The Daily Gardener (Jennifer Ebeling)

 
Are you growing Cleome?

My daughter just had her senior pictures taken and I took some cuttings from the garden for her to hold during her photo shoot. For one of the pictures, I had her hold just one large white blossom in her hands. It looked like a giant puffball and it had a very etherial quality about it

Cleome is beautiful - but it is also sticky - so keep that in mind if you handle it.

I know some gardeners have no trouble sowing cleome directly into their gardens, but some gardeners complain that it can be an inconsistent germinater.

I like to sow cleome right now since the seeds like strong light to get going. Sometimes cleome can benefit from staking - so keep that in mind as well.

And, if you are planning a cutting garden, it is hard to beat cleome. The blooms are a show-stealer in any arrangement.
 
 


Brevities

#OTD The Botanic garden at Oxford, also known as the Physic Garden, was founded on this day in 1632.

The garden is the oldest in England. When the garden was founded,the ground where the garden stands had been raised to protect it from floods.

During the founding ceremony, dignitaries of the University walked in a procession from St. Mary's church to the garden. Mr. Edward Dawson, a physician, and Dr. Clayton, the Regius Professor of Medicine, each gave a speech and a stone was placed in the garden gateway by the Vice-Chancellor himself.
 

 
#OTD  Today is the birthday of William Forsyth who was born on this day in 1804.

Forsyth was a Scottish botanist. He trained as a gardener at the Physic Garden and was an apprentice to Philip Miller, the chief gardener. In 1771, Forsyth himself took over the chief gardening position.

Three years later, he built one of the very first rock gardens with over 40 tons of stone collected from the land around the Tower of London and even some pieces of lava imported from Iceland. The effort was noted for posterity, the garden was a bust.

Forsyth was also the founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society. The genus, Forsythia, is named in his honor.
 


#OTD  The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge died on this day in 1834.

Along with his friend, William Wordsworth, he helped found the Romantic Movement in England and was a member of a group called the Lake Poets. 

In his poem called Youth and Age, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote,

"Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like; 
Friendship is a sheltering tree;"
 
 


#OTD  On this day in 1938, Canadian Naturalist Charles Joseph Sauriol (“Sar-ee-all”) wrote about sharing his garden with a toad.

He wrote,

"One particular toad has taken quite a fancy to the Wild Flower garden. His den is alongside the Hepatica plant. There he sits half buried, and blinks up at me while I shower water on him." 
 
 

Unearthed Words


Here are a few English proverbs about July:
 
"If the first of July be rainy weather,
It will rain, more of less, for four weeks together."
 
 
"The glowing Ruby should adorn
Those who in warm July are born,
Then will they be exempt and free
From love's doubt and anxiety."
 
 

Today's book recommendation: The Fragrant Path by Louise Beebe Wilder
 
This is a wonderful guide to the cultivation of scented flowers. The newly revised edition includes modern varieties as well.
The late Louise Beebe Wilder is that rare figure, a garden writer from another era (she was born in 1878). Her books continue to be published because they are so charming and contain a wealth of horticultural knowledge.
 

 

Today's Garden Chore

Go to a local farmers market - not for the produce - for the knowledge. 
 
The growers at the farmer's market have an expertise about growing that is often an untapped resource. Plus, the growers are so generous with Information.

It's always a pleasure to talk to someone who has first-hand knowledge about growing plants.
 

 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
Today in 1874, the The Opelousas Courier shared a wonderful story called "A Case of Floral Offerings."
 
The story was from Berlin, it told of an actress who was playing the role of a female Hamlet.

She wanted to have bouquets and wreaths thrown to her at the end of her performance.

When a man told her that the flowers would cost $20, the actress said that it was too much for one night.

But, the gentleman had an idea. He said, twenty dollars would be sufficient for two nights. 

And he explained how it would work. He said,

"Today, I and my men, will throw the bouquets to you from the first tier. After the performance is over, I shall take the flowers home with me in a basket [and] put them in water... Tomorrow night [we will toss them at your feet again]. No one in the audience will know that the bouquets have been used before."

The actress liked to the man's ingenious plan and paid the sum he had demanded.
 
 

Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Does your garden have a signature plant?
 
If you can't decide, maybe it's time to let your garden do the talking. 
 
Complete the following sentence: My garden has the perfect spot to grow....(fill in the blank). 
 
For instance, you may have the perfect spot to grow anemone.
 
I remember going to my friend Carmen’s house in the spring. I came around the corner and stopped in my tracks when I saw her happy anemones - so cheerful, so vibrant,... and so demanding.
 
Not everyone can grow anemones, but Carmen‘s garden had the perfect spot for them.
And even though anemones are pretty ephemeral, I always think of them as her signature plant. 
 
Brevities
#OTD Today is National Garlic Day - it is observed every year on April 19.  Garlic, or stinking rose, is a member of the lily family. Onions, leeks, and shallots are also in the family.  This time of year, wild garlic or ransoms, are returning to the woodlands, hedgerows, and riverbanks. Wild garlic is also called bear's garlic. Folklore says that bears are eating it after hibernation. If cows graze on wild garlic, it will taint the milk with garlic flavor. Garlic is a favorite foraged seasonal ingredient of top chefs.
 
And it's not just a foundational ingredient for cooking - garlic is also used for medicinal purposes.
Garlic has antibiotic properties, and it also helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. Herbalists recommend garlic as a remedy for colds.
 
Gilroy, California is known as the Garlic Capital of the World.
 
Will Rogers said this about Gilroy:
“…the only place in America where you can marinate a steak just by hanging it out on a clothesline.”
Atlas Obscura wrote an article last year about Gilroy. They featured Gilroy's unique recipes for garlic ice cream saying, 
"The dessert divides ice-cream lovers."  
An online reviewer mediated the matter with this comment,
"Actually the garlic ice cream is pretty good. But a little does go a long way."
The Gilroy Garlic Festival is held every year in July.
 
#OTD It's the birthday of E. Lucy Braun was born on April 19, 1889 in Cincinnati. The E stood for Emma, but she went by Lucy. In 1950, Braun was the first woman elected president of the Ecological Society of America. A quiet, bright, and dedicated field scientist, she worked as a botanist at the University of Cincinnati.  
 
Braun became interested in the outdoors as a child.  Growing up on May Street in Cincinnati, her parents would take Lucy and her older sister, Annette, by horse-drawn streetcar to the woods in Rose Hill so they could spend time in the woods. The girls were taught to identify wildflowers. In turn, the girls helped gather specimens for their mother's herbarium. The girls both got PhD's - Lucy in botany, Annette in Zoology - and they never married. However, they lived together their entire lives, leaving their childhood May street for a home in Mount Washington. The sisters turned the upstairs into a laboratory and the gardens around the house into an outside laboratory. At the age of 80, Braun was still leading people on field trips in Ohio.
 
Friends of Braun have recounted,
"To be with her in the field was something. She made everything so real, so exciting she was just so knowledgeable."
 
"She loved to be out in the field rain wouldn't stop her. She could walk forever."
Lucy Braun said,
"Only through close and reverent examination of nature can humans understand and protect its beauties and wonders."
By the time she died, Emma had collected some 11,891 specimens for her own personal herbarium. This was the result of tremendous personal dedication; Braun drove over 65,000 miles during a 25 year quest throughout the eastern United States. Her heart belonged to the forests and her book, Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America, is still regarded as a definitive text. When asked about her time in the field, Braun would happily recount how she had managed to dodge moonshiners' stills in the hills of Kentucky; gathering up plant samples unseen by the botanists of her time.
 
When she died of heart failure in March, 1971, at the age of 81, she was one of the top three ecologists In the United States. Her herbarium was acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum in Washington D.C. 
OTD In 1792, Naturalist Gilbert White wrote in his journal in Selborne, England:
Redstart appears. Daffodils are gone: mountain-snow-drops, & hyacinths in bloom; the latter very fine: fritillaries going. Vast flood at Whitney in Oxfordshire, on the Windrush.
 
Then, four years later in 1796: Sowed holly-hocks, columbines, & sweet Williams
Unearthed Words
#OTD It's Primrose Day. 
Primrose Day commemorates the death dateof Queen Victoria’s favorite Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.  His favorite flower was the Primrose. The name comes from the Latin primus meaning first rose.
 
In 1889, London newspapers reported that,
"They received, no fewer than 811 sets of verses from 'poets' who have attempted to carry off the small prize awarded for a Primrose poem. In 1884, when the competition started, only 77 poems were sent in. In 1886 the number rose to 557. Next year there will probably be 1,000 competitors."
On April 30, 1947, a little primrose verse was printed in the Chicago Tribune,
A primrose by a river's brim
Is not a rose nor Is it prim. 
American writer, Nancy Cardozo wrote a poem called Primroses and Prayers.  Here it is:
This is a primrose morning,
 
The wind has put up her hair;
 
The bells, hung in my cherry tree,
 
are still – No birds feast there.
 
 
I walked up the noon hill,
 
Saddest of prim things.
 
I met a fair child selling 
 
bunches of butterfly wings.
 
I gave him a painted ball
 
For a mist bouquet,
 
Now flitter ghosts put wings on
 
all I do or say. 
 
Today's book recommendation 
The Hidden HorticulturalistsHardcover – April 4, 2019
by Fiona Davison
Davison worked at Royal Horticultural Society's library, and she unearthed a collection of handwritten letters that dated back to 1822. The letters had been written by young gardeners including one from a young Joseph Paxton, who would go on to become one of our best-known gardeners and architects. Using their letters, Fiona Davison traces the stories of a handful of these forgotten gardeners whose lives would take divergent paths to create a unique history of gardening.
The trail took her from Chiswick to Bolivia and uncovered tales of fraud, scandal and madness - and, of course, a large number of fabulous plants and gardens. This is a celebration of the unsung heroes of horticulture whose achievements reflect a golden moment in British gardening, and continue to influence how we garden today.
Today's Garden Chore
It's another Photo Friday in the Garden.
Today take pictures of all the stuff in your garden.  Skip the plants, focus on the statuary. The fountains. The signage. When you review your photos, look at them with discernment. Evaluate each piece. Over time, our gardens can become repositories.  Just because something says Garden - doesn't mean it has to go in YOUR garden.
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was also dubbed the Earl of Beaconsfield. After he died, there was a little story that made the rounds in the papers called The Beaconsfield and the Primrose.  I'll paraphrase it here:
Disraeli's fondness for the primrose originated from the time when he was living in Highbury, London.
Here, he was much attached to a young lady.
A ball was held and the young lady in question wore a wreath of primroses.
A bet was made between Mr. Disraeli and another gentleman as to whether the primroses were real or not.
The bet was for a pair of gloves.  Turns out, the primroses were REAL primroses.
Disraeli got the gloves; and the lady? She gave a few primroses to the future prime minister, who put them in his buttonhole.
Thereafter, he had a fondness for the primrose.

Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,

and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Did you know Tarragon is an artemisia?

Like all plants in the Artemisia genus, Tarragon is gray and silvery. Artemisia's were sacred to Artemis and there are over 180 species - all of them ornamental, most are medicinal, and of course, a small few are culinary.

Tarragon is quite agraceful plant when it is fully grown. Never demanding, Tarragon can stand some shade and a heavier soil.

French tarragon has a subtler aroma and flavor compared to Russian tarragon.Tarragon has its own peculiar sweet taste recalling anise. 

Tarragon is an integral part of dijon mustard.

Tender, fresh stems of Russian tarragon can be cooked and consumed as asparagus.

The tea stimulates the appetite, especially when it has been lost because of illness.

Drinking the tea before bedtime is helpful because Tarragon compounds are mildly anesthetic and sedative.  The tea can also help with hyperactivity.

And, here's something valuable to remember about tarragon: the flowers generally do not produce viable seed. So, tarragon propagates via root cuttings, rhizome sprouts and stem division.

As an example, the French tarragon commercial growers dig it upin the fall after all the foliage has been harvested. Then they cut the roots into short pieces.
 
 
Brevities
 
#OTD It's the birthday of Camille Corot born in 1796 in Paris.

Corot was a French painter, famous for his landscapes and he inspired the landscape painting of the Impressionists.

Corot's quotes about painting are inspiring to gardeners. Here's a little sample of his inspiring perspective on the natural world:

"Beauty in art is truth bathed in an impression received from nature. I am struck upon seeing a certain place. While I strive for conscientious imitation, I yet never for an instant lose the emotion that has taken hold of me."

Here are some of Corot's words about the end of the day:

"...everything is vague, confused, and Nature grows drowsy. The fresh evening air sighs among the leaves - the birds, these voices of the flowers are saying their evening prayer."
 
Imagine sitting beside Corot as he wrote,

"I hope with all my heart there will be painting in heaven."

Gardeners would reply, "I hope there is a garden."
 
 

#OTD   Today in 1907, Orville Redenbacher, was born.

Redenbacher was a U.S. agricultural scientist and the co-creator of a new hybrid of popcorn called "snowflake." It was lighter and fluffier than traditional popped kernels and Redenbacher became a household name with his commercials for his popcorn.

To this day, Orville Redenbacher is the number one selling popcorn in the world. Nebraska produces more popcorn than any other state in the country.
 


Unearthed Words

Rachel Peden was a popular environmentalist, newspaper columnist, and author. 

Peden had a profound appreciation for the minutia in the natural world and she was very funny.

She wrote, 

"The serene philosophy of the pink rose is steadying.  Its fragrant, delicate petals open fully and are ready to fall, without regret or disillusion, after only a day in the sun.  It is so every summer.  One can almost hear their pink, fragrant murmur as they settle down upon the grass: 'Summer, summer, it will always be summer.'"
 
 
 


Today's book recommendation: Good Planting by Rosemary Verey

Verey is regarded as the "Queen of the Traditional English Country Garden."

Verey was known for creating gardens with a amix traditional elements and beautiful plantings. The gardens she created are timeless.

Verey's practical reference book covers planting throughout the seasons.  This book is a classic for your garden library.  The best part about this book is that it offers advice for successful planting and utilizing difficult areas of the garden. 
 


 
Today's Garden Chore

Get serious about planting blueberries. 

Blueberries provide more than just fruit; they can be an effective screen, they can add greenery to the walls of your house. They provide massive interest during three seasons in the garden:  In spring, the beautiful white flowers to kick off the growing season, there's blue berries during the summer (of course), and they offer gorgeous fall coloring. Don't forget that blueberries need full sun. They require acidic soil. Blueberry plants grow slowly and reach full size in 8 to 10 years.
 


 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
Today in 1987, The Indianapolis Star announced that the biography of Charles Clemon Deam, the legendary turn-of-the-century Indiana botanist and author had been published.

The book was written by Robert C. Kriebel, editor of the Lafayette Journal and Courier.

Charlie Deam was a self-taught botanist and served as state forester for Indiana. 

In his home herbarium, Deam kept a loaded pistol in his desk drawer 

One time, Deam and a guest were discussing something about taxonomy. Suddenly, Deam quickly opened the drawer, pulled out the gun, and fired two or three shots through the open window making some disparaging comments about the "canine ancestry of a rabbit" which had been terrorizing his garden.


 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate one of the world’s best composers and his intense appreciation of nature.
We'll also learn about the botanist who cracked the code on pollinating vanilla and came up with a new word for the cyclical nature of things.
We’ll recognize the incredible written work of a daughter of Indiana - and yes, she is famous.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with something light and enjoyable - a New York Times Best Selling Fiction Novel from 2012.
And then we’ll wrap things up with a little mistletoe history that is sure to leave an impression - it’s not about kissing - but it will definitely give you something to talk about around the dinner table over Christmas break.
 
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Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Curated News
5 Low-Maintenance Annuals For Your Garden | Gardening Etc | Sophie Warren-Smith
 
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Important Events
December 17, 1770
Today is the baptism day of the German composer and pianist Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Beethoven grew up loving nature. Living along the Rhine, little Ludwig would take walks with his father.
Beethoven turned to nature for inspiration when he wrote his sixth symphony - which is why the subtitle for the sixth symphony is called “Pastoral.” After coming up with the idea that each movement would reflect a complete day in the country - from sunrise to sunset - Beethoven used music to imitate nature. In his music notes, Beethoven even added little headlines like “storm” or “scene at a brook” to make certain that the musicians understood the link between the notes they were playing and nature.
Once, while walking with a friend, Beethoven pointed at the water and said,
“Here I composed the ‘Scene by the Brook,’ and the yellowhammers up there - the quails, nightingales and cuckoos ‘round about - composed with me.”

And Beethoven wanted listeners of his music to recognize the powerful link between nature and our feelings. As Beethoven sought out nature to inspire his 6th Symphony, at one point, he simply wrote: “effect on the soul” in his notes.
And it was the manor house of Dolna Krupa where Beethoven is presumed to have written his Moonlight Sonata. A hundred years later, the Countess Maria-Henrieta Chotek, known as "The Countess of Roses," established Dolna Krupa as one of the world's top three rose gardens.
And here’s a fun side note: Beethoven's last name is a combination of “beet,” which translates to beet (as in the vegetable), and “hoven,” which means farm. So the blended meaning of his last name is beet farm.
 
December 17, 1858  
Today is the anniversary of the death of the Belgian botanist and horticulturist, and Director of the Jardin botanique de l’Université de Liège ("lee-EZH”) Charles François Antoine Morren.
Charles made some very significant contributions to botany.
First, Charles discovered how vanilla was pollinated. Before Charles Morren, the pollination of vanilla was a mystery. Although Hernán Cortés brought vanilla to Europe for 300 years, no one knew how to pollinate the flower. Charles discovered that a Native bee of Mexico - the Melipone (“meh-lip-in-ah”) bee, a social and stingless bee, was the only pollinator for vanilla. Like Monarchs and Milkweed (Asclepias), the Melipone bee and vanilla co-evolved. At the same time, Charles discovered the bee, the Museum of Paris came up with a way to pollinate Vanilla by hand using a blade of grass or a pointed stick (like a toothpick). Today almost all vanilla is pollinated by hand using this method.
In addition to discovering how vanilla was pollinated, Charles Morren coined the term phenology. Derived from a Greek word that means "to show or make to appear," Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially concerning climate and plant and animal life. Gardeners who keep phenological journals record the first and last days of events in the garden (i.e., the first snow, the first robin, the first frog, etc.) In 1849, Morren used the term during a lecture at the Academy of Brussels. Four years later, Belgium had an unseasonably warm winter, which prompted Morren to write a paper called Phenological Memories of the Winter 1852-1853. In the paper, Morren describes how plants responded to the unusual weather that winter.
Finally, Charles and his son wrote 35 volumes of an exceptionally beautiful journal that shared the beauty of horticulture in Belgium. All the 35 volumes of "The Belgique Horticole" are available digitally for free at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
 
December 17, 1901
Today is the birthday of the Indiana environmentalist, newspaper columnist, and author Rachel Peden.
Rachel was the wife of an Owen county cattle farmer named Dick. Her father, Benjamin Franklin Mason, was a fruit farmer, growing peaches, apples, and strawberries. Ben developed a reputation as a breeder when he created a peach called Shipper’s Late Red. Rachel referred to her dad as “the orchardist” in her writing.
A self-described Hoosier farmwife, Rachel’s byline was "Mrs. RFD” (for “Rural Free Delivery”), and her longtime columns in The Indianapolis Star and The Muncie Evening News charmed her readers with stories about nature and farm life.
And yes, Rachel loved to garden. Rachel wrote:
“[I love] the therapy of working in [the garden], and the acquaintance of my neighbors from the natural world that I meet there.”

When I was researching Rachel, I stopped to read her memorial on Find a Grave. I’m not sure who wrote it, but I loved their appeal to the folks at Find A Grave. They wrote:
“Find A Grave has determined that Rachel does not meet their criteria for being "famous", but they are wrong.”

The author of three books published by Knopf publishing, Rachel wrote: “Rural Free: A Farmwife’s Almanac of Country Living” in 1961, “The Land, the People” in 1966 (which earned her the Indiana University Authors Award), and “Speak to the Earth” in 1974.
Keep Rachel’s love and awe for the natural world in mind as you listen to this excerpt from “The Land The People”:
"Snow was falling softly
as if from a coarse sifter being turned
from very high above the earth.
It had been going on a long time;
leafless trees were whitened,
weeds and tangled raspberry canes in the garden
had become a great heap of foamy white lace.
A sparrow created a miniature snowstorm
when he alighted on a delicate peach twig.
The twig quivered under his weight,
the sparrow rose,
snowflakes sparkled and fell on the snow-toppled woodpile
under the peach tree."

And Rachel wrote one of my favorite quotes about summer and roses,
"The serene philosophy of the pink rose is steadying.
Its fragrant, delicate petals open fully and are ready to fall,
without regret or disillusion,
after only a day in the sun.
It is so every summer.
One can almost hear their pink, fragrant murmur
as they settle down upon the grass:
'Summer, summer, it will always be summer.”

 
Unearthed Words
The garden is completely winterized except for the roses, which need more hay, and the four small box yet to be covered with burlap. We have a sentimental feeling for these box. Once many years ago, on a holiday with the children, we were driving to North Carolina. We stopped at Mount Vernon and bought four seedlings, cuttings of George Washington's original box hedge. They were $0.25 each, and now they are nearly two feet tall. Every fall, Bob builds a little covered patio of burlap around each one.
— Jean Hersey, American writer and author, The Shape of a Year, December
 
Grow That Garden Library
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh 
This book came out in 2012, and this is a fictional novel.  
And Vanessa's book was a New York Times Best Seller, and it features the Victorian language of flowers.
This is one of the books I always keep on the nightstand in our guest bedroom.
The Amazon description of this book says:
“The Victorian Language of Flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.”

This book is 334 pages of garden-inspired fiction featuring newfound love as well as heartache.
You can get a copy of The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $1
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
December 17, 1948  
On this day, The Kansas City Times shared a story about Mistletoe.
Mistletoe is the common name of hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. Mistletoe attaches to a host tree or shrub with a structure called the haustorium. Then, the Mistletoe extracts water and nutrients from the host plant. And, apparently, in 1948, young boys used to shoot it down from trees...
“The Druids of early English history made a great ceremony of cutting the mistletoe. After a sacrifice, the Arch Druid cut the [Mistletoe] out of an oak tree with a golden knife, taking care that it did not touch the ground, and carried it away in a white cloth.
The South Missouri youth uses a squirrel rifle instead of a golden knife and would as soon shoot [Mistletoe] garland out of a pecan tree as an oak. If he Is lucky enough to catch it before it hits the ground, his object is to keep the berries from shattering. [Why?]
[Because] the spray with the most berries... will bring the greatest returns, either commercially at the florists or personally elsewhere.
[There is] historical precedence for his method of gathering mistletoe.
In Switzerland, it has been the custom to shoot [Mistletoe] down with bow and arrow catching it with the left hand as it falls.
In Sweden, it must be shot out of a red oak.
A similar custom prevailed in Wales until the early part of the nineteenth century.”

 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Garden journal - two columns
Failures and Successes
 
we learn equally from both
 
 
Brevities
#OTD NATIONAL CORN ON THE COB DAY – June 11

• Corn is called maize by most countries, this comes from the Spanish word ‘maiz’.
• Corn is a cereal crop that is part of the grass family.
• An ear or cob of corn is actually part of the flower and an individual kernel is a seed.
• On average an ear of corn has 800 kernels in 16 rows.
• Corn will always have an even number of rows on each cob.
• A bushel is a unit of measure for volumes of dry commodities such as shelled corn kernels. 1 Bushel of corn is equal to 8 gallons.
• With the exception of Antarctica, corn is produced on every continent in the world.
• There are over 3,500 different uses for corn products.
• As well as being eaten by the cob, corn is also processed and used as a major component in many food items like cereals, peanut butter, potato chips, soups, marshmallows, ice cream, baby food, cooking oil, margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and chewing gum.
• Juices and soft drinks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi contain corn sweeteners. A bushel of corn can sweeten 400 cans of soft drink.
• Corn and its by products are also found in many non-food items such as fireworks, rust preventatives, glue, paint, dyes, laundry detergent, soap, aspirin, antibiotics, paint, shoe polish, ink, cosmetics, the manufacturing of photographic film, and in the production of plastics.
• Corn is also used as feeding fodder for livestock and poultry and found in domestic pet food.
• As of 2012, the United States produces 40% of the worlds total harvest making it the biggest maize producer in the world (273,832,130 tonnes produced in 2012).
• An area termed the "Corn Belt" in the US where growing conditions are ideal includes the states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky.
• In the days of the early settlers to North America corn was so valuable that it was used as money and traded for other products such as meat and furs.
• Corn is now a completely domesticated plant so you're unlikely to find it growing in the wild.
• Corn can be produced in various colors including blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and the most common yellow.

 
 
 
 
#OTD John Constable, RA(/ˈkʌnstəbəl, ˈkɒn-/;[1]11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the naturalistic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintingsof Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country" – which he invested with an intensity of affection. "I should paint my own places best", he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, "painting is but another word for feeling".[2
I see the elder is coming into flower. Reminds me of
John Constable's oil sketch at Hampstead.
c.1821-2 
Private  collection. 
 
 
Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree
 
- by John Constable (RA), c1821
 
 
 
Golding Constable's Kitchen Garden, 1815 
 
Golding Constable's Flower Garden, 1815 
 
He considered spring and midsummer as the stirring times for the landscape painter, and not autumn. In his opinion an old tree, half decayed and almost leafless, presented no fitter subject to the painter than an emaciated old man.. .Constable was the first, I believe, in this country who ceased to paint grass yellow ocher, although it appears to me that we are now [1850-60's] in the other extreme. For by the non-employment of yellow, green pictures show a want of sunlight, and allowance is not made for the yellow of the frame, especially at the edge of the picture; still Constable is entitled to great praise for having brought the art back to a truer standard. Green is the colour for trees, and the midsummer shoot gives the green in its greatest variety.

• pp. 80-81

Nature is the fountain's head, the source from whence all originality must spring.
Landscape is my mistress - 'tis to her I look for fame. I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.
 
When I sit down to make a sketch from nature, the first thing I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen a picture.

• As quoted in Richard Friedenthal, Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock (Thames and Hudson, London, 1963), p. 40

But the sound of water escaping from mill-dams, &c., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things. Shakespeare could make everything poetical; he tells us of poor Tom's haunts among "sheep cotes and mills." As long as I do paint, I shall never cease to paint such places. They have always been my delight.

• Quote from John Constable's letter to Rev. John Fisher (23 October 1821), from John Constable's Correspondence, part 6, pp. 76-78

The world is wide; no two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world.

• Quoted in C.R. Leslie, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Composed Chiefly of His Letters(1843) (Phaidon, London, 1951) p. 273

England, with her climate of more than vernal freshness, and in whose summer skies, and rich autumnal clouds, the observer of Nature may daily watch her endless varieties of effect.. ..to one brief moment caught [by the artist] from fleeting time..

• Quote from Constable's Introduction of the 1833 edition of English landscape scenery, as cited in Constable's English Landscape Scenery, Andrew Wilton, British Museum Prints and Drawings Series, 1979; as quoted in: 'A brief history of weather in European landscape art', John E. Thornes, in Weather Volume 55, Issue 10 Oct. 2000, p. 368

A self-taught painter is one taught by a very ignorant person.

• Quoted in The Quarterly Review vol. 119 (1866), p. 292.

 
#OTD  Julia Margaret Cameron, the mother of photography, was born on this day in Calcutta in 1815. 
 
In 1863, Cameron was given a camera by her daughter and son-in-law and made her first photograph at the age of 49.
 
Her niece, Virginia Woolf wrote, that the camera was,
 
“at last, an outlet for the energies that she had dissipated in poetry and fiction, in doing up houses, in concocting curries, and entertaining her friends."
 
At the time, Cameron had moved to the Isle of Wight; an island off the southern coast of England.
 
On the Isle of Wight, Julia Margaret Cameron converted henhouse in her garden into her darkroom and another building into her studio.
 
One of her most famous photos is called The Rosebud Garden of Girls, a title taken from Tennyson’s Come Into the Garden, Maude. 
The photo wastaken in June, 1868. It shows four beautiful young Victorian women wearing the white robes you'd find on a Greek goddess. The setting is a lush garden. Their hair flows freely down past their shoulders, they each hold  blossom, as they each cast their gaze far off in slightly different directions. It’s a very dreamy, almost trance-like, innocent image; The Rosebud Garden of Girls.
 
 
 
 
Unearthed Words
"So sweet, so sweet the roses in their blowing,
So sweet the daffodils, so fair to see;
So blithe and gay the humming-bird a going
From flower to flower, a-hunting with the bee."
-  Nora Perry, In June
 
"It is dry, hazy June weather.  We are more of the earth, farther from heaven these days."
-  Henry David Thoreau
 
"In a bowl to sea went wise men three, 
On a brilliant night of June: 
They carried a net, and their hearts were set 
On fishing up the moon." 
-  Thomas Love Peacock
 
 

The AHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants by Christopher Brickell


As chamomile is one of my favorite aromatic plants to have in my garden every year i save all the flowers from the last flowering plant to store and replant next growing season.Saving my herb seeds is one of the most rewarding gardening tasks
Chamomile grows in the form of small shrub that usually reaches 8 to 12 inches in height. German chamomile grows to the height of 3 feet.
Chamomile has green, feathery leaves that are alternately arranged on the stem.
Flower consists of large number of individual flowers called florets. Outer part of the flower consists of 18 white ray florets. Yellow disk, located in the center of the flower, consists of miniature florets that have tubular shape.
Chamomile blooms from June to July. Flies are main pollinator of chamomile flowers.
Name “chamomile” originates from Greek words “chamos”, which means “ground” and “milos” which means “apple”. Chamomile is named that way because it grows close to the ground and smells like apple.
Chamomile was used for the process of mummification in the ancient Egypt.
Chemical compounds and oils that are used in medical and cosmetic industry are extracted from the flower.
Even though beneficial effects of chamomile are not scientifically proven, chamomile is used in treatment of more than 100 different disorders.
Chamomile can be used in the form of tea, tincture, lotion, capsules or various drops.
Chamomile possesses anti-inflammatory properties, can be used for disinfection and to relieve the pain. It is mainly used for the treatment of urinary and ocular infections, skin rash, toothache, respiratory pain, premenstrual pain, migraine, insomnia, anxiety…
Chamomile can induce side effects when it is consumed in combination with other medications. Also, chamomile may induce premature birth because it stimulates contraction of the uterus.
People that are allergic to ragweed will probably exhibit allergy to the chamomile. Allergy can be triggered after application of cream containing chamomile or after consumption of tea.
Homemade chamomile tea can be used for lighting of the blond hair.
Besides its decorative morphology, chamomile can be very useful in the garden. It facilitates growth of the surrounding plants and even heals nearby sick plants.
Lifespan of chamomile depends on the species. Roman chamomile is annual plant which lives only one year. German chamomile is perennial plant that lives more than two years.
 Chamomile is a flower in the aster and daisy family. It is the national flower of Russia.
 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
On this day in 1982, a little movie about a botanist was released.
 
It was about a group of alien botanists secretly visit Earth under cover of night to gather plant specimens in a California forest. When government agents appear on the scene, the aliens flee in their spaceship, but in their haste, one of them is left behind. In a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, a ten-year-old boy named Elliott discovers something is hiding in their tool shed.
 
Elliott leaves Reese's Pieces candy to lure the alien to his house. Later, Elliott's siblings - Michael and five-year-old sister, Gertie - meet it. They decide to keep ET hidden from their mom. ET demonstrates its powers by reviving dead chrysanthemums.
 
In the end, E.T. says goodbye to Michael and Gertie, as she presents him with the chrysanthemum that he had revived. Before boarding the spaceship, he embraces Elliott and tells him "I'll be right here", pointing his glowing finger to Elliott's forehead. He then picks up the chrysanthemum, boards the spaceship, and it takes off, leaving a rainbow in the sky as everyone watches it leave.
 
 
 

What's the secret to beautiful begonias?

I asked this to a friend recently who has the most gorgeous begonias every single year. Her answer: fish emulsion.

This means you should feed your begonias with fertilizer. Since we love that begonias flower and they do flower their hearts out, that makes begonias are heavy feeders.  Since fish emulsion (5-1-1) is a low-intensity total fertilizer it's perfect for promoting large, healthy, beautiful begonias. Just feed every 3-4 weeks and follow the label directions.

And remember, most begonias do best with plenty of filtered light but little or no direct hot sun. So don't fry them.

At the same time, water and begonias don't play nice together in the sense that begonias can rot pretty quickly. They need a soil that's going to drain quick. They need to be in pots - like terra cotta- that breathe.

Add perlite or leaf mold to your soil mix to make a very coarse, quick-draining potting mix to add more air pockets to the soil.  Then, don't forget that those air pockets mean you need to water more frequently - especially during warm weather. One thing you can also do is mist begonias. They like humidity - but too much of that can invite fungus or powdery mildew, so keep an eye on them.
 
 


Brevities

#OTD  Today is the birthday of Caspar Wistar the Younger who was born on this day in 1761.

His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in his honor (some people say Wistaria to reflect the proper spelling of Wistar's last name. Either is fine because guess what - the misspelling is preserved for all time under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature). It's like one of my kid's birth certificate - it can be amended but the original is wrong and will be until the end of time.
Wistar had some pretty impressive friends: his best friend was probably Thomas Jefferson and his most famous botany friend was probably Alexander von Humboldt.

Wistar died of a heart ailment unexpectedly on January 18, 1818.  His final utterance was: "I wish well to all mankind."

During his life, every Sunday Night, Wistar would hold a salon - an open house - at his home on the corner of Fourth and Locust Street. His friends would stop by - along with any members of academia, or the elite or high society, along with other accomplished people who happened to be in Philadelphia that evening. They all knew that Wistar's house was the place to go to meet up with the best minds of the day.

When Wistar died, his friends continued holding Wistar parties for a core group of 50 members. They would each take turns hosting and the kept the tradition going for another forty years.
 
 


#OTD   Today is the birthday of the British author, Roald Dahl who was born on this day in 1916.
Today, his birthday, is celebrated all over the world as Roald Dahl Day.

Dahl was an avid gardener. In fact, his garden shed doubled as his writing nook where he wrote many books, including Charlie and the Chocolate factory. As romantic a notion as this sounds to a gardener's ears, it was also a pragmatic decision on the part of Dahl's wife. Dahl chain-smoked as he wrote and the garden shed kept the smoke out of the house. For Dahl's part, he loved the idea of using the garden shed as a place to write, especially after seeing the little writing hut used by the author Dylan Thomas.

Gardeners with a passion for roses will no doubt praise the Roald Dahl Rose which honored Dahl's love of gardening. It's an absolutely stunning English shrub rose bred by David Austin. It's got a very blousy habit and scrumptious peach blooms that just go non-stop. They have a lovely fragrance as well - and not many thorns, so that's a bonus.

Dahl's diaries have marvelous entries about his garden, and he was often inspired by his garden which you can ascertain when you read in his work. H ere are some examples:

 
From Matilda:
"I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery."
 
From My Year:
"There is just one small bright spark shining through the gloom in my January garden. The first snowdrops are in flower."
 
From James and the Giant Peach:
"And now suddenly, the whole place, the whole garden seemed to be alive with magic...”

From The BFG:
“But Mr Tibbs didn’t hesitate for long. ‘Tell the head gardener,’ he whispered, ‘that I require immediately a brand new unused garden fork and also a spade. And for a knife we shall use the great sword hanging on the wall in the morning-room. But clean the sword well first. It was last used to cut off the head of King Charles the First and there may still be a little dried blood on the blade.”

From Roald Dahl:
"Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does yr garden grow? 'I live with my brat in a high-rise flat, So how in the world would I know.'
 
 


Unearthed Words

All week long The Daily Gardener has been sharing quotes from the author Beverley Nichols, who was born on Monday of this week in 1898.

A prolific writer, Nichols is best remembered for his gardening books. Today I'm featuring excerpts from his book called Forty Favourite Flowers. It is exactly as described, Nichols sharing his top selections; the flowers he loved most in his garden; which he described this way:
 
 “A great deal of weeping goes on in my garden, but it is a happy sort of weeping, for all this bending of branches and bowing of heads is simply due to the fact that so much beauty is displayed on so small a stage.” 
 
Nichols arranged this book simply; using alphabetical order. Then he just shares some of his favorites. Here are some excerpts for you:
 
Algerian Iris:
One of my grandfathers died of a clump of Iris stylosa; it enticed him from a sick bed on an angry evening in January, luring him through the snow-drifts with its blue and silver flames; he died of double pneumonia a few days later. It was probably worth it.
 
Magnolia:
"I must confess that, for me, the flower of the magnolia is most beautiful when life has almost ebbed from it. These are the twilit hours when the petals flag and falter, when their immaculate ivory texture dims, when they glow with a ghostly radiance that seems to come from another world"

 
Regal Lily:
"The regal lilies do indeed praise the Lord. Some of my own, last summer were so exultant that they praised Him through no less than thirty snow-white trumpets on a single stem, and even the most accomplished angel could not do much better than that." 
 
Iris Siberica:
How can one ignore...  that singular infinitely sinister blossom Iris siberica? This latter flower can certainly claim to be exclusively dressed; for the petals of no other blossom has Nature designed so curious of fabric, vein with slate and violet and purple.
 
 
Fritillairies:
Each Stage of our lives has its "signature" flower and those of us who keep diaries would have a little difficulty in assigning to each year those flowers which are especially evocative...  Fritillairies are linked with my years as an undergraduate... Year after year, for generation after generation, these flowers have danced in the background through the lives of England’s youth.
 
 
Mesembryanthemum:
The flower is a startling proof of the fact that when nature decides to be vulgar - really vulgar - she can achieve affects of almost blinding beauty. For nothing could be more opulent, more blatant, more shamelessly exhibitionist than a bed of the Mesembryanthemum in full bloom. Magenta jostling scarlet, screaming at cinnamon, fighting with shocking pink, yelling against a dozen shades of orange and vermilion. 
 
 
Caryopteris:
Paradoxically, blue is the color that makes many people see red; by which I mean that fears arguments are constantly developing as to which flower is the bluest... The Caryopteris is a radiant in any weather...  The blue of its petals seems to have the quality of caring for great distances, as though it were some sort of floral evangelist with a message of good tidings for all the world.
 
 
Summer Hyacinth:
On an August night, when the moon is full, there is an almost ectoplasmic radiance around its petals.
 
 
Golden-bell clematis:
If I had to confine my choice of creepers to a single family – what a hideous thought! – I should probably choose the family of clematis. And if I were limited to a single member of the family, I should probably choose Clematis tangutica. I said "probably" because these hypothetical decisions are so very painful.
 
 
Finally, in FFF, Nichols offered some sweeping thoughts that will undoubtedly strike a chord:
 
“One of the many reasons why gardens are increasingly precious to us in this day and age is that they help us to escape from the tyranny of speed. Our skies are streaked with jets, our roads have turned to race-tracks, and in the cities the crowds rush to and fro as though the devil were at their heels. But as soon as we open the garden gate, Time seems almost to stand still, slowing down to the gentle ticking of the Clock of the Universe.”
 

 
 
Today's book recommendation: English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel 

This book is a wonder for anyone who loves the intimacy of the English cottage garden and who endeavors to capture the feel of that  for their own space.  Hensel has come up with core elements from ten cottage gardens―eight in England and two in the United States. Once you master those elements, you are well on your way to having a cottage garden of your own. Hensel explains each element and how to achieve it, and she shares the stories of beginners that are sure to inspire new gardeners.

The last part of this book is especially helpful; It reviews 76 selected cottage-style plants and how to use them to create the cottage garden.
Hensel wants her readers, "[to] feel moved, even inspired, to imagine what magical things might happen in their own front and backyards". The books is chockfull of information and photos. Hensel is an exceptional photographer in her own right which makes her photographs of the gardens and plants extra meaningful. So overall, there's tons of information and Inspiration for gardeners looking to create their own cozy cottage garden.
 



Today's Garden Chore

Just because it's September, doesn't mean you can't divide bearded irises because you can - and I just recently did this myself. 

If you have older clumps of irises or irises out of place, it's a great time to divide them and move them. Be sure to remove any bad parts of the rhizomes and then plant them high. I like to nestle mine on top of the soil and then stake them in instead of digging them or half-burying them. To each his own - but no matter what - do not bury them deep.
 


