The Daily Gardener

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Happy National Garden Meditation Day! 1580 Thomas Tusser (English poet and farmer) died. In 1573, Thomas wrote his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, where he advised: In January, the housewife should be busy planting peas and beans and setting young rose roots. During March and April, she will work 'from morning to night, sowing and setting her garden or plot,' to produce the crops of parsnip, beans, and melons which will 'winnest the heart of a laboring man for her later in the year. Her strawberry plants will be obtained from the best roots which she has gathered from the woods, and these are to be set in a plot in the garden. Berries from these plants will be harvested later the same year, perhaps a useful back-up if the parsnips have failed to win the man of her dreams. 1941 During this week, Martha Crone, American botanist and horticulturist, wrote some entries in her Minneapolis diary that reflect the wild swings in temperatures that can be so frustrating to gardeners in the shoulder seasons. At the start of May: [The weather is] still very warm (81 hi 59 lo) and flowers coming out everywhere, everything at least 2 weeks in advance, like midsummer, many insects and flies out. Violets - never so beautiful - as well as Trillium and other flowers. On the 3rd of May: Bitter cold all day [49-41] stove going continuously... but no mosquitoes. On the 8th: Heat unbearable [88-60] On the 19th: Hottest so far... 1942 On this day, Charles Kikuchi wrote in his Japanese Tanforan Internment camp journal: These industrious Japanese! They just don't seem to know how to take it easy. They've worked so hard all their lives that they just can't stand idleness or waste . Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were mandated to relocate to one of the ten relocation camps in the "exclusion zone" of Oregon, California, western Washington, and southern Arizona by order of the president. Ken Helphand's fantastic 2006 book, Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime, tells the story of the gardens that were created in the camps. The gardens were part of the effort to make the camps more bearable. In addition to gardens, there were orchards, parks, baseball diamonds, playgrounds, and farms. In Defiant Gardens, Ken wrote, Entry gardens were part of the Japanese tradition of dooryard gardens, linking household to community, and functioning as entry and marker, displaying the craft and skill of the resident and embellishing both the barracks and the community space....Many persons inscribed their names in cement at the doorstep. Barracks gardens displayed great variety, using gathered cacti and rocks, transplanted plants, and plants propagated in the camp nursery. While people waited daily for the communally served meals, they enjoyed the elaborate displays of great artistry and effort that characterized the mess-hall gardens. Created with rocks and water as well as plants, these gardens were most closely identified with the Japanese American garden tradition. All these gardens brought beauty to the camps and reinforced the internees' sense of cultural identity… 1946 On this day, Frida Kahlo (books about this person) gave a painting called Weeping Coconuts to her friends Lina and Arcady Boitler as a wedding gift. Frida used two weeping coconuts to represent her pain and deteriorating health in the painting. Frida was mixing prescription painkillers and alcohol by this point in her life. The coconuts were one of fifty-five self-portraits. Her best-known self-portrait is 'Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.' Kahlo said, I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best. Four years later, Frida's pain became unmanageable. In 1953, her right foot - and later right leg - were amputated. Frida died shortly after her 47th birthday in the summer of 1954. Before she died, she wrote in her journal: I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return — Frida. Coconuts are an ancient plant that initially hailed from the South Pacific, and because of their buoyancy, coconuts can travel the world on the ocean's waves. Plant Explorers found the coconut growingng throughout the Pacific, the Indian Ocean regions, and Africa. Like mangoes, cashews, and cherries, the coconut is actually a drupe and not a nut. The drupe is an item that has a fleshy outer around a pit. Coconuts are anti-viral, fungal, bacterial, and anti-parasite. There are more than twenty billion coconuts produced each year. The coconut palm is actually the national tree of The Maldives. Before the dominance of soybean oil in the 1960s, Coconut oil was the world's leading vegetable oil. May 8th is National Coconut Creme Pie Day. Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year – 10 times the number of people killed by sharks. Gr

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1772 Birth of Friedrich von Hardenberg (pen name Novalis ("NO-vol-liss")), the German romantic poet-philosopher. Friedrich's pen name, Novalis, was a nod to his 12th-century farming ancestors who called themselves the Novali, which translates to "people who cultivate new land," - and his first work under his pen name was Blüthenstaub (Pollen). In the book, Novalis advised his artistic friends to be prolific in their work, writing, Friends, the soil is poor, we must scatter seed abundantly for even a moderate harvest. Novalis is most remembered for his unfinished work Henry von Ofterdingen: A Romance. This work resulted in a nickname for Novalis as the poet of the blue flower. Henry von Ofterdingen was a fabled poet from the 13th century. In Novalis's story, his romantic yearning is symbolized by his love for a blue flower, which Novalis later revealed was inspired by a heliotrope. For centuries, Novalis has been seen primarily as a love-struck poet who mourned the death of his first love, Sophie, only to be reunited with her in heaven after he, too, succumbed to the white plague or tuberculosis. Today, blue flowers remain a symbol of desire and a striving for the unreachable. They also represent humanity's connection with nature - a rare and fragile relationship. Today, blue flowers remain among gardeners' most coveted color of blossoms - as in the Himalayan blue poppy, the delphinium, the cornflower, and the forget-me-not. In Henry von Offerdingen, Novalis wrote, I care not for wealth and riches. But that blue flower I do long to see; it haunts me and I can think and dream of nothing else... 1853 Frederick Arther Walton, English nurseryman, cactus collector, and jeweler. Born in Birmingham, Frederick owned one of the largest private cactus collections in England, and he started a cactus nursery called The Friary. He also created and edited The Cactus Journal - a monthly journal devoted exclusively to cacti and other succulent plants, which ran for 24 issues. Frederick also founded the first cactus society in England. In 1899, he traveled to America and Mexico to collect cactus, and he wrote, Possessing one of the largest collections in England, I decided to go to the native home of the cactus – California, Arizona, and Mexico. so on January 7th, 1899, I left Liverpool Fort New York; then I went to the great city of St Louis where there is a cactus a society and a very good collection of cacti in the Botanical Gardens. After spending a few pleasant days at St Louis I took the train to Kansas City… then through New Mexico and arrived at San Bernardino California where I met Andrew Halstead Alverson a very enthusiastic Cactus collector. He took me out into the desert, and for the first time in my life, I was in the midst of wild cacti. The trip was the adventure of a lifetime for Frederick. He battled snakes, scorpions, pumas, centipedes, and the harsh desert sun in an exploration of cactus country covering over 20,000 miles in the western hemisphere. In January 1900, for unknown reasons, Frederick's cactus journal and the cactus society abruptly ended. There was a mention in the final issues of The Cactus Journal that he was exploring the creation of a daffodil journal - but it was never printed. At the turn of the century, European gardeners outside of Germany had no real interest in cactus or succulents - that interest wouldn't be rekindled until the 1930s. And so, in 1905, Frederick's health was waning, and he sold his nursery. Frederick died in 1922. 1858 On this day, the poet, teacher, abolitionist, and writer Charlotte Forten started writing her poem called, To a Beloved Friend. Charlotte was friends with Sarah Cassey Smith and had lived with the Smith family while attending school. In 1856, Charlotte became Salem State's first African American graduate. Sarah and Charlotte shared a love for all flowers. The young women made and received May baskets in the springtime, and they both enjoyed spring nosegays or little bouquets. Once when Charlotte's teacher gave her a little bouquet, Charlotte wrote in her diary. Your voiceless lips, dear flowers, are living preachers. The day before this day, in 1858 (May 1st), Charlotte found herself homesick for Salem. She disliked the noisy city life in Philadelphia, and she also confronted more significant restrictions on her activities as an African American in the City of Brotherly Love. She had noted in her diary that she had been "refused at two ice cream salons." And so, when Sarah's bouquet arrived on May 1st, Charlotte quickly interpreted the meaning of each flower according to floriography or the language of flowers - a common way for people to communicate in the 1800s. Sarah's handpicked Mayflowers symbolized welcome. The little Violets represented constant friendship, and the d

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events St. Robert's Day Saint Robert of Molesme ("mo-LESS-mah") was an 11th-century herbalist, abbot, and founder of the Cistercian ("sis-TUR-shin") order - a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines. They are also known as Bernardines ("BUR-nah-deen"), after the highly influential Bernard of Clairvaux, or as White Monks - a reference to the color of the cowl worn over their habits as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines. They are commonly called Trappists. Many common wildflowers are named in honor of St. Robert. Some believe that Herb Robert, or Bird's Eye, the little Wild Geranium, was named in honor of St. Robert. Another theory is that Herb Robert is named for Robin Goodfellow, a pseudonym for the forest sprite known as Puck. 1852 On this day, Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher and poet, wrote in his journal: I went out into the garden to see what progress the spring was making. I strolled from the irises to the lilacs, round the flowerbeds, and in the shrubberies. Delightful surprise! At the corner of the walk, half-hidden under a thick clump of shrubs, a small-leaved corchorus had flowered during the night... the little shrub glittered before me... Mother of marvels, mysterious and tender Nature, why do we not live more in thee? 1869 Birth of Agnes Chase, American botanist. Agnes was an agrostologist—a studier of grass. She was a petite, fearless, indefatigable person and entirely self-taught as a botanist. Her first position was as an illustrator at the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C., working for the botanist Albert Spear Hitchcock. When Hitchcock applied for funding to go on expeditions, higher-ups approved the travel for Hitchcock, but not for Agnes - saying the job should belong to "real research men." Undeterred, Agnes 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 Brazil's highest mountains, Agnes reportedly 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 Agnes's contributions long before their American counterparts. When Hitchcock retired, Agnes was his backfill. When Agnes 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 Agnes 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 herself, "This may be well and good, but it isn't getting any grass classified, sonny." While researching Agnes Chase, I came across this little article in The St. Louis Star and Times. Agnes gave one of her books on grass a biblical title, The Meek That Inherit the Earth. The story pointed out that, Mrs. Chase began her study of grass by reading about it in the Bible. In the very first chapter of Genesis, ...the first living thing the Creator made was grass. ... for grass is fundamental to life. [Agnes] said, "Grass is what holds the earth together. Grass made it possible for the human race to abandon... cave life and follow herds. Civilization was based on grass [and] this significance... still holds." 1954 Birth of Jerry Seinfeld, American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld, which he created and wrote with Larry David. He once joked, Why do people give each other flowers to celebrate various important occasions? They're killing living creatures? Why restrict it to plants? "Sweetheart, let's make up. Have this deceased squirrel." 2017 On this day in 2017, The New York Times tweeted that, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden cherry blossom festival is set for today and tomorrow, regardless of when nature [decided] to push play. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Language of Butterflies by Wendy Williams This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists, and Other Obsessives Unlocked the Secrets of the World's Favorite Insect. If you're a fan of blue morpho butterflies, you're going to love the cover of Wendy's book because it is covered with a kaleidoscope of blue morpho

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Floralia April 28th marks the beginning of a six-day festival called Floralia in the Roman calendar. And it's held in honor of the goddess of flowering crops and plants, and she was known as Flora. Now the goal of this weeklong festival was a satisfying appeal to Flora for a great growing season, a bountiful harvest, safety for workers, and probably a solid grape harvest for good wine. 1834 Birth of Harry Bolus, South African botanist, artist, businessman, and philanthropist. If you've ever heard of the Bolus Herbarium in South Africa, it was named in honor of Harry. Harry founded the Herbarium, and he bequeathed his extensive library and part of his fortune to establish the South African College, now known as the University of Cape Town. Harry Bolus was not originally from South Africa. He was actually born in Nottingham, England. And the school that he attended, Castle Gate School, had a headmaster who corresponded with a plant collector named William Kensit. When Kensit required an assistant, Harry Bolus was the student who was selected for the job. Harry moved to South Africa and promptly fell in love with William's sister Sophia. The two were married, and they had three sons and a daughter. In 1864, when their oldest son died at six years old, a friend and fellow botanist named Francis Guthrie suggested that Harry take up botany to help heal his broken heart. Well, the rest, as they say, is history. Harry started his great botanical collection in 1865, and he soon struck up a correspondence with the most famous botanists of his day. And there's one other story about Harry Bolus that I thought you would enjoy. In 1876, Harry and Francis Guthrie traveled together to the world's Mecca for botany - Kew gardens in England - along with a large collection of plants. Even though their ship hit a reef on their return voyage and their collection was lost, Harry always referred to that trip as "Forty happy days." 1852 On this day, Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher and poet, wrote in his journal: Once more, I feel the spring languor creeping over me, the spring air about me. This morning the poetry of the scene, the song of the birds, the tranquil sunlight, the breeze blowing over the fresh green fields — all rose into and filled my heart. 1947 Birth of Bonnie Marranca, New York City-based critic, publisher, and writer. In her book, American Garden Writing (1988), Bonnie wrote, I judge a garden by the gardener who cares for it, the one who invests space with daydreams. How well I know the downward gaze into the face of the earth, the feeling of a luxurious body and good, dark soil that slips through the fingers in the rush to return to its dirty delirium. Each gardener creates an ideal world of miniature thoughts that drift languidly into each other like flowers on a dry afternoon. Hear silence has the rhythm of wishes. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Perfect Specimen by Durlynn Anema This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is The 20th Century Renowned Botanist: Ynes Mexia. This book is a wonderful biography of Ynes Mexia - the Mexican American botanist born in 1870 and who discovered the Sierra Club at age 50. And that led her to her life's calling and her legacy as a botanist. And so I love what Durlynn wrote and the dedication of this book because she wrote, This book is dedicated to those people who gained confidence in their abilities later in life. And that is certainly the case with Ynes Mexia. She loved her experience with the Sierra Club so much that she decided to enroll in botany classes at Berkeley. In fact, over a 16-year period, she just kept taking botany classes on and off; She never had the goal of graduating. She just wanted to keep learning - so that's quite a paradigm shift. And as the mom of four young adults who are either in college or about to go to college, I love that perspective of being a lifelong learner - which is undoubtedly something that Ynes achieved. Now, I don't want to give the impression that Ynes was all about coursework and classrooms because that's really only a very small portion of Ynes's story. She was actually very drawn to fieldwork. She took countless trips through the Southwestern part of the United States into New Mexico and even into South America. She was very drawn to unique plants. She loved sunflowers, and she was a voracious collector. Many scholars argue that Ynes was one of the most accomplished collectors of her time. On her very first collecting trip, she collected over 500 specimens, which is essentially the same amount Darwin collected on his first expedition on The Beagle. Over her lifetime, Ynes collected over 150,000 specimens -500 of which were brand new plant species that had never been identified before. Ynes's stor

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens, Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1814 Birth of Charles MacKay, Scottish poet, writer, and songwriter. In The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay, Charles wrote a song about the Meadow Sweet: Rose! We love thee for thy splendor, Lily! For thy queenly grace! Violet! For thy lowly merit, Peeping from thy shady place! But mine airy, woodland fairy, Scattering odors at thy feet, No one knows thy modest beauty, No one loves thee, Meadow-Sweet! 1851 Birth of Alice Morse Earle (books by this author), American historian and author. Alice wrote two garden books: Old Time Gardens (1901) and Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday (1902). Alice wrote, Farm children have little love for nature and are surprisingly ignorant about wildflowers save a few varieties. The child who is garden bred has a happier start in life, a greater love and knowledge of nature. On the peony, Alice wrote: [She] always looks like a well-dressed, well-shod, well-gloved girl of birth, breeding, and of equal good taste and good health; a girl who can swim, and skate, and ride, and play golf. 1902 Birth of Thomas "Tommy" Dolliver Church (books by this author), California landscape architect. Tommy pioneered the modern California Style design style. In 1955, Tommy wrote, When your garden is finished I hope it will be more beautiful than you anticipated, require less care than you expected, and have cost only a little more than you had planned. Unlike people, gardens never strive for perpetual youth—they want to look old from the day they were born. Their greatest glory comes with maturity. 1904 Birth of Cecil Day-Lewis (books by this author), Irish-born British poet. He used the pen name Nicholas Black for his mystery stories. Cecil was the Poet Laureate for four years before his death in 1972. He was also the father of actor Sir Daniel Day-Lewis. In Cecil's Overtures to Death and Other Poems (1938), In June we picked the clover, And sea-shells in July: There was no silence at the door, No word from the sky. A hand came out of August And flicked his life away: We had not time to bargain, mope, Moralize, or pray. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Food Forest Handbook by Darrell Frey and Michelle Czolba This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Design and Manage a Home-Scale Perennial Polyculture Garden. Before I even get started with my review, I have to say that this book gets high praise on Amazon; it's a five-star book. The authors are passionate about growing food year-round - without fossil fuels - and increasing biodiversity on the land and wild market gardening. In the introduction to their book, Darryl and Michelle point out that the food forest is one of the oldest ways to garden. It's the edges of the forest that were the most fruitful places for both hunting and gathering. And today, food forests are making a comeback. Now you might be asking yourself, what is a food forest? Well, a food forest is simply a food-producing garden that's built around trees and perennials. I've been a passionate fan of orchards and mini orchards for the past couple of years. I'm installing one up at my cabin, planting even more trees this spring. Darryl and Michelle point out that, A well-managed food forest is an integrated system and it includes all kinds of plants, fruits, vegetables, herbs, medicinal plants, and plantings that promote beneficial insects and balanced nutrients. And in case you're starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Don't be. Because these food forests can be simple and include only a few species, or they can contain a myriad of plants. The bottom line here is that Darryl and Michelle will help you feel confident and inspired to create your own food forest, whether on a small or grand scale in your backyard, front yard, patio, or allotment. This book is 256 pages of planning, designing, and managing your very own food forest. You can get a copy of The Food Forest Handbook by Darrell Frey and Michelle Czolba and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $20. Botanic Spark 1920 Birth of Edwin George Morgan (books by this author), Scottish poet and translator associated with the Scottish Renaissance. He is remembered as one of the foremost Scottish poets of the 20th century. In 1999, Edwin became the first Glasgow Poet Laureate. In 1968, Edwin wrote, Yes, it is too cold in Scotland for flower people; in any case who would be handed a thistle? Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1684 Death of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Dutch ornate still-life painter. He is remembered as the most influential flower painter of his day. Jan's flowers were known for their vibrancy and realism. But gardeners would catch that Jan's bouquets were just a beautiful fantasy since the individual flowers bloom at different seasons of the year. 1785 Birth of John James Audubon, American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. He once wrote, A true conservationist…knows the world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children. 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 anyone knows, Audubon did not turn over in his grave, and neither did any of the carved birds on the [cross] cry out. 1798 Birth of Eugene Delacroix, French Romantic artist. He is remembered as the leader of the French Romantic school and one of the last great historical painters. Eugene received his artistic training in Paris. His striking piece called A Vase of Flowers (1833) shows a crystal vase filled mostly with dahlias. It is Eugene Delacroix's earliest-surviving flower painting. 1822 Birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. Regarded as the father of landscape architecture, Frederick is remembered for designing many popular urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Their first project was Central Park, followed quickly by Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. Frederick wrote, The root of all my good work is early respect for, regard, and enjoyment of scenery. Frederick's firm was passed onto his sons who expanded the business under the name Olmsted Brothers. Aside from his legacy as a landscape architect, Frederick 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. 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. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Crinum by Augustus Jenkins Farmer Augustus is better known as the plantsman Jenks Farmer. This book came out in 2021 - right at the very end of December - and the subtitle is Unearthing the History and the Cultivation of the World's Biggest Bulb. Well, Crinums are a passion for Jenks. What he's done in this book is he has collected every possible story and nugget of information about the Crinum species and hybrids that flourish in our gardens. Crinums are classic plants. They're also heirlooms and pass-down plants - and because of that sentimental quality, there are an endless number of stories about Crinums. Now I have to share what Jenks wrote about Crinums in the introduction to this book. He wrote, Plants that hunker down below ground reveal only a small part of themselves to people. Called geophytes or earth lovers, the below-ground bulbs are the heart of the being. Down there, a Medusa's tangle of bony, basel plates, armlong roots, and crisp bud tips explode from mother bulbs. Once you see the underground being, you understand why in some cultures Crinums represent connections to the underworld and the dead. You also understand why people carry them continent to continent and share them friend to friend. If you've ever had a sourdough starter or overplanted zucchini, then you understand the urge to share a passion, to give parts away. I'm compelled to give Crinums away. I give little bulbs to farm visitors, take them as house gifts, pass them on at conferences, offer them to strangers, or plant them guerrilla-style in parking lots. Based on my experience, growing and planting hundreds of thousands of Crinum, this book becomes comprehensive with the advice of generous Crinum professionals and enthusiasts. You'll fall for the hidden stories, the hidden plant parts in a few years you'll share too. Then you'll leave a happy trail of Crinum lilies marking your travels, telling your stories, and sharing your passion too. This book is 100 pages of a passion for Crinums by one of our modern plantsmen. You can get a copy of Crinum by Augustus Jenkins Farmer and supp

