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.
Copyright: Copyright ©2019-2020, Jennifer Ebeling|The Daily Gardener All rights reserved
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 Today is Bird Day! 1556 Death of Luca Ghini ("Gee-nee"), Italian physician and botanist. Luca is remembered for creating the first recorded herbarium and the first botanical garden in Pisa, Italy. Historical accounts indicate he was an outstanding and beloved botany teacher at the university in Bologna. By 1527, Luca was giving lectures on medicinal plants and essentially teaching what is considered the first official university-level classes on botany. Luca was also the first to press flowers to create a plant collection. The English botanist William Withering wrote about flower pressing in the 1770s. Luca used his pressed and dried plants the same way future botanists would - he used them to study when fresh or live specimens were not available. In this way, he could teach his students, and they could use the dried specimens to continue their studies all year long. Luca mentored his students - taking them on field trips and encouraging them to learn all about plants. And if Luca Ghini seems an obscure character in botanical history, it's because he didn't publish anything. He was too busy interacting with his botanist peers and teaching his students - through whom he left a lasting legacy. 1749 Birth of Charlotte Turner Smith, English novelist, and Romantic poet. She revived the English sonnet, was an early Gothic fiction writer and helped establish the genre. She also wrote about sensibility in her political novels. Charlotte's novels, Emmeline (1788) and Desmond (1792), reflect womanly hope and disenfranchisement with eighteenth-century Common Law. Charlotte once wrote, Oh, Hope! thou soother sweet of human woes! How shall I lure thee to my haunts forlorn! For me wilt thou renew the withered rose, And clear my painful path of pointed thorn? And here is an excerpt of Charlotte's poem called Written at the Close of Spring. The garlands fade that Spring so lately wove, Each simple flow'r, which she had nurs'd in dew, Anemones that spangled every grove, The primrose wan, and harebell, mildly blue. No more shall violets linger in the dell, Or purple orchis variegate the plain, Till Spring again shall call forth every bell, And dress with humid hands her wreaths again. Ah, poor Humanity! so frail, so fair, Are the fond visions of thy early day, Another May new buds and flow'rs shall bring; Ah! Why has Happiness—no second Spring? 1858 Birth of Sophie Emma Magdalene Grieve (pen name Mrs. Grieve), English writer and herbalist. Her friends called her Maud. In addition to her writing, Maud founded an Herb School and Farm in England. She was a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society, President of the British Guild of Herb Growers, and a Fellow of the British Science Guild. Today, Maud is best remembered for her book, A Modern Herbal (1931). Maud's Herbal is still regarded as one of the best herbals ever written. She provided detailed information about each herb she profiled, including "Medicinal Actions and Uses." Here's a sampling of her information. Purple Loosestrife: As an eyewash this invasive herb is superior to Eyebright for preserving the sight and curing sore eyes. Chives: Useful for cutting up and mixing with the food of newly-hatched turkeys. Borage: May be regarded as a garden escape. (A delicate way of saying it is invasive.) Valerian: A powerful nervine, stimulant, carminative, and anti-spasmodic. The drug allays pain and promotes sleep. It is of especial use and benefit to those suffering from nervous overstrain…During the recent War (WWI), when air-raids were a serious strain on the nerves of civilian men and women, valerian…proved wonderfully efficacious, preventing or minimizing serious results. Garlic: There is a Mohammedan legend that when Satan stepped out from the Garden of Eden after the fall of man, Garlick sprang up from the spot where he placed his left foot and Onion from that where his right foot touched. Moneywort: We are told by old writers that this herb was not only used by man, but that if serpents hurt or wounded themselves, they turned to this plant for healing, and so it was sometimes called 'Serpentaria'. Agrimony or Church-Steeple: the small root is sweet-scented, especially in spring. Lemon: It is probable that the lemon is the most valuable of all fruit for preserving health. English Summers: 'It has been said, with some truth, that our English summer is not here until the Elder is fully in flower, and that it ends when the berries are ripe." 1894 Birth of Margaret Leland Goldsmith, American journalist, historical novelist, and translator. In June of 1936, in "The Perils of Gardening" for Scribner's Magazine, she wrote: For years I have avoided magenta with feverish zest. I do not like it. It kills my henna reds. It fights with the cedar brown of my cottage. Yet every year something of that hue intrudes. If it isn't Sweet William reverting to type, it is a red phlox gone decadent. