Stay ConnectedThe Daily Gardener is a weekday podcast celebrating garden history, literature, and the small botanical stories that shape how we garden today.
Each episode follows an “on this day” format, uncovering the people, plants, books, and moments that have quietly influenced gardens across time.
New episodes are released Monday through Friday, and each show features a thoughtfully chosen garden book.
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Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1868 Birth of Tsar Nicholas II (books about this person), the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. On his fiftieth birthday on this day in 1918, he was essentially under house arrest by the Bolsheviks along with the rest of his family, the Romanovs (books about this family), in Yekaterinburg "Yek-ah-teerin- borg" (the fourth largest city in Russia) in a private home called Ipatiev ("ee-pah-tee-iv") or the "House of Special Purpose." It would be Nicholas's last birthday. In June, he wrote in his diary "It was unbearable to sit that way, locked up, and not be in a position to go out into the garden when you wanted and spend a fine evening outside." That same month, his wife, Alexandra, wrote, "Out in the garden, fearfully hot, sat under the bushes. They have given us. . . half an hour more for being out. Heat, airlessness in the rooms intense." By the 23rd of June, Alexandra noted the wonder of breathing in the fresh summer air. She wrote, Two of the soldiers came and took out one window in our room. Such joy, delicious air at last, and one window no longer whitewashed. The air in the room became clean and by evening, cool. Nicholas observed, The fragrance from all the town's gardens is amazing. This moment would be one of the family's last happy times. On July 17, 1918, the entire family, including their children and most faithful servants, were brought to the basement and executed. Today there is nothing left of the Ipatiev house. It was demolished in September of 1977, and the land was given to the Russian Orthodox Church. The altar inside a church called the Church on the Blood is on the very spot where the Romanovs died. The beautiful church honors Nicholas and his family, now regarded as saints in the Russian Orthodox Church. 1926 On this day, Ralph Waldo Emerson (books by this author) wrote in his journal: My garden is an honest place. Every tree and every vine are incapable of concealment and tell after two or three months exactly what sort of treatment they have had. The sower may mistake and sow his peas crookedly: the peas make no mistake, but come up and show his line. 1944 Birth of Winfried Georg Sebald ("Say-bald") (books by this author), who went by Max and wrote as W. G. Sebald, German writer and academic. When Max died at 57, he was regarded as one of the greatest authors of his time. His 2001 novel Austerlitz was Sebald's final novel. The book was honored with the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2019, it ranked 5th on The Guardian's list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. Here's an excerpt: In the warmer months of the year, one or other of those nocturnal insects quite often strays indoors from the small garden behind my house. When I get up early in the morning, I find them clinging to the wall, motionless. I believe, said Austerlitz, they know they have lost their way since if you do not put them out again carefully, they will stay where they are, never moving, until the last breath is out of their bodies. Indeed they will remain in the place where they came to grief even after death, held fast by the tiny claws that stiffened in their last agony until a draft of air detaches them and blows them into a dusty corner. Sometimes, seeing one of these moths that have met their end in my house, I wonder what kind of fear and pain they feel while they are lost. 1955 Death of Mary McLeod Bethune (books about this person), American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Mary was the fifteenth child - and the first baby born free - to her newly freed parents, who were enslaved before the Civil War and owned by a different master. Mary's father, Samuel, had worked to "buy" his bride. Most of Mary's older brothers and sisters were sold to other masters. Mary was also the first person in her family to go to school. In 1904, Mary moved to Daytona, Florida. There, she created the Daytona Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls, and within two years, she had 250 students. Without any means, Mary improvised and used sticks of charcoal for pencils, mashed elderberries for ink, and cardboard boxes for tables and chairs. Mary put fifteen dollars in pennies, nickels, and dimes down on a swampy piece of land that served as a garbage dump. It was called Hell's Hole. With the help of benefactors, Mary built a four-story building on the site. Over the main doors were the words "Enter to Learn," and looking up over the same doors upon leaving, students saw the words "Depart to Serve." Mary's school continued to grow until it merged with an all-boys school and became Bethune-Cookman College (B-CC). As the school's first president, Mary reflected, When I walk through the campus, with its stately palms and well-kept lawns, and think back to the dump-heap foundation, rub my eyes and pinch myself. And I remember my childish visions in the cotton fields. Mary became a nationally known speaker, and she often spoke of a people garden, a place where people of all colors grew together in harmony. Initially, Mary was disheartened that there was no black blossom to represent her race and make her people's garden complete. But that all changed when she discovered black flowers in gardens during a visit to Europe. During her visit to Holland, Mary received black tulip bulbs. And after she saw a garden with black roses In Switzerland, she ordered 72 black roses for the grounds at B-CC. The gesture earned Mary a nickname: the black rose. In turn, Mary called her B-CC students her "Black Roses." On this day in 1955, Mary died of a heart attack. Her will ended with this goodbye: I leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you racial dignity... Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook by Anne Stobart This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Growing, Harvesting, and Using Healing Trees and Shrubs in a Temperate Climate. This book has tons of practical information on using medicinal trees and shrubs for your own self-sufficiency or for-profit - and it's a fantastic book. Before I get into this review, you should know that Anne has tons of direct experience creating her own medicinal forest in England. And she regularly uses herbal medicine in her practice. What's especially exciting about the way Anne has written this book is she is giving us advice for all kinds of spaces, whether you're looking at small gardens or small properties, all the way up to agroforestry. There is so much in this book. Anne reviews her favorite medicinal trees and offers practical advice on incorporating those into your landscape. She shares the kind of shrubs you should consider if you're interested in medicinal plants. She also reveals how to combine woody and other layers of medicinal plants to look good and make sense with other projects that you may have on your property. And Anne also takes us on a deep dive into some of the main medicinal constituents of woody plants and the latest research. You don't always see this information together in one complete guide. Usually, there are drips and drabs in other books. But what I love about what Anne has done is she's put it all together here - All the information you need to make informed decisions about the medicinal trees and shrubs you want to plant on your property. Now, Anne herself points out that many books on forest gardens focus primarily on food. So to have a book that talks about medicinal forest gardens is especially unique and valuable. And so, what Anne is doing here is sharing her wisdom when it comes to harvesting so that you can create your own herbal remedies. And here's what Anne wrote in the foreword to her book. I love herbs and am especially passionate about medicinal trees and shrubs. This book is not only about how you can cultivate and harvest them, but it is also intended to provide you with the basis for creating your own medicinal planting design and herbal preparations. The medicinal forest garden provides a way to grow and harvest healing plants that draw on natural and sustainable processes to make efficient use of resources of light, space, soil, and water. At a time when forests are regarded as key in combatting climate breakdown, what could be better than seizing the opportunity to promote health and biodiversity by planting more medicinal trees and shrubs! And speaking for myself, I can say that I've had a few takeaways after reading Anne's book. I'm installing a mini orchard up at the cabin, and I'm also supplementing my old-growth forest all around the border of my property. And I definitely took some of Anne's tree and shrub recommendations, and I'm incorporating them into my garden plan for this summer. Anyway, I love this whole field. I also appreciate this area of using plants, not only for their ornamental or food value but also for their medicinal value, which was a key driver for the early plant explorers. And so, I think it's excellent to reclaim some of that knowledge. This book is 288 pages of a ton of information. It's broken into two parts. Part One has detailed information on the medicinal applications you can get from trees and shrubs, including designing, growing, harvesting, and creating remedies. And then Part Two gives you a fabulous directory of forty medicinal trees and shrubs. And I bet there will at least be a handful that you'll want to add to your garden in the future. You can get a copy of The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook by Anne Stobart and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $20. Botanic Spark 1980 On this day, Mount St. Helens erupted. The deadly eruption triggered the largest landslide ever recorded. The Honey Market News reported on the impact on bees and local apiaries: The true impact on honeybees from volcanic ash fallout will take a long time to assess... The Columbia Basin bees died within hours of ash fallout from the St. Helens' eruption on May 18. The second eruption on May 25 caused great stress in the hives in Southwestern Washington. Brood was pushed out, and colonies with new queens introduced 1-2 days prior to the eruptions were killed. Central Washington bees took 3-4 days to die or remove brood from the hives. Bees were affected by ash collecting in the respiratory system, resulting in suffocation or the abrasive action on the body and internal organs, causing loss of moisture and eventual death. Early estimates indicate approximately 12,000 colonies have been affected. Beekeepers were moving colonies out of ash fallout areas. Growers and beekeepers were discussing the availability of bees to pollinate seed crops in the Columbia Basin. Nectar flow had stopped, and heavy syrup feeding was underway. Beeswax cannot be used... because of the abrasive ash residue that can't be removed. ...Bees avoided foraging on anything that was covered by ash fallout. Yet they would go to blossom that had opened since May 19. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1510 Death of Sandro Botticelli, Italian Renaissance master. His painting Allegory of Abundance or Autumn is one of his most elaborate and detailed drawings, and it depicts an abundance of flowers and fruits. Sandro painted idyllic garden scenes filled with beautiful women and men from the classical period. His painting, Primavera, depicts nine springtime gods and goddesses from classical mythology in a garden. Venus, the goddess of love, presides over the Garden of the Hesperides. To her right, Flora, the goddess of flowers, sprinkles roses. The garden features orange and laurel trees and dozens of other species of plants. 