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Today is National Zucchini Bread Day. 1851 Birth of George Herbert Engleheart, English clergyman and daffodil breeder. In 1889, George began breeding daffodils - some 700 varieties in his lifetime. Fans of Beersheba, Lucifer, or White Ladyowe a debt of gratitude to Reverend Engleheart. George spent every spare minute breeding, and his parishioners would often find a note tacked to the church door saying, No service today, working with daffodils. 1852 Birth of Marcus Jones, American geologist, mining engineer, and botanist. Marcus's mother loved plants, and every day, she sent Marcus to gather fresh flowers, which she displayed on the family's mantle. This daily chore was the beginning of his passion for botany. Marcus 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. To this day, his collection represents the largest archive of plants from Utah. Marcus died in 1934 in San Bernardino, California. At the age of 81, he returned from a plant collecting trip at Lake Arrowhead when another driver hit his car. As seatbelts wouldn't be invented for another 25 years, Jones was ejected from his vehicle and died from a skull fracture. Jones columbine, Aquilegia jonesii (ii = "ee-eye") is named for him. It is rare and, like most columbines, does not transplant well. Jonesii plants and seeds are sold by select nurseries. 1925 Birth of Joseph Henry Maiden, English-Australian botanist. Born in London, Joseph immigrated to New South Wales, Australia, hoping that the climate would improve his health. Joseph quickly landed a job as a museum curator in Sydney, and he also married a local woman named Eliza Jane Hammond. During his time in Australia, Joseph contributed to understanding Australian flora, especially the Eucalyptus genus. After thoroughly studying Australian woods and essential oils, Joseph wrote his book called The Useful Native Plants of Australia. In 1896, Joseph was appointed the Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens. In total, Joseph served as a botanist in Australia for 43 years. As for his Australian legacy, Joseph is remembered every September 1st, the first day of spring down under. It's also known as Wattle Day or Acacia Day. In Australia, the Wattle is a common name for Acacia. Recognizing their beauty and value, Joseph established the Wattle Day League, which fought to make the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha "ah-KAY-see-ah pik-NANTH-ah") Australia's national floral emblem, and he also worked to establish Wattle Day. Since the inception of Wattle Day in 1909, Australians have worn a Wattle blossom, which looks like a little yellow pompom, in honor of the day. The Wattle blossom is also a favorite with pollinators. As plants, Wattles are tough evergreen shrubs and trees that can withstand Australia's droughts, winds, and bushfires. There are 760 Wattle species native to Australia's forest understory, woodlands, and open scrub. The common name Wattle refers to an old germanic term for weaving and the English craft of building with interwoven flexible twigs and branches. As the English settled in Australia, they often harvested Wattle (Acacia) and used it in their building construction. And here's a fun fact about Wattles (Acacia): Giraffes love to eat them. 1873 Birth of Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best remembered for his works for children. In his poem, Peacock Pie, Walter wrote: A poor old Widow in her weeds Sowed her garden with wild-flower seeds; Not too shallow, and not too deep, And down came April -- drip -- drip -- drip. Up shone May, like gold, and soon Green as an arbour grew leafy June. Weeps she never, but sometimes sighs, And peeps at her garden with bright brown eyes; And all she has is all she needs -- A poor Old Widow in her weeds. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Essential Garden Design Workbook by Rosemary Alexander and Rachel Myers This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Completely Revised and Expanded. Well, the original version of this book was a best-selling classic. This is the upgraded book that came out five years ago. In this book, the eminent designer and educator Rosemary Alexander teamed up with rising design star Rachel Myers. And what these two women did is they share new garden plans, a ton of new photos and diagrams, and updated profiles of their 50 top plants that they think are timeless and that should be used by today's designers. So there are all kinds of fantastic, modern tips and advice in this book. This is also an excellent book for designers and gardeners interested in incorporating sustainability or plant diversity into their plans. Rosemary and Rachel show how to

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Happy Earth Day - a celebration that started in 1970. 1812 On this day, Mary Russell Mitford (books by this person), the English writer and poet, wrote to Sir William Elford, an English banker, politician, and amateur artist. In her letter, Mary wrote, I place flowers in the very first rank of simple pleasures, and I have no very good opinion of the hard worldly people who take no delight in them. 1832 Birth of Julius Sterling Morton (books about this person), American newspaper editor, Secretary of Agriculture, and father of Arbor Day. In 1867, after moving west from Detroit, J. Sterling and his wife Caroline were shocked by Nebraska's treeless landscape. Together, they conceived of a day to promote tree planting. The original proposal to the agricultural board of Nebraska was for a "Sylvan Day" - to promote forest trees. In Latin, "sylva" means "wood" or "forest." And Sylvanus was the Roman god of woods and fields. But, J. Sterling decided that a broader celebration of all trees was in order, and he proposed "Arbor Day." The first Arbor Day on April 10, 1872, was an overwhelming success - with over a million trees planted in frontier Nebraska. Arbor Day quickly became a national holiday - celebrated on April 22 to honor J. Sterling Morton's birthday. Nowadays, Arbor Day is generally celebrated on the last Friday in April in the United States. Arbor Day 2022 will occur on Friday, April 29th. Despite his many professional and honorable appointments at the state and federal levels, J. Sterling considered Arbor Day the ultimate accomplishment of his life. In 1923, the beautiful Morton family home, known as Arbor Lodge, and the surrounding property were gifted to Nebraska. Today Arbor Lodge is a historic state park. It was J. Sterling Morton who said, Other holidays repose upon the past; Arbor Day proposes for the future. 1839 Birth of August Wilhelm Eichler, German botanist. Wilhelm developed one of the first widely used natural plant classification systems to reflect evolution. In addition, he divided the plant kingdom into non-floral plants and floral plants. Wilhelm worked tirelessly as a private assistant to the naturalist Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martinus. When Karl died, Wilhelm continued working on Karl's Flora Brasiliensis. It was a labor of love, but it was still unfinished. And after Wilhelm died, botanist Ignatius Urban continued with the project until its completion. Today, Wilhelm Eichler Strasse (Street) in Dresden is named in Wilhelm's honor. It was Wilhelm Eichler who said, The felling of the first tree is the beginning of human civilization. The felling of the last is his end. 1946 Birth of Midas Dekkers (books by this author), Dutch biologist, and writer. A beloved children's book author, Midas has written over fifty children's and young adult books. In his book about "the way things fall apart -- about the inevitable ruin of everything from bodies and works of art to ideals and whole societies," called The Way of All Flesh: The Romance of Ruins, Midas wrote, It's a sign of wisdom that seeds don't squander their energy all at once, instead calmly waiting until the time is right. Seeds aren't stupid. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The First Mess Cookbook by Laura Wright This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Vibrant, Plant-based Recipes to Eat Well Through the Seasons. To review the book today, I had to run over into my kitchen about 15 steps away and grab my dog-eared copy of The First Mess. I love this cookbook. If you're looking to totally revamp the way you cook, if you want to make plants the star of most of the dishes you're making- especially in the summertime- you need to get a copy of Laura Wright's The First Mess Cookbook. It's a beautiful, beautiful book. It actually looks more like a book than it does a cookbook, which appeals to me. It's so pretty that I can have it out and on display in my kitchen. Before I get into the cookbook, I wanted to share a little story with you that Laura wrote in the introduction. Raspberry picking throughout the humid Ontario summers was my first job as a youth and I suppose this is where the inspiration for my blog, The First Mess, began. I would put on my rubber boots, grab a basket, and head toward the back of my parents' two-acre property in the country at the end of the line where rows of raspberry bushes, heaving with fruit under the steamy July sun. One Berry in the basket, one in my mouth. My brother and I would get $2 for every pint we could scrounge up. And Dad would sell them at his farm market store the next day. I don't think I ever made it to more than $10 a pick. I was too busy, eating those warm berries that tasted of jam, nectar, and light. That all- sensory field experience is my first clear memory of connecting to food beyond

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1619 Birth of Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. In 1660, Jan planted a hedge, now known as Van Riebeeck's Hedge, to mark the border of the Dutch East India Company settlement in Cape Town, South Africa. The hedge was made up of native wild almond trees (Brabejum stellatifolium). Today, parts of the hedge still live in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and Bishopscourt. The Van Riebeeck Hedge is not considered a National Monument in South Africa. 1752 Birth of Humphry Repton (no 'e' in Humphry!), English landscape designer. Humphry was trained and molded by the great Capability Brown. Yet as he matured, Humphry began to forge his own path in his approach to design and led a transformation of English gardens that was all his own. He designed over 400 gardens, and his picturesque landscapes are known for their gently rolling vistas, attractive clumps of trees, terraces, and homes nestled in amongst shrubs and foliage. Humphry wanted landscapes to bring out "the natural beauty" and minimize "the natural defects." Like many successful modern landscape designers, Humphry put a great deal of energy into planning his designs. He painstakingly created these gorgeous red leather portfolios for his clients. His red books, as he called them, showcased his design ideas. Humphry's clients could see his pastoral watercolors depicting the current state of their property. Then they would lift a flap of paper and see what their property would look like after Humphry improved it. It was a kind of popup book for their property. Today Humphry's red books are regarded as impressive works of art - and many have been preserved in public and private collections. Humphry Repton coined the term landscape gardener. He had the term carved into his pinebark business cards. In 1818, Humphry died, and per his request, he was buried in a rose garden. Humphry used these words for his epitaph: Unmixed with others shall my dust remain; But moldering, blended, melting into earth, Mine shall give form and color to the rose. And while its vivid blossoms cheer mankind, Its perfumed odor shall ascend to Heaven. 1816 Birth of Charlotte Brontë, English novelist, and poet. Charlotte was the oldest of the three Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë) who survived into adulthood. Their novels became classics of English literature. The sisters published their first collaborative work called Poems under the pseudonym of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. They wanted to hide their gender to help sales, so the sisters kept the first letter of their first names: Charlotte was Currer, Emily was Ellis, and Anne was Acton. Still, only two copies of Poems were sold. Emma Emmerson wrote a piece called The Brontë Garden. In it, she revealed: The Brontës were not ardent gardeners, although… Emily and Anne treasured their currant bushes as 'their own bit of fruit garden'. While they may not have been avid gardeners, they knew enough about growing flowers for Charlotte to write: Emily wishes to know if the Sicilian Pea (Pisum sativum)and the Crimson cornflower are hardy flowers, or if they are delicate and should be sown in warm and sheltered situations. In her writing, Charlotte could be a little glum about flowers. In Villette (1853), Charlotte wrote, I like to see flowers growing, but when they are gathered, they cease to please. I look on them as things rootless and perishable; their likeness to life makes me sad. I never offer flowers to those I love; I never wish to receive them from hands dear to me. In The Professor (1857), Charlotte wrote, In sunshine, in prosperity, the flowers are very well; but how many wet days are there in life—November seasons of disaster, when a man's hearth and home would be cold indeed, without the clear, cheering gleam of intellect. 1838 Birth of John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist, conservationist, and author. John Muir was known by many names: "John of the Mountains," "Father of Yosemite," and "Father of the National Parks." John's work to preserve Yosemite resulted in a famous picture of himself posing with President Teddy Roosevelt on Overhanging Rock at the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite in 1903. There's a fun little story about John and Charles Sprague Sargent, the director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard, that was featured in a 1915 article. The two men had gone on a fall trip to hike the mountains in North Carolina. John found the scenery so inspiring that when they got to the top of Grandfather Mountain, he began to sing and dance and jump around, while Charles just stood there. This must have been a common trait among the botanists and academics John knew because he once wrote, In drying plants, botanists often dry themselves. Dry words and dry facts will no

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1492 Birth of Pietro Aretino ("Pee-et-tro Air-ah-TEE-no"), Italian writer, poet, and blackmailer. He was critical of the powerful and sympathetic to religious reformers. He once wrote, Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius. 1646 Birth of Charles Plumier, French priest and botanist. He was born in Marseille and was regarded as one of the most important botanical explorers of his time. Charles served as a botanist to King Louis XIV of France. He traveled to the New World many times, documenting plant and animal species. During his third expedition to the Greater Antilles, Charles discovered the Fuchsia triphylla on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Charles named the fuchsia plant after the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. And because he named the Fuschia, Charles is sometimes referred to as the Father of the Fuchsia. The Fuchsia has colorful upside-down blossoms that hang from the stems, and this is how Fuchsias get the common name Lady's Eardrops. The drooping habit is also reflected in the Irish word for Fuchsia - Deora Dé - which translates to "God's Tears." And it's worth noting that the fruit of all the species of Fuchsia is edible. However, many Fuschia fruits are bland and have a terrible aftertaste. But the Fuschia variety Splendens has flavorful fruit and can be used to make jam. In addition to the Fuchsia, Charles discovered and named both the Begonia and the Magnolia. Charles named the Begonia after Michel Begon, who was the governor of the French Antilles for three years, from 1682 to 1685. It was Begon who recommended Charles for the position of plant collector in the Caribbean to King Louis XIV. So this naming of the Begonia was a little payback by Charles to Michel Begon. On the other hand, the naming of the Magnolia was in recognition of the great botanist Pierre Magnol - who introduced the concept of plant families. Carl Linnaeus and his wife were huge Plumier fans. They used Charles's artwork to make wallpaper for their home. Today, Charles is remembered by the genus Plumeria. A tropical, the Plumeria grows in shrubs and trees. Plumeria is sometimes called the common name Frangipani. An Italian Marquis named Frangipani used Plumeria blossoms to create a perfume used to scent gloves during the 16th century. 1826 Birth of Peter Barr, Scottish nurseryman, plant hunter, and merchant. Peter is credited as the man who popularized the daffodil. In America, Peter's promotion of daffodils inspired a daffodil craze after the Civil War ended. Over his lifetime, Peter bred over two million daffodils in his Surrey nursery, which earned him the moniker "The Daffodil King." Each spring, people would travel from all around to see thousands of daffodils representing over a hundred unique daffodil varieties blooming at Peter's nursery. At one point, the Peter Barr daffodil - a white trumpet variety - commanded $250 per bulb. During his seventies, Peter gave the nursery to his sons, and he went out and traveled the world in search of daffodils in Asia and South America. After seven years of searching, Peter finally retired. He went home to his native Scotland, and once there, he pivoted away from daffodils and began cultivating primroses. Two years before his death in 1909, Peter famously mused, I wonder who will plant my grave with primroses? Today, the Royal Horticultural Society awards the Peter Barr Memorial Cup for excellence in daffodils. And in 2019, there was a Grand Blue Plaque Unveiling at Peter's English nursery along Garratt Lane. 1849 On this day, Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Swiss philosopher, and poet, was in Geneva and wrote in his journal: It is six years today since I last left Geneva. How many journeys, how many impressions, observations, thoughts, how many forms of men and things, have since then passed before me... Three snowstorms this afternoon. Poor blossoming plum trees and peach trees! What a difference from six years ago, when the cherry trees, adorned in their green spring dress and laden with their bridal flowers, smiled at my departure along the Vaudois fields, and the lilacs of Burgundy threw great gusts of perfume into my face! Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Flavors from the Garden by William Woys Weaver This book came out in 2021, and the subtitle is Heirloom Vegetable Recipes from Roughwood. Of course, Roughwood is a reference to the Roughwood Seed Collection of heirloom food plants that William maintains at the historic Lamb Tavern in Devon, Pennsylvania. William is an expert not only on gardening but also on food history. And he is a four-time winner of the prestigious Julia Child Cookbook Award. Now, what I first noticed about this book is the gorgeous cover, which features a simple yellow plate with a beautiful to

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1792 On this day, the Naturalist Gilbert White wrote in his Selborne journal in England: Redstart appears. Daffodils are gone. Mountain-snow-drops, and hyacinths in bloom; the latter very fine: Fritillaries going. Then, four years later, in 1796, Gilbert wrote, Sowed Holly-Hocks, Columbines, and Sweet Williams. 1797 Birth of Adrian Hardy Haworth, British entomologist, and botanist. Adrian was trained to be a lawyer, but once he inherited his family's estate, he devoted himself to the study of natural sciences. The Haworthia genus described by French botanist, Henri Auguste Duval, honors Adrian. The genus consists of around 200 species. Today, Haworthias are very popular since the are succulents. Native to South Africa, Haworthias range in color from transparent green to all shades of purple - and even black. They also vary in shape and texture. One of the most popular Haworthias is the Haworthia Fasciata or the Zebra Succulent. Haworthiopsis fasciata, or Zebra Plant, known for its zebra stripes, has pointy green leaves with bumps of white tubercles arranged in a zebra pattern. And one of the reasons that the zebra succulent is so popular is that it is so easy to grow. Haworthia fasciata is tough as nails, and you can even find it in all the major big box stores. Adrian is also remembered for his work as an entomologist. In the early 1800s, Adrian wrote one of the most authoritative works on British butterflies and moths. His book was called Lepidoptera Britannica. In his lifetime, Adrian named 22 new genera of moths. And finally, Adrian was also the first person to describe the Epiphyllum oxypetalum - commonly known as the Dutchman's Pipe Cactus, Queen of the Night, or Night-Blooming Cereus. 1889 Birth of E. Lucy Braun, American botanist, and ecologist. The "E" stood for Emma, but she always went by Lucy. In 1950, Lucy was the first woman elected president of the Ecological Society of America and an expert on deciduous forests of the eastern United States. A quiet, bright, and dedicated field scientist, Lucy worked as a botany professor at the University of Cincinnati. Lucy became interested in the outdoors as a child. Growing up on May Street in Cincinnati, Lucy's parents would take her and her older sister, Annette, by horse-drawn streetcar to the woods in Rose Hill so they could spend time botanizing. The girls were taught to identify wildflowers by their mother, and they also gathered specimens for their mother's herbarium. Lucy and Annette both got Ph.D.'s; Lucy in botany, Annette in Zoology. Neither ever married. Instead, they lived together at home in Mount Washington. The sisters turned the upstairs of the house into an indoor laboratory, and the gardens became their outdoor laboratory. Lucy was a go-getter. At the age of 80, she was still leading people on field trips in Ohio. Friends of Lucy said, "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." 1943 On this day, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising broke out in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population of Jews to death camps. In 2018, the Shalom foundation planted the Tree of Tears in a square in Warsaw. The tree is a weeping willow, and the leaves symbolize the tears of Jewish mothers who gave their children to Catholic mothers to save their lives. But April 19th is also remembered with yellow paper daffodils thanks to Marek Edelman, a cardiologist and uprising commander who passed away in 2009. When he was alive, Marek began receiving an anonymous bunch of daffodils on the anniversary of the uprising. Marek would lay the bouquet at the ghetto hero monument. Today the paper daffodils symbolize resilience and hope and represent the Yellow Star that Jewish residents were forced to wear during the Holocaust. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Flower Book by Rachel Siegfried This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Let the Beauty of Each Bloom Speak For Itself. Before I tell you about Rachel's book, let me share a little bit about Rachel's background. In 2008, Rachel set up a flower farm called Green and Gorgeous in the Oxfordshire countryside. At Green and Gorgeous, Rachel not only provides flowers locally but also handles special events like weddings. In her spare time, Rachel and her partner, Ashley, offer floristry and gardening classes for amateurs and professionals. Rachel starts her book by walking us through how she arranges flowers. This is a little step-by-step tutorial - and if you've ever considered a career as a florist, you will get a little one-on-one here from Rachel. As Rachel mentions at the beginning of her

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1844 Birth of Helene Cramer, German landscape and flower painter. Helen and her sister Molly were both painters in Hamburg, Germany. Their father, Cesar, disapproved of them as painters, so the two women didn't start painting until middle age. (Helen was 38 when she first picked up a brush.) Helen and Molly exhibited their art throughout Germany and at the 1883 World's Fair in Chicago. Most folks say that their favorite Helene Cramer painting is her work called "Marsh Marigolds and Crown Imperials." In 1916, Helen died at 72. She and Molly are buried in Plot 27 of the "Garten der Frauen," or the Garden of Women at the Hamburg Ohlsdorf cemetery. 1888 Birth of Harry Saier, American nurseryman, printer, and garden writer. In 1911, Harry started his seed company in Lansing, Michigan. A 1916 newspaper ad encouraged women to "help beautify Lansing by a pretty home garden." Harry pledged, We supply everything necessary for making your home and lawn a beauty spot. We have assembled a rare collection of beautiful shrubs, trees, flowers and seeds. Lovers of horticulture will find much to interest them here. By the fall of that same year, Harry posted an ad for: [A] lady to canvass city for shrubs, seeds and garden supplies. Harry acquired a new building at 3 West Michigan Avenue for his florist shop three years later. Newspapers reported that, A resplendent posy shop [was] to open. One of the features of the... shop will be an icebox, which will be the largest in the state of Michigan for its purpose. It will measure twelve [by six and made] entirely of glass and... decorated with German silver trimmings. ...The new marble tables... will be arranged about a large fountain which will occupy the center of the building. In 1926, Harry moved his operation to the century farm he bought on highway 99 in Dimondale. Harry was known for producing his exceptional and exhaustive garden catalog. He included a pronunciation list, plant descriptions, and miscellaneous advice. Throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, if someone were looking for a plant or seeds, they would usually find their way to Harry as their last best hope. Katherine White wrote about Harry's work in her book Onward and Upward in the Garden: Consider the case of Harry E. Saier, who issues three or four catalogues a year, each of them listing as many as eighteen hundred genera and eighteen thousand kinds of seed. Mr. Saier is not a grower but a collector and distributor of seeds... [he] primarily depends on his two hundred seed collectors, who are stationed all over the world, and on commercial growers from many countries. There is nothing beautiful about his latest catalogue and its hundred and seventy-six pages of small-print lists, interspersed with occasional dim photographs, but it is fascinating to browse in, translating, if you can, the abbreviations made necessary by lack of space. ...His global lists of clients include nurseries, greenhouses, seedsmen, universities, botanical gardens, and drug manufacturers, but a third of them, he tells me, are amateurs like you and me. And just to spark your nostalgia for simpler times, listen to Elizabeth Lawrence describe ordering from Harry. I find most plantsmen send their wares without cash, even when they have never heard of you, but I certainly would never ask them to. I am always in debt to Mr. Saier because he sends things at odd times, and I wake up in the night and remember that I have owed him a quarter for three years. After Harry died in 1976, JL Hudson inherited Harry's seed collection. Harry's Dimondale property is now a cemetery. 2017 On this day, the Beijing Crabapple Conference began. Conference-goers toured the Crabapple Garden, which featured many American cultivars like Brandywine, Cinderella, Molten Lava, Lollipop, and Madonna - all varieties created by Jim Zampini, a beloved nurseryman from Lake County, Ohio. During the conference, attendees learned that Jim had passed away at 85. Today, Jim's legacy lives on in his fantastic crabapple varieties like Centurion, Harvest Gold, Lancelot Dwarf, Sugar Tyme, and the Weeping Candied Apple. Generally speaking, a crabapple tree takes two to five years to bear fruit. Crabapples differ from standard apple trees in that they offer smaller fruit. Apples that are less than 2 inches in diameter are considered crabapples. And, Crabapples rarely grow taller than 25 feet high. If you want to plant a mini-orchard of Crabapple trees, space the saplings six to fifteen feet apart depending on the variety - plant tighter if you are planting dwarf or more upright varieties. Right now, crabapple trees are just starting to bloom in our 2022 gardens. Most gardeners agree that few flowering trees can rival the charm of a crabapple tree in flower. In Polish folklore, apple trees were considered drea