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Little Library Year by Kate Young This book came out in 2020, the perfect time because it was right at the start of the pandemic. The subtitle is Recipes and Reading to Suit Each Season. Oh, I cannot tell you how long I've been waiting to share this book. It is such a treat. The publisher does a great job of succinctly telling you about Kate's book. The Little Library Year takes you through a full 12 months in award-winning food writer Kate Young's kitchen. Here are frugal, January meals enjoyed alone with a classic comfort read. As well as summer feasts to be eaten outdoors with the perfect beach read in hand. Beautifully photographed throughout. The Little Library Year is full of delicious seasonal recipes, menus And reading recommendations - (which is one of the reasons why I absolutely squealed when I first found out about Kate's book.) Now you'll be happy to know that the cover is beautiful. It truly is a cover for a gardener because she's got a little desk with a little coffee mug, and then she's got potted herbs stacked on top of books. Then, there's a little blue journal with a pen resting on top. The herbs include Pineapple Sage, Thyme, and of course, Rosemary. It is just perfect. Now Diana Henry's review of this book is right on the cover. She writes Recipes you long to cook. Suggestions for books. You want to read a sense of place and season and takes of life lived thoughtfully and well. This is a very special book written with great generosity She is so right. Now I wanted to share this little excerpt from Kate about how she broke down the seasons for her book. She writes, I have broken the year into six parts. Those long winter nights in January and February, the first signs of spring in March and April, the green months of may and June when spring is in abundance, the height of summer in July and August, the weeks when the leaves start to turn in September and October. And then the final months of the year, as the days grow short. And then she writes, I have written The Little Library Year. as a literary and culinary almanac -a celebration of each and every season and a way to capture the year in books and food. And isn't that fantastic? Well, you really should treat yourself to this book, and then if you fall in love with Kate Young, check out her author page because she has many, many delightful books. She's a great writer - one of my favorites. This book is 336 pages of garden-fresh recipes, life stories, and of course, books, books, books. You can get a copy of The Little Library Year by Kate young and support the shell using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $20, but you'll need to hurry because those used copies at that price will go quickly. You can get a copy of The Little Library Year by Kate Young and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $21. Botanic Spark 1976 Birth of Gail Carriger (Gail "Care-ah-gurr") (the pen name of Tofa Borregaard), American New York Times bestselling author of steampunk fiction and an archaeologist. In her book, Poison or Protect, the first in the Delightfully Deadly series, a sexy assassin, a Scotsman, and two lobsters attend a Victorian house party in a charming story of love and espionage. Gail introduces us to her main character this way: The assassin is Lady Preshea Villentia ("Preh-sha Vill-in-sha"), who has four dead husbands and a nasty reputation. Fortunately, she looks fabulous in black. What society doesn't know is that all her husbands were marked for death by Preshea's employer. And Preshea has one final assignment. In the book, Lady Violet says, "We do not suit. You have no genuine interest in botany!" Lady Violet practically yelled her final conclusion. This was the biggest sin of them all. 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 Happy National Garden Meditation Day! 1580 Thomas Tusser (English poet and farmer) died. In 1573, Thomas wrote his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, where he advised: In January, the housewife should be busy planting peas and beans and setting young rose roots. During March and April, she will work 'from morning to night, sowing and setting her garden or plot,' to produce the crops of parsnip, beans, and melons which will 'winnest the heart of a laboring man for her later in the year. Her strawberry plants will be obtained from the best roots which she has gathered from the woods, and these are to be set in a plot in the garden. Berries from these plants will be harvested later the same year, perhaps a useful back-up if the parsnips have failed to win the man of her dreams. 1941 During this week, Martha Crone, American botanist and horticulturist, wrote some entries in her Minneapolis diary that reflect the wild swings in temperatures that can be so frustrating to gardeners in the shoulder seasons. At the start of May: [The weather is] still very warm (81 hi 59 lo) and flowers coming out everywhere, everything at least 2 weeks in advance, like midsummer, many insects and flies out. Violets - never so beautiful - as well as Trillium and other flowers. On the 3rd of May: Bitter cold all day [49-41] stove going continuously... but no mosquitoes. On the 8th: Heat unbearable [88-60] On the 19th: Hottest so far... 1942 On this day, Charles Kikuchi wrote in his Japanese Tanforan Internment camp journal: These industrious Japanese! They just don't seem to know how to take it easy. They've worked so hard all their lives that they just can't stand idleness or waste . Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were mandated to relocate to one of the ten relocation camps in the "exclusion zone" of Oregon, California, western Washington, and southern Arizona by order of the president. Ken Helphand's fantastic 2006 book, Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime, tells the story of the gardens that were created in the camps. The gardens were part of the effort to make the camps more bearable. In addition to gardens, there were orchards, parks, baseball diamonds, playgrounds, and farms. In Defiant Gardens, Ken wrote, Entry gardens were part of the Japanese tradition of dooryard gardens, linking household to community, and functioning as entry and marker, displaying the craft and skill of the resident and embellishing both the barracks and the community space....Many persons inscribed their names in cement at the doorstep. Barracks gardens displayed great variety, using gathered cacti and rocks, transplanted plants, and plants propagated in the camp nursery. While people waited daily for the communally served meals, they enjoyed the elaborate displays of great artistry and effort that characterized the mess-hall gardens. Created with rocks and water as well as plants, these gardens were most closely identified with the Japanese American garden tradition. All these gardens brought beauty to the camps and reinforced the internees' sense of cultural identity… 1946 On this day, Frida Kahlo (books about this person) gave a painting called Weeping Coconuts to her friends Lina and Arcady Boitler as a wedding gift. Frida used two weeping coconuts to represent her pain and deteriorating health in the painting. Frida was mixing prescription painkillers and alcohol by this point in her life. The coconuts were one of fifty-five self-portraits. Her best-known self-portrait is 'Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.' Kahlo said, I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best. Four years later, Frida's pain became unmanageable. In 1953, her right foot - and later right leg - were amputated. Frida died shortly after her 47th birthday in the summer of 1954. Before she died, she wrote in her journal: I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return — Frida. Coconuts are an ancient plant that initially hailed from the South Pacific, and because of their buoyancy, coconuts can travel the world on the ocean's waves. Plant Explorers found the coconut growingng throughout the Pacific, the Indian Ocean regions, and Africa. Like mangoes, cashews, and cherries, the coconut is actually a drupe and not a nut. The drupe is an item that has a fleshy outer around a pit. Coconuts are anti-viral, fungal, bacterial, and anti-parasite. There are more than twenty billion coconuts produced each year. The coconut palm is actually the national tree of The Maldives. Before the dominance of soybean oil in the 1960s, Coconut oil was the world's leading vegetable oil. May 8th is National Coconut Creme Pie Day. Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year – 10 times the number of people killed by sharks. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Understanding Orchids by William Cullina This book came out in 2004, and the subtitle is An Uncomplicated Guide to Growing the World's Most Exotic Plants. Well, I myself have become an orchid lover and an orchid fan. They're my favorite plant to send to a family member for a birthday or an anniversary because they last so long, and now because orchids cost as much as the bouquet. I often opt to send an orchid instead of a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers. As a little bonus for me, some of my family members will actually bring me the orchid after it's bloomed. And then I get the honor of taking care of repotting it and getting it healthy and ready to go again so that it will bloom again - hopefully on their next birthday or anniversary. And so that's what I love to do - take care of orchids after they've bloomed. But you know, orchids are a little bit of a mystery to many, many gardeners. So if you haven't gone down the orchid path yet, but you're on the edge, and you want to become more skilled in the area of orchids will, then William Cullina's book is the perfect guide for you. William knows what it's like to be in your shoes. He writes at the end of his introduction, I still get that spine-tingling toe-tickling feeling of, wow that hooked me at the beginning. And if you're just starting out with orchids, you are in for quite an adventure. Learning to grow orchids and understand their idiosyncrasies is a true journey. The sheer number of orchid species estimates range between 25 and 40,000, including hybrids means that there will always be something new to learn something new to explore. And then he writes this incredible fact. You could start acquiring an orchid a day when you were 20 years old and still not have grown them all when you turned 80 and there is no other family of plants that offers