1642 On this day, Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, French military officer, catches his first glimpse of Montreal's landscape. He is recognized as the founder of Fort Ville-Marie (modern-day Montreal) in New France (Province of Quebec, Canada). In George Waldo Browne's 1905 book, The St. Lawrence River: Historical, Legendary, Picturesque, he wrote, On the 17th of May, the rounded slopes of Mount Royal, clad in the delicate green foliage of spring, burst into sight, stirring the hearts of the anxious beholders with newfound joy. They were delighted with the scenery. The fragrance of the springing forest permeated the balmy air, and, what was dearer far to them, over the water and over the landscape, rested an air of peace quite in keeping with their pious purpose. Maisonneuve was the first to step upon the land, and as the others followed him... they fell upon their knees, sending up their songs of praise and thanksgiving. Their first work was to erect an altar at a favorable spot within sight and sound of the riverbank, the women decorating the rough woodwork with some of the wildflowers growing in abundance upon the island, until the whole, looked very beautiful. Then every member of the party... knelt in solemn silence while M. Barthelemy Vimont... performed ...high mass. As he closed, he addressed his little congregation with these prophetic words: You are a grain of mustard seed that shall rise and grow till its branches overshadow the earth. 1810 Death of Robert Tannahill, Scottish poet, and lyricist. Remembered as the 'Weaver Poet,' Robert was born in Paisley and is often hailed as Paisley's own Robert Burns, as his work is said to rival Robert Burns. Today in Paisley, a stunning 50ft high mural of a young Robert Tannahill was painted by Mark Worst, collaborating with Paisley Housing Association. The mural overlooks where Robert Tannahill was born on Castle Street in 1774. One of Robert's most beloved songs is Will Ye Go Lassie, Go. The lyrics mention picking Wild Mountain Thyme, a plant known botanically as Thymus serpyllum (TY-mus sir-PIE-lum). Wild Mountain Thyme is a showy, wide growing groundcover from the Old World and has beautiful rose-red flowers and glossy deep green, mat-forming foliage. In the song, the thyme has grown in and around the heather. O the summer time has come And the trees are sweetly bloomin' The wild mountain thyme Grows around the bloomin' heather Will ye go, lassie, go? And we'll all go together To pull wild mountain thyme All around the bloomin' heather Will ye go, lassie, go? 1885 Birth of Elvin Charles Stakman, American plant pathologist. Elvin is remembered for his work identifying and combatting diseases in wheat. In 1917, he married fellow a plant pathologist named Estelle Louise Jensen. He also encouraged Norman Borlaug to pursue his career in phytopathology after Norman's job at the Forest Service was eliminated due to budget cuts. Elvin was Norman's teacher. And Norman went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize (1970) after discovering dwarf wheat varieties that reduced famine in India, Pakistan, and other third world countries. In 1938, Elvin gave a speech entitled These Shifty Little Enemies that Destroy our Food Crops. During his talk, Elvin focused on one shifty little enemy in particular: rust. Rust is a parasitic fungus that feeds on phytonutrients in grain crops like wheat, oat, and barley. Today, Elvin is remembered with the naming of Stakman Hall - the building where Plant Pathology is taught - at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. In The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World, Charles Mann reflected, Stakman did not view science as a disinterested quest for knowledge. It was a tool—may be the tool—for human betterment. Not all sciences were equally valuable, as he liked to explain. "Botany," he said, "is the most important of all sciences, and plant pathology is one of its most essential branches. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation 150 Gardens You Need To Visit Before You Die by Stefanie Waldek This book came out in 2022. Stefanie writes in her introduction: In 150 Gardens You Need to Visit Before You Die, I've shared a vast range of gardens, from immense botanical institutions with thousands of specimens, to smaller plots for quiet meditations, to museums that combine both artworks and plantings. I hope these brief introductions inspire you to plan a visit or two, whether in your hometown or on your global travels, so that you can enjoy the sights, smells, sounds, and stories of the world's best gardens. The publisher writes: From Kew Gardens in London to the Singapore Botanical Gardens, and from Monet's garden at Giverny to the Zen garden of the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, this handsomely bound book captures in words and images the most notable features of these 150 glorious, not-to-be-missed gardens. An essential bucket list book for garden lovers! You can get a copy of 150 Gardens You Need To Visit Before You Die by Stefanie Waldek and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes. Botanic Spark 1905 On this day, Louisa Yeomans King wrote in her garden journal about peonies. She published a year's worth of entries in her book, The Flower Garden Day by Day. In 1902, Louisa and her husband moved to Michigan, where they built a home called Orchard House. With the help of a gardener named Frank Ackney, Louisa began to plan and create her garden. She also began writing about her Gardens. Soon, she gave lectures, contributed pieces to magazines, wrote columns, and organized garden clubs. She even became friends with prominent gardeners of her time like Gertrude Jekyll, Charles Sprague Sargent, and the landscape architects Fletcher Steele and Ellen Biddle Shipman. Louisa learned to garden during the heyday of American Garden Culture. Her garden writing in newspaper columns and magazine publications made her the most widely read American Garden author in the United States. Louisa's first book, "The Well-Considered Garden," the preface was written by her dear friend Gertrude Jekyll. In 1915, when the book debuted, it was considered an instant classic in garden literature. Louisa would go on to write a total of nine books. The garden estate known as Blithewold has a copy of "The Well-Considered Garden." Their particular text also contains a handwritten inscription along with Louisa's signature. The inscription borrows a quote from Sir William Temple, who said, "Gardening is an enjoyment and a possession for which no man is too high or too low." Louisa changed the quote and wrote, "Gardening is an enjoyment and a possession for which no woman is too high or too low." Louisa helped start the Garden Club of America and the Women's National Farm and Garden Association. She held leadership positions in both organizations. When her husband died suddenly in 1927, Louisa was forced to sell Orchard House. She moved to Hartford, New York, and bought a property she called Kingstree. This time, she set up a smaller garden. The size meant less work, which accommodated her writing and speaking commitments better. On this day, Louisa wrote in her journal this note of advice about the Peony: May 17. Disbud most of your peonies now; that is, of a cluster of buds, cut off all but the larger central one. Certain varieties, however, are considered more beautiful if left alone to flower as they will. Among these are Alsace Lorraine and La Rosiere. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1735 On this day, a French expedition made the first attempt to transport cinchona trees to Europe. The scientist Charles Marie de La Condamine was the first man to describe the Cinchona tree, the scientist Charles Marie de La Condamine, was on the expedition along with the botanist Joseph de Jussieu. Their mission was to add the trees to a Paris collection, but sadly the trees were lost when they were washed overboard. Once Europe learned of the power of the Cinchona tree, they were eager to get their hands on the bark. Cinchona's name was in honor of a Spanish Countess named Ana, and her second marriage was to the Count of Chinchon. After the Count was given the job of serving as the viceroy of Peru, a station that oversaw the entire continent of South America, except for Brazil, the couple arrived in Lima in 1629. The following year, the Countess grew gravely ill with tertian ague. She suffered a fever that occurred every other day, the Governor of Loxa, Don Francisco Lopez de Canizares, sent over a life-saving parcel of cinchona bark. With the cinchona powder, the Countess made a rapid recovery. Eleven years later, when the Count and Countess began their return trip to Spain, they brought along a precious supply of the curative Quina bark for use with their people. They also hoped to introduce cinchona medicine to the rest of Europe. Sadly, Ana died during the long voyage home in Cartegena in December 1639. But Ana's legacy lives on in the medicine we know today as quinine. After her husband, the Count returned to Spain, the medicinal Quina bark powder became known as Pulvis Comitissa in honor of the Countess. And over 100 years later, Linneaus named the genus Cinchona in honor of the Countess of Chinchon in 1742. Linneaus should have called it Chinchona, but he forgot the "h." 1809 On this day, the herbalist and midwife Martha Ballard worked in the raised beds in her garden and recorded her annual spring gardening efforts. For 27 years, Martha kept a journal of her work as a gardener, town healer, and midwife for Hallowell, Maine. Today, Martha's great journal gives us a glimpse into the plants she regularly used and how she applied them medicinally. As for how Martha sourced her plants, she raised them in her garden or foraged them in the wild. As the village apothecary, Martha found her own ingredients and made all of her herbal remedies personally. As a midwife, Martha assisted with 816 births. In May of 1809, Martha worked in the gardens surrounding her house. She sowed, set, planted, and transplanted. On May 15, she planted squash, cucumbers, muskmelons, and watermelons. And on this day, May 16, she sowed string peas at the end of her garden. In Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's work, The Life of Martha Ballard, she writes, Martha's was an ordinary garden, a factory for food and medicine that incidentally provided nourishment to the soul. "I have workt in my gardin," she wrote on May 17, the possessive pronoun the only hint of the sense of ownership she felt in her work. The garden was hers, though her husband or son or the Hallowell and Augusta Bank owned the land. "I have squash and Cucumbers come up in the bed [on the] east side the house," she wrote on May 22. The garden was hers because she turned the soil, dropped the seeds, and each year recorded in her diary, as though it had never happened before, the recurring miracle of spring. 1861 On this day, Union Captain Jacob Ritner wrote back to his wife, Emeline. Jacob and Emeline exchanged marvelous letters throughout the Civil War that depicted their heroic lives on both the battlefield and homefront. While Jacob wrote with the tragic news of war, Emeline kept him apprised of their four small children and the challenges of maintaining the family farm. Emeline's news from home kept Jacob sane and anchored to the happier reality that awaited him after the war. Emeline often wrote about the garden and the landscape, proving that even news of a faraway garden can be anchoring and grounding amid hardship. And so, on this day back in 1861, Jacob wrote in his letter, Now Emeline dear, you must write me a great long letter next Sunday. Tell me all the news, how the trees grow, the garden and grass, what everybody says... 1918 On this day, the rose season began at Munstead Wood, the Arts and Crafts style home and surrounding gardens in Surrey, England, created by garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. Munstead Wood became famous thanks to Gertrude's books and articles in magazines like Country Life. Gertrude lived at Munstead Wood from 1897 to 1932. Volume 82 of The Garden celebrated the first rose to open at Munstead Wood on this day by reporting, The rose season begins. The opening the first Rose is always a source of delight. The first we have seen in the open this year was the pink Rosa rugosa at Munstead Wood on May 16. This is one of the oldest garden roses and is said to have been cultivated since 1100 A.D. in China, where the ladies of the Court prepared a kind of potpourri from its petals, gathered on a fine day, and mixed with Camphor and Musk. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Secret Garden Cookbook, Newly Revised Edition by Amy Cotler This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Inspiring Recipes from the Magical World of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden. If you've been listening to the show, I've been on a little bit of a cookbook kick lately, and cookbooks tied to literature. So this is continuing in that same vein with this great book called The Secret Garden Cookbook by Amy Kotler. Amy is a professional chef, caterer, and cooking-school teacher - and if you're a cookbook lover, you will truly appreciate her background in the kitchen. When this book came out, people were going crazy for the Toffee Pudding recipe that you can find on page 32. So that's just a little heads up. If you're a gardener, I'll point out that right at the beginning of the book is a beautiful picture of the Francis Hodgson Burnett Memorial Fountain. It's both a statue and a tranquil fountain filled with lily pads that depicts Mary and Dickon from The Secret Garden. It's located in Central Park in New York City, and it's just a gorgeous photo of this Memorial. Here's how Amy introduces us to The Secret Garden and the magic of food: She writes, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden is about the magic of making things come alive. Mary, Colin, and Dickon all help the forgotten secret garden to grow again. ButMary and Colin come alive, too, through hard work, friendship, and good, nourishing food. When Mary Lennox first arrives atMisselthwaite Manor from India, she is thin,sallow, and unhealthy looking. But as she goes outside, skips rope, and works in the garden, her appetite grows. Colin, too, is sickly until he learns the secret of the garden. By the end of the novel, he is enjoying food as much as Mary. Pails of fresh milk, dough cakes with brown sugar, hearty porridge, fire-roasted potatoes-Mary, and Colin can't get enough of them! The children of The Secret Garden grew up during the reign of Queen Victoria... commonly known as the Victorian era. In those days, food took a long time to cook and serve. Even Mrs. Sowerby, Dickon's mother, though she must feed fourteen people, manages to find a little extra food for Mary and Colin when they experience the joys of eating. And that's what this book is all about; a hardy appreciation of good food. This book is 112 pages of fifty recipes inspired by The Secret Garden, and they're all updated for the modern kitchen and appeal to today's tastes. You can get a copy of The Secret Garden Cookbook, Newly Revised Edition by Amy Cotler, and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $10. Botanic Spark 1905 Birth of Herbert Ernest Bates (pen name H. E. Bates) English author. He once wrote, The true gardener, like an artist, is never satisfied. H.E. is remembered for his books, Love for Lydia (1952), The Darling Buds of May (1958), and My Uncle Silas (1939). The Darling Buds of May inspired a TV series in the 1990s. In his book, A Love of Flowers (1971), H.E. wrote, It is wonderful to think that one of the few unbroken links between the civilization of ancient Egypt and the civilization of today is the garden. And he also wrote, Gardens… should be like lovely, well-shaped girls: all curves, secret corners, unexpected deviations, seductive surprises, and then still more curves. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1815 On this day, Mary Russell Mitford wrote about the changing times in a letter to her friend, Sir William Elford, English banker, politician, and amateur artist. Our grandmothers, when about to make a beau-pot (A large ornamental vase for cut flowers.), proceeded, I fancy, much as their gardeners when clipping a yew hedge or laying out a parterre. Every stalk and stem was in its place; tulip answered tulip, and peony stared at peony. Even a rebellious leaf was reduced to order, and the huge bouquet spread its tremendous width as flat, as stiff, and almost as ugly as its fair framer's painted fan. We, their granddaughters, throw our honeysuckles and posies into their vases with little other care than to produce the grace of nature by its carelessness and profusion. And why should we not...? 1896 Death of Nora Perry, American poet, newspaper correspondent, and writer. In her poem, What May Be, Nora wrote, When the days are longer, longer, And the sun shines stronger, stronger, And the winds cease blowing, blowing, And the winter's chance of snowing Is lost in springtime weather. Here's an excerpt from her poem, The Coming of Spring. All this changing tint, This whispering stir and hint Of bud and bloom and wing, Is the coming of the spring. So, silently but swift, Above the wintry drift, The long days gain and gain, Until on hill and plain— Once more, and yet once more, Returning as before, We see the bloom of birth Make young again the earth 1906 Birth of Enid Annenberg Haupt, American publisher and philanthropist. The president of the New York Botanical Garden called Enid, The greatest patron American horticulture has ever known. Enid was one of eight children; her parents, Sadie and Moses, had one son and seven daughters. Her father was the founder of a large publishing empire. Enid followed in his footsteps and became an heiress to the large family fortune. Enid's first marriage ended in divorce. Her second marriage to Ira Haupt launched her philanthropic activities and introduced her to the world of gardening. When they got engaged, Ira gave Enid a cymbidium orchid. Enid was immediately enthralled by it. She told Ira that for her wedding present from him, she would be very happy with a gift of 13 cymbidium orchids. Enid's brother, Walter, put her in charge of the magazine Seventeen in 1953. During her tenure, Seventeen magazine was more popular than Glamor and twice as popular as Mademoiselle. At one point, more than half of the teenage girls in the United States were reading Seventeen magazine. Enid ran the magazine until 1970. When Enid died in 2005, she had donated more than $140 million to charities. Her favorite charities involved gardening. This is how Enid became known as "the fairy godmother of American horticulture" and "the patron saint of public gardens." One of Enid's most significant gifts was to the New York Botanical Garden. Over her lifetime, Enid gave them over $34 million – $5 million of which was dedicated to restoring the stunning Victorian glass greenhouse now called the Enid Haupt Conservancy. Without Enid, the greenhouse would have been demolished. After she retired from Seventeen magazine, Enid learned that the Soviet Union was considering purchasing River Farm, the 27-acre property once owned by George Washington as part of his Mount Vernon estate. The news was abhorrent to Enid. In 1973, she donated a million dollars to the American Horticultural Society to buy the property with the stipulation that it would remain open to the public. In November 2020, the American Horticultural Society attempted to sell River Farm for $32.9 million. AHS Board Chair Terry Hayes argued that selling River Farm was the only way to effectively carry out its national mission of "connecting people with plants and to help all Americans learn about sustainable gardening." The move caused a rift on the board after five board members — Skipp Calvert, Tim Conlon, Holly Shimizu, Marcia Zech, and Laura Dowling — argued that it was "not only morally and ethically wrong, but... fraught with serious legal issues." A year later, in the fall of 2021, the AHS officially took River Farm off the market. The AHS board had shrunk to the five board members who had fought to keep the historic property. In a statement, they said River Farm would remain as the permanent headquarters of the AHS and as a green space open to the public in honor of Enid Annenberg Haupt. 1823 On this day, William Bartram, American botanist, ornithologist, natural historian, and explorer, wrote in his diary that there were, numerous tribes of small birds, feeding on the aphids on the apple, pear trees - towhe buntings building their nests in the garden. Sharon White summarizes William Bartram's May garden life in her book Vanished Gardens: Finding Nature in Philadelphia (2011). May was misty sometimes with a morning wind and cruel with cold rains for a week "injurious to vegitation and to the farmers. Wheat just begining to ear appears to be blasted in many instances," and young birds drowned in their nests on the ground. Now and then Bartram's notations look different, smaller script, less detail. In the last year he kept the diary his writing scrawls across one page as if his hand slipped. The green twig whortleberry is in flower on May 6 in 1802, and the next May he records that a bullfrog swallowed: large mole instantly. That May there was hard frost on the seventh that killed the young shoots of trees and shrubs. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Multifarious Mr. Banks by Toby Musgrave This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is From Botany Bay to Kew, The Natural Historian Who Shaped the World. Toby Musgrave is a plant and garden historian, independent scholar, and consultant. He is the author or coauthor of eighteen books. By the way, a multifarious person has many sides or different qualities, and you can see for yourself that Banks was a tremendous personal force in Toby's introduction: Sir Joseph Banks was only twenty-five years old when in 1768 he convinced both the prestigious Royal Society and the bureaucratic Admiralty that he should join HMS Endeavour as expedition natural historian. He personally paid a fortune toundertake the three-year voyage led by James Cook, and en route became the first European to make an extensive study of the natural history and anthropology of Tahiti,' New Zealand and Australia. He is said to have had an affair with the 'queen of Tahiti' and, upon his return, he jilted his fiancée. Later, as a close personal friend of King George III, he persuaded the monarch that he was the man to develop the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. Under Banks's leadership it became the world's leading botanic garden, a position it still holds today. This book is 386 pages of the biography of Joseph Banks and all he accomplished during his incredible life of adventure and botany. You can get a copy of The Multifarious Mr. Banks by Toby Musgrave and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $39. Botanic Spark 1907 Birth of the English author and playwright Daphne du Maurier ("Mor-ee-aya")(books by this author), who was born in London. She was the middle daughter of a well-to-do family of creative bohemian artists and writers. Her father was a famous actor and a favorite of James Barrie - the author of Peter Pan. Daphne's writing inspired Alfred Hitchcock - especially her novels Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and her short story, The Birds. In 1938 Daphne published her popular book, Rebecca. It has never gone out of print. During the pandemic in 2020, Netflix released their movie version of Rebecca starring Lily James, Armie Hammer, and Kristin Scott Thomas. In Rebecca, Daphne writes about the beautiful azaleas that grow on the estate at Manderley. And she says that the blooms were used to make a perfume for its late mistress. Yet, most azalea growers know that this is likely an example of artistic license since most evergreen azaleas have little to no fragrance. That said, some native deciduous azaleas can be very fragrant. In the opening pages of Rebecca, Daphne's narrator vividly describes the wild and wooly garden of Manderley: I saw that the garden had obeyed the jungle law, even as the woods had done. The rhododendrons stood fifty feet high, twisted and entwined with bracken, and they had entered into alien marriage with a host of nameless shrubs, poor, bastard thing that clung about their roots as though conscious of their spurious origin. A lilac had mated with a copper beech, and to bind them yet more closely to one another, the malevolent ivy, always an enemy to grace, had thrown her tendrils about the pair and made them prisoners. Daphne du Maurier incorporated gardens into many of her books. Her daughters recall that their mother loved flowers and flower arranging. Their home was always filled with flowers. Yet, in her book, The King's General, as in Rebecca, the garden can feel like a dangerous place at times. I was a tiny child again at Radford, my uncle's home, and he was walking me through the glass houses in the gardens. There was one flower, an orchid, that grew alone; it was the color of pale ivory, with one little vein of crimson running through the petals. The scent filled the house, honeyed and sickly sweet. It was the loveliest flower I had ever seen. I stretched out my hand to stroke the soft velvet sheen, and swiftly my uncle pulled me by the shoulder. 