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1711 Birth of John Mitchell (books about this person), American physician, botanist, and polymath. John was educated in Edinburgh. As a young man, John returned to Virginia and settled in Urbanna - about seventy miles from Richmond. There, he began botanizing throughout Virginia, and he corresponded with most of the colonial botanists of his time. For instance, John sent a list of Virginia plants to Peter Collinson for inclusion in his book on new world plants. John Mitchell and John Clayton both botanized in Virginia. The American writer Henry Theodore Tuckerman once wrote, Mitchell and Clayton together gave to the botany of Virginia a distinguished lustre. John also corresponded with Linnaeus, who named the sweetly trailing Partridgeberry Mitchella repens ("Mi-CHEL-uh REE-pens") in his honor. The word repens means "creeping" and describes its growing habit. Partridgeberry is in the Madder family. The berries are red and sport two bright red spots. By 1746, John and his wife had returned to England. He arrived utterly penniless after losing all of his botanical work on the voyage over from America. He paused his botanical work to create a map to help Britain identify their colonial territories. The Mitchell Map took five years to complete and became the most detailed and largest 18th-century map of eastern North America. The Mitchell Map also is regarded as one of the most significant maps in American history. Published before the Seven Years' War, the Mitchell Map was used in the Treaty of Paris (1783) and (ironically) helped define the boundaries of the newly independent United States. And Lewis and Clark used the Mitchell Map on their expedition. 1743 Birth of Thomas Jefferson (books about this person), American statesman and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Thomas loved plants and gardening. He once wrote, The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture. He also once wrote, On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar. 1851 Birth of Helen Maria Winslow (books by this author) (pen name Aunt Philury), American writer and poet. Helen's nature poems are charming. Here's the beginning verse to her poem, Spring Song. The bluebird from the apple-tree Pours forth a flood of melody ; The sky above as blue as he. Shimmers and shines, an azure sea. And the robin sings, 'What cheer, what cheer ?' Summer is coming, and Spring is here!" 1909 Birth of Eudora Alice Welty (books by this author), American writer and photographer who wrote about the American South. Eudora's novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. She famously wrote, One place comprehended can make us understand other places better. Today, Eudora's house and garden in Jackson, Mississippi, is a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public. The home was built by Eudora's parents, Christian and Chestina. Eudora lived in her family home for seventy-six years and wrote all her major works there. In the 1930s, Eudora hosted the 'Night Blooming Cereus Club' of Jackson, Mississippi, in her moon garden to watch the annual blossoming of the flower known as the 'Queen of the Night.' Eudora learned to love gardening from her mother, Chestina. Chestina designed the garden at Eudora's home in 1925. The two spent the next two decades working in the garden - planting, digging, weeding, and harvesting. Today, the gardens are beautifully restored based on Eudora's photos and letters and Chestina's garden journals. The garden is not a show garden - it's a gardener's garden - and that's the way Eudora wanted it to be maintained for future generations. Eudora found inspiration in the natural world. Over 150 different plants are mentioned in her various works. In 1931, Eudora and her mother turned to the garden after the sudden death of her father. During that time, she wrote short stories, including a story inspired by the garden called A Curtain of Green. Looking back at the years following the loss of her dad, Eudora wrote, No experience could have taught me more about grief or flowers, about achieving survival by going, your fingers in the ground, the limit of physical exhaustion. In Delta Wedding (1946), Eudora wrote, The evening was hot; it was the fragrance of the lemon lilies that was cool, like the breath from a mountain well. Gardeners often say that gardening is cheaper than therapy. Eudora knew that garden time had benefits that were on a higher level. She once wrote to a friend, I like the work in the yard, never get tired, and can think out there... or maybe it's dreaming. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Rec

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1661 Birth of Georg Joseph Kamel ("CAH-mel"), Czech pharmacist, naturalist, and Jesuit missionary. Georg was born in Brno (pronounced "burr-no"), the city where Gregor Mendel lived in a monastery and experimented with peas. In 1688, after graduating from a mission school in Vienna, he was sent to the Philippines, which was then a Spanish colony, and he ended up spending the rest of his life helping the people as a doctor and botanizing in his free time. Early on, he once confided in a friend. There is no physician here but four brorthers who know little more than my pair of trousers. Georg also worked as a pharmacist and a botanist at the College in Manila. He set up the first pharmacy in the Philipines, and he ran it according to Austrian standards. Georg Joseph Kamel was a true naturalist. He enjoyed learning everything he could about the natural world. His work as an herbalist led him to explore the medicinal potential of the plants he encountered, and he valued the way locals treated ailments. For instance, he believed that low doses of the Saint Ignatius bean - the source of strychnine - had medicinal value since Filipinos used it to treat cholera. But modern research has proved otherwise, and even trace amounts of strychnine damage the liver and the kidneys. Thanks to his work treating the sick, Georg was well known. He treated the poor for free, and he happily received many plants from grateful locals to plant in his medicinal garden. Between his own collecting efforts and the plants received from locals, Georg completed the first flora of the Philippines. Georg sent a copy of his flora to his peer and friend, John Ray, who, in turn, included the Philippine flora in the appendix of the third volume of his great work- the Historia Plantarum - the history of plants. Georg also named several plants. He called the ubiquitous ornamental houseplant the kalanchoe ("kal-an-KOH-ee"), which was based on the Philipino name for the plant. Georg also was the first person to describe the tea plant or the Camellia, which is why Carl Linneaus named the Camellia in honor of Georg Joseph Kamel. He used Georg's Latinized last name, Camellus, for the genus name Camellia, which translates to "helper to the priest." Sadly, Georg Joseph Kamel died young at 45 from an intestinal infection. 1748 Death of William Kent (books about this person), English landscape gardener, artist, and designer. Before William's picturesque approach to landscapes, gardens were formal, following Dutch or French design principles that used a geometric and orderly layout. But William started out as a painter and not a landscape architect, and when he worked on landscapes, he approached them as a living canvas. He once wrote, All gardening is landscape painting. For William to make art out of the earth, he needed scenery, and he went to great lengths to accomplish his visions. He moved soil to create rolling hills; he used swaths of land for lush lawns, groves of trees for interest and contrast, and paths with benches for the characters/visitors that he envisioned arriving on the scene. William planned for people to walk or ride through his landscapes in the same way that people might dot the landscape of one of his paintings. William often placed elements in the garden against a green backdrop, a hillside, or a group of evergreens, to accent the piece's beauty. Much of what William Kent attempted to do has become mainstream. As gardeners, we often must contend with unattractive areas in the landscape: fences, sheds, or utility areas. Well, William Kent faced these same concerns for his beautiful landscapes. At Rousham, William employed a haha or wall sunken into a ditch instead of fencing to keep the gardens separate from grazing land. He also improved the exterior of an eyesore - an old mill - by adding gothic elements. He also added a folly to look like a ruin with three arches that William called the eye-catcher. William wanted visitors at Rousham to look off in the distance toward the eye-catcher and feel the expansiveness of the property. It was William Kent who said, Garden as though you will live forever. 1899 Birth of Gladys Taber, American author, columnist, and animal lover. Gladys wrote over fifty books that ran from fiction to cookbooks, children's books to poetry. She once wrote, Nothing decorates a room like books. There they are, waiting to decorate the mind, too! She's best remembered for her series about life at Stillmeadow, her farm in rural Connecticut. She also wrote about her smaller Cape Cod home called Still Cove. Stillmeadow and Still Cove were the most common topics of her columns for Ladies Home Journal (1937 - 1957) and Family Circle (1959 - 1967). Gladys was a gardener, and she once wrote, A garden is evidence of faith. It links us with all

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1722 Birth of Christopher Smart, English poet. He was known for his pen name as the midwife "Mrs. Mary Midnight." The back half of Christopher's life was spent in madhouses or prisons. He wrote his long religious poem, Jubilate Agno (Rejoice in the Lamb), in a debtor's prison. It includes the words, For the flowers are great blessings. For there is a language of flowers. For the flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ. In this same poem, Christopher praises his beloved cat Jeoffry. The Jeoffry verses inspired Oliver Soden's whimsical biography of Jeoffry, which debuted in April 2021 to the delight of cat lovers everywhere. In 1752, Christopher published The Hop-Garden, a long poem of 733 lines about a hop garden that tells the reader how to cultivate hops. The poem is part personal history and part instruction. In The Hop-Garden, Christopher mentioned the river that ran past his childhood garden, and he dedicated the second half of the poem to his dear friend Theophilus Wheeler. Christopher was in the middle of writing The Hop-Garden when Theophilus died during his sophomore year at Christ College. After The Hop-Garden was published, Christopher's friend, Samuel Johnson, said the poem was proof that, one could say a great deal about cabbage. In the poem, when a storm threatens the harvest, Christopher writes, Haste then, ye peasants; pull the poles, the hops; Where are the bins? Run, run, ye nimble maids, Move ev'ry muscle, ev'ry nerve extend, To save our crop from ruin, and ourselves. Christopher Smart died in debtor's prison in London in 1771, at 49. 1897 Death of David Burke, English plant collect and gardener. The Veitch nurseries became obsessed with the painting of a Pitcher-plant (Nepenthes Northiana) by Marianne North. After Marianne's death, Veitch sent David on his first collecting trip with Charles Curtis to bring back specimens of the North Pitcher plant. During the trip, David discovered the beautiful Leea amabilis, which is now a popular tropical houseplant that features dark, jagged-shaped leaves with have white color along the midrib. David continued to travel extensively for James Veitch & Sons, and he collected plants in British Guiana, Burma, and Colombia. David was honored with the naming of a pitcher plant he discovered called Nepenthes Burkei. In the Philippines, David also collected Phalaenipsis stuartiana. He found the orchid growing abundantly along the coastline, where it thrived being sprayed by the ocean. The Veitch firm praised Burke's writing. This traveller (Burke) crossed a greater area of the earth's surface and covered more miles in search of plants than any other Veitchian collector, with the possible exception of the two brothers William and Thomas Lobb. The writer Sue Shephard wrote a biography of the Veitch family, and in it, she described David as Veitch's strangest, longest–serving and most adventurous orchid collector. James Veitch once remarked, Burke was one of those curious natures who live more or less with natives as a native, and apparently, prefer[ed] this mode of existance. In 1896, David left on what was to be his final voyage. He died of cholera on Ambon island. 1912 Birth of Elsie Elizabeth Esterhuysen, South African botanist. Elsie's been described as the most outstanding collector of South African Flora. She collected over 36,000 herbarium species. A botanist at the Bolus Herbariumin Cape Town, Elsie was humble, and she would never publish the results of her work under her own name. After Elsie died, over 200 people gathered at her memorial, which featured three tributes from her botanist family. The botanist John Rourke recalled, 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'. The 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. 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 interested in the plants themselves—she cared about them. The 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 dread

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1805 Birth of Hugo von Mohl, German botanist. One newspaper called him the "greatest botanist of his day." He coined the word protoplasm. He discovered Mitosis and 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." 1859 On this day, the Ohio Legislature named Alliance, Ohio, the "Carnation City," saying "truly it is the home of Ohio's State flower," thanks to the work of the amateur horticulturist Levi L. Lamborn (books by this author). In 1876, Levi ran against his friend William McKinley for congress. Before every debate, Levi gave William a "Lamborn Red" Carnation to wear on his lapel. Levi had propagated and named the Lamborn Red Carnation from seedlings he had received from France. After William won the election, he considered the Lamborn Red Carnation his good luck charm - his lucky flower - and he wore a Lamborn Red Carnation during his successful campaigns for Governor of Ohio and President of the United States. William wore a Lamborn Red Carnation when he was sworn into office. He was also wearing one when he attended the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901. At that event, he removed the Carnation and gave it to a 12-year-old girl named Myrtle Ledger, saying, I must give this flower to another little flower. Minutes later, in the receiving line, he greeted his assassin, Leon Czolgosz. President McKinley lingered for eight days after being shot twice before finally succumbing to infection. When McKinley's funeral train passed through Alliance, Ohio, the train tracks were covered in Lamborn Red Carnations. The Ohio General Assembly named the scarlet Carnation the official Ohio floral emblem three years later. The resolution reads: Even though the first mention of the Dianthus genus of plant... is traced to some four hundred years before the birth of Christ, it was not until a native son of Alliance, Ohio, (Levi L. Lamborn) worked his floricultural magic that it blossomed as the matchless symbol of life and love that is today. Representative Elijah W. Hill, from Columbiana County, said, England has the rose, France has the lily; Ireland, the shamrock; Scotland, the thistle. ...To these ends, we seek to adopt the scarlet Carnation as Ohio's floral emblem. Fifty-five years later, on this day, April 8, 1959, Alliance, Ohio, became the "Carnation City" thanks to the work of Levi L. Lamborn. Every year since 1960, Alliance has held a Carnation festival. In 2022, the 10-day festival takes place between August 4 - August 14. 1892 Birth of Mary Pickford (books about this person), born Gladys Marie Smith, became known as America's sweetheart and a Hollywood legend. Mary was also a lover of trees. If you 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 was the first to plant a Japanese cedar tree in the Forest of Fame at the California Botanic Garden. And Trivia/Folklore says that Mary Pickford used to eat flowers - especially roses. Katie Melua sang about Mary in a song that goes: Mary Pickford Used to eat roses Thinking they'd make her Beautiful, and they did- One supposes. In real life, Mary did indeed eat roses. Mary Pickford revealed 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. Mary starred in Madame Butterfly (1915). The movie was shot in the Japanese garden of Charles Pfizer's Bernardsville, New Jersey estate called Yademos, the word "someday" spelled backward. The elaborate three-and-a-half-acre Japanese garden - complete with a lake filled with Japanese goldfish, a tea house, and a hooped and arched bridge - looked like it had been there forever - but in reality, the garden was only nine years old. 1918 Birth of First Lady Betty Ford (books about this person). As a woman, Betty Ford consistently defied the odds. She was an incredible trailblazer and very open about her struggles with alcohol and breast cancer. She revolutionized addiction treatment and opened her center for treatment while she was in the middle of working on her own recovery. Today' the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens is a fitting living tribute to this remarkable woman. Known as Vail's Alpine Treasure, the garden was founded in 1985 by the Vail Alpine Garden Foundation and renamed in honor of Betty three years later in 1988. This special place is located in Ford Park right next to the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater–named in honor of her husband, the 38th president of the United States. Over the years, the Betty Ford A

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1727 Birth of Michel Adanson, French botanist and naturalist. He created the first natural classification of flowering plants. Although today we think mainly of Darwin and Linnaeus when it comes to classification, these two men and others stood on the shoulders of Michel Adanson. The great botanist Jussieu ("Juice You") adopted Michel's methodology to create his masterpiece called Genera Plantarum (1789). Michel was the first person to question the stability of species. When he saw breaks or deviations in nature, he came up with a word for it: mutation. Linnaeus honored Michel's contributions with the genus Adansonia, which features the spectacularly unique Baobab ("BOW-bab") trees of Africa, Australia, and Madagascar. The Baobab tree (books about this topic) has a Seussical quality, and it is one of the most massive trees in the world. They are called "The Queens of the Forest" or "The Roots of the Sky in Africa." The last name refers to a legend that tells how long ago, in a fit of anger, the devil pulled the Baobab tree out of the ground, only to shove it back into the earth upside down - leaving its roots shooting up into the air. The story offers the perfect description of how the trees look. The enormous trunks of the Baobab tree can store up to 32,000 gallons of water. The outer bark is about 6 inches thick, but the cavity is spongy and vascular. This is why animals, like elephants, chew the bark during the dry seasons. Carbon dating indicates that Baobabs may live to be 3,000 years old. And here's a fun fact: the cooking ingredient Cream of Tartar was initially made from Baobab seed pulp. Today, it is mainly sourced as a by-product of making wine. 1775 Birth of Francis Cabot Lowell (books about this person), American industrialist and anthropologist. The first planned company town - the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, is named in his honor. One of the fathers of the Industrial Revolution in America, Francis once wrote, One lifetime is never enough to accomplish one's horticultural goals. If a garden is a site for the imagination, how can we be very far from the beginning? 1869 Birth of David Fairchild (books about this person), American botanist. In terms of plant exploration, David was single-handedly responsible for introducing more than 200,000 plants to the United States, including pistachios, kale, mangoes, dates, nectarines, soybeans, and flowering cherries. In 2019, David's incredible adventures and contributions intrigued author Daniel Stone so much that he wrote a magnificent biography of David called The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats. David also brought the Avocado to America. David loved the Avocado and wrote, The avocado is a food without rival among the fruits, the veritable fruit of paradise. In 1905, David married Mary Ann Bell; his father-in-law was none other than Alexander Graham Bell - who, along with his wife, also enjoyed gardening. Today the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables is filled with many of the plants David collected, and of course, the garden is named in David's honor. In The World Was My Garden: Travels Of A Plant Explorer (1938), David wrote, The human mind prefers something which it can recognize to something for which it has no name, and, whereas thousands of persons carry field glasses to bring horses, ships, or steeples close to them, only a few carry even the simplest pocket microscope. Yet a small microscope will reveal wonders a thousand times more thrilling than anything which Alice saw behind the looking-glass. 1940 Birth of Steven Vogel, American biomechanics researcher and the James B. Duke professor in the Department of Biology at Duke University. In The Life of a Leaf (2012), Steven wrote, I'm not even much of a gardener—my contribution to the family garden consists mainly of compost. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Fine Art of Paper Flowers by Tiffanie Turner This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is A Guide to Making Beautiful and Lifelike Botanicals. When it comes to making permanent arrangements and using elements like paper flowers, there is no better teacher than Tiffany Turner. By the way, this book has the most beautiful cover. Tiffany is a bit of a polymath - she's multitalented. She's licensed as a California architect. She's a fine art instructor and an artist in her own right. Her work has been featured all over the country. Tiffany typically explores nature in her work, and she creates botanical specimens that can be staggeringly large or very, very, very tiny. Now, Tiffany was raised in the woods of New Hampshire. But, for the past twenty years, she's made San Francisco her home, and that's where she and her husband are raising their two children. There's

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1528 Today is the anniversary of the death of the German painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg, Albrecht Dürer (books about this person). Albrecht's work was extraordinary, and by the time he was in his 20s, he was already quite famous. During Albrecht's lifetime, explorers shifted their focus from medicinal plants to ornamental plants. As an artist, Albrecht captured many new exotic plants with incredible attention to detail. If you're looking for bunny art, you should check out Albrecht Dürer's watercolor called Young Hare. It's a beautiful piece, remarkable for its accuracy and realism. One of Albrecht's most famous pieces is The Great Piece of Turf (German: Das große Rasenstück), which he created in 1503. This exceptional watercolor shows a very natural grouping of natural plants together in community and features grass that has gone to seed, plantain, and dandelion. 1732 Birth of José Celestino Mutis (books about this person), Spanish priest, botanist, and mathematician. He's remembered as the architect of the Royal Botanical Expedition of the Kingdom of Granada (what is now Columbia) in 1783. For almost 50 years, José worked to collect and illustrate the plants in Colombian lands. In Columbia, José created an impressive botanical library and a herbarium with over 24,000 species. During his lifetime, only Joseph Banks had a bigger herbarium than José. José's study of the Cinchona tree (Cinchona officinalis) at the Bogota Botanical Garden helped develop a cure for yellow fever or malaria. The Cinchona tree grows in the cloud forests of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The bark of the cinchona tree contains quinine, the chemical used to create medicines. During José's lifetime, Cinchona was believed to have the potential to cure all diseases, and so the Spanish crown encouraged José to continue his work with Cinchona. José sent thousands of specimens back to the Madrid Botanical Garden. He also used local artisans to create over 6,500 pieces of botanical art. The majority of the collection remained in shipping crates until 2010 when they were finally exhibited at Kew. Today, thousands of pieces of the Mutis collection are housed at the Botanical Garden in Madrid, Spain. The pieces are significant - mostly folio size - and since they haven't seen much daylight over the past two centuries, they are in immaculate condition. The old 200 pesos banknote in Colombia bears the portrait of José Mutis, and the Bogota Botanical Garden is named in his honor. 1759 Death of Johann Zinn, German anatomist and botanist. He died young from tuberculosis at 32. Johann accomplished much in his short life, and he focused on two seemingly disconnected areas of science: human anatomy and botany. From an anatomy standpoint, Johann focused on the eye. He wrote an eye anatomy book and became the first person to describe the Iris. Today, several parts of the eye are named in Johann's honor, including the Zinn zonule, the Zinn membrane, and the Zinn artery. As a young man, Johann was appointed the University Botanic Garden director in Göttingen (pronounced "Gert-ing-en"). He initially thought the University wanted him to teach anatomy, but that job was filled, so he took the botany job instead. One day, Johann received an envelope of seeds from the German Ambassador to Mexico. After growing the plants, Johann wrote about them, drew the blossoms, and shared the seed with other botanists throughout Europe. Those seeds were the Zinnia (click here to order Zinnia seeds). When Johann died so young, Linnaeus named the Zinnia in his honor. The Aztecs had a word for Zinnia, which basically translates to "the evil eye" or "eyesore." The original Zinnia was a weedy-looking plant with a dull purple blossom. This is why the Zinnia was initially called the crassina, which means "somewhat corse." Once the French began hybridizing Zinnias, the dazzling colors began turning the heads and hearts of gardeners. This gradual transformation of zinnias from eyesores to beauties is how Zinnias earned the common name Cinderella Flower. Zinnia's are a favorite flower of gardeners, and it is Indiana's state flower. In addition to their striking colors, zinnias can be directly sown into the garden, they attract pollinators like butterflies, and they couldn't be easier to grow. 2021 On this day, The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly by Kate Lebo was released. In her book, Kate Lebo - essayist, poet, and pie lady - shares a natural, culinary, medical, and personal history of twenty-six fruits, including: Aronia or chokeberry - a member of the apple family and it is not poisonous. Like raspberries, the Aronia pigment stains clothes. Durian - fruit from the tree of the hibiscus, or mallow, family. The unique

