the gardener John Tradescant the elder. Today, the churchyard is the Garden Museum. #OTD in 2003 Horticulturist Graham Stuart Thomas (Books By This Author) died. He was 94. (3 April 1909 – 17 April 2003). GST was fundamentally a nursery man and he lived a life fully immersed in the garden. His passion was sparked at a young age by a special birthday present he was given when he turned six: a beautiful potted fuchsia. In 2003. his gardening outfit - including his pants, vest and shoes - as well as a variety of his tools (including plant markers and a watering can) were donated to the Garden Museum. GST was best known for his work with garden roses and his leadership of over 100 National Trust gardens. He wrote 19 books on gardening. Ever the purposeful perfectionist, he never wasted a moment. What do folks have to say about GST on social media? Here's a sampling: Pachysandra ground cover - A GST classic! My mom gave me a Graham Stuart Thomas for my first gardening book, so very special Our best selling plant of 2015? At number 1 (drum roll) - Eryngium Graham Stuart Thomas. Flower spike on yucca in border. GST used them as punctuation marks in design. Love being married to someone who knows what I mean when I say, "Bring me Graham Stuart Thomas" #OTD Physicianand botanist James McBride was born in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, in 1784. As a babe, he was left an orphan. With nothing to his name, he managed to get an education through what his Yale biography called "indefatigable industry and perseverance". Trained as a doctor, he spent his free time pursuing his passion: botany. He wrote papers to the Linnean Society and other scientific journals. His personal friend, Dr. Stephen Elliott, named the Macbridia pulcrafor McBride. He also dedicated the second volume of his Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgiato McBride's memory: "[James was] a gentleman who, uniting great sagacity to extensive and accurate botanical knowledge, has made the medical properties of our plants a subject of careful investigation. Profoundly skilled in his profession… he fell victim to the fatigues and exposure of an extensive [medical] practice. In the midst of a brilliant career, with prospects of increasing usefulness and extended reputation" James McBride died at the age of 33 trying to help stop an epidemic of yellow fever in Charleston, South Carolina on September 21, 1817. #OTD American botanist and plant collector Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer died. He was born in 1870 in Van Dyne, Wisconsin. Elmer got degrees from the Washington Agricultural College, and Stanford University. He collected plants in the Philippines from 1904 to 1927. Kew Gardens shared that in 1919 Elmer's notes stated " I ... collected [plant specimens] on the Bulusan ("Bah-loo-sahn") volcano which has recently become active and..may cause the total destruction of its vegetation." Elmer was editor of "Leaflets of Philippine Botany". In that publication, he documented more than 1,500 new species. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Adolph Elmer and his wife, Emma, ignored the pleas from their extended family to leave American-controlled Manila. Elmer was killed on April 17, 1942 after being captured by Japanese forces in the Battle of Bataan. His wife, Emma, survived both the battle and the Death March. She returned to the United States after the war. Unearthed Words #OTD Naturalist Gilbert White wrote in his Journal in Selborne, England on April 17, 1789 : Five gallons of french brandy from London. Cucumbers show fruit in bloom. Cuculus cuculat: the voice of the cuckoo is heard in Blackmoor woods. Sowed hollyhocks, columbines, snapdragons, stocks, mignonette, all from S. Lambeth, in a bed in the garden: also Sweet Williams, & Canterbury bells. Today's book recommendation Three Gardens: The Personal Odyssey of a Great Plantsman and Gardener Hardcover by Graham Stuart Thomas In this reprint of a 1983 book, venerable English horticulturist, painter, and writer Graham Stuart Thomas recounts his journey from his firs

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day." ~ Robert Frost April can be a challenging time in the garden. How many truly lovely Aprils does one get in a lifetime? I'd venture to say maybe five or six. Often, the gardens are too wet to get into; provided you could even get to them. Even with the rain, the snow hasn't completely melted away. It's too cold to turn the spigots on, so you'll have the thrill of trooping through the residue of a long winter: grit and grime, salt and mush. Until it dries up, there's really no sense going out. Content yourself with planning or growing seeds indoors. Unless you're having a once in a decade kind of April… then pinch yourself and get going. Brevities #OTD We've got a big birthday today: Sir Hans