 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

On this day in 1843, the New England Farmer out of Boston, Massachusetts published this little article about toads.

"Never destroy the toad. In the season of bugs and flies, a toad will do more towards the preservation of a garden, than a man, and all that ho requires at your hands for this valuable assistance, is the freedom of your garden walks and beds, and the paltry shelter of a chip or turf. He meddles with no one's business but his own constantly avoiding company, and intent only on extirpating those voracious insects by whose jaws the beauty of the garden is so frequently laid low."
 
 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the botanical pastimes of two young women in Oklahoma back in 1850.
We'll also learn about a female botanical pioneer who specialized in grasses.
We’ll hear some thoughts on spring from a beloved American author.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book featuring the letters from a Texas pioneer botanist.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of an elite wedding and last-minute flower arranging.
 
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Spring's Splendor: Forsythia | The Flower Infused Cocktail Blog | Alyson Brown
 
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I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
April 29, 1850
Here's a post for this day from Hunter’s Home - the only remaining pre–Civil War plantation home in Oklahoma.
“Emily and Amanda stayed at Araminta's for much of the day. They had a sweet potato roasting and then gathered flowers for pressing. 
Emily kept an herbarium into which she pressed a variety of flowers from her travels. Botany was considered a suitable science for women to learn in the 19th-century and women were expected to understand the nature of the plant as well as classification, etc. 
Women published botanical textbooks and used their knowledge to improve their herbal remedies. Like Emily, women also carried their herbaria with them while traveling to better collect new species.”
 
April 29, 1869  
Today is the birthday of a botanist who was a petite, fearless, and indefatigable person: Agnes Chase.
Agnes was an agrostologist—a studier of grass. A self-taught botanist, her first position was as an illustrator at the USDA’s Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C. In this position, Agnes worked as an assistant to the botanist Albert Spear Hitchcock. When it came time to apply for funding for expeditions, only Albert received approval - not Agnes.  The justification was always that the job belonged to "real research men."
Undeterred, Agnes raised her own funding to go on the expeditions. She cleverly partnered with missionaries in Latin America and arranged for accommodations with host families. She shrewdly observed,
“The missionaries travel everywhere, and like botanists do it on as little money as possible. They gave me information that saved me much time and trouble.”
During a climb of one of the highest Mountains in Brazil, Agnes 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. Her book taught generations of Latin American botanists who recognized Agnes's contributions long before their American counterparts.
After Albert retired, Agnes became 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 from 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 her self, "This may be well and good, but it isn't getting any grass classified, sonny."
While I was 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 article 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.
...In order to understand grass one needs an outlook as broad as all creation, for grass is fundamental to life, from Abraham, the herdsman, to the Western cattleman; from drought in Egypt to the dust bowl of Colorado; from corn, a grass given to Hiawatha..., to the tall corn of Iowa.”
[Agnes] said,
"Grass is what holds the earth together. Grass made it possible for the human race to abandon his cave life and follow herds. Civilization was based on grass, everywhere in the world."
 
Unearthed Words
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. 
― Toni Morrison, American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor, Jazz
 
Grow That Garden Library
Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne 
This book came out in 1991, and the subtitle is Ferdinand Lindheimer's Letters to George Engelmann.
In this book, Minetta shares the treasure of these letters between two marvelous 19th-century botanists. In 1979, Minetta was asked to translate 32 letters between Ferdinand Lindheimer, the father of Texas botany, and George Engelmann - the man who helped establish the Missouri Botanical Garden and specialized in the Flora of the western half of the United States. The task of deciphering, organizing, and analyzing the Lindheimer Englemann correspondence took Minetta over a decade.
This book is 236 pages of a fascinating look at Texas frontier life and botany through the eyes of the German-American botanist Ferdinand Lindheimer.
You can get a copy of Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne  and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $18.
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
April 29, 1924
Today is the wedding day of Cornelia Vanderbilt. This year (2021) marks her 95th wedding anniversary.
When the Vanderbilt heiress married British nobility, the diplomat John Cecil, the wedding flowers had been ordered from a florist in New York. However, the train carrying the flowers to Asheville, North Carolina, had been delayed and would not arrive in time.
Biltmore's Floral Displays Manager Lizzie Borchers said that,
"Biltmore’s gardeners came to the rescue, clipping forsythia, tulips, dogwood, quince, and other flowers and wiring them together. They were quite large compositions, twiggy, open, and very beautiful.”
If you look up this lavish, classic roaring 20's wedding on social media, the pictures show that the bouquets held by the wedding party were indeed very large - they look to be about two feet in diameter! I'll share the images in our Facebook Group, The Daily Gardener Community.
In 2001, the Biltmore commemorated the 75th anniversary of the wedding with a month-long celebration among 2,500 blooming roses during the month of June.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Here's a little primer on mulch placement.

Keep mulch away from the bases of plants and trees.

Trees can be harmed or killed by mulching too heavily around the trunk. Perennials and other plants can be smothered or damaged by heavy mulch around the crown as well. Mulch is a wonderful tool in the garden, but it pays to pay attention to placement.

 
Brevities

#OTD Today in 1926, the Green Bay Press-Gazette posted an article titled, "Ice Cream Grown on Vine in yard of Former Kentuckian."

The article was about the fabulous Colonel Henry Wallace Johnston who, until the age of 50, had operated a hardware store in Lebanon, Kentucky. At midlife, he moved to Homestead Florida. And, in 1912, Johnston created a 20 acre estate called Palm Lodge Tropical Grove. He even liked to dress the part; wearing a tropical outfit complete with a white helmet and looking as if he had just finished playing Jumanji.

Known as the Wizard of Palm Lodge or Florida's Burbank (a nod to California's Luther Burbank ), Johnston began adding over 8,000 incredible specimens of tropical fruits and flowers, many of them not found anywhere else in America. Palm Lodge gained him widespread recognition. And, although Johnston never traveled outside the US, he was a natural marketer. Stories about Johnston include the following:

He coined the name "lipstick tree".

Rarest among his plants was a flower that produces a perfume called the "Scent of Lilith."

Johnston grew the Dumb Cane tree or dieffenbachia from Cambodia. He would tell folks that if they bit into the leaves, their tongue would be paralyzed for six weeks.

Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford brought back rubber plants from Madagascar, but only Colonel Johnston's plants survived.

Johnston's Palestine tree fruit was wrapped in cellophane while on the tree to protect against insects. The fruit was used in religious rituals by rabbis.

Johnston's gingerbread palm's fruit tasted of gingerbread.

Johnston furnished almost all of the tropical exhibit for the state of Florida at the Chicago World's Fair.
All of Johnston's plants were grown from seed.

Johnston also produced nearly 300 different types of fruits and jellies all packaged on site.

One of Johnston's specialties was the cultivation of the aloe vera plant. He grew a 15 acre aloe field and by 1920 was regularly harvesting the leaves and bringing them to Miami, individually wrapped to stop the spines from making the jelly ooze out.

And yes, one of Johnston's plants was something he called "the ice cream vine," botanically known as the monstera deliciosa. The fruit resembles a large ear of corn minus the husk and tastes like a combination of banana, strawberry and pineapple.

Johnston's lodge was a Florida showplace and there was no charge for admission. Homestead's chamber of commerce showed that 30,000 people, including botanists, visited the lodge every year.

One day, after 2,000 guests had been received, the register revealed that Henry Ford had passed unnoticed in the crowd.
 

 
#OTD On this day in 1941 a Soviet court sentenced the prominent Russian botanist Nikolay Vavilov to death by firing squad.

Vavilov never faced the firing squad. Instead, he died of starvation in a Soviet prison two years after receiving his sentence.
 
 
#OTD Today in 1942, newspapers announced the retirement of George Shull.

An Ohio farm kid, Shull was the noted botanist who taught at Princeton University for 27 years.

His work resulted in a $150M increase in the value of US corn as a result of his crossing pure line varieties with self-fertilized corn. Shull's hybrid yielded 10 to 40 percent more than ordinary corn.

Shull never made a penny from his creation.
 


Unearthed Words
 
Here's a poem from Emily Dickinson called Answer July. In the poem, Dickinson speaks to July directly and July responds by pointing out that the hot summer is the fulfilled promise of spring.

Answer July –
Where is the Bee –
Where is the Blush –
Where is the Hay?

Ah, said July –
Where is the Seed –
Where is the Bud –
Where is the May –
Answer Thee – Me –
 
 
 
Today's book recommendation: Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History by Diana Wells

Wells investigates the names and meanings of trees, sharing their legends and lore.

As Wells says,

"Our long relationship with trees is the story of friendship. The human race, we are told, emerged in the branches of trees and most of us have depended on them ever since for food, shade, shelter, and fuel."


 
Today's Garden Chore

Incorporate a wheelbarrow garden into your garden plans.

Take an old wheelbarrow, drill some drainage holes in the bottom (very important!) and up-cycle it into a beautiful, portable planter that is perfect for flowers, herbs, and small edibles.
 
 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

Today in 1963 the Marvel comic botanist Samuel Smithers became Plantman when lightening struck his plant ray gun, giving it the power to control and animate all plant life. 

Plantman dueled with the Human Torch in the botanical garden and lost. He was taken to prison.

In his final storyline, Plantman transformed into a giant plant monster and attacked the city of Los Angeles in retaliation for humans polluting the world. In his final moments, Plantman was defeated by Ironman.

Here's one of Plantman's more popular lines:

"Do not speak to the Plant Man of power! Mine was the genius that gave the semblance of life to unthinking plant tissue! There can be no greater power than that!"
 

 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Are you growing parsley?

I do.

But, I generally only plant the flat leaf variety - since the curly leaf parsley is used mainly as a garnish.

Parsley is a member of the Umbelliferae family, which also includes celery, carrots, dill, cilantro, caraway, cumin, and the poisonous hemlock.

 

Brevities

#OTD On this day in 1838, the botanist Asa Gray resigned from the Wilkes Expedition. 

Gray was frustrated by all of the delays.

He also disagreed with Captain Charles Wilkes.  

Gray and Wilkes disagreed about the Latin descriptions of the new taxa. In addition, Wilkes wanted to work with Americans only. Gray recognized that the work could not be done with his usual level of excellence unless European herbaria and experts were included.
Instead, Gray accepted a position at the University of Michigan. But, before he could officially start, Harvard wooed him away.

Gray established the science of botany and guided American botany into the international arena.

It was Asa Gray who said, 

“Natural selection is not the wind which propels the vessel, but the rudder which, by friction, now on this side and now on that, shapes the course.” 
 
 

#OTD  Today in 1949, a 79 year old botanist, Dr. Melville Thurston Cook, his wife, and their pilot were rescued by an Air Force helicopter after a week in the Alaskan wilderness.

Cook reported they survived on 90 dozen eggs after their plane was forced down in the rugged Brooks Mountain range.
As luck would have it, the 1,080 eggs were aboard the plane as cargo. Cook shared their ingenuity with the world; telling how they had not lacked for variety in their preparation of the eggs, enjoying fried eggs, boiled eggs, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, shirred eggs and omelet.

Naturally, when he wasn't eating eggs, Dr. Cook collected specimens.

Dr. Cook, who would be 80 in September, and his wife had been vacationing in Alaska. In newspaper accounts he said he never doubted the party would be saved. But the crash had impacted their priorities. Following the accident, Cook and his wife moved to be closer to their children. One of their four kids followed Cook's footsteps to become a plant pathologist; Dr. Harold T. Cook.

Before the accident, Cook was finishing up his career by working as visiting part-time professor of plant pathology at Louisiana State University. 

During his prime, Cook had gone botanizing with Nathaniel Lord Britton and  Elizabeth Gertrude Britton in Puerto Rico. He had also worked with Henry Allan Gleason at the New York Botanical Garden.
 
 

#OTD   Back in 1977, Ethan Allen and Elvin McDonald of House Beautiful (ww.housebeautiful.com) gave a presentation called "Decorating with Plants."

McDonald revealed many new decorating-with-plant ideas. Keep in mind, this was three decades before Instagram. Otherwise, McDonald would have no doubt share photos of the over 300 plants in his apartment.

In the newspaper promotions for his presentation, McDonald was quoted as saying,

"Take a pill if you will I say take a plant to cope with everyday stress."
 
 
 
#OTD  A 1983 newspaper headline on this day in The Town Talk in Alexandria, Louisiana said, 'Rare Plant Halts Road Work'.

Turns out, a $15 million highway widening project near College Station was stopped because it threatened a tiny, rare, and unusual orchid plant. The Spiranthes parksii (ii = "ee-eye"), also known as Navasota Ladies' Tresses because it grew along the Navasota River, is only 6 inches tall with white blooms.

First discovered in 1945 and described by Donovan Stewart Correll in his 1950 book, Native Orchids of North America North of Mexico, It became the 54th U.S. plant species to be classified as endangered. 
 
 
 
#OTD In 1988, British plant explorer Roy Lancaster revealed that a thriving black market for plants was threatening rare Chinese orchids.
 
In the same way an art collector might buy stolen works of art underground, elite plant collectors are the wealthy clients of orchid smugglers.  Lancaster shared the plight of Paphiopedilum armeniacum which was discovered in 1980, but was 100 percent harvested from the world in 1983.

In just three short years, the plant had gone from discovery to presumed extinction!
 
 
 
Unearthed Words
 
Here's a poem by Theodore Roethke called Transplanting.  

Roethke said he wrote the poem from the perspective of "a very small child: all interior drama; no comment; no interpretation.”

Watching hands transplanting,
Turning and tamping,
Lifting the young plants with two fingers,
Sifting in a palm-full of fresh loam,--
One swift movement,--
Then plumping in the bunched roots,
A single twist of the thumbs, a tamping and turning,
All in one,Quick on the wooden bench,
A shaking down, while the stem stays straight,
Once, twice, and a faint third thump,--
Into the flat-box it goes,
Ready for the long days under the sloped glass:
The sun warming the fine loam,
The young horns winding and unwinding,
Creaking their thin spines,
The underleaves, the smallest buds
Breaking into nakedness,
The blossoms extending 
Out into the sweet air,
The whole flower extending outward,
Stretching and reaching.
 

Today's book recommendation: Perennial Garden Plants by Graham Stuart Thomas 

Hailed as a classic from its first publication, Perennial Garden Plants describes over 2,000 species along with practical information on planting, seasonal flowering, color, propagation and cultivation as well as on the origins of plants.

Of this book Graham Stuart Thomas said, 

"I have tried to be truthful, concise and at the same time appetizing; Appetizing because it is my desire to encourage you to grow these lovely things; the smaller ones among them maybe called garden toys, while many of the larger kinds are plants of great personality.  To whichever class they belong they are growing things, of a beauty unsurpassed among the passive things of this world and worthy of our reverence and awe,  to be treasured and enshrined in our gardens."
 


Today's Garden Chore

Plant Your Shade Trees Wisely.
 
Today's chore was featured inThe South Bend Tribune out of South Bend, Indiana on this day in 1952.

Here's what it said,

"Don't plant plant your shade tree so that It shades your neighbor's yard Instead of your own.

If you set the tree on the eastern border of your property, it will shade your neighbor's yard instead of your own garden during the hottest part of the day, in the afternoon.

...Consider your plantings as a permanent investment in beauty and comfort that is worth real thought."
 
 

Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
Today in 1966, the New York Daily News shared the TV listing for 9pm: a repeat episode of Bewitched starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York.
 
In the episode, rare black Peruvian roses robbed Samantha of her witching powers and gave her little green square spots on her face. Aunt Clara remembers that the Peruvian black rose was used to drive witches out of Peru. She sends Darrin off to gather items for the antidote that she will brew: bat wings, porpoise milk, eye of newt and an ostrich feather.
 
Luckily for Samantha, Aunt Clara said that she could only get Peruvian black rose sickness once.
 
 
 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a man who is remembered for his contributions to art and ornithology.
We'll also learn about a socialite, gardener, and garden designer whose story has been largely unappreciated.
We’ll hear some thoughts on gardening in the Carolinas.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about resilient homesteading that incorporates an innovative approach to permaculture.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the incredible behind-the-scenes story of the funeral of one of the world’s greatest scientific minds: Charles Darwin.
 
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Gardener Greetings
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Curated News
Zen Garden Ideas: Create Your Own Backyard Zen Garden | Garden Design | Janet Loughrey
 
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Important Events
April 26, 1785
Today is the birthday of the ornithologist, artist, and naturalist, John James Audubon, who was born in Santo Domingo, Haiti.
John's folio series called “The Birds of America” featured 435 life-size color prints of American birds. And John’s favorite state for birding was Louisiana.
Honored as the namesake of the National Audubon Society, his birthday, today (April 26th), was designated as National Audubon Day to commemorate his birth and work. In 2011, Google celebrated his birthday with a Google Doodle.
It was John James Audobon who said,
“In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests.”
He also said,
"When the bird & the book disagree, believe the bird."
 
April 26, 1873
Today is the birthday of the British socialite and garden designer Norah Lindsay.
After marrying Sir Harry Lindsay, Norah began gardening at their Manor home and garden in Oxfordshire called Sutton Courtenay - which was given to them as a wedding present from Harry’s cousin. Norah’s gardens overflowed with flowers, and she hosted regular parties and even masked balls at her estate, which also allowed her to show off her gardens.
Norah recognized the powerful draw of gardens. She once described Sutten Courtenay as having a “shining quality,” writing,
“some gardens, like some people, have a charm potent to enslave and yet as intangible as dew or vapour.”
Although she adored Italian gardens, Norah’s gardens were not formal but rather romantic and wild, relaxed and gentle. She memorably told one gardener that she “loved lilies, lazily lolling.”
Norah was influenced by William Robinson, an advocate for wild gardening, and Gertrude Jekyll, the English gardener, and writer. Like Jekyll, Norah designed her gardens with drifts of color and soft transitions. And although her gardens seemed effortless, there was a method to Norah’s approach to design. Norah had an intuitive sense of scale and impeccable taste in plants.
Beautiful, charming, and witty, Norah was sadly not a writer. Her legacy lives on in many of the gardens she created and her only daughter Nancy - who also loved gardening and horticulture.
The British gardener, garden designer, and landscape architect Russell Page referred to Norah in his book The Education of a Gardener, saying,
"Norah Lindsay could by her plantings evoke all the pleasures of a flower garden. She captured the essence of midsummer... or gave the pith of autumn… She lifted herbaceous planting into a poetic category and gave it an air of rapture and spontaneity.”
By the time Norah turned 51, her marriage and her bank account had both fallen flat. In a letter to a friend, Norah summed it up simply: "No husband, no money, no home." To provide for herself, Norah began designing gardens for her royal and wealthy friends - a career that would last for two decades.
Norah’s friends and clients were writers, gardeners, old-Hollywood stars, and politicians - and included Edward, Prince of Wales, Waldorf and Nancy Astor, Charlie Chaplin, Marshall Field III, George Shaw, and Edith Wharton. And, thanks to her wealthy clients, Norah was able to garden all over Europe - which meant that she became adept at understanding different soils, growing zones, and spaces - modifying her designs to accommodate new challenges. One of Norah’s friends and clients was the Duke of Windsor. He once remarked,
“If you had the money, she was the one to spend it.”
Yet, surprisingly, Norah’s biographer wrote that Norah lived two very different lives. By night, she often dined with the rich and powerful. By day - starting at 5 am - Norah was in the garden with her garden crew. And when her long day of garden work was done, Norah took a train back home; she didn’t own a car.
One particular friend of Norah’s worth noting was the estate owner, gardener, and garden designer Lawrence Johnston who went by Johnny. Johnny owned Hidcote Manor, “HID-cut,” and Norah helped him design the magnificent 10.5-acre garden there. Johnny was planning to leave Hidcote to Norah, but that plan was thwarted when Norah died unexpectedly at 75 - shortly after being diagnosed with kidney cancer. Once, when she was in the midst of her career, regularly buying plants for clients, Norah wrote to a friend,
“When I die, Magnolia will be written on my heart.”
Today many regret that Norah did not write books to document her work. Little remains outside of her personal letters that capture Norah’s charm, cleverness, and quick wit - and her fresh perspective on gardens and gardening. The American garden historian, Allyson Hayward, wrote an excellent biography of Norah in 2007 called Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer.
 
Unearthed Words
In the Carolinas, there are two growing seasons: warm and cool. 
The cool season runs from about October or November through April or May (depending on where you garden). 
The warm season runs from May or June through September or October. 
If you plan your Carolina garden around no other guiding principle than this, you will be well in front of people who don’t.
― Katie Elzer-Peters, Carolinas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening: How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest the Best Edibles
 
Grow That Garden Library
The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk
This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach.
In this book, Ben shares what he's learned gardening on a hill farm In Vermont Mad River Valley. Ben shares his incredible ingenuity and intelligent approach to working the land And restoring the biosphere.
The author of A Sanctuary of Trees, Gene Logsdon, wrote this about Ben's book,
“Grow rice in New England? Yes. Heat water to 155 degrees F on cold winter days at a rate of a gallon a minute by piping it through a compost pile? Yes. How about dinner tonight of your own rack of lamb garnished with homegrown mushrooms? Yes. Your choice of scores of different vegetables and fruits even in winter? Yes. Plus, your own dairy products from your own sheep. All the while, the soil producing this magic, on a site once thought little more than a wasteland, grows yearly more fertile and secure from natural calamity."
An early adopter of permaculture principles, Ben is constantly testing ideas for better homesteading on his property in Vermont. Ben founded Whole Systems Design, LLC - a land-based response to biological and cultural extinction and the increasing separation between people and elemental things. So he’s a practitioner expert when it comes to permaculture.
This book is 320 pages of Inspiring and practical advice to create your edible sanctuary and resilient landscape.
You can get a copy of The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $25
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
April 26, 1882
On this day, the funeral for Charles Darwin was held at noon sharp at Westminster Abbey. Thousands attended it.
The deputy organist at Westminster Abbey, John Frederick Bridge, felt Darwin deserved to have an original funeral anthem and so, the day before the funeral he wrote original lyrics inspired by the Book of Proverbs and set them to music:
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and getteth understanding.
She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand, riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”
Bridge also wrote original funeral hymns for Robert Browning and  Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Attendees needed tickets to get into the funeral. The ten pallbearers included Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (The son of the famous botanist William Jackson Hooker and Darwin’s closest friend), Thomas Henry Huxley (English biologist and anthropologist), Alfred Russel Wallace (British naturalist and evolutionary theorist - and a surprising friend to Darwin), James Russell Lowell (U.S. Ambassador), and William Spottiswoode "Spots-Wood" (President of the Royal Society).
Darwin was buried at the Abbey next to the eminent scientist Sir John Herschel and just a few feet away from Sir Isaac Newton.
On the Sunday following the funeral, the Bishop of Carlisle, Harvey Goodwin, said in his sermon, there is no “necessary conflict between a knowledge of Nature and a belief in God.”
One of Darwin’s pallbearers, William Spottiswoode, delivered a eulogy for Darwin at the Royal Academy a few days after the funeral, on April 29, 1882. William said:
“If patience and perseverance in good work… if a continual overcoming of evil with good in any way constitute elements of greatness, then the man of whom I speak—Charles Darwin—was truly great.”
On his deathbed, at Down House, Charles Darwin told his wife, Emma,
"I am not the least afraid of death—Remember what a good wife you have been to me—Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me."
And he told repeatedly told his children,
"It's almost worthwhile to be sick to be nursed by you.”
Darwin’s beloved dog, Polly, died naturally, two days after her master.
Today, gardeners can visit Down House and explore the home and gardens of Charles Darwin.
And, if you would like to pay homage to Darwin in your own garden, you can purchase one of David Austin’s favorite and best-selling roses: Charles Darwin.
The Charles Darwin yellow rose is gorgeous and wonderfully fragrant - with notes of soft floral Tea and pure lemon.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the man who wrote the Flora of North America from across the pond in London much to the chagrin of American botanists.
We’ll learn about the Dutch botanist who discovered the phalaenopsis orchid and the coleus on the island of Java.
Today’s Unearthed Words review some sayings about the month of February in the garden.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us grow African violets.
I’ll talk about a decorative item for your garden, deck, or porch,
and then we’ll wrap things up with National Carrot Cake Day and the history and recipes of this favorite dessert.
But first, let’s catch up on a few recent events.
 
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Curated Articles
Hello Yellow Milkweed/Butterfly Flower, View All Flowers: Botanical Interests @botanicalseeds
"Bring sunny color into the pollinator garden with ‘Hello Yellow’ milkweed! Asclepias tuberosa (ah-SKLEE-pee-iss TOO-burr-OH-sah) is usually orange, but this yellow beauty was found in Colorado."
 
Columbus’Carnivorous Collectibles from The Lantern @TheLanterns
“A single organism of Sarracenia purpurea, collected by botanist/bryologist William Sullivant - 1840 - one of the few documented pitcher plants that grew in central Ohio.”
 
Now, if you’d like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you’re in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There’s no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you’re on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I’d love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1814  The English botanist Aylmer Lambert wrote to his peer, and the President of the Linnean Society, Sir James Edward Smith.
Lambert was giving Smith a heads up that Frederick Pursh’s Flora Americana was published.
Five years earlier, Frederick had been working for Benjamin Smith Barton in America. Barton was supposed to process the plants from the Lewis & Clark expedition and prepare a catalog for publishing. For some unknown reason, Barton never got around to doing the work. When Meriwether Lewis realized that Barton hadn’t started much of anything, he hired his employee Frederick to do the work.
By May of 1808, we know that Frederick had completed all of the tasks that Meriwether Lewis had assigned him. He was eager to get paid the $60 he been promised by Lewis, and the $80 Barton owed him for helping with his herbarium. He was also excited to keep going with the Lewis & Clark project. It seems the mission of sharing the botanical discoveries of the expedition with the public had captured his heart.
This is where Frederick’s story gets a little murky. It’s not clear if he was ever fully paid by Lewis or by Barton. It’s not entirely clear why Lewis & Barton couldn’t seem to keep the project moving forward. But records do show, that over the next 18 months, two key things happened that caused Frederick to leave America with the Lewis and Clark specimens in tow: Meriwether Lewis died and Frederick Pursh began to despise his boss, Benjamin Smith Barton. For his part, Barton may have grown tired of Pursh’s drinking. He wrote of Pursh, “Drinking is his greatest failing.”
When Frederick Pursh arrived in England at the end of 1811, he reached out to both Sir James Edward Smith and Alymer Lambert about putting together the Flora of North America. Lambert became his botanical fairy godfather; he had a huge personal botanical library, herbarium, and funding. That said, Lambert also provided something Pursh desperately needed: discipline.
Pursh was kind of a rough and tough guy with a swarthy complexion and reputed alcohol addiction. Historians say that Lambert made arrangements in the attic of his house, creating a workspace for Frederick. Once he got Frederick up there, Lambert would lock him in for stretches at a time to keep Frederick focused on the project. It was an extreme way to deal with Frederick’s demons, but it worked.
Now, Smith and Lambert didn’t do all of this out of the goodness of their heart. They were enormously interested and what Pursh had brought with him from America: portions of the specimens from the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Even with Lambert’s resources and lock-ins, it took Frederick two years to complete the Flora of North America. The whole time he was racing to get it published before Thomas Nuttall, who was working on the exact same project back in America. American botanists felt Pursh had pulled the rug out from under them when he took the expedition specimens to England.
On December 21st, 1813, Pursh won the race when his 2-volume masterpiece describing all of the plants of North America was presented to the Linnaean Society.
In the introduction, Frederick was forthright about his time in America and how he had come to possess the expedition specimens. Giving credit to the work of Lewis and Clark, Frederick created two new genera - Lewisia (loo-WIS-ee-ah) and Clarkia (CLAR-key-ah) for Lewis and Clark. In all, Frederick had received 132 plants from Meriwether Lewis, 70% were brand-new species that were named by Frederick. Today roughly 30% of the Pursh-named plants named in his Flora Americana are still recognized as valid.
Lewisia is a little evergreen Alpine plant with a beautiful bloom. They like well-drained soil and are native to the northwest. Lewisia is a perfect pick for a rock garden.
Clarkia is a little wildflower primrose that can be grown from seed after the last spring frost. Clarkia prefers to be direct-sowed, and they are perfect for use in mixed borders and Rock Gardens. Today Clarkia hybrids are grown for cut flowers.
Link to 1814 Flora Americae Septentrionalis Volume One
Link to 1814 Flora Americae Septentrionalis Volume Two
 
1862  Today is the Anniversary of the death of the German-Dutch botanist with the perfect last name - Carl Ludwig Blume. Born in Germany and orphaned by the age of five, Blume proved to be a bright little boy and a successful student. He studied at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands - a place that would become his Northstar. When he died in Leiden, on this day in 1862, he had become a naturalized Dutch citizen.
Scholastically, Blume went the path of most botanists. He first became a physician and he ran an apothecary. In short order, he started botanizing in the Dutch East Indies, specifically on the island of Java, where he was the director of the Botanic Garden. Blume wrote a spectacular book on the collection of orchids that were available on the island. The title page is stunning and it features three native women from Java performing a ceremonial dance. The mountains of Java in the village are in the background, and a garland of orchids frames the stunning portrait. This publication is considered one of the finest works of scientific literature during the early 1800s.
In 1825, Blume established the Dendrobium genus of orchids. The genus name is derived from the Greek; "dendron" for tree and "bios" meaning life. The name refers to the epiphytic habit of orchids to grow in trees. Thus, the combination of those two words, dendron and bios, meaning tree-life.
And, here's a great story about Blume. During his time in Java, Blume saw what he thought was a group of moths flying in a motionless fashion by a tree. It was an odd vision. But, when he got closer, Blume realized what he thought were moths, were actually orchid flowers. Blume named the species Phalaenopsis amabilis (fayl-eh-NOP-sis ah-MA-bo-lis). In nature, the stems of the phalaenopsis orchid are not clipped to a bamboo pole like they are in when we buy them in the supermarket. Instead, they arch away from the tree they are attached to and sway easily with the Wind. It was the motion of the Orchid flowers swaying in the wind together, that lead Blume to believe he saw an insect and not a blossom.
The etymology of the word phalaenopsis comes from the Latin word "phal", which means moth - which is why this Orchid is commonly referred to as the Moth Orchid.
Phalaenopsis orchids are native to Southeast Asia. Their popularity has steadily grown because they are so easy to grow and because they bloom indoors all year round. This makes them one of the most popular house plants in the world.
Now, should you be tempted this summer to move your phalaenopsis orchid outside; think twice. Just because they are a tropical plant, doesn’t mean they want full sun. Phalaenopsis orchids grow in the shade of trees under the tree canopy. They like indirect light, and if you put them in full sun, they will get sunburned. If you are going to move them outside, make sure to put them in a place where they will not get direct sunlight. Sometimes I’ll put mine onto my north-facing covered porch.
In 1853, Carl Ludwig Blume discovered another popular plant in the mountains of Java: coleus. Coleus bluemei was named in his honor until it was changed in 2006 to Coleux x Hybridus in recognition of all the new hybrid variations. As of 2012, the botanical name for coleus is Plectranthus scutellarioides (Plek-TRAN-thus SKOO-til-air-ee-OY-deez).
And, coleus are in the mint or Lamiaceae family. They have that signature square stem and opposite leaves - along with other popular members of the mint family: basil, peppermint, oregano, Salvia, Swedish ivy, and thyme. An early nickname for coleus was painted nettle or flame nettle.
Coleus is easy to propagate from cuttings. You can simply pop them in a glass of water, and in a few days, roots will start to form. To encourage your coleus to grow in a more compact fashion, keep pruning them before they bloom.
You might remember that the National Garden Bureau made 2015 the year of the coleus.
 
Unearthed Words
Here are some sayings about our new month - February:

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.
― Sarah Coleridge, English author, and translator
 
Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
— William Shakespeare, English author, poet & playwright, Much Ado About Nothing
 
The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.
— Joseph Wood Krutch, American writer, and naturalist
 
February is the border between winter and spring.
― Terri Guillemets (gee-ya-MAY), quotation anthologist, Years
 
February is a suitable month for dying. Everything around is dead, the trees black and frozen so that the appearance of green shoots two months hence seems preposterous, the ground hard and cold, the snow dirty, the winter hateful, hanging on too long.
― Anna Quindlen, American author, and journalist, One True Thing
 
Grow That Garden Library
YOU CAN Grow African Violets by Joyce Stark
The subtitle of this book is: The Official Guide Authorized by the African Violet Society of America, Inc.
Kent and Joyce Stork have grown violets for over 30 years. From 1991 to 2004, they wrote a column in the African Violet Magazine, which became the foundation for this book. Kent and Joyce are married and live in Fremont, Nebraska, where they own a business specializing in African violets.
Kent and Joyce Stork killed their first violet too! They soon mastered the skills for growing the plant and eventually wrote for the African Violet Magazine, the official publication of the African Violet Society of America, Inc. for over ten years. Their column For Beginners explained the basic elements of growing violets in an entertaining and straightforward way that anyone could understand. Now, these columns have been adapted and edited to provide even the most novice grower with a step-by-step guide, whether the goal is simply to keep violets alive or to exhibit the plants in competitive shows.
You can get a used copy of YOU CAN Grow African Violets by Joyce Stark and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today’s Show Notes for under $5.
 
Great Gifts for Gardeners
WiHoo 8” Indoor Outdoor Thermometer/Hygrometer for Patio, Wall or Decorative (Bronze) $19.99 
Easy to read - The outdoor thermometer decorative easily keep track of the temperature from a distance with bold black dial graphics.
Celsius and Fahrenheit - This garden hygrometer digital simultaneous Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature display.
Real glass lens - This room indoor thermometer real glass lens, accurate between -40 and 120℉/-40, and 50 °C to accommodate all climates.
Amazon’s Choice & Amazon Prime
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Today is National Carrot Cake Day.
Every February 3rd, National carrot cake day is observed. And, you might say it’s a great excuse to have our cake and our carrots, too. 
Akin to banana bread, carrot cake is similar in preparation and texture. It's made, like many quick breads, by separately preparing the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients and then mixing those together. And, carrot cakes generally include ingredients like cinnamon or nutmeg, raisins, or nuts.
Carrots are, of course, a root vegetable. They are made up of 88% water, 7% sugar, and a percent each of protein, fiber, and ash.
The Greeks and Romans ate carrots, but their carrots were different colors like purple or white. It wasn’t until the 17th century that carrots started appearing predominantly as orange. Why? Because the Dutch initially bred the carrot to be orange in order to honor the Dutch royal family - also known as the “House of Orange” in the Netherlands. The orange carrot became so popular that the color became synonymous with the carrot.
As for carrot cake, the earliest mentions of it in the newspaper appear in the early 1900s - around 1910. These early carrot cakes were more like little crab cakes - only they were made with carrots, flour, and butter, sweet milk, and so on.
By 1912, the San Francisco newspaper, The Call, featured a carrot cake recipe and it advised that only very young, tender carrots be used - along with 2 cups of sugar, a cup of butter, 2 cups of flour, a cup of carrots that were boiled and mashed very finely, a cup of grated chocolate, a cup of chopped walnuts, 1/2 a cup of sweet milk, 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon each of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
By the end of November, in 1913, a newspapers were running an article called “Carrots and Cakes.” It said:
“The little carrot, of the plebian vegetable family, moved high last week in the social scale and was in such demand on the grocery orders of so many families that stores ran out entirely, says the Minneapolis Journal.
Miss Lilla Frich, supervisor of domestic economy in the public schools, has been telling how carrots may be used for what they are or as substitutes for other things, notably, that carrot pulp makes a good egg substitute in making cakes and hundreds of women who formerly have scorned common truck farm products have been buying them.”
In the early 1980s, when Pillsbury launched its “Carrot and Spice Cake Mix,” they held a contest to discover the earliest published carrot cake recipe, and they were also looking for the best Heritage recipe.
Joyce Allen of Wichita Kansas won $100 for sharing her recipe from the 1929 Wichita Women’s Club cookbook, and Ethel Amsler of Waco Texas also won $100 for creating a new recipe with Pillsbury’s new carrot cake mix. She was riffing off an old family recipe. That old family recipe had been handed down through four generations. She said they didn’t have it but twice a year.
Ethel’s old family recipe for carrot cake calls for white raisins soaked in brandy in addition to adding a cup of black walnuts.
If you’d like to get a copy of Ethel Amsler’s Heritage Carrot Cake recipe, along with her modern version, I’ve added them to today’s Show Notes, which are available on the website for the show over at thedailygardener.org.
 
ETHEL AMSLER’S HERITAGE CARROT CAKE
1 cup brandy 
1 cup of water 
1 ½ cups sugar 
2 tablespoons butter 
1 cups grated carrots 
1 teaspoon nutmeg 
1 teaspoon cloves 
1 cup chopped black walnuts
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda 
1 teaspoon salt
At least two days before serving, in a medium saucepan, soak raisins in brandy overnight at room temperature. The next day, add water, sugar, butter, carrots, and spices. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally; simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; pour into a large mixing bowl. Cover; let stand at room temperature 12 hours or overnight.
The next day, heat oven to 275 degrees. Grease and flour 10-inch angel food tube pan or 12-cup fluted tube pan. Add walnuts, flour, baking powder, soda, and salt to carrot mixture; mix thoroughly.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 1 ¾ hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.

ETHEL AMSLER’S HERITAGE CARROT CAKE (Modern Version) 
1 package Pillsbury Plus Carrot N Spice Cake Mix 
¾ cup of water 
½ cup dairy sour cream 
⅓ cup oil 
2 teaspoons brandy extract 
3 eggs 
1 cup golden raisins 
1 cup finely chopped walnuts 
Powdered sugar

Heat oven to 390 degrees. Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. In a large bowl, blend cake mix, water, sour cream, oil, brandy extract, and eggs until moistened; beat 2 minutes at highest speed. Stir in raisins and walnuts. Pour into a pre-prepared pan. Back at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool upright in pan 25 minutes; Invert onto a serving plate. Cool completely. Sift or sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. 16 servings.
 
Finally, during the 1970s, the Los Angeles Times featured a popular recipe for their 14 Carat Cake. That recipe incorporates crushed pineapple and walnuts. I’ve included it in today's Show Notes, as well.

14 CARAT CAKE 
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder 
1 ½ tsp. soda 
1 tsp. salt 
2 tsp. cinnamon 
2 cups of sugar 
1 ½ cups oil 
4 eggs 
2 cups grated raw carrot 
1 (8 12-oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained 
12 cup chopped nuts 
Add Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)
Sift together flour, baking powder, powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add sugar, oil, and eggs and mix well. Stir in carrots, drained pineapple, and nuts. Turn into three greased and floured 9-inch layer-cake pans or a 13x9-inch pan and bake at 350 deg. 35 to 40 minutes until the top springs back when touched lightly with a finger. Cool a few minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool. (Or loaf cake, may be frosted in the pan, especially handy if the cake is for a potluck or picnic.) For layers, spread tops and sides with frosting and stack.

Cream Cheese Frosting 
½ cup butter or margarine 
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened 
1 tsp. vanilla 
1 lb. Confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Combine’ butter, cream cheese, and vanilla and beat until well blended. Add sugar gradually, beating vigorously, if too thick, add a small amount of milk to thin to spreading consistency.

Today we remember the botanist who jumped in a birch bark canoe with Aaron Greeley and paddled to Mackinac Island 110 years ago today.
We'll also learn about the woman who was a housewife until the age of 48 and then transformed into one of Australia's leading naturalists.
We celebrate the artist who died today among his canvases of sunflowers.
We also hear the letter Beatrix Potter wrote about her garden on this day in 1924.
We honor the life of a marvelous landscape designer who died in a fire on this day already four years ago. He once said, "I've had a wild life."
Today we hear some fun poems about tomatoes.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about shrub and hedge plants - an excellent resource for gardeners looking to define borders and add practical, healthy, and low-maintenance beauty to their property.
And then we'll wrap things up with a botanist who shared his disdain for honeysuckle.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
 
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
 
Curated News
Why Front Gardens Matter | The Guardian | Clare Coulson 
Here's an excerpt:
“Last month… Charlotte Harris, one half of the landscape design duo Harris Bugg, decided to dig up her paved front garden in east London. “It was a discussion we’d been having for a while,” says Harris, who gardens with her girlfriend Catriona Knox. “Around here every bit of green space feels precious,” she says. “Obviously there are parks, but I think each of us has to take responsibility for any space we have.”
In an area where 50% of the front gardens have no plants, the ones that do provide moments of joy. Harris’s neighbors include a couple who boast “the most beautiful magnolia” in their shady spot, ... another front garden [is] an abundant [vegetable] patch complete with frames and climbing squash. “They were the inspiration, really,” adds Harris. “It’s a gift, isn’t it? It’s the ultimate in gardening altruism because your back garden is for you to enjoy, but your front garden is about improving everyone’s experience.”
Over the past couple of months, the front garden has gained a powerful new significance… [a] point of contact… with friends or family delivering supplies or catching up with a neighbor you’d hardly spoken to before. 
 