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1898 On this day, The Lilies of the Valley Fabergé egg (books about this topic)was presented to the Russian Tsar Nicholas II. The egg was a gift for his wife, Empress Alexandra. Today the egg is kept in the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Lily of the valley, Convallaria majalis ("con-vah-LAIR-ee-ah mah-JAY-liss), is a woodland plant that flowers in the spring with sweetly scented, delicate, bell-shaped white flowers. Despite its common name, Lily of the valley is in the asparagus family - not the lily family. It's not a lily at all. The etymology of the Latin name "majalis" means "belonging to May," In addition to blooming in May, the Lily of the Valley is the birth flower for May. In France, Lily of the Valley Day is celebrated every May 1st. In floriography, the Lily of the Valley represents good luck. The tiny blossoms are favorite for making perfume. Lily of the Valley is a favorite bridal flower and was included in the wedding bouquets of Queen Victoria, Princess Astrid of Sweden, Grace Kelly, and Kate Middleton. Lily of the Valley thrives in cool growing zones - it cannot thrive in hot conditions. 1908 Birth of Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (books about this person), American actress. Her career spanned over five decades. She often played tough, unsympathetic characters. As Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950), she said, Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke. 1913 Birth of Anne Scott-James (books by this author), English author and pioneering journalist. In 1934, Anne started out as a secretary at Vogue before rising through the ranks to become the Beauty Editor. After a brilliant career in journalism - including stints at Harper's Bazaar and the Daily Mail - Anne became a garden writer. Her books included The Best Plants For Your Garden, The Pleasure Garden, Down to Earth, and Sissinghurst: The Making of a Garden. Regarding Sissinghurst, Anne wrote, Sissinghurst is the last cottage garden made on a grand scale, but fortunately, it does not mark the end of cottage gardening. Both of Anne's children followed in her footsteps and ended up in journalism. Anne's daughter Clare Hastings also became a garden writer, and she is the author of Gardening Notes from a Late Bloomer. She also wrote a memoir of her mother released in 2020 called Hold the Front Page!: The Wit and Wisdom of Anne Scott-James. It was Anne Scott-James who wrote, However small your garden, you must provide for two of the serious gardener's necessities, a tool shed, and a compost heap. and To pick a flower is so much more satisfying than just observing it or photographing it ... So in later years, I have grown in my garden as many flowers as possible for children to pick. 2011 Death of Kim McDodge, American garden founder and artist. In 1993, Kim used her inheritance to buy two parcels of land in the Sabin neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, near NE Fremont and 11th, called Ariadne Garden. Two years later, she donated the 100 x 100-foot plot to the Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust (OSALT). The Ariadne Garden became a volunteer-staffed, organic, urban farm selling blooms like peonies, roses, yarrow, lilies, gladiola, zinnias, and a diverse array of produce. Kim designed the Hopi mother and child maze at Ariadne. It is a nod to the lore of Ariadne herself. In Greek mythology, Ariadne (books about this topic) was a Cretan princess. She is remembered for helping Theseus escape the labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur with the help of a golden thread. Ariadne then became the wife of Dionysus. In Jhan Hochman's beautiful tribute to Kim, he wrote, Before the mortal Ariadne more famously enabled Theseus to kill the minotaur and escape the labyrinth, she was a Minoan vegetation goddess celebrated by rituals reflecting the death and revival of the vegetation she personified. Kim elegantly fused these two Ariadne's in her garden-labyrinth, becoming remarkably Ariadne-like herself by showing the rest of us at least one way to kill the minotaur of corporate agriculture, thread our way out of the labyrinth of supermarket aisles, and find our way back to the mazing paths of an organic garden. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Get Growing by Holly Farrell This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is A Family Guide to Gardening Inside and Out. I should mention that this book is by the RHS, and it is really fantastic as per usual for the RHS. The goal here with this book was to put fun into gardening with this excellent family guide to help you make gardening a family affair. Now, you know, it's hard to beat RHS books because they're so well put together, and of course, they're grounded in science — the latest science — so that's always a plus. One of the reasons why you might want to consider getting th

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1802 Birth of Dorothea Lynde Dix, Boston activist, writer, and schoolteacher. As a young woman, she visited England and met the philanthropist and mental-health reformer Samuel Tuke, the director of the York Retreat. There, the patients tended the flower and vegetable gardens surrounding the buildings. Samual called his methods "moral treatment," His work inspired Dorothea to pursue new ways of treating mental illness back home in America. Dorothea championed the causes of the marginalized, incredibly the mentally ill. She successfully lobbied for the creation of mental asylums. Despite today's negative connotations, the word asylum was initially intended to be a place of safety and refuge. Dorothea's asylums were a complete departure from the punitive madhouses that had come before. Today, the Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh stands on the site of North Carolina's first mental health facility, Dorothea Dix Hospital, which existed for 160 years. Before that, the land was part of the Spring Hill Plantation, which was worked by hundreds of enslaved people for 150 years. Dorothea Dix Park is known for daffodils in spring and a field of sunflowers at the end of July. Dorothea Dix often included flower petals in letters to her friends. In 1829, she wrote a book of Floriography ("FLOOR-EE-ah-grah-FEE") or the language of flowers called The Garland of Flora. Dorothea wrote, The rose is the flower and handmaiden of love – the lily, her fair associate, is the emblem of beauty and purity. 1928 Birth of Maya Angelou (books by this author), American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. Maya once wrote, On late evenings when quiet inhabits my garden when grass sleeps and streets are only paths for silent mist I seem to remember Smiling. 1929 Birth of James A. Duke (books about this person), American botanist and writer. He's remembered for his Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and the best-selling book The Green Pharmacy (1997). He developed Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases at the USDA. James once quipped regarding dandelions: If you can't beat them, eat them. 1944 On this day, English and American bombs hit the Botanical Garden in Bucharest. The garden's herbarium lost 500,000 sheets of specimens - roughly two-thirds of their collection. The origins of the garden date back to 1874. The garden found a champion in a 28-year-old Romanian botanist and naturalist named Dimitrie Brandza. Today the garden is named in his honor. Dimitri came to Bucharest to be a professor at the Department of Natural Science at the University of Bucharest. He created the botany department at the Natural Science Museum, only to see his entire plant collection destroyed by a fire two years later in 1884. But the fire ignited a new passion for Dimitri, which was the creation of the botanical garden, which opened in 1891. The garden's 42 acres are home to a museum, a greenhouse, formal gardens, wild spaces, lakes, ponds, and research buildings. The garden is a living part of the biology department at the University of Bucharest. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Graphic Garden by Keith Williams This very, very green-covered book came out in May of 2020, and it's the first monograph from landscape architect Keith Williams. This book features all of Keith's projects to date. Now Keith is one of the country's leading landscape architects. Keith is a partner, along with Mario Nievera, in their design firm called Nievera Williams Design, a genuinely groundbreaking landscape architecture firm Is based in South Florida. Together, Mario and Keith have been designing fantastic outdoor spaces for over two decades. One of the wonderful things about this particular book is that Keith shares with us the transformations and pictures of his gardens, showcasing his work process from the beginning of the project all the way through to the end. In this way, you can see how he looks at spaces and incorporates different elements into these monumental design projects. And there's a reason he calls it the Graphic Garden, and that's because it's so visual. Keith is very generously sharing everything— all the pictures, all of the drawings, and the details regarding his approach to designing gardens. So if you are a garden designer, this book is a must because you will learn from a true expert in garden design. Now I have to say that when I first got this book, I was so blown away. It was way more than I anticipated. The level of detail is fantastic. You will learn about layering in gardens and how each layer contributes to the garden's overall design. And the other thing that I want to mention quickly is that I shared a great video of Keith and his partner, Mario, in a video with Steele Marcoux of Veranda, and they're talking about garden design, their uniqu

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1755 Birth of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (books by this author), French lawyer and politician. He became a famous epicure and gastronome. In The Physiology of Taste, He wrote, A man who was fond of wine was offered some grapes at dessert after dinner. 'Much obliged', said he, pushing the plate aside; 'I am not accustomed to taking my wine in pills. 1803 Birth of Miles Joseph Berkeley, English cryptogamist and clergyman. Miles is regarded as a founder of plant pathology. As a young man, Miles became passionate about lichens, and he became a recognized expert in his lifetime. Miles pursued his botanical work around his duties as a pastor. He coined the term "mycologist" to describe his work with nature. Today Websters defines a mycologist as someone who works with fungi ("fun-guy"), living organisms such as molds, yeast, and mushrooms. And while many of his fellow clergymen believed the potato famine to be a tool of the devil, Miles correctly suspected that a water mold, Phytophthora infestans, could be the source of the problem. Miles named a mushroom species Agaricus ruthae ("Ah-GARE-uh-kus Ruth-ee") after his daughter Ruth. Ruth Ellen Berkeley became a successful botanical illustrator. 1838 Birth of George Edward Post, American physician and scholar. He was a missionary, professor, and pioneering doctor in Syria, Beirut, and Lebanon. In his spare time, he botanized the countryside and wrote the first English Flora of the Middle East. George is remembered for his extensive herbarium. His students helped with his collecting efforts. George would assign two hundred herbarium sheets per student and reward those who traveled the furthest to obtain specimens. There are many incredible stories about George Post. Supposedly, he could outwork most men and fall asleep very quickly. George Post lore tells how George could also collect specimens without getting off his horse. George got good at leaning down low on the side of his saddle to grab a specimen for his study. Finally, as George lay dying, a visitor placed some wheat in his hand. The wheat was symbolic of the harvest and George's lifetime of work with plants. 1868 Birth of Edmond Rostand (books by this author), the very dapper-looking French poet and dramatist. Edmond built a villa called Arnaga in Cambo less Bains, France. The beautiful gardens cover 37 acres. Edmond planned the French garden on the east side to greet the rising sun and an English garden on the west side to enjoy the setting sun. Edmond called Arnaga "a poem of stone and greenery," and it is often referred to as the "Little Versaille" in the Basque country. Today the villa and the gardens get five-star reviews on Trip Advisor. Edmond is best known for his 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac. In the play, Edmond wrote this garden-inspired verse, My soul, be satisfied with flowers, With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them In the one garden you may call your own. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Patina Farm by Brooke and Steve Giannetti This book came out in March of 2016 - so it's been out for six years already. This book has been on my watch list for quite some time, and use copies have finally dipped below $20, so I am thrilled to share this with you on today's show. Let me just start by saying that the cover of Patina Farm is so stunning. It's one of my favorite covers, and when I saw the cover for the first time, I could not stop thinking about it. I love the use of dried flowers and the styling on the cover. I love the cutting boards displayed over the mantle, the beautiful teal slip-covered chairs, and the natural elements that make this gorgeous cover. And then, of course, there is the incredibly inspiring story of Steve and his wife, Brooke, because they decided to leave suburbia - they were living in Santa Monica - and then they built a new life for themselves on a farm. But first, they went to Europe to find their inspiration for their farm - visiting Belgium and France - and then combined their talents to create Patina Farm, sharing what they did in this book. Now Steve is the architect. He puts together all the architectural drawings, which you can see in the book. And then Brooke is the writer. She's a beautiful writer and took over 200 photographs shared in this book. And don't I love the name of their farm: Patina Farm. The book is dedicated to their children, Charlie, Nick, and Lyla, and in the dedication, they said that their kids give their dreams meaning, which is so touching. The other thing I like about this book is how they share their journey in the titles of each chapter. So there's arriving, connecting, nourishing, creating, restoring, rejuvenating, sharing, and then farming - and then they give abundant resources at the end, too. If there's something that you're particularly

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1621 Birth of Andrew Marvell, English poet and politician. He was a friend of John Milton. In addition to writing The Garden - one of the most famous English poems of the seventeenth century - he wrote this little garden verse: I have a garden of my own But so with Roses overgrown And Lilies, that you would it guess To be a little wilderness. 1824 Birth of Dietrich Brandis, German forester and botanist. He's remembered as the Father of Forestry in India, the Father of Modern Forest Management, and the Father of Tropical Forestry. Concerned about the unregulated destruction of the forests in India, the British wanted people in India to help manage and protect the trees. In 1856, Dietrich left his botany professorship in Bonn (where his father had been a professor) for a civil service position managing the teak forests in Burma. Eight years later, Dietrich was in charge of all the forests in India. In Carl Alwin Schenck's Birth of Forestry in America, there's a fascinating story about how Deitrich inventoried the Teak trees in the forest. [He rode] an elephant, on such trails as there were, with four sticks in his left hand and a pocketknife in his right. Whenever he saw in the bamboo thickets a teak tree within two hundred feet of his trail, he cut a notch in stick number 1, 2, 3, or 4, denoting the diameter of the tree. It was impossible for European hands, dripping with moisture, to carry a notebook. At the end of the day, after traveling some twenty miles, Brandis had collected forest stand data for a sample plot four hundred feet wide and twenty miles long, containing some nineteen hundred acres. He continued his cruise for a number of months, sick with malaria in a hellish climate. Moreover, he underwent a trepanning operation (brian surgery), and for the rest of his life, he carried a small hole filled with white cotton in the front of his skull. But he emerged from the cruise with the knowledge needed for his great enterprise. Dietrich established modern "sustainable" agroforestry principles that are still followed today. For two decades, Dietrich measured, itemized, and chronicled the forests of India. He started forest management schools and created training protocols for his employees. In 1878, Deitrich founded the Forest Research Institute in the Doon Valley in Dehradun. Styled in Greco Roman architecture, the building is beautiful and is the largest purely brick structure in the world. Sir Joseph Hooker recognized Deitrich's work and named the flowering-plant genus Brandisia in his honor. 1848 Birth of William Waldorf Astor, American-British attorney, politician, businessman (hotels and newspapers), and philanthropist. In 1891, a tall, shy William Waldorf Astor moved to Britain after declaring that "America is not a fit place for a gentleman to live." After over a decade living in England, William bought a run-down double-moated Hever Castle, which was Anne Boleyn's family home four hundred years earlier. Between 1904 and 1908, William oversaw the installation of the extensive gardens designed by Frank Pearson to surround the castle. William diverted water from a nearby river to make a 35-acre lake to make his vision a reality. It is said that eight hundred men hand-dug and stomped on the clay soil to make the bottom of the lake. Mature trees were harvested from Ashdown Forest and transplanted at Hever. Two mazes were installed. Topiary chessmen were pruned for the chess garden. Thousands of roses were brought in for the rose garden. But, the most impressive Garden at Hever was and is the Italian Garden, which features colonnades, classical sculptures, antiquities dating back to Roman times, and a loggia. There's also a long pergola on one end that features cool dripping fountains the entire length. Even today, it's staggering to think the whole project was completed in four short years. 1924 Birth of Leo Buscaglia, American author, motivational speaker, and professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Southern California. Leo believed education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness. Leo learned to Garden from his father, and he once wrote, To this day I cannot see a bright daffodil, a proud gladiola, or a smooth eggplant without thinking of Papa. Like his plants and trees, I grew up as a part of his garden. Leo was a self-help guru who preached love so much that he became known as "Dr. Love." He once wrote, A single rose can be my garden; a single friend, my world. He also wrote, There are many miracles in the world to be celebrated and, for me, garlic is the most deserving. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Passions by Carolyne Roehm This book came out in 2021 at the end of the year in December, and this is actually a collection of three books. All

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1568 Birth of Henry Wotton, English writer, diplomat, and politician. Henry celebrated our relationships with gardens and landscapes. He especially enjoyed gardens that made one think or offered a surprise. Henry served as an Ambassador to Venice, and during his time there, he fell in love with Italian gardens. Henry's concept of a "garden of surprise" was inspired by the gardens he saw in Italy. In his Elements of Architecture (1624), Henry discusses what it was like to walk through an Italian garden: I have seen a garden into which the first [entry point] was a high walk like a [terrace], from whence might be taken a general view of the whole plot below, but rather in a delightful confusion... From this the Beholder descending any steps, was afterwards conveyed again... to various entertainments of his [scent] and sight... every one of these diversities, was as if he had [been] magically transported to a new garden. 1844 Birth of Paul-Marie Verlaine, French poet. He's remembered for his work with the Symbolist and Decadent movements. His poem, Clair de Lune, begins with the line, "Your soul is a sealed garden," and inspired Claude Debussy ("deh·byoo·see") to write his own 'Clair de lune, the work for which he is now most famous. Paul once wrote, Here are fruits, flowers, leaves and branches, and here is my heart which beats only for you. 1853 Birth of Vincent van Gogh, Dutch post-impressionist painter. After his death, he became a top-selling figure in the history of Western art. Bold colors and brushwork characterized his work. Vincent found inspiration in the natural world, and he once said, If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere. Vincent was also a lover of flowers and gardens, and he also said, For one's health as you say, it is very necessary to work in the garden and see the flowers growing. At the end of his life, Van Gogh suffered from depression, an unsuccessful painting career, and poverty. He committed a slow and painful suicide at 37 by shooting himself in the chest. He died two days later beside a stack of his sunflower canvases. He said his last words to his brother Theo, The sadness will last forever. The legacy of Van Gogh's 2,100 pieces of art was much brighter than he ever expected. In March of 1987, his painting titled Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers was sold by Sotheby's in London for $39.85 million, more than three times the highest price ever paid at the time for a painting at auction. 2003 On this day, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram shared an article called, What's in a name? Deciding the name of every plant could take decades and require a huge effort by Stephanie Simon. The article revealed that the Missouri Botanical Garden is teaming up with botanists worldwide on a 10-year $100-million effort to standardize plant names. The article shared the forecast for finishing the project, saying the project's leaders' plans for... the database [is] "45 compiler years." One note says "52 imager years." At the bottom there's a final tally: They will need a staff of 32 for at least a decade just to compile and input the information. That's not counting the botanists who will do all the research Missouri scientists will be working in formal collaboration with the two other top botanical research centers in the world: the New York Botanical Garden and the Kew Botanical Gardens near London. Incredibly, the project was completed way ahead of schedule at the end of 2010. At the time, The Plant List included 1.25 million scientific plant names. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Writing Wild by Kathryn Aalto This book came out in the summer of 2020, and the subtitle is Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World. This is such a good book, and I've been waiting to recommend it on the show. Kathryn herself was inspired to write this book after stumbling on a book written with all-male voices. Kathryn wanted to find the female voices and add their perspective on the natural world. In all, there are about 75 women that are talked about in Kathryn's book. Now, the goal behind curating all of these pieces was to help us deepen our connection to and understanding of the natural world. Some of these writers are some of my old favorites, like Mary Oliver, Vita Sackville West, Mary Austin, Susan Fenimore Cooper. But then there are also new voices like Helen MacDonald, Andrea Wulf, Amy Liptrot, and Elizabeth Rush. There are 25 of these women whose works are shared in full in this book. I love what Kathryn wrote in the introduction. She says, Much of this book was researched and penned outside - mountain climbing, mudlarking, canoeing, beachcombing, gardening, hiking, and birdwatching. I retraced the footsteps of those who have passed on, some of whom wrote anonymously or w

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1779 Birth of William Baldwin, American physician, and botanist. William is remembered as one of the first botanists to explore Georgia and Florida and parts of Latin America and the West Indies. William was brought on as the botanist for Stephen Long's 1819 expedition to find the headwaters of the Missouri River. Six months later, William Baldwin died at Franklin, Missouri, at the age of 40 and was buried on the banks of the Missouri River. Today we know about William mostly from his dear friend, the botanist William Darlington, who wrote his biography. The two men became close after William nursed Darlington back to health after an illness when the two were young men. Darlington reflected on William's death decades later when he wrote these words: His gentle spirit forsook its frail tenement, in a region far remote from his anxious family, - and the wildflowers of the West, for more than twenty years, have been blooming on his lonely grave: But the recollection of his virtues continues to be fondly cherished by every surviving friend, - and his ardor in the pursuit of his favorite Science will render his memory forever dear to the true lovers of American Botany. William Darlington learned from a colleague that floodwaters had washed away William Baldwin's grave the following year. Baldwin's milkwort (Polygala balduinii "puh-LIG-ah-lah bal-DEE-nee-eye") was named in honor of William Baldwin. Baldwin's milkwort is one of only a handful of white milkworts found in Florida. 1913 Birth of Ronald Stuart Thomas (published as R. S. Thomas), Welsh poet and Anglican priest. Here's an excerpt of his poem The Garden (1963). It is a gesture against the wild, The ungovernable sea of grass; A place to remember love in, To be lonely for a while; 1969 On this day, work was finished on a kimono-inspired garden in Japan called Yûrin no Niwa ("Yer-EEN no nee-wah") in Kyoto. The garden was initially designed to accompany the building for the Association of Kimono Manufacturers. The famous garden designer Mirei Shigemori ("Me-ray Shig-ah-mor-ee") designed the garden, which was celebrated in a ceremony the day after work was completed. But thirty years later, the area was redeveloped, and the building was set to be demolished. Iwamoto Toshio ("E-wah-mo-to To-see-oh") was a student of Shigemori's, and he decided to rescue the garden so that it could be relocated to a new home. When Shigemori's hometown built a new town hall, the garden found its new home. And so, over 80 truckloads of rock and stone were painstakingly brought to the new site, where they were reassembled to make the second incarnation of the Yûrin no Niwa garden. This second garden ended up being just a bit larger. The garden features a shallow kimono-shaped pond, and the water brings out the colors of the red and blue stones that make the strips of the noshi bundle on the kimono. The garden's name was a blending of the two names - the name of the man who developed the silk-dying process for the kimonos and the name of the painter who inspired the kimono designs: Yûrin no Niwa. 2021 On this day, as Brits were enjoying the end of their COVID lockdown, Out and Out shared an article called, five things to do to get your garden ready for March 29th. The tips included: 1. Smarten up your lawn There is something so appealing about a lush, vibrant green lawn, so make this your first job. Give your lawn a good raking to get rid of any fallen debris and shake over some grass seed if you notice any patchy areas. 2. Wash away winter ...get everything scrubbed up nicely – you don't want to take the shine off your gathering with grubby surroundings. Give your patio and decking areas a good going over with a jet wash and blast away winter's deposits. 3. Organize your seating Place garden dining furniture in a large enough area that there's space to walk all the way around and for guests to comfortably get in and out. If you have a garden lounge set or garden sofas, lay them out so you can comfortably converse with guests while enjoying the satisfying garden views. 4. Spring planting If you didn't get round to planting spring bulbs last year, you can always add instant colour by picking up some established plants at the garden centre. Shrubs such as Camellia, Japanese quince and Forsythia also look their best during the spring months. Pop some into borders and create container displays for the patio to give your garden an instant lift. 5. Finishing touches For alfresco dining, set the table with colorful crockery and beakers which will take you through to BBQ season too. For sunny weather, invest in a parasol, and for cooler days and evenings patio heaters and some chunky throws will be very welcome additions. Don't forget solar lights either, to keep the conversation going after nightfall. Grow Th