Sloane, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He bequeathed his collection of 71,000 items to the British nation thus singlehandedly establishing the British Museum, the British Library and the Natural History Museum, London. How was his collection so large? First, he lived into his 90's and outlived many of his collecting friends. Second, when his friends passed away, they gave Hans Sloane their herbariums and other materials. He was a one man repository for horticultural knowledge. Fun fact: Sloane is credited with adding milk to cacaoto make drinking chocolate. There are many botanical birthdays today. Perhaps Hans Sloane has blessed this day. OTD Happy birthday to British botanist William Stearn (16 April 1911 – 9 May 2001). The author of "Botanical Latin"as well as the Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners, a popular guide to the Latin names of plants. He was mainly self-educated which was probably a by-product of being a librarian for the Royal Horticultural Society in London for almost 20 years. Highly esteemed, he is THE expert on over 400 plants that he named and described. #OTD American botanical illustrator Ellen "Nelly" Thayer Fisher was born today in 1847 (April 16, 1847 – October 15, 1911). The daughter of a doctor, she learned her craft from her brother Abbott. To make a living, she painted pictures for exhibition but she also gave "lessons by letter" to aspiring artists. Additionally, her paintings of flora and fauna were widely reproduced as chromolithographs by Boston publisher Louis Prang. #OTD Mary Gibson Henry died today in (1884 – April 1967). She was born to be a plants-woman. Her family's roots in horticulture went way back. Her great-grandfather, George Pepper, was a member of the first Council of the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society. She became an avid botanist and plant collector and also served as president of the American Horticultural Society. The daylily Hymenocallis henryae is named in her honor. In 1909, she married Dr John Norman Henry. She had a large backyard garden and greenhouses. She had a splendid kitchen garden, native rock plants, and orchards. Starting in 1929, she went on biannual plant collecting trips. On her first trip, she brought the family - 4 kids and her hubby. Not sure if she continued that, but over the next forty years, she went on over 200 botanical expeditions. And, she figured out that plant collecting wasn't for sissies, saying, "I soon learned that rare and beautiful plants can only be found in places that are difficult of access ... Often one has to shove one's self through or wriggle under briars, with awkward results to clothing and many and deep cuts and scratches ... Wading, usually barelegged, through countless rattlesnake-infested swamps adds immensely to the interest of the day's work." On this day in April, Mary died in North Carolina doing what she loved to do: collecting plants #OTD Born on 16 April 1886, Sir Edward Salisbury was the youngest of nine children. His passion for plants started as a child. On outings, Salisbury would collect flowers to grow in his own patch at home. Get this: He attached a label to each one, giving its Latin name. His brothers called his garden 'The Graveyard'. Typical brothers. One of the leading British botanists of the twentieth century, he was the director of Kew during the Second World War. He was not simply an expert on plants themselves, he was supremely interested in their natural habitat. He wrote many books - my favorite of all of his books is "Weeds & Aliens". In it, he goes for a walk in the countryside and discovers when he gets home that the cuffs of his wool trousers were full of seeds. He decides to try to grow them and is astounded to discover that he was able to grow more than 300 plants "comprising over 20 different species of weeds." It was Sir Edward Salisbury who said, "The double lily was and is a crime against God and man. He lived to be 92. Unearthed Words Aphra Behn, (Books By This Author), the first professional woman playwright in Britain, whose novel 'Oroonoko', played a crucial role in the development of English fiction, was buried in Westminster Abbey #OTD in 16