such incredible diversity. Before I close out this review, I'll just say that the first part of William's book covers all the basics of orchids. Next, William gives an excellent overview of an area that people often struggle with: how to care for orchids. How do they like to be watered? What should you do about fertilization? How should you pot them? If you're going to Mount them? How does that happen? Then William talks about what to do if you have a pest or disease issue with your orchid. Then, if you are getting into next-level orchid growing, William will be your guy to introduce you to reproduction. He'll tell you how to hand-pollinate and propagate and hybridize orchids. And there will be no mystery to any of this. William is very clear through every page of his book. Finally, William wraps things up with a look at over a hundred of the most popular orchids to get you on your way and to get you thinking about what you want on your orchid wishlist. This book is 272 pages of orchids by an orchid lover - for orchid lovers - or for people thinking about becoming orchid lovers. You can get a copy of Understanding Orchids by William Cullina and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $20. Botanic Spark 1912 Birth of May Sarton (books by this author), Belgian-American writer and poet. In Nelson, New Hampshire, May's tiny home was her happy place. She had a garden that she loved and cared for many houseplants. She once wrote these relatable garden witticisms: I am not a greedy person except about flowers and plants, and then I become fanatically greedy. In her seventies, May reflected, A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself. Still, May could not help striving for the glory of success when it came to her garden. Living a mostly simple life, May's garden was the one place she dreamed big. What a relief it was to me when I read that Vita Sackville-West kept a pile of metal labels in a shack at Sissinghurst as proof of all the experiments that had failed! Finally, some of May's thoughts on gardening are prayerlike: Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers. and Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. 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 1772 Birth of Friedrich von Hardenberg (pen name Novalis ("NO-vol-liss")), the German romantic poet-philosopher. Friedrich's pen name, Novalis, was a nod to his 12th-century farming ancestors who called themselves the Novali, which translates to "people who cultivate new land," - and his first work under his pen name was Blüthenstaub (Pollen). In the book, Novalis advised his artistic friends to be prolific in their work, writing, Friends, the soil is poor, we must scatter seed abundantly for even a moderate harvest. Novalis is most remembered for his unfinished work Henry von Ofterdingen: A Romance. This work resulted in a nickname for Novalis as the poet of the blue flower. Henry von Ofterdingen was a fabled poet from the 13th century. In Novalis's story, his romantic yearning is symbolized by his love for a blue flower, which Novalis later revealed was inspired by a heliotrope. For centuries, Novalis has been seen primarily as a love-struck poet who mourned the death of his first love, Sophie, only to be reunited with her in heaven after he, too, succumbed to the white plague or tuberculosis. Today, blue flowers remain a symbol of desire and a striving for the unreachable. They also represent humanity's connection with nature - a rare and fragile relationship. Today, blue flowers remain among gardeners' most coveted color of blossoms - as in the Himalayan blue poppy, the delphinium, the cornflower, and the forget-me-not. In Henry von Offerdingen, Novalis wrote, I care not for wealth and riches. But that blue flower I do long to see; it haunts me and I can think and dream of nothing else... 1853 Frederick Arther Walton, English nurseryman, cactus collector, and jeweler. Born in Birmingham, Frederick owned one of the largest private cactus collections in England, and he started a cactus nursery called The Friary. He also created and edited The Cactus Journal - a monthly journal devoted exclusively to cacti and other succulent plants, which ran for 24 issues. Frederick also founded the first cactus society in England. In 1899, he traveled to America and Mexico to collect cactus, and he wrote, Possessing one of the largest collections in England, I decided to go to the native home of the cactus – California, Arizona, and Mexico. so on January 7th, 1899, I left Liverpool Fort New York; then I went to the great city of St Louis where there is a cactus a society and a very good collection of cacti in the Botanical Gardens. After spending a few pleasant days at St Louis I took the train to Kansas City… then through New Mexico and arrived at San Bernardino California where I met Andrew Halstead Alverson a very enthusiastic Cactus collector. He took me out into the desert, and for the first time in my life, I was in the midst of wild cacti. The trip was the adventure of a lifetime for Frederick. He battled snakes, scorpions, pumas, centipedes, and the harsh desert sun in an exploration of cactus country covering over 20,000 miles in the western hemisphere. In January 1900, for unknown reasons, Frederick's cactus journal and the cactus society abruptly ended. There was a mention in the final issues of The Cactus Journal that he was exploring the creation of a daffodil journal - but it was never printed. At the turn of the century, European gardeners outside of Germany had no real interest in cactus or succulents - that interest wouldn't be rekindled until the 1930s. And so, in 1905, Frederick's health was waning, and he sold his nursery. Frederick died in 1922. 