'Don't touch it, child. The stem is poisonous. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1735 Birth of Charles-Joseph Lamoral, French Field Marshal, writer, and member of the princely family of Ligne ("Leen-ya"). Charles once wrote, I should like to inflame the whole world with my taste for gardening. There is no virtue that I would not attribute to the man who lives to project and execute gardens. 1812 Birth of Edward Lear, English artist, musician, and writer. Edward is remembered for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose. He once wrote, As for myself, I am sitting up today for the first time - partly dressed - [something] the cucumber said when oil and vinegar were poured over him, salt & pepper being omitted. Edward also popularized the limerick. Here's an Edward Lear limerick for gardeners. There was an old person so silly, He poked his head into a lily; But six bees who lived there, filled him full of despair, For they stung that old person so silly. 1820 Birth of Florence Nightingale (books about this person), English social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing. Florence earned the moniker "The Lady with the Lamp" during the Crimean War because she would make her rounds to visit wounded soldiers with a lamp during the night. The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used the term in his poem Santa Filomena, which he wrote in honor of Florence's work in Scutari Hospital. Florence was named after Florence, Italy - the city where she was born. As a young girl, she and her sister had their garden to plant and tend. When Florence was 13, she collected flowers with a 77-year-old botanist named Margaret Stovin. Together they gathered and pressed over 100 different species of plants. This charming story was featured in a 2008 book by Richard Mendelsohn. Today, Florence and Margaret's flowers are housed at the Natural History Museum in London. As an adult, Florence wrote, Poetry and imagination begin life. A child will fall on its knees on the gravel walk at the sight of a pink hawthorn in full flower, when it is by itself, to praise God for it. As a nurse, Florence believed flowers helped with the morale and recovery of her patients. And personally, the foxglove was her favorite flower. And Florence received a lovely bouquet every week from William Rathbone, the man who founded the Queen Victoria Jubilee Institute for Nurses. In 2020, one of the anticipated gardens was dedicated to Florence during the pandemic. The year 2020 marked the 200th Anniversary of her birth, and the garden was to be called The Florence Nightingale Garden - A Celebration of Modern Day Nursing. Instead, the garden debuted at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2021. The garden featured "Images from Florence Nightingale's pressed flower collection and echoes of her handwriting … on… the timber walls." Today Florence is remembered in the Florence Nightingale Museum in London, which celebrates the life and work of the best-known figure in nursing history. She is also honored with the Florence Nightingale rose — a pretty pale pink fragrant rose. 1856 Birth of Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper, German botanist and phytogeographer Andreas was a significant player in the early days of plant ecology. In 1901, his work was cut short due to his untimely death at 45 after contracting Malaria in Cameroon. Andreas coined the terms tropical rainforest and sclerophyll and is honored in many species names. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation P. Allen Smith's Garden Home by P. Allen Smith This book came out in 2003, and the subtitle is Creating a Garden for Everyday Living. Well, to me, this book is a garden classic. You get to know a little bit about P. Allen Smith's biography. His family's love of gardens, his experience working in the nursery business - plus all of the great relationships that he made working in some of England's top gardens. (He could write a book on that alone.) Fascinating stories. But in all seriousness, this book is so foundational to gardening. It's a great book to give new gardeners. And it's also an excellent book for gardeners who are considering a redesign or, after a long winter, feel like they need to brush up on their skills. The bulk of this book is dedicated to Allen's twelve garden design principles. He'll talk about aspects like framing a view, having texture in the garden, rhythm, pattern, color, etc. Now I thought I'd share this little excerpt from Allen's introduction. And here he's talking about how he created the garden rooms on his own property. He writes, I began working out the various outdoor rooms to see how they related to the house itself. The shape to one another and to the of the house and the lot created a series of rectangular spaces. I recognized an opportunity to design strong unbroken lines of sight or axes from one garden room into the next. Like an open door, these visual sight lines would allow visitors to stand in one room and see directly into the next. After positioning these openings through portals or entries further divided the rectangles into nine garden rooms and began to imagine how each space could have its own personality yet remain a part of a cohesive whole. And then I love what he says next. Because he's talking about paths, and I always feel like paths are so underrated; they're almost an afterthought for so many gardeners. So Allen says, As I laid out this plan on paper, I added an entire circuit or path that looped around the house, connecting one garden room to the next. From here, I imagined hedges and fences that would serve as "walls" for each room, with arbors and gates as "doorways." And then, he goes on to talk about more ways that he created these garden rooms. And so, in this book, Allen not only goes through his 12 principles of design, but he also takes you on tour. Through each of his garden rooms because they help illustrate each of those principles. It's a fabulous book. It's a garden basic - and it's so affordable now that it's been on the market so long. This book is 224 pages of P. Allen Smith's expertise, his twelve principles of garden design, and his fantastic personal garden. You can get a copy of P. Allen Smith's Garden Home by P. Allen Smith and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $3. Botanic Spark 1943 On this day, the Belvidere Daily Republican posted an article entitled Gardeners Get Nine-Point Plan On Care Of Hose. If mindful of the rubber shortage, you're wondering how to coddle your garden hose through its important Victory-garden job this year, an expert here has a "nine-point program" for hose care that may mean the difference between a backyard farmer's success or failure. W. S. Richardson, manager of the industrial products division of B. F. Goodrich, outlines his nine points as follows: 1. Never drive a car over your hose. 2. Don't leave it lying in the sun 3. Coil it neatly and hang it up. 4. But not on a spike or sharp-edged stick. 5. Be sure it's drained first, for water left in the hose will damage the fabric reinforcement. 6. Don't turn off the water at the nozzle. 7. Don't try to stop the flow by doubling the hose back on itself for either way may give you a 'blow-out.' 8. Don't drag a hose over sharp stones in a rock garden. 9. Don't pick an oily spot on the driveway or floor of your garage as the place to coil it. He concludes, "[Oil] destroys most rubber, and you might end up with a leaky hose and a once-promising Victory garden 'burned up' by drought. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1904 Birth of Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist artist. Educated in Madrid, Salvador was a son of Catalonia, and he never lost his love for the beauty of his homeland. Early in his career, Salvador gravitated toward surrealism. By 1929, Salvador Dali was regarded as a leading figure in the art form. Like Sigmund Freud, Salvador Dalí used the landscape to metaphor the human mind. He once said about the coastline of his beloved Catalonia, I personify the living core of this landscape. Today, two museums are devoted to Salvador Dalí's work: the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain, and the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. And in 2020, the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, presented Salvador Dalí: Gardens of the Mind. The exhibit's centerpiece was Flordalí, a fantastically-colored series of flower lithographs from 1968. In Flordali, Salvador created imaginary surrealist enhancements to favorite blossoms. He made Dahlia unicorns, which feature a twisted horn in the middle of the bloom. Lilium musicum has vinyl records and sheet music for petals. Pisum sensuale is a sensory plant with fingers with painted nails and voluptuous lips. Panseé (Viola cogitans) is a self-portrait with pansies for the eyes and mouth. 1907 On this day, the American botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton was in Nantucket preparing for a lecture on plant protection. Nathaniel had brought along fifty colored lantern slides from the Van Brunt collection to use in his presentation. Nathaniel and his wife co-founded the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York. Nathaniel's time in Nantucket was brief - only for a day - but he wrote these observations in a letter about his trip. [On Nantucket] The mayflower is the most abundant of spring wildflowers, carpeting the moors on the south side of the island and lending a rich, spicy fragrance to the ocean breezes that sweep over these exposed tracts. It is in less danger from picking than from the surface fires, which are common occurrences in spring. The later blooming wildflowers suffer more or less at the hands of summer tourists, but I was glad to observe that the residents of Nantucket as a whole are keenly alive to the importance of preserving the natural beauties of the island and carefully guard the localities for many rare plants, especially the Scotch heather and the two European heaths (Erica cinerea and E. tetralix) which occur there. 1923 On this day, a schoolyard garden reported outside of Lochness gave the following update, As sheep are constantly breaking into the garden work has been stopped till the walls are rendered sheep-proof. This little entry was discovered by the modern-day owner of the property Katharine Stewart, and she shared it in her delightful month by month garden book called A Garden in the Hills (2006). Katharine reflected on the journal entry regarding the sheep and wrote, I know exactly what he meant. More than sixty years later, the sheep, the more agile variety, are still sometimes managing to leap over the wall, where the superimposed netting has given way. That can mean goodbye to all the summer lettuce and the winter greens, not to mention the precious flowering plants and all the work that went into producing them. The little school in the Scottish highlands closed in 1958. A few years later, Katharine and her husband, Sam, bought the property known as the croft at Abriachan near Loch Ness. There, Katharine began her writing. Reflecting on her first days in the garden at the croft, Katharine wrote, When we arrived, wild raspberries, willowherb, and sweet cicely had largely taken over. To bees and butterflies and to many kinds of birds, this was paradise! For us, it held all the thrill of uncharted territory. Every day a fresh discovery was made. Even now, I come on surprises each summer. Digging [has] revealed many other interesting things-worn-out toys, pieces of pottery, a pile of school slates from a dump against the top wall, evidently discarded when jotters came in-and, most interesting of all, several 'scrapers' dating from prehistoric times. Meanwhile, I often imagine my predecessors here looking on the same outline of hills, the same scoop of the burn in the hollow, listening to the same sounds of lark and owl, the bark of deer, and many more long gone-the howl of wolf, maybe the growl of bear. The heather would have been their late summer delight, making drinks of tea or ale, thatching for their roofs, and kindling for their fires. Sometimes envy them the simplicity of their lives, though the hardships must have been great. They didn't have a Christmas to celebrate, but they knew all about the winter solstice, and they must have been happy to see the bright berries on the holly, as we do today. Late in life, Katharine Stewart went on to become a teacher and then her town's postmistress. She died in 2013 and is survived by her daughter, Hilda. 