William Kent wrote: "A garden is to be a world unto itself, it had better make room for the darker shades of feeling as well as the sunny ones." I've usually think about my garden as my happy place. It's a natural mood changer for me. But I remember one time when I was out in the garden with feelings of a definite darker shade. I was very pregnant with John and I was wearing a hideous, striped, maternity tank top. It was super hot out and I looked like an absolute mess. I wasn't out there long before I realized my new neighbor kept trying to catch my attention; I didn't want to meet him looking such a fright. I kept my eyes down on my plants. But, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed he kept coming out of his house to stand on his deck - expecting me to acknowledge him. Finally, an older man joined him and, together, they approached the back fence. I walked over to say hello. Here it was my old principal from middle school and his son-in-law; my new neighbor. So much for my garden being a world unto itself. Brevities #OTD On This Day in 1823, botanist Allan Cunningham departs Bathurst to find an easier route to the Liverpool Plains. Born in Wimbledon, England, Cunningham came to Australia with tuberculosis and happily discovered Australia's climate helped him feel better. #OTD It's the birthday of George Harrison Shull who was born on this day in 1874. An American botanist, he is regarded as the "father of hybrid corn." #OTD, It's the birthday of Francis Hallé born today in 1938. He is a French botanist and biologist and his specialty is tropical rainforests and tree architecture. Atlas Obscura wrote an article about Halle called, "The Botanist Who Made Fantastical Sketches of Rain Forest Flora". It's true. Halle's work in his book, "The Atlas of Poetic Botany" is other worldly - possessing an almost Seussical charm. Of equatorial forests, Halle says they are full of magical allure and little marvels. Check out this passage from the Atlas Obscura piece, "On Robinson Crusoe Island, part of an archipelago off the coast of Chile, he found Gunnera peltata, which looks like a rhubarb plant so enormous that it dwarfs whoever stands below its wide, veined leaves. Analyzing it was a thrilling challenge. "Normally, a scalpel is used for dissecting plants," Hallé writes. "This time, I had to wield a meat cleaver!" A photo would convey the size and the "nest of ruby-red fibers," but the author eschews snapshots. "I cannot think of a better way to present it than with a drawing." #OTD It's the death day of Alexander Garden, of Charleston, South Carolina, who was a steady and delightful writer of letters to other eminent botanists of his day. The Gardenia flower is named for him. His letters provide a glimpse into his life; one of which is to John Bartram, the botanist: "Think that I am here, confined to the sandy streets of Charleston, where the ox, where the ass, and where man, as stupid as either, fill up the vacant space, while you range the green fields of Florida." Here's a letter he wrote to John Ellis : "I know that every letter which I receive not only revives the little botanic spark in my breast, but even increases its quantity and flaming force." When the Revolutionary War began, Garden sided with the British, even though he sympathized with the colonists. When the war was over, his property was confiscated and he had to leave South Carolina. After losing everything, he and his family went to live in London where he became vice-president of the Royal Society. He died of tuberculosis, at age 61, on this day in 1791. There's a sad little aside to the Alexander Garden biography: "He had a little granddaughter, named appropriately 'Gardenia.' Her father, Alexander, Garden's only son, joined Lee's legion against the British (so going against his father) and was never forgiven ; nor was the little girl, his granddaughter with the flower name, ever received into her Grandfather's house. Unearthed Words Here's a little known poem for today about springtime called "Nothing Perfect on Earth" by Francis Quarles Even as the soil (which April's gentle showers Have filled with sweetness and enriched with flowers) Rears up her sucking plants, still shooting forth The tender blossoms of her timely birth ; But if denied the beams of cheerly May, They hang their withered heads, and fade away. Today's book recommendation The Atlas of Poetic Botany by Francis Hallé This Atlas invites the reader to tour the farthest reaches of the rainforest in search of exotic―poetic―plant life. Guided in these botanical encounters by Francis Hallé, who has spent forty years in pursuit of the strange and beautiful plant specimens of the rainforest, the reader discovers a plant with just one solitary, monumental leaf; an invasive hyacinth; a tree that walks; a parasitic laurel; and a dancing vine. Further explorations reveal the Rafflesia arnoldii, the biggest flower in the world, with a crown of stamens and pistils the color of rotten meat th