1858 On this day, the poet, teacher, abolitionist, and writer Charlotte Forten started writing her poem called, To a Beloved Friend. Charlotte was friends with Sarah Cassey Smith and had lived with the Smith family while attending school. In 1856, Charlotte became Salem State's first African American graduate. Sarah and Charlotte shared a love for all flowers. The young women made and received May baskets in the springtime, and they both enjoyed spring nosegays or little bouquets. Once when Charlotte's teacher gave her a little bouquet, Charlotte wrote in her diary. Your voiceless lips, dear flowers, are living preachers. The day before this day, in 1858 (May 1st), Charlotte found herself homesick for Salem. She disliked the noisy city life in Philadelphia, and she also confronted more significant restrictions on her activities as an African American in the City of Brotherly Love. She had noted in her diary that she had been "refused at two ice cream salons." And so, when Sarah's bouquet arrived on May 1st, Charlotte quickly interpreted the meaning of each flower according to floriography or the language of flowers - a common way for people to communicate in the 1800s. Sarah's handpicked Mayflowers symbolized welcome. The little Violets represented constant friendship, and the delicate Columbine was a reference to separation. The message of friendship and love across the miles of separation was received loud and clear. From her diary, we know the bouquet lifted Charlotte's mood and inspired Charlotte's poem called To a Beloved Friend. 1923 On this day, Robert Frost's poem "Our Singing Strength" was first published in the New Republic. The poem begins, It snowed in spring on earth so dry and warm The flakes could find no landing place to form. Hordes spent themselves to make it wet and cold, And still they failed of any lasting hold. They made no white impression on the black. They disappeared as if earth sent them back. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Land Gardeners by Bridget Elworth and Henrietta Courtauld This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Cut Flowers. Let me begin by setting the table for you - because that's precisely the cover of this book. There's a table with a beautiful tablecloth and then a variety of porcelain vases on the table, all of different sizes and shapes. Behind that is a gallery of botanical art. Resting on the table are cut tulips, all kinds of tulips. And, then in two of the vases are different arrangements of these beautiful, fresh-picked tulips. It's just an absolutely stunning cover. The Land Gardeners is a five-star book on Amazon as well. Together, Bridget and Henrietta are English gardeners, and they established a firm that they call Land Gardeners. So, the book references their work - as well as their shared passion - which is, of course, flowers. In the real world, The Land Gardeners is a cut flower operation. The book, The Land Gardeners, provides everything you need to know to set up your own cut flower garden - and then everything that comes after, including gathering the flowers, even arranging. Vogue was a fan of this book, saying, A peak into their blossom-filled world. The book reads like a meander through their tumbling English gardens. The Sunday Times wrote, One of the Best Gardening Books of the Year. And The Oregonian said, Packed with ideas and inspiration, passion and beauty... This large-size, hardcover book is filled with stellar photographs that will also inspire you to display a vase filled with flowers you grew and arranged yourself. This book is a big one. It's almost five pounds, 391 pages of cut flowers from the garden to the vase. You can get a copy of The Land Gardeners by Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $23. Botanic Spark 1893 Birth of Norman Bor, Irish botanist and explorer. He was awarded the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society in 1962 and served as an Assistant Director of Kew. His wife, Eleanor, accompanied him to Assam and Tibet and then wrote a fabulous book about the adventure called The Adventures of a Botanist's Wife - a book I own multiple copies of - it's a favorite of mine. In 1952, a newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, featured Eleanor's book in an article called "On Top of the World." Here's an excerpt: Mrs. Bor had expected to share exciting plant discoveries and, at least, to give her name to a rare orchid. Instead, she found her husband was a specialist in grasses, and it was a new species of grass - extremely rare - but, to her, looking no more than a "mangy bit of fur" that finally bore her name. Once [ on a mountain] stepping from mist and snow, they