Iris Chores Before Fall
When your irises finish blooming, cut off the dead flower stalks; but not leaves. Irises use their swords, the green leaves, to nourish rhizomes for the following year.
Since they are semi-dormant, you can divide them now if necessary. Replant them as soon as possible and remember to cut off about two-thirds of the foliage to compensate for root loss. Simply cut the leaves in a fan shape and enjoy more iris next year.
 
How to Create a Peter Rabbit Garden
Of course, Peter Rabbit is the creation of Beatrix Potter, who was a noted botanist and mycologist. (A mycologist studies fungi).
Now to make your Peter Rabbit Garden, we will draw inspiration from Beatrix's Potter's garden was located at Hill Top Farm.
In making your Peter Rabbit garden, you could add a little wooden fence or a low stone wall around the perimeter.
Inside, use the herbs and perennials featured in the books:
Herbs include Mint, Chamomile, Lavender, Parsley, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, and Tansy.
Edibles include Lettuce, Beets, Radish, Rhubarb, Onions, and Strawberry.
Then add Pansies, Roses, and Pinks.
 
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1810   On this day, a 24-year-old botanist named Thomas Nuttal, jumped in a birch bark canoe with Aaron Greeley, the deputy surveyor of the territory of Michigan, and they paddled to Mackinac Island arriving two weeks later on August 12.
Thomas spent several days on Mackinac - He was the first real botanist to explore the flora of Michigan, and indeed, of Mackinac Island. Thomas immediately set about collecting and writing detailed accounts of the flora he discovered. He documented about sixty species - about twenty were previously unknown. One of the new Mackinac discoveries was the dwarf lake iris (Iris lucustris), which became the state wildflower of Michigan.
 
1874   Today is the birthday of the Australian naturalist and prolific writer Edith Coleman.
Until recently, little was known about Edith. The author, Danielle Claude, wrote a book about Edith called The Wasp and the Orchid, which explored how Edith went from being a housewife until the age of 48 and then transformed into one of Australia's leading naturalists.
Edith had a special appreciation for orchids. Beginning in January 1927, one of her daughters told her that she had seen a wasp entering the flower of the small tongue orchid backward. The odd behavior was something both Edith and her daughter would repeatedly see over the next few seasons. The response was perplexing, especially after Edith dissected the plants and discovered that they were male. Edith continued to study their behavior, and she finally found that the wasp was fertilizing the orchid. The orchid uses this stealth pollination strategy Called pseudo-copulation to trick the male wasps into thinking they are meeting with a female wasp. By getting the males to enter the plant, the plant can be pollinated.
Edith became the first woman to be awarded the Australian natural history medallion. Edith will forever be remembered for her groundbreaking discovery about orchid pollination.
 
1890   Today is the anniversary of the death of the artist Vincent Van Gogh.
After shooting himself in the stomach, Vincent managed to get back to his home and live for two additional days before dying beside a stack of his sunflower canvases.
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.
 
1924   Beatrix Potter writes to a little girl named Dulcie and describes her garden.
She writes that her garden has:
“... a box hedge around the flower bed, and moss roses and pansies and black currants and strawberries and peas —and big sage bushes for Jemima, but the onions always do badly.
I have tall white bell flowers I am fond of — they are just going over, next there will be Phlox; and last come to the Michaelmas Daisies and Chrysanthemums. Then soon after Christmas, we have Snowdrops. They grow wild and come up all over the garden and orchard, and some in the woods.”
 
2016   It's the anniversary of the death of the landscape designer extraordinaire, Ryan Gainey.
Ryan died trying to save his two beloved Jack Russell terrier's, Jellybean Leo and Baby Ruth, from a fire at his home. Neither he nor his dogs survived.
When it came to landscape design, Ryan was entirely self-taught.
In the beautiful documentary about his life called "The Well-Placed Weed: The Bountiful Life of Ryan Gainey." (btw I shared it in the FB group so check it out)
In the documentary, Ryan asked the filmmaker, "I've had a wild life. Do you know why?"
His reply was simple and 100% Gainey: "I created it."
Ryan purchased a home in Decatur Georgia that used to be the site of Holcomb Nursery. He removed many of the greenhouses behind his home but kept the low brick walls that had served as the foundation for the greenhouses. The result was that Ryan instantly had a series of garden rooms that he could decorate and design to his heart's content. Throughout his career, Ryan became friends with notable designers and gardeners like Rosemary Verey ("VEER-ee") and Penelope Hobhouse.
Ryan loved Verey; they had a special bond. He loved the Camellia japonica. Ryan's gardens looked effortless with things spilling over and nestled in a way that made them look like they had been in the garden for decades. It was Ryan who said,
"Where lies the genius of man? It is the ability to control nature... but for one purpose only; and that is to create beauty."
One hundred forty-eight days before Ryan passed away, an enormous white oak fell over and crushed his house. Ryan considered the tree to be the soul of his life.
 
Unearthed Words
The street
filled with tomatoes
Midday,
Summer,
light is
Halved
Like
A
Tomato,
its juice
Runs
through the streets.
In December,
Unabated,
the tomato
Invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
Takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
Sinks
into living flesh,
Red
Viscera,
a cool
Sun,
Profound,
Inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
We
Pour
Oil,
Essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
Adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
Parsley
Hoists
its flag,
Potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks 
at the door,
it's time!
come on!
and, on 
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth,
Recurrent
and fertile
Star,
Displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.
— Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet & Nobel Prize winner, Ode to Tomatoes
(translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
 
She took the purity pledge (Sweet Baby Girl,
Super Snow White, Artic Rose),
fled the grasp of Big Beef and Better Boy
on a Southern Night and, baptized
in hydroponics, gleamed waxy
and vapid under a fluorescent gaze.
She was a good girl (Beauty Queen, Gum Drop,
Mighty Sweet, Sugar Plum, Pink Champagne),
a tidbit on the tip (Flaming Burst, Solar Flare,
Razzle Dazzle, Roman Candle)
of his tongue (Lucky Tiger, Top Gun,
Tough Boy, Sun King).

She was Plum, Pear, Grape, and Cherry,
because one thing is always like another—
like a wad of chewed-up gum, tasteless
and shriveled on the marriage vine
and gave it away too soon.
She was a Jezebel (Shady Lady,
Spitfire, Perfect Flame),
hot to the touch, steeped in dark earth,
sun-soaked, bright tang bursting
in the throat. A little dirt
on the tongue never hurt anyone.
— Janice Northerns, poet, Good Tomato
Janice was inspired to write "Good Tomato" after reflecting on the fact that "Tomato" was a popular slang term for a woman between the 1930s and the 1950s. The poem came together after she incorporated the many fascinating gendered names of tomato varieties like Beauty Queen, Sugar Plum, Better Boy. Note: Italicized terms are all names of tomato varieties.
 
Grow That Garden Library
Shrubs & Hedges by Eva Monheim
This book came out in March of this year and the subtitle is  Discover, Grow, and Care for the World's Most Popular Plants.
Washington Gardener said this book is, "...clear enough for beginners, detailed enough for pros."
Ruth Rogers Clausen wrote that,
"Shrubs and hedges are often taken for granted by professional horticulturists and garden owners alike. However, this invaluable book celebrates them, with readable and fascinating details about a range of species suitable for individual locations. The author’s passion and experience shine through the text. Detailed information is included for each cultivar, hybrid, and/or selection, its suitability for specific sites, sound growing and pruning tips, and its place in ecological landscapes, along with tool care, reference material, and more. Undoubtedly Shrubs & Hedges will become a significant reference book for years to come."
Eva Monheim is co-founder of Verdant Earth Educators (VEE) - a horticulture education and consulting firm. She's an instructor at the world-famous Longwood Gardens in their Professional Horticulture Program where she teaches woody plants and arboriculture. Eva is also a faculty member at The Barnes Arboretum of St. Joseph University where she teaches Landscape Management.
This book is 224 pages shrub and hedge plants - a great resource for gardeners looking to define borders and add practical, healthy, and low-maintenance beauty to their property.
You can get a copy of Shrubs & Hedges by Eva Monheim and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $23.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
1951  On this day the botanist Charles Clemon Deam replied to an inquiry about the honeysuckle.
Charles wrote:
"That [plant's] name is to me the same as a red flag to a bull. I cannot tell you in words how I regard this vine. 
Your question is: Does it propagate from seed?
I do not believe it does. 
I have never heard a good word for it. All that I can say affirmatively is that it is no good for anything." 
And, before Charles finished writing his censure of the honeysuckle, he twice suggested that some new "insecticides" might kill it.

Today we celebrate the writer who dedicated his book called A Child's Garden of Verses to his childhood nurse and the German botanist who lost all of his work in the Columbia River.

We'll learn about the big chrysanthemum show of 1916 in our Nation's capital and the botanist who was one with Agaves.

We'll hear some November poetry.

We Grow That Garden Library with a book now in its 3rd edition from the man who loved to say "Happy Gardening, friends."

I'll talk about setting up a regular spa day for your Houseplants, and then we'll wrap things up with a little something Jane Powers wrote back in 2010 that I think was just so incredibly cool and memorable.

 
But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.

 
 
 
Coleus Cuttings | @WDCGardener

I can't think of anyone I'd rather learn to take Coleus Cuttings from than @WDCGardener and her cat Santino - who is THE master when it comes to supervising cuttings. btw Santino means "little saint" Aw.... 
 




Recommended Air Plants | HEIRLOOM GARDENER

Know Thy Air Plants -
Here's a nice little post from Heirloom Gardener to help you Tell Your Air Plants Apart.
 
My favorite? Tillandsia xerographica - “Queen of Tillandsias.”
I recently saw one in a wedding bouquet. Long Live the Queen!
 
 
 

 
Make a Christmas seedhead wreath| @GardensIllustrated

I. Cannot. Stand. How. Adorable. This. IS! Just when I thought I was out of the garden... you pull me back in! @GardensIllustrated came up with this adorable project - Make a Christmas seedhead wreath. I love this idea for the She Shed at the cabin.





Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there’s no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 

Brevities
 
 
 
#OTD   Today is the birthday of Scottish-born writer and poet Robert Louis Stevenson, who was born on this day in 1850.

Stevenson sickly little boy with no brothers or sisters. When he was just a toddler, a woman named Alison Cunningham was brought into the Stevenson home to help care for Robert. When Stevenson wrote a collection of poems called "A Child's Garden of Verses," he dedicated the book to Alison.

Gardeners will be surprised to learn that Herbert Jekyll and Robert Louis Stevenson were friends.  Herbert was the brother of the  British horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll. Jekyll's last name was used in Stevenson's most famous work Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but of course, the popular pronunciation of the Jekyll name became Jekyll thanks to the book.

It was Robert Louis Stevenson who said,

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant”

And, here's an excerpt from Stevenson's The Gardener

The gardener does not love to talk.
He makes me keep the gravel walk;
And when he puts his tools away,
He locks the door and takes the key.

Silly gardener! summer goes,
And winter comes with pinching toes,
When in the garden bare and brown
You must lay your barrow down.
 
 


#OTD  Today is the 76th anniversary of the day that the German botanist, Frederick Lueders, lost all of his botanical work.

On November 13, 1843, Lueders was botanizing along the Columbia River in Oregon. He'd been collecting specimens for three years. He had just encountered the explorer John Freemont, when all of his work, which was secured in a canoe nearby, was drawn into the rapids. Lueders plunged into the river and managed to retrieve only a copy of the Flora by Torrey and Gray.

The devastating loss was recorded in Freemont's journal who wrote:

"In the natural concern I felt for his misfortune, I gave to the little cove the name of Lueders' Bay."

For Lueder's part, the loss of his specimens was devastating. However, the loss of his instruments and his correspondence with Asa Gray and Dr. Englemann was almost too great. Lueders determined his best course of action was to return home. He traveled south around the tip of Chile and then onto England. It took him a year to return to Hamburg a year after his mishap on the Columbia.

Lueders didn't stay in Germany long. In fact,  he returned to America within the next year. By 1851, he had made his way to Wisconsin; he spent the rest of his life in Sauk City, and he dabbled in astronomy.  A biographical sketch said that in his old age, Lueders was mainly devoted to his flowers.
 


 
 
#OTD On this day in 1916, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shared a sweet little article about the 16th annual chrysanthemum flower show that had just been held in Washington DC.

It began this way:

"If you ever get the idea that people aren't interested in flowers, just give a flower show." said one of the guards at the government chrysanthemum show last week. 
All morning he had been repeating "Keep to the right!" to the mass of visitors streaming into the greenhouse. 

There had been a couple of disastrous jams that injured some valuable specimens, and he was quite bitter about it. "Sometimes people take entirely too much interest in flowers. If you don't watch them they break them off and take them home as souvenirs," he said. 

One of the most noticeable features of this annual chrysanthemum show of the Department of Agriculture and of similar shows held in large cities throughout the country is the growing interest in chrysanthemum culture. 

"Where can I buy seeds of such varieties as this?" is the question everybody asks, pointing to a big white "Queen Mary" or to a small lavender pompon.
 
At the show this year over 250 varieties of chrysanthemums were exhibited... The whole greenhouse was a riot of color, with yellow and lavender predominating.
Interest in chrysanthemums is increasing every year. National shows have been held every season for the last 16 years, but there has never been such large attendance before."
 
 
 

 
#OTD  On this day in 1982, the newspaper shared a great story about the author of "Agaves of Continental North America," Howard Scott Gentry.

"This elder statesman of the botanical world [is] a first-class charmer when you get .... to his subject;... his love for the wilds of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico; [and] about the years he spent overseas as an agricultural explorer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and about how he gradually came to know more about agaves "than any other human being."

"I don't like to start things and not finish them," Gentry said concerning the hectic pace of his agave research after his retirement from the USDA in 1971.
Several times a year he would plunge into the rugged interior of Mexico perched atop a mule, just as he'd been during his first collecting trips nearly half a century earlier.

[Gentry graduated college with a degree in] vertebrate biology from the University of California at Berkeley [and he] concocted the notion of becoming a freelance biologist. To pay for his first field trip into Mexico, he sent 300 letters around the country to scientific institutions, to naturalists, to anybody he could think of, soliciting collection orders. "I came up with $3,000 worth of orders. For anything and everything, for an embryo of a white-tailed deer, which I did collect, for birds' eggs, for ticks, for plant specimens. I really got fascinated with that southern Sonoran and Chihuahuan country.  Gentry tackled it... producing the book "Rio Mayo Plants."

"After that book came out, I became somewhat known as a botanist, which I wasn't. I was a zoologist doing exceptionally well writing as a botanist."
Gentry completed a doctorate in botany at the University of Michigan, where the well-known botanist Harvey Harris Bartlet taught. 

In 1950, Gentry became an agricultural explorer for the USDA. Based in Maryland, he traveled the world locating, researching and collecting plants for the government. [Gentry was involved in a] spurt of postwar agave work when it was discovered that plants in the agave family and plants in the wild yam family contained compounds that seemed effective in treating arthritis.

Because of his far-flung collecting (he traveled in 24 foreign countries), Gentry was constantly introducing new plants to the United States and writing about their possible uses. It was high-profile work in the botanical community.

"I refused several times to become a desk man for USDA," Gentry said. "It was a chance to cut out all the travel, but I told them, 'No, not me. I want to work with plants, not people. People are problems."
 
 
 


Unearthed Words

"When the bold branches
Bid farewell to rainbow leaves -
Welcome wool sweaters."
- B. Cybrill
 
 
"The wild November come at last
Beneath a veil of rain;
The night wind blows its folds aside -
Her face is full of pain.

The latest of her race, she takes
The Autumn's vacant throne:
She has but one short moon to live,
And she must live alone.
A barren realm of withered fields,
Bleak woods, and falling leaves,
The palest morns that ever dawned;
The dreariest of eves.

It is no wonder that she comes,
Poor month! With tears of pain;
For what can one so hopeless do
But weep, and weep again?
- Richard Henry Stoddard, poet, November
 
 


Today's book recommendation: Square Foot Gardening Third Edition by Mel Bartholomew

In All-New Square Food Gardening, 3rd Edition, the best-selling gardening book in North America is re-launched and updated for the next generation of gardeners and beyond.

Since Square Foot Gardening was first introduced in 1981, the revolutionary new way to garden developed by Mel Bartholomew has helped millions of home gardeners grow more fresh produce in less space and with less work. Now, based mostly on the input and experience of these millions, the system has been even further refined and improved to fully meet today's changing resources, needs, and challenges.

With over 150 new photos and illustrations, this new edition makes it easier than ever to achieve nearly-foolproof results in virtually any situation: 100% of the produce; 20% of the water; 5% of the work.

Perfect for experienced Square-Foot-Gardeners or beginners, the original method created by Mel has not changed in any significant way with this new 3rd edition of All New Square Foot Gardening. It remains: build a box; fill it with Mel's Mix; add a grid. But along with the classic steps, you will find some exciting and compelling new information, such as:

• Adding trellises and archways
• Substituting with new materials
• Adding automatic watering systems
• "Thinking Outside the Box" with creative configurations and shapes
• Square Foot Gardening in dense urban areas with little or no yard
• Square Foot Gardening with kids

 



Today's Garden Chore

Set up a Houseplant Spa Day on your calendar every two weeks.

During the winter, you can reduce the time between waterings as the days get shorter. A few weeks ago, I mentioned using a bar cart for staging your houseplants, and that sure comes in handy when it's time to wheel them all to the kitchen sink. Even a large tray can be of service if you prefer to shlep your plants over to the sink for a spray down instead of merely watering them with a watering can.

Double potting, placing a smaller pot inside a larger pot, and insulating the plant with a double blanket of soil can help provide extra support to your plants in between waterings. Additionally, there is not much need to fertilize indoor houseplants until spring. So put the fertilizer down and concentrate on regular maintenance at the kitchen sink.
 



 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

It was on this day in 2010 that Jane Powers wrote an excellent article for the Irish Times.

What I especially loved about this article was Jane's correlation between the number of bedding plants a person ordered during the middle of the 19th century and their corresponding personal wealth.

Here's what she wrote:

In the heyday of bedding, the amount of plants that a person displayed was a gauge of their wealth and status. According to the head gardener at the Rothschild estate at Halton in Buckinghamshire, it was 10,000 plants for a squire, 20,000 for a baronet, 30,000 for an earl, and 40,000 for a duke.
 
 


Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate one of Britain's great explorers and the first apple parer.
We'll learn about the wonderful willow, and we'll celebrate the very first field trip of the Philadelphia Botanical Club, which happened 128 years ago today.
Today's Unearthed Words feature poems from the author of Anne of Green Gables.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that essentially offers an herb seasoning master class in between its pages
I'll talk about a garden item that comes in handy for gifting natural elements from the garden along with a whole host of other uses...
and then we'll wrap things up with the story of a woman who married a botanist and then wrote about her adventures with him.
But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.
 
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Curated Articles
10 Ideas For What To Do With Broken Plant Pots | Joy Us Garden
Don't toss that old, broken pot out just yet!
Whether you nestle it, fill it with herbs, stack it, lay it sideways, create a layered planting, or add cacti/succulents, the options are endless!
 
10 Benefits of Growing Chives | Great Post @GrowForCookFerm:
10 Benefits of Growing Chives in the Spring Garden!
They are perennial with a long growing season and are the perfect garnish. They also attract pollinators, have edible blossoms, tasty greens, and are high in Vitamins K & A.
 
Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1779 Today is the anniversary of the death of one of the great British explorers, and he commanded a vessel called The Endeavor, Captain James Cook.
At the age of 26, Cook joined the Royal Navy later than most, at the age of 26. He drew attention with his Superior map-making skills, which helped the British Launch a successful attack in Quebec.
Later, when Cook took command of his own ship, he was usually accompanied by artists, scientists, astronomers, and botanists like Sir Joseph Banks - who accompanied Cook on the first successful voyage to Australia.
A year later, Cook sailed again, but this time Banks would not be going. Instead, a German, Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg—would be the botanists for his next voyage.
Cook's death on this day in 1779  in Hawaii was gruesome. Angered when Hawaiian natives stole one of his cutter ships, Cook ordered the bay sealed off. Cook went ashore at the North end of the bay and asked the King and his sons to come away as hostages. The King's wife broke down, crying and begged him not to go with Cook. The King's people suddenly rose up and defended him and threw stones at Cook.
Meanwhile, on the South end of the bay, a high-ranking chief had tried to break through the barricade. Cook's men shot him. A battle started that swept up the bay just as Cook was attempting to leave the King. Cook signaled for boats to come and get them off the beach.
As Cook was making his way to the shore to escape, a native clubbed him with a piece of fencing and ran off. As Cook attempted to rise, another native stabbed in the back of the neck with a dagger. Cook's head was held under the water as he was killed with clubs and stones. Afterward, the islanders prepared a Royal Funeral for him, removing his hands from his body and preserving them in salt. The rest of his body was roasted in a pit so that his bones could be picked clean.
Last year, the Australian government announced they were budgeting $50 million to redevelop Cook's 1770 landing place. The plans include turning the area into a major tourist attraction and include the addition of a $3 million statue of Cook himself.
Australia Treasurer Scott Morrison said it would be,
"a place of commemoration, recognition, and understanding of two cultures and the incredible Captain Cook."
The redevelopment is slated to be ready this year, 2020, in time to mark the 250th anniversary of the landing.
 
1803Today a patent for an Apple Paring Machine, was given to Moses Coates of Downington, Pennsylvania.
Over the next hundred years, 150 different patents would be issued for apple parers - and most would be variations in improvements on Coates's original machine. The parer that Moses created was a cranked wooden gadget that had a metal blade and prongs that would hold the apple. If you're able to find one of Moses Coates apple parers today, you will pay between $200 and $400.
Coatesville, Pennsylvania, was named by Moses Coates. And, Moses patented a number of pieces of equipment, including a machine that was used to cut straw.
Before the invention of the apple parer, people used to host apple harvest festivals where are all the apples would be gathered in paired in a paring spree. All the apples would be pared by hand.
The apple slices and quarters would end up and huge kettles that would have to be stirred all day - for about 8 hours. Then, when the mixture started to turn dark, biscuits would be made, and then everyone would line up for a biscuit with a slab of apple butter.
 
1856 Today Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal about a natural willow hedge.
"I was struck today by the size and continuousness of the natural willow hedge on the east side of the railroad causeway... Some twelve years ago, when that causeway was built through the meadows, there were no willows there or near there, but now, just at the foot of the sand-bank, where it meets the meadow, and on the line of the fence, quite a dense willow hedge has planted itself.
I used to think that the seeds were brought with the sand from the Deep Cut in the woods, but there is no golden willow there; but now I think that the seeds have been blown hither from a distance, and lodged against the foot of the bank, just as the snow-drift accumulates there...
They plant themselves here solely, and not in the open meadow, as exclusively as along the shores of a river. The sand-bank is a shore to them, and the meadow a lake.
How impatient, how rampant, how precocious these osiers ("OH-see-ers")! They have hardly made two shoots from the sand in as many springs when silvery catkins burst out along them, and anon golden blossoms and downy seeds, spreading their race with incredible rapidity. Thus they multiply and clan together. Thus they take advantage even of the railroad, which elsewhere disturbs and invades their domains.
May I ever be in as good spirits as a willow! How tenacious of life! How withy! How soon it gets over its hurts! They never despair. Is there no moisture longer in nature which they can transmute into sap?
They are emblems of youth, joy, and everlasting life. Scarcely is their growth restrained by winter, but their silvery down peeps forth in the warmest days in January."
Willow (Salix) trees are native to northern China. They can reproduce from seeds, broken twigs, or even leaves. A speedy grower, Willows can grow 10 feet in a single year. In the spring, weeping Willows silver-tinged green catkins appear on the branches. The fuzzy catkins that contain either male or female flowers depending on the sex of the tree. You can force cuttings of willows to bloom by bringing them indoors. The catkins will open and flower in a vase of water. Don't forget to save your willow water for rooting. Willow water contains a natural rooting hormone. A mix of 50% fresh water and 50% willow water is an excellent solution to get cuttings to root.
 
1892 Today the Philadelphia Botanical Club took their very first field trip to Bartram's Garden.
In 1850, Andrew McCalla Eastwick (1806-1879), an engineer and the inventor of the steam shovel, bought the 46-acre Bartram estate from John Bartram's granddaughter, Ann Bartram Carr.
Eastwick had banked a personal mint after building railroads for Czar Nicholas I of Russia. Unlike the fate of many old homes, Eastwick decided not to tear down the existing house. Instead, he kept the Bartram family homestead as a memorial, building his own mansion beside Bartrams. He also made sure the historic garden was kept intact. He vowed not to harm "one bush" planted by the Bartrams.
In 2015, Bartram's Garden, in Philadelphia, was designated an American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) Horticultural Landmark.
The prestigious award commemorates sites based on their historical, scientific, environmental, and aesthetic value. The award was first presented to Monticello, home of President Thomas Jefferson. Other recipients include Longwood Gardens, Missouri Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Arnold Arboretum, and Fairchild Botanical Garden.
 
Unearthed Words
Here are wintery poems from the beloved author of the Anne of Green Gables series:

Frosty-white and cold it lies
Underneath the fretful skies;
Snowflakes flutter where the red
Banners of the poppies spread,
And the drifts are wide and deep
Where the lilies fell asleep.
—
But the sunsets o'er it throw
Flame-like splendor, lucent glow,
And the moonshine makes it gleam
Like a wonderland of dream,
And the sharp winds all the day
Pipe and whistle shrilly gay.
—
Safe beneath the snowdrifts lie
Rainbow buds of by-and-by;
In the long, sweet days of spring
Music of bluebells shall ring,
And its faintly golden cup
Many a primrose will hold up.
Though the winds are keen and chill
Roses' hearts are beating still,
And the garden tranquility
In the summer days of blue
All its dreamings will come true.
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Garden in Winter
 
Above the marge of night, a star still shines,
And on the frosty hills the somber pines
Harbor an eerie wind that crooneth low
Over the glimmering wastes of virgin snow.
Through the pale arch of orient the morn
Comes in a milk-white splendor newly-born,
A sword of crimson cuts in twain the gray
Banners of shadow hosts, and lo, the day!
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, A Winter Dawn
 
Grow That Garden Library
A Taste for Herbs by Sue Goetz
The subtitle of this book is A Guide To Seasonings, Mixes, and Blends from the Herb Lover's Garden.
Sue's book helps you become an herbal taste master. The preview to this book challenges us to think of this book as an herb seasoning Master Class - filled with simple secrets for capturing the power of flavor from your herb garden.
And here's how Sue describes her book. She writes:
In these pages, you'll find all you need to know about 20 of the most commonly used and flavor-rich herbs: how to grow them (which is easy), the best varieties to choose, what parts to use, essential information, and tips throughout.
I'll take you step-by-simple-step, through harvesting, preserving the herbs, and capturing all those precious flavors. 
And, as promised, there are the recipes - over a hundred - showing you how to flavor, mix, mingle, and blend herbs into almost any meal. The big takeaway is that you become a creator of flavors, a master of blends, an infusion maven.
And, you deepen your relationship with the plants that you bring to your table and the garden that produces them.
Now, this book just recently celebrated its one-year anniversary on February 1st.
You can get a used copy of and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $8.
 
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Today's Botanic Spark
1897 Today is the birthday of the English writer Eleanor Constance Rundall Bor.
Eleanor is remembered for her book "The Adventures of a Botanist's Wife" - a book I own multiple copies of - it's a favorite of mine.
In 1931, Eleanor went to India, where she married her Irish botanist husband, Norman Bor. Norman became the Director of the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun. After establishing himself as a world authority on Asian grasses, Norman returned to England to become Assistant Director of Kew Gardens. Eleanor wrote and illustrated "The Adventures of a Botanist's Wife" about their life together in India.
In 1952, the newspaper in Melbourne Australia featured Eleanor's book in an article called "On Top of the World." Here's an excerpt:
SHE WORE SAND SHOES for a simple reason. They were the only comfortable shoes she could buy in Shillong and, since she was determined to miss none of the mountain trips made by her botanist husband, she accepted the shoes. Surprisingly, they proved comfortable, and, as she clambered around the incredible cliff edge paths, thousands of feet above deep Himalayan gorges, she was grateful for the firm grip of the rubber.
Mrs. Bor had expected to share exciting plant discoveries and, at least, to give her name to a rare orchid. Instead, she found her husband was a specialist in grasses, and it was a new species of grass extremely rare but, to her, looking no more than a "mangy bit of fur" that finally bore her name.
Once [ on a mountain] stepping from mist and snow, they saw below them, on the white mountain slopes, a blaze of rhododendrons and magnolias, and In their camp that night burned rhododendron logs.
Their mountain trips were often dangerous. Mrs. Bor hated crossing the cobweb-like cane bridges strung hundreds of feet above foaming torrents. The Rupa bridge was especially terrifying, with only strands of cane for a foothold and tall hoops set a yard apart for the hands to grip.
More menacing than cane bridges and cliff tracks were the insects. Wild animals were not alarming, but the hornets, centipedes, horse flies, dam dims, and above all, the leeches made camping In the Jungle foothills a nightmare.
One reviewer wrote:
"Here is a story told with the charm and simplicity of a life spent in the foothills of the Himalayas where Eleanor Bor and her botanist husband tramp through jungled terrain establishing friendly relations with hill tribes and villagers, discovering the enchantments of mysterious undergrowth and carrying with them the domestic problems of household pets and family happenings. Their years in the jungle, as told by the author, are those of a true traveler."

Today we celebrate the writer inspired by the Oxford Botanic Garden - a place he saw every day.
We'll also learn about medicine with roots in the soil in Indiana.
We’ll hear a lovely excerpt about a harbinger of spring: Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a fantastic book about botanical baking with a master baker.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of a surprise found in a botanist’s garden.
 
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Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Curated News
Predicting the New Year's 2021 Garden Trends | Ag Week | Don Kinzler
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links.
The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
January 27, 1832 
Today is the birthday of the English mathematician and writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - also known as Lewis Carroll.
Lewis had worked as a librarian at Christ Church College in Oxford. His office window had a view of the Dean's Garden.
Lewis wrote in his diary on the 25th of April in 1856 that he had visited the Deanery Garden, where he was planning to take pictures of the cathedral. Instead, he ended up taking pictures of children in the garden. The children were allowed in the Deanery Garden, but not in the Cathedral Garden, which was connected to the Deanery Garden by a little door.
And so, it was the Oxford Botanic Garden that inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland.
The same garden also inspired the authors, JRR Tolkien and Philip Pullman.
In Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking-Glass is this favorite passage among gardeners:
“In most gardens," the Tiger-lily said, "they make the beds too soft-so that the flowers are always asleep.”
 
January 27, 1950
On this day, Science Magazine announced a brand new antibiotic made by Charles Pfizer & Company, and it was called Terramycin.
Last year, when I shared this item, I don't think many of us were as familiar with the word Pfizer as we are today - living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the 1950s, Pfizer was a small chemical company based in Brooklyn, New York.
And it turns out that Pfizer had developed an expertise in fermentation with citric acid, and this process allowed them to mass-produce drugs.
When Pfizer scientists discovered an antibiotic in a soil sample from Indiana, their deep-tank fermentation method allowed them to mass-produce Terramycin.
Now, Pfizer had been searching through soil samples from around the world - isolating bacteria-fighting organisms when they stumbled on Terramycin. Effective against pneumonia, dysentery, and other infections, Terramycin was approved by the USDA.
And the word Terramycin is created from the two Latin words: terra for earth and mycin, which means fungus - thus, earth fungus.
And Terramycin made history: Terramycin was the very first mass-marketed product by a pharmaceutical company. Pfizer spent twice as much marketing Terramycin as it did on R&D for Terramycin. The gamble paid off; Terramycin, earth fungus, is what made Pfizer a pharmaceutical powerhouse.
And so, there's a throughline from the vaccine we are using today, all the way back to that bacteria found in the soil in Indiana that ultimately became Terramycin.
 
Unearthed Words
In much of North America, skunk cabbage has earned the widespread reputation as the first flower of spring. It might be more accurate, however, to call it the first flower of winter. “The skunk cabbage may be found with its round green spear-point an inch or two above the mold in December,” reported naturalist John Burroughs. “It is ready to welcome and make the most of the first fitful March warmth.”
Henry David Thoreau observed that new buds begin pushing upward almost as soon as the leaves wither and die in the fall. In fact, he counseled those afflicted with the melancholy of late autumn to go to the swamps “and see the brave spears of skunk cabbage buds already advanced toward the new year.”
People living in colder parts of North America have long watched for skunk cabbage as a sign of spring. The tip of the plant’s spathe or sheath begins to push through the still-frosty earth and to stand tall when the first faint breaths of warmer air begin blowing. This process can occur in January with an unusually long January thaw—a “goose haw,” as some New Englanders call it—or it can happen as late as March.
— Jack Sanders, Hedgemaids and Fairy Candles, The First Flower of Winter
 
Grow That Garden Library
Botanical Baking by Juliet Sear
This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is Contemporary baking and cake decorating with edible flowers and herbs.
In this book, celebrity baker Julia teaches how to make and decorate the most beautiful botanical cakes – using edible flowers and herbs to decorate your cakes and bakes.
After working in the baking industry for two decades, Julia knows what flowers are edible and what flowers have great flavor. She also shares everything you need to do to work with edible flowers:
“how to use, preserve, store and apply them, including pressing, drying and crystallizing flowers and petals.”
Julia shares 20 botanical cakes that feature edible flowers and herbs. Her creations include a confetti cake, a wreath cake, a gin and tonic cake, floral chocolate bark, a naked cake, a jelly cake, a letter cake, and more.
Known in the U.K. for her beautiful bloom-covered cakes, Julia counts royalty and celebrities among her many clients.
This book is 144 pages of botanical baking with edible flowers and herbs.
You can get a copy of Botanical Baking by Juliet Sear and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $13
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
January 27, 1994
On this day, The South Bend Tribune out of South Bend, Indiana, shared an article by Doug Glass called, “Botanist Finds Endangered Plant in His Garden.”
“For someone who makes his living studying plants, George Yatskievych is an indifferent gardener.
It took [him] several months to notice that a load of topsoil delivered to his home in St. Louis was sprouting several clusters of trifolium stoloniferum, also known as Running Buffalo Clover. This native plant had all but vanished in Missouri.
“I was out weeding a flower bed near this topsoil, down on my knees, when I sort of came nose to nose with these things,” said George, who works at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.
"You spend all this time and effort looking for this in nature. . . . (The discovery) was so unexpected." 
Yatskievych and other botanists took the six clovers found in his topsoil and began a project to reintroduce the plant to Missouri.
Now, some five years after his discovery, the Missouri Department of Conservation oversees some 700 seedlings in 25 experimental plots statewide.”
 
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And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

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Historical Events
1627 Birth of John Ray, English naturalist and writer.
In 1660, he published a catalog of Cambridge plants.
John developed his own system for classifying plants based on their observed similarities and differences. So he was clearly thinking about ways to distinguish one plant from another. And in his book, History of Plants, John was the first scientist to use the terms petal and pollen.
John also wrote a Collection of English Proverbs. In one for summer, John wrote:
If the first of July be rainy weather,
It will rain, more or less, for four weeks together.
 
1799 Birth of Amos Bronson Alcott, American teacher, writer, Transcendentalist and reformer.
In most aspects of his life, Amos was ahead of his time. He was also an abolitionist and an advocate for women's rights. He also advocated a plant-based diet. 
Amos once wrote,
Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps, Perennial pleasures, plants, and wholesome harvest
reaps.
In 1830, Amos married pretty Abigail May, and together they had four daughters; the second-oldest was Louisa May, born on this day in 1832.
 
1832 Birth of Louisa May Alcott, American writer, and poet. 
She grew up in the company of her parents' friends and fellow Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In 1868, she wrote Little Women. In it, she wrote,
Jo had learned that hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally...
Louisa could be witty. She once wrote,
Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes.
 
1978 Death of Edward C. Hummel, American plantsman and hybridizer.
Edward and his wife Minnie ran Hummel's Exotic Gardens of southern California for 43 years. They specialized in cacti, succulents, bromeliads ("brow·mee·lee·ads"), and orchids. 
In 1935, Edward and Minnie were featured in a Quaker State Motor Oil advertisement. The young Hummel family is in their home cactus garden. Edward is examining a cactus specimen while his daughter Marquetta and son Edward gather around. Mother Minnie is standing behind them, looking on. The ad garnered plenty of attention, and soon Edward was fielding requests from American gardeners for more information about his cactus garden. The letters gave Edward and Minnie the idea to start a mail-order business for their plants.
In 1943, during WWII, Edward published Hummel's Victory Picture Book. The cover featured a photo of two 6-foot-tall Barrel cacti at the base, leaning away from each other at the top in a perfect V formation for victory. The book was a smash hit, and subsequent editions were quickly put together. In the first edition, Edward wrote a note to his customers in the forward.
Perhaps you will wonder at receiving this free picture book which contains no prices of plants. If you enjoy a few minutes of interest and relaxation in looking it over, it will have fulfilled its obvious purpose. If your interest and curiosity are stirred to the point that you write us for further information, it will have fulfilled its hidden purpose.
After the War, the fumes from LAX drove the Hummels to find a new home for their nursery. They settled in Carlsbad and purchased an existing nursery after the founder Dr. Robert W. Poindexter, died unexpectedly. The nursery was a perfect fit. Robert Poindexter shared the Hummel's passion for cacti and succulents. Robert's son John finalized the sale.
Edward was especially interested in propagating and selling drought-resistant plants in his nursery. He won many awards for his plants and was primarily known for his work with Bromeliads ("brow·mee·lee·ads").
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Flower Flash by Lewis Miller
This book came out in 2021, and Lewis Miller is a celebrated floral designer and "Flower Bandit."
The publisher writes, 
Before dawn one morning in October 2016, renowned New York-based floral designer Lewis Miller stealthily arranged hundreds of brightly colored dahlias, carnations, and mums into a psychedelic halo around the John Lennon memorial in Central Park.
The spontaneous floral installation was Miller's gift to the city an effort to spark joy during a difficult time. Nearly five years and more than ninety Flower Flashes later, these elaborate flower bombs - bursts of jubilant blooms in trash cans, over bus canopies, on construction sites and traffic medians - have brought moments of delight and wonder to countless New Yorkers and flower lovers everywhere, and earned Miller a following of dedicated fans and the nickname the "Flower Bandit."
After New York City entered lockdown, Miller doubled down, creating Flower Flashes outside hospitals to express gratitude to frontline health workers and throughout the city to raise spirits. This gorgeous and poignant visual diary traces the phenomenon from the first, spontaneous Flower Flash to the even more profound installations of the pandemic through a kaleidoscopic collage of photos documenting the Flower Flashes, behind-the-scenes snapshots, Miller's inspiration material, fan contributions, and more.
 