I was looking at the cute brass plant labels on the Target website the other day - I was trying to find the link to that adorable garden tote I was telling you about and I thought about the evolution of a gardener when it comes to using plant tags. First you start out needing the labels - is that dill? What does basil look like again? Then you label only the newcomers or the look alike parsley or cilantro - who can tell without smell? Sometimes a new gardener will visit. Or you'll have people tour your garden. Folks appreciate knowing what they are looking at. Pretty soon, you realize you're labeling as a kindness to your garden guests. If you're like me, no matter how long you've been gardening, cute or clever plant labels are always a lovely find. Brevities #OTD Today is National Licorice Day. The botanical name for licorice means "sweet root" and in Dutch name, it's zoethout, ("Zoot-Howt") which means "sweet wood." The secret to the flavor (which is 50 times sweeter than sugar) is hidden in the very long roots and rhizomes of the plant. Thus, children who grew up chewing on licorice root would suck out the sweet sugars and spit out the pulp. The licorice plant is actually a perennial shrub in the legume or pea family. Don't confuse it with the annual trailing dusky licorice plant that gets popped in containers. The glycyrrhetinic acid in licorice causes the body to hold salt and water. Throughout history, armies would give licorice to soldiers and horses when water was in short supply. Licorice is used as a remedy for coughing - Hippocrates used it that way. It regulates digestion - Napoleon used it for tummy troubles. #OTD It's the birthday of Zina Pitcher (April 12, 1797, in Sandy Hill, New York – April 5, 1872, in Detroit). He managed to pack a lot of living and incredible relationships into his 75 year life. He established the Detroit public school system. He taught at West Point. He was Michigan's most prominent doctor and became a president of the American Medical Association He was mayor of Detroit; twice. He was a tireless member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan and was praised as the longest serving and hardest working of the 12 original regents. As regent, it was Pitcher's vision that made him an early advocate of acquiring John J. Audobon's"The Birds of America"for the U-M Library. An amateur botanist, Pitcher had discovered plant species, including a thistle - now called Pitcher's Thistle (Carduus Pitcheri or Cirsium Pitcheri) in his honor. The white-to-pale-pink flowering thistle is familiar to beachcombers throughout the Great Lakes. While he was a regent, his love of horticulture came in handy when it was time to hire professors. The name Asa Gray floated to the top of their list. Gray was mentored by the nation's top botanist: John Torrey. When Gray arrived in Michigan, his first stop was at Pitcher's home in Detroit. Accepting the job, Gray needed to push back his start date by one year to finish his studies in Europe. This would give the University time to get building facilities on campus. In the meantime, the regents asked Gray to buy books for the school while he was abroad. How fun! Gray shopped his bachelor buttons off; shipping over 3,700 books back to Ann Arbor. Sadly, when his year in Europe was over, Gray never made it to Michigan. Harvard stole him away. But his ties to the University and all those books he bought helped create the school library and a fine reputation to attract young scholars. Today, the street, Zina Pitcher Place in Ann Arbor is named in his honor OTD, 1810, Thomas Nuttal, just 24 years old, left Philadelphia by coach.He had recently immigrated from England, and Professor Benjamin Smith Barton of the University of Philadelphia wanted him to spend the next two years studying the flora of the Northwest. Given a salary of $8 per month plus expenses, Nuttal set about collecting and writing detailed accounts of the flora he discovered. By July 29, he jumped in a birch bark canoe with Aaron Greely, the deputy surveyor of the territory of Michigan, and they paddled to Mackinac Island arriving two weeks later on August 12. Nuttal spent several days on Mackinac - He was the first true botanist to explore at the flora of Michigan, and certainly of Mackinac Island. He documented about sixty species - about twenty were previously unknown. One the new Mackinac discoveries was the dwarf lake iris(Iris lucustris), which became the state wildflower of Michigan. Unearthed Words #OTD On this day in 1748 William Kent (Books By This Author)died. A pioneer of the English landscape garden, it was William Kent who said, Nature abhors a straight line. All gardening is landscape painting. Garden as though you will live forever. A garden is to be a world unto itself, it had better make room for the darker shades of feeling as well as the sunny ones. William Kent wrote a cute little ditty about the origin of the Inigo Jones gateway and how it came to be moved to C