saw below them... a blaze of rhododendrons and magnolias, and In their camp that night burned rhododendron logs. Their mountain trips were often dangerous... The Rupa bridge was especially terrifying, with only strands of cane for a foothold and tall hoops set a yard apart for the hands to grip. More menacing than cane bridges and cliff tracks were the insects. Wild animals were not alarming, but the hornets, centipedes, horse flies, dam dims, and above all, the leeches made camping in the jungle foothills a nightmare. One reviewer wrote: Here is a story told with the charm and simplicity of a life spent in the foothills of the Himalayas where Eleanor Bor and her botanist husband tramp through jungled terrain establishing friendly relations with hill tribes and villagers, discovering the enchantments of mysterious undergrowth and carrying with them the domestic problems of household pets and family happenings. Their years in the jungle...are those of a true traveler. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events St. Robert's Day Saint Robert of Molesme ("mo-LESS-mah") was an 11th-century herbalist, abbot, and founder of the Cistercian ("sis-TUR-shin") order - a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines. They are also known as Bernardines ("BUR-nah-deen"), after the highly influential Bernard of Clairvaux, or as White Monks - a reference to the color of the cowl worn over their habits as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines. They are commonly called Trappists. Many common wildflowers are named in honor of St. Robert. Some believe that Herb Robert, or Bird's Eye, the little Wild Geranium, was named in honor of St. Robert. Another theory is that Herb Robert is named for Robin Goodfellow, a pseudonym for the forest sprite known as Puck. 1852 On this day, Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher and poet, wrote in his journal: I went out into the garden to see what progress the spring was making. I strolled from the irises to the lilacs, round the flowerbeds, and in the shrubberies. Delightful surprise! At the corner of the walk, half-hidden under a thick clump of shrubs, a small-leaved corchorus had flowered during the night... the little shrub glittered before me... Mother of marvels, mysterious and tender Nature, why do we not live more in thee? 1869 Birth of Agnes Chase, American botanist. Agnes was an agrostologist—a studier of grass. She was a petite, fearless, indefatigable person and entirely self-taught as a botanist. Her first position was as an illustrator at the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C., working for the botanist Albert Spear Hitchcock. When Hitchcock applied for funding to go on expeditions, higher-ups approved the travel for Hitchcock, but not for Agnes - saying the job should belong to "real research men." Undeterred, Agnes raised her own funding to go on the expeditions. She cleverly partnered with missionaries in Latin America to arrange for accommodations with host families. She shrewdly observed, The missionaries travel everywhere, and like botanists do it on as little money as possible. They gave me information that saved me much time and trouble. During a climb of one of Brazil's highest mountains, Agnes reportedly returned to camp with a "skirt filled with plant specimens." One of her major works, the "First Book of Grasses," was translated into Spanish and Portuguese. It taught generations of Latin American botanists who recognized Agnes's contributions long before their American counterparts. When Hitchcock retired, Agnes was his backfill. When Agnes reached retirement age, she ignored the rite of passage altogether and refused to be put out to pasture. She kept going to work - six days a week - overseeing the largest collection of grasses in the world in her office under the red towers at her beloved Smithsonian Institution. When Agnes was 89, she became the eighth person to become an honorary fellow of the Smithsonian. A reporter covering the event said, Dr. Chase looked impatient as if she were muttering to herself, "This may be well and good, but it isn't getting any grass classified, sonny." While researching Agnes Chase, I came across this little article in The St. Louis Star and Times. Agnes gave one of her books on grass a biblical title, The Meek That Inherit the Earth. The story pointed out that, Mrs. Chase began her study of grass by reading about it in the Bible. In the very first chapter of Genesis, ...the first living thing the Creator made was grass. ... for grass is fundamental to life. [Agnes] said, "Grass is what holds the earth together. Grass made it possible for the human race to abandon... cave life and follow herds. Civilization was based on grass [and] this significance... still holds." 1954 Birth of Jerry Seinfeld, American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld, which he created and wrote with Larry David. He once joked, Why do people give each other flowers to celebrate various important occasions? They're killing living creatures? Why restrict it to plants? "Sweetheart, let's make up. Have this deceased squirrel." 