Lewis begins his story this way.
When pressed to define my own vision, a few words come to mind: Abundance. Contrast. Joy. Folly. Energy.
Flowers are a medium like no other. They exist to be beautiful, to attract butterflies and bees. It's a simple but astounding life's mission. Yet all too often this profound essence is suffocated under the weight of other meaning. We humans assign arbitrary significance to almost everything and in the process snuff out the true purpose of that thing; flowers are not spared this imposition. Gladiolas can be dismissed as ghastly, lilies as rancid, and carnations as tacky. Such horrible words to describe flowers, and it doesn't stop there. The cacophony of derogatory remarks is endless: cheap, garish, weedy, "too country," gaudy, pretentious ... It can make the most ambitious flower lover hesitant to create anything for fear of damnation from the Taste Gods.
The Flower Flash is my antidote to all that! Flower Flashes celebrate all the good that flowers embody and have to offer us mortals. In a Flash, every flower benefits equally from a sort of floral democracy and like most democracies, the Flash's success is largely dependent on the hardworking, unsung flowers that support the more delicate and fashionable blooms. Precious sweet peas share company with unloved carnations, chrysanthemums make nice with English garden roses. And it makes sense that this is the recipe for a successful Flash, because New York City, the birthplace of these random acts of beauty, is built on the same principle. Like a true Flower Flash, Gotham City is a glorious mash-up of all kinds of people and personalities.
Since the roads aren't lined with roses, the Flower Flashes will be.
 
This book is 240 pages of Flower Flash Flower Power with the Bandit himself - Lewis Miller - flower lover, flower advocate, and joyous bringer of random acts of beauty.
You can get a copy of Flower Flash by Lewis Miller and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $16.
 
Botanic Spark
1843 Birth of Gertrude Jekyll ("Jee-kul"), British horticulturist, garden designer, photographer, writer, and artist.
Gertrude Jekyll was one of the most influential garden designers of the early 20th century. She created a spectacular garden at her property called Munstead Wood in England. She also created over 400 gardens in  Europe and the United States. Today the Gertrude Jekyll pink rose is considered a gardener favorite, and the rose 'Munstead Wood' honors Gertrude's garden and is one of the most splendid wine red roses.
In her book, On Gardening, Gertrude wrote,
The Dahlia’s first duty in life is to flaunt and to swagger and to carry gorgeous blooms well above its leaves, and on no account to hang its head.
 
and
 
When I pick or crush in my hand a twig of Bay, or brush against a bush of Rosemary, or tread upon a tuft of Thyme… I feel that here is all that is best and purest and most refined, and nearest to poetry ...of the sense of smell.
 
Finally, Gertrude once wrote,
The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but grows to the enduring happiness that the love of gardening gives. 
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Today we celebrate the German botanist who’s 1542 book is one of the most historically significant works of all time and the birthday of a man who discovered the rutabaga.
We'll learn about the man known as “The Father of English Botany” and the man known as the “Father of American Horticulture.”
Today’s Unearthed Words celebrate the sleeping winter landscape.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us create a spa experience in our own homes using herbs from the garden.
I'll talk about a garden item that can turn your plants into wall art, and then we’ll wrap things up with the story of a man who came up with the idea for a magazine for gardeners who read and readers who garden.
But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.
 
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Curated Articles
Great Dixter's Head Gardner, Fergus Garrett, On Conifers | House & Garden
Great post from @_houseandgarden about "Why the Conifer is Having a Comeback."
"Conifers do not have to be plonked in island beds with gaudy heathers, or peppered around Seventies-style rockeries like missiles...
Their range is mouth-watering, adding form and texture with a twist."
 
Best Plants To Paint For Beginners | Kew
Pick up your brushes - Here's Kew’s list of the best plants to paint for beginners | @kewgardens
 
Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in The Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There’s no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1501 Today is the birthday of the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs.
Leonard and his wife had ten children. The genus Fuchsia is named after Fuchs. Leonhart published the first drawing of a corn plant. He also drew one of the first illustrations of the pumpkin plant.
It took Leonard 31 years to write his herbal masterpiece called Historia Stirpium. In the book, he describes 497 plants and 500 illustrations. In 1542, the book was published, and the medicinal uses for each plant were included in the descriptions. His goal was to make the knowledge of herbs accessible to the people. The fact that his book contained so many illustrations definitely helped him achieve his goal.
Leonard’s book described over a hundred plants that had never been written about - like Pumpkins, Chili Peppers, Corn, and Squash. Leonard's Historia Stirpium is regarded as one of the most historically valuable and significant books of all time.
Now, I wanted to share that the cover of the book - which is beautiful - was a bit of a mystery to me. It shows a tree with a coffin in its branches. It turns out it was a printer mark of the printer, Michael Isingrin, who was the printer of Historia Stirpium.
The image of the coffin in a tree forms a Christian cross, and the tree holding the coffin was a holly tree. The inscription "Palma Ising" (i.e., by the hand of Isingrin) is the mark that identifies Michael Isingrin, the printer. " The depiction of a holly tree (Ilex spp. ) was deliberate. Holly is a symbol of eternal life. So essentially, the image represents life and death - the coffin in the tree. Incidentally, the holly tree is regarded as the evergreen twin of the oak.
 
1560 Today is the 460th birthday of the Swiss botanist Gaspard Bauhin. Gaspard spent his life classifying plants, and he ordered plants in a way that's familiar to us today - using binomial names, one name for the genus, and one name for the species.
Gaspard was also the first to document a vegetable he named the napobrassica, the vegetable we know today as the rutabaga. Gaspard’s name for the rutabaga was prophetic because DNA testing has proven that the rutabaga is the result of a turnip crossing with a cabbage.
Gaspard mentioned in his work that the rutabaga was grown in the northern fields of Bohemia, where the people simply called it “root.” Can you survive on rutabaga’s or Swedish turnips, as they are sometimes called? Yes. Yes, you can. Rutabagas can grow to be as big or bigger than a bowling ball.
Almost a year ago, Helen Rosner wrote an article called, “What Rutabaga Does Better Than Anything Else.” It turns out; the rutagaba is perfect for making neutral-tasting, nicely-textured vegetable noodles. Use turnips and the noodles are too spicy. Use zucchini, and the noodles are meh. Use carrots, the noodles are too sweet. But, rutabaga noodles are just right.
Rosner’s favorite restaurant in Brooklyn makes rutabaga noodles using a Japanese slicer resulting in perfect paper ribbons of rutabaga. If you look at the finished dish, you’d never know they weren’t real pasta.
Gaspard wrote, “Pinax Theatri Botanici” (“An Illustrated Exposition of Plants”). In his book, he described thousands of plants, and he classified them using binomial nomenclature. Naturally, his work is considered a forerunner to that of Carl Linnaeus.
 
1705 Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and theologian John Ray. Ray is regarded as the most distinguished British naturalist of the seventeenth century and “The Father of English Botany.”
Ray was born to a blacksmith, and his mother was an herbalist. He was ordained as a minister but then turned his attention to zoology and botany after the King of England ordered the clergy to condemn their covenant with the church.
In 1650, twenty-five years before the first maps of Europe were written for the masses; Ray went on a quest. He traveled around Europe for three years - with two friends - and he observed flora and fauna. Ray coined the botanical terms ‘petal’ and ‘pollen.’ His book, Historia Plantarum, was the first textbook of modern botany.
The naturalist Gilbert White wrote,
”Our countryman, the excellent Mr. Ray, is the only describer [of plants and animals] who conveys some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators.”
The sculptor, Faith Winter, created a distinguished-looking statue of John Ray. It was unveiled by the botanist David Bellamy on October 11, 1986.
 
1890 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish-American plantsman Peter Henderson.
Known as “The Father of America Horticulture,” he published "Gardening for Profit" in 1866, followed by "Gardening for Pleasure."
"Gardening for Profit" was the first to book ever written about market gardening in the United States.
When Peter arrived in the US, he worked for a time for the nurserymen George Thorburn and Robert Buist.
After years of refining his growing systems and practices, he established his seed company on his 49th birthday. Peter ran the company - alongside his two sons, Alfred and Charles.
In Peter’s biography written by his son, Alfred, it said:
“His long experience as a market gardener probably made him realize more than most seedsmen, the necessity of testing seeds before offering them for sale, but whatever the cause, the fact remains, that he was the first in this country to initiate the true and natural way of proving the vitality of seeds—that is, by sowing them in the soil, the seedman's usual plan being to germinate them in moist cotton or flannel—nearly always a misleading method.”
Peter lived nearly his whole life in Jersey City. He began of friendship with Andrew Carnegie after reading his book called Triumphant Democracy. He also became friends with the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher; they shared a giddy love for flowers. Mr. William R. Smith, the superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at Washington,  paid Peter the highest possible tribute in calling him "The Great Horticultural Missionary."
 
Unearthed Words
Here are some poems that use a sleeping metaphor to describe the Landscape in Winter.
 
The hiss was now becoming a roar - 
the whole world was a vast moving screen of snow - 
but even now it said peace,
it said remoteness, 
it said cold, 
it said sleep.
— Conrad Aiken, American Writer
 
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, 
that it kisses them so gently? 
And then it covers them up snug, 
you know, with a white quilt; 
and perhaps it says
“Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”
— Lewis Carroll, English Writer
 
The cold earth slept below;
Above the cold sky shone;
And all around,
With a chilling sound,
From caves of ice and fields of snow
The breath of night like death did flow
Beneath the sinking moon.
—
The moon made thy lips pale, beloved;
The wind made thy bosom chill;
The night did shed
On thy dear head
Its frozen dew, and thou didst lie
Where the bitter breath of the naked sky
Might visit thee at will.
— Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic Poet, The cold earth slept below
 
When against earth a wooden heel
Clicks as loud as stone on steel,
When stone turns flour instead of flakes,
And frost bakes clay as fire bakes,
When the hard-bitten fields at last
Crack like iron flawed in the cast,
When the world is wicked and cross and old,
I long to be quit of the cruel cold.

Little birds like bubbles of glass
Fly to other Americas,
Birds as bright as sparkles of wine
Fly in the nite to the Argentine,
Birds of azure and flame-birds go
To the tropical Gulf of Mexico:
They chase the sun; they follow the heat,
It is sweet in their bones, O sweet, sweet, sweet!
It's not with them that I'd love to be,
But under the roots of the balsam tree.
Just as the spiniest chestnut-burr
Is lined within with the finest fur,
So the stoney-walled, snow-roofed house
Of every squirrel and mole and mouse
Is lined with thistledown, sea-gull's feather,
Velvet mullein-leaf heaped together
With balsam and juniper, dry and curled,
Sweeter than anything else in the world.
O what a warm and darksome nest
Where the wildest things are hidden to rest!
It's there that I'd love to lie and sleep,
Soft, soft, soft, and deep, deep, deep!
— Elinor Wylie, American Poet, Winter Sleep
 
Grow That Garden Library
The Herb Lover's Spa Book by Sue Goetz
This book came out in 2015, and the subtitle to this book is: Create a Luxury Spa Experience at Home with Fragrant Herbs from Your Garden.
Sue shows us how easy it is to grow and prepare therapeutic herbs for a custom spa experience in the comfort of your own home. It will help you unplug, relax, and make the world go away.
Sue was the perfect author for this book - an herb gardener, spa enthusiast, and award-winning garden designer - she gives simple steps for growing and preparing herbs for aromatherapy oils, lotions, tub teas, masks, scrubs, sachets, and more.
You can get a used copy of The Herb Lover's Spa Book by Sue Goetz and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $3. Great deal!
 
Great Gifts for Gardeners
Pack of 6 Glass Planters Wall Hanging Planters Round Glass Plant Pots $22.99
I had a friend who had these little glass globe planters on her walls, and she filled them all with succulents, and over the holidays, she added mini led lights with the warm color, and they are battery-operated, and it looked so great. She hung hers with screws.
I’m planning to use my favorite moldable glue product -Sugru - to hang mine. Anyway, they look very cool on the wall with air plants or with pathos or what have you. It ends up looking like plant art for your walls. Perfect anywhere - mine will be going in the guest bathroom.

• The package includes six glass hanging planters with six nails.
• Size: 4.7-inch diameter for each glass ball air plant pot.
• The hole on the back of the glass planter allows you to hang it on the wall with the small white nail without doing any harm on your wall.
• The wall hanging planter is a perfect container for your air plants, water plants, and any other plant accessories.

 
Today’s Botanic Spark
1989 David Wheeler's gardening journal, Hortus, was started.
Adrian Higgins wrote about David’s founding of Hortus in the Washington Post eight years ago saying:
“A curious throwback to the analog age landed in my mailbox the other day: Hortus, a journal of garden writing.
Almost everything about the quarterly periodical is wonderfully old-fashioned: It produces tactile and aesthetic pleasures once taken for granted ...
Flop in a soft chair, thumb the pages and ponder that Hortus doesn’t exist in some electronic ether ...
David Wheeler started Hortus 31 years ago, and he has a motto that Hortus “is for gardeners who read and readers who garden.”
Thirty-one years later, the subscription list continues to stay modest. Subscriptions are about $75 a year, which includes airmail postage. Wheeler also writes for newspapers and other periodicals to supplement his income.
He tells his friends that Hortus “pays for the tonic, but not the gin.”
FYI: I just bought a subscription myself — Merry Christmas to me.

 
I ran across a fascinating old journal as I was researching this show - what I especially loved about it was the layout.
 
 
If you want to copy it here's what you do:
 

• Dedicate a page of your journal to each type of plant in your garden.
• Make some notes about the characteristics of the plant. (Maybe what you like about it as well)
• Then leave room to chart the major events with the plant.

 
For instance, after describing Kalmia Angustifolia, it says this: 

• June 7, 1908  First Flowers
• June 15th  Generally comes into bloom
• July 13  Still in flower
• Rarely any flowers in the autumn.
•  

Doesn't that make for a very handy and personal reference guide for your garden?
 
 
 
Brevities


#OTD  It's the anniversary of the death of one of the most eminent botanists of his age: Louis Claude Richard who died on this day in 1821. 

His great grandfather had been in charge of the menagerie at Versailles.
 
His grandfather had been charge of the botanic gardens at Trianon.
 
Even his own father was placed in charge of the King's Garden.
 
A biography of Richard was featured in international Gazette in 1831. It said:
 
"Louis Claude Richard was therefore born in the midst of plants; he learnt to know them sooner than the letter of the alphabet; and before he he was able to write correctly, he could draw flowers, or plans of gardens... He did not recollect a moment of his life in which be had not been a botanist; and if he ever engaged in other studies, botany was always the object of them."
In 1781, he was the naturalist to the king.
 
Richard sailed from France to French Guyana. Eight years later, when he returned to France, he brought his herbarium; which contained over 1000 plants.
 
 
 
 
#OTD  It was on this day in 1769, that Daniel Boone first laid eyes on the forests of present-day Kentucky.
 
Boone wrote in his journal:
 
"Not a breeze shook the most tremulous leaf. I had gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and, looking round with astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains, the beauteous tracts below."
 
30 years later, Boone left Kentucky and followed his son to Missouri.
 
He was often asked why he left Kentucky.  He always answered the same way:
 
“Too crowded! too crowded! I want elbow-room!”
 
 
 
 
#OTD  It's the birthday of Fletcher Steele; an American landscape architect who designed over 700 gardens. He was born on this day in 1885.
 
His most iconic work was nestled into the Hillside in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
 
It's called The Blue Staircase at Naumkeag.
 
Steele designed the staircase for Mable Choate in 1926. She would become his most important client. She was 56 and he was 41.
 
Choate had a history of working with designers and she knew how to collaborate with them.
 
Steele was one of the first landscape architects to speak of plant material as one of the elements in a composition.
 
It was Fletcher Steele who said
"Gardening seems to be the most ephemeral of the arts."
 
 
 
#OTD It's the birthday of the botanist Jack Harlan, born on this day in 1917.
 
Harlan followed in the footsteps of his botanists father Harry Harland. He loved going on plant collecting expeditions - mainly in search of new genetic material for the USDA's crop breeding programs.
 
Harlan was worried about genetic vulnerability and genetic wipeout
 
Harlan said:
"We  MUST collect and study wild and weedy relatives of our cultivated plants... we cannot afford to ignore any source of useable genes.”
 
Harlan wrote those words in 1970.
 
And one of his final works contain these words:
 
"We will not and cannot find a time or place where agriculture originated. We will not and cannot because it did not happen that way. Agriculture is not the result of a happening, an idea, an invention, discovery or instruction by a god or goddess. It emerged as a result of long periods of intimate coevolution between plants and man. Animals are not essential; plants supply over 90% of the food consumed by humans."
 
 

Unearthed Words

Here's a quote from poet, sculptor, and artist Jean Arp who died on this day in 1966.
"Art is a fruit that grows in man, like a fruit on a plant, or a child in its mother's womb."
 
Here's a quote from Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was born on this day in 1868.
"Art is the flower - Life is the green leaf."
 
 


Today's book recommendation: Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect: An Account of the Gardenmaker's Life, 1885-1971 by Robin S. Karson
 
Karson wrote this book back in 2003.
 
The cover shows Steele's signature work: The Blue Staircase.
 
The beginning of Karson's book includes Steele's most famous quote. He said,
 
"The chief vice in the garden is to be merely... pretty."
 
 


Today's Garden Chore

It's another Photo Friday in the Garden.  
 
Water your plants and then go take pictures.
 
I did this with my student gardener today. Her images of blossoms with water droplets on the petals were absolutely incredible.
 
 
 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 

The First-Ever Southeastern Plant Symposium is taking place in North Carolina.
 
Mark Weathington and Tony Avent are launching this event in Raleigh.
 
They will be talking about cutting edge plants, new trends in gardening, and new plants selections that reinvent how we think about gardening.
 
Today the event runs from 9 AM to to 8:30 PM and then Saturday, tomorrow, it runs from 9 AM to 4:45.
 
So, if you're in North Carolina be sure to check this out.
 


 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:

"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Gardeners.
 
Horticultural experts.
 
Professors, even.
 
On the garden path, you can, from time to time, run into people that decimate you faster than a Japanese Beetle on green beans.
 
Let's just set one thing straight. Gardening is good for you, but people who give garden advice can be bad for you. 
 
What they fail to realize is that gardening is an activity of the head AND the heart.
 
I'm here to tell you, gardening is the absolute most wonderful pastime. But don't let anyone diminish your love for it. If the folks giving you advice aren't respectful, helpful, or loving - they shouldn't be in the business of helping people garden. The world needs every gardener it can get. The best thing you can give a gardener is encouragement.
 
 
Brevities
 
 
#OTD It's the death day of William Herbert (12 January 1778 – 28 May 1847). 
 
He was a British botanist, a distinguished scholar and poet, an Amaryllis breeder, and a clergyman who eventually became the first Dean of Manchester; the head of the Chapter of Manchester Cathedral.
 
In 1837, Herbert wrote a book about the Amaryllidaceae ("am-uh-ril-id-AY-see-ee") or the Amaryllis ("am-uh-RIL-us") family.  The Amaryllis was named after Virgil's shepherdess Amarysso from Greek mythology, meaning "to sparkle".
 
Nearly two decades earlier,  Herbert had split the genera in two – creating one genera for the original Amaryllis genera named by Linnaeus and for the other genera for what he called the Hippeastrum ("hip-ee-ASS-trum").
 
He explained his actions in writing saying:
 
"Many years ago,...when I  distinguished this genus,... I retained for it the name Amaryllis, and proposed that of Coburghia for Belladonna and Blanda. I was not then aware that Linnaeus had given the name Amaryllis to Belladonna, with a playful reason assigned; but as soon as I learned it, I felt, ... that the jeu d'esprit of a distinguished man ought not to be superceded, and that and that no continental botanist would submit to the change. I therefore restored the name Amaryllis to Belladonna, and gave that of Hippeastrum or Equestrian star to this genus, following up the idea of Linnaeus when he named one of the original species equestre."
 
Hippeastrum is Greek; hippeus for rider and astron for star - thus, "horseman's star". Gardeners surmise that the closed buds of the flower look something like a horse's ear and the blossoms are shaped like six-pointed stars.
 
 
As is often the case in horticulture, the more popular name didn't end up with the more popular genus. The the original Amaryllis genus ended up with only one species - the belladonna - although another species has been discovered.  Meanwhile the Hippeastrum genus has a whopping 90 species and over 600 cultivars. It's clearly more significant, botanically speaking, after being hybridized in the 19th century. Thus, it's the hippeastrum genera that gives us the large bulbs we pot up in the winter and lovingly call by their common name: Amaryllis... but they are really Hippeastrum. So this November, when you're potting up your Amaryllis, think to yourself - Hip Hip Hooray - it's Hippeastrum day!
 
What's the likelihood that actually happens?
Yeah. It doesn't roll off the tongue, does it?
 
The confusion about the two different genera stems from the fact that folks didn't like and don't likesaying Hippeastrum.
 
When the change was announced, the eminent horticultural empire builder, Harry Veitch challenged it eloquently when he said,
 
"Are we wrong in continuing to call these grand flowers after the name of the Virgilian nymph, and should we therefore drop the pleasing appellative with which they have been almost indissolubly connected from our earliest memory, and substitute the rougher Hippeastrum for the softer Amaryllis?'
 
Veitch was not alone. The century growers from the infamous bulb families refused to go along with the name change. To this day, the bulbs are exported from the Netherlands in crates clearly marked Amaryllis.
 
Yet, William Herbert is remembered fondly through the ages. The genus Herbertia of Sweet - a small genus in the Iris Family - commemorated him.
 
Charles Darwinwrote about Herbert in the On the Origin of Species(1859):
 In regard to plants, no one has treated this subject with more spirit and ability than W. Herbert, Dean of Manchester, evidently the result of his great horticultural knowledge.
And, the International Bulb Societyawards The Herbert Medalto people who advance the knowledge of bulbous plants.
 
 
#OTD It's the birthday of Carl Richard Nyberg (May 28, 1858, – 1939) the Swede who created the blowtorch which in turn led to the flame weeder.
 
Nyberg worked in various industrial companies, eventually landing at J. E. Eriksons Mekanikus. While he was there, he came up with the idea for the blowtorch. He built a prototype complete with safety features. 
 
Convinced he was on to something, he quit his job at Eriksons in 1882 and set up a workshop in Stockholm making blowtorches.  Nyberg hadn't set up efficient production and he didn't have a dedicated or trained sales team.  It flopped.
 
Four years later, in 1886, he met a man named Max Sievert at a country fair. They struck up a conversation and Sievert was savvy enough to know realize the potential of Nyberg's blowtorch.  Seivert started selling it and Nyberg was back in business.
 
This time, Nyberg diversified. He made blowtorches as well as small paraffin oil and kerosene stoves.
 
Nyberg's company went public in 1906 and Nyberg gave his employees stock in the company. Known as "Nybergs snobbar" or Nyberg's snobs, Nyberg's employees were better off than their peers in other companies.In 1922 Nyberg's old friend, Max Sievert, bought the company and he continued to own it until 1964 when it was bought by Esso.
 
Although Nyberg worked on countless other inventions, his heart actually belonged to aviation. He became known as "Flyg-Nyberg" (Flying-Nyberg). For over two decades beginning in the late 1800's, he built and tested his plane, the Flugan (The Fly) on a circular wood track in his garden.  Nyberg was the first to test his design in a wind tunneland the first to build an airplane hangar.Despite his inability to get his invention to fly, the fact he attempted it at all was something of a miracle; Nyberg was afraid of heights.
 
 
 
Unearthed Words
Greek mythology tells the story of Amaryllis, who was a lovestruck shepherdess.
She met a handsome shepherd on the mountainside. His name was Alteo and she fell in love with him. But, the problem was that Alteo had a heart only for flowers. Oh, to be one of his beloved blossoms!
Amaryllis went to the Oracle at Delphi who gave her a Golden arrow. The Oracle told Amaryllis that each night she must dress all in white and stand outside Alteo's house. Then she must pierce her own heart with the Golden arrow and knock on Alteo's door. For 29 nights, Alteo slept soundly, never hearing Amaryllis cry out; never hearing her knock at his door.
But, on the 30th night, Alteo awoke to her cry, and when she knocked on his door, he opened it. There, Amaryllis stood in her white gown. Her heart was fully healed and on the ground, wherever her blood has been shed, were the most magnificent scarlet flowers Alteo had ever seen. Alteo knelt before her and pledged his undying love to Amaryllis. Now, every holiday season, we watch the Amaryllis bloom and we are reminded of the wonder and the power of love; which is the strongest power of all - stronger than even death.
Here's a little poem I wrote about the Amaryllis:
 
Amaryllis by Jennifer Ebeling
 
Amaryllis is so sweet and fair,
A name that's true; beyond compare.
Though Herbert made the genera split,
He picked a name we'd soon   forget
So goche, it starts with hippeasst,
In the game of names, it   comes in last
Rather follow like sheep where Linnaeus led,
Honoring a shepherdess who willing bled
For the love of a shepherd who saw her not,
But oh, Amaryllis, gardeners have not forgot.
Today, we say Alteo who?
But, at your name, we can construe
The bulb that blooms in winter's chill.
Amaryllis, you are with us still.
 
 
 
Today's book recommendation: Medieval Herbals by Minta Collins 
 
Published in 2000, Minta's book the first book author Anna Pavord gives credit to for her work in The Naming of Names about the earliest work in plant taxonomy.
Medieval Herbals provides one of the few resources on the subject of the earliest ideas and books of herbs.
Minta explains how herbals became the backbone of knowledge for medical scholars. The books were expensive, difficult to obtain and often invaluable to historians, botanists, and the world of culture and art.
I, for one, love that someone named Minta wrote a book about herbs.
Hardcover versions of this book sell for over $300. However, the link in today's show notes, can get you to paperback copies on Amazon of this incredible resource for just over $30. That's a 90% savings.
 
 
Today's Garden Chore:  
Address exposed tree roots with mulch instead of soil.
Depending on your type of soil, and the type of tree, tree roots can sometimes erupt on the surface of the soil. Many gardeners want to bury the Exposed roots; But, putting more than an inch to an inch and a half of soil on top of the exposed root can actually smother the tree.  Placing a small layer of mulch on top of the exposed tree root is preferred. Mulch is lighter, has more air pockets, and when rained on creates an organic tea; adding nutrients back into the soil.
 
 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
#OTD  On this day in 1919, New Hampshire selected the purple lilac as the state flower Because they said it symbolized the hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State.
 
In 1750, the first lilac was planted at the home of the first Gov. Benning Wentworth. An Englishman, Wentworth had brought the lilac along with other trees and shrubs when he immigrated to America.
 
Nearly 200 years later, New Hampshire Gov. Francis P. Murphy commemorated a planting at the capital on April 25, 1939.
 
He remarked,
 
"Six roots were taken from the famous lilac trees In the garden of the first colonial governor of New Hampshire.So today, We are placing in the earth of the Capitol grounds root cuttings from the very first lilacs ever to come to America. We are very proud of this little flower which is uniquely ours and as I plant these routes today, I ask you to join with me in the hope that they may thrive and in the course of time, grow into full beauty."
 
And here's one final note about the Wentworth lilacs: The lilacs planted at Mount Vernon by George Washington are also thought to be slips taken from the Wentworth estate.
 
 
 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today in botanical history, we celebrate an old English poet, a Mexican botanist, and a British gardener and survivalist who was way ahead of his time.
We'll hear an excerpt from a beautiful Jack Gilbert poem
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a garden classic of our time from a contemporary garden expert.
And then we'll wrap things up with a fun movie that featured a botanist. It debuted six years ago today in England.
 
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Curated News
Is a coconut a fruit, nut, or seed? | Library of Congress
 
Important Events
September 30, 1669 
Death of Henry King, English poet. He served as Bishop of Chichester and was close friends with John Donne. He wrote,
Brave flowers - that I could gallant it like you, 
And be as little vain! 
You come abroad, and make a harmless show, 
And to your beds again. 
You are not proud: you know your birth: 
For your embroidered garments are from earth.
 
September 30, 1901
Birth of Helia Bravo Hollis, Mexican botanist. She was the first woman to graduate with a degree in biology in Mexico. By 29, she was curator of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico City) herbarium, where she studied cacti. Her work brought notoriety, and she became known as The Queen of the Cacti. She co-wrote her masterpiece, Las Cactaceas de México, with Hernando Sánchez-Mejorada. In 1951, she cofounded the Mexican Cactus Society, which planned to celebrate her 100th birthday in 2001, but she died four days shy of the century mark. In 1980, Monaco's Princess Grace Kelly, who was also fond of cacti, presented Helia with the second-ever Golden Cactus Award. Helia helped found the Botanical Gardens at UNAM, where she served as the director throughout the 1960s. Once, when a strike occurred at the gardens, she offset her workers' lost wages with her own savings. In 2018, Google commemorated Helia's 117th birthday with a Google Doodle. Online, there is a memorable image of  Helia dressed in a skirt and blazer - with a knife in her hand - and standing next to an enormous Echinocactus platyacanthus, aka the giant barrel cactus. In Mexico, where the cactus is a native, the hairs are harvested for weaving, and a traditional candy is made from boiling the pith. Today, the Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden, with more than 80 species of Cactaceae, is found at the Biosphere Reserve of Tehuacán.
Helia once wrote,
My reason for living is biology and cacti.
 
September 30,  1910
Birth of Edward Solomon Hyams, British gardener, French scholar, historian, anarchist, and writer. He was a gardening correspondent for the Illustrated London News and The Spectator and various horticultural journals. After WWII, he lived a self-sufficient lifestyle at Nut Tree Cottages in Molash in Kent. He planted a small vineyard and later wrote The Grape Vine in England (1949). The following year, he wrote From the Waste Land (1950), which describes the transformation of three acres at Nut Tree Cottages into a market garden that generated food and income. In The Gardener's Bedside Book (1968), he wrote,
I have never been interested in and am incapable of writing about the great hybrid garden tulips. I do not mean to condemn them or anything foolish like that; but one cannot be interested in every kind of garden plant, and that particular kind has never made any real appeal to me whatsoever. But the botanical species tulips are quite another matter.
 
Unearthed Words
Love is like a garden in the heart, he said.
They asked him what he meant by garden.
He explained about gardens. "In the cities,"
he said, "there are places walled off where color
and decorum are magnified into a civilization.
Like a beautiful woman," he said. How like
a woman, they asked. He remembered their wives
and said garden was just a figure of speech,
then called for drinks all around. Two rounds
later he was crying. 
― Jack Gilbert, Ovid in Tears, The Dance Most of All: Poems
 
Grow That Garden Library
Windcliff by Daniel J. Hinkley
This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is A Story of People, Plants, and Gardens.
In this book, we learn about Windcliff - one of two magnificent gardens created by the plantsman, nurseryman, and plant hunter Dan Hinkley. (Dan also created Heronswood.)
“These iconic gardens, and the story of how one gave rise to the other, are celebrated in Hinkley’s deeply personal Windcliff. In a lively style that mingles audacious opinions on garden design with cautionary tales of planting missteps, Hinkley shares his infectious passion for plants.”
In these pages, you will fall in love with Windcliff thanks to the gorgeous photography and fall even deeper in love hearing about the careful way Dan created Windcliff, from the exceptional plants he selected to his pragmatic garden advice.
This book is 280 pages of creating a garden with a modern master who loves plants and is delighted to share his stunning garden with us.
You can get a copy of Windcliff by Daniel J. Hinkley and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $22.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
September 30, 2015 
On this day, The Martian, featuring Matt Damon as botanist Mark Watney premiered in England. In the movie, Mark is accidentally left on Mars and is forced to grow potatoes to stay alive until he is rescued.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

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Historical Events
 
1780 It was on this day that much of New England was shrouded in darkness.
In fact, many feared that Judgment Day had arrived And so this day became known as The Dark Day.
During this day, the sun rose as per usual. But around 10 o'clock in the morning, the sky grew dark. So dark that there were reports of candle-lit lunches, and people stopped what they were doing to pray.
The blackout spread from Portland, Maine, to New Jersey. Boston newspapers reported that chickens returned to their roosts after the darkness began, and animals returned to their places in the barn - even they knew that something odd was going on.
Even General George Washington wrote about the dark day in his diary.
The nature poet John Greenleaf Whittier (books about this person) wrote about the event in a poem.
Twas on a May-day of the
far-old years
Seventeen hundred eighty,
that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life
of the spring,
Over the fresh earth, and the
heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness.'
"Men prayed, and women
wept; all ears grew sharp
To hear the doom-blast of the
trumpet shatter
The black sky.
 
Instead of Judgment Day, it's now generally believed that the darkness stemmed from a fire out west.
And the following night, on May 19th in 1780, New England was treated to a full moon that was said to be as red as blood set against the night sky - a spring to remember.
 
1864 Death of Nathaniel Hawthorne (books about this person), American novelist, and short-story writer.
In May 1866, Nathaniel's sister Sophia was writing about The Wayside landscape in a letter to her friend, Annie Fields.
She wrote:
There is a beauty in May which there is not in July. After these latter rains, the glory of tender and deep greens surpasses all words . . . the
walks — the paths look so nice, and there is no knowing what enormity of sauciness the weeds will arrive at by July.
 
In 1843, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a crazy short story that not many people know about today. The story was about a mad scientist who becomes obsessed about removing his wife Georgiana's birthmark. And so the scientist, concocts a remedy for the blemish and creates a solution using the leaves of geraniums. As his wife drinks this potion, her birthmark does fade away, but in the process, the mixture also kills her. Thus, she dies a perfect unblemished woman. And that's the end of this little known and very bizarre short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
 
1906 On this day, Country Life gave an update on the season of tulips.
They wrote,
The writer regards the season of Tulips as one of the brightest and happiest of the year. Daffodils still flutter in the wind, the first of the Roses
are bursting their buds, and the whole air is filled with the scent of wayside of garden flowers. But it is the Tulip that gives the colour, splashes of crimson,scarlet, yellow, rose, white, and even black. 
A black Tulip is a reality, and is known as The Sultan. It belongs to the race called Darwin, but we prefer the homely name of the May or Cottage Tulip. Dusky as the firm, short segments are, they have weird, strange beauty, which is as fascinating as the clear crimson of the greatest of all Tulips, Tulipa gesneriana major, which opens its big goblets to the sun and discloses a pool of inky blue at the base.
A few years ago the May Tulips were seldom seen, but persistent reference to them has brought about a revolution: so much so, that one greets the Tulip with much the same affection as the Daffodil which precedes it. We believe it was in the Royal Gardens, Kew, that the Gesner and other Tulips were first planted in large beds, and the effect of their glorious colour we shall ever remember, it was a novel sight...
 
So there you go—an update on tulip season from 1906.
And isn't it interesting to think about how tulips were perceived compared to the daffodil a little over a hundred years ago?
 
1934 Birth of Ruskin Bond (books about this person), Indian author of British descent.
Ruskin's novels, The Room on the Roof and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, received critical acclaim and he's written hundreds of short stories, essays, and books for children.
In The Room on the Roof, Ruskin wrote,
I don't want to rot like mangoes at the end of the season, or burnout like the sun at the and of the day. 
I cannot live like the gardener, the cook and water-carrier, doing the same task everyday of my life... 
I want to be either somebody or nobody. 
I don't want to be anybody.
From Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas, Ruskin wrote,
Yes, I'd love to have a garden of my own--spacious, and full of everything that is fragrant and flowering. But if I don't succeed, never mind--I've still got the dream.
 
Finally, in his book, A Book of Simple Living: Brief Notes from the Hills, Ruskin wrote,
Botanists have done their best to intimidate and confuse the nature lover. But we should not allow ourselves to be discouraged; we have as much right to the enjoyment of wild flowers as they. So I will disregard the botanist and I will go looking for the pretty flower that I have named Merry Heart. It is always nodding and dancing in the breeze. It is a happy flower, deserving of a happy, light name.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
The Modern Cottage Garden by Greg Loades
This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is A Fresh Approach to a Classic Style.
This book is practical and inspirational - and if you are a fan of cottage gardens, then this is a book that you will want to have in your garden library.
I love Greg's approach here because what he has done is come up with a blend between the New Perennial Movement and Classic Cottage Style - and he's integrated both of those concepts Into the looks that you see in real life gardens in this book.
And so, as the reader, what you'll come away with are images of beautiful color in the garden, the use of grasses and native plants - in addition to Greg's thoughtful approach. Greg wants these gardens to be low maintenance and to offer many seasons of interest, which is the sweet spot for gardens nowadays.
I will walk you through the table of contents, and then I'll give you a little excerpt from Greg's book.
Greg starts with what he calls the roots of his book, which are both the traditional Cottage Garden and the New Perennial Garden. Greg takes you into a deep dive into both approaches.
Then in the next section of his book, he talks about how to create a Modern Cottage Gardenn which, as I just mentioned, is a blend of both Classic Cottage Gardening and the New Perennial Garden Movement.
So with Greg's help, you'll understand how to put together a gardener's garden - that's what he calls it - and how to maximize small spaces and incorporate Modern Cottage Gardening into your containers, which I think is such a hot topic this year.
Now the back half of Greg's book is devoted to the seasons - so he walks you through Modern Cottage Gardening season by season.
At the end of the book, there are fifty plant profiles, and these are Greg's go-to plants when it comes to garden design.
But, right at the beginning of Greg's book, he introduces you to the Modern Cottage Garden.
He writes,
It is difficult to stick to one style in the garden, isn't it?
Maybe this is because plants are alive, and as they grow, we get attached to them. 
So we can't let go of the plant that has survived three house moves. 
Or the large shrub that started life from a cutting taken from a friend's garden.
 
This sounds so familiar. Doesn't it?
He writes,
Plants are memories. 
Plants can make us feel proud. 
Plants tell stories. 
And who can resist choosing new plants for the garden when they see them in flower in a nursery, even if they don't know where they will go or whether they are in keeping with what is there? 
 
I just experienced this exact scenario this morning.
 
And then Greg writes,
Let's be honest, who has a scale map of their garden, showing all the gaps, each time they find themselves looking at plants for sale? 
Then as we introduce unlikely plant partners to the border, we push the boundaries of traditional garden styles, whether by accident or design. 
 
And here is where Greg helps us get on track.
He writes,
This is, in fact, a good thing. The mixing together of plants from older garden styles is creating something special indeed: a new style that combines the best of the Traditional Cottage Garden and of the gardens of the New Perennial Garden Movement. 
For argument's sake, let's call it the Modern Cottage Garden.
This is a gardener's garden. 
Its generous style is for gardeners who can't resist plants.
 
Can I get an Amen?
The spoke is 288 pages of the Modern Cottage Garden — encouraging you to grow plants that are new to you, try new combinations or new communities of plants, and enjoy the process of experimenting in your garden.
You can get a copy of The Modern Cottage Garden by Greg Loades and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $9.
 
Botanic Spark
1899 On this day, Lou Andreas Salomé (books about this person), the first female psychoanalyst and writer, and Rainer Maria Rilke (books about this person), the Austrian poet and writer, visited Leo Tolstoy (books about this person) in Russia.
Now this entire trip was Lou's idea. She hoped that Tolstoy would be a mentor to her friend and lover, Rainer ("Rye-nur") Maria Rilke.
Lou Andreas Salomé was a bit of a muse to Rainer Maria Rilke. Early in their friendship, Lou was the one who encouraged him to change his first name from René to Rainer. She also encouraged him to learn Russian and to read Tolstoy.
And so that sets the stage for their meeting with Leo Tolstoy in his garden on this day, May 19th in, 1899.
One account of the meeting goes like this:
We no longer looked about us, but at him absorbing this landscape. 
Bending down from time to time to pluck, forget me nots with a quick motion of his cup tanned as if to snatch up the odor from the stem. 
He would then hold them close to his face and breathe them. 
Intensely consume them as it were. 
And then let them fall to the ground.
 
Well, it seems Leo was more interested in his garden than in becoming a mentor to Rainer Maria Rilke.
But the story doesn't end there. Rainer Maria Rilke fell in love with Russia - and for a brief period with Lou Andreas Salomé.
And it was during his time in Russia, Rainer wrote one of his masterpieces: a trilogy of timeless poetry called The Book of Hours.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

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Historical Events
1809 On this day, Thomas Jefferson (books about this person) wrote to his friend and favorite nurseryman, Bernhard McMahon.
At the time, Jefferson was counting the days until he retired from the White House.
From Jefferson's letters, it's clear that he was looking forward to spending more time in his garden.
The previous July, Jefferson had written McMahon and confided:
Early in the next year I shall ask [for] some cuttings of your gooseberries 
and [I'll also] send a pretty copious list for...the best kinds of garden seeds and flowers. 
I shall be at home early in March [and plan to] very much devote myself to my garden… 
I have the tulips you sent to me in great perfection, also the hyacinths, tuberoses, amaryllis, and artichokes.
 