How much do you care for your garden? Does your time and attention stay pretty constant throughout the season? If not, why not? What would your garden look like in August if you loved it then as much as you do now? What do you need to do to sustain a high level of care for your garden all season long? Fewer tomato or pepper plants? More raised beds? Getting regular garden time committed on the calendar? Removing high maintenance plants? Brevities #OTD Luther Burbank died today in 1926 (Books By This Author). His friend, Yogi Yogananda wroteAutobiography of a Yogi- a book many people find inspiring including Andrew Weil, George Harrison, and Steve Jobs - who read it annually. Yogananda later dedicated the entire book to "Luther Burbank, an American Saint", and he wrote about Luther's death, saying: In tears I thought, "Oh, I would gladly walk all the way from here to Santa Rosa for one more glimpse of him! Locking myself away from secretaries and visitors, I spent the next twenty-four hours in seclusion." #OTD Today we celebrate the birthday of a South African who had many botanical triumphs; Botanist Elsie Elizabeth Esterhuysen.She's been described as "the most outstanding collector ever of South African Flora", collecting 36,000 herbarium species. A botanist at the Bolus Herbarium in Cape Town, Elsie was beyond humble. She would never be publish the results of her work under her own name. There are 56 species and two genera named after her. The saying, "if you want to be immortal collect good herbarium specimens" is certainly reflected in Elsie Esterhuysen's botanical legacy. After Elsie died, over 200 people gathered at her memorial gathering - which featured three tributes from her botanical family. Botanist John Rourke recalled, "Elsie returned to Cape Town in 1938. It was here that her real career began when she joined the Bolus Herbarium (Figure 2) under another formidable woman. Dr Louisa Bolus. […] It's an astonishing fact that for the first 18 years of her employment she received no proper salary and was paid out of petty cash at a rate not much better than a laborer. She did not collect randomly; Elsie was above all an intelligent collector, seeking range extensions, local variants, or even new species, filling voids in the Bolus Herbarium's records, often returning months later to collect seeds or fruits that were of diagnostic importance. […] Always self-deprecating, one of her favorite comments was 'I'm only filling in gaps'." Botanist Peter Linder said, "She was what I thought a botanist was supposed to be. She was in the mountains every weekend, and came back with big black plastic bags full of plants, that she sorted and passed to Gert Syster to press. She was the one person who could put names on plants that defeated my attempts. And she had little time for academic niceties—for her the important things were plants in the mountains, their welfare, their relationships. She was immersed in plants and mountains." "Elsie taught me that each species has an essence, a character—that it liked some habitats but not others and that it flowered at a particular time. She was curious about the plants, not because they informed her about some theory or other, but she was interested in the plants themselves—she cared about them." Botanist Ted Oliver remembered, "Her mode of transport was the bicycle (we have her latest model here today). She rode to the University of Cape Town up that dreadful steep road every day for a lifetime, come sunshine or rain, heat or cold. Now one knows why she was so fit and could outstrip any poor unsuspecting younger botanist in the mountains! Every day she would come up and park her bicycle behind the Bolus Herbarium building and then often jump through the window in the preparation section rather than walk all the way around to the front door." A newspaper cutting found among her personal effects after her death showed a side of Elsie that none of her coworkers knew existed. It was from the local Kimberleynewspaper (undated) and reported on a Reading on life and works of Franz Schubertat a meeting of the Kimberley Philharmonic Society. The lecture was given by Miss E. Esterhuysen. It was preceded by another describing Burchell'stravels in South Africa during Schubert's time and was followed by "a delightful short program of the composer's music played as piano solos by Miss Esterhuysen". #OTDHappy birthday to the eminent Dutch botanist and geneticist born in Dordrecht John Paulus Lotsy (April 11, 1867), author of "Some Euphorbiaceae from Guatemala" (1895)." He spent two years from 1893 to 1895 at Johns Hopkins University and presented his entire Herberium to the Baltimore Women's College. The collection was started when Lotsy was a boy and Lotsy himself gathered every specimen personally. Before leaving for an appointment as botanist to the Dutch Botanical Gardens in Java(known as the Garden of the East), Lotsy gifted his entire herbarium - which contained about six thousa