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1895 Birth of Spencer Woolley Kimball, American business, civic, and religious leader. He was the twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was also a gardener and wrote, Where you have a plot of land, however small, plant a garden. Staying close to the soil is good for the soul. 1906 Birth of Jean Galbraith, Australian botanist, gardener, writer, and poet. Jean is remembered for her books on Australian botany including three editions of the seminal Wildflowers of Victoria (1950), Collins Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Southeast Australia, and a children's book Grandma Honeypot (1964). Her charming book, Garden in a Valley (1939), became an instant garden classic when it was republished in 1985. Born in Tyers (a little town in Gippsland, Australia), Jean spent almost eighty years in her family home called Dunedin ("Do-NEE-din"). At Dunedin, Jean maintained an enormous garden, which became a draw for visitors from all over Australia and the world. The artist, Peter Cuffley, painted a fabulous representation of Dunedin. It's one of the most iconic garden art pieces of the past century. Jean learned botany through letters she exchanged with the botanist Herbert B. Williamson during the 1920s. When Jean turned 21, Herbert sent her a microscope and it became one of her most treasured possessions. As a writer, Jean had a distinctive style and voice. Her writing was more akin to John Muir's than the stiff formal writing of her scientific peers. For 50 years she delighted the readers of the two magazines she regularly wrote for: The Garden Lover and the Victorian Naturalist. As a person, Jean lived an incredibly simple life. She did not have a car, tv, or phone and wrote her books longhand. By all accounts, she was one of the kindest souls to have ever walked the earth. She wanted children to know and love nature. She was an advocate for plant preservation - especially wildflowers in their native habitats. Jean believed in the spiritual and healing aspects of gardening. She believed that the garden was a metaphor for life and for living. In 1970, Jean was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion. Jean died in 1999, just before her 93rd birthday. Jean once wrote that she knew the stories of every plant in her garden, There is no flower in the garden that has not its remembered history. And Jean loved her garden, despite its faults. It is not a model garden, rarely, alas, is it even orderly. (But) in spite of its failures and mistakes and imperfections, its airs are sweet, its flowers love to bloom, and we are happy in it. 1928 On this day, Margarita Grace Phipps, wife of John S. Phipps (an heir to the Phipps family fortune), hosted the first meeting of The Garden Club of Palm Beach at her home, Casa Bendita. Fifteen women attended the event. Mrs. Frederick E. Guest is credited with having the original idea for the club Today Casa Bendita's remaining six-acre garden has evolved into Casa Phippsberger, the island's most sensational private botanical garden. And, The Garden Club of Palm Beach continues to grow. One of the ways the club stays relevant is to have a member attend every single town meeting to make sure the club can take advantage of opportunities to help the community. In 2010, the club installed a beautification and education garden at the Southern Oasis Traffic Circle. The garden features plants that thrive in the Palm Beach climate. That same year, the club installed xeriscape landscaping in eight Kaleidoscope Flower Beds on Royal Poinciana Way. In 2011, the club created a vertical garden on the Saks Fifth Avenue store. Called the Living Wall, the project has become an iconic element of the Worth Avenue Restoration Project. In 2021, the club created the four-acre Bradley Park Tidal Garden. When the club began work on a children's playground in Bradley Park, members realized that frequent flooding from king tides needed to be addressed in the plans. The solution was the creation of a tidal garden. King tides are bigger than normal tides and they can cause an enormous amount of damage to the Landscapeape. The new tidal garden was designed by SMI Landscape Architecture LLC, to withstand king tides by incorporating sunken gardens with channels that send water back where it belongs. The majority of the garden is designed with native plants and natural elements like climbable cap-stone boulders. The next project will be the restoration of the Chinese Garden at The Society of The Four Arts where the demonstration gardens are maintained by the Palm Beach Garden Club. The seven demonstration gardens illustrate different themed garden spaces and include the Chinese Garden, the Fragrant Moonlight Garden, the Palm Garden, the Bromeliad Garden, the Jungle Garden, the Spanish Facade

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Lady Day March 25 is also known as Lady Day, the traditional name of the Feast of the Annunciation, which commemorates the visit of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. During this visit, Gabriel told Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Lady Day is also the first of the four traditional English quarter days. The Marigold is the flower dedicated to Mary on Lady Day. The etymology of the common name Marigold comes from Mary (probably referring to the Virgin Mary) + gold, thus Mary's gold. Mary's gold was also a common name used for a similar plant native to Europe, Calendula officinalis. Both Marigold flowers and leaves are edible, and Marigolds are commonly used as culinary herbs. In terms of medicinal uses, Marigold is good for the skin and has been used for topical healing to address cuts, soars, and general skincare. Marigolds have essential oils and a high concentration of flavonoids like carotene. In Floriography or the language of flowers, Marigolds represent the sun and therefore refer to the power, strength, and light inside each of us. Marigolds also represent lost love. So if someone's inner strength has been damaged by the loss of a loved one, whether by death or a breakup, the Marigold represents that despaired or lost love. 1641 Birth of Nehemiah Grew, English botanist. He's remembered as the Father of Plant Anatomy. Nehemiah was the first person to illustrate plants' inner structures and functions in all their unique intricacies. His 1682 book, Anatomy of Plants, was divided into four topics: Anatomy of Vegetables Begun, Anatomy of Roots, Anatomy of Trunks, and Anatomy of Leaves, Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds. Nehemiah used a relatively new invention to help his study of plant morphology: the microscope. He tried to recreate what he saw through the lens when he drew. Nehemiah's drawings of tree parts cut transversely look like intricate laser cuts - imagine a mandala - and the lines are impossibly thin. Nehemiah examined all kinds of natural elements under the microscope, and he wrote the first known microscopic description of pollen. If you'd like to try something fun this summer, channel your inner Nehemiah Grew, get a microscope on Amazon or at a thrift store, and check out your own plant specimens under the microscope. 1890 On this day, the naturalist João Barbosa Rodrigues established the Herbarium at the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro. The Herbarium was Rodrigues's first step toward expanding the scope of the garden to include education. Today, the Herbarium has over 750,000 mounted specimens of Brazilian flora, and most of the collection is from the Atlantic and Amazon forests. The botanic garden sits on 350-acres and features over 7,000 species of tropical plants. One of the most unique elements of the garden is the avenues of 100-foot-tall avenues of royal palms. 2021 On this day, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip garden in Kashmir opened to the public. The most extensive tulip garden in Asia, the garden was formerly known as the Model Floriculture Center and covers 74 acres. The government owns the garden. The garden was initially created in 2007 with 1.5 million tulip bulbs from Amsterdam's famous Keukenhof tulip gardens. Other spring-flowering bulbs like daffodils, hyacinth, and ranunculus have since been added to the 65 different varieties of tulips now growing in Kashmir. This year the Kashmir Tulip Garden Festival runs from April 1 through the 20th. Every year, the tulip garden is opened to the public during the month of March when the tulips start to bloom - a fantastic sight to see. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Violets of March Sarah Jio This book came out in 2011, and this book is a fiction book. The book is about a heartbroken woman who stumbles on a diary and then steps into the life of its anonymous author. The main character is named Emily Wilson. She has a bestselling novel and a GQ husband, and a one-way ticket to happily ever after. But ten years later, Emily's life has changed. Her Great Aunt Bee invites her to spend the month of March on Bainbridge Island in Washington State. When she's researching her next book, she stumbles on a red velvet diary dated 1943. And then, the contents of the journal have massive implications for her own life. Now I love what Jodi Picoult said about The Violets of March. She wrote Mix a love story history and a mystery and what takes root. The Violets of March is a novel that reminds us how the past comes back to haunt us and packs great surprises along the way. Now, if you're a gardener, you're going to love the cover of this book because it's an old chair with the diary that's open and then a violet cutting on top of the pages. It's gorgeous. So if you're looking for a bit of fiction book to tide you

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1682 Baptism of Mark Catesby, English naturalist, adventurer, explorer, and artist. Mark made two trips to the new world when America was still a British colony. On his second trip, he explored the lower southeastern corner of the United States. After returning to England, he published his masterpiece, the very first account of flora and fauna of North America, in two large folios called The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. Mark provided the text and the outstanding illustrations. He also offered an overview of the climate, soil, water, and any crops that were grown. Mark was a superb nature artist. He depicted birds and plants together, something only a handful of artists did at the time. Maria Sybilla Merian did that, and like Maria, once you've seen Mark's work, you never forget it. Mark also painted living subjects, which made his depictions more lifelike. Mark's botanical illustrations showed both the fruit and the flower of a plant in a single image. And when you consider the fact that Mark paired his art with the text in two languages - English and French - to market this content to his audience, Mark Catesby's genius and dedication really become apparent. In Mark's book, the first plant he dedicated an entire page to was the Magnolia, and he also included a full page of text. Magnolias are one of the planet's earliest flowering plants, and as such, they existed before bees. Now for gardeners, this is an important clue about how Magnolias reproduce, which explains why magnolias rely on beetle pollination. Magnolia blossoms do not produce nectar. Instead, they produce pollen, and that pollen is food for the beetles. In terms of uses, in Chinese medicine, the bark of the Magnolia has been used to treat respiratory illness and anxiety. 1733 Birth of Joseph Priestley FRS, English chemist, polymath, author, and minister. Joseph conducted many experiments while he tutored the sons of American sympathizer William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, at Bowood House in Wiltshire, England. In one of his experiments, he put a mouse and a mint plant in a bell jar. Without the mint, the mouse died, but the mouse survived with a plant inside the jar. This laid the foundation for the study of ecosystems. Joseph also wrote the first comprehensive study of the history of electricity, invented carbonated water, created the first timeline, and discovered laughing gas. He also revealed a practical use for vegetable gum: it could remove pencil marks from paper, becoming known as the eraser. 1834 Birth of William Morris, British textile designer, poet, writer, and socialist activist. Born in 1834 to a wealthy family, William was the leading figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement. As a designer, William Morris remains widespread, and his designs are based on nature. Trees and plants figure prominently in his designs and patterns. Many of his designs feature the flowers that bloomed in his own garden, and among his favorites were honeysuckle, rose, acanthus, tulips, and chrysanthemums. Although he was not a fan of geraniums and once wrote, Red geraniums were invented to show that even a flower could be hideous. The first Morris wallpaper was 'Trellis' (1862) and was based on a rose trellis in his garden in Kent. William found inspiration in England's gardens and countryside. His most iconic designs include Larkspur (1872), Jasmine (1872), Willow (1874), Marigold (1875), Wreath (1876), and Chrysanthemum (1887). And William's poems are clever and offer a glimpse of his personality. In 1888, William created his design for 'Autumn Leaves' 1888 and a seasonal poem 'Autumn': 'Laden Autumn here I stand Worn of heart, and weak of hand: Nought but rest seems good to me, Speak the word that sets me free' In 1890, William designed his first tapestry, which depicts four medical women holding a banner with the words of an original poem by morris. The poem celebrates the orchard in every season, from the bounty of the harvest to the promise of spring. Midst bitten mead and acre shorn, The world without is waste and worn, But here within our orchard-close, The guerdon of its labour shows. O valiant Earth, O happy year That mocks the threat of winter near, And hangs aloft from tree to tree The banners of the Spring to be. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Reflections of Paradise by Gordon Taylor This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is The Gardens of Fernando Caruncho. Every time I think about this particular book, I regret the fact that it was released during the pandemic, as I believe it would've gotten so much more attention had it been released just a year earlier, in September of 2019. But that said, people, are still discovering the magnificent gardens created by Fernando Caruncho. Fernando is a Spanish landscape

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1699 Birth of John Bartram, American botanist, and explorer. John founded the first botanical garden in America, and Linnaeus called him the "greatest natural botanist in the world." Like many botanists of his time, John was born to a farming Quaker family in Pennsylvania. He never forgot his rural roots, and he always thought of himself as a farmer first. When asked to describe how he ended up in botany, he wrote, One day, I was very busy [plowing]… and being weary I ran under a tree to repose myself. I cast my eyes on a daisy; I plucked it mechanically and viewed it with more curiosity than common country farmers are wont to do, and observed ... many distinct parts, some perpendicular, some horizontal. ...I thought about it continually, at supper, in bed, and wherever I went.... On the fourth day I hired a man to plow for me and went to Philadelphia. [I bought] a Latin grammar [and] ...applied to a neighboring schoolmaster, who in three months taught me Latin enough to understand Linnaeus... Then I began to botanize all over my farm. 1907 On this day, a school garden for boys only was started at a school in Rhode Island. A summary report was published with the State Board of Education. Here's what the report said, On March 26th, all the boys wrote for catalogs, some sending several letters or cards. It proved a valuable letter lesson in letter-writing and geography as they looked at the places they had sent the letters and inquired about distances, railroads, and mail trains. More than fifty attractive catalogs were received. Tomatoes, lettuce, and radishes were planted in boxes ready for early transplanting. The seeds were obtained through a member of Congress, and despite all the rumors regarding the poor quality of government seed, [they] proved excellent. Two boys found an old sink in a dump. This was sunk in the middle of the West yard, partly filled with cement and now used as a birdbath. Each boy chose several vegetables from a list of corn, squash, onions, carrots, beans, beets, lettuce, radishes, pumpkins, potatoes, peas, and parsnips. The corn and a row of sunflowers were planted next to the fence; the other vegetables [were planted] according to height, living lettuce, and radishes in the front. Difficulties: There have been many difficulties in the way. Most of the work has been done outside of school hours, at noon when some of the boys have to hurry home or at night when they carry papers. Most discouraging of all, vegetables have been stolen and Gardens trampton almost nightly. Effect: But the effect of the garden work on the boys has been excellent. First of all it's giving them an outside interest. They have learned courtesy and generosity and showing visitors the garden and giving away their vegetables. Toads which we have raised from eggs are to be put in the garden when school closes. There has been less time for running about the streets and cigarette smoking. Since the gardens were started, there's only been one case of truancy and very little absence. Ten or fifteen minutes hard work during the school hours has often served to bring a cross, restless boy back to quiet and pleasant. Of the 23 boys, 18 have made gardens at home and most of them are doing well. A copy of one boy's notebook will give an idea of the garden from the boy's standpoint. March 25: Began to pick rocks. Got a backache. Wrote for catalogs. March 26: Laid out 23 beds - [each] 6 by 14 ft March 27: Planted radishes, lettuce, tomatoes in boxes. Miss Allen paid $0.25 for loam. May 1: Put down sink for Birds bath. May 3rd: Planted pumpkins, potatoes, beans, beets, lettuce, radishes. May 15, 16, 17: Cleaned up West yard. Got loam. Planted shrubs and trees. Planted marigolds, candytuft and poppies, Boston Ivy, cornus, weigelia, lilac, crab. It looks slick. May 20th: These seeds are up in my bed: radish, lettuce, beans. May 21: brought Bush to school. Went to Arlington for ferns. Pumpkins up. Put violets beside Birds tub. June 12th: Brought home 10 radishes. They were good ones. Saw a jay in our bath and a chipping sparrow. June 17: Mr Randall out. Hoeing. A lot of teachers came. Took home lettuce June 18: Sent radishes to Mr. Small. A man and lady came to see if we will get a prize. June 19: Everything in my garden is growing fine. It's a good thing. We have spent $11.45. 1913 Birth of James C. Rose, American landscape architect, and author. A high school dropout, James was expelled from Harvard University as a landscape architecture major because they disapproved of his design style. James fulfilled a lifelong dream despite his personal struggles with educational institutions when he created The James Rose Center for design study and landscape research. In From Creative Gardens (1958), James wrote, A garden is an experience. It is not flow

March 22, 2022 St. Catherine, Thomas Carew, New York Horticultural Society, Christine Johanna Buisman, The Earth in Her Hands by Jennifer Jewell, and John Banister Tabb

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1763 Birth of Jean-Paul Friedrich Richter, German Romantic writer. He's remembered for his humorous novels and stories. He once wrote, When one reads a poem in January, it is as lovely as when one goes for a walk in June. 1902 Birth of Harry Lutf Verne Fletcher, ("Luh-tf")(pen names John Garden and John Hereford), Engish writer. Harry wrote many books on gardening. In Purest Pleasure (1948), he wrote, Who has learned to garden who did not at the same time learn to be patient? 1917 Birth of Richard Henry Martin Robinson, gardener and professional horticultural photographer. He was regarded as one of the top gardeners of his generation. In 1955, Richard and his wife, Helen, began creating a spectacular garden at Hyde Hall set on 400 acres and nestled among the prairie wheat fields of Essex. Helen initially started gardening as a way to brighten up the place. Gardening at Hyde was hard. The landscape battles whipping winds and pitiful average yearly rainfalls. In summer, the clay soil is rock hard. In winter, whatever moisture there is, is locked in the suffocating clay. Early on, trees, pines, evergreens, and heathers were installed to provide structure and winter interest. Foxtail lilies and roses added color that the garden so desperately needed. Together, Richard and Helen transformed Hyde Hall into a garden masterpiece. In 1993, nearly forty years after the Robinsons bought Hyde Hall, the garden was gifted to the RHS. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Essentials of Garden Design by John Brookes This book came out in 2008, and it is a garden classic. John Brookes was a master garden designer who perfected his craft over five decades. And although John passed away in 2018, he is still regarded as one of the significant garden-makers of the late 20th century. John's books (like today's recommendation) continue to inspire and instruct gardeners with simple and timeless wisdom. John always began his design projects with his famous grid system. And in this book, The Essentials of Garden Design, he walks you through that process as well as everything you need - the tools, the techniques, the plants, the building materials - to create a garden that looks like it belongs in the landscape. So whether you're planning a large installation or just something small and functional, you can't go wrong with John as your guide. This book is 192 pages of garden design mastery from a man who firmly believed that gardens were about the people who lived in them. You can get a copy of The Essentials of Garden Design by John Brookes and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $2.51. Botanic Spark 1905 Birth of Phyllis McGinley, American poet, and writer of children's books. Her poems were often light-hearted and humorous, offering a clever examination of daily life in the suburbs. In 1961, Phyllis won the Pulitzer prize. She won a Pulitzer prize in 1961 for her book, Times Three, which featured seventy poems written over three decades in the mid-1900s. A gardener, Phyllis once wrote in The Province of the Heart (1959). The trouble with gardening is that it does not remain an avocation. It becomes an obsession. And here's a little poem Phyllis wrote called Daylight Savings Time. In spring when maple buds are red, We turn the clock an hour ahead; Which means each April that arrives, We lose an hour out of our lives. Who cares? When autumn birds in flocks Fly southward, back we turn the clocks, And so regain a lovely thing That missing hour we lost in spring. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens, Georgia Register Here Spring Break Next Week Hi there. The show is on spring break next week. New episodes will resume on March 21. Historical Events 1775 Birth of Pierre Jean François Turpin (books about this person), French botanist and illustrator. Pierre was friends with the botanist, gardener, and botanical artist, Pierre Antoine Poiteau. And although we know that he learned a great deal about botany from his friend Poiteau, Pierre was self-taught when it came to his botanical illustrations. And Redouté's work was an obvious influence on him. Pierre created over 6,000 magnificent botanical watercolors. He was an expert on fruit trees, and his fruit prints are considered some of the best in the world. There are two fascinating stories about Pierre I wanted to share with you today. First, Pierre created a fictional plant for Goethe that was an amalgam of different angiosperms. Goethe wanted an illustration to show the diversity of angiosperms, and when Goethe saw Pierre's drawing, he named it the Urplant. Goethe wrote, The Urplant would be the most wondrous creation in the world, for which nature itself would envy me. With it, one could invent plants to infinity... The second Pierre story that I wanted to share with you is about his son, Pierre Jr. No doubt Pierre taught his son how to draw. But tragically, Pierre Jr. died young, and his final drawing was of an Amaryllis. After his death, Pierre made sure his son was credited for the work, and then he did something unusual for botanical illustrations: he made a little personal remark on his son's passing, writing: This original illustration was painted by Pierre John Frederick Eugene Turpin. The illustrator, who was 18 years and six days of age, ceased to live on the 21st of August in 1821. Less than 20 years later, Pierre himself would die in Paris in 1840 at 65. Now, speaking of Amaryllis, this is the time of year when gardeners get all kinds of questions about them. My neighbor Jan, up at the cabin returned from a trip to Las Vegas to find her Christmas gift, an Amaryllis, in full bloom - and she's utterly captivated by this gorgeous Amaryllis, but of course, she called me to say, What do I do with it after it's done blooming? And this is the question that's on everybody's mind because they're wrapping things up about now. So what are your options if you have an Amaryllis? Well, number one, you can throw it away. You can simply be done with it. If you choose to, you could put it in the compost pile and so forth. Or, if you're committed to trying to get your Amaryllis to bloom again next year, it is possible to do. You can force it to flower again next year. Keep it on a sunny window inside until June when things warm up and then harden it off, the way you would any of the houseplants that you bring outside, take it outside for a few hours, and then bring it back in. Gradually increase the amount of time it stays outside until it's out all day. Make sure that it's in a sunny spot. And then, in the fall, you can bring it back indoors. This is the time when you're going to impose dormancy. Put the Amaryllis in a cold area. (If you have a dark cellar, that would be ideal). And remember that during dormancy, you don't want to water your Amaryllis. Think about your Amaryllis like a sleeping beauty that you'll wake up in time for the holidays. And then, at that point, you can resume watering, and your Amaryllis, with any luck, will flower again. So there you go—a little Amaryllis care 101 inspired by the son of Pierre Turpin. 1811 Birth of Katherine Sophia Kane, Irish botanist, and horticulturist. Orphaned as a little girl, Katherine was raised by her uncle, who fostered Kate's love for the outdoors and, ultimately, her focus on botany. When Kate was 22, she anonymously published a book that became the first national flora of Ireland, called The Irish Flora Comprising the Phaenogamous Plants and Ferns (1833). Kate's book not only described all the Irish flowering plants but also ferns and other cryptograms. Accurate and informative, Kate's book became a textbook for botany students at Trinity College in Dublin. Three years later, in recognition of her work, Kate became the first woman to be elected to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. The story of how Kate met her husband Robert is similar to how John Claudius Loudon met his wife, Jane Webb: through her book. In Kate's case, proofs of The Irish Flora had mistakenly landed on Robert's desk. Robert tracked down Kate's address and personally returned the proofs to her. The rest, as they say, was history. The two were married in 1838, and they went on to have ten children. In 1846, Robert was knighted, and Kate became known as Lady Kane. An economist, a chemist, and a scientist, Robert was hired to serve as