And so, when Jefferson wrote to McMahon on this day - a month before leaving office - he was following up with the list of plants he wanted at Monticello ("MontiCHELLo"). As you might imagine, Jefferson's letter reads the same as any written by an avid gardener in pursuit of new stock:
Sir
I have been daily expecting some of the large hiccory nuts from Roanoke… 
but they [have] not yet arrived.   
I must now ask [a] favor of you 
to furnish me with the [items mentioned below] for the garden, 
which will occupy much of my attention... at home. 
…If you will be so good as to send them by the stage 
which leaves Philadelphia on the 1st of March… 
they will come in time for me to carry on to Monticello. 
I salute you with esteem.
Th: Jefferson

• Chili strawberry
• Hudson strawberry
• Some of the fine gooseberry plants of which you sent me the fruit last year
• Some roots of Crown imperials(Fritillaria imperialis - a dazzling and unique member of the Lily (Liliaceae) family)
• lilium convallarium (lily of the valley)
• Auricula
• Sea kale, or Crambe maritime
• One gallon of Leadman’s dwarf peas (mentioned in your book page 310)

 
1823 John Galvin was born. An English-American born in Kent, he mastered his grandfather's nursery business in Ireland before immigrating to America with his mother at 18.
After working for several nurseries in New England, including the property owned by Thomas Motley which would eventually become the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard, John went on to beautify Boston as the City's Forester. John's greatest legacy was transforming old circus grounds and a playground into the Boston Public Garden. After the Massachusetts Public Garden Act was passed in 1856, George Meacham was hired to design the park. But it was John Galvin, and his crew who installed the trees, shrubs, flowers, and turf.
Outside of his work for the city, John opened the very first retail florist shop in Boston, making life much easier for him and his customers. Before John's flower shop, Bostonians had to order their roses and other cut flowers by mail. They would put their orders in little post boxes that John had placed in various stores around the city. It was a cumbersome process. John named his business John Galvin & Co., and the work became a family affair as John's wife and seven children helped the business prosper. Over time, the middle child, a son named Thomas, took over the business, and he became a successful gardener, landscape designer, and florist in his own right.
John was a beloved member of many Boston social and charitable groups. He embraced his Irish heritage and loved dancing jigs and reels. One obituary noted that his favorite Irish song was Malony Don't Know that McCarthy is Dead, sung to the tune of the Irish Washerwoman.
Two years before he died, at the age of 76, the April 6th, 1899 edition of the New England Florist shared a little story about John. They wrote,
The veteran florist John Galvin, the father of Thomas W Galvin, had his pocket picked on the street the other day - March 31st, we believe. But [he] knew nothing about it until told by a friend whom [John] suspected of trying to spring an April Fool's on him. [That is,] until he found his pocketbook with $70 in cash missing.
[But in a stroke of good fortune,] the thief, while being chased by the police, [dropped the pocketbook.] [John's ownership] was ascertained [after finding] his name marked [inside].
The moral is to get $70 in your pocketbook and then be sure your name is on it.
 
1944 On this day, Del Monte ran an ad supporting the quality of their canned and jarred fruit over homegrown. 
Despite prior marketing in support of Victory Gardens, on this day Del Monte floated a pitch to consumers on this day during WWII that featured a woman holding a can of peaches saying,
I learned the hard way all right! — and believe me, since I put up fruit of my own I appreciate Del Monte quality more than ever!
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich
This book came out late in 2021, and the subtitle is Classic Recipes, Local Secrets.
This is Pati's third cookbook. It follows two previous cookbooks that were very well received: Pati's Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking and Mexican Today: New and Rediscovered Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen.
Born and raised in Mexico City, Pati Jinich ("Hee-nich") hosts her PBS television series Pati's Mexican Table, which is going on its tenth season and has won numerous awards, including James Beard Awards and Emmys.
In her latest cookbook book, Treasures of the Mexican Table, Pati is sharing heirloom recipes that have been held onto in families for generations. These recipes utilize vegetables like peppers, onion, garlic, and countless herbs straight from the garden. If Chipotle's success indicates the popularity of Mexican food, then Pati's Treasures will be sure to please - taking center stage on your outdoor dining tables this summer. Pati's cookbook is a hefty work - 416 pages and weighing in at almost three pounds.
Inside, you'll find history and tradition, as well as cherished family recipes covering every category of cooking from soups to tacos, quesadillas, burritos and tamales and salsas, pickles, guacamole, beans, rice, and pasta, just to name a few.
You can get a copy of Pati Jinich Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $23.
 
Botanic Spark
1819 Birth of John Ruskin (books by this author), Victorian-era English art critic, watercolorist, and philanthropist.
John's love of nature is reflected in much of his writing. John wrote:
Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty.
 
John also recognized that beauty and utility didn't always go hand in hand. He once observed,
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for instance.
 
John's named his home and garden Brantwood. The name Brantwood is Norse; Brant means steep. Situated on a wooded highpoint overlooking a lake, today Brantwood is administered by a charitable trust.
As with most gardens from time to time, John's own garden experienced times of neglect. By the end of the summer in 1879, John wrote,
Looking over my kitchen garden yesterday, I found it [a] miserable mass of weeds gone to seed; the roses in the higher garden putrefied into brown sponges, feeling like dead snails; and the half-ripe strawberries all rotten at the stalks.
 
As for his legacy, there's one famous garden saying from John Ruskin that has remained popular through the years:
Kind hearts are the garden,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the blossoms,
Kind deeds are the fruit.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Today we remember the creation of legislation that turned 778 acres of land into a beloved park in New York City.
We'll also learn about the State Flower of Maine - it's the only floral emblem that does not produce a blossom.
We salute the Swarthmore ("SWATH-more") College alumni and horticulturist who created a magnificent garden at their home known as Todmorden ("Todd-MORE-din").
We'll also read some poems that celebrate the new habits we cultivate in the summer.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about authors and their gardens - love this topic.
And then we'll wrap things up with an old article about rose care during the heat of the summer.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
And I celebrate my dad's 78th birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!
 
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
 
Curated News
Heights Garden Club: Hosting a Successful Tour During a Pandemic Pt 1 | Ravenscourt Gardens
Here's an excerpt:
“This June we had the opportunity to do a garden tour in a large residential garden.
We took several precautions, starting with using SignUpGenius to take reservations in half-hour increments. We extended tour hours from one to two. We required everyone check-in, wear a mask, and use social distancing while in the garden.”
 
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1853  On this day, the legislation that created Central Park passed.
Central Park was allowed 778 acres of land and was created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux ("Vox"). The Park was inspired by England's Birkenhead Park, which was created by Joseph Paxton.
And there were many wonderful firsts that happened during the construction fo the Park. Vaux first coined the term landscape architect while working on the Park. And Olmsted imagined a gathering place for all social classes, a place where everyone could come together and enjoy nature. And, it was after Olmsted's work on Central Park as well as Boston's Emerald Necklace, Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, that Olmsted became known as America's Park-maker.
Now, as with any project, the development of Central Park hit some speed bumps. For instance, the American architect Richard Morris Hunt clashed with Olmsted and Vaux over his design for one of the entrances to the Park. Although Hunt had won a competition to design the southern entrance, Olmsted and Vaux balked when they saw Hunt's plan.
You see, Hunt had designed this very elaborate grand entrance - something he called the Gate of Peace. It included a circular fountain within a square parterre. But the most magnificent part of his plan was a semi-circular terrace complete with a 50-foot column. At the base of the column, there was going to be a monument to Henry Hudson. And then, the pool around it would feature Neptune in his chariot and Henry Hudson standing on the prowl of a ship.
Hunt really believed the public would embrace his grand vision and so he decided to promote his designs for the Park all on his own. But Hunt did not appreciate Vaux's power to squelch his idea. Although privately, Vaux said that Hunt's plans were "splendid and striking,"; publicly, he told a friend they were, "what the country had been fighting against... Napoleon III in disguise all over." Vaux summarized that Hunt's designs were "not American, but the park was."
Ironically, in 1898, a memorial to Richard Morris Hunt was installed in Central Park. It's located on the eastern perimeter of the Park, and it was created by the same man who created the monument to Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French.
Today, Central Park is also home to Strawberry Fields, a two and ½ acre garden memorial dedicated to the memory of John Lennon.
Yoko Ono and Lennon used to enjoy strolls through that section of Central Park after they moved to the Dakota building. After Lennon was shot, Ono came up with the idea for the memorial. 
During the installation of the memorial, Ono said,
"It is our way of taking a sad song and making it better." 
Now initially, the concept called for every nation to donate a remembrance tree to Strawberry Fields. But soon, Ono and the New York City Parks and Recreation Commission found themselves dealing with trees that couldn't grow in a northern climate.
So, they made a second request: Send us some trees for Strawberry Fields. This time, when they sent the request, they did something very smart. They sent some instructions and tips about what trees would survive New York winters. Now that second request brought 150 specimens from countries around the world. For instance, England sent an English Oak tree, Canada, a Maple tree.
But there was one notable exception to the list of countries that sent trees, and it was the United States. Sadly, the Reagan White House never acknowledged the request.
And, in case you're wondering, the Strawberry Fields memorial was made possible by a $1 million donation from Yoko Ono to the city. It didn't cost taxpayers a dime.
 
1945  On this day, the White Pine Xone and Tassel (Pinus strobus) were named the Maine State Flower on July 21, 1945.
And here's a little-known fact about Maine's selection: Maine is the only state with a floral emblem that does not produce a blossom.
And, I thought you would enjoy this little post from The New England Farmer. They shared the story of how the White Pine Cone came to be the State Flower: 
"Mrs. Jane Dingley is the state chairman of the Maine floral emblem society, and … said [although] the apple blossom would make a fine appearance in a garland,... it withers and falls the day it is born and can hardly represent the enduring nature of our state.
Goldenrod is perhaps the most widespread of all Maine's flowers, but … the petals are so fine it would make an indistinct blur in the hands of the engraver.
The grand old pine, however, has none of these faults. It is green and beautiful in summer and winter.
So there you go; Mrs. Jane Dingley was making her case for the White Pine.
And as luck would have it, the Maine state pomological society also agreed with Jane:
"We should select the pine as our floral emblem on account of its historical value. It was the pine tree that made our state; it was the great giants and monarchs of the forest that attracted the king of England to this country. He sent out his emissaries to select them for his masts." 
Of course, what they mean is that England used the White Pines to build their ships.
And if you're confused by that term Monarch of the Forest, listen to this: The Eastern White Pine (Pinaceae Pinus strobus) is regarded as the largest conifer in the northeastern United States. It's often referred to as the Monarch of the North.
 
1960  Today is the anniversary of the death of the heiress and horticulturist Edith Wilder Scott.
When Edith was a young woman, she met and fell in love with Arthur Scott at Swarthmore College. Arthur, by the way, invented the throw-away paper towel and was the heir of the Scott Paper Company. After their wedding, the young couple toured New Zealand on a year-long honeymoon.
In the early 1900s, Arthur and Edith bought an old ramshackle country club in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia), and they turned it into their home. They christened their new place Todmorden Farm. And, today it is on National Register of Historic Places.
Both Edith and Arthur loved horticulture, and they surrounded Todmorden with gardens. Together they had a special love for lilacs, iris, peonies, and rhododendrons. In fact, Arthur helped found the American Peony Society and was an active member of the American Iris Society. Arthur believed that,
"If a person was interested in horticulture and loved flowers, then he had to be a good man." 
Like her husband, Arthur, Edith hybridized many of the plants on their property, which resulted in many awards and medals for her. For her success with horticulture, Edith became a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania in 1950. And she was also bestowed with an honorary degree by Swarthmore College.
In 1929, after Arthur died, Edith worked to establish the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College in her husband's honor.
The current arboretum director, Claire Sawyers, said that Edith wanted the arboretum to display ornamental plants that plant lovers could study and learn from. Today, the arboretum contains several plant specimens named for the Scotts, and it also specializes in teaching horticulture by visual demonstration - one of the best ways to learn. And at the time of its creation, the arboretum curator Andrew Bunting added:
"Perhaps Scott's true passion was plants, not paper."
And there's one final sidenote about Arthur Scott that is particularly relevant today: his reason for inventing the paper towel  - which was featured in his obituary:
"In the early 1900s, there was a severe flu epidemic in Philadelphia. Arthur heard that a teacher had cut paper for her students to blow their noses on, so he invented a throw-away paper towel. This story was told to the family by Arthur's daughter and the resulting invention is supported by his patent application #US1141495 of Nov. 10, 1910 (issued June 1, 1915). It noted, 
'My object is to embody in the towel, cleanliness and antiseptic qualities, coupled with such cheapness that the towel may be destroyed after use. The towels are preferably formed in rolls, so that only one towel at a time may be exposed and detached, the roll form in which the towels are arranged acting to protect the unused towels from absorbing moisture and gases from the atmosphere.'
This is how the paper towel was first marketed as a medical device for sanitation purposes.
The inventions of the paper towel and throw away ScotTissues were two of the most important contributions to our health. Encouraging the washing of hands by providing a disposable towel, minimized the spreading of germs and a multitude of diseases."
 
Unearthed Words
Here are some thoughts about the new habits we cultivate in the summer.
 
Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.
— Sam Keen, American author and professor
 
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist and writer, Bed in Summer
 
Grow That Garden Library
Philosophy in the Garden by Damon Young
This book came out in April of 2020, and it explores the relationships between "relationships: authors and their gardens. "
The Daily Telegraph said,
“This is a gardening book that takes readers not on a walk around great estates but on a tour of great minds…It's a lovely extension on the notion that gardens make you contemplative and in working with the soil you see life's big picture.”
The book is 208 pages of authors and their gardens. For example:
“Why did Marcel Proust (“Proost”) have bonsai beside his bed? 
What was Jane Austen doing, coveting an apricot? 
How was Friedrich Nietzsche inspired by his ‘thought tree’?”
You can get a copy of Philosophy in the Garden by Damon Young and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $11.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
1951 Today the Lancaster Era newspaper out of Lancaster Pennsylvania reported on rose care during the heat of the summer.
Here's an excerpt:
“Hot Summer weather is not a serious problem to healthy rose plants as long as a regular schedule of care is followed. Giving roses an adequate water supply is probably the prime responsibility during these hot dry periods. A plentiful supply of water is important to keep up the blooming rate and growth and to build energy which will mean better plants next year. 
...The best method is to let the hose slowly trickle over a board at the base of the plants. … An important thing to remember is to avoid wetting the foliage of rose plants when watering the beds since this practice often contributes to the spread of fungus diseases. Naturally, a good damp soil attracts weeds, but these unwelcome guests may be discouraged by mulching with … composted grass clippings, buckwheat hulls, ground corn cobs, or other available material.“

Do you have delphiniums in your garden?

I used to start out every summer by planting twenty delphinium in front of my porch.

By the time I my red lilies were popping, my delphinium would be 4 feet tall.  In that same area, I had planted white astilbe and alyssum; I had a little red, white, and blue garden under my American flag for 4th of July.

The Delphinium is one of the birth flowers for the month July. It's also known as 'Larkspur' and 'Knight's-spur'.

During the Victorian age, people essentially used flowers as emojis: and the delphinium symbolized lightness and an open heart. If your a delphinium lover, it's easy to see how the happy delphinium blooms would be associated with levity and laughter.
 
 

Brevities

#OTD  It was on this day in 1846 that the British naturalist, and women's rights activist, Marian Farquharson was born.

As a botanist, Farquharson had specialized in ferns and mosses.

Farquharson had petitioned the Linnaean Society for four years to allow women.

In 1904, 83% of the Society voted to elect women members. When the first 15 women were nominated, Farquharson was the only one not to be elected on that day in 1904. It took four more years for Farquharson to be elected to the Society in March, 1908.  Sadly, she was too ill to attend to sign the register. Farquharson died from heart disease, in Nice, in 1912.
 

 
#OTD  It was on this day in 1893, that the Welsh landscape gardener, architect and author, Ralph Hancock was born.

Hancock created several famous Gardens across Wales, England, and United States.

One of his most famous works is the rooftop garden at the Rockefeller Center in New York.

Hancock designed his rooftop garden in 1934. It was really cutting-edge at the time.
In the interview, he said,

"The days of penthouse gardening in boxes are over and miles and miles of roof space in every metropolis in this country remain to be reclaimed by landscape gardening."

Hancock's rooftop garden was called The Garden of Nationsand it featured gardens for eight different countries around a central, old English tea house and cottage garden.  Hancock's Garden of Nationsrequired 3,000 tons of earth, 100 tons of natural stone, and 2,000 trees and shrubs. They were all delivered by the service elevator or by man using a block and tackle pulley system on the side of the building.

The 11th floor Garden of Nations opened on April 15, 1935. Nelson Rockefeller was in attendance as well as students from Bryn Mawr college. The young women arrived wearing costumes from the various nations and there's a beautiful photo of Nancy Nichol wearing a kimono in the Japanese garden.
 

 
#OTD   It was on this day in 1940 the St. Joseph Gazette reported that Dr. Hugh C. Cutler of St. Louis had discovered two species of plants in Utah: the wild bridal wreath and a crucifer.
 
He sent the specimens via airmail to Washington University in St. Louis.
 
 

#OTD It was on this day in 2018, that NASA's  Best known as ECOSTRESS berthed at the space station.
 
ECOSTRESS' mission is to measure the temperature of plants from space enabling researchers to determine how much water plants use and to study how droughts affect plant health.
 
 

Unearthed Words

Today we honor Herman Hesse, who was born on this day in 1877.

He was a German poet, novelist, and painter. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946.

Hesse had a special appreciation for trees and I thought I'd share some of his prose with you today:

"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth."

"A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail."
 


Today's book recommendation:  Seasonal Flower Arranging by Ariella Chezar

Chezar says in the introduction of her book,
"I use as many blossoms as possible that are in season. I don't want to see a tulip in August or peony in September.
I love them in their season - and when that season passes, it's time to move on."

Chezar is a professional floral designer and she provides step-by-step instructions for 39 seasonal floral arrangements. A pioneer in the farm-to-vase movement, her book is a delightful reminder to gardeners that they can bring their garden indoors and create exciting compositions with cut flowers.
 

 
Today's Garden Chore
 
Multiply your Solomon Seal through division.
All you need to do, is split the large white tubers. Make sure that each piece has at least one big bud.
If you want to plant in drifts, use small pieces and plant them close together; instead of using one large mass.
 

 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
On this day in 1932, the Sydney Morning Herald shared a story of attempted murder.

Richard Wettstein was responsible for the Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna.

A year after his death, the new head of Vienna University, Dr. Able, had just finished giving a speech after unveiling a statue dedicated to Wettstein.

Suddenly, an old professor named Karl Schneider pushed through the crowd and shouted, "At last we settle an old score."

Luckily, his revolver shot went wide. The Mayor of Vienna seized the old man before he could shoot again.

The excitement of his commemoration, was a far cry from the persona of Wettstein - who was known for his courteous demeanor. And, he was a wonderful speaker.  On more than one occasion, he was considered a potential contender for the president of Austria.

 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Do you know what to look for on a plant tag?
 
The first major thing I look at is growing zone.  Often the plant tag will give a range for the growing zone like 5-9 or 3-7.  This is why knowing your growing zone is key.  If you don't know, you just need to ask someone at the garden center -they should know what growing zone you are in.
 
Now, as an experienced gardener, let me tell you what happens to me a few times every summer.  
 
I see a plant at my garden center. I fall in love with it.  I look at the tag and whaddya know - it's not for my zone.
 
So, I put it back.  If it's not for my zone, it will not be able to handle the winter temperatures here.
 
I really don't like it when garden centers pass these plants off to unsuspecting gardeners. 
 
We've all done this - bought a plant that won't survive over winter because we forgot to check the tag.
 
Sometimes, when I do catch a plant that is being sold that is not for my zone, I channel my inner gingerbread man - "ha ha ha- you can't catch me!"
 
So know your zone... and check those plant tags for growing zones.
 
 
 
 
 
Brevities
 
#OTD It's the birthday of Luigi Fenaroli born today in 1899.  
Fenaroli Is known for his book Flora of the Alps and Other Mountains, as well as his work on chestnut varieties.
 
 
 
#OTD On this day in 1901 The botanist Charles Theodore Mohr wrote a letter expressing his relief at completing his major work – a book called Plant Life of Alabama.
 
"With the completion of this life work, a  big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I feel free to take on other tasks. As long as there is work, I will go to Tuscaloosa to the Herbarium which I helped start 20 years ago.  Completing my work on the herbarium is my botanical goal for the remainder of my life."
Mohr wrote those words two months before his death.
 
At the time his book was published he was seventy seven years old.
 
Mohr spent decades gathering the information and plant specimens for his work. He was a trained pharmacist and one of Alabama's first botanists.
 
Born in Germany and educated in Stuttgart, Mohr traveled the world before settling in Alabama.  He collected in Surinam, emigrated to the United States in 1848, took part in the California gold rush, lived briefly Mexico, Indiana, and Kentucky.
 
In 1857 he started Chas. Mohr & Son Pharmacists and Chemists in Mobile, Alabama.

His personal herbarium specimens were donated to the University of Alabama Herbarium (15,000 specimens) and the United States National Herbarium (18,000 specimens).

The following plants are named for Charles Theodore Mohr:

Andropogon mohrii (Hack.) Hack ex Vasey Mohr's bluestem Grass family
Aristida mohrii Nash Mohr's threeawn Grass family
Eupatorium mohrii Greene Mohr's thoroughwort Aster family
Marshallia mohrii Beadle & F.E. Boynt. Mohr's Barbara's buttons Aster family
Rudbeckia mohrii Gray Mohr's coneflower Aster family
Silphium mohrii Small Mohr's rosinweed Aster family
Tephrosia mohrii (Rydb.) Godfrey pineland hoarypea Pea family
Quercus mohriana Buckl. Ex Rydb. Mohr oak Oak family
 
 
 
 
#OTD If you're in Winnipeg today between 11:30 and 12:30 you should head down to the University of Winnipeg and grab yourself some free seedlings as part of the 4th annual biology department plant giveaway.
 
The fruiting and flowering plants have been cared for and grown by students in the biology department.
 
Some of the plants you can expect to find at the giveaway:
-tomatoes
-cucumbers
-nasturtiums
-sunflowers
 
 
 
 
Unearthed Words
Here's a poem called May from the lyrical poet, Sara Teasdale
 
"The wind is tossing the lilacs,
The new leaves laugh in the sun,
And the petals fall on the orchard wall,
But for me the spring is done.
Beneath the apple blossoms
I go a wintry way,
For love that smiled in April
Is false to me in May."
 
 
 
Today's book recommendation: Wild at Home: How to style and care for beautiful plants by Hilton Carter 
Make your home a healthier and more beautiful place to be with Hilton Carter’s inspirational ideas.

"Hilton Carter's love for plants is infectious... His lush and exuberant displays are inspiring reminders that plants can be so much more than neat little containers on a window sill." 
 
Carter is a plant stylist.

Take a tour through Hilton’s own apartment and other lush spaces, filled with a huge array of thriving plants, and learn all you need to know to create your own urban jungle. As the owner of over 200 plants, Hilton feels strongly about the role of plants in one’s home—not just for the beauty they add, but for health benefits as well: ‘having plants in your home not only adds life, but changes the airflow throughout.
It’s also a key design element when styling your place.
"For me, it wasn’t about just having greenery, but having the right variety of greenery. I like to see the different textures of foliage all grouped together. You take a fiddle leaf fig and sandwich it between a birds of paradise and a monstera and…. yes!’
You will be armed with the know-how you need to care for your plants, where to place them, how to propagate, how to find the right pot, and much more, and most importantly, how to arrange them so that they look their best. Combine sizes and leaf shapes to stunning effect, grow your own succulents from leaf cuttings, create your own air plant display, and more.
Currently Hilton has over 300 plants in his home and studio, creating what many would call an urban jungle. 

 
 
Today's Garden Chore: Plant some fall bloomers in the back of your border.
Think Asters, sedums, sunflowers, zinnias and so forth. Fall bloomers can be tall and leggy. They often benefit from growing up through a cage or being staked. If you place them at the back of the garden, the shorter plants in the front can help support it and hide the late-bloomer and it's supports until it is ready to shine.  
 
 
 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
#OTD It's the anniversary of The Floral Emblem selection for the state of Kentucky; they selected the Goldenrod in 1926.  
 
It had been the Bluegrass but Kentucky gardening clubs felt it wasn't representative of the whole state. 
 
Alabama and Nebraska also picked the native goldenrod to be the State Flower.
 
Goldenrod has a lot of haters; many people confuse it for ragweed.  I hate to even say that - because I think that makes people think they must look similar.  That's just not true.  Yet, once you see them individually - you could never confuse them. Ragweed’s flowers are green and not eye-catching while  goldenrod's are golden and very pretty.  
 
I saw an infographic a few years ago that said, "Goldenrod Warning: if I'm here, so is ragweed. Stay indoors! Achoo!"  This would be the same as saying, The black eyed-susans are blooming. So is ragweed. The Joe Pye Weed is blooming. So is ragweed.  So are all the late summer bloomers - echinacea, Helenium, oriental lily, asters, balloon flowers, sedums, tickseed, autumn crocus, japanese anemones, blue mist shrub, hydrangeas, the list goes on and on.
 
The genus name Solidago is taken from the Latin "in solidum ago vulnera" and meaning to "I make wounds whole." Native Americans and Herbalists recognize the curative power of goldenrod.
 
It's an early autumn bloomer goldenrod is an important food source for honey bees and it is a fantastic cut flower.
 
Botanical painter Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden who painted the goldenrod with minute detail said, "Abundant it may be, but repugnant it is not."
 
 
 
 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:

"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

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Botanical History On This Day

1687 Eleanor "Nell" Gwynn, died at the age of 37 in her Pall Mall house in London.
Known as "pretty, witty Nell" by diarist Samuel Pepys, she was one of the most celebrated figures of the Restoration period and a long-time mistress of King Charles II.

1749 John Custis IV, an American planter, politician, government official, and military officer, died.
His garden legacy has recently captured headlines as archaeologists uncover what was once colonial America's most lavish ornamental garden.

Grow That Garden Library™ 

Read The Daily Gardener review of Gardens for the Soul by Sara Bird and Dan Duchars 

Buy the book on Amazon: Gardens for the Soul by Sara Bird and Dan Duchars 

Today's Botanic Spark

1805 Robert Buist, florist and nurseryman, was born near Edinburgh, Scotland.
Trained at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Buist emigrated to Philadelphia in 1828 at age 23, where he would become one of America's most influential early nurserymen.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Today we celebrate the American doctor and amateur botanist who left a legacy in Michigan.
We'll also learn about the first botanist to explore Michigan.
We’ll recognize the man who started the California Botanical Society. 
We hear a quick thought on spring from Ellis Peters. 
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a beautiful book about Hydrangea.
And then we’ll wrap things up with National Licorice Day
 
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The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter
Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:

• A personal update from me
• Garden-related items for your calendar
• The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week
• Gardener gift ideas
• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Curated News
North Facing Garden Ideas | Ideal Home | Tamara Kelly
 
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The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
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Today we celebrate a botanist remembered with the Haworthia (“how-wurth-EE-ah”) genus.
We'll also learn about a botanist who spent 25 years researching the forests of the Eastern United States.
We’ll hear about the Greek goddess of spring from author Jen Calonita.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about flower arranging.
And then we’ll wrap things up with National Garlic Day.
 
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to
“Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.”
And she will. It's just that easy.
 
The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter
Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:

• A personal update from me
• Garden-related items for your calendar
• The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week
• Gardener gift ideas
• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Curated News
Recipes from the gardens of Great Dixter | House & Garden | Aaron Bertelsen
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links.
The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.

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Buy Me A Coffee 
 
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Historical Events
1648 On this day, Elias Ashmole (books about this person), the English antiquary, politician, astrologer, and alchemist, wrote in his diary,
Having entered upon a study this day about three o'clock was the first time I went a simpling; Dr: Carter of Reding and Mr. Watling an Apothecary there, accompanying me.
To go "a simpling" was an early term for botanizing. People would gather "simples" or medicinal plants, so Elias went out with a Dr. Carter and an Apothecary. They were no doubt looking for herbal remedies.
 
1816 During June, in New England, six inches of snow fell. The entire year of 1816 was freezing. Every month of the year 1816 had a hard frost. Temperatures dropped to 40 degrees in July and August as far south as Connecticut. This is known as 'The Year Without a Summer' in New England. The weather anomalies originated from the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora the previous year. The enormous volcanic explosion in recorded history spewed small particles that were light enough to spread over the atmosphere the following year. The impact on the world's climate was profound. The earth's temperature dropped an average of three degrees Celsius across the globe.
On the bright side, the terrible summer of 1816 served as an inspiration to many writers. In Lake Geneva, Switzerland, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein while on vacation with her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and the poet Lord Byron. Thanks to nonstop rain and gray skies, the three writers had been stuck inside for days. On the same trip, Lord Byron wrote Darkness, his poem that begins,
I had a dream, which was not all a dream. 
The bright sun was extinguished.
 
1864 On this day, the famous American writer and political reporter, John Beauchamp Jones ("Bo-shamp"), wrote in his journal:
Clear and hot, but with a fine breeze-southwest.
Yesterday, I learn, both sides buried the dead... 
What a war, and for what?
 
And then, after giving some updates from the battlefield, John wrote:
Small heads of early York cabbage sold in market to-day at $3, or $5 for two. At that rate, I got about $10 worth out of my garden. 
Mine are excellent, and so far abundant, as well as the lettuce, which we have every day. 
My snap beans and beets will soon come on. 
The little garden is a little treasure.
 
John Beauchamp Jones was born in Maryland and served as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War.
 
2022 National Garden Exercise Day
Gardening is a workout. Gardening is therapeutic on so many levels. The physical aspect of gardening is quite demanding and is an excellent way to build muscle and burn calories. And for many garden podcast listeners, the brain is engaged as well - learning about new plants, techniques, or general garden info.
Today and every day in your garden, make sure to stay hydrated and make a point of gardening that promotes good health - take breaks, stretch, use garden chairs, add elevated beds, etc. Be careful living heavy items and tuck some bandaids, bee sting relief (like an epi-pen or Benedryl), and betadine in your garden tote. You never know when you might need a little first aid in the garden. Happy gardening!!
It's National Garden Exercise day!
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
The Sibley Guide to Trees by David Allen Sibley 
This book came out in 2009, but this is one of the best when it comes to tree-reference books.
This book has over 500 five-star reviews on Amazon, and it's easy to see why — this book is laid out in such an accessible way. It's effortless to use.
I keep one tucked in my garden bench in the garage because I love keeping this guide handy.
And I should mention that the reason it's called the Sibley Guide to Trees is that it's written by David Alan Sibley. If that name's familiar, it's because he is the bird guide, author, and illustrator. So you have those side-by-side skills of bird identification and tree identification — and they just go together.
David Sibley applies the same approach that he used with birds for the equally complex subject of tree identification.
And if trees are a challenge for you, you will definitely appreciate the over 4,000 illustrations in this guide.
And I had to chuckle just a little bit after reading an Amazon Q&A with David Alan Sibley about this book.
They asked him, Were there significant differences in writing this book vs. the Guide to Birds?
I got a kick out of David's answer:
The obvious difference is that trees are much easier to find. When I needed to study a particular species of tree I could just walk right up to it and spend as much time investigating it as I needed. Birds are more elusive. I had to spend years in the field in order to build up enough observation time to draw them well.
 
I thought David's response was such a clue to the rest of us regarding tree identification because David spends time with trees. I can't tell you how many people I've helped identify a tree over the years after they spent a mere one or two seconds looking at a single leaf.
Trees can offer us many more clues than just their leaf for identification.
And this leads to another question that Amazon asked David: What would you say to someone who is a beginner at tree identification? 
David said,
The first thing I suggest is to spend some time with the guide. Try to become familiar with the characteristics of certain trees. Then go through the book and mark all the species that occur in your area. This will help you become familiar with the range of species that could be present so when you see an odd leaf shape, fruit, flower, bark pattern, etc.--even if you can’t remember the name--you can remember seeing it in the guide. Since trees are so easy to approach, you can simply take a photo of the key parts of any tree, or pick up a leaf or other part that has fallen on the ground, and identify it at your leisure.
They key identifiers will always be the shape, color and size of leaves; the color and shape of twigs; the color and texture of bark; and the tree’s overall size and shape as well as habitat, any fruit or flowers, and the timing of seasonal changes. For example, in late May in the northeast, if you see a pale-barked tree with small silvery leaves just emerging (while other trees have well-developed green leaves) you can be virtually certain that is a Bigtooth Aspen. A multi-trunked, spreading tree in wetter soils, with clusters of straw-colored fruit hanging from the twigs all winter, is almost certainly a female Boxelder.
 
So a couple of great examples from David on tree identification and some great tips to keep in mind. Tree ID is often way more than just looking at a single leaf. Take your time. Look at all the different aspects of the tree and take tons of pictures.
And now, with the iPhone, you can take a picture of any plant or any part of a plant, any leaf, and then press a little info icon, and then it will ask you right there if you want help with plant identification. That particular part of the photos app for me has been beneficial — and, I have to say, surprisingly accurate. So be sure to give that a try if you haven't yet.
This book is 426 pages of tree identification highlighting over 600 tree species.
And it's one of my favorite guides.
You can get a copy of The Sibley Guide to Trees by David Allen Sibley and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $17.
 
Botanic Spark
1925 Birth of Maxine Kumin ("Cue-men") (books by this author), America Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, novelist, children's author, and gardener.
Maxine often incorporated garden themes into her work. She once wrote these words in her poems History Lesson, 
That a man may be free of his ghosts he
must return to them like a garden.
He must put his hands in the sweet rot
uprooting the turnips, washing them
tying them into bundles
and shouldering the whole load to market.
 
Any gardener who has battled a woodchuck will appreciate Maxine's poem, Woodchucks.
This poem was written after Maxine had to battle a family of woodchucks that had invaded her vegetable garden. In the poem, Maxine examines how everyday people can find themselves in a murderous mindset.
Gassing the woodchucks didn't turn out right.
The knockout bomb from the Feed and Grain Exchange
was featured as merciful, quick at the bone
and the case we had against them was airtight,
both exits shoehorned shut with puddingstone,
but they had a sub-sub-basement out of range.
Next morning they turned up again, no worse
for the cyanide than we for our cigarettes
and state-store Scotch, all of us up to scratch.
They brought down the marigolds as a matter of course
and then took over the vegetable patch
nipping the broccoli shoots, beheading the carrots.
The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling
to the feel of the .22, the bullets' neat noses.
I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace
puffed with Darwinian pieties for killing,
now drew a bead on the little woodchuck's face.
He died down in the everbearing roses.
 
In July 1998, Maxine was gravely injured when her horse bolted at a carriage-driving clinic. To the surprise of her doctors, Maxine managed to survive the ordeal and wrote a book about the time she spent "inside the halo," which kept her head immobilized as she endured weeks of recovery and rehab.
In her 2001 book called, Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery, Maxine wrote,
Keeping the garden going becomes for the family a way of keeping me going. 
Every morning Judith climbs the hill above the farmhouse to where my fenced garden is situated, just below the pond. Everything here is grown organically. The plants thrive in a soil heavily amended with rotted horse manure and are mulched with spoiled hay. The walkways are papered with old grain bags and then covered with pine needles. It has taken years to achieve this orderly oasis, which somehow compensates for my disorderly desk drawers and the chaos of my closet.
In my suburban past, I had only a few self-seeding petunias and cosmos to deal with. The yard was shady; dandelions dotted the grass. To my indifferent eye, it looked adequately tidy.
But when we acquired the farm, I gradually began to see another landscape entirely. Wild asparagus appeared, waving their ferny fronds in unexpected places. In a small sunny clearing, rhubarb
emerged. Garlic chives sent up little white blossoms along the house foundation and great unkillable clumps of chives with fat purple blooms ran rampant around them. Clusters of what resembled sunflowers proved to be edible Jerusalem artichokes. The first time Victor mowed the area we were slowly restoring to lawn, the wonderful pungency of fresh thyme arose from the nubbly "grass."
This season, it is Judith who daily inspects my seven thirty-foot-long raised beds for insect depredation. 
Whatever needs picking - broccoli, cauliflower, early green beans, lettuce, radishes, the last of the peas - she takes down to the house to be dealt with. The surplus is blanched and frozen for the winter ahead. The tomatoes are not quite ready; the corn, cucumbers, and summer squashes are still ripening, but soon there will be that gratifying mountain of veggies, the benevolent tyranny I always strive to stay abreast of, pickling, canning, and freezing.
A poem of mine in praise of gardens ends [with these words]:
O children, my wayward jungly dears
you are all to be celebrated
plucked, transplanted, tilled under, resurrected here
even the lowly despised
purslane, chickweed, burdock, poke, wild poppies.
For all of you, whether eaten or extirpated
I plan to spend the rest of my life on my knees.
 
Maxine died in February of 2014 at the age of 88.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

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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 butterflies. So it's impossibly beautiful.
And Wendy's book is a five-star book on Amazon.
Now Wendy is an author who loves spending time outdoors. She loves skiing. She loves horseback riding. (In fact, her first bestselling book was called The Horse. And Wendy has traveled the world. She's spent a lot of time in Africa, Europe, and North American mountain chains and prairies.
But when it comes to just regular daily life, Wendy lives in Cape Cod in Massachusetts with her husband and her Border Collie, Taff.
Now I love the way that Wendy writes because she's very conversational. And I also like how she organized this book into three main sections: the past, the present, and the future.
And then, to show you how friendly her writing is, her chapters have very intriguing titles. In the section on the past, there's The Gateway Drug, The Number One Butterfly, and then How Butterflies Saved Charles Darwin's Bacon. (Great chapter.)
And then, in the present, chapters include A Parasol of Monarchs, The Honeymoon Hotel, and On The Rain Dance Ranch. Great story there.
And then, in the future section, Wendy's chapters include The Social Butterfly, The Paroxysms of Ecstasy, and The Butterfly Highway.
And Wendy is right; butterflies are the world's most beloved insects. They've been called flying flowers, and gardeners are passionate about butterflies. And many gardeners today are working to help save the Monarch from extinction.
Now The Washington Post said this about Wendy's book,
Williams takes us on a humorous and beautifully crafted journey that explores both the nature of these curious and highly intelligent insects. And the eccentric individuals who coveted them.
And, of course, most of those folks were scientists and or botanists. So I love this book, and I love all of those stories.
This book is 256 pages Of butterflies. It's eye-opening and tender. It's an incredibly profound look at butterflies - it's a butterfly biography. And it examines the vital role that butterflies play in our world.
You can get a copy of The Language of Butterflies by Wendy Williams and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $2.
 
Botanic Spark
Here's an excerpt from Karel Ćapek's chapter on The Gardener's April from his book The Gardener's Year (1984).

Gardeners have certainly arisen by culture and not by natural selection. If they had developed naturally, they would look differently.
They would have legs like beetles, so that they need not sit on their heels. And they would have wings - in the first place for their beauty and secondly, so that they might float over the beds.
Those who have no experience can not imagine how one's legs are in the way when there's nothing to stand on.
How stupidly long they are... Or how impossibly short they are if one has to reach to the other side of the bed without treading on a clump of pyrethrum (that's chrysanthemum) or on the shoots of Columbine.
If only one could hang in a belt and swim over the beds. Or have at least four hands with only a head and a cap and nothing else.
But because the gardener is outwardly constructed as imperfectly as other people, all he can do is to show us of what he is capable. To balance on tiptoe on one foot, to float in the air like a Russian dancer, to straddle four yards wide, to step as lightly as a butterfly or a wagtail, to reach everywhere and avoid everything, and still try to keep some sort of respectability so that people will not laugh at him. 
Of course, at a passing glance, from a distance, you don't see anything of the gardener but his romp. Everything else like the head, arms, and legs is hidden underneath.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

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Historical Events
 
1747 Birth of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne ("do-Shane"), French botanist, gardener, and professor at Versailles.
A specialist in strawberries and gourds, Duchesne was a student of Bernard de Jussieu at the Royal Garden in Paris.
A plant pioneer, Duchesne recognized that mutation was a natural occurrence and that plants could be altered through mutation at any time.
And when he was a young botanist, Duchesne began experimenting with strawberries. Ever since the 1300s, wild strawberries have been incorporated into gardens. But, on July 6, 1764, Duchesne created the modern strawberry - the strawberry we know and love today.
Strawberries are members of the rose family, and their seeds are on the outside of the fruit. Just how many seeds are on a single strawberry? Well, the average strawberry has around 200 seeds.
Now, if you're wondering whether to cut your strawberry plants back for winter, you should cut your plants back about three inches after your final harvest. 
As you tidy up your strawberry plants for winter, you can remove all dead leaves and trimmings.
Right about now, strawberry growers are winterizing their plants, which is pretty straightforward. Simply cover your plants with 6-8 inches of mulch. Then when spring returns, remove the winterizing mulch as your strawberry plants wake up and start growing. 
 