Just when you thought you had winter beat… You thought wrong. Surprise. Unpredictable weather. Dicey temperatures. Gardeners need resilience. If Spring's arrival is dashing your hope, start to look for the survivors in your garden. In your neighborhood. In your city. On your social media feed. Every Spring - no matter the conditions, there are successes. Hardy Daffodils. Forsythia. Lungwart. Snowdrops. Magnolias. Look for the plants that survive and thrive despite the challenges of Spring. Plant more of those plants. Find joy in those plants. Improve your resiliency by mirroring the resilience of your garden. Brevities #OTD Born today in 1854, the extraordinary floral still life painter and teacher Mary Hiester Reid (Books By This Author). Born in Pennsylvania, Mary Augusta Hiester met George Reid(who was six years younger than her) at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts during school sketching trips. George later recalled that the trips were not only great for art's sake, but they also gave him the chance to be with, "the beautiful Mary Hiester on their expeditions". After that, they often worked together and that winter, Mary invited George to accompany her back home for a weekend of sketching on the Schuykill ("Sk-ooh-kill") River. Their fates were sealed together when they married in 1885. The Reids spent every summer from 1891 to 1916 at Onteora("Aunty Aura"), a private literary and artistic club founded by American artist Candace Wheeler in the Catskill Mountains near Tannersville, N.Y. They had a house and a studio, both designed on arts and crafts principles by George. They spent their time painting and teaching, their studio having accommodation for ten students, some of whom came from as far away as Toronto. "A self-adopted Canadian who loved Canada", Mary was very humble. In 1910, a reviewer wrote in The Globe, "Nothing can tempt her to talk about her pictures." Mary was one of the first women accepted into the Ontario Society of Artistsand the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Her painting, Hollyhocks, is a personal favorite. Reid was the preeminent female artist of Canada when she died. She was celebrated for her, "study and interpretation of Nature in those aspects that appealed most to her...glimpses of spring and autumn woodland, moonlit vistas, gorgeously colorful gardens, lovely skies, divinely tinted ends of evening, and the countless flowers of the fields…." In 1922, a year after her death, Reid was the first female to be featured with a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto She willed her husband to her friend and rival - the younger painter and printmaker (24 years her junior) Mary Evelyn Wrinch. It's the birthday of landscape architect David Darrell. A semi-retired Harford County landscape architect. Darrell was born and raised in Claymont, Delaware, and was raised on his family's farm. Some of his commissions included the prayer garden at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, the Largo Animal Preserve in Prince George's County, and Little Lithuania Park near Hollins Market among others. He also designed courtyards and tennis courts. His wife Edna said "David came into my life in August 2006; I was looking for someone to create a new garden. I looked in the Yellow Pages and five people came to interview. There was something about him. He studied the plants with big, gentle hands, he trimmed and shaped them. He was hired on the spot." David Darrel died of brain cancer in 2015. Unearthed Words Here's a memorial poem for Mary Hiester Ried written by Canadian newspaperman and a native son of Scotland, Duncan Sutherland Macorquodale - reprinted in the 9th Volume of The Canadian Theosophist (Toronto) November 15, 1921 Vol 9. There's a reference to Wychwood; the Reid's house, Upland Cottage, was located in Wychwood Park - an artist's enclave of 60 homes tucked away in a private ravine setting atop the rolling wooded hills of the Davenport Ridge in Toronto. MARY HIESTER REID Obit. Oct. 4, 1921. Free from the thrall called life, Palette and brush laid down; Off with achievement's strife, Donned the immortal's crown; Yet hovers she near 'neath the Wychwoodtree, This, the roses she painted, tell to me. Knelt not to gods of dress, Knew naught of gossip's blight, Lived she to work and bless; This was her heart's delight. And the smile of welcome to all she gave, Would fashion a knight from the meanest slave. Why mourn we our loved, laid low? We also our time abide. Are they lost because they go? Nay! for they have not died. The body rests, but the soul is free To charm as of old with it's melody. Queen, both of roses and hearts, Her mortal course well run; Her's 'both the good and the better parts; Martha, and Mary, in one. Still reigns she here, while there her body lies. The good, the pure, the noble, never dies. Today's book recommendation The Garden Awakening: Designs to Nurture Our Land and Ourselves By Mary Reynolds An award-winning garden designer's practical how-to book with stories an