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens, Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1763 Birth of William Cobbett, English writer, Member of Parliament, and farmer. In Parliament, Wlliam fought for agrarian reform. He did this through his regular writings called Rural Rides, where he shared what he saw while taking horseback rides throughout rural England. William never forgot his rural roots, and he was a lifelong gardener. He once wrote, How much better during a long and dreary winter, for daughters, and even sons, to assist, or attend, their mother, in a green-house, than to be seated with her at cards, or, in the blubberings over a stupid novel, or at any other amusement that can possibly be conceived. And he also wrote, If well-managed, nothing is more beautiful than the kitchen garden. 1845 Birth of Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer, German botanist and plant physiologist. Wilhelm was born in his father's apothecary. He grew up and learned every aspect of the business, which had been in his family for generations. One of his childhood friends noted, In those days, it was not yet customary to obtain drugs in cut and powdered form; thus, he spent hours cutting roots and herbs and pulverizing dried drugs with a heavy pestle in a mortar. In addition to life at the A=apothecary, Wilhelm loved collecting plants in the Alps. His early study of plants and his natural curiosity set the stage for his in-depth plant experiments as an adult. In terms of plant physiology, he's remembered for the Pfeffer pot or pepper pot to measure osmotic pressure in plant cells. 1874 Birth of Karl Foerster, German plant breeder, writer, and garden designer. When Karl turned 18, he took over his family's Berlin nursery, which was a bit of a mess. Karl quickly streamlined the business by simplifying his plant inventory. Although Karl loved all plants, he was especially drawn to tough, low-maintenance, hardy perennials. Karl used three factors to determine whether a plant would be sold in his nursery: beauty, resilience, and endurance. Today, Karl is most remembered in Karl Foerster Grass. The story goes that Karl was on a train when he spied the grass growing along the tracks. Karl frantically pulled the emergency brake, stopped the train, and quickly collected the specimen that now bears his name. In 2001, Karl Foerster grass was the Perennial Plant of the Year. Karl's plant standards and his appreciation for low maintenance spaces with year-long seasonal interest helped shape the New German Garden Style of garden design. A Karl Foerster garden had some signature plants: grasses, delphinium, and phlox. Naturally, all of these plants were favorites in Karl's breeding work. Karl once wrote, Grasses are the hair of mother earth. And he also wrote, A garden without phlox is not only a sheer mistake but a sin against summer. Karl lived to the ripe old age of 96. And looking back, it's staggering to think that Karl spent nearly nine decades gardening, and it was Karl Foerster who said, In my next life, I'd like to be a gardener once again. The job was too big for just one lifetime. 1892 Birth of Vita Sackville-West, English author and garden designer. In 1930, Vita and her husband, the diplomat, and journalist Harold Nicolson, bought Sissinghurst Castle - at least what was left of it. Together, they restored the house and created the famous garden, which was given to the National Trust in 1967. Vita explored the depths of her own creativity as she shaped the gardens at Sissinghurst. When she came up with the idea for a Sunset Garden, she wrote, I used to call it the Sunset Garden in my own mind before I even planted it up. Vita's Sunset Garden included flowers with warm citrus colors, like the yellows, oranges, and reds of Dahlia's Salvias Canas and tulips. Vita also created a White Garden – one of the most difficult Gardens to design, maintain and pull off. Why is that? Well, the main reason is that, after flowering, most white blooms don't age well; they turn brown or yellow as they wither and die on the plant. But I have to say that ten years ago, I did help a friend install a white garden. And when it was in bloom, it really was spectacular. During World War II, there came a point when Vita and Harold were convinced that a German invasion of Britain was likely. Vita planted 11,000 daffodils, a message of defiance to the enemy. In 1955, Vita was honored with the Veitch Memorial Medal. She died seven years later in 1962. She once wrote, The waking bee, still drowsy on the wing, Will sense the opening of another year And blunder out to seek another spring. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Art of Edible Flowers by Rebecca Sullivan This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Recipes and ideas for floral salads, drinks, desserts, and more. This sweet little

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1746 Birth of André Michaux (books about this person), French botanist and explorer. André grew up on a royal farm in Satory south of Versailles. His father trained both he and his brother in horticulture, and after his father died, André carried on at the farm. André married a prosperous farmer's daughter from a nearby farm named Cécile Claye. A month shy of their first wedding anniversary Cécile delivered a son, Francois-André. Later in life, André would name an oak in his son's honor. Tragically, Cécile died after the delivery. André battled through the next decade by studying horticulture. His friend, the naturalist Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier ("Lew-ee Ghee-ohm Lew-moh-nay"), urged him to focus on exotic plants, and the great botanist Bernard de Jussieu gave André a solid understanding of botany. The next step for André was travel. In 1786, André was asked to go to North America. As a single father, he brought François-Andre, then 15, along with him. André's mission was to establish a botanical garden in America. The goal was to set up a botanical clearinghouse of sorts and send seeds and specimens back to France. André established his nursery on the land where the Charleston Area National Airport exists today. In fact, at the Charleston airport, there is a stunning mural installed in 2016 that honors Andre and his son. In one panel, Andre-François and his father are depicted in the potager or kitchen garden. The central scene shows the rice fields along the Ashley River and the Charleston Harbor, where Michaux introduced one of the first Camellia plants. Native to Asia, Camellias are small, evergreen flowering trees or shrubs, and Camellias are in the Theaceae or tea family, which is why Camellias are commonly called tea plants. In Floriography ("FLOOR-EE-ah-grah-FEE") or the language of flowers, the Camellia represents love and loyalty. Camellia blossoms are beautiful and come in various colors, sizes, bloom times, and forms. And, best of all, Camellias are long-lived and can grow for 100 to 200 years. Finally, here are two fun facts about the Camellia: In California, Sacramento is nicknamed the Camellia City, and the Camellia is the state flower of Alabama. 1836 Birth of Sir Michael Foster, English physician, and iris breeder. He's regarded as the father of iris cultivation. In the late 1800s, Michael became the first person to crossbreed new varieties of Iris. He started his work with purple and yellow iris and made a beautiful blend by the third generation. Soon Michael had large wild iris specimens arriving from all over the world. He found that missionaries could be a great help to him. They sent Trojana, Cypriana, and Mesopotamica varieties from the Near East. In time, Michael's iris creations had bigger flowers and grew taller. He crossed Irises in every conceivable way, and he once wrote to the plant breeder William John Caparne, "In hybridizing, be bold." Michael once said, Nature is ever making signs to us; she is ever whispering to us the beginnings of her secrets. April 26, 1970, Elizabeth Lawrence (books by this author) reflected on the spring, writing, This spring, I was asked if I am bored. How can anyone ask that of a gardener? No Gardener could ever be bored, for ... Every season is new and different from all those that went before. There always is something new in bloom, something expected and something unexpected, something lost that is found, and there is always disappointment, but being sad is not the same thing as being bored. "It acts like spring, but I dare not hope," Carolyn Dorman wrote on Saint Valentine's Day. "It was about this time in 1899 that the temperature here in Northern Louisiana was 20 degrees below… God spare us, daffodils are beginning now, and Magnolia Alba Superba will soon be in bloom." It is the white form of Magnolia x soulangiana that Caroline calls "alba superba". She thinks it more beautiful than the Yulan. In my garden the Yulan (Magnolia denudata) and two of its hybrids M. x soulangiana and M. x veitschii, came into bloom together on March 8th. I can't think of when, if ever before, all three have bloomed at once when the weather was warm but not hot, when there was no frost and no rain, and when only a few petals were whipped off by wind. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Private Gardens of Santa Barbara by Margie Grace This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is The Art of Outdoor Living. Margie is a two-time-named International Landscape Designer of the Year. She has worked in the field for over three decades, and she is the perfect host to showcase these magnificent private gardens in Santa Barbara, which is often called the American Riviera. This book features eighteen gardens designed by Margie and representing a range of spaces from large estates to s

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden in Athens, Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1849 Birth of Luther Burbank (books about this person), American botanist and horticulturist. During his 55-year career, Luther developed over 800 varieties of plants. He is remembered for many plants, including the Shasta daisy and the white blackberry. A russet-colored variant of a Luther potato became the world's predominant potato in food processing and was called the Russet Burbank Potato. Luther hoped the potato would help revive Ireland's potato production after late blight destroyed potatoes all across Europe. Luther once said, Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind. 1858 On this day, Robert Fortune (books about this person) left for his fourth trip to China. Months earlier, he had sent thousands of tea seeds to the United States. The Americans didn't feel they required Fortune's oversight to cultivate the plants, although the distribution of the little seedlings wasn't very strategic. Most of the seeds and plants were distributed via members of congress from southern states who sent the plants home to their farming constituents. James Rion of South Carolina wrote, In the fall of 1859, I received from the Patent Office, Washington, a very tiny tea plant, which I placed in my flower garden as a curiosity. It has grown well, has always been free from any disease, has had full outdoor exposure, and attained a height of 5 feet, 8 inches There cannot be the least doubt but that the tea plant will flourish in South Carolina. Two years later, the start of the Civil War derailed those early hopes for tea production in the United States. 1865 On this day, Edmund Hope Verney received a letter. By this point, Edmund had been botanizing Vancouver Island for three years. All throughout his expedition, he was gobsmacked by the beauty of the landscape - especially during spring and had written, I cannot believe that any part of the world can show a greater variety and number of wildflowers than this. As much as he could, Edmund sent specimens back home to Claydon in England. Occasionally, he would get discouraged if he didn't hear back - sometimes not even a thank you. But on this day, 1865, Edmund's stepmother wrote with words of praise, Your seeds are excellent - just what we wanted - the Colony is celebrated for its Pines and Cypresses. The Bishop says bulbs, too. If [possible], perhaps you can bring some with you - all lilies are valuable. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Art and Science of William Bartram by Judith Magee This book came out in 2007, and it's one of the best authoritative books on William Bartram. William was an eminent artist and naturalist, and he was one of the first people to explore the flora and fauna of the American Southeast between 1773 and 1777. Bartram's work was sent to his patron back in London, and today the London Natural History Museum houses most of William Bartram's drawings. Judith's book showcased for the first time all sixty-eight Bartram drawings from the Natural History Museum, along with other pieces from his contemporaries. This book also shares some of Bartram's writings and letters, proving that Bartram was influential during his lifetime and a beacon for the next generation of American naturalists. Bartram's work had an impact beyond the world of science. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and other writers found in the significance of Bartram's drawings and writing a source of inspiration. Bartram accomplished so much during his lifetime, especially because he was entirely self-taught. Bartram's humility and compassion made it possible for him to spend time with Native Americans during his explorations. He became an authority on the birds of North America. In 1773, William collected and propagated seeds from the Franklinia or the Franklin tree. The tree survives today, thanks to William Bartram. This book is 276 pages of William Bartram's life and contributions in the context of modern scientific thinking. You can get a copy of The Art and Science of William Bartram by Judith Magee and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $46. Botanic Spark 2001 On this day, The Baltimore Sun shared a story called Maryland's Mr. Grass Plantsman: Kurt Bluemel ("Blu-MEL") by Nancy Taylor Robson. Nurseryman and landscaper Kurt Bluemel had dealt with groundhogs, rabbits, and rapacious deer. But nothing in his career prepared him for the destructive powers of elephants and giraffes. "They are like organic lawnmowers!" he [said]. Kurt Bluemel (the company) is one of the largest, most extensive wholesale growers of ornamental grasses in the nation, which is why six years ago the Disney company asked him to help design, supply and plant the 125 acres of

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1810 Birth of William Griffith, English botanist and naturalist. By the time a young William arrived at the botanical garden in Calcutta, he was eager to make his mark. But he clashed with the old ways of running the garden established by Nathaniel Wallich. When Nathaniel departed to tend to his deteriorating health, William was put in charge of the garden. In his youth and inexperience, he acted in haste and he executed a complete renovation of the garden. For instance, there was an avenue of gorgeous Cycas trees that was a signature element of the garden and beloved by visitors, but William had the entire avenue removed. And in his singular focus on organizing plants by classification, he sacrificed beauty and common sense. Plants that were happy under the canopy of established trees and shrubs were suddenly exposed to the harsh Indian sun, and they burned and perished out in the open. In a little over two years, the garden bore no resemblance of its former glory. In September of 1844, William married his brother's wife's sister - Emily Henderson. By the end of the year, William quit his post and left the Calcutta botanical garden for good. Together, William and Emily returned to Malacca in Southwestern Malaysia, but William got sick on the voyage. He had languished for ten days and then died from hepatitis. He was 34. Meanwhile, back at the Calcutta Botanical Garden, it's hard not to imagine the shock Nathaniel Wallich experienced when he returned to the garden in the summer of 1844 and saw the complete devastation in every bed and every planting in every corner of the garden. Nothing was untouched - it had all been changed. Nathaniel shared his grief in a letter to his old friend William Hooker: Where is the stately, matchless garden that I left in 1842? Is this the same as that? Can it be? No–no–no! Day is not more different from night that the state of the garden as it was from its present utterly ruined condition. But no more on this. My heart bleeds at what I am impelled daily – hourly to witness. And yet I am chained to the spot, and the chain, in some respects, is of my own making. I will not be driven away. Lies, calumnies, every attempt... to ruin my character – publicly and privately... are still employed – they may make my life miserable and wretched, they may break my heart: but so so long as my conscience acquits me... so long will I not budge one inch from my post. 1847 Birth of Henry Frederick Conrad Sander, German-English orchidologist and nurseryman. When he was 20, Conrad met the Czech plant collector Benedict Roezl. The two men struck up an idea for a business that left Benedict free to explore and collect plants and Conrad focused on selling the specimens. Conrad set up shop in St. Albans, and Benedict was soon sending shipments of orchids from Central and South America. After his successful arrangement with Benedict, Conrad expanded his operations. He soon had over twenty collectors gathering specimens and was growing orchids in over sixty greenhouses. Europe's top collectors and even royalty stopped by to examine Conrad's inventory. Soon known as the King of Orchids, Conrad wrote a two-volume masterpiece on every variety of orchid. He named his book Reichenbachia in honor of the legendary orchidologist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach. In return, Reichenbach honored Sanders by naming the "Queen of Philippine Orchids" Vanda Sanderiana, which the locals called the waling-waling orchid. The waling-waling is considered one of the rarest, most beautiful, and most expensive orchids, and it is also one of the largest species of orchids in the world. Orchids are some of the world's oldest flowering plants, producing the world's tiniest seeds. A single Orchid seedpod can contain three million seeds! Orchids are also the largest family of flowering plants in the world. With over 25,000 species, Orchids represent about ten percent of all plant species on earth, and there are more orchids on earth than mammals and birds! Now, once they are germinated, Orchids can take five to seven years to produce a flower. And if you look at the orchid bloom closely, you'll see that the blossom, like the human face, is perfectly symmetrical, which only adds to their visual beauty. And, by the time you are buying that Orchid at Trader Joe's, it is likely already decades old. But never fear, Orchids are long-lived and can reach their 100th birthday. The vastness and complexity of orchids can be frustrating. Charles Darwin grew so discouraged writing his book about orchids that he wrote to a friend, I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything. 1949 On this day, the Santa Cruz Sentinel out of California, published a lovely story about an upcoming Ar

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1606 Birth of Edmund Waller (books about this person), English poet, and politician who was one of the longest-serving members in the English House of Commons. Edmund is remembered for his carpe diem or "seize the day" poem, Go, Lovely Rose (1645), in which the rose must relay an urgent message: that time is short, that she is beautiful and that he loves her. Go, lovely rose! Tell her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be. 1616 Birth Mathias de l'Obel ("ma-TEE-us dew Lew-bell"), Flemish physician and botanist. Mathias practiced medicine in England, and he was the first botanist to recognize the difference between monocots and dicots. Today we remember Mathias de l'Obel ("LEW-bell") with the Lobelia plant. Before researching Mathias, I pronounced obelia as "LOW- beel- ya." But now, knowing the French pronunciation of his name, I will say it "LEW-beel-ya." It's a subtle little change (LOW vs. LEW), but after all, the plant is named in Mathias's honor. Now, for as lovely as the Lobelia is, the common names for Lobelia are terribly unattractive. They include names like Asthma Weed, Bladderpod, Gagroot, Pukeweed, etc. Vomit Wort, and Wild Tobacco. These common names for Lobelia reflect that Lobelia is very toxic to eat. Despite its toxicity, Lobelia is one of the sweetest-looking plants for your summer containers. This dainty annual comes in pink, light blue, and royal blue. Personally, every year, I buy two flats of light blue Lobelias. But no matter the color you choose, lobelias are a favorite of pollinators. The delicate blossoms frequently host bees, butterflies, and moths, which only adds to their charm. 1880 Birth Muriel Wheldale Onslow (books by this author), English biochemist. She researched flower color inheritance and pigment molecule biochemistry. Muriel married a fellow biochemist named Victor Onslow. Victor was actually the son of royalty - his dad was the fourth Earl of Onslow. When Victor was a student at Cambridge, he was paralyzed from the waist down after diving off a cliff into a lake. Victor's physical limitations did not stop Muriel from loving him. Even though they were married for only a little over three years before Victor's untimely death, Victor and Muriel's love story was one of mutual admiration and respect. When Muriel recorded her memoir of Victor, she wrote that he was a man of amazing courage and mental vitality; and that he was an inspiration to their peers in biochemistry. Muriel worked with snapdragons, which come in a range of flower colors including green, red, orange, yellow, white, purple, and pink - and now even bicolor and speckled. The snapdragon was the perfect subject for Murial's work. Muriel's coloration research resulted in four major papers on snapdragon color inheritance and worldwide recognition. In 2010, the Royal Institution in England sponsored a play about four female biochemists - including Muriel Onslow. The play was called Blooming Snapdragons. Snapdragons or Antirrhinum majus ("ant-er-EYE-num MAY-jus") are beloved cottage garden flowers. They are a cousin to the foxglove. Snapdragons are happiest when planted early, in cool weather. They will bloom their hearts out all summer long. Then, if you cut them back in August, you will get a second flush of color in the fall. 1899 Birth of Yury Karlovich Olesha (books by this author), Russian and Soviet novelist. He was part of the Odessa School of Writers and is considered one of the greatest Russian novelists of the 20th century. Here's an excerpt from his book, Envy (1927): "Once he raised his arm to show his friends the back of his hand, where the veins were laid out in the shape of a tree, and he broke out in the following improvisation: "Here," he said, "is the tree of life. Here is a tree that tells me more about life and death than the flowering and fading of tree gardens. I don't remember when exactly I discovered that my wrist was blooming like a tree…but it must have been during that wonderful time when the flowering and fading of trees still spoke to me not of life and death but of the end and beginning of the school year! It was blue then, this tree, blue and slender, ...and turned my metacarpus's entire landscape into a Japanese watercolor… "The years passed, I changed, and the tree changed, too. "I remember a splendid time; the tree was spreading. The pride I felt, seeing its inexorable flowering! It became gnarled and reddish-brown—and therein lay its strength! ...But now, my friends! How decrepit it is, how rotten! "The branches seem to be breaking off, cavities have appeared… It's sclerosis, my friends! And the fact that the skin is getting glassy, and the tissue beneath it is s

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1779 Birth of the physician, botanist, and American statesman, Joel Roberts Poinsett. In the 1820s, President John Quincy Adams appointed Joel to serve as a US ambassador in Mexico. Joel was introduced to a beautiful plant that the Aztecs called the cuetlaxochitl ("qwet-la-SHO-chee-til"), but today it's better known as the Poinsettia (books about this topic). Like most euphorbias, the Poinsettia has a white sap that the Aztecs used to treat wounds and skin issues, which is how it got the common name "Skin Flower." In 1825, when Joel Poinsett sent clippings back home to South Carolina, botanists had new common names for the plant: "the Mexican Fire Plant" or "the Painted Leaf." The botanist Karl Wilenow ("Vill-ah-no") named the Poinsettia the Euphorbia pulcherrima. Pulcherrima means "very beautiful." By 1836, English newspapers were reporting on the Poinsettia in great detail: Poinsettia Pulcherrima.. are of the most brilliant rosy-crimson color, the splendor of which is quite dazzling. Few, if any of the most highly valued beauties of our gardens, can vie with this. Every year, we celebrate National Poinsettia Day on December 12th, the day Joel Poinsett died. 1859 Birth of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem ("Sholl-em A-LEK-em") (books about this person), Yiddish author and playwright. The musical Fiddler on the Roof (1964), was based on his stories. Sholom Aleichem wrote, It's as my mother says: If you want to learn how to grow cabbages, ask the gardener, not the goat. 1905 Birth of Geoffrey Grigson ("Jeffrey") (books about this person), British poet, and naturalist. Before publishing his own poems, Geoffrey edited a poetry magazine called New Verse. He once wrote: We do not feel, as Humphry Repton, the landscape gardener, felt in his epitaph, that our dust is going to turn into roses. Dust we believe simply to be dust. 1905 Birth of Alice O'Connor, Russian-American writer, and philosopher. Her pen name was Ayn Rand ("Eye-n Rand") (books about this person). She developed a philosophy called Objectivism. Her work The Fountainhead brought fame, but her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged is considered her magnum opus. Ayn supported laissez-faire capitalism, and when she died in 1982, a 6-foot-tall dollar-sign floral arrangement was placed by her casket. 1887 On this day, Charles E. Bessey (books about this person), an American botanist and University of Nebraska botany professor. He helped pass the Hatch Act. The Act provides $15,000 for state land-grant colleges and universities in every state to establish experiment stations. Named for Congressman William Hatch, the experiment stations were the forerunner to state Cooperative Extension Services. Today, Hatch Act funding accounts for roughly ten percent of total funds for each experiment station. Nearly all Master Gardener programs in America offer training through a state land-grant university and its Cooperative Extension Service. Charles is remembered as America's greatest developer of botany education. His motto was, Science with Practice. Charles enjoyed plant science, but he never intended to become a botanist. He wanted to be a civil engineer and surveyor. But he agreed to pursue botany at the urging of his professors, and when he told the President of his school about his decision, he commented, Well, Bessey, I am glad of it, but you'll never be rich. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation By Any Other Name by Simon Morley This book came out late in 2021, and the subtitle is A Cultural History of the Rose. Simon Morley is a British artist and art historian. He's now Assistant Professor of Fine Art at Dankook University, Republic of Korea. He is also a keen rose gardener. I've watched a number of interviews with Simon. He does a wonderful job of helping us understand the significance of the rose in our world - socially, politically, and religiously - and how we celebrate the rose in our writing and art. Originating in the middle east and Asia, roses were associated with Venus or Aphrodite, the goddess of love in ancient times. This early association with love is why roses are the flower of Valentine's day. In Western society, roses were bred in the early 1800s in France and then in the late 1800s in England. Both countries have a long and royal history with the rose. Today, the rose is the national flower for many countries, including America, Iran, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Iraq, Maldives, Romania, Slovakia, and England. Simon Morley's quest for a deeper understanding of the rose lead him to appreciate the duality in the meaning and symbolism of the rose. The rose offers incredible beauty and fragrance, but the prickles or thorns mean the rose can bring pain. This complexity o