1817 On this day, James Madison, America's fourth President, was elected to serve as the President of his local Agricultural Society.
James had just retired from his presidential duties and quickly resumed his passion for cultivating the land. James spent many hours every day working in his four-acre Montpelier garden. The horse-shoe-shaped bed was assumed to be an homage to the floor of the house of representatives. 
The following May, James spoke to his fellow farmers and gardeners in the Agricultural Society about some of the latest discoveries in agriculture, such as the benefits of incorporating manure to leverage nitrogen and optimizing the water for plant uptake. 
James Madison was one of America's earliest conservationists. He was primarily concerned with preserving the land and wise stewardship of natural resources.
 
1817 Birth of Joseph Stayman, Kansas horticulturist.
His obituary announcement said,
Dr. Stayman is dead at Leavenworth. He came to Kansas in 1859 and brought a half million fruit grafts with him, from which he started the fruit industry of the state. The doctor was well-named, and lived true to the name as his fruit trees were.
 
Joseph helped establish the Kansas State Horticultural Society in 1866. He dropped his medical practice to pursue horticulture and bred new varieties of apples, strawberries, and grapes at his orchards, which hosted over 3,000 trees. Joseph specifically worked to cultivate varieties best suited to the Kansas soil and climate. 
Joseph was a renaissance man and developed skills across a spectrum of skills and science. He bred the famous Clyde strawberry and established himself as an outstanding botanical artist (many of his drawings are at the Smithsonian). And Joseph was one of the country's best checker players. Some games lasted months to a year since Joseph played many matches by correspondence.
 
1849 Birth of James Whitcomb Riley, American writer and poet.
In his poem, The Ripest Peach, he wrote,
The ripest peach is highest on the tree --
And so her love, beyond the reach of me,
Is dearest in my sight. Sweet breezes, bow
Her heart down to me where I worship now!
She looms aloft where every eye may see
The ripest peach is highest on the tree.
 
In the US, over thirty states grow peaches. The peach season varies by state, but it usually ends by early October. 
Peaches are a member of the rose family and are rich in vitamins A and C. 
Freestone peaches are the type of peaches that we buy whole and eat raw. The Clingstone peach is canned commercially. Clingstone peaches get their name because Cling peaches have stones that cling to the peach flesh. By extracting the stone, the fruit is damaged yet still tasty, so processing and canning are ways to redeem the damaged fruit.
And although Georgia is known for its peaches, California produces more peaches every year.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Growing Joy by Maria Failla ("Fy-ELL-ah")
This book came out in 2022, and the subtitle is The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants).
And Maria says her book is full of planty practices to grow your way to a happier and more peaceful life.
Well, this is another garden book that was conceived during the early days of the pandemic.
And if you remember that time, so many of us were feeling disconnected and stressed and anxious - and we were looking for ways to feel more anchored, healthy, stronger, and positive.
And this was definitely the case with Maria.
In fact, she introduces her book this way:
We've only just met, but I'm going to confess something to you. I wrote this book about joy in
what seemed to be the least joyful period in my life. Funny how that happens. When I first
envisioned this book, I had my list of ideas and practices all lined up and tied in a pretty bow for
you.
But then there was a little plot twist. And when the time came around for me to actually write
this book, My life kind of imploded in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. lost my job. My
wedding was postponed due to social distancing. And through a series of unexpected events,
my partner and had to move three times in a year - with a six-month stint living with my parents. The ultimate romantic dream for any engaged couple.
 
So you can tell that Maria is doing a fantastic job setting the stage. And a lot of this sounds
SO relatable for so many of us. But then Maria had an epiphany. And she writes,
I looked around at my plant collection and I noticed that my plants also looked miserable. Limp
leaves, thirsty, yearning for light, and seeing them so unhappy made me pause and realize
how much I related to them. And in the midst of moving pivoting and mourning, I had let the
beautiful practices and routines that I had developed lapse.
 
And then she writes,
This realization hit me like a two-ton bag of potting mix. 
 
(I love that Maria has plenty of little snippets of humor in her book that will surely bring a chuckle.)
Maria continues.
A deeper realization set in. let my plant care routine lapse, and I'd also let my therapy and workout appointments slip through the cracks. I stopped checking in with my friends and my screen time was at an all-time high; my plants and I both needed some serious nurturing.
 
Maria concludes:
I don't claim to have all the answers, but I do know that if you're open to it, this stuff works. No matter what season of life you're in, whether you're simply looking for fun ways to enliven your days, suggestions for how to take the next step forward in plant parenthood, or maybe you're looking for something deeper.
But wherever you are, I see you and I'm here for you. And let's grow some joy together, one leaf at a time.
 
As you can tell, Maria's book is perfectly titled, Growing Joy.
This book is 272 pages of connecting with plants and ourselves and, in the process, gaining
new insights and a more positive and healthier lifestyle.
This book is a delightful mix of self-care through plant care, helping you to feel more joyous, grounded, and optimistic.
I think it's the perfect book as we all come back into our homes and snuggle in, cozy in, and get ready for winter.
You can get a copy of Growing Joy by Maria Failla and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $8.
 
Botanic Spark
2015 It was on this day that Thomas Rainer and Claudia West's Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes debuted.
Eight years ago, it was through this book that Thomas introduced the notion of gardens as communities, which makes gardeners much more sensitive to concepts like density and diversity in our plantings.
I love what they write at the beginning of their book because I think it sets the tone for what they are trying to accomplish:
The way plants grow in the wild and the way they grow in our gardens is starkly different. In nature, plants thrive even in inhospitable environments; in our gardens, plants often lack the vigor of their wild counterparts, even when we lavish them with rich soils and frequent water. In nature, plants richly cover the ground; in too many of our gardens, plants are placed far apart and mulched heavily to keep out weeds. In nature, plants have an order, an individual harmony resulting from their adaptation to a site; our gardens are often arbitrary assortments from various habitats, related only by our personal preferences....
In fact, the very activities that define gardening weeding, watering, fertilizing, and mulching - all imply a dependency of plants on the gardener for survival. Gardeners are often frustrated when some plants spread beyond their predetermined location and are surprised while others struggle to get established...
A further complication is the availability of plants from every corner of the globe...
So how do we shift the paradigm, making desirable plantings that look and function sympathetically with how they evolve in nature? By observing and embracing the wisdom of natural plant communities.
 
A master of garden design and designing with native plants, Thomas wrote his vision of the Post-Wild World:
The front lines of the battle for nature are not in the Amazon rainforest or the Alaskan wilderness; the front lines are our backyards, medians, parking lots, and elementary schools.
 
and
The uncertainty of the future will provide an incredible gift: it will liberate planting from all those forces that try to tame it...
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Today we celebrate the botanist who is considered the Father of Taxonomy and the young Landscape Architect who learned by taking weekly walking tours of gardens.

We'll learn about the botanist who saved Kew Garden and the most famous garden designer you’ve never heard of.

We'll listen to a little garden folklore for November and an amusing poem about daylight savings.

We Grow That Garden Library with today's book which features the gardens of Russell Page, and you can get it on Amazon for under $4, which is highway robbery - or Landscape robbery in this case.

I'll talk about digging up those dahlias and then share the super cute story about a young botanist and the housekeeper who was sure he was up to no good.
 
 

But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.

National Fig Week 

It’s the start of National Fig Week which runs through the 7th of November.
 
All of the figs that are growing in the United States are growing in the Central Valley of California where 28 million pounds of figs are harvested every year.
 
It was Captain Bligh, who is honored as the planter of the very first fig in Tasmania back in 1792.
 
The Greek word for fig is syco. It’s why one species of the fig tree is called the sycamore.
 
Fig trees are in the ficus genus and the Mulberry family. The popular house plant, the rubber plant, is also a species of ficus.
 
And, figs are the sweetest of all fruits. They are made up of 55% sugar.
 
 
 
 
Today Fine Gardening shared a great post called Treasures in the November Garden, and it featured posts from a gardener named Carla Zambelli Mudry
 
Carla shared beautiful images from her November garden, where she commented that the fall witch hazel had started blooming, and her Sochi tea plant is still producing lovely white flowers.
 
The post features pictures of her witch hazel in bloom. Gardeners have soft spots for the delicate yellow spidery flowers of the witch hazel.
 
The common Witch Hazel virginiana can grow in zones 3 - 8.
 
Sochi tea Camellia sinensis is hearty in zones 7 to 10. Now, to make the tea, the leaves are harvested. But again, as with the witch hazel, it’s the beautiful blooms of this camellia that will steal your heart.
 
This post was part of Fine Gardening’s garden photo of the day. If you’d like to share your garden with Fine Gardening, you can send them 5 to 10 images of your garden to GPOD (which is short for a Garden picture of the day) at Fine Gardening.com (GPOD@FineGardening.com) along with a few comments about the plants in the photos. You can share anything your successes and failures funny stories or favorite plants.
 
 

Finally, my good friend, Kathy Jentz, over at Washington Gardener Magazine, shared 10 Things To Do With a Pumpkin After Halloween.
 
Her list is so great I wanted to share with you here:

1. Compost it.
2. Puree and cook it.
3. Make it into a birdfeeder.
4. Turn it into a planter.
5. Use it as a serving bowl for soup.
6. Pickle the peel.
7. Apply a face mask.
8. Make doggie treats.
9. Wash and roast the seeds.
10. Save a few seeds to grow another pumpkin next year!
 

 
Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So there’s no need to take notes or track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 


Brevities
 
 
#OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Carl Linnaeus, who died on this day 1783.

Thirty years earlier, on May 1st, 1753, the publication of his masterpiece Species Plantarum changed plant taxonomy forever.
 
It gave Linnaeus the moniker Father of Taxonomy; his naming system is called binomial nomenclature.

And, it was Linnaeus himself who said:
“God created, Linnaeus ordered.”
 
One side note worth mentioning is how Linnaeus' collection ended up leaving Sweden and finding a home in London:
 
When Linnaeus died in 1778, his belongings were sold. Joseph Banks, the president of the Linnean Society, acted quickly, buying everything of horticultural value on behalf of the society. Linnaeus' notebooks and specimens were on a ship bound for England by the time the king of Sweden realized Linnaeus' legacy was no longer in Sweden. He sent a fast navy ship in pursuit of Banks' precious cargo, but it was too late.  And so, Linnaeus’s collection is in London at the Linnaeus Society's Burlington House.

And, it was Joseph Banks who secured the legacy of Linnaeus. Banks spread Linnaeus's ideas across the globe, which was easier for him to accomplish since he was based in London, the hub for the science of botany.
 
 
 

#OTD  Today is the birthday of Charles Eliot, who was born on this day in 1859.
 
Eliot was the son of a prominent Boston family. In 1869, the year his mother died, his father Charles William Eliot became the president of Harvard University.
 
In 1882 Charles went to Harvard to study botany. A year later, he began apprenticing with the landscape firm of Frederick Law Olmsted. 
 
As a young landscape architect, Eliot enjoyed visiting different natural areas, and he conducted regular walking tours of different nature areas around Boston.
 
In his diary for 1878, Eliot did something kind of neat; he made a list. It was basically what we call a listicle nowadays. He titled it "A Partial List of Saturday Walks before 1878".  Isn't that fabulous?
 
As a young architect, Eliot spent 13 months touring England and Europe between 1885 and 1886. The trip was actually Olmsted’s idea, and it no doubt added to Eliot's appreciation of various landscape concepts. During this trip, Eliot kept a journal where he wrote down his thoughts and made sketches of the places he was visiting. Eliot's benchmark was always Boston, and throughout his memoirs, he was continually comparing new landscapes to the beauty of his native landscape in New England.
 
Eliot's story ended too soon. He died at 37 from spinal meningitis.
 
Since Eliot had been working on plans for The Arnold Arboretum, he'd gotten to know Charles Sprague Sargent. So, it was Sargent who wrote a tribute to Eliot and featured it in his weekly journal called Garden and Forest. 
 
Eliot's death had a significant impact on his father. At times, the two had struggled to connect. Charles didn’t like it when his dad got remarried. And, their personalities were very different, and Charles could be a little melancholy.
 
When Charles died, his dad, Charles Sr., began to cull through his work and he was shocked to discover all that he had done.
 
In April 1897, Charles Sr. confided to a friend,
 
"I am examining his letters and papers and I am filled with wonder at what he accomplished in the 10 years of professional life. I should’ve died without ever having appreciated his influence. His death has shown it to me."
 
Despite his heavy workload as the president of Harvard, Charles Sr. immediately set about compiling all of his son's work and used it to write a book called Charles Eliot Landscape Architect. The book came out in 1902, and today it is considered a classic work in the field of landscape architecture.
 
 
 
 
 
 
#OTD    Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist John Lindley who died on this day in 1865.

Lindley was a British gardener, a botanist, and an orchidologist. He also served as secretary to the Royal Horticultural Society for 43 years. This is why the Lindley Library at the RHS is named in honor of John Lindley.
 
Lindley‘s dad owned a nursery and an orchard. And Lindley grew up helping with the family business.
 
In 1815, he went to London. He became friends with William Jackson Hooker, who, in turn, introduced Lindley to Sir Joseph Banks, who hired Lindley to work in his herbarium.
 
When Banks died, the fate of the Royal Botanic Gardens was put in jeopardy. Banks' death corresponded with the death of King George III, who was the patron of the garden. These deaths created an opening for the British government to question whether the garden should remain open. To explore their options, the Government asked Lindley, as well as Joseph Paxton and John Wilson, to put together a recommendation. Ultimately, Lindley felt the institution should be the people’s garden and the headquarters for botany in England. The government rejected the proposal and decided to close the garden. On February 11, 1840, Lindley ingeniously demanded that the issue be put before the Parliament. His advocacy brought the matter to the publics' attention; the garden-loving British public was not about to lose the Royal Botanic. And, so, Lindley saved Kew Gardens, and William Hooker was chosen as the new director. 
 
Lindley shortened the genus Orchidaceae to orchid – which is much more friendly to pronounce - and when he died, Lindley's massive orchid collection was moved to a new home at Kew.
 
As for Lindley, there are over 200 plant species named for him.  There is "lindleyi", "lindleyana", "lindleyanum", "lindleya" and "lindleyoides".
 
And here’s a little-remembered factoid about Lindley - he was blind in one eye. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#OTD   Today is the birthday of the British gardener, garden designer, and landscape architect Russell Page who was born on this day in 1906.

His full name was Montague Russell Page.
 
Page's is known for his book called The Education of a Gardener. The book is a classic in garden literature. In it, Page shares his vast knowledge of plants and trees and design. The book ends with a description of his dream garden.
 
In the book, there are many wonderful quotes by Page.
  
Page wrote:
 
"I know nothing whatever of many aspects of gardening and very little of a great many more. But I never saw a garden from which I did not learn something and seldom met a gardener who did not, in some way or another, help me."
 
First published in 1962, Page's book shares his charming anecdotes and timeless gardening advice. He wrote:
”I like gardens with good bones and an affirmed underlying structure. I like well-made and well-marked paths, well-built walls, well-defined changes in level. I like pools and canals, paved sitting places and a good garden in which to picnic or take a nap.”
 
and
 
"If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. 'Green fingers' are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpracticed. But green fingers are the extensions of a verdant heart." 
 
Page is considered the first modern garden designer. Like Piet Oudolf, Page used flowers to create living, natural paintings.
 
And although he designed Gardens for the Duke of Windsor and Oscar de la Renta, it was Russell Page who said:
 
"I am the most famous garden designer you’ve never heard of."
 
Page designed the Gardens at the Frick Collection in New York City in 1977
 
In 2014 when the Frick was making plans to expand, they initially considered demolishing the Page garden. After a year of facing public backlash in support of the garden - which was something the museum never anticipated - in May 2015, the Frick decided to keep the garden.
 
During the year of debating the fate of the garden, the Frick indicated that they believed the garden was never meant to be a permanent part of the museum. But, all that changed when Charles Birnbaum, the founder of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, decided to do his homework. Birnbaum discovered an old Frick press release from 1977, where they proudly introduced the Page landscape as a permanent garden. Birnbaum shared his discovery on the Huffington Post, and thanks to him, the 3700 square-foot Page garden lives on for all of us to enjoy.
 
 
 
Unearthed Words
 
If there’s ice in November that will bear a duck,
There’ll be nothing after but sludge and muck.
~English folk-lore rhyme, first printed c.1876
 
 
"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."
-   Phyllis McGinley, Daylight Savings Time
 


 
Today's Grow That Garden Library book recommendation: The Gardens of Russell Page by Gabrielle Zuylen and Marina Schinz

Schinz and van Zuylen researched and photographed all of Page's best work, both early and late, and some now no longer extant. They share some of his private files and unpublished writing and help us get to know Page and his work more keenly.  The book shares over 250 photographs that capture the exceptional beauty of Page creations in England, America, and throughout continental Europe.

I love the tidbit about Page that is shared in the introduction:
"In his youth, he had wanted to be a painter, but acquaintances in Paris intent on making gardens helped change his direction. In later years, when he was asked whether he was more of a plantsman or a designer, his answer was understated: "I know more about plants than most designers and more about design than most plantsmen." In fact, he had an exceptional understanding, knowledge, and feel for, plants allied to a strong sense of architecture."
This book came out in 2008. You can get used copies using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $4.
 
 


Today's Garden Chore

If you've had your first frost, that's the signal to gardeners to dig up their dahlia and canna tubers and get them stored for next spring.
Once they are out of the ground, I brush them off; removing any extra soil, and then I put them in a basket or a container with plenty of perlite and keep them on a nice cool, dark shelf in the basement storage room. The perlite keeps the tubers dry and allows them to breathe. 
 
 


Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
 
When I was researching John Lindley, I stumbled on an adorable story about him.
 
Lindley arrived in England when he was a teenager. Naturally, he needed a place to stay, so Hooker graciously took him in and gave him a room at his home called Halesworth.
 
The story goes that, over the course of a few weeks, the Halesworth housekeeper had observed that Lindley‘s bed was always neat as a pin. It was clear he never slept in it.
 
The housekeeper immediately began to wonder what Lindley was doing and where was he sleeping. She began to worry that he might not be the kind of person they wanted living at Halesworth.
 
When her worry got the best of her, she brought the matter to Hooker's attention. Anxiety is contagious, and the housekeeper's concern made Hooker worry. So, he confronted Lindley and asked him to account for his unused bed.
 
Lindley calmly explained that he was hoping to go to Sumatra to collect plants.  In anticipation of the physical difficulties of plant exploration, Lindley had been spending every night sleeping on the boards of the hardwood floor in his room.
 
Lindley got to keep living at Halesworth. He wrote his first book there called Observations on the Structure of Fruits. He never made it to Sumatra.
 
 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

If, over the course of the summer, you found yourself driving down the road and spying a little electric blue blossom by the side of the road; chances are, you are looking at chicory.

Listener Danny Perkins shared a post at the end of August sharing beautiful photos of chicory. A few years ago, I used to drive the boys into St. Paul for basketball camp and when I pulled off the free way, there it was. Chicory. Impossibly growing in between cracks in the cement along the sidewalk. I went straight to my Mac when I got home and order seeds on the spot. 

The blue of chicory is positively luminescent. The plant is where chicory coffee and tea come from. Listener Diane Lydic posted this:
"My father use to pick it on his way home from work. He made a map of all the patches so he could remember for next year. Delicious with olive oil and vinegar with hard boiled eggs. Always a treat!"

Diane's father is a man after my own heart. Anyone who makes a map of roadside patches of precious plants is a friend in my book!
 
 
Brevities

#OTD  Today is the anniversary of the death of Rudolph Jacob Camerarius the botanist who demonstrated the existence of sexes in plants. He died in 1721.

Camerarius was born in Germany. He was a professor of natural philosophy.

He identified and defined the male parts of the flower as the anther and he did the same for the female part; the pistol. And, he figured out that pollen made production possible. His work was recorded for the ages in a letter he wrote to a peer in 1694 called On the sex of plants.
 


#OTD  Today is the anniversary of the death of the Spanish priest, botanist, physician, and naturalist José Celestino Mutis who spent almost 50 years in Columbia where he is regarded as a national treasure for his scientific work.

In the 18th century, Columbia and the area around it was known as New Granada. Given his lifetime spent in Granada, Mutis was able to leave a lasting legacy. He created an impressive library complete with thousands of books on botany and the natural world. He also built a herbarium with over 24,000 species. Only Joseph Banks had a herbarium that rivaled Mutis; and Banks had more resources and more support from the English government.

Mutis approached the job of documenting the flora of Granada in a very unique way; he accomplished his mission by enlisting others. During his time in Granada, Mutis worked with over 40 local Creole artists. He recruited them and trained them. He brought them to a studio where they could work all day long in silence. In short, Mutis set up a botanical production machine that was unsurpassed in terms of the output and the level of excellence for the times. At one point, Mutis had up to twenty artisans working all at one time. One artist would work on the plant habit while another would work on specific aspects or features. The Mutis machine created over 6,500 pieces of art; botanical sketches and watercolors painted with pigments made from local dyes which heightened their realism.

On the top of the Mutis bucket-list was the dream of a Flora of Bogata. Sadly it never happened. Mutis died in Granada in 1808. Eight years later, the King of Spain ordered all of the output from the Mutis expedition to be shipped back home. All the work created by the Creole artisans and the entire herbarium were packed into 105 shipping crates and sent to Spain where they sat and sat and sat and waited... until 1952 when a handful were used in a large folio series. Then the Mutis collection waited another 60 years until 2010 when they were finally  exhibited at Kew.
Today, the thousands of pieces that make up the Mutis collection are housed at the Botanical Garden in Madrid, Spain. The pieces are large - mostly folio size - and since they haven't really seen much daylight over the past two centuries, they are in immaculate condition.
 


 
#OTD   Today is the birthday of the Harvard and Smithsonian botanist, taxonomist and plant collector Lyman Bradford Smith who was born on this day in 1904.

Smith was homeschooled by his mother, but it was his mother's Aunt Cora that nurtured his love of horticulture. He went to college and pursued botany at Harvard where he found another passion: wrestling. Smith continued wrestling into his 60's. When he started his Ph.D. he attempted to focus on grasses. But that work required the use of a microscope and Smith didn't have good eye sight. It was the botanist Ivan Murray Johnston who encouraged Smith to choose Bromeliaceae because they didn't require so much microscope time.
 
When he married his wife in 1929, their honeymoon was a tour of European herberia. When he returned home, Smith worked at the Asa Gray herbarium at Harvard. All through the Depression, Smith rode his bike to and from the Gray; 14 miles round trip. 
 
Smith began focusing on four Brazilian plant families Bromeliaceae, Begoniaceae, Velloziaceae, and Xyridaceae early in his career. Despite discouragement from older academics who felt the topic of North American Bromeliaceae was too broad for a new taxonomist, Smith proceeded anyway. His work ethic surpassed most of his peers. He was known for saying, "Press it and I'll identify it." Smith was a publishing master. He wrote extensively on his signature genera. Much of what is known about bromelaids is thanks to Lyman Bradford Smith. It is his lasting legacy. Today, twenty-one bromelaids are named in Smith's honor.
 
1947 brought big changes to the Smith family after an offer from the Smithsonian to be the curator of South American Plants. It was an offer that was too good to refuse - better pay, the chance to travel, and more stability. Yet, Lyman brought the same work ethic and habits to the Smithsonian - riding his bike to the Smithsonian Castle every day until his seventies.
When Lyman arrived the Smithsonian he hired Alice Tangerini to be an illustrator - it's a position she still holds. 
 
 
 

Unearthed Words

All week long The Daily Gardener is sharing quotes from the author Beverley Nichols.

Today I'm sharing some excerpts from his fabulous book Merry Hall. Merry Hall was part of Nichol's later trilogy written between 1951 and 1956. It shares Nichols's highs and lows of renovating Merry Hall, a Georgian manor house in Surrey. Nichols lived here for ten years from 1946 to 1956.
Here are two excerpts from Merry Hall:

“...If you are picking a bunch of mixed flowers, and if you happen to see, over in a corner, a small, sad, neglected-looking pink or peony that is all by itself and has obviously never had a chance in life, you have not the heart to pass it by, to leave it to mourn alone, while the night comes on. You have to go back and pick it, very carefully, and put it in the centre of the bunch among its fair companions, in the place of honor.”

“Long experience has taught me that people who do not like geraniums have something morally unsound about them. Sooner or later you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats. Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted to geraniums.”

 
 
 


Today's book recommendation: Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening by Matt Mattus

When I first saw the book Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening, I knew it would be amazing. Mattus is a conscious competent in the world of vegetables and his advice along with the images will make even an ornamental gardener want to grow these beautiful, common to unusual, great-tasting vegetables.

Mattus will appeal to new gardeners who need a master to teach them the basics. But he'll also appeal to seasoned growers who are looking for more complex techniques or higher level insight.

Mattus writes with a personable, helpful voice. He's funny and he shares great stories as well. This book could only come from someone like Matt who has grown each vegetable himself and truly loves gardening.
 
 
 


 
Today's Garden Chore

Prepare your cold frames, shed, and greenhouse in preparation for fall if you haven't already.

Autumn sowing and growing time for late autumn greens, radishes and other shoulder-season crops is right now. 
 
 


Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

September's birthday flower is the aster. 

Asters offer that happy yellow face encircled with rayed petals. Asters are part of the sunflower or daisy family. The Aster is named from the Greek word for star. In the 'Language of Flowers', reflecting the changing season, it signifies 'farewell'. Farewell to the lazy days of summer, to swimming pools and picnics, and farewell to the summer harvest.

There was a little anonymous poem about September and asters printed in The Bluff CIty Newsout of Kansas in 1903. Here's what it said:

"September's fields are golden.
Her skies are azure fair.
And In her beauty holden
Are gifts beyond compare.
Who longs for May-time blossoms?
Who cares for roses sweet?
When all September's asters
Are flowering at our feet."
 


Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate an English poet who was good friends with Alexander Pope.
We'll also learn about the French painter, famous for his landscapes.
We celebrate the co-creator of a new hybrid of popcorn called "snowflake."
We also celebrate some of the flowers of the July garden with some poetry.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us explore the world of botanical fragrance.
And then we'll wrap things up with a story about a legendary Indiana botanist.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
 
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
 
Curated News
9 Hanging Garden Ideas That Will Turn Any Small Space Into a Lush Indoor Jungle | Tehrene Firman | WellandGood.com
If you're living in a small apartment, there's really not a whole lot of room to make your greenery dreams come true. Unless you take things vertically, that is.

1. Plant wall
2. Hanging Bottles
3. Kokedama
4. Upcycled Stick
5. Wall Containers
6. Above-the-Bed Shelf
7. Doorway Garden
8. Wire Wall Grid
9. Scrap Wood

 
Did you know Tarragon is an artemisia?
 
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1730   Today is the anniversary of the death of the English writer and poet Elijah Fenton. His tomb is ornamented with a pair of sleeping angels. Alexander Pope composed his epitaph. The first two lines are inspired by the poet Richard Crashaw.
At Easthamstead, Berks, 1729

THIS modest stone, what few vain marbles can,
May truly say, Here lies an Honest Man;
A Poet blessed beyond the Poet's fate,
Whom Heav'n kept sacred from the proud and great;
Foe to loud Praise, and friend to learned Ease, 5
Content with Science in the vale of peace.
Calmly he looked on either life, and here
Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear;
From Nature's temperate feast rose satisfied,
Thank'd Heav'n that he had lived, and that he died.

 
Elijah Fenton is remembered for working with Alexander Pope and William Broome to translate the Greek epic poem The Odyssey. Pope had specifically asked Elijah for his help with the major undertaking.
Elijah is credited with many wonderful verses:
Wedded love is founded on esteem.
 

Beware of flattery, 'tis a weed
Which oft offends the very idol--vice,
Whose shrine it would perfume.

 

O blissful poverty!
Nature, too partial to thy lot, assigns
Health, freedom, innocence, and downy peace.

 
In a book about Elijah Fenton, it says,
“It is late justice, to Fenton, to point out how often the footsteps of the greater poet may be tracked to his garden plots; how the tones, and something more, of his verses, are echoed in strains which give them their best chance of immortality. Pope was accustomed to say that Fenton's “Ode to Spring” addressed to Lord John Gower, was the best Ode in the English language since Dryden’s Cecilia.”
 

O'er winter's long inclement sway,
At length the lusty Spring prevails;
And swift to meet the smiling May,
Is wafted by the Western gales.
Around him dance the rosy Hours,
And damasking the ground with flowers,
With ambient sweets perfume the morn;
With shadowy verdure flourished high,
A sudden youth the groves enjoy,
Where Philomel laments forlorn.
— Elijah Fenton, Ode to Spring

 

Nature permits for various gifts to fall
On various climes, nor smiles alike on all.
The Latian eternal verdure wear,
And flowers spontaneous crown the smiling year;
But who manures a wild Norwegian Hill
To raise the Jasmine or the coy Jonquil?
Who finds the peach among the savage sloes
Or in black Scythia sees the blushing Rose?
Here golden grain waves over the teeming fields
And they're the vine her racy purple yields;
Rich on the cliff the British Oak ascends
Proud to survey the seas her power defends;
Her sovereign title to the flag she proves
Scornful of softer India's spicy Groves.
— Elijah Fenton, Variety of Nature

 
1796  It's the birthday of the artist Camille Corot ("CAH-MEEL CAH-row"), born in Paris.
Corot was a French painter, famous for his landscapes, and he inspired the landscape painting of the Impressionists.
Corot's quotes about painting are inspiring to gardeners. Here's a little sample of his sensitive perspective on the natural world:
"Beauty in art is truth bathed in an impression received from nature. I am struck upon seeing a certain place. While I strive for conscientious imitation, I yet never for an instant, lose the emotion that has taken hold of me."
 
Here are some of Corot's words about Nature at the end of the day:
"...Everything is vague, confused, and Nature grows drowsy. The fresh evening air sighs among the leaves - the birds, these voices of the flowers are saying their evening prayer."
 
Imagine sitting beside Corot as he wrote,
"I hope with all my heart there will be painting in heaven."
 
Gardeners would reply, "I hope there is a garden."
 
 
1907   On this day, Orville Redenbacher was born.
Orville was a USDA scientist and the co-creator of a new hybrid of popcorn called "snowflake." It was lighter and fluffier than traditional popped kernels, and Orville became a household name with his commercials for his popcorn.
To this day, Orville Redenbacher is the number one selling popcorn in the world. Nebraska produces more popcorn than any other state in the country.
 
Unearthed Words
Today we celebrate some of the flowers of the July garden.
 

We like people not just because they are good, kind, and pretty but for some indefinable spark, usually called “chemistry,” that draws us to them and begs not to be analyzed too closely. Just so with plants. In that case, my favorite has to be Physoplexis comosa. This is not merely because I am writing at the beginning of July when the plant approaches maximum attractiveness.
— Geoffry B. Charlesworth, garden author, On the Physoplexis comosa or the Devil's Claw or Tufted Horned Rampion

 

Light love in a mist,
by the midsummer moon misguided,
Scarce seen in the twilight garden if gloom insist,
Seems vainly to seek for a star whose gleam has derided
Light love in a mist.


All day in the sun, when the breezes do all they list.
His soft blue raiment of cloudlike blossom abided
Unrent and unwithered of winds and of rays that kissed.
Blithe-hearted or sad, as the cloud or the sun subsided,
Love smiled in the flower with a meaning whereof none wist
Save two that beheld, as a gleam that before them glided.
Light love in a mist.
— Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet, Love in a Mist

 

The marigold, whose courtier’s face
Echoes the sun, and doth unlace
Her at his rise, at his full stop
Packs and shuts up her gaudy shop.
— John Cleveland, English poet, The Marigold

 
Grow That Garden Library
Scentual Garden By Ken Druse
This book came out in October of 2019, and the subtitle is Exploring the World of Botanical Fragrance.
The author Joe Lamp'l said,
"A brilliant and fascinating journey into perhaps the most overlooked and under-appreciated dimension of plants. Ken's well-researched information, experience, and perfect examples, now have me appreciating plants, gardens, and designs in a fresh and stimulating way."
Ken Druse is a celebrated lecturer and an award-winning author and photographer who has been called "the guru of natural gardening" by the New York Times. He is best known for his 20 garden books published over the past 25 years.
And, after reading this book, I immediately began to pay much more attention to fragrance in my garden.

The book is 256 illustrated pages of 12 categories of scented plant picks and descriptions for the garden - from plants to shrubs and trees.
You can get a copy of Scentual Garden By Ken Druse and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $40.

 
Today's Botanic Spark
1987    Today in 1987, The Indianapolis Star announced the release of the biography of the legendary turn-of-the-century Indiana botanist Charles Clemon Deam who went by "Charlie".
This biography of Charlie was written by Robert C. Kriebel, editor of the Lafayette Journal and Courier.
Charlie Deam was a self-taught botanist, and he also served the state of Indiana as a forester.
And there's a little story about Charlie in this article from The Indianapolis Star that I thought you would enjoy:
In his home herbarium, Charlie kept a loaded pistol in a desk drawer.
One time, Charlie was hosting a guest in his home. Charlie brought his guest into the herbarium, and they began chatting about plants and taxonomy.
Charlie gave his guest quite fright when, without warning, he opened the desk drawer, pulled out the gun, and fired two or three shots through the open window.
And all the while, Charlie uttered some disparaging comments about the "canine ancestry of a rabbit," that had been terrorizing his garden.

Today we celebrate a forgotten West Chester nurseryman and entrepreneur who pioneered the mail-order plant business.
We'll also learn about the Russian botanist who made a startling discovery from the sap of diseased tobacco plants.
We salute the Welsh poet and writer who died on this day in 1953 after drinking 18 straight martinis.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a really lovely book on garden design - it’s one of my favorites.
And then we’ll wrap things up with some words on the natural world from an American astronomer.
 
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It's just that easy.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There’s no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. 
 
Important Events
November 9, 1832  
Today is the birthday of the West Chester Pennsylvania nurseryman, entrepreneur, and Quaker, Josiah Hoopes.
Josiah loved nature from an early age. As a young man, Josiah had a desire to propagate and sell plants.  After his 30th birthday, Josiah built a greenhouse on his father’s property.  Within a few years, Josiah’s growing customer base prompted him to start his nursery, named Cherry Hill Nurseries. Over time, Cherry Hill grew to be known as Hoopes, Bro., and Thomas (HB&T) after Josiah recruited his brother Abner and his neighbor, an accountant named George B. Thomas.
With its gravelly loam soil, West Chester has cultivated some important botanical figures through the years.  The West Chester botanists David Townsend and Dr. William Darlington were lifelong friends with Josiah. Together, the three men founded Marshall Square Park, named after the colonial botanist Humphry Marshall. The three men also worked on cataloging the trees and plants in their home county.
Now, for their efforts, the town appointed all three men to form the first park committee. Later, Josiah (who was younger than the other men) was tasked with improving the park. Josiah added flower beds and walking paths - as well as an extraordinary amount of “resting stations.”  A history of the park shared that at one point, the park had 70 benches - 50 more than today’s total count. And today, in Josiah’s hometown, the 16-acre Hoopes Park is named for Josiah. He served as that park's original park supervisor. 
In addition to his local efforts, Josiah became nationally known when he developed a way to ship his nursery stock by railroad. Using moss and paper to wrap his plants, Josiah began to hire salesmen to market his plants and trees across the country. After securing a contract with the federal government, Josiah’s nursery shipped trees and shrubs to all the national cemeteries.  Within a decade, H B&T became the largest commercial grower in America.  Before the turn of the century, HB&T was shipping plants to Europe, Australia, and the West Indian Islands. They even had a sales rep stationed in Mexico. By 1913, the nursery occupied over a thousand acres, and it even offered a pleasure garden with a boardwalk for the locals - complete with manicured shrubs in the shape of spears and a Maltese cross. One newspaper reported,
 
"There is no more attractive place in our borough than the grounds of this firm, including their private residences adjoining, and we as a people owe them a vote of thanks for the privilege extended us in visiting them."
 

Josiah had a special love for trees. At Hoopes, Josiah’s fruit trees were a top seller, appealing to new homeowners in America’s growing suburbs.  An 1870’s record book shows old order sheets with the words “send at once” and “immediately” handwritten on the receipt. After mastering packaging and shipping, the nursery could boast of sales to nearly every state in the union, and customers even included President Grover Cleveland at the White House. And, by the late 1800s, the nursery was the number one grower of peach trees. 
Like his friend Townsend, Josiah’s botanical writing was geared toward encouraging a love for growing plants and trees. Josiah regularly wrote botanical articles for the New York Tribune, and he also wrote a book called Book of Evergreens.  
 In terms of posterity, Asa Gray named the plant Hymenoxys hoopesii (ii = "ee-eye") commonly known as Owl's Claws for Josiah Hoopes. This plant is a marvelous native mountain wildflower offering large golden-yellow flowers all summer long. The bloom is made up of long, drooping petals (resembling owl’s claws) and a button-like center cone.
Josiah Hoopes died on January 16, 1904. HB&T closed for good in the 1940s.
 
November 9, 1864   
Today is the birthday of the Russian Botanist Dmitry Ivanovsky.
In 1892, Dmitry researched the cause of an infection called “Wildfire” in tobacco plants in Crimea. Dmitry made a startling discovery when he learned that even after running through a filter, sap from an infected plant could still infect healthy plants. Dmitry’s testing led to the realization that the cause was something smaller than bacteria. Years later, Martinus Beijerinck ("BY-ah-rink”) would call the filtered, infectious substance a "virus,” and Dmitry’s infection is now known as the tobacco mosaic virus.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we owe a debt of gratitude to botanists like Dmitry Ivanovsky and Martinus Beijerinck ("BY-ah-rink”) and all the rest of the virology pioneers.
 
Unearthed Words
November 9, 1953
Here’s a quote from the Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas, who died on this day in 1953 at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. He had consumed 18 straight martinis.
Nothing grows in our garden, only washing. And babies.
― Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and writer
 
Grow That Garden Library
Urban Garden Design by Kate Gould
This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is Transform your outdoor space into a beautiful and practical escape.
In this book, the award-winning garden designer Kate Gould offers refined solutions and crazy-good ideas for urban gardens. I appreciate Kate because she loves the challenge of small spaces, and she is a total maximizer in terms of her approach to design and plant selection.
Kate is also passionate about helping her clients create a garden that is both personal and unique. And one of Kate’s superpowers is connecting the outside design back to the home's interior to create a cohesive feel.
This book is a stunning guide for gardeners keen to transform small and awkward outdoor spaces into beautiful and practical spaces.
This book is 176 pages of spot-on guidance for gardeners who want to transform their little piece of heaven in the city into a private escape from the world.
You can get a copy of Urban Garden Design by Kate Gould  and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $4
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
November 9, 1934  
Today is the birthday of the American astronomer, astrophysicist, and author Carl Sagan, born on this day in Brooklyn, New York.
Carl helped explain space to the masses through his articles, books, and popular public television series “Cosmos."
Here on earth, gardeners delight in his words about the natural world.
 
We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.
— Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and author
 
A book is made from a tree.
It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years.
Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you.
Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another.
Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.
— Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and author
 
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars.
We are made of starstuff.
― Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and author, Cosmos

Today we celebrate a German naturalist and two American female landscape architects.
We hear an excerpt about September from a modern Southern writer whose stories are set in the North Carolina/Tennessee mountains.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about Walled Gardens.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the birthday of an American plantsman and ecologist. His work continues to inspire the botanists who follow in his footsteps.
 