Today's thought is exactly that: How we think when we garden. Emerson wrote: Blame me not, laborious band, For the idle flowers I brought; Every aster in my hand Comes back laden with a thought. How wonderful our gardens are for thinking. Creatively. Therapeutically. Soulfully. Every bloom can be a vessel for an idea, a hurt, a solution. I had a fight with my daughter the other day. We were getting no where. Exasperated and just plain tired, I had her help me with the houseplants. In case you're wondering, we were spring cleaning all the greens - even the fake ones! There was no talk. No more disagreement. Just the plants and water and a little soap... and our thoughts. Before we knew it, we were ready to come together. Our welfare and happiness restored by the thoughts knit together in the company of plants. Brevities #OTD British botanist, author, pragmatist and survivor Phebe Lankester (Books By This Author) died today in 1900 and was born tomorrow in 1825. Born Phebe Pope, she married the naturalist Edwin Lankester who was a coroner and medical reformer. They had eleven children. When Phebe was 49, Edwin died; she had to keep producing work to take care of herself and her family. Phebe Lankaster wrote under a number of pseudonyms. Her books were published under the name Mrs. Lankester. She wrote a syndicated column under the signature "Penelope" for 20 years. Her energy and work brought friendships with the celebrities of her day: painters, actors, intellectuals, and writers. In 1895, the painter Herman Herkomer painted a wonderful portrait of Phoebe Lankester - her warmth and wit captured on the canvas. Her work appealed to the masses; she wrote in a friendly and conversational voice. And, she wrote about what she knew: plants, educating children about health, and being financially smart. Her books range from A Plain and Easy Account of the British Ferns (1859) to The National Thrift Reader (1880) It was the widowed Phebe Lankester who said, "Often the most thrifty persons are the most generous, because they can afford to be so." Phebe often partnered with illustrator James Sowerby and other members of the Sowerby family for illustrations in her books. She worked with James on her sweet, little book Wild Flowers Worth Notice; with 108 coloured figures from drawings by James E. Sowerby An advertisement for the book in 1861 noted that Mrs. Lankester herself says in her charming pre-face, "what flowers are not worth notice?" Reviewers were happy with Mrs. Lankester's selections calling them "the special delight of flower-gatherers, as for example, the sun-dew, the mistletoe, the bog pimpernel, the grass of Parnassus, flax, white water-lily, fly orchis, milk-wort, and germauder speedwell, etc. Lankester's pays sweet tributes to her favorite plants, incorporating brevities: folklore, quotes, poems and general Information. For example, in her preface, Lankester quotes Longfellow: Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, God hath written in those stars above; But not less in the bright flowerets under us Stands the revelation of his love. She also quoted Wordsworth: Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege, Through all the years of this our life, to lead From joy to joy. One review said "Mrs. Lankaster writes so easily and naturally, that no deliberate effort seems to have been made. It is a little book, but teaches a great deal, and in so pleasant a way that to be wearied is impossible." This is in line with the last page of her book where Lancaster confesses she had thought about writing a book like this many times, but lacked the courage because she didn't want to offend. She wrote "Having now gone over the … collection of Wild Flowers, endeavoring to chronicle the chief attractions and virtues of each, I can but feel how little has been said when compared with all that remains unsaid, but felt." #OTD Happy Birthday today Joseph Trimble Rothrock (Books By This Author) born today in 1839. Plagued by sickness as a child, Rothrock felt the call of the great outdoors, "I just had to go to the woods. Throughout my entire life, I have sought the 'out of doors' as a refuge against impending physical ills." Rothrock went to Harvard and worked every day in the private herbarium of Asa Graywho visited Rothrock's hometown to collect botanical specimens. Of Dr. Gray, Rothrock said, "[He] was kindness personified, though a strict disciplinarian and a most merciless critic of a student's work. I owe more to him than to any other man, and I never think of him without veneration." He also studied geology under Louis Agassizwho became his friend. (Agassi's motto was, "study nature, not books") Rothrock suspended his studies at Harvard to fight in the Civil War. His right thigh and hand was wounded at Fredricksburg in 1862 (Burnside's fight), he shook hands with President Lincoln at an army hospital. Later in his life, in a photograph of Rothrock called "The old white pine and the