1940 Birth of Margaret Visser, South African-born writer, and broadcaster who lives in Toronto, Paris, and southwest France. Margaret writes about history and anthropology and the mythology of everyday life. She once wrote, Salt is the only rock directly consumed by man. It corrodes but preserves, desiccates but is wrested from the water. It has fascinated man for thousands of years not only as a substance he prized and was willing to labour to obtain but also as a generator of poetic and of mythic meaning. The contradictions it embodies only intensify its power and its links with experience of the sacred. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young This book came out in 2018, and the British food writer and author Bee Wilson gushed, What a joy this is for hungry readers everywhere: stylish, fun, and clever. If there is comfort food, there is also comfort reading, and The Little Library Cookbook is it. The publisher writes, Would you like to taste Paddington Bear's marmalade? Or a clam chowder from Moby Dick? You'll learn how to prepare the afternoon tea served at Manderley and decadent tarts the Queen of Hearts would love—all while reading food-related excerpts from your favorite books. Kate Young was inspired to write this book based on her amazing food blog called The Little Library Café. In The Little Library Cookbook, Kate offers over 100 recipes inspired by beloved works of fiction. There are dishes from classics and contemporary bestsellers with stories for people of any age. Among many others, you will find Turkish delight from Narnia, Mint Juleps from The Great Gatsby, Bread and Butter Pudding from Atonement, Curried Chicken from Sherlock Holmes, Pancakes from Pippi Longstocking, Coconut Shortbread by Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent, Black Ice Cream from The Hundred and One Dalmations, Cinnamon Rolls from Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, Spaghetti and Meatballs from The Godfather, Apple Pie from The Railway Children, and Honey Rosemary Tea Cakes inspired by Winnie the Pooh. This book is 320 pages of food in fiction brought to life by the sweet, funny, and intrepid blogger, cook, caterer, and writer Kate Young. You can get a copy of The Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $15. Botanic Spark 1894 On this day, Bovina ("Bo-VYE-na"), Mississippi, reported a case of turtle hail. Newspapers said that during a severe hailstorm, a six-inch-by-eight-inch gopher turtle, fell to the ground, completely encased in ice, at Bovina, which is located about seven miles east of Vicksburg in western Mississippi. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1725 Birth of John Hope, botanist, professor, and founder of the Royal Garden in Edinburgh. John produced considerable work on plant classification and physiology. He was appointed the King's botanist for Scotland and superintendent of the Royal Garden in Edinburgh. At the time, Edinburgh was the place to study medicine, and all medical students had to take botany courses. John created a school for botanists after spinning off the school's materia medica (pharmacy) department, which allowed him to specialize exclusively in botany. John was a captivating instructor. He was one of the first two people to teach the Linnean system. He also taught the natural system. John was one of the first professors to use big teaching diagrams or visual aids to teach his lectures. John led over 1,700 students during his tenure. His students traveled from all over Europe, America, and India. John Hope Alumni include the likes of James Edward Smith, founder and first President of the Linnaean Society, Charles Drayton, and Benjamin Rush. A field botanist, John encouraged his students to go out and investigate the Flora of Scotland. He awarded a medal every year to the student who collected the best herbarium. 1818 Birth of Arthur Cleveland Coxe, American theologian and composer. Arthur served as the second Episcopal bishop of Western New York. He once wrote, Flowers are words, which even a baby can understand. 1891 Death of Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli, Swiss botanist. Although he studied cell division and pollination, Carl's claim to fame is being the guy who discouraged Gregor Mendel from pursuing his work on genetics. Gregor regarded Carl as a botanical expert and his professional hero. When Gregor sent Carl an overview of his work with pea plants in a letter, Carl dismissed the results out of hand, labeling them "only empirical, and impossible to prove rationally." Carl poo-pooed natural selection. Instead, he believed in orthogenesis, a now-defunct theory that living organisms have an internal driving force - a desire to perfect themselves- and evolve toward this goal. Over a seven-year period in the mid-1800s, Gregor Mendel grew nearly 30,000 pea plants - taking note of their height and shape and color - in his garden at the Augustinian monastery he lived in at Brno (pronounced "burr-no") in the Czech Republic. His work resulted in what we now know as the Laws of Heredity. Gregor came up with the genetic terms and terminology that we still use today, like dominant and recessive genes. Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli's dismissal prompted Gregor to give up his work with genetics. After his promotion to the abbot of the monastery, Gregor focused on his general duties and teaching. In 1884, Gregor died without ever knowing the impact his work would have on modern science. Fifteen years later, in 1899, a friend sent the Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries a copy of Gregor's work - calling it a paper on hybridization - not heredity. At the same time, Gregor's paper was uncovered by a student of Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli's - a man named Carl E. F. J. Correns. Hugo de Vries rushed to publish his first paper on genetics without mentioning Gregor Mendel. But he did have the nerve to use some of Gregor's data and terminology in his paper. Carl Correns threatened to expose De Vries, who then quickly drafted a new version of his paper, which gave proper credit to Gregor Mendel. Through his work with the humble pea plant, Gregor came up with many of the genetic terms still used today, like dominant and recessive genes. 1907 It was on this day that Francis Younghusband, British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer, documented the progression of spring in the Residency Garden in Kashmir. Francis shared his observations in a book called Kashmir(1909). The Residency Garden was an English country house that was built specifically for guests by the Maharajah, and so naturally, Francis loved staying there. Here's what Francis wrote in May of 1907 about the Residency Garden, which was just coming into full flower. Francis observed, By May 1st ...The May trees were in full blossom. The bank on the south side of the garden was a mass of dark purple and white irises, and [the] evening [sun] caused each flower to [become] a blaze of glory. Stock was in full bloom. Pansies were out in masses. Both the English and Kashmir lilacs were in blossom, and the columbines were in perfection. The first horse chestnuts came into blossom on May 10th, and on that date, the single pink rose, sinica anemone, on the trellis at the end of the garden, was in full bloom and of wondrous beauty; a summer-house covered with Fortune's yellow was a dream of golden loveliness; I picked the first bloom of some English roses that a kind friend had sent out... and we had our first plateful of strawberries. A light mauve iris, a native of Kashmir, [is now in] bloom; ...and some lovely varieties of Shirley poppy... from Mr. Luther Burbank, the famous plant-breeder of California, began to blossom; and roses of every variety came [on] rapidly till the garden became a blaze of color. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Lemon, Love & Olive Oil by Mina Stone This book came out in September of 2021. Now, if you're a cookbook lover, you know that Mina's debut cookbook called Cooking For Artists was a smash hit. It was also self-published. And in fact, right now, if you go on Amazon and you try to get a copy of that first cookbook, you'll pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $150. To me, Mina's story is fascinating. She actually went to school to be a designer, and then, on the side, she started cooking for families. And then she started cooking for special events. And then eventually, she started cooking for a gallery, and that's where she started cooking for artists. Thus, the name of her first book. The story behind the second book, Lemon Love and Olive Oil, stems from the fact that whenever people would ask MIna for ingredients to make something taste great, her answer was always lemon juice, olive oil, and a little bit of salt. So, those are her go-to ingredients. Mina contends that you can make anything taste good with a little bit of her favorite three ingredients: lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. So that became the name for the cookbook, except salt was replaced with love. When this cookbook was released, it met with rave reviews. In fact, the New York times rated it a best cookbook of the year, writing, Author of the cult-favorite Cooking for Artists, Mina Stone, returns with a collection of 80 new recipes inspired by her traditional Greek heritage and her years cooking for some of New York's most innovative artists. I've watched a couple of interviews with Mina, and one thing she says over and over again was that when she was creating this cookbook is, she was constantly thinking about the love aspect of these recipes. By that, Mina was focusing on the comfort level and the coziness factor of the food. So that's what she was trying to capture with these 80 recipes. I found that so poignant, especially in light of the fact that she was putting this together during the pandemic while she's in lockdown in 2020. Mina is not the kind of person that comes up with a cookbook and then has to go out and create a bunch of recipes. That's not how Mina works. Instead, Mina pays attention to the recipes that she starts making again and again. So these are recipes that have staying power. They are the recipes that pass the Mina Test, and they rise to the top of her favorites because they are just naturally so good. Also, if you are a lover of reading cookbooks, you are going to really enjoy Mina's book. Before each section, there are essays from Mina that share stories about her family - and her grandmother, who is kind of the original Greek cook in Mina's life. Mina has great insight, not only on these recipes and ingredients but also from her sheer personal experience. I couldn't help, but think as I was reading this cookbook that Mina could write a memoir because her stories are so intriguing. In addition to the essays for each section of the book, every recipe gets a little personal introduction as well. For an excerpt, I selected a few little snippets from a section that Mina calls My Kitchen. This is a chapter about the key ingredients that Mina uses on repeat. She writes, I've always found pantry lists in cookbooks to be intimidating. Asa self-trained home cook, I never sought out hard-to-find ingredients. It never crossed my mind as an option. The ingredients in my recipes and the food found in my pantry reflect my surroundings touched with a dose of Greekness. (It can't be helped.) Here are some thoughts on how I approach cooking in my kitchen, what I like to keep in my cupboards, what I run out to the store for, and some clarification on how I wrote the recipes. Salt Sea salt is more salty and kosher salt is less salty. Because kosher salt is less salty it gives you more control over the seasoning. For example, it is great for seasoning meat because you can use more and achieve a lovely salt crust as well as the right amount of seasoning without oversalting. It is the salt up using the most. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil I like to use olive oil sparingly during cooking (this makes thedish lighter) and add the bulk of it at the end, once cooking is completed. use much more olive oil in the recipes than people are accustomed to using. suggest adding more than you would think when you're cooking from this book. That's a great little tidbit, especially if you're using olive oil for cooking with your garden harvest. There is so much that comes out of our garden that goes into the pan with a ton of olive oil. But now, maybe you can dial that back a little bit with this tip from Mina. Lemons They add floral buoyancy but, above all, a fresh form of acid that I usually prefer to vinegar. When using lemons for zest, try to always use organic ones. I've never thought about lemons that way, but I love how she describes that floral buoyancy. And, you know, she's exactly right. Personally, I also think that there's something just a little less harsh about lemon juice as compared to vinegar. So if you have a sensitive tummy, consider incorporating lemon juice instead of vinegar. Green Herbs: Parsley, Mint, Cilantro, and Basil I like fresh herbs in abundance and can often find a place to incorporate them with relative ease. In the recipes, herbs are usually measured by the handful: 1 handful equals about 1/4 cup. It doesn't need to be exact, but that is a good place to start if you need it. This advice is helpful as well because if you're planning your kitchen garden, you need to think about how many plants you need to plant so that you can have an abundant harvest. Just to give you an idea of how much Basil I use in the summertime, I usually end up buying about four to five flats of Basil. Dried Oregano Oregano is my number one dried herb. Greek oregano has a pronounced savory and earthy flavor to it, and it is my preference to use in more traditional Greek dishes. Better-quality dried oregano, which is milder in flavor, is great to use as a general seasoning for salad, fish, and meats. This book is 272 pages of more than eighty Mediterranean-style dishes and the stories that inspired them. These recipes are uncomplicated, and they're Mina's go-to recipes. And, of course, they can always be enhanced with lemon, olive oil, and salt. You can get a copy of Lemon, Love & Olive Oil by Mina Stone and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $15. Botanic Spark 2017 Death of Polly Park, American-Australian amateur gardener, speaker, and writer. Remembered as the designer of Boxford, a Canberra garden, Polly and her husband Peter created classic garden styles using their own creativity and gumption. On their half-acre suburban property, Boxford attracted visitors from across the world and featured six unique gardens: a modern garden inspired by Roberto Burle Marx, an English knot garden, a parterre garden with an Italien statue from Florence, a Chinese garden inspired by the Suzhou ("sue-joe") garden, an Indian garden, and a Japanese garden. Polly and Peter made a great garden team. Polly came up with the design ideas, and Peter was the muscle. Polly created the stone courtyard for the Indian garden and a mosaic inspired by the great 20th-century Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer ("Nee-myer") for the modern garden. Peter built the pond and meditation house for the Japanese garden. In 1988, Polly wrote a biography of their gardens in the book The World in My Garden. Although Boxford was identified as a National heritage site - after Peter and Polly sold the property in 2006 - the garden was destroyed. In 2011, Peter died. Polly followed him home six years later on this day at the age of 96. You can get a used copy of The World in My Garden by Polly Park and support the show for around $17. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day. John Hope, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli, Francis Younghusband, Lemon, Love & Olive Oil by Mina Stone, Polly Park
Full show notes at the publisherSubscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events National Public Gardens Week This week marks the beginning of National Public Gardens Week (May 6-15). This celebration started in 2009 as part of the effort to bring attention to the country's public gardens. Go Public Gardens is an ongoing, evergreen Association initiative to drive the public to visit, value, and volunteer at public gardens in their area and when they travel. You can be part of the celebration by visiting a public garden this week. You can find gardens near you on the interactive Garden Map. 1781 Birth of Henri Cassini, French botanist and naturalist. Henri's second great grandfather was the famous Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini; he discovered Jupiter's Great Red Spot and the Cassini division in Saturn's rings. Henri took a decidedly different path than his ancestors. He was the fifth generation of a family of star scholars, so Henri is often referred to as Cassini V. Henri became a lawyer, and like many professionals, botany was a hobby for Henri. His heart belonged to the sunflower family, and it is fitting that the genus Cassinia(the sunflower genus) was named in his honor by the botanist Robert Brown. Henri's work had staying power. Many of his sunflower descriptions and observations are still valid over two centuries later. Henri married his cousin and had no children. He died of cholera at 50, and he was the last of the Cassini name - and a punctuation mark on the wonderful Cassini legacy. 1807 On this day in 1807, Lewis and Clark returned a book they had borrowed from Benjamin Smith Barton. Before starting their incredible expedition, Meriwether Lewis visited Barton at his home. Meriwether left with Barton's copy of The History of Louisiana by Antoine le Page. Meriwether memorialized the gesture in the flyleaf of the book, writing: Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton was so obliging as to lend me this copy of Mons. Le Page's History of Louisiana in June 1803. It has been since conveyed by me to the Pacific ocean through the interior of North America on my late tour thither and is now returned to its proprietor by his friends and obedient servant, Meriwether Lewis. Philadelphia, May 9, 1807. 1860 Birth of James Matthew Barrie (books by this author), Scottish novelist, and playwright. James is best remembered as the creator and author of Peter Pan, and he drew inspiration from the real world's Kensington Gardens. In 1912, James commissioned Sir George Frampton to build a statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. It's been a favorite of visitors to the park ever since. Gardens and flowers were other sources of inspiration for James. The following are just a few samples of his garden inspired prose: There is almost nothing that has such a keen sense of fun as a fallen leaf. The unhappy Hook was as impotent as he was damp, and he fell forward like a cut flower. All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old, she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, 'Oh, why can't you remain like this forever!' This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end. James also wrote, God gave us memories that we may have roses in December. 1921 Birth of Sophia Magdalena Scholl (books about this person), German student, and anti-Nazi activist. Sophia was part of the White Rose non-violent resistance group started by her brother Hans. The two were arrested and convicted of high treason after distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich. Sophia was executed by guillotine. Her last words were, "long live freedom." Since the 1970s, Sophia has been praised and remembered for her anti-Nazi resistance work. In 2021, Sophia was commemorated on a special sterling silver collector's coin issued on her 100th birthday. It was Sophie Scholl, leader of the White Rose Movement, who said, Who would have thought it possible that a tiny little flower could preoccupy a person so completely that there simply wasn't room for any other thought. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Patina Living by Steve Giannetti and Brooke Giannetti This book came out in 2019, and this is The heartwarming story of how the Giannetties live and entertain in the well-designed and lushly planted gardens of their farm in Ojai, California. If you're a longtime listener of the show, you know that I recommended Steve and Brooke's second book Patina Farmjust a few weeks ago. But this is actually their third book, and it's called Patina Living, and it came out in 2019. And as the publisher says, The heartwarming story of how the Giannetties live and entertain in the well-designed and lushly planted gardens of their farm in Ojai, California. So this book is truly dedicated to the gardens there on the property. Now, I thought I'd give you a complete overview of all the Giannetti books; I think they're all fantastic. Their first book came out in 2011 and was called Patina Style. Now that book was all about their interior design. The second book, the book that I just profiled a few weeks ago, is called Patina Farm. And that's talking about basically the entire property inside and out, including the gardens. And now, this third book, Patina Living, is all about the gardens. And then, of course, there's one called Patina Homes after this one. But this book, in particular, is the one that we're talking about today, and it is Patina Living, and they don't call it Patina Gardens, essentially, because there is so much life in these gardens. There are outdoor rooms. There are kitchen gardens. There are animals. There's just so much going on outdoors for the family, which is why they chose to call it Patina Living. Now I thought it would be fun to review this power couple of Brooke Giannetti and Steve Giannetti. Brooke is a California-based interior designer. She's got her shop, and she's a blogger. And so everything that she's putting together is just so artfully done. She's a natural stylist. And then you have Steve Giannetti. He's an architect, and he works on all kinds of projects. So there's the two of them together, and they work so well together. In the introduction to Patina Living, Brooke and Steve share this incredibly heart-wrenching story of when they had to leave Patina Farm back in 2017 - five years ago when one of the California wildfires was threatening their property. And so they had to load everything up quickly, and they were prepared to say goodbye to all of it. And so here is this little excerpt from what Brooke wrote. She said, As we hurried through the now-mature grounds of Patina Farm, we were reminded of the time we had installed the new plantings that would become our outdoor rooms. Now, five years later, the gardens looked lush and lovely, softened by the pale pink haze of the fire; but they were also quiet and lifeless. Our donkeys, Buttercup, Daisy, Blossom, and Huckleberry, were not grazing the lower fields or sleeping under the pepper trees as they normally did. The protected garden and animal barn next to my office - where our miniature pygmy goats, sisters Thelma and Louise and their best friend, Dot, and our sheep, Linen, Paisley, and Cashmere, normally lounged and played - were silent and deserted. As we headed out to our packed cars, Steve asked me if there was anything else that I wanted to take with us. - looked around at the house -a house we had spent years thoughtfully designing-and realized that all I really needed to take, the soul of our house, was already securely resting in our cars. Isn't that touching? Later on, in the introduction, Brooke sets out her goals for this book, Patina Living. And she writes As we've shared our journey to Patina Farm, many of our readers have shared their desire to move toward an organic, nature-centered life. Some of you just want to add more gardens to your property or figure out how to have a few chickens in your side yard, while others dream of creating your version of Patina Farm, with farmanimals and a potager to grow your own food. We are writing this book for all of you, to share why we decided to embrace this lifestyle and whatwe have learned along the way. We will also introduce you to some of the wonderful people in our life who have helped us navigate the winding road of farm life. One of the important nuggets of wisdom we have learned is that there is not just one way to live. The idea of this book is to explain what works (and hasn't worked) for us and why. By sharing our journey, we hope to demystify