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1717 Birth of Catharina Helena Dörrien ("Durr-ee-in"), German botanist, writer, and artist. After the death of her parents, Catharina became a governess for the Erath ("AIR-rit") family in Dillenburg. Sophie Erath was a childhood friend of Catharina's, and Anton Erath was an attorney; they became Catharina's second family. While teaching the Erath children, Catharina turned to nature to teach almost every subject. Catharina even wrote her own textbooks, heavily focused on botany and the natural world. As the Erath children grew, Catharina focused on her botanical work. Anton helped her gain membership to the Botanical Society of Florence - something unheard of for women of her time. Catharina would go on to be a member of the Berlin Society of Friends of Nature Research and the Regensburg Botanical Society in Germany. When Catharina was alive, Dillenburg was part of the Orange-Nassau principality. And Catharine's 496-page flora called Flora for Orange-Nassau was published in 1777. Catharina not only used the Linnaean system to organize and name each specimen, but she also named two new fungi ("funj-eye") - two little lichens - she named major Doerrieni ("Durr-ee-en-ee") and minor Doerrieni- an extraordinary accomplishment for a woman during the 1700s. As for her botanical illustrations, Catharina created over 1,400 illustrations of local flora and fauna. Yet, these masterpieces never made it into her flora. Instead, Catharina's botanical art became an heirloom passed down through the generations of the Erath family. In 1875 a few pieces of Catharina's work were shown at an exhibition. However, fifteen years later, a large collection of paintings by Johann Philipp Sandberger was bought by the Museum of Wiesbaden. Johann was a dear friend of Anton Erath's, and today, his work is considered to be copies of Catharine's original watercolor masterpieces. Still, Sandberger's pieces are precious because they give us a glimpse of Catharine's breadth and depth of talent. Without Sandberger, all would be lost because the bulk of Catharine's work has been lost to time. The curator Friedrich von Heinbeck once said that the precision of Catharine's brush strokes was like that of an embroiderer who stitched with only the finest of thread. 1848 Birth of Augustus Saint Gaudens ("gaw-dens") (books about this person), American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation. He is remembered for his stunning Civil War monuments, including a work called Abraham Lincoln: The Man. In Augustus Saint Gaudens, biography, Reminiscences, he wrote, What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art. The Frick museum has a medallion carved by Augustus. He was a fan of Robert Louis Stephenson, and the two met toward the end of Stephenson's life. The medallion has an inscription: Stevenson's poem Underwoods (1887), which reads: Youth now flees on feathered foot Faint and fainter sounds the flute … Where hath fleeting beauty led? To the doorway of the dead Life is over, life was gay We have come the primrose way. 1877 Birth of Lenore Elizabeth Mulets, children's author, poet, and teacher Born Nora Mulertz in Kansas, Lenore's mother died when she was ten, and so she was raised by her uncle. In addition to teaching, Lenore was a marvelous children's author. Her books were always charming, and her titles include Stories of Birds, Flower Stories, Insect Stories, and Tree Stories, just to name a few. In the preface to Flower Stories, Lenore wrote, When the flowers of the field and garden lift their bright faces to you, can you call them by name and greet them as old acquaintances? Or, having passed them a hundred times, are they still strangers to you? And in her book Stories of Birds, Lenore wrote: Such a twittering and fluttering there was when this news came. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Stylish Succulent Designs by Jessica Cain This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is & Other Botanical Crafts. Jessica wants to teach you how to elevate your succulent creations and learn the tricks you need to know to create professional-quality succulent arrangements made simple! Jessica is the creator and owner of "In Succulent Love." She is a native of San Diego, the succulent capital of the world, and she fell in love with making succulent arrangements after working with succulents with her grandmother. Jessica's DIY guide teaches how to makeover forty creative projects using many varieties of succulents, air plants, and other easy-care botanicals. This book is 176 pages of creating beautiful and lush succulent designs that are simple to make and will last for months. You can get a copy of Stylish Succulent Designs by Jessica Cain and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $2. Bota

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1533 Birth of Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (books by this author), also known as Lord of Montaigne, French Renaissance philosopher. He was a prolific writer and was famous for his anecdotes. He once wrote, I want death to find me planting my cabbages, neither worrying about it nor the unfinished gardening." 1828 On this day, Frederick William Beechey (books about this person) wrote to William Jackson Hooker (books about this person) to apologize for sending an inferior collection of specimens. He explained that the expedition's collector opted to play the violin seven hours each day instead of exploring and gathering plants. 1844 The New England Journal published a little notice about a use for the milky sap of Sumac: [It] is the best indelible ink that can be used. Break off one of the stems that support the leaves, and write... In a short time it becomes a beautiful jet black, and can never be washed out. 1877 Birth of André Simon (books by this author), French wine merchant, wine expert, and writer. In The Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy (1952), André wrote, Beans... possess over all vegetables the great advantage of being just as good, if not better, when kept waiting, an advantage in the case of people whose disposition or occupation makes it difficult for them to be punctual at mealtime. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Hill House Living by Paula Sutton This book came out late in 2021, and the subtitle is The Art of Creating a Joyful Life. Paula's book is a delight. It's part antique-hunting, part gardening, and part a celebration of the seasons. A beloved British design and fashion influencer, Paula left her busy life in London at age 50 and started over in a gorgeous cottage home in the country. Paula likes to say she traded catwalks for dog walks (she has a beautiful lab) and couture for manure. A master of styling with vintage treasures in the home and outside in the garden, Paula shares all of her top tips and tricks for bargain hunting, repurposing, and incorporating old and new in a way that feels fresh, simple, and stylish. As a person, Paula is positive, generous, and authentic. You will love following her on social and having a little bit of her genius right on your bookcase, coffee table, or bedside table (which is where mine is as I write this ;). You can get a copy of Hill House Living by Paula Sutton and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $15. Botanic Spark 1865 Birth of Arthur William Symons (books by this author), British poet, critic, and magazine editor. Here's an excerpt from his poem, Lillian, which appreciates the green powers of the hot-house: This was a sweet white wildwood violet I found among the painted slips that grow Where, under hot-house glass, the flowers forget How the sun shines, and how the cool winds blow. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1872 Birth of Anna Gilman Hill, Director of the Garden Club of America (1920-1926) and assistant editor of the Club's Bulletin (1921-1945). Anna and her husband own an estate in East Hampton called "Grey Gardens," which was purchased by the American socialite Edith Bouvier Beale. Anna once wrote, Above all, in your absence, do not allow the children, the ignorant visitor, your husband, or your maiden aunt to play the hose on your poor defenseless plants. 1943 Birth of George Harrison (books about this person), English musician and singer-songwriter, and lead guitarist of the Beatles. His original song compositions include While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Here Comes the Sun. Sometimes referred to as the "Quiet Beatle," George relished his life out of the spotlight and said, I'm not really a career person. I'm a gardener, basically... Sometimes I feel like I'm actually on the wrong planet. It's great when I'm in my garden, but the minute I go out the gate, I think, 'What the hell am I doing here?" 1989 On this day, The Age newspaper out of Melbourne, Australia, ran a story about a brand new play written by Suzanne Spunner called "Edna for the Garden." The play featured the charismatic Australian gardener, designer, conservationist, and writer Edna Walling. During her lifetime, her garden design clients would say to their friends, You must have Edna for the garden. The familiar saying inspired the name of the play. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Secret Gardeners by Victoria Summerley This book came out late in 2017, and the subtitle is Britain's Creatives Reveal Their Private Sanctuaries. This book features the private gardens, the secret gardens, of some of Britain's most famous artists. In all, twenty-five gardens are featured in this drop-dead gorgeous book. You'll get to see the gardens of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Anish Kapoor, Jeremy Irons, Cath Kidston, Terry Gilliam, Prue Leith, Ozzy Osbourne, Sting, Julian Fellowes, and Rupert Everett, just to name a few. For the most part, these private sanctuaries - these great spaces - are not for public consumption. Without Victoria and Hugo's book, these gardens would remain hidden; they would remain secret gardens. But thankfully and generously, they all agreed to be part of this incredible book. In the introduction, Victoria reveals how she and Hugo have connected with these beautiful spaces. They've done a couple of great books together: Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds (2015) Great Gardens of London (2019) Victoria writes, When planning this book, Hugo Ritson Thomas and I did not set out to feature famous people who had lovely garden. Our original concept was a book on artist's gardens, looking at how those who had some training or background in the visual arts organize their outdoor spaces. We were all very enthusiastic about the idea, but realized that it might have a broader appeal if we included people who were involved in the performance arts as well. I'm often asked how I choose the garden for my books. The answer is that I don't — Hugo does. I have a power of veto… but Hugo is the one who persuades people to open their gates and let us in. How he does this I have no idea. I am firmly of the belief that Hugo could persuade St. Peter to open the gates of heaven... If our publisher decided to... commission a book on the Garden of Eden. Hugo and Victoria make a lovely garden book team. Hugo's indelible images transport us to these wonderful spaces, and Victoria helps us appreciate them on a much deeper level than we would otherwise without her lovely commentary. When you pick up a Victoria Summerly/Hugo Rittson Thomas book, you know it's going to be beautiful, you know that the gardens will be world-class, and you know that you're buying a book that is not for the bookshelf. It's way too pretty for that. This is a book that is set out so that when you walk by, you're tempted to stop and to read it — or when someone visits your home, they see that beautiful book and fall in love. This book is 272 pages of gorgeous, sublime, unforgettable, imaginative, secret gardens that are sure to knock your socks off. You can get a copy of Secret Gardeners by Victoria Summerley and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $30. Botanic Spark 1881 Birth of Olive Mary Edmundson Harrisson, British horticulturist. In 1898, Olive was the top student at Swanley Horticultural College and placed first on her exams with 285 points. By rights, she should have earned a spot at the RHS garden in Chiswick, £5,000, and a scholarship. But Olive was born just a bit too early because the RHS declined to recognize Olive's accomplishment since they were still an all-male institution. Women made up 10 of the top 25 test scores for 1898. So, two Marys, three Ethels, one Jessie, a

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1743 Birth of Joseph Banks (books about this person), English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Joseph is best known for his study of Australian flora and fauna as the botanist on board the Endeavor with Captain James Cook. Before returning to England, Cook worried the Endeavor wouldn't make it around the Cape of Good Hope. In a fateful decision, Cook brought the ship to Batavia, a Dutch colony, to fortify his boat. Batavia was rife with malaria and dysentery. As a result, Cook lost 38 crewmembers. Joseph and fellow botanist, Daniel Solander, became gravely ill but managed to survive. Even as they battled back from illness, they still went out to collect specimens. As gardeners, we owe a great debt to Joseph. When he returned to England, Joseph Banks advised George III on creating the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew. And, in 1778, when Linnaeus died, Joseph acted with haste to buy Linnaeus's belongings on behalf of the Linnaeus Society. When the king of Sweden realized Linnaeus' legacy was no longer in the country, he sent a fast ship to pursue the precious cargo. But Joseph was too quick, and that's how Linnaeus's collection came to reside in London at the Linnaeus Society's Burlington House and not in Sweden. Earlier this month, there was breaking news that the HMS Endeavor was discovered lying at the bottom of the Newport Harbour in the United States. In 1778, 35 years after the Endeavor brought Joseph Banks and Captain Cook to Australia, the ship was sold. HMS Endeavor was renamed Lord Sandwich, and then during the Revolutionary War, the British deliberately sunk her off the coast of Rhode Island. 1955 Birth of Steve Jobs (books about this person), founder of Apple. A lover of simplicity and elegance, Steve once said, The most sublime thing I've ever seen are the gardens around Kyoto. To Steve, the ultimate Kyoto garden was the Saiho-ji ("Sy-ho-jee") - and most people would agree with him. The dream-like Saiho-ji garden was created by a Zen priest, poet, calligrapher, and gardener named Muso Soseki ("MOO-so SO-sec-key") in the 14th century during the Kamakura ("Comma-COOR-rah") Period. The Saiho-ji Temple is affectionately called koke-dera or the Moss Temple - a reference to the over 120 moss species found in the garden. Steve Jobs wasn't the only celebrity to find zen at Saiho-ji - David Bowie was also a huge fan. And when it comes to design, there's a Steve Jobs quote that garden designers should pay attention to, and it goes like this: Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But... if you dig deeper, it's really how it works. 1963 On this day, The Anniston Star out of Anniston, Alabama, published a little retrospective on the adventures of Joseph Rock, the great Austrian-American botanist, and explorer, who had passed away almost three months earlier in Honolulu at 79. Joseph was born in Austria but ended up immigrating to the United States and eventually settled in Hawaii, where he was beloved. He became Hawaii's first official botanist. Before he died, the University of Hawaii granted Joseph an honorary doctor of Science degree. In addition to plants, Joseph had a knack for languages. He cataloged and transcribed Chinese manuscripts and wrote a dictionary of one of the tribal languages. He had an enormous intellect and was multi-talented. In addition to being a botanist, he was a linguist. He was also regarded as a world-expert cartographer, ornithologist, and anthropologist. From a gardening standpoint, Joseph Rock introduced blight-resistant Chestnut trees to America. He also brought us more than 700 species of rhododendron. Some of his original rhododendron seeds were successfully grown in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Joseph spent much of his adult life - more than 20 years - in southwestern China. There were many instances where he was the first explorer to enter many of the locations he visited. Joseph became so embedded in the country that there were many times that his counterparts in other parts of the world thought that he might have died in the Tibetan or Yunnan ("YOU-nan") mountains. And so it was on this day that The Anniston Star shared a few of Joseph's most hair-raising adventures, including this little story called Night Amid Coffins. Two of Dr. Rock's expeditions (1923-24 and 1927-30) were sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Reporting on the first of these in September 1925. National Geographic Magazine. Rock [was] trapped by bandits in the funeral chamber of an old temple in a small settlement north of Yunnanfu. While the small army he had hired for protection kept the brigands at bay, the explorer (Rock) sat amid coffins, with two .45 caliber pistols (one in each hand), and his precious plant collection nearby. By morning, the bandits

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1723 Birth of Sir William Chambers (books about this person), Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. William designed Somerset House on the Strand in central London. He also designed Great Pagoda at Kew (1761) as a gift for Princess Augusta. The Great Pagoda was built with grey brick and is ten stories tall. It took just six months to build. Initially, the various roofs of the Great Pagoda featured eighty golden dragons. But by 1784, the dragons were removed. And although they most likely deteriorated naturally from the elements, rumors swirled that they were sold to satisfy the Prince Regent's gambling debts (scandalous). William Chambers had a special admiration for Chinese gardens. He went to China on three occasions in the 1740s. He even published a Dissertation on Oriental Gardening. Here are a few of his takeaways from Of the Art of Laying Out Gardens Among the Chinese, Nature is their pattern, and their aim is to imitate her in all her beautiful irregularities. The Chinese are not fond of walking, we seldom meet with avenues or spacious walks. The Chinese artists, knowing how powerfully contrast operates on the mind, constantly practice sudden transitions, and a striking opposition of forms, colors, and shades. Their rivers are seldom straight, but serpentine, and broken into many irregular points. When there is a sufficient suply of water, and proper ground, the Chinese never fail to form cascades in their gardens. The weeping willow is one of their favorite trees, and always among those that border their lakes and rivers... planted to have it's branches hanging over the water. Another of their artifices is to hide some part of a composition by trees, or other intermediate objects. This naturally excites the curiosity of the spectator to take a nearer view. The Chinese generally avoid straight lines; yet they do not absolutely reject them. The Great Pagoda underwent a 12-year renovation period that began in 2006. On July 13, 2018, the grand reopening revealed a fully restored Great Pagoda complete with 80 chinoiserie dragons perched on the roofs. The dragons were back. And since the roofs would not have supported wooden dragons or other heavy materials, the dragons were ingeniously made of nylon with the help of a 3D printer. Only the bigger dragons on the lowest roof are made of cedar. 1856 On this day, Henry David Thoreau writes in his journal: 9 am to Fair Haven Pond upriver – A still warmer day – The snow is so solid that it still bears me – though we have had several warm suns on it. I sit by a maple on a maple – It wears the same shaggy coat of lichens summer & winter. 1863 On this day, John Lewis Russell, an American botanist and Unitarian minister, sent a letter to his adult nephew. By all accounts, John was a lovely man, a great conversationalist, and a font of wisdom regarding the natural world. John Lewis Russell was an expert in lichens and cryptograms. The fungus Boletellus russelli was named in his honor. His friends included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. John's letter to his nephew illustrates his love of nature and personal charisma. When this reaches you spring will have commenced, and March winds... will have awakened some of the sleeping flowers of the western prairies, while we shall be still among the snow-drifts of [the] tardy departing winter. As I have not learned to fly yet I shall not be able to ramble with you after the pasque flower ("pask"), or anemone, nor find the Erythronium albidum ("er-rith-THRONE-ee-um AL-bah-dum"), nor the tiny spring beauty, nor detect the minute green mosses which will so soon be rising out of the ground. But I can sit by the Stewart's Coal Burner in our sitting room and... recall the days when ... when we gathered Andromeda buds from the frozen bushes and traversed the ice-covered bay securely in the bright sunshine of the winter's day. I will not trouble you to write to me, but I should like a spring flower which you gather; any one will be precious from you to your feeble and sick Old uncle and friend, J.L.R. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Seasons at Highclere by The Countess of Carnarvon This book came out late in 2021, and the subtitle is Gardening, Growing, and Cooking Through the Year at the Real Downton Abbey. If you are a lover of Downton Abbey and gardening, you must get a copy of this book. This book was written by the actual Lady of the Manor, Fiona- the Countess of Highclere, and she gives the reader complete access To the English Country House and the garden. As with the fictitious Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle is governed by the seasons, which provide the backdrop to country life on this incredible estate. Written by the Lady of the manor, this book gives complete access to the world-renowned historic country hous

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1756 Birth of the handsome and tall Swedish botanist, Pehr Loefling. Pehr met Carl Linnaeus at the University of Uppsala, where Carl was his professor. Early on, Carl dubbed Pehr his "most beloved pupil," and he started calling Pehr "the Vulture." Carl came up with the moniker after observing that Pehr had an intuitive way of finding plants and observing the most minute details of plant specimens. After graduating, Carl recommended Pehr for an opportunity in Madrid. Pehr landed the position, learned Spanish, and was soon called Pedro by his friends. In short order, Pehr joined a Royal Spanish Expedition to South America. His mission was to find and learn about an improved cinnamon species. Two years into the trip, Pehr was botanizing in Venezuela when he died of malaria on the banks of the Caroní River. He was buried beneath an orange tree. He was 27 years old. By the end of the year, over half of the expedition's men would be dead from disease compounded by hunger and fatigue. When Linnaeus heard the news about Pehr, he wrote to a friend, The great Vulture is dead. 1801 Birth of William Barnes (books about this person), English polymath, writer, and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems and had familiarity with over 70 different languages. The English writers Thomas Hardy and Edmund Gosse visited William on his deathbed. Edmund later wrote that William was dying as picturesquely as he lived... We found him in bed in his study, his face turned to the window, where the light came streaming in through flowering plants, his brown books on all sides of him save one, the wall behind him being hung with old green tapestry. Any gardener who loves their garden has likely thought about the day they'll have to say goodbye. William wrote about that moment in a little poem called To a Garden—On Leaving It. Sweet garden! peaceful spot! no more in thee Shall I ever while away the sunny hour. Farewell each blooming shrub, and lofty tree; Farewell, the mossy path and nodding flower: I shall not hear again from yonder bower The song of birds, or humming of the bee, Nor listen to the waterfall, nor see The clouds float on behind the lofty tower. My eyes no more may see, this peaceful scene. But still, sweet spot, wherever I may be, My love-led soul will wander back to thee. 1870 Birth of Adolph G. Rosengarten, Sr., American businessman. His family pharmaceutical company would become part of Merck in the 1920s. In 1913, Adolph and his wife Christine wanted to escape the heat of Philadelphia and find a place suitable for a country home. They settled on a piece of land in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and commissioned their former friend and classmate Charles Borie to design the house and Landscape architect Thomas Sears to work on the terraces. After 1924, the family lived there year-round. Adolph named the estate Chanticleer as a tongue-in-cheek nod to "Chanticlere" in William Makepeace Thackeray's The Newcomes (1855), wherein the estate was "mortgaged up to the very castle windows." Adolph always said he sympathized with the fictional Chanticlere owner from the novel. The etymology of Chanticleer means rooster, and that's why there are so many rooster motifs at Chanticleer (books about this garden). Today the public garden at Chanticleer is among the best in the United States. The grounds occupy 35 of the 50 acres owned by the foundation. The garden opened to the public in 1993. The job of maintaining and designing Chanticleer now falls to seven full-time horticulturists who strive to preserve and improve a garden that's been called America's most romantic and creative garden. 1939 Birth of Phyllis Theroux (books by this author), American writer and journalist. She grew up in San Francisco following World War II. She once wrote, I think this is what hooks one to gardening: it is the closest one can come to being present at creation. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Flower Hunter by Lucy Hunter This book came out late in 2021, and the subtitle is Seasonal flowers inspired by nature and gathered from the garden. Lucy Hunter is a floral whisperer. She knows how to create beauty - true, artistic, Raphaelian, dreamy, sumptuous beauty. For a first book, Lucy has given gardeners quite a gift. Gardeners love nothing better than chatting with other gardeners and seeing their gardens. How do you do this? Why do you grow that? What do you do with this flower? In The Flower Hunter, Lucy Hunter welcomes us to a year in her North Wales garden. And trust me; you want to see what Lucy is doing with the beauty she finds in her own backyard. Lucy is generous with her step-by-step tutorials. She inspires with her essays on working with natural elements. She's funny, too. And Her photography is top of the top. Even if you feel no match for Lucy's level of maste