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• A personal update from me
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Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Curated News
Plan for Growth and Happiness | SAFnow.org | Molly Olson
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
September 16, 1651 
Birth of Engelbert Kaempfer, German naturalist, physician, explorer, and writer. He is remembered for his ten-year exploration through Russia, Persia, India, and Asia between 1683 and 1693. He was the first European to bring botanical specimens back from Japan. His book, Amoenitatum Exoticarum (1712), was an invaluable medical resource and offered the first flora of Japan, featuring nearly 500 plants from the island. He was the first Western botanist to describe the Ginkgo.
 
September 16, 1876 
Birth of Marian Cruger Coffin, American landscape architect. She was one of two women in her 1904 landscape architecture class at MIT. Since most architecture firms didn’t hire women, Marian started her own practice in New York City and became one of America's first working female landscape architects. She started out with small projects in the suburbs of Rhode Island and ended up as the most in-demand landscape architect for the East Coast elite. Her client list included the Fricks, the Vanderbilts, Marjorie Merriweather Post, the Huttons, and the du Ponts. Her legacy includes many of her Delaware commissions: Gibraltar (Wilmington, Delaware), the University of Delaware campus, Mt. Cuba, and Winterthur. In 1995, author Nancy Fleming expanded her Radcliffe thesis and wrote Money, Manure & Maintenance - a book about Marian Coffin’s gardens. The title was a reference to the three ingredients Marion thought necessary for a successful garden. Marion once observed,
The shears in the hands of the average jobbing gardener are, indeed, a dangerous implement. As much devastation can be done in a few moments as it will take an equal number of years to repair. This I have observed to my sorrow...
 
September 16, 1887 
Birth of Annette Hoyt Flanders, American landscape architect, and writer. A daughter of Milwaukee, she worked on all types of gardens in the Midwest and out East. For her design of the French Gardens at the McCann Estate, she received the Architectural League of New York’s Medal of Honor in Landscape Architecture (1932). In a 1942 article in The Record (New Jersey), she advised,
Hold on to every bit of beauty you've got. Don't tear up your gardens. We're going to need gardens more than ever, and what's more, we can't afford to create an economic crisis by throwing out of work hundreds of people who are dependent for their livelihood on things we need for our gardens. 
She once said,
Real beauty is not a matter of size — a tiny, inexpensive garden can be just as beautiful as a big one.
 
Unearthed Words
There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that it is all about to end as if summer was holding its breath, and when it let it out again, it would be autumn.
― Sharyn McCrumb, King's Mountain
 
Grow That Garden Library
Walled Gardens by Jules Hudson
This book came out in 2018, and it is from the National Trust.
In this book, Jules Hudson of the BBC shares some of the most spectacular walled gardens throughout England and Wales. In centuries gone by, these gardens were vital to sustaining family life - not only for food - but also for medicine and beauty.
In the late 18th century, these gardens became synonymous with wealth as the elite sought to grow exotic fruits right in their own backyard. Over time, these kitchen gardens were enhanced with glasshouses and heated walls. The level of creativity, commitment, and charm reflected in these gardens are evident still today.
This book is 240 pages of walled kitchen gardens in all their glory.
You can get a copy of Walled Gardens by Jules Hudson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $12
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
September 16, 1874 
Birth of Frederic Edward Clements, American plant ecologist. In 1916, he introduced the concept of a biome to the field of ecology. He also helped pioneer the study of vegetation succession. He believed his botanist wife, Edith, would have been a world-renown ecologist if she hadn’t devoted so much time to help him. Together the “Doctors Clements” traveled across America researching and teaching the next generation of ecologists. For fieldwork, Frederic devised a technique known as the quadrat method: pound four stakes into the ground, wrap a string around the stakes, and tally the number and kinds of plants in the square. MIT’s John Vucetich marveled at the power and scale of Frederic’s work, writing,
To draw a string around that many sets of stakes, to sit down before a small patch of the Earth that many times, to get down on the level with plants, to take a quick look, gain a gestalt, and then engage in the deliberative task of touching every single plant, recognizing its species name and writing it down, pressing pencil to paper, once for each individual—to do that not for a weekend, not a few dozen times, but to perform that meditation thousands of times over a lifetime—there is no more intimate, more mesmerizing way to connect with nature. 
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Folklore and legends are often intertwined with plants and gardens. 

Today, I stumbled on a Swedish Legend called "The Harvest That Never Came" and I thought you'd get a kick out of it. The story has been used in lesson plans, to teach kids problem solving. I'm going to abbreviate it a bit, but I'll share a link to a good English translation in today's show notes.

A young man named Arild was the son of a Danish noble family. He had fallen in love with a girl from Sweden named Thale. But, in the midst of their romance, Denmark and Sweden declared war on each other.

Arild, who served in the war as a Danish Knight, was captured by the Swedes and thrown in prison. While he was in prison, Arild received a note from Thala, his true love. 

"My dearest Arild,
I promised to wait for you forever, but I fear I will not be allowed to. My father says you will never return, and he has chosen another man to be my husband... He has already set the marriage date.
I will love you always.
Your faithful Thale"
 
Now, Arild was not about to die in prison, and he was certainly not going to lose Thale. So, he came up with an offer and he presented it to King Erik of Sweden in the form of a letter:

"Your Royal Majesty,
Grant me one favor. Let me go home to marry the woman I love. Then allow me to stay only long enough to plant a crop and harvest it.
On my word of honor (as a knight), I will return to your prison as soon as the harvest is gathered."
 
The King granted Arild's request and Arild married Thale. In the Spring, Arild decided on a crop and he planted the seeds placing them each of them six paces apart.

In the Fall, after the Harvest season had passed, King Erik sent a messenger to summon Arild back to prison.

Arild looked at the messenger with surprise, saying, "My crop is not harvested... Indeed it has not yet even sprouted!”

The messenger looked perplexed and said, "Not sprouted? What did you plant?"

Arild's reply revealed the cleverness of his plan: "Pine Trees."

When King Erik heard Arild's story he wisely judged, “A man like that does not deserve to be in prison.”

"And so, Arild was allowed to remain home with his beloved Thale. And a magnificent forest stands today as a testament to his love."


 
 
Brevities

#OTD  Today is the birthday of the botanist and physician Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau who was born on this day in 1552.

The information history has preserved about Scholz gives us a rare glimpse into the botanical life of a dedicated plantsman in the 1500's. Like many early botanists, he was very well educated and he was a polyglot; reading, writing, and speaking many languages. 

One of the most important endeavors accomplished by Scholz was translating medical references which were written in Greek and Arabic. He took that information, along with references written by peers around Europe, and put together a reference book that combined all of the best medical information of his time. His work proved so valuable in helping to teach people about the plague, that he earned a coat of arms and nobility title, the Scholz von Rosenau" name in 1596.

As for botanical activities, Scholz was way ahead of his time. He grew potatoes - a dubious activity during his day and age, and one few gardeners would have pursued - because people were afraid of night shade plants. And, Scholz had a massive garden even by today's standards - over 7 acres. I love the description of the layout for Scholz's garden: four quadrants, big central pathways, and smack in the middle of all of it was a building that historians say was used to entertain; Scholz had designed it to serve both as a dining hall and an art gallery.

Clearly, Scholz was a people person and he loved entertaining his friends and family at his garden. During the growing season, Scholz would hold gatherings he called "flower festivals" in his garden to delight his friends and family. 



 
#OTD  Today is the anniversary of the death of Margherita Caffi who died on this day in 1710. 

Caffi was an Italian painter who was able to have a long career painting still life flower & fruit compositions.The men in her family were painters, but Caffi was self-taught. A mother of four who was pursuing a craft outside of the norm for her times, Caffi had an incredible work ethic. But, her efforts paid off; Caffi achieved fame and even royal patronage during a time when female painters were not embraced.

A quick Google search of Caffi will reveal that she loved tulips, roses, peonies and carnations; she loved to paint their delicate forms and felt that their tremendous colors - the soft pinks, the vibrant reds, the remarkable shades of yellow and orange - were best displayed against a dark background.

Caffi's art is formal and elegant; she painted on silk, canvas and vellum.
 
 
#OTD   Today is the birthday of botanist and explorer Mary Sophie Young who was born on this day in 1872.

In 2017, Nicole Elmer wrote a lovely profile of Young which was featured on the website for the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. Here are some highlights from Elmer's profile:

When Mary Sophie was born in Glendale, Ohio to an Episcopalian minister and his wife, she was undoubtedly the answer to her parents prayers; they had already had seven boys by they time Mary Sophie was born.

Growing up with brothers was formative for Young; she often said she felt that playing with them outside had made her tough and that the experience had helped her withstand the challenging conditions often faced by botanists during plant collecting expeditions.

Young ended up getting her PhD from the University of Chicago. By the fall of 1910, she was on the faculty at the University of Texas; she had landed a job in the botany department.

In two short years, Young was put in charge of the herbarium which already housed 2500 specimens; but had never had a curator. Young immediately set about adding to the herbarium through her  collecting. 

Early on, as a collector in Austin, Young began publishing her work and she would often correspond with others using the simply sign-off  "M.S. Young" which masked the fact that she was female. Young wrote in the manner that she spoke; very directly. To Young's delight, while exchanging letters, many people who read her prose and her initials and would incorrectly assume that she was a man. It gave her an immense feeling of satisfaction.

In Elmer's post about Young, she wrote:

"Young’s favorite area to collect was West Texas, and she traveled there during [her] vacation[s].... [in the] the summers of 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1918... Young would hire a younger man to accompany her, usually a university student, to assist with hunting and setting up camp. Young also paid part of her expenses on these collecting trips and donated her time. While in West Texas, she collected from ferns, grasses, cacti, large trees, and sedges."

Young recorded her 1914 trip in a journal. 

Elmer wrote that,

"Young [expressed] awe at the landscape... of being in the vastness of West Texas at the turn of the century:

“It’s about five o’clock now. The ‘lonely’ time is beginning. The air is very transparent and very still and everything glistens. There is something of that uncanny fee ling of the consciousness of inanimate things.”

In February 1919 Young was diagnosed with advanced cancer. She died a month later at the age of 46 . She had served as curator for seven years and in that time she had added almost 14,000 specimens to the University of Texas herbarium. Today, the herbarium occupies eight floors of the Tower; an iconic part of the University of Texas Landscape.
 


 
#OTD  Today is the birthday of the garden writer Anna Pavord. 

In her 2010 book,The Curious Gardener, Pavord, culled articles from her newspaper column. Here's an excerpt:

"It was at our first house and on the first patch of ground that we actually owned that I really discovered the point of gardening. It wasn’t a Pauline conversion. There was no sudden, blinding vision of beauty. I didn’t see myself (still don’t) trolling through bowers of roses, straw hat just so, gathering blooms into a basket. Nor had I any idea at first of the immense joy of growing food. But I had at least begun to understand that gardening, if it is to be satisfying, requires some sense of permanency. Roots matter. The longer you stay put, the richer the rewards.

"I also realized how completely I had missed the point as a child. Gardening was not necessarily about an end result. The doing was what mattered. At this time too, I learned about gardening as therapy."
 
 
 
Unearthed Words

"Under the harvest moon, 
When the soft silver 
Drips shimmering 
Over the garden nights, 
Death, the gray mocker, 
Comes and whispers to you 
As a beautiful friend 
Who remembers." 

- Carl Sandburg, Under the Harvest Moon



Today's book recommendation: Big Dreams, Small Garden by Marianne Willburn

Big Dreams, Small Garden is Willburn's Guide to Creating Something Extraordinary in Your Ordinary Space.

As a columnist and Master Gardener for over 20 years, Willburn is used to talking to people who long to create the garden space of their dreams, but find that something in their circumstances is getting in the way of that dream.

If that situation describes you, Willburn's guide will be your inInspiration to getting unstuck and getting the garden you are hoping for; whether that's a restful outdoor space for entertaining or a garden to supply edibles for cooking.

Stop waiting for “the perfect place” and start the process of visualizing, achieving, maintaining, and enjoying your unfolding garden.

Willburn  gives you tips for making a sanctuary in less-than-ideal situations and profiles real-life gardeners who have done just that—including the author herself.
 
 
Today's Garden Chore

Pot up some herbs to bring indoors.
This is an excellent weekend to pot up some of your herbs to grow through the fall and winter on the kitchen windowsill. I like to bring in mint and parsley, as well as rosemary, basil, and cilantro. And don't forget that your windowsill is a great place to sprout scallions which will happily grow in a vase of water - right next to the herbs on your windowsill.
 
 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

On this day in 1910, The Rutland Daily Herald out of Vermont shared this utterly charming story about a little-known flower called the Rhodum sidus:

An amusing story told by Hood describes how a country nurseryman made a large sum out of sales of a simple little flower that he sold under the name of Rhodum sidus.
 
This charming name proved quite an attraction to the ladies and the flower became the sage of the season.
 
It was one of those freaks of fashion for which there is no accounting.
 
At length a botanist  who found that the plant was [a common] weed requested to know where the nursery man got the name from.
 
He elicited the following reply:
 
“I found this flower in the road beside us, so christened it the Rhodum sidus.”
 
 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the botanist who discovered the function of leaves.
We'll also learn about a visionary German naturalist and polymath who recognized the power and complexity of nature as he explored Central and South America.
We hear an excerpt about the power of gardening to turn a gardener into a philosopher.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about the best way - the very best way - to cook vegetables from the garden. This is a cookbook that teaches how to make individual vegetables shine - and it’s a cookbook every vegetable gardener should have in their kitchen.
And then we’ll wrap things up with a fun little story about the winning entry at the 1917 Raisin Day Parade.

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Gardener Greetings
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Curated News
A farmer to chef reveals his deep vegetable knowledge | Agrinews | Mark Kennedy

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The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.

Important Events
May 6, 1742
Today is the birthday of Jean Senebier, a Swiss pastor and botanist.
Where would we be without Senebier?
Still breathing... but lacking the knowledge that carbon dioxide is consumed by plants and, in turn, that plants produce oxygen as part of the process of photosynthesis.
In a nutshell, Senebier’s work is crucial because he had learned the function of leaves: capturing carbon for food. Before Senebier, the purpose of leaves and what they did for plants and people was unknown.
It was Jean Senebier who said,
"Observation and experiment are two sisters who help each other."

May 6, 1859
Today is the anniversary of the death of the naturalist and botanist Alexander Von Humboldt. He was 89 years old.
When it came to his expeditions, Alexander didn't travel alone. In 1799, Alexander was accompanied by the French botanist Aimé Bonplant.
In 1806, Friedrich Georg Weitsch painted his portrait; two years after he returned from his five-year research trip through Central and South America.
Friedrich painted a romantic, idealized vista of Ecuador as the setting for Alexander's painting.
Alexander had climbed the Chimborazo Mountain in Ecuador, believed at the time to be the highest mountain in the world, so perhaps Friedrich imaged Alexander viewing the landscape from Chimborazo. Surrounded by a jungle paradise, a large palm shades Alexander's resting spot. In the painting, a very handsome Alexander is seated on a large boulder; his top hat is resting upside down on the boulder behind him. Friedrich shows the 37-year-old Alexander wearing a puffy shirt that would make Seinfeld jealous, a pinkish-orange vest, and tan breeches. In Alexander’s lap, he holds open the large leather-bound Flora he is working on, and in his right hand, he has a specimen of "Rhexia speciosa" (aka Meriania speciosa). A large barometer leans against the boulder in the lower-left corner of the painting. It symbolized Alexander’s principle of measuring environmental data while collecting and describing plants.
King Ferdinand was so pleased with the portrait that he hung it in the Berlin Palace. that he ordered two more paintings to be made featuring Alexander's time in the Americas.
Alexander was a polymath; he made contributions across many of the sciences. He made a safety lamp for miners. He discovered the Peru Current (aka the Humboldt Current. He believed South America and Africa had been joined together geographically at one time. He named the "torrid zone,"; the area of the earth near the equator. Apropos the area he was exploring, torrid means hot, blistering, scorching. He went to Russia, and it was there that he predicted the location of the first Russian diamond deposits.
Alexander was also a pragmatist. It was the Great Alexandre Von Humboldt who said:
"Spend for your table less than you can afford, for your house rent just what you can afford, and for your dress more than you can afford."
Alexander developed his own theory for the web of life. Humboldt wrote:
"The aims I strive for are an understanding of nature as a whole, proof of the working together of all the species of nature." 
In 1803, in Mexico, he wrote, "Everything is Interaction.”

Unearthed Words
“Lilacs on a bush are better than orchids. And dandelions and devil grass are better! Why? Because they bend you over and turn you away from all the people in the town for a little while and sweat you and get you down where you remember you got a nose again. And when you’re all to yourself that way, you’re really proud of yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone. Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher. Nobody guesses, nobody accuses, nobody knows, but there you are, Plato in the peonies, Socrates force-growing his own hemlock. A man toting a sack of blood manure across his lawn is kin to Atlas letting the world spin easy on his shoulder.”
― Ray Bradbury, American author and screenwriter, Dandelion Wine

Grow That Garden Library
Eating from the Ground Up by Alana Chernila
This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Recipes for Simple, Perfect Vegetables: A Cookbook.
In this book, Alana says, “Vegetables keep secrets, and to prepare them well, we need to know how to coax those secrets out.”
Alana divides her cookbook into these key sections: Barely Recipes (Recipes that let the vegetables shine), A Pot of Soup, Too Hot To Cook, Warmth, and Comfort, and Celebrations and Other Excuses to Eat With Your Hands.
Alana’s cookbook was inspired by the question, “But what’s the best way to eat a radish?”
Alana was at a booth at the farmer’s market.
“One side of the table held a tower of radish bunches, and the other, a basket of bagged baby arugula. When my first customer held a bunch of radishes and asked me for direction, I did my best to answer.
“Throw them into a salad? Slice them up and dip them in hummus?”
Not enamored with her lackluster response, Alana went home and experimented.
“Next Saturday, when someone asked me my favorite way to eat a radish, I was ready.
“Make radish butter! Chop them up fine and fold them into soft butter with some crunch salt, parsley, and a little lemon juice.”
I think the whole town at radish butter that week.
Each week that first summer, I’d take vegetables home from one mark to prepare for the next, studying up for the following week’s questions.
The result was this cookbook. Isn’t that fantastic?!
This book is 272 pages of vegetable mastery in the kitchen.
You can get a copy of Eating from the Ground Up by Alana Chernila  and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5

Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
May 6, 1917
On this day, The Fresno Morning Republican shared a full-page story about the raisin industry.
The Raisin Day parade had been held the previous week. The winning entry was a series of five floats that told the story 40-year-old raisin industry.
Here’s an excerpt:
The first float showed the pioneer and his family after their Journey from the east to the fertile valley of the San Joaquin.
The pioneer's vision was portrayed by a float in advance. Then came the realization of his vision with the little home and the raisin grapevines.
But there was no organization, no cooperative marketing, and each grower sold his crop to the packer or marketed his crop.
Disaster came, and the third float denoted poverty. The vineyard was mortgaged and sold by the sheriff.
The fourth float portrayed prosperity. The businessman, grower, and laborer were linked together for better conditions. 
The fifth float denoted the result of the cooperation and wealth to the vineyardist. The original Sun-Maid [Raisin Girl] Miss Lorraine Collett was on this float.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the woman who donated her entire orchid collection to begin the Belle Isle Conservatory.
We'll also learn about a woman who Burpee honored with the naming of a Marigold.
We hear an excerpt from a garden diary for this week of March.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a very delightful book that teaches how to make your own floral cocktails.
And then we’ll wrap things up with a little story that shares five favorite perennials for country life.
 
Subscribe
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To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to
“Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.”
And she will. It's just that easy.
 
The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter
Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:

• A personal update from me
• Garden-related items for your calendar
• The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week
• Gardener gift ideas
• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Curated News
4 Things You Can Plant in March, the Very Beginning of Outdoor Gardening Season | Apartment Therapy | Molly Williams
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links.
The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
March 5, 1866
Today is the birthday of Anna Scripps Whitcomb.
Anna was born to James and Harriet Scripps. Anna's father was an entrepreneur; he founded the Detroit News and helped found the Detroit Museum of Art.
In 1891, Anna married Edgar Whitcomb and together they raised two children. The couple lived on a beautiful estate in Gross Pointe and along the way, Anna nurtured her passion for orchids. The Whitcomb property boasted two large greenhouses which were largely devoted to orchids.
During the first half of the 1900s, Orchids were still very challenging to grow and they had a very poor germination rate. Anna’s success with orchids was in large part thanks to her longtime gardener and propagator William Crichton who worked for Anna for almost 30 years. William often had the help of a small staff of gardeners and the team worked together to show many of Anna’s orchids at the Detroit Flower Show.
A charming article about Anna’s orchids highlighted William’s expertise this way,
“With a fine brush, [William] transferred the pollen of one gorgeous flower to another. The seed pod of the fertilized flower would contain a quarter million seeds, a few hundred thousand of which would be planted and half of them would bloom nine years after spring.
Because the modern orchid grower studies the ancestry of his plants... [William] can predict their possible forms and colorings and qualities. But exactly what will happen,  [William] must wait nine years to learn.
Until recently the orchid breeder could count upon no more than five percent of selected seeds surviving to germinate. Now the famous Cornell University method has raised the life expectancy of orchid seeds to 50 percent. With this method seeds are sown in a propagating jelly, which looks like library paste. It is composed of chemicals, salts and nutrients made from seaweed.
[Each year, William] will cross but one, possibly two, pair. [William] will save perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 seeds and plant half of them… 
Five flasks filled with the Cornell agar jelly [are] sufficient to fill a small orchid house with bloom.
[And] Each flask [is corked with cotton and covered with a glass and] hold[s] [between] 500 to 1,000 seeds, fine as star dust, 
In ten months flecks of green appear on the thick, white gelatine within the flask. Minute seedlings are ready for the outside world, where, for eight or nine years more, they must face the hazards of life. Drafts, germs, insects, diseases, changes in temperature, careless hands would destroy them.
Little pots filled with a special orchid moss, known as Osmunda fiber, are prepared, perhaps 10 or a dozen, for the benches of the private orchid house. The grower transfers the bits of green, washing off the jelly, scattering the thousands of seedlings, like chopped parsley, over the smooth, spongy surface of the moss.
Years pass. The infant plants are moved from the nursery to less crowded quarters. Weak individuals are discarded. Finally, each survivor stands alone in a pot, guarded, sprayed, scrubbed with soap, watered and fed, by day and by night, in controlled degrees of heat and humidity.”
Before Anna died, she made arrangements for her orchid collection in the event of her death.
And in April of 1953, Anna’s entire orchid collection - all 600 of them - to the Belle Isle Conservatory owned by the city of Detroit. Built in 1904, the domed conservatory had gradually deteriorated. Without Anna’s gift and the commitment of 450,000 to renovate and improve the wooden structure with aluminum beams, the 50-year-old glass-domed building would have likely met its end. The very month Anna’s orchids were gifted, the conservatory was renamed as The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory.
Today the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is the oldest continually-running conservatory in the United States - and people just refer to it as the Belle Isle Conservatory.
 
March 5, 2012
Today The Akron Beacon Journal shared a story about some of the wealthiest women in Akron Ohio during the Victorian era.
One of the women profiled was the gardener, composer, songwriter, and philanthropist Idabelle Firestone.
As you might have suspected, Idabelle was the wife of rubber baron Harvey Firestone.
In 1929, Idabelle generously started the Idabelle Firestone School of Nursing at Akron City Hospital with a founding donation of $400,000.
A lover of gardens and gardening, David Burpee of Burpee Seed fame even named a marigold in Idabelle’s honor.
Idabelle incorporated gardens and nature into her musical compositions. Ida even wrote a song called “In My Garden,” which starts out with someone missing their sweetheart and then ends with this verse:
A garden sweet,
A garden small,
Where rambler roses
Creep along the wall.
Where dainty phlox and columbine
Are nodding to the trumpet vine.
And now each flower is sweeter dear
I know it’s just because at last you’re here.
Idabelle was a kind woman and a reporter once wrote,
“Idabelle Firestone doesn’t need a grand mansion to be a lady. She’d be a lady in a shack.”
 
Unearthed Words
[March is] the watching month, the month in which to watch the ground for the bright spears of green of daffodil and iris, and for the bloom of species tulips; for the snowdrop, the earliest crocus, the color in the stem of shrub and tree.
[And] the first injunction for every month of the year should really be this: keep a garden notebook. If this has not been started in January, then this is the time to buy the book and make the first entries.
— Mrs. Francis King (aka Louisa Boyd Yeomans King), The Flower Garden Day by Day, March 1 and March 2
 
Grow That Garden Library
Floral Cocktails by Lottie Muir
This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is 40 fragrant and flavourful flower-powered drinks.
In this book, Lottie helps us learn to take flowers from the edge of the glass as a garnish and make them the star of the show - the main focus for gorgeous and flavorful libations and beverages.
Lottie’s recipes include a heady honeysuckle syrup, a fabulous raspberry and scented geranium drink, a lavender gin, a nasturtium rum, a gorse flower syrup, and a rose petal vodka, just to name a few.
Lottie was the perfect author for this book because she is the creator of The Midnight Apothecary pop-up, a unique cocktail bar set in a roof garden in London. Lottie’s creativity with flowers has evolved into glorious cocktail creations for gardener mixologists.
This book is 64 pages of plant-powered cocktails created to delight your senses and feature your favorite blossoms from your own home garden.
You can get a copy of Floral Cocktails by Lottie Muirand support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
March 5, 2017
On this day The Herald-Palladium out of Saint Joseph, Michigan shared an article called “Flowers for the Country Border” by Maureen Gilmour.
In this article Maureen shares a glimpse of farm life - a busy lifestyle where Maureen says,
“With all the chores to do, few have time to sweat the details, seek perfection or create glossy magazine looks.”
And so, the perennials that make it on the farm are tough and dependable and require little fuss.
As Maureen says,
“In early farms and ranches, the first perennials [were] the stalwart wildflowers of range and prairie. Planted from gathered seed, or roots transplanted to the yard from wild stands, these big bold perennials took hold and flourished. They have proven to take the worst conditions and survive, to bring color, wildlife, and flavor, without toxicity to pets, livestock or kids.”
Next Maureen recommends five favorite perennials for country life:
1.Bee Balm
“Monarda didyma is a vigorous North American native perennial ... 
In the colonies, it’s foliage was an alternative to boycotted tea after the Boston Tea Party.” 
2. Blanketflower
“Gaillardia pulchella grows low and dense, producing flowers heavily, and then self sows for many new volunteers next year. This species is not as picky about soil quality for success”
3. Purple Coneflower
“Echinacea purpurea is best known as a supplement, but this is the finest native for borders.”
4. Shasta Hybrids
“This plant is … a curious hybrid invented a century ago by Luther Burbank. Snow white flowers of the original have many size variations, with the original proving as long-lived and resilient as many natives.”
5. Fennel
“This popular kitchen garden herb produces tall plants with umbelliferous flower heads that fill the air with these delicate forms late into the winter. The plants will flourish so they grow together into a dense mass. This blocks sunlight to the soil beneath so weeds are less likely to sprout.”
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the man who invented the cottonseed huller.
We'll learn about a Canadian legal eagle who loved gardening and one of Oregon's pioneer botanists.
We'll celebrate the work of a female biochemist who made some remarkable discoveries about bloom color by studying snapdragons.
Today's Unearthed Words feature words about March.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that was released 11 years ago today.
And then we'll wrap things up with the fascinating story of a garden activist who was teaching gardening on this day in NYC two years ago.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
 
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Starting Seeds: Use What You Have - Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden | Jonah Holland 
"If you have seeds that are less than three years old, at least some of them should be viable.
You could also use avocado seeds, citrus seeds, seeds from dates. You could try anything you happen to have — peppers, squash, beans, or maybe even pineapple!
Mail ordering seeds is another option. We asked our horticulturist some of their favorite seed sources, and here are a few of our favorites: Johnny's Select Seeds, White Flower Farm, Peace Tree Farm and Prairie Moon Nursery. You might even have a really fun time exploring the Seed Saver Exchange."
 
My COVID-19 Renee's Garden Seed Order for the Cabin
I share the seeds I ordered after planning to ride out the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic at the cabin.
 
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1814  Today the inventor and agricultural pioneer John Lineback received a patent for the first cottonseed hulling machine. He was based in Salem, North Carolina.
Today, cottonseed hullers are known as disc hullers, and they not only dehull oilseed shells like cottonseed and peanuts, but they also crush oilseeds such as soybeans.
Cotton is neither a fruit or a vegetable. The fibers of the cotton plant are made of cellulose. The seed of the cotton plant attaches to the fibers after emerging from the fruit. After maturing and left to its own devices, the cotton plant seed would simply blow off the plant in the wind - which is how the plant would get distributed.
Cotton seeds are exactly what you might deduce: the seeds of the cotton plant. They are egg-shaped and are 3.5-10 mm long. The Latin name for the Cotton Plant is Gossypium ("Gah-SIP-EE-UM), and the seeds are richly covered with white or rusty-colored, long, woolly hairs, called lint. It is actually the lint on the outer part of the seed that is the main product used to make cotton textiles.
Lineback's machine dehulled the seeds. The hulls are the outer coverings of cotton seeds. Dehulling makes it possible to extract cottonseed oil from the seeds. The process of dehulling is pretty straight forward: after removing the lint, the hull is removed from the kernel by screening.
Cottonseed hulls are fibrous, and they also get used and incorporated into food for livestock like cattle and sheep.
There's one final note about whole cottonseed worth mentioning: Cottonseed is toxic to humans and most animals.
 
1840  Today is the birthday of William Ralph Meredith.
Meredith was a Chief Justice in Ontario, and he's remembered as the founding father of workers' compensation in Ontario. His work helped shape worker's compensation for the rest of Canada and the United States. his principals regarding workers' compensation became known as the Meredith principles. The Meredith Principles allowed that workers would give up their right to sue employers in exchange for income security if they were injured at work. In turn, employers would receive business loss protection while paying for the system.
Meredith came from a large family in Westminster Township in Upper Canada with eight sons and four daughters. William was the oldest boy, and all the men in the family became quite successful in the legal community. The Meredith brothers were known as 'The Eight London Merediths' - a reference to the family's London Ontario homeplace. London is just north of Lake Erie and the U.S. border. As Chief Justice, Meredith was known among his legal colleagues simply as "The Chief." And, on more than one occasion, Meredith found himself presiding over cases where the lawyers for the accused and the defense were two of his own brothers - Richard and Edmund, who was regarded as the area's top criminal attorney.
All of the Meredith brothers enjoyed gardening, and Meredith was no exception. Meredith gardened on his large estate in Rosedale, Ontario, at 41 Binscarth Rd. In 1913, a Toronto newspaper ran a delightful story about Meredith, and it ended with his love of gardening, writing:
"Despite his seventy-three years, Sir William is still a fine and handsome man. His favorite pastime is gardening and on his beautiful grounds in Rosedale, he spends much of his spare time. Donning a straw hat and gloves, he delights in moving about among his plants and bushes, weeding and clipping, or else to dig out dandelion roots from his lawn."
 
1867  Today is the birthday of an important pioneering Oregon botanist Elmer Ivan Applegate.
Elmer was born near Ashland. His grandfather, Lindsey Applegate, was a wagon train leader, and he led many settlers to Oregon during the "Great Migration" of 1843.
Elmer was the oldest in his family of six children. He grew up on a 5,000-acre ranch where he mastered the demands of ranch life, and it was on the ranch that Elmer discovered his love for botany.
In 1895, Elmer graduated from Stanford, and after graduating, he spent time with the USDA's Frederick Colville - the botanist who, along with Elizabeth Coleman White, helped tame the wild blueberry.
As one of the most prominent Oregon botanists of the 20th century, Elmer's signature work focused on trout lilies (Erythronium) "AIR-ah-THROW-KNEE-um."
The trout lily is a native plant featuring nodding, freckled, yellow flowers that bloom in early spring in woodlands and on north-facing slopes. Trout lilies bloom in spring from March to May. As a spring ephemeral, they often bloom before the trees leaf out, and once the forest canopy fluffs out, the trout lily bloom disappears.
At the base of the trout, lily are these mottled brown and green leaves, which inspired the name of the plant because they look like the markings on brook trout. Those spots have also inspired the name fawn lily.
Trout lily is also known by common names like the dogtooth violet or the adder's tongue. The dogtooth name refers to the tuber of the trout lily which is underground. The tuber looks like a smooth, white fang. The adder's tongue refers to the curled, serpent-like, pointed leaf-tips, and the six stamens with anthers that look like fangs.
Here are some fun facts about the trout lily:
Trout lilies are short; they grow 6 to 8 inches tall.
Young plants have only one leaf, but mature plants sport two leaves. In fact, until that second leaf appears, the plant cannot flower.
Trout lily colonies are very long-lived, and some are 200 to 300 years old.
Trout lily leaves and bulbs have been used for medicinal purposes, such as contraception.
Mary Oliver wrote a poem called Trout Lilies:
It happened I couldn't find in all my books
more than a picture and a few words concerning
the trout lily,
so I shut my eyes,
And let the darkness come in
and roll me back.
The old creek
began to sing in my ears
as it rolled along, like the hair of spring,
and the young girl I used to be
heard it also,
as she came swinging into the woods,
truant from everything as usual
except for the clear globe of the day, and its
beautiful details.
Then she stopped,
where the first trout lilies of the year
had sprung from the ground
with their spotted bodies
and their six-antlered bright faces,
and their many red tongues.
If she spoke to them, I don't remember what she said,
and if they kindly answered, it's a gift that can't be broken
by giving it away.
All I know is, there was a light that lingered, for hours,
under her eyelids - that made a difference
when she went back to a difficult house, at the end of the day.
 
1880  Today is the birthday of the biochemist Muriel Wheldale Onslow who researched flower color inheritance and pigment molecule biochemistry.
Muriel was born in England and ended up marrying a fellow biochemist named Victor Onslow. Victor was actually the son of royalty - his dad was the fourth Earl of Onslow. Muriel and Victor's story is special. When Victor was a student at Cambridge, he became paralyzed from the waist down after diving off a cliff into a lake. The accident also left him with limited use of his arms and hands. Even though Victor and Muriel were married for only a little over three years before Victor's untimely death, their love was a story 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.
Early in her career, in 1903, Muriel became part of its genetics group working at Cambridge University, and it was here that she began studying flower petal color. Much of her research specifically focused on snapdragons which come in a range of flower colors including green, red, orange, yellow, white, purple, and pink - and now even bicolor and speckled. Muriel's work on coloration gained her worldwide recognition by 1910 she had published a whopping four papers on color inheritance in snapdragons.
Snapdragons or Antirrhinum majus ("ant-er-EYE-num MAY-jus") are a beloved cottage garden flower. It's 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.
And here are a few final notes about Muriel Whelan Onslow.
Muriel was multi-talented. In addition to her scientific work, she was also an artist. Her Botanical illustrations are actually quite good, and she was often regarded as a top botanical artist among her scientific colleagues.
As one of the few female scientists of her time, there are just a handful of fantastic online images of Muriel working in her laboratory. They are a must-see if you get the chance.
And you might recall that a decade ago in 2010, the Royal Institution in England put on a play called blooming snapdragons. The play was about for female biochemist of the early 20th century. Naturally, one of them was Muriel Onslow.
 
Unearthed Words
Here are some poignant words about this time of year.
This first poem was shared on this day in 1859.
Come to the woods, where flowers bloom, 
The violet peeps beneath each tree, 
And on the wintry slope bestirs 
The silver-leafed Anemone.
The yellow Cowslip decks the pool, 
And early Crowfoot lifts its shining head,
The star-eyed Liverleaf looks forth 
From out its green and mossy bed.
Lichnidia tall and Draba pure 
And Erythronium appear, 
Claytonia comes with penciled brow, 
The first of all the pleasant year.
Wake-robin nods its snowy crest, 
The Blue-Bells pale, Collinsia rare, 
The tiny Ground Nut, Squirrel Corn, 
All the joyous welcome give and share.
I then to nature's palace grand, 
All purple, yellow, green, and gold; 
Leaf-music, bird-songs, fill the air, 
The summer days, their revel hold.
— Lydia A Tompkins, Come to the Woods
 
"Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes; the wind will presently disappear, the taxes last us all the year."
— Ogden Nash, American poet
March! March! March! They are coming
In troops to the tune of the wind.
Redheaded woodpeckers drumming,
Gold - crested thrushes behind;
Sparrows in brown jackets, hopping
Past every gateway and door;
Finches, with crimson caps, stopping
Just where they stopped before.
March! March! March! They are slipping
Into their places at last. . .
Little white lily buds, dripping
Under the showers that fall fast;
Buttercups, violets, roses;
Snowdrop and bluebell and pink,
Throng upon throng of sweet posies
Bending the dewdrops to drink.
March! March! March! They will hurry
Forth at the wild bugle sound,
Blossoms and birds in a flurry,
Fluttering all over the ground.
Shake out your flags, birch, and willow!
Shake out your red tassels, larch!
Grass blades, up from your earth - pillow.
Hear who is calling you. . . March.
— Lucy Larcom, American teacher, poet, and author, March
 
Grow That Garden Library
Life List by Olivia Gentile
It's hard to believe that this book was published on this day already eleven years ago in 2009. The subtitle to this book is "A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds."
This book is a loving and beautiful biography of bird enthusiasts Phoebe Snetsinger. Phoebe was a 1950's housewife, married with four children, and an avid bird-watcher. When she got diagnosed in her 40's with incurable cancer and given less than a year to live, she started traveling the world, birding, and she never looked back. Phoebe ended up living, after her diagnosis, for another 18 years.
Oliva begins this book by explaining the concept of a life list:
"Bird-watching, the way most people do it, is a lot like hunting, which is why some practitioners prefer the more active sounding term "birding": you have to know where and when to look for Birds, you have to chase them down, and, when you find them, you have to figure out what species they are— often in just a second or two, before they fly away. Tate, like most birders, kept a "life list" of all the species he'd seen and identified, and he was always looking to add new ones, or "life birds."
Olivia continues:
"I decided to write some sort of essay on bird watching, and I called a few bird clubs near my home in Manhattan to see what they had going on. One man misunderstood and thought I was interested in joining his Club. He tried to encourage me. "Who knows?" he said. "Maybe you'll be the next Phoebe Snetsinger." the man had never met Phoebe, but he knew all about her— as most birdwatchers do, it turned out— and he told me a little. That was back in 2001, two years after her death, and I've been piecing together her life ever since."
You can get a used copy of Life List by Olivia Gentile and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $3.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
On this day in 2018, garden activist Karen Washington was giving a talk in New York City to help spur on the community garden movement. The theme was peace and justice.
Washington has done so much for the Bronx as an Urban Gardener. She's an award-winning gardener, farmer, and co-owner of her business called Rise and Shoot Farm.
It was Karen Washington who said,
"If you come into the garden feeling sad, you will leave feeling happy."

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote,

"But these young scholars...
Love not the flower they pluck,
and know it not,
And all their botany is Latin names."

There is more to gardening than nomenclature, and more than nomenclature there's actually growing and knowing plants.
 
 

Brevities

#OTD It's the birthday of Carl Linnaeus born on this day in 1707. 

It is said he liked flowers as a young child and whenever he was upset, he was given a flower to sooth him.
 
On May 1st, 1753 the publication of his masterpiece Species Plantarumchanged plant taxonomy forever.
 
It gave Linnaeus the moniker Father of Taxonomy; his naming system is called binomial nomenclature. Binomial means "two names" which in the naming game includes the plant's genus (which is capitalized or could be abbreviated by its first letter) and species or specific epithet (which is all lowercase and can be abbreviated sp.) If you have trouble remembering taxonomy, I like to think of it like the given name and surname of a person, but in reverse order.
 
The names that Linnaeus assigned live on unchanged and are distinguished by an “L.” after their name. And, it was Linnaeus himself who said:
“God created, Linnaeus ordered.”
There are so many stories about Linnaeus; but I thought I'd share a few of the more obscure stories about him and his work.
 
First, Linnaeus' friend Anders Celsius created the Centigrade thermometer in 1742; with water boiling at 0 degrees and freezing at 100. Three years later, it was Linnaeus who reversed the scale - sharing it in an article with the Botanical Garden at Uppsala University.
 