the homestead farm lifestyle. If we city folk can do it, SO can you! What I love about Brooke and Steve - and what they've done here - is how authentic they are and how creative they are because they approach everything from the Giannetti angle on design and functionality. Again, it's got to work for them because this is a working farm. This is a homestead property. And so, while they want things to look beautiful, they're also pragmatists. I love that mix. Now, granted, up here in Minnesota, I'm never going to have the type of climate that they enjoy in Ojai, California. I'm never going to be able to grow rosemary and lavender year-round outdoors in my garden. But again, there is so much of what Steve and Brooke do here that can be translated into new solutions no matter where you live. So if you're looking for best practices, I think you cannot go wrong with any book by Steve and Brooke Gianetti. This book is 208 pages of gardens, gardens, gardens, outdoor living, all kinds of outbuildings, and spaces for animals - and a gorgeous potager to boot - on a high-end homestead. You can get a copy of Patina Living by Steve Giannetti and Brooke Giannetti and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $8. Botanic Spark 1938 Birth of Charles Simic (books by this author), Serbian American poet and former co-poetry editor of the Paris Review. He taught English and creative writing for over three decades at the University of New Hampshire. In 1990, Charles received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In 2007 he was appointed the fifteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Charles is one of the most compelling modern poets writing today. He once wrote, Even when I'm stretched out in my coffin, they may find me tinkering with some poem. Here's an excerpt from his poem called In The Traffic. What if I were to ditch my car And walk away without a glance back? While drivers honk their horns As I march toward the woods, Determined, once and for all, To swap this breed of lunatics For a more benign kind who dwell In trees, long-haired and naked. I'll let the sun be my guide As I roam the countryside, stopping to chat With a flower or a butterfly, Subsisting on edible plants, I find, Glad to share my meal with deer, Or find a bear licking my face As I wake up, asking where am I? Stuck in the traffic, Mister! And here's his very brief poem called Watermelons: Green Buddhas On the fruit stand We eat the smile And spit out the teeth. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day. Henri Cassini, Meriwether Lewis, James Matthew Barrie, Sophie Scholl, Patina Living, Steve Giannetti, Brooke Giannetti, Charles Simic, Benjamin Smith Barton
Full show notes at the publisherSubscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Compost Awareness Week 1742 Birth of Jean Senebier, a Swiss pastor and botanist. Where would we be without Senebier? We'd still be breathing, but we'd lack 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. 1754 Birth of Joseph Joubert, French moralist and essayist. Remembered mainly for his Pensées ("Pon-see") or (Thoughts), which were published posthumously, he once wrote, All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so. 1856 Birth of Sigmund Freud (books about this person), Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud once offered this humorous insight: Common sense is a rare flower and does not grow in everyone's garden. Freud offered up a few dispassionate observations regarding the natural world. He once wrote, Beauty has no obvious use, nor is there any clear cultural necessity for it. Yet civilization could not do without it. And he also wrote, Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts. Online there are many photos of Freud and his family in the garden of their home in London. The Freuds left their home in Austria to escape the Nazis with the help of Princess Marie Bonaparte (books about this person), known as Princess George of Greece and Denmark. In 1938, there was a photo of Sigmund with his daughter Anna and Martha in the garden of Marie Bonaparte's house in Paris after arriving on the Orient Express from Vienna. Anna looks happy, Martha looks at a flower, and Sigmund has a little snooze in his garden bed. The Freud home in London was much larger and nicer, and there was a large backyard with a garden. The property still boasts Freud's rose garden and is now the Freud Museum at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, London NW3, England. In 2008, the French botanist and biologist Francis Hallé wrote, Everyone knows that going to the garden does not solve the problems of everyday life, yet it relativizes them and makes them more bearable. Sigmund Freud had this late regret: 'I lost my time; the only important thing in life is gardening.' 1925 On this day, at the age of 29, the great twentieth-century reformer of Japanese gardens, Mirei Shigemori (books about this person), changed his name from Kazuo ("Kah-zoh") to Mirei ("me-RAY"). The name change was a tribute to the 19th-century French painter of pastoral landscapes and daily life, Jean Francois Millet (books about this person), who once said, It is the treating of the commonplace with the feeling of the sublime that gives to art its true power. In 1932, Mirei founded the Kyoto Garden Society. Mirei practiced the art of tea - Chado ("Cha-doe") and the art of flower arranging - Ikebana ("ick-aye-bah-na"). Mirei once advised, People who try to do research on the garden have to very seriously study the way of tea. Mirei wrote eighty-one books, including the Illustrated Book on the History of the Japanese Garden in 26-volumes, released in 1938. Mother Nature played an important role in shaping Mirei's life when the Muroto Typhoon destroyed much of Kyoto in 1934. Many sacred temples, shrines, and gardens were wiped out in the life-altering storm. In response, Mirei took action. He used his own money and became one of the first designers to survey every garden in Japan - creating records for restoration if they were ever damaged or destroyed. The tour provided a valuable service to his country and was also a means for Mirei to learn garden design - with a particular focus on incorporating rocks and stone. As a garden designer, Mirei was entirely self-taught. Throughout his fifty-year career, Mirei designed over two hundred gardens, including the checkerboard North Garden/Moss Garden at Tofukuji ("Tofu-kah-gee") Temple, Kyoto (1939), the dry landscape at Zuiho-in ("zwee-ho een" (1961), and the garden at the oldest shrine in Kyoto City, the Matsuo Taisha ("maht-sue-oh Ty-sha"(1975). The shrine is dedicated to the gods of water in western Kyoto and was an important place for sake-brewing families to worship over the centuries. In 2020, the second edition of landscape architect Christian Tschumi's book, Mirei Shigemori - Rebel in the Garden, was released. In it, Christian breaks down the profound influences and meanings behind Mirei's most iconic gardens. Christian once wrote, Shigemori's body of work is a compelling manifesto for continuous cultural renewal. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Layered Garden by David Culp This book came out in 2012, and the subtitle is Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage. Well, I'm a huge David Culp fan, and I feel like I'm telling you about this book just in time for summer because this book can help you set the stage for how you want your garden to look all year long. And since the summer lays entirely before us, this book is just in time for you. If you're planning a new garden or a garden redesign, you could do a lot worse than having David Culp be your guide. Laura Springer Ogden wrote a review that's right on the cover of the book, And it says, Garden-making in its finest form is a celebration of life and love - and David and this book epitomize this. I couldn't agree more. And by the way, you'll probably recognize the photographer's name for David's book as well - it's Rob Cardillo. Rob always does such a fantastic job photographing gardens, so this book's photos are top-notch. Now David kicks things off in this book with a quote from Francis Bacon, it's from Of Gardens (1625) - and it's one of my favorite garden quotes: There ought to be gardens for all the months in the year, in which severally things of beauty may be then in season. Of course, this sets the stage for what David is trying to teach us: how to have a garden that looks good all year long. Now I thought I would share this quick little sweet story that David shares at the beginning of his book. It gives all of us some great ideas - especially if you have young gardeners in your life. David wrote One fall, when I was about nine years old, my grandmother Thorpe gave me a bag of bulbs and said, "you go out and plant them." I felt more than a little trepidation. I had never planted anything without her supervision. But she reassured me. "You can do it. You won't go wrong." Her generosity could have been ruinous to her flower border. But I got the bulbs planted with no mishaps. The next spring, when they bloomed, I almost burst with pride. When she told all her friends, "David did that." And from that moment, I knew I was a gardener. And after all these years, it remains the core of how I define myself. I love that story for a couple of different reasons. Number one, it really does tee up what David is talking about here in The Layered Garden because as a gardener, if you dismiss specific categories of plants out of hand, like the flowers that you get with spring bulbs, then you'll likely miss one of the layers that can help make your garden beautiful all through the year. Now the other reason I like this story is for practical purposes. I hear all the time from new gardeners who are so anxious about planting bulbs, And now I'm going to say, "Hey, if David Culp - as a nine-year-old - can do it, you can too. And then last but not least, I hope this plants a tiny seed with all of us that if we are interacting with kids in the garden, we definitely need to introduce them to planting spring-flowering bulbs because the result in the spring is just so impressive and unique. It also instills that sense of pride that you can get when your garden work goes to plan, and you experience that first flush of color. It's so wonderful. Throughout David's book, he reinforces this concept of the layered garden, but I will give you just a little snippet of how he introduces it here. He goes into much more detail and offers many more tips - wonderful little nuggets and tiny ideas - for making this look work for you. Here's how he introduces the concept in his book. Garden layers are made up of a variety of plants- some with complimentary or contrasting colors, others with interesting shapes or textures. Layers are more than just perennials or annuals or bulbs or ground covers. They're more than just the ground layer of plants. That's the sole focus of many gardens. Beautiful combinations are certainly possible, even in the tiniest scale. Think of dwarf Solomon's Seal underplanted with moss - that makes a precious six-inch-high picture. But to get the most interest from any garden, all the layers need to be considered from the ground level to the middle level of shrubs and small trees up to the canopy trees. Growing plants on vertical surfaces, walls, fences, trellises, arbors, and other supports even climbing up trees, when we can be sure that they will do no harm, adds to the picture by bringing flowers and foliage to eye level and above. So there you go. An introduction to what David is talking about when he says The Layered Garden. You might be intuitively doing some layering already in your garden as you look for more ways to garden - looking for different plants - or finding and curating other ideas that you can put in your garden. But I think what David adds is his mastery because he knows how to make all of this work in a very cohesive way that's pleasing to the eye. David's book talks about how to do a layered garden and design it - which is probably the key for most of us because we often don't think about that. If we layer the garden, it can just happen organically. But then, sometimes, we can end up with a little bit of a confused look. Next, David talks about maintaining the layered garden, which is very important. Now there are two other aspects of this book that I want to share with you. So the first chapter talks