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter Facebook Group The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend and request to join. Historical Events 1554 Death of Hieronymus Bock (books about this person), German botanist, physician, and Lutheran minister. Regarded as one of the fathers of modern botany, he tended the gardens of Count Palatine Ludwig for nearly a decade. He also was one of the first true field botanists and searched for plants throughout the German empire. He coined the term Riesling as a type of wine in his herbal. His surname was translated in Latin to Tragus ("Trah-goos"); he was honored by the grass genus Tragus and the spurge genus Tragia. 1801 Birth of John Henry Newman (books by this author), English theologian, scholar, and poet. His words are in the intro to Abram Linwood Urban's My Garden of Dreams: The garden mystically… a place of spiritual repose, stillness, peace, refreshment, delight. 1885 Birth of Lady Joan Margaret Legge ("LAY-gee"), English botanist and the youngest daughter of the sixth Earl of Dartmouth. Lady Joan's story ends in the Himalayas. It can be linked to a 1931 expedition of three English mountaineers who got lost in the Himilayas and stumbled on a valley of incredible beauty. Blooms of exotic wildflowers made it seem like they were in a fairyland. One of the climbers was a botanist named Frank Smythe. In his book, Kamet Conquered, he called the area the Valley of Flowers. The Valley of Flowers is a seven-day trip from Delhi. It is now a protected national park. As the name implies, it is a lush area famous for the millions of alpine flowers that cover the hills and slopes and nestle along icy flowing streams. Along with daisies, poppies, and marigolds, there are primulas and orchids growing wild. And the rare Blue Poppy, commonly known as the Himalayan Queen, is the most coveted plant in the Valley. The Valley of Flowers remains hidden through most of the year, buried under several feet of snow throughout a seven-to-eight-month-long winter. But in March, the melting snow and monsoon activate a new growing season. This spring season opens a brief 3-4 month window when the Valley of Flowers is accessible to humans – generally during the months of July, August, and September. Lady Joan traveled to the Valley of Flowers as a direct result of Frank Smythe's book. Smythe's work inspired many, and it attracted the attention of Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden, and they decided to sponsor Lady Joan's trip. Although some of her friends were against her going to India, Lady Joan was eager to go. She was 54 years old and unmarried. And she likely needed a break from her regular duties of caring for her father, the poor, and herself ( she had just gotten over a bout of pneumonia). In 1939, Lady Joan arrived in the Himilayas, accompanied by guides and porters. As she made her way over the lower foothills, she collected alpine specimens. On the day she died, Lady Joan slipped on the slopes of Khulia Garva. After she fell, her porters recovered her body. They buried her in the Valley at the request of her older sister, Dorothy. Then, all of Lady Joan's belongings were packed up and sent home to England. The following summer, in 1940, Dorothy visited her sister's grave and placed a marker over the spot where she had been buried. Today, tourists still visit Lady Joan's grave, and it includes poignant words from Psalm 121: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills From whence cometh my help Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker by Ray Desmond This book came out late in 2007, and the subtitle is Traveller and Plant Collector. Joseph Dalton Hooker is remembered as a Victorian British botanist, explorer, President of the Royal Society, and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. When he died at 94, he had accomplished a great deal. He had established a network of botanic gardens around the world to facilitate discovery and classification, which enhanced the world's economy and promoted trade. In 1877, Hooker was knighted for scientific services to the British Empire, and he was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1888. As Charle's Darwin's closest friend, he learned of Darwin's theory long before it was made public. And Hooker was instrumental in getting Darwin's work published. Many regard Hooker as Darwin's PR man. Hooker traveled the world in search of new plants. He nearly drowned in the Antarctic Ocean during his first major expedition on Sir James Clark Ross' epic voyage to Antarctica in 1839-43. During his trip to the Himalayas, he was imprisoned by the Rajah of Sikkim. He remarked after seeing the Rheum nobile in bloom: It is the most wonderful-looking plant in the whole of the Himalayas. Here are a few fun factoids about Joseph Dalton Hooker. His wife was named Hyacinth. And Kew Gardens recently shared that,

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter Facebook Group The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend and request to join. Historical Events 1515 Birth of Valerius Cordus, German physician, botanist, and pharmacologist. He wrote one of the most popular herbals in history and discovered a way to synthesize ether, which he called oleum dulci vitrioli, or "sweet oil of vitriol." Centuries later, the botanist Thomas Archibald Sprague re-published "The Herbal of Valerius Cordus" with his older sister. In 1544, Valerius spent the summer botanizing in Italy with two French naturalists. At some point, he waded into marshes in search of new plants. When he became sick, his friends brought him to Rome. Then, they continued on to Naples. When they returned to Rome, they found Valerius had died. He was 29. The Swiss botanist Konrad Gesner collected and preserved Cordus' work, which was significant. One expert once said, There was Theophrastus; there was nothing for 1,800 years; then there was Cordus. The plant genus Cordia is named for him. Cordia's are in the borage family, and many cordias have fragrant, showy flowers. Some cordias produce edible fruits called clammy cherries, glue berries, sebesten, or snotty gobbles. 1896 Birth of André Robert Breton (books by this author), French writer and poet. He is remembered as the co-founder of surrealism and he wrote the first Surrealist Manifesto. He once wrote, The man who can't visualize a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot. 1931 Birth of Toni Morrison (books by this author), American writer, book editor, and college professor. In her book, Jazz, she wrote of the change in seasons. What can beat bricks warming up to the sun? The return of awnings. The removal of blankets from horses' backs. Tar softens under the heel, and the darkness under bridges changes from gloom to cooling shade. After a light rain, when the leaves have come, tree limbs are like wet fingers playing in woolly green hair. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Secrets of the Great Botanists by Matthew Biggs This book came out late in 2018, and the subtitle is What They Can Teach Us About Gardening. Matthew Biggs loves to research botanists and share their stories. In this book, he profiles 35 botanists who significantly increased our understanding of plants. As with most RHS books, this book is beautifully illustrated with that RHS look and feel. It is loaded with plenty of drawings, portraits, and photographs to make each story come alive. This book is 224 pages of pioneering botanists and how knowing their work can make us better gardeners. You can get a copy of The Secrets of the Great Botanists by Matthew Biggs and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $16. Botanic Spark 1827 Death of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne ("do-shayn") (books about this person), French botanist, gardener, and professor at Versailles. As a young botanist, Antoine was a student of Bernard de Jussieu at the Royal Garden in Paris and made many scientific discoveries. Antoine recognized that mutation was a natural occurrence and that plants could be altered via mutation at any time. In his work with mutation, Antoine began experimenting with strawberries. Ever since the 1300s, wild strawberries have been incorporated into gardens. But on July 6, 1764, Antoine changed the trajectory of wild strawberries when he created the modern strawberry - the strawberry we know today. Strawberries are members of the rose family, and they are unique in that their seeds are on the outside of the fruit. Just how many seeds are on a single strawberry? The average strawberry has around 200 seeds. To get your strawberry plant to produce more fruit, plant your strawberries in full sun, in well-drained soil, and trim the runners. Of the strawberry, Toni Morrison wrote, I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer – its dust and lowering skies. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter Facebook Group The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend and request to join. Historical Events 1880 Birth of Reginald Farrer ("Fair-rur")(books by this author), the legendary English rock and alpine gardener, plant explorer, nurseryman, writer, and painter. A son of a wealthy family in the Yorkshire Dales, Reginald repeatedly referenced Yorkshire in his writing. Reginald was born with many physical challenges. He had a cleft palate, speech difficulties, and what Reg himself called a "pygmy body." He had many surgeries to correct his mouth, which meant he was homeschooled. But the silver lining of his solitary childhood was his connection to nature. Reginald found happiness among flora and fauna, and he particularly loved the rocks, ravines, and hills around his home. At 14, he created his first rock garden, which eventually became a Craven nursery specializing in Asian mountain plants. Every time Reginald went on expeditions, he sent new alpine plants and seeds to Craven. After college, Reginald became a devout Buddhist, and he liked to say that he found "joy in high places." The European Alps became a yearly touchstone. And although he saw some of the most incredible mountains vistas in the world - they held no sway with Reginald. For Reginald - it was always about the plants. Reginald wrote, It may come as a shock and a heresy to my fellow Ramblers when I make the confession that, to me, the mountains… exist simply as homes and backgrounds to their population of infinitesimal plants. Reginald's book, The Garden of Asia, launched his writing career and showed garden writers a new way to write about plants. The botanist Clarence Elliot observed, As a writer of garden books [Reginald] stood alone. He wrote… from a peculiar angle... giving queer human attributes to his plants, which somehow exactly described them. His passion for rock gardens was perfectly timed. The British gardening public latched on to rock gardening with a frenzy. Rockeries were in every backyard. Reginald's book My Rock Garden (1907)was an instant success and earned him the moniker Prince of Alpine Gardeners. In 1919, at the age of 40, Reginald took a trip to Myanmar. He would never see his beloved Yorkshire again. He met his end alone on a remote Burmese mountain. Most reports say he died of Diptheria, but the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock said he heard Reginald drank himself to death on the night of October 17th, 1920. And I thought of Reginald up on that mountain alone when I researched the etymology of the name of his nursery, Craven, which means defeated, crushed, or overwhelmed. Today Reginald is remembered in the names of many plants like the beautiful blue Gentiana farreri ("jen-tee-AYE-na FAIR-ur-eye"). And the Alpine Garden Society's most highly-prized show medal is the Farrer Medal, which honors the best plant in the show. It was Reginald Farrer who said, I think the true gardener is a lover of his flowers, not a critic of them. I think the true gardener is the reverent servant of Nature, not her truculent, wife-beating master. I think the true gardener, the older he grows, should more and more develop a humble, grateful and uncertain spirit. He also said, All the wars of the world, all the Caesars, have not the staying power of a lily in a cottage garden. 1918 On this day, Dora Hughes wrote an article for the New-York Tribune called, The Carrot Comes into its Own, (carrot cookbooks). She wrote, Time was when the carrot held high estate, for in the days of King Charles I, the ladies of the royal court used its feathery plumes in place of feathers for their adornment. Physicians prized the roots for their diuretic properties, from which came the general impression that eating carrots beautified the complexion and hair. Possibly the reason why carrots are not more often served is that, as a rule, they are prepared always in the same way. But one may serve carrots each day for a week and never have them twice in the same form. It is a pity that so few housekeepers seem to realize this. Then Dora offers up a diverse list of options for serving carrots: CRECY SOUP ("Chrissy") Crecy soup takes its name from the town in France where it was first made. MASHED CARROTS AND CARROT CAKES Carrots are excellent simply mashed and dressed with butter. CARROT CROQUETTES ("krow-kets") Carrot croquettes are made of mashed carrot and cracker crumbs, seasoned and mixed with egg. FRIED AND CANDIED CARROTS Fried carrots are prepared by cutting cooked carrots in long slices, dipping in egg and bread crumbs, and then brown in hot fat. Candied carrots: Butter a baking dish, lay in it slices of cold carrot.. sprinkle sugar ...and cinnamon or mace, add water or milk. FRENCH CARROTS AND PEAS Carrots and peas are a favorite French dish and their method is to cut

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter Facebook Group The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend and request to join. Historical Events 1911 Birth of Marie Clark Taylor, American botanist. In 1941, she became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in botany from Fordham University. She spent her career at Howard University, becoming a beloved professor and mentor. Marie herself taught biology at Cardozo high school in Washington D.C early in her career. At Howard, she was passionate about training future generations of science teachers. And every summer, Marie's summer science institute helped high school teachers become better at teaching biology. Today, an auditorium at Howard University is named in her honor. 1926 Birth of David Austin (books by this author), English a rose breeder and writer. His technique was to breed roses with the best of both the old and new roses: blending the charm and fragrance of heirloom roses and the repeat-blooms and color options of modern roses. To his excellent staff, he was known simply as "Mr. A." David died in December 2018 at the age of 92. Today David Austin Roses is run by his son David and his grandson Richard. His niece is landscape architect, journalist, and radio personality Bunny Guinness. Her mother was David's sister. David once said, The work of the plant breeder should always be to enhance nature, not to detract from it....we should strive to develop the rose's beauty in flower, growth, and leaf. 1971 On this day, the New Jersey State Flower, the Violet, was officially adopted by the legislature after a proposal from Senator Josephine Margetts. Josephine and her husband, Walter, owned a nursery and an apple and peach orchard. She was a crusader for the environment and introduced legislation to protect the land and waterways of New Jersey. She worked to ban the use of DDT. By the time Josephine put forth her legislation for the Violet, New Jersey was the last state without an official state flower. When it came time for Josephine's bill to be debated, Senator Joseph J. Maraziti, R-Morris, read this poem: Roses are red, Violets are blue If you vote for this bill Mrs. Margetts will love you. Josephine's legislation was passed 30-1. The sole dissenting vote was Senator Frank Guarini, D-Hudson. He told the press, I'm a marigold man. As Josephine no doubt knew, Violets are spring flowers. They've been around for a long time - even the ancient Greeks loved violets. In floriography or the language of plants, their heart-shaped leaves are a clue to their meaning: affection, love, faith, and dignity. And the color of violets adds another layer of meaning. Blue violets symbolize love, white violets symbolize purity, and yellow violets convey goodness and high esteem. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Sleepy Cat Farm by Caroline Seebohm This book came out late in 2021, and the subtitle is A Gardener's Journey. The Sleepy Cat Farm Story begins in 1994 on six acres of land purchased by a retired CEO. Over twenty years later, those six acres have become a sprawling baker's dozen. With the help of landscape architect Charles stick, Fred Landman transformed Sleepy Cat into a true garden-lovers experience. (I do believe it is my new favorite garden…) The connective tissue between the garden spaces is the golden path that swoops past signature elements in the garden like a grotto, a celestial pavilion, a garden devoted to Japanese Iris, a spirit bridge, a koi pond, a reflection pool, a maze, serpentine hedges fashioned out of European hornbeam, and an enormous Atlas statue. The garden has become a popular stop for gardeners in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Fred is often found leading tours. If Sleepy Cat sounds like it appeared out of nowhere, well, it kind of did. There's also a bit of a mismatch between the name Sleepy Cat and the place's grandeur. The title references a dozen cats that get to live there. Even Ken Druse, who wrote the forward to this book, was a bit dubious about Sleepy Cat the first time he was invited to visit. As was the photographer for the book Curtis Taylor. As Ken shares in the forward, Curtis has a way of figuring out if a garden is worth his time. He casually asks the garden's owner, "How many daffodils have you planted recently?" When he asked Fred this very question, the answer was, "Only 5000". This book tells the Sleepy Cat story, and the stunning images by Curtice Taylor make that story unforgettable. In fact, if you don't want to visit Sleepy Cat after getting the book, then you are not a gardener. This book is 192 pages of a garden transformation that would make Beatrix Farrand smile. You can get a copy of Sleepy Cat Farm by Caroline Seebohm and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $30. Botanic Spark 2006 On this day, the 2006 memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, by American

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1564 Birth of Galileo (books about this person), Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, mathematician, and philosopher. Galileo believed that the book of nature was "written in the language of mathematics." He recognized the complexity and the simplicity of that language when he wrote, The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do. 1803 Birth of Karl Friedrich Schimper, German botanist and poet. He was born into a family of scientists. His mother was a botanist. At university, he befriended botanists, Alexander Braun and Louis Agassiz. Karl made several keen scientific observations. He proved the association between the golden angle and the Fibonacci numbers. Karl also devised a theory of phyllotaxy which explained the serial addition of new leaves on a stem appearing in a spiral. And after studying mountain landscapes, he began questioning how enormous rocks came to be positioned on the foothills of the Alps. Realizing the many-ton slabs could have only been moved by ice, he began devising a theory of an ice age - something he called an eiszeit. Karl was a poet at heart, and he revealed his theory in a light-hearted 22-stanza poem - an Ode to the Iceage to honor Galileo on their shared birthday. One verse says, Ice of the Past! Of an Age when frost In its stern clasp held the lands of the South Dressed with its mantle of desolate white Mountains and forests, fair valleys and lakes! In his book Humans: from the beginning, Christopher Seddon acknowledged Karl's discovery. He wrote: 2,588 million years ago... the Earth entered an Ice Age. Cooler, arid conditions alternated with warm, wet conditions as ice sheets ebbed and flowed in higher latitudes... This alternation between a cooler and a warmer climate has continued right up to the present day... In fact the warm spells – interglacial periods – are no more than breaks in an on-going ice age... The term Eiszeit ('ice age') was coined in 1837 by the German botanist Karl Friedrich Schimper. 1876 Birth of Ernest Henry Wilson (books by this author), English plant collector and explorer. He introduced over 2000 plant species from Asia to the West. Of the regal lily, he wrote, Tis God's present to our gardens... Anybody might have found it, but — His whisper came to me. On his first trip to China, Ernest located the lost Dove tree, Also known as the Handkerchief Tree. He brought the tree to England in 1899. Ernest found the yellow Chinese poppy, the Regal lily, rhododendrons, roses, and primulas on his second trip. During that second trip, Ernest's leg was crushed in a landslide. His leg was splinted with his camera tripod. But before Ernest could be moved, a mule caravan came upon Ernest and his party. Ernest was forced to lie down on the narrow trail and let some 40-50 mules step over him on their way across the mountain. Ernest himself marveled at this experience, and he later said, The sure-footedness of the mule is well-known, and I realized it with gratitude as these animals one by one passed over me - and not even one frayed my clothing. A year later, Ernest could walk without crutches, but not with a limp - something he called his lily limp. He once reflected, The regal lily was worth it and more. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Sanctified Landscape by David Schuyler This book came out ten years ago in 2012, and the subtitle is Writers, Artists, and the Hudson River Valley, 1820–1909. David's book, the Sanctified Landscape, is about the first iconic American landscape: the Hudson River Valley. The title references a passage written by landscape painter Thomas Cole. In the early 1800s, the picturesque Hudson was home to writers and artists like Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Thomas Cole. As far as the artistic community was concerned, there was no better place on earth. But the landscape was not immune to the changes happening in the country at large. The artist community in the Hudson Valley were among America's earliest conservationists and did their best to protect their slice of Eden. The Catskill and Hudson Valley remain a beloved areas of the country. David's book adds context and images that provide a deeper appreciation for the beauty and inspiration found in this Sanctified Landscape. You can get a copy of Sanctified Landscape by David Schuyler and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $15. Botanic Spark 1843 Birth of Russell Herman Conwell, American Baptist minister, lawyer, and founder of Temple University in Philadelphia. He once wrote, I ask not for a larger garden, but for finer seeds. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1750 Birth of René Louiche Desfontaines, French botanist. After studying in Paris, René botanized in Tunisia and Algeria in North Africa. His Masterwork, Flora Atlantica, included 300 new genera. René conducted a fascinating experiment with the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) by seeing how it would react to a carriage ride through Paris. He discovered that the plant grew accustomed to riding in the carriage after initially closing its leaves and wilting the first few times it took a ride. René is remembered in the name of Desfontainia spinosa or the Chilean holly, native to Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina. The Chilean holly is a beautiful ornamental, hardy to −5 °C (23 °F), but requires winter protection. 1863 Birth of Okakura Kakuzō ("Oh-ka- koo-rah Ka-coo-zoh") (books by this author), Japanese author, scholar, and supporter of the arts. In The Book of Tea, he wrote, In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends. 1869 Birth of Samuel Graveson, a Quaker printer, publisher, philatelist, and author who lived in Hertford, England. In his book, My Villa Garden (1915), he wrote, What another book of gardening! Are not our bookshelves already overburdened with literature on the subject? 1898 On this day, a court case involving the sale of an orchid and breach of warranty was settled in favor of the plaintiff. In Ashworth vs. Wells, the plaintiff bought a white orchid with a warranty. It was a one-of-a-kind Cattleya Acklandiae alba ("kat-lee-ya ack-land-ee-aye AL-bah"), a white orchid - only to discover two years later when it bloomed that it was just a common purple orchid. The plaintiff was awarded fifty pounds - the price paid for the imposter white orchid. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Rosie Sanders' Flowers by Rosie Sanders This book came out late in 2017, and the subtitle is A Celebration of Botanical Art. Rosie's work is featured in this book of botanical paintings that will take your breath away with their richness, drama, and sensuality. This book beautifully showcases eighty of Rosie's paintings which celebrate some of our favorite flowers: tulips, orchids, roses, irises, anemones, and amaryllis, just to name a few. If you didn't get flowers for Valentine's Day, consider grabbing a copy of Rosie's book! Rosie also has a book that focuses specifically on Roses. You can get a copy of Rosie Sanders' Flowers by Rosie Sanders and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $22. Today's Botanic Spark 2010 On this day, Georgia botanist Mincy Moffett Jr. staged a unique Valentine's Day for a rare dwarf sumac species known as Michaux's Sumac native to Georgia's Lower Broad River Wildlife Management Area. Mincy's plan was an ingenious one. He not only increased public awareness around the endangered plant, but he also helped save a species that desperately needed human-engineered botanical intervention for survival. In 2010, Michaux's Sumac was found in two small areas of Georgia - one population was made up of just five male plants, while the other community was all female. Additionally, the male and female Michaux Sumac plants were separated by seventy miles of dense forest. By not growing near each other, the plants could not reproduce with insect pollination and were forced to reproduce asexually, which resulted in reduced genetic diversity. Thanks to Mincy's romantic intervention, female plants were planted near the male plants. Mincy told a local reporter, Let's hope it turns into a torrid romance. Now, a decade later, it appears that Mincy's matchmaking was a success as the combined Michaux's Sumac community continues to thrive. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.