Second, there is a memorable story about the genus Commelina; the genus for the Asiatic Dayflower. Linnaeus named the genus after the three Commelin brothers; two of whom achieved greatness in botany & one who died young before achieving anything in life.
 
Linnaeus wrote:
 
“Commelina has 3 petals, two of which are showy where the third is not conspicuous”
 
Next time you see the Commelina communis or Asiatic Dayflower (with two large blue petals & one very small white petal) you can think of the Commelins and Linnaeus' kind memorialization of the three brothers.
 
Another fun story about Linnaeus involved a trip he took to Lapland where he was given a raccoon named Sjupp. Linnaeus realized that he could use his new naming system to name animals as well as plants. He first classified racoons as Ursus lotor, the washing bear. Linnaeus kept Sjupp (who he described as 'tremendously stubborn') at the botanical garden of Uppsala. Fascinated bySjupp's interactions with his habitat, Linnaeus observed that his students would often find themselves pestered relentlessly by Sjupp if they carried food like raisins or nuts in their pockets.
 
Linnaeus found himself in a number of predicaments. Once he was forced to leave Hamburg after he revealed that the mayor's prized "stuffed seven-headed hydra" was just a bunch of snake carcasses sewn to a weasel carcass. When Linnaeus published his taxonomy, he actually included a section for Animalia Paradoxa to debunk the existence of the fantastic like: unicorns, dragons, hydras and manticores.
 
The national flower of Sweden is the Linnaea (Linn-ee-ah) borealisor the Twinflower; After naming over 8,000 plants, the Twin Flower was the plant to which Linnaeus gave his name. It was his favorite plant. Linnaea is the genus. Borealis is the species and it references where it is found (borealis means northern). As for the story of how he named it after himself, he was actually persuaded to do so by a Dutch botanist, his great friend, Jan Frederik Gronovius Twinflower belongs to the honeysuckle family. It's a sweet tiny plant, offering a faint scent of vanilla.
 
One side note worth mentioning is how Linnaeus' collection ended up leaving Sweden and finding a home in London:
 
When Linnaeus died in 1778, his belongings were sold. Joseph Banks, the president of the Linnean Society, acted quickly; buying everything of horticultural value on behalf of the society. Linnaeus' notebooks and specimens were on a ship bound for England. When the king of Sweden realized Linnaeus' legacy was no longer in Sweden, he sent a fast navy ship in pursuit; but it was too late. Banks precious cargo made it back to London first. Thus, Linnaeus’s collection is in London at the Linnaeus Society's Burlington House.
 
 
 
Unearthed Words

The Swedish author August Strindberg said, “Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist”.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted the symmetry in taxonomy and poetry saying taxonomy was “the best words in the best order”. 

Linnaeus wrote most of his prose and poetry in Swedish. Beautiful to swedish ears, much of his work outside of taxonomy is still unknown to the rest of the world.

Linnaeus was a deeply religious man, and he often used parallelism in his writing, a method used often in the bible.The son of a clergyman, Linnaeus no doubt grew up hearing the scriptures which clearly influenced his writing as an adult.

Here's a little text from Linnaeus on the difference between humans and various animals. You'll hear his use of parallelism clearly:

"We have not the strength of the elephant, but our intelligence has tamed the strongest of them.
We have not the speed of the hare, but our genius has learned to capture the speediest of them.
We have not front feet to dig through earth like the mole, but our minds have devised ways to bore through hard bedrock. [...]"
 
 
Today's book recommendation: Linnaeus: The Man and His Work by Sten Lindroth, Gunnar Eriksson, Gunnar Broberg, Tore Frängsmyr

This is a nice little resource on Linnaeus - published in 1983. You can get used copies on Amazon with the link above for under $7.  

It includes the following lengthy essays: The two faces of Linnaeus, pp. 1–62; Linnaeus the botanist, pp. 63–109; Linnaeus as a geologist, pp. 110–155; Homo sapiens. Linnaeus’ classification of man, pp. 156–194. 
 

Today's Garden Chore: Plant Cannas

Once the danger of frost has passed, you can start to plant rhizomes like cannas.
 
If this is your first time trying them, rhizomes should be placed horizontally in the soil, 4 to 6 inches deep, and spaced 1 to 2 feet apart.
 
Next year, try getting them started early in pots or in a greenhouse about a month before they can be placed outside in warmer temps.
 
Cannas are hungry eaters; they are happy to be fertilized monthly.
 
 
 
Something Sweet 
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

When Linnaeus was 25 years old, he set out to explore the Lapland.
 
He spent nearly six months there, and he came back with tales of a Scandinavia few people knew existed.
 
The expedition had been trying: He had suffered hunger, mosquitoes, freezing temperatures, and had almost died from a rockslide and a gunshot.
 
Through it all, Linnaeus fell in love with the Lapland; He even brought home a traditional costume complete with a magical drum as a souvenir from his adventure.
 
Five years later, an obscure German painter named Martin Hoffman painted Linnaeus' portrait.
 
And, guess what did he choose to wear for the sitting?
 
His Lapland costume, of course.
 
In Hoffman's Linnaeus, a 30-year-old Linnaeus is seen wearing boots made of reindeer skin. He's also wearing an early version of a toolbelt. Suspended from it is the magical drum, a needle to make nets, a snuffbox, a cartridge-box and a knife. Linnaeus is wearing traditional Laplander's gloves; and in his right hand he holds his favorite plant: the Twinflower, Linnaea borealis.
 
 
 
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we remember the beloved botanist who served on Captain Cook's third South Seas trip.
We'll also learn about the Austrian botanist and monk who pioneered the study of heredity.
We celebrate the usefulness of daylilies.
We also honor the life of a young man who was killed paying his florist bill and the life of the garden writer who wrote for The New Yorker.
We'll hear some poems that highlight the Garden as a sanctuary, a holy place to heal and be refreshed.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about Gardening in Your Front Yard - it's packed with ideas and projects for big and small spaces. It's an idea that is gaining popularity and acceptance thanks to stay-at-home orders and physical distancing - one of the positive effects of dealing with the pandemic.
And then we'll wrap things up with remembering Katharine Stuart and the people who loved her the most.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
 
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
 
Curated News
Unconventional Wisdom: 8 Revolutionary Ideas for Your Garden from Thomas Rainer - Gardenista
"When you meet landscape architect Thomas Rainer he comes across as a pleasant, mild-mannered fellow… not at all the type to be traveling around the world, as he does, spouting revolutionary ideas calculated to upend years and years of conventional gardening wisdom. As he writes in his preface to Planting in a Post-Wild World, the 2015 book he wrote with Claudia West, his ideas come from his time as a boy in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, where he spent countless happy hours roaming a stretch of indigenous Piedmont forest near his home."
This article reveals a list of Thomas's dos and don'ts for growing an earth-friendly garden that he says produces better results with less work. Here's a high-level overview - be sure to read the article for the full scoop.
1. Amending the Soil: Don't
2. Double Digging: Don't
3. Soil Testing: Do
4. Mulching: Don't
5. Planting Cover Crops: Do
6. Curbside Planting: Do
7. Buying A Lot of Plants: Do
8. Experimenting and Having Fun: Do
 
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
1789  Today is the anniversary of the death of the British botanist David Nelson.
David served as the botanist on Captain Cook's third South Seas trip; William Bligh was the Sailing Master.
After gathering many new specimens, David spent the bulk of his time caring for over 500 breadfruit plants that Bligh was transporting to the West Indies.
Breadfruit is a reference to the texture of the cooked fruit, which is similar to freshly baked bread. And, breadfruit tastes like potato.
A likable fellow, David had traveled on another expedition with Captain Charles Clerke of the ship Discovery, who said David was "one of the quietest fellows in nature."
As you might recall, the Captain Cook expedition suffered a mutiny on April 28, 1789. For his protection, David was kept below deck and under guard.
David decided to go with William Bligh and his followers to Timor. The 3,500-mile voyage was grueling, and David died on this day, just 54 days after the mutiny.
David's death was a blow to Bligh and his crew. To honor this mild man of botany, Bligh conferred full naval honors for his funeral service.
Three years later, Captain Bligh visited Tasmania. He named "Nelson's Hill," the highest point on the island, in David's honor. Today Mount Nelson is the Hobart location of Tasmania University.
 
1822  Today is the birthday of the Austrian botanist and monk Gregor Mendel.
Gregor discovered the basic principles of heredity through his experiments with peas in his garden at the Augustinian monastery that he lived in at Brno ("BURR-no") in the Czech Republic.
Or, as I like to tell the kids, Gregor learned about heredity when he gave peas a chance. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)
During a seven-year period in the mid-1800s, Gregor grew nearly 30,000 pea plants, and he took note of everything: their height and shape and color. And, his work resulted in what we now know as the Laws of Heredity, and to this day, most kids study this in school. And it was Gregor who came up with all of the genetic terms and terminology that we still use today, like dominant and recessive genes.
 
1960  On this day, the Chicago Tribune ran an article about the daylily, saying that they were "tops" in usefulness.
Here are some highlights:
"Because they combine exquisite charm with extreme hardiness, daylilies are without doubt nature's most useful flower...
Their usefulness derives from their ability to thrive lustily under virtually any circumstances, which makes them particularly adaptable to so-called problem areas where the gardener may have experienced difficulty growing other flowers.
For the weekend-gardener with a large tract to work, daylilies are the answer for far corners which ...never [get attended] to. The abundant foliage [of the daylily] will tend to keep the areas free from weeds, too."
 
1974  On this day, the IRA murdered Brian Shaw. Brian was just 21 years old when he was killed. A former soldier, Brian, had become a truck driver and had just married a girl from Belfast. Two weeks after their wedding, Brian disappeared when he went to pay the florist bill for flowers they had used at his wedding. And poignantly, the bill was still in his pocket when his body was found.
 
1977  Today is the anniversary of the death of the garden writer Katharine White.
Now, Katharine was married to Andy - but most of us probably know him as E.B. White, the author of three beloved children's books, Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970).
In the early 1930s, Katharine and Andy bought a farmhouse in North Brooklin, Maine. By the end of the decade, they left their place in New York for good and moved to the farmhouse permanently.
It was Katharine White who once wrote:

"From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens - the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind's eye."

Katharine began writing garden pieces for The New Yorker in 1958.
In 1979, Katharine's book Onward and Upward in the Garden was edited and published posthumously by her husband, Andy. Gardeners especially enjoy Andy's tenderly written preface to his gardener wife. Anatole Broyard gushed about Katharine's book in his review saying,

"It is itself a bouquet; the final blooming of an extraordinary sensibility."

Now, Katharine carried on a marvelous correspondence with another garden writer: Elizabeth Lawrence. And, their letters convey a warmth and curiosity that I thought you would find delightful:

July 2, 1958 [Katharine to Elizabeth]
Dear Miss Lawrence,
I am in New York for the moment, so it was on my desk here at The New Yorker that I found today your book, "The Little Bulbs"... Already I have dipped into it with delight. I shall carry it back with me to Maine next week and study it and consult it ... for years... 
The varieties [of bulbs] I have established ...are the obvious ones I'm afraid: the two colors of scylla, snowdrops, snowflakes, crocuses, white and blue grape hyacinths, and among the small tulips only Clusiana and Kaufmanniana. Your book will help me to expand, I hope…
 
June 15, 1959
Dear Elizabeth,
Here I am back again with a question, in spite of my promises.
...Do you know the address of Jan de Graaff, and does de Graaff bring out a catalog? I have been studying the lily offerings for the autumn of this year and every one of them, both in specialists' catalogs and in those of the big nurseries, of course, brags of lilies from the great de Graaff. 
P.S. It is 48 degrees here today and has been this for 48 hours. Discouraging. (Note the date!)
 
October 8, 1959
Dear Elizabeth,
Speaking of gourds, for the first time, my small decorative gourds did not mature in time for me to wax and polish them while watching the World Series. I am a baseball fan; I hate to confess — and I have loved baseball since I was a child.
 
November 1959 Friday morning
Dear Katharine,
I don't know anything about modern flowers that have lost their fragrance.
I think some hybrid roses are as sweet as old ones. At the fall flower show, I was intoxicated by the scent of one flower of Sutter's Gold...
How in the world do you accomplish all you do?
I have been interrupted five times since I came to my desk an hour ago, the last by a friend who wouldn't take the plants I offered on a day I was in the garden and would like to have them right now. I told her to come on. If she doesn't, she will choose a still worse time.
 
Aren't those letters magnificent?

You can read all of Katharine and Elizabeth's letters in detail in a wonderful book called Two Gardeners: Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence--A Friendship in Letters by Emily Herring Wilson.

After Katharine died, her husband Andy sent a little verse he had written to their close friends and family. It said simply:

To all who loved my lovely wife.
To all who spoke their sorrow, 
I send this printed card of thanks 
so l can face tomorrow.

I'd hoped to write a full reply 
To each, to say "I love you."
But I'll reveal the sticky truth: 
There's just too many of you.
 
Unearthed Words
Here are some inspiring verses that highlight the Garden as a sanctuary, a holy place to heal, and be refreshed.
 
God made a beauteous garden
With lovely flowers strown,
But one straight, narrow pathway
That was not overgrown.
And to this beauteous garden
He brought mankind to live,
And said "To you, my children,
These lovely flowers I give.
Prune ye my vines and fig trees,
With care my flowers tend,
But keep the pathway open
Your home is at the end.
― Robert Frost, American poet, God's Garden
 
If words are seeds, 
let flowers grow 
from your mouth,
not weeds. 
If hearts are gardens, 
plant those flowers
in the chest of the ones
who exist around you. 
— R.H. Swaney, American poet
 
For flowers that bloom about our feet; 
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet; 
For song of bird, and hum and bee; 
For all things fair we hear or see; 
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet
 
Grow That Garden Library
Shrubs by Andy McIndoe ("MAC-IN-doe")
This book came out in February of 2019, and the subtitle is Discover the Perfect Plant for Every Place in Your Garden.
Gardens Illustrated said this about Andy's book,
"McIndoe is a devoted and knowledgeable ambassador for shrubs…His advice is clear, practical, and honest: the sort of counsel every gardener needs. The book will be an invaluable addition not only to the bookcases of gardeners but also those of garden designers seeking to broaden their plant palette."
This is one of my favorite books on shrubs, and it's 337 pages of fabulous photos and detailed shrub profiles - all shared with today's gardener in mind.
You can get a copy of Shrubs by Andy McIndoe and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $14.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
After researching Katharine White, I discovered some touching correspondence that occurred between her husband, Andy, (the author of Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web), and her friend and fellow garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence.
In July 1979, Elizabeth wrote to Andy about Katharine's book (after Katharine died):

Dear Andy,
Thank you for having the publisher send me Onward and Upward (it really is). I have been re-reading and re-reading ever since, with great pleasure and great sorrow. I can't bear not [being] able to tell Katharine what a wonderful book [she wrote]…
[I am writing] to ask for permission to quote a paragraph from a letter you wrote to me [a while ago. You wrote:]
"Katharine just spent three days in bed, in pain, caused by aback injury brought on by leaning far out over a flower bed to pick one spring bloom— the daffodil Supreme. It seems a heavy price to pay for one small flower. But when she is in her garden, she is always out of control. I do not look for any change, despite her promises."
I am not sure about your [species], whether it is the daffodil supreme, or the daffodil Supreme, Rijnveld, 1947, 3a. But I don't think it likely that any Observer will know the difference. I thought the paragraph fits in with your loving introduction [to Onward and Upward in the Garden].
[...] I am having a miserable time trying to say something worthy of the book in the space allotted to me.
Aff, Elizabeth
 
On March 24, 1980, Andy concluded a letter back to Elizabeth with these words:

Tired snow still lies about, here and there, in the brownfields, and my house will never look the same again since the death of the big elm that overhung it. Nevertheless, I manfully planted (as a replacement) a young elm. It is all of five-and-a-half feet high. 
By Katharine's grave, I planted an oak. This is its second winter in the cemetery, her third.
Yrs, 
Andy
 
Five years later, Andy died at home in Maine. He is buried next to Katharine in the Brooklin Cemetery.
 

Today we celebrate an old account of Tripoli gardens.
We’ll remember a botanist, naturalist, and author who believed in the power of walking.
We hear an excerpt from a book by author Susan Wiggs.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a wonderful book about small garden design.
And then we’ll wrap things up with a novelist who found his own garden paradise in the Cotswolds.
 
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Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:

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• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

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Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
 
Curated News
Jay’s Garden in the Mountains | Fine Gardening
 
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Important Events  
June 21, 1535
Today is the birthday of the German physician, botanist, and traveler Leonhard Rauwolf.
For two years, between 1573 and 1575, he made a trip through the Near east to search for new herbal medicines. When he returned, he published a book with new botanical descriptions for his herbarium, and he later wrote a travel book about his adventures.
Here is an excerpt from Rauwolff's description of Tripoli in Lebanon:
“The town of Tripoli is pretty large, full of people, and of good account, because of the great deposition of merchandises that are brought thither daily both by sea and land. It is situated in a pleasant country, near the promontory of the high mountain Libanus, in a great plain toward the sea-shore, where you may see an abundance of vineyards, and very fine gardens, enclosed with hedges for the most part, the hedges consisting chiefly of Rhamnus, Paliurus, Oxyacantha, Phillyrea, Lycium, Balaustium, Rubus, and little Palm-trees, that are low, and so sprout and spread themselves. In these gardens, as we came in, we found all sorts of salads and kitchen-herbs, such as Endive, Lettuce, Ruckoli, Asparagus, Celery,... Tarragon..., Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Turnips, Horseradishes, Carrots, of the greater sort of Fennel, Onions, Garlic, etc. And also fruit, as Water-melons, Melons, Gourds, Citruls, Melongena, Sesamum (by the natives called samsaim, the seeds whereof are very much used to strew upon their bread) and many more; but especially the Colocasia, which is very common there, and sold all the year long.... In great plenty there are citrons, lemons and oranges.... At Tripoli they have no want of water, for several rivers flow down from the mountains, and run partly through the town, and partly through the gardens, so that they want no water neither in the gardens nor in their houses.”
 
June 21, 1898 
Today is the birthday of American botanist, naturalist, and author, Donald Culross Peattie.
During his lifetime, Donald was regarded as the most read nature writer in America. He wrote about plants and nature. His book, Flowering Earth, was written for the layperson - explaining concepts like chlorophyll and protoplasm and specimens like algae and seaweeds. The Hartford Times said this about Peattie's Flowering Earth:
"Peattie makes the story of botany and its pursuit as fascinating to the reader as it is to him, and the reading of it a delight."
Over time, Peattie began to focus on trees. His popular books on North American trees include Trees You Want to Know (1934), The Road of a Naturalist (1941), American Heartwood (1949), A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America (1950), and A Natural History of Western Trees (1953).
From his book American Heartwood, Donald wrote,
“Wood, if you stop to think of it, has been man’s best friend in the world. It held him in his cradle, went to war as the gunstock in his hand, was the frame of the bed he came to rejoicing, the log upon his hearth when he was cold, and will make him his last long home. It was the murmuring bough above his childhood play, and the roof over the first house he called his own. It is the page he is reading at this moment; it is the forest where he seeks sanctuary from a stony world.”
Peattie's writing voice is friendly and lyrical. He wrote,
"I have often started off on a walk in the state called mad-mad in the sense of sore-headed, or mad with tedium or confusion; I have set forth dull, null and even thoroughly discouraged. But I never came back in such a frame of mind, and I never met a human being whose humor was not the better for a walk."
And he wrote,
"All the great naturalists have been habitual walkers, for no laboratory, no book, car, train or plane takes the place of honest footwork for this calling, be it amateur's or professional's."
 
Unearthed Words
She pulled up to the curb in front of number 115, a boxy house with a garden so neat that people sometimes slowed down to admire it. A pruned hedge guarded the profusion of roses that bloomed from spring to winter. Each of the roses had a name. Not the proper name of its variety, but Salvatore, Roberto, Rosina- each one planted in honor of their first communion. There were also roses that honored relatives in Italy whom Rosa had never met, and a few for people she didn't know - La Donna, a scarlet beauty, and a coral floribunda whose name she couldn't remember.
The sturdy bush by the front step, covered in creamy-white blooms, was the Celesta, of course. A few feet away was the one Rosa, a six-year-old with a passion for Pepto-Bismol pink, had chosen for herself. Mamma had been so proud of her that day, beaming down like an angel from heaven. It was one of those memories Rosa cherished because it was so clear in her heart and mind.
― Susan Wiggs, American author of historical and contemporary romance novels, Summer by the Sea

Grow That Garden Library
Small Garden Design by Paul Bangay 
This book came out in 2019.
In this book, the Australian designer Paul Bangay known for large, elegant gardens, is now sharing his top tips for designing gardens in small spaces - for people who want beautiful gardens on balconies, courtyards, lightwells, or rooftops.
As with large gardens, garden design fundamentals like — incorporating structure and smart plant selection. Small Garden Design focuses on tips for working with various spaces and is gorgeously illustrated with photos by Simon Griffiths.
This book is 272 pages of small garden design loaded with practical tips on plant choices, paving, irrigation, soil, outdoor dining, lighting, and ideas for making small spaces appear larger.
You can get a copy of Small Garden Design by Paul Bangay and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $43

Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
June 21, 1948
Today is the birthday of the Scottish novelist Ian McEwan (“Muh-Cue-in”).
Ian has written short stories and novels for adults and a children's novel called The Daydreamer, which Anthony Browne illustrated.
In 2012, he and his wife, the writer Annalena McAfee, bought a beautiful nine-acre dream property in the Cotswolds. One of their gardens features foxgloves and iris, lady’s mantle, allium, and meadow rue.
Ian’s best-selling 2001 novel Atonement was made into a movie starring James McAvoy and Keira Knightley in 2007.
A passage from the book reads,
“It made no sense, she knew, arranging flowers before the water was in — but there it was; she couldn't resist moving them around, and not everything people did could be in a correct, logical order, especially when they were alone.”
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the botanist who named the fuchsia plant.
We'll also learn about the first American to become a full-time naturalist.
We’ll hear some charming thoughts on April and May from a Scottish author who mentored Lewis Carroll.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a 25-year-old garden classic written to help gardeners in the Big Apple - New York City.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of the Daffodil King, Peter Barr, on his 195th birthday today.
 
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“Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.”
And she will. It's just that easy.
 
The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter
Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:

• A personal update from me
• Garden-related items for your calendar
• The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week
• Gardener gift ideas
• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org.
 
Curated News
Garden Blogger's Bloom Day For April | Phillip Oliver
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Important Events
April 20, 1646 
Today is the birthday of the French priest and botanist Charles Plumier. He was born in Marseille.
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 many times to the New World, 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.
Now, the Fuchsia has colorful upside-down blossoms that hang from the stems. This is how Fuchsias get the common name ladies eardrops. And that drooping habit is reflected in the Irish name 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 bad aftertaste. But the Fuschia variety Splendens has flavorful fruit and can be used to make jam.
Now, 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. In fact, 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.
Now the plant names Fuschia, Begonia, and Magnolia first debuted in Charles Plumier’s 1703 book called New Plants of the Americas.
Charles drew the plants and animals that he discovered — and his drawings were actually quite good. In fact, Charles's illustrations of fish were featured in a 2018 book by Professor Ted Pietsch called Charles Plumier and His Drawings of French Caribbean Fishes. And 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. This is because an Italian Marquis named Frangipani used Plumeria blossoms to create a perfume used to scent gloves during the 16th century.
 
April 20, 1739
Today is the birthday of the American botanist, artist, and naturalist known as The Flower Hunter, William Bartram.
The son of the Quaker botanist John Bartram, William - or Billy (as he was known to his family) - was the first American to pursue a life devoted to the study of nature. Together, William and his father were the leading American plant collectors and horticulturists of their time. The two explored colonial Pennsylvania and New York.
In his heart, William was an artist, and his nature art was widely acclaimed. But before William’s notoriety for his art was established, his father, John, worried that Billy would end up a starving artist. He attempted many times to steer his son toward other more lucrative endeavors. Ultimately, William’s father came around, and he and William went on their final adventure together in Florida. While John collected specimens, William sketched and wrote.
During this trip, John and William came upon a unique tree, a tree that John named the Franklin tree after his dear friend Benjamin Franklin. The botanical name for the tree is Franklinia alatamaha, "frank-LIN-ee-ah ah-lah-tah-MAH-hah." William returned to the spot later in life and collected seeds for propagation — and thank goodness he did. By 1803, the Franklin Tree had gone extinct in the wild. And so, all Franklin trees cultivated and prized in gardens and arboretums around the world are descended from the seeds William Bartram collected and cultivated over two hundred years ago.
William was also the first person to describe and name the Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia “kwer-sih-FOE-lee-ah”).
After his trip with his father, William returned to Florida to farm, another career move that worried his dad. In 1791, his book about his 2,400-mile exploration of the American South, Travels, was published. The book became an immediate sensation in Europe, where people were curious about the flora and fauna of the New World.
In BJ Healey’s book, The Plant Hunters, he presents a charming summation of William’s story. He wrote,
“Through his [book] Travels — one of the earliest and certainly the most finest record of American experience, landscape, and people in the eighteenth century; a book that achieved world-wide recognition and profoundly influenced Wordsworth, Coleridge, and many later writers — [William] more than proved himself a worthy son of the Old Quaker pioneer. John Bartram need not have been troubled in his later years, he would have been proud of Billy in the end.”
 
Unearthed Words
May had now set in, but up here among the hills, she was May by courtesy only; or if she was May, she would never be might.
She was, indeed, only April with her showers and sunshine, her tearful, childish laughter, and again the frown and the despair irremediable.
Nay, as if she still kept up a secret correspondence with her cousin March, banished for his rudeness, she would not very seldom shake from her skirts a snowstorm and oftener the dancing hail.
Then out would come the sun behind her, and laugh, and say —
"I could not help THAT; but here I am all the same, coming to you as fast as I can!”
― George MacDonald, Scottish author, and mentor to Lewis Carroll, Sir Gibbie
 
Grow That Garden Library
Ken Druse's New York City Gardener by Ken Druse
This book came out in 1996, and the subtitle is A How-To and Source Book for Gardening in the Big Apple.
In this book, one of America’s top horticulturists, Ken Druse, shares his top tips for New York City’s urban gardeners as well as his favorite haunts for resources.
When he wrote this book, Ken gardened in a tiny, shady, 21x50-foot space behind his Brooklyn townhouse. When this book came out, Ken had just bought a two-and-a-half acre plot of land on an island in the middle of a small New Jersey river. And although some things have changed over the years, much of what Ken shares - in this 25-year-old how-to garden classic - remains relevant.
This book is 221 pages of gardening goodness in the Big Apple and timeless inspiration for urban or small-space gardeners.
You can get a copy of Ken Druse's New York City Gardener by Ken Druse and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5
Note: When this post was published, out-of-print hardcover copies of this book start at $700.
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
April 20, 1826
Today is the birthday of the Scottish nurseryman and merchant, Peter Barr.
After learning that work remained incomplete for cataloging daffadowndillies (as they were called at the time) - or daffodils as we now know them, Peter became inspired to collect, breed, and study them.
Today, 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."
At one point, the Peter Barr daffodil - a white trumpet variety - commanded $250 per bulb. And as you can imagine, 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.
During his seventies, Peter traveled the world, collecting daffs in Asia and South America.
When Peter finally retired, he went home to Scotland, and once there, he pivoted - and began cultivatingPrimroses.
Two years before his death, Peter famously mused,
"I wonder who will plant my grave with primroses?"
When Peter died, his obituary hailed that Peter was known from "one end of Great Britain to the other."
Today the Peter Barr Memorial Cup is awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society for excellence in daffodils.
And in 2019, there was a Grand Blue Plaque Unveiling at Peter’s English nursery along Garratt Lane.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

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Historical Events
1714 Birth of William Shenstone, English poet, and landscape gardener.
In the early 1740s, Shenstone inherited his family's dairy farm, which he transformed into the Leasowes (pronounced 'lezzoes'). The transfer of ownership lit a fire under Shenstone, and he immediately started changing the land into a wild landscape - something he referred to as an ornamented farm.
Shenstone wisely bucked the trend of his time, which called for formal garden design (he didn't have the money to do that anyway.) Yet, what Shenstone accomplished was quite extraordinary.
His picturesque natural landscape included water features like cascades and pools and structures like temples and ruins.
What I love most about Shenstone is that he was a consummate host. He considered the
garden's comfort and perspective from his visitors' standpoint. When he created a walk around his estate, Shenstone wanted to control the experience. So, Shenstone added
seating every so often along the path to cause folks to stop and admire the views that
Shenstone found it most appealing. Then, he incorporated signage with beautiful classical verses and poems, even adding some of his own - which elevated the Leasowes experience for his guests.
After his death, his garden, the Leasowes, became a popular destination - attracting the likes of William Pitt, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin.
It was William Shenstone who said,
Grandeur and beauty are so very opposite, that you often diminish the one as you increase the other. Variety is most akin to the latter, simplicity to the former.
 
1806 Birth of Charles Leo Lesquereux, Swiss botanist.
Leo was born with a naturalist's heart. A self-described dreamer, Leo loved going out into the forest, collecting all kinds of flowers and specimens for his mother.
Sadly, when Leo was seven years old, he fell off the top of a mountain. He was carried back to his home completely unconscious, with multiple injuries to his body and head trauma. He remained motionless and unconscious for two weeks. His survival was a miracle, yet the fall resulted in hearing loss that would eventually leave Leo utterly deaf by the time he was a young man.
Despite the fall, nature still ruled Leo's heart. As Leo matured, he tried to provide for his family as a watchmaker. But, he found himself returning again and again to the outdoors.
Eventually, Leo began to focus his efforts on peat bogs, and his early work protecting peat bogs attracted the attention of Louis Agassiz of Harvard, who invited Leo to bring his family to America.
When he arrived, Leo classified the plants that Agassiz had discovered on his
expedition to Lake Superior. Then, on Christmas Eve, 1848, Asa Gray summoned Leo to help William Starling Sullivant. Asa  predicted the collaboration would be successful, and he wrote to his friend and fellow botanist John Torrey:
They will do up bryology at a great rate. Lesquereux says that the collection and library of Sullivant in muscology are magnifique, superbe,and the best he ever saw.
So, Leo packed up his family, traveled to Columbus, Ohio, and settled near the bryologist, William Starling Sullivant.
Bryology is the study of mosses. The root, bryos, is a Greek verb meaning to swell and is the etymology of the word embryo.
Bryology will be easier to remember if you think of the ability of moss to expand as it takes on water. Mosses suited Leo and Sullivant's strengths. They require patience and close observation, scrupulous accuracy, and discrimination. Together, Leo and Sullivant wrote the book on American mosses. Sullivant funded the endeavor and generously allowed Leo to share in the proceeds.
In 1873, Sullivant contracted pneumonia - ironically, an illness where your lungs fill or swell with fluid - and died on April 30, 1873. Leo lived for another 16 years before dying at the age of 83.
It was Leo Lesquereux who said,
My deafness cut me off from everything that lay outside of science. I have lived with Nature, the rocks, the trees, the flowers. They know me. I know them.
 
1810 Birth of Asa Gray, American botanist.
 
As a professor of botany at Harvard University, Asa interacted with the top scientific minds of his time, including Charles Darwin.
In 1857, Asa Gray received a confidential letter from Charles Darwin. In the letter, Darwin confided:
I will enclose the briefest abstract of my notions on the means by which nature makes her species....[but] I ask you not to mention my doctrine.
 
Darwin revealed his concept of natural selection two years later in his book,  On the Origin of Species.
Asa and Darwin mutually admired each other. Although Asa's masterwork, Darwiniana, deviated from Darwin's because Asa purported that religion and science were not mutually exclusive.
Asa was a prolific writer. His most famous work was his Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, from New England to Wisconsin and South to Ohio and
Pennsylvania Inclusive, known today simply as Gray's Manual. 
During his long tenure at Harvard, Gray established the science of botany and guided American botany into the international arena. He also co-authored 'Flora of North America' with John Torrey.
When the botanist Joseph Trimble Rothrock arrived at Harvard, he worked every day in the
private herbarium of Asa Gray. And, of Dr. Gray, Rothrock said,
[He] was kindness personified, though a strict disciplinarian and a most merciless critic of a student's work. I owe more to him than to any other man, and I never think of him without veneration.
 
1939 Birth of Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor.
In Bluebeard's Egg (1986), Margaret wrote,
Gardening is not a rational act. What matters is the immersion of the hands in the earth, that ancient ceremony of which the Pope kissing the tarmac is merely pallid vestigial remnant. In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich
This book came out in 1942 (a 2007 reprint), and the subtitle is Simple Ideas For Small Outdoor Spaces.
Louise Dickinson Rich (14 June 1903 - 9 April 1991) was a writer known for fiction and nonfiction works about the New England region of the United States, particularly Massachusetts and Maine. This autobiographical book was her first and is regarded as her most famous and well-known work.
Louise once wrote, 
I feel displaced in towns and cities; although have never found myself in an uninhabited place where I did not at once feel perfectly at home.
 
We Took to the Woods is set in the 1930s when she and her husband Ralph, and her friend and hired help Gerrish, lived in a remote cabin near Umbagog Lake. It was described as "a witty account of Thoreau-like existence in a wilderness home."
In a 1942 review of the book in The Boston Globe, the story of how Louise met her husband Ralph came to light.
[Louise] taught school. She went on a holiday canoe trip to Maine and saw a man cutting wood. He saw her, too, for he asked the girls to stay and eat. Wasn't it lucky the wood lasted that long, for that is how Miss Dickinson met Mr. Rich.
Back in Massachusetts, she couldn't bear the distance between them. Neither could he, and pretty soon she was married and setting up housekeeping in a neighborhood of deer and bear and wildcats, a clearing on the Rapid River,
a carry between two lakes. The nearest community is Middle Dam, five miles away.
 
A 1987 review of We Took to the Woods shared the daily life of Louise and her younger sister Alice,
When other girls were spending cold winter afternoons stewing in the house, we were down at the pond skating, or out in the woods tracking rabbits ...or on hot summer afternoons, we were in the sun-drenched fields or shadowy woods, looking, listening, tasting, smelling.
[To be part of the natural world is] a thousand times more thrilling and beautiful than watching the most elaborate man-made spectacle on the biggest stage in the world.
 
A 1942 review in the Hattiesburg American revealed
[Louise] (who speaks of herself as an "obscure Dickinson' because she is distantly related to the late and famous Emily) has found content in the Maine woods. She describes herself, her family and her contentment in 'We Took to the Woods."
...she is so deep in the Maine woods that strangers practically never reach her house. And she likes it. 
The cabin is in the Rangeley Lake Section. There were two cabins when Mrs. Rich wrote her book-- one for summer, and one for winter. The winter cabin looks like some- thing out of a fairy tale, imbedded as it is in snow too deep and too fluffy to be anything but a stage setting. There are animals all about deer and wildcats and foxes and skunks. Once she befriended a little skunk, and found it made perfect pet, gradually growing a bit wilder, however. Finally it took to the woods. But when by chance it saw Mrs. Rich it always trotted up to her to be fondled and talked to a bit.
Mrs. Rich's first baby was born in the deep woods with only the father as attendant-the doctor couldn't get to the house on time. 
 
A more poetic review was featured in The Harding Field Echelon:
[Louise once] received a letter from a friend exclaiming, "Isn't it wonderful that you're at last doing what you always wanted." 
[At that moment, Louise realized with a start that she was living her... dream.
There is nothing at all on the hills but forest, and nobody lives there but deer and bear and wildcats. The lakes come down from the north like a gigantic staircase to the sea. Thisis the background for Mrs. Rich's unique and enchanting story.
Her friends are always asking her questions, the kind of questions anyone would put to a woman who lives in a remote wilderness out of choice: 
How do you make a living?
Do you really live there all year round? 
Isn't housekeeping difficult? 
Aren't the children a problem? 
Don't you get terribly bored?
Here the whole panorama of life in the wilderness unfolds: the drama of the spring drive when the logs are brought down the river from the upper lake; the fun of wood-cutting and ice-cutting; the zest of hunting and fishing when one is dependent of the results for food.
There are amusing sidelights on everyday events - [like] the time Mrs. Rich felt she was being watched and in spite of her husband's amusement, went to the door and saw a wildcat eyeing her, no more than three feet from where she had been knitting.
We Took to the Woods is more than an adventure story, more than a simple nature study; it is a shining, refreshing picture of an entirely new way of life. Written with warmth and enthusiasm and great charm, it is a book to stir the imagination of every reader and kindle his heart with envy. 
 
This book is 368 pages of Louis Dickenson's precious life in the Maine woods.
You can get a copy of We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $2.
 
Botanic Spark
2000 On this day, The Indianapolis Star shared an editorial called November Garden Work Inspires by Jean L. McGroarty.
Jean lives in Battle Ground with her husband and three teenagers. She is the director of education at the Tippecanoe Humane Society
She wrote,
I can't remember a Thanksgiving when I haven't been able to go to my garden and dig carrots or pull scallions for my after-holiday turkey soup. My garden, SO often neglected in July and August, still gives what can in November. 
I am not a good gardener, but I enjoy doing what little I do. My favorite chore is digging my little plot, a pleasure I have twice a year, once in March and once in November. I have a tiller but never use it. I prefer to use a garden fork, with wide, flat tines, a short stem, and a bright red handle. 
Digging my small garden is a lesson in patience, in small and gradual accomplishment. It gives me time to stop and reflect. It's a thinkless job. There IS no mental work involved, just the rhythm of tapping soil with the tines to find the right spot, pushing the fork Into the soil, lifting it up, and turning it over again and again and again. 
I can easily see my progress, for each fork full takes me closer to the garden put to bed for winter or ready for spring planting. I like this. I can't do it all at once and only work a little bit at a time, doing as much as I can, measuring my success, loving the feeling of inching my way to the goal. When I do this, I can turn my mind to other thoughts, listen to other sounds, see other things than the fork and the soil. 
It's a time to reflect, on seasons and work and growth deferred but growth that will come again someday. I count the earthworms because they give me an inkling of how fertile my soil will be in the spring. I listen to squirrels rustling in the dry leaves, the neighbors calling the wayward dog, and the sound of the wind In the bare trees.
During the summer, when the weather is hot and it's easier to stay indoors than work and sweat in the sun, the weeds grow foxtails, plantain, dandelions, and crabgrass. 
In November, they're still in the garden, sand-colored and dry and spiky and full of seeds. I turn them into the soil and put them on my scraggly compost pile. Either way, there are thin stems sticking out of the soil or the top of the pile. I turn and turn, giving more to the worms, in the hope that more will come to wind their way through my garden so I can grow bigger and better tomatoes and foxtails next summer. 
There are still green things. There are the carrots and the onions that I didn't harvest in the summer. There are chamomile plants, their new growth leaves creeping along the ground, unaware that snow and ice and below zero are coming. I let my lettuce go to seed last spring, and lo, there are some tiny pale green lettuce plants hoping to grow bigger before the snow comes. My snow peas are up and beautiful and blooming with a dozen colors of purple, but I know won't find any pea pods before Christmas. There's still a little bit of parsley left and will pick sprigs of it until it's covered with snow. Most of these green things are turned under, to feed the worms, to feed the soil, and green manure to make the garden better. 
There are two stubborn trees that continue to live In my garden, despite my efforts: a mulberry and a hackberry. They are ruthless survivors and I've learned to leave them where they are. There's the aster that plunked in the middle of the beets, not knowing what else to do with it. If it returns in the spring, I'll decide then. 
I turn one row at a time, moving from left to right, then back from right to left, tapping, plunging, turning, and thinking. About time. About the sadness of summer lost. About gray skies and cold weather. About the little miracles found in a November garden.
I listen and sniff the air and feel the moisture of the dirt under my fork. In three afternoons of work, all the soil in the garden is turned, except for that holding the carrots, scallions, peapods, parsley, and one little lettuce plant. The carrots, scallions, and parsley are useful. The snow peas are beautiful. The lettuce gives me hope that spring will come again. 
The garden is ready. Ready for sleep. Ready for snow. Ready to wake up in the spring and start again. I pull some of those carrots for vegetable soup, along with a small onion and a bit of parsley. My November garden keeps giving me gifts, and for that, I'm grateful. 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.