about the layered garden, and it walks you all through that. But The second chapter introduces you to his garden at Brandywine Cottage. This is important because you get a garden tour here, and David shows you how he's put this layered garden technique to work right on his property. By the way, this is not David's first at-bat gardening; he's designed many gardens. So, all of his work is coming together, culminating at Brandywine. And then the last chapter, I think, is one of the most important chapters of the book. Here David shares his signature plants that he advises we consider incorporating into our gardens throughout the seasons. So, this is a great list. This is a list of plants from a garden designer - a garden lover - and someone who works in gardens every day. So right there, that's an invaluable part of this book. This book is 312 pages of layered gardening, the beauty of the garden at Brandywine, and then some of David's most treasured garden design secrets and favorite plants. You can get a copy of The Layered Garden by David Culp and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $18. Botanic Spark 1682 On this day, Louis XIV (books about this person) of France moved his court to the Palace of Versailles. Originally, Versailles was built as a country house. Nine miles from Paris, Versailles was ideally situated near neighboring forests for hunting. Today Versailles is known for its opulence - the Hall of Mirrors, stunning art, and lush gardens. The massive gardens at Versailles are the most famous in the world. The garden is home to over 1,000 statues, and in the Facebook group for the show, I shared a stunning photo of the garden sculptures at Versailles surrounded by sandbags for protection during WWII. In 2006, Ian Thompson wrote a fantastic book called, The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, Andre le Notre and the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles. Ian believes that Louis XIV may also have been history's most passionate gardener. Louis, the absolute monarch, was known as the "Sun King," specifically designed the central axis to be east-west to track the sun's path across the garden. Louis worked closely for forty years with the low-born gardener André Le Nôtre to devise the original design and geometrical layout. Temperament-wise, André and Louis could not have been more different. Louis was driven and merciless. André was funny, thoughtful, insightful, and easy-going. In 1979, Versailles, including the garden, was declared a World Heritage Site. And in 2014, Alain Baraton wrote Gardener of Versailles: My Life in the World's Grandest Garden. As the gardener-in-chief, Alain lives on the grounds at Versailles. Alain has worked in the gardens, orchards, and fields for four decades. This memoir reveals Alain's connection to the grandest garden in the world. And in case you're wondering, Alain believes fall is the best time to visit. Alain oversaw the recovery from the worst natural disaster ever to hit Versailles. On Christmas night through the 26th of December in 1999, a monster winter storm with winds of up to 105 mph struck the grounds of Versaille. Alain watched in horror as century trees let go of the earth in response. In a little over an hour, the storm felled 10,000 trees at Versailles, including two tulip trees planted by Marie-Antoinette in 1783 in Trianon and a Corsican pine planted for Napoleon in 1810. Alain said, It was like the apocalypse. In one hour, 200 years of trees were destroyed. But, miraculously, all of the statues survived unharmed. Although, there was one account that I read of a tree falling on one of the great statues. And as it hit the ground, the branches parted as if to spare that statue. It gave me chills just reading that. It was quite the story. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Full show notes at the publisherSubscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1830 Birth of Thomas Edward Brown, late-Victorian scholar, schoolmaster, poet, and theologian from the Isle of Man. Thomas was published under T.E. Brown, and here's a little excerpt from his poem called My Garden. A GARDEN is a lovesome thing, God wot! Rose plot, Fringed pool, Fern'd grot— The veriest school Of peace; and yet the fool Contends that God is not— Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool? Nay, but I have a sign; 'Tis very sure God walks in mine. 1833 Birth of Richard Watson Dixon, English poet, and clergyman. Richard was the son of the clergyman, Dr. James Dixon. He's most remembered for that lyrical poem that begins. The feathers of the willow Are half of them grown yellow Above the swelling stream; And ragged are the bushes, And rusty now the rushes, And wild the clouded gleam. But today, I thought I would share an excerpt from his little-known poem called The Judgement Of The May. Come to the judgement, golden threads upon golden hair in rich array; Many a chestnut shakes its heads, Many a lupine at this day, Many a white rose in our beds Waits the judgement of the May. 1890 Birth of Christopher Morley, American journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet. Christopher also produced plays and gave college lectures. And in addition to all of that, He wrote little sayings, like The trouble with wedlock is that there's not enough wed and too much lock. And he also wrote Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water. And then finally, here's a Christopher Marley quote on spring. April prepares her green traffic light, and the world thinks: Go. 1921 Birth of Mavis Lilian Batey, English Codebreaker and garden historian. Mavis served as an English Codebreaker during World War II, and her unique skillset broke the German enigma code, which allowed the allied forces to stage their D-Day invasion. Mavis became a champion for forgotten, yet historically significant, English gardens. She also helped establish garden history as an academic specialty. In 1955, Mavis and her Codebreaker husband, Keith, settled on a farm in Surrey. It was this property that sparked Mavis's passion for landscape history. After moving to Oxford, Mavis and her family lived in a fantastic park designed by Capability Brown. The park was also home to a garden designed by William Mason in 1775. Mavis recalled, We lived in the agent's house right in the middle of Capability Brown Park. But it was William Mason's garden that really got me. We had to cut our way into it. It was all overgrown and garden ornaments were buried in the grass. I knew at once it wasn't just an ordinary derelict garden. Someone had tried to say something there. Mavis Batey used her wit and determination to become a force in numerous conservation organizations and missions. In 1985, Mavis was honored with the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal for her invaluable work, preserving gardens that would otherwise have been lost to time. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Magical World of Moss Gardening by Annie Martin This book came out in 2015, and Pacific Northwest magazine said this about Annie's book: Instead of eradicating this deer-resistant, pest-resistant, rootless, stemless, wonder of a plant, Annni Martin tells us how to encourage and cultivate it. Well, mosses are near and dear to many gardeners' hearts, and there have been many gardeners who try to grow and cultivate moss to no avail. And that's because moss has some special requirements. Annie writes, In my own garden, I feel angst when mosses is dry out and I obsessively respond to my compelling desire to give them a rejuvenating drink. And as they begin the saturation process, I regain my own glowing state. As I watch leaves swiftly unfold and colors, magically intensify. In addition to being mesmerizing, there are many reasons to pursue moss gardening. There are also many environmental benefits. Moss can be a lawn substitute - depending on where you live and your garden set up. If you have a shady property, you should definitely look into mosses as an option. Mosses are super carbon sequesters. They're great at erosion control and flood mitigation - and they have a built-in filtration system, which means that moss can help reclaim land in locations where cleanup is needed. Now, if Annie's name sounds familiar, it's because she is a moss expert. Her nickname is Mossin' Annie, and she's the proud owner of Mountain Moss Enterprises. I appreciate books like this because you have a true subject matter expert acting as your guide. Annie will help you identify dozens of Moss species, and she'll teach you how to propagate moss successfully. (This is something most gardeners want to know how to do). Finally, Annie is a master when designing and installing moss gardens. This book is 240 pages of down-to-earth advice on mosses in the garden. Whether you're an experienced gardener or a newbie, you will feel extra confident about utilizing moss - the tremendous green ground cover - with Annie as your guide. You can get a copy of The Magical World of Moss Gardening by Annie Martin and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $13. Botanic Spark 1821 Death of Napoleon Bonaparte, French military and political leader who ended up ruling over much of continental Europe Last year was the 200th anniversary of his death. One account of Napoleon's final moments reported that, [He died during a terrible thunderstorm that] shook the house to its foundations and would have alarmed everyone but for the all-absorbing tragedy of Napolean's departure. In 1815 after his stunning defeat in the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was forced into exile in the south Atlantic on a little island called St. Helena. A few years before his death, Napoleon became convinced that he was dying of stomach cancer. His doctor Francoise Antommarchi ("Ahn-toe-MAR-she"), the man that would take his death mask, prescribed, among other pursuits, gardening - specifically digging in the garden. And so, on the island of St. Helena, Napoleon briefly took up gardening — and he loved it. Naturally, Napoleon wanted everyone around him - except the ladies - to join him in the garden at Longwood. There, he grew every type of vegetable that thrived on the island. Napoleon installed grottoes, alleys, and paths. And he transplanted trees and improved the soil with manure. When he worked in the garden, history tells us that Napoleon wore a loose-fitting dress and a straw hat. And at one point, Napoleon actually shot Count Bertrand's goat because it was eating his plants. In 2021, the historian Ruth Scurr wrote a short but delightful biography of Napoleon told through the lens of his interest in gardening and naturalism, and it's called Napoleon: A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows. Ruth believes that gardens were important to Napoleon all through his life. But at St. Helena in particular, he was especially motivated to garden after his doctor pointed out that he could create sunken paths to avoid the watchful gaze of his guards: British soldiers. Naturally, it was mostly Napoleon's people who did most of the digging. And although Napoleon's experiment with gardening was fleeting, Longwood House still grows a variety of plants planted by the emperor himself. Now in her book, Ruth also tells a touching story about Napoleon's brief return to Malmaison after his defeat at Waterloo. Malmaison was soothing to the emperor, and it was a place full of memories of his beloved Josephine. Her gardens were filled with fragrant roses and colorful blossoms like Dahlia's long after her death. The painter Pierre Joseph Redouté was a favorite of Josephine Bonaparte and Marie Antoinette. Still, Redouté's paintings of Josephine's flowers at Malmaison are among his most beautiful works. In Ruth Scurr's garden biography of Napoleon, she wrote: The 26th of June [1815] was a very hot day. Napoleon spent it at Malmaison reminiscing about the past. He walked up and down with his hands behind his back in what had once been his personal garden, just outside the library. He also lingers among exotic trees that Josephine has always insisted on planting herself. There were honey locusts, cedars of Lebanon, apple trees, and tulip trees. He visited Josephine's grand greenhouse and remembered there how she checked her tropical flowers every day. It was indeed a grand greenhouse. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
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