Have you given much thought to the layout or shape of your garden beds? Do they follow the natural lines and slopes of the landscape? Are they geometric? Long beds with corners? Maybe you've tried a circle garden. If you're just beginning - border beds - beds anchored by a backdrop (like a house or a fence) are the easiest to plan and execute. Often overlooked, one thing to consider in border beds is to add some stepping stones or even a small path along the back to provide access points that make tending your garden easier. Brevities #OTD In 1783: It's the birthday of Scottish author, garden designer, and botanist John Claudius Loudon.(Books By This Author)A massively popular and breathtakingly prolific writer on horticulture, John focused on serving the needs of the expanding middle class who wanted to have smaller gardens. 1838, Loudon wrote in his book call The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion, "A suburban residence with a small portion of land attached will contain all that is essential to happiness." Loudon created and published a magazine called The Gardener's Magazine. It started out as quarterly. The first issue sold 4,000 copies. It soon became bi-monthly. Loudon used the platform to introduce a new landscape perspective which he called "gardenesque". Prior to Loudon, the prevailing landscape style of the was the "picturesque" view. In contrast with the big picture or natural perspective of the picturesque garden style, Loudon wanted to draw attention to individual specimens - isolating them by removing surrounding plants or by using geometrical beds. During Loudon's time, exotic plants were the rage and a controlled garden was the best way to feature specimen plants. Loudon's "Gardenesque style" or The Plant Collector's Garden with formal features and botanical variety was very popular with Victorian gardens. Loudon favored circular beds, of the type which can still be seen in the flower garden at Greenwich Park, because they show plants so well and because they are instantly 'recognizable' as the work of man. John Loudon said, "Any creation to be recognized as a work of art, must be such as can never be mistaken for a work of nature." Loudon invented the term "arboretum" - a garden of trees designed for scientific and educational purposes. He also had some thoughts about the value of public green spaces or "breathing zones" in cities. Loudon married writer Jane Webb. Jane was indispensable to him. After an attack of rheumatic fever in 1806, Loudon suffered from reduced mobility in his limbs. In 1825, his right arm had to be amputated at the shoulder without anesthesia. Around midnight on December 14, 1843, Loudon was dictating a book to his wife when he collapsed into her arms and died. The book was called, Self-instruction to Young Gardeners. Born #OTD April 8, 1892, America's sweetheart, Hollywood legend, and lover of trees, Mary Pickford born Gladys Marie Smith. Jump on twitter, search for "Mary Pickford Tree" and you'll see images of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford planting a tree at their PickFair estate. #ArborDay Mary Pickford (Books By This Author)was the first to plant a tree, a Japanese cedar, in the Forest of Fame at the California Botanic Garden. Trivia/Folklore says that Mary Pickford used to eat Flowers - specifically roses. Thought that they'd make her beautiful and they did, Katie Melua sang a song called Mary Pickford which starts out, "Mary Pickford Used to eat roses Thinking they'd make her Beautiful, and they did- One supposes." Apparently Pickford did indeed use to eat roses to make herself look more beautiful. Mary Pickford reveals in her autobiography, Sunshine and Shadow, that as a young girl living in Toronto she would buy a single rose and eat the petals, believing the beauty, color and perfume would somehow get inside her. Pickford also gifted leading man John Gilberta bench for his garden. It was Mary Pickford who said, "I do not cry easily when seeing a picture, but after seeing [Charles Chaplin's] A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923) I was all choked up - I wanted to go out in the garden and have it out by myself. Our cook felt the same way." #OTD in 1805, Hugo von Mohl was born.The greatest "botanist of his day", it said in one newspaper. A German botanist, he was the first to propose that new cells are formed by cell division. Mitosis was discovered by Hugo von Mohl. And, he discovered chloroplasts - describing them as discrete bodies within the green plant cell in 1837. In 1846 he described the sap in plant cells as, "the living substance of the cell" and created the word "protoplasm". Unearthed Words An April poem that puts all others in shadow; is the lyrical "April" by William Watson. (Books By This Author) England's onetime poet laureate, he began the poem with the unforgettably beautiful expression which, reminds us that April is the girlish daughter of springtime: "April, April, laugh your girlish laughter, then, the moment after, weep your gir