2017 On this day in 2017, The New York Times tweeted that, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden cherry blossom festival is set for today and tomorrow, regardless of when nature [decided] to push play. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Language of Butterflies by Wendy Williams This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists, and Other Obsessives Unlocked the Secrets of the World's Favorite Insect. If you're a fan of blue morpho butterflies, you're going to love the cover of Wendy's book because it is covered with a kaleidoscope of blue morpho butterflies. So it's impossibly beautiful. And Wendy's book is a five-star book on Amazon. Now Wendy is an author who loves spending time outdoors. She loves skiing. She loves horseback riding. (In fact, her first bestselling book was called The Horse. And Wendy has traveled the world. She's spent a lot of time in Africa, Europe, and North American mountain chains and prairies. But when it comes to just regular daily life, Wendy lives in Cape Cod in Massachusetts with her husband and her Border Collie, Taff. Now I love the way that Wendy writes because she's very conversational. And I also like how she organized this book into three main sections: the past, the present, and the future. And then, to show you how friendly her writing is, her chapters have very intriguing titles. In the section on the past, there's The Gateway Drug, The Number One Butterfly, and then How Butterflies Saved Charles Darwin's Bacon. (Great chapter.) And then, in the present, chapters include A Parasol of Monarchs, The Honeymoon Hotel, and On The Rain Dance Ranch. Great story there. And then, in the future section, Wendy's chapters include The Social Butterfly, The Paroxysms of Ecstasy, and The Butterfly Highway. And Wendy is right; butterflies are the world's most beloved insects. They've been called flying flowers, and gardeners are passionate about butterflies. And many gardeners today are working to help save the Monarch from extinction. Now The Washington Post said this about Wendy's book, Williams takes us on a humorous and beautifully crafted journey that explores both the nature of these curious and highly intelligent insects. And the eccentric individuals who coveted them. And, of course, most of those folks were scientists and or botanists. So I love this book, and I love all of those stories. This book is 256 pages Of butterflies. It's eye-opening and tender. It's an incredibly profound look at butterflies - it's a butterfly biography. And it examines the vital role that butterflies play in our world. You can get a copy of The Language of Butterflies by Wendy Williams and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $2. Botanic Spark Here's an excerpt from Karel Ćapek's chapter on The Gardener's April from his book The Gardener's Year (1984).
Gardeners have certainly arisen by culture and not by natural selection. If they had developed naturally, they would look differently. They would have legs like beetles, so that they need not sit on their heels. And they would have wings - in the first place for their beauty and secondly, so that they might float over the beds. Those who have no experience can not imagine how one's legs are in the way when there's nothing to stand on. How stupidly long they are... Or how impossibly short they are if one has to reach to the other side of the bed without treading on a clump of pyrethrum (that's chrysanthemum) or on the shoots of Columbine. If only one could hang in a belt and swim over the beds. Or have at least four hands with only a head and a cap and nothing else. But because the gardener is outwardly constructed as imperfectly as other people, all he can do is to show us of what he is capable. To balance on tiptoe on one foot, to float in the air like a Russian dancer, to straddle four yards wide, to step as lightly as a butterfly or a wagtail, to reach everywhere and avoid everything, and still try to keep some sort of respectability so that people will not laugh at him. Of course, at a passing glance, from a distance, you don't see anything of the gardener but his romp. Everything else like the head, arms, and legs is hidden underneath. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Floralia April 28th marks the beginning of a six-day festival called Floralia in the Roman calendar. And it's held in honor of the goddess of flowering crops and plants, and she was known as Flora. Now the goal of this weeklong festival was a satisfying appeal to Flora for a great growing season, a bountiful harvest, safety for workers, and probably a solid grape harvest for good wine. 1834 Birth of Harry Bolus, South African botanist, artist, businessman, and philanthropist. If you've ever heard of the Bolus Herbarium in South Africa, it was named in honor of Harry. Harry founded the Herbarium, and he bequeathed his extensive library and part of his fortune to establish the South African College, now known as the University of Cape Town. Harry Bolus was not originally from South Africa. He was actually born in Nottingham, England. And the school that he attended, Castle Gate School, had a headmaster who corresponded with a plant collector named William Kensit. When Kensit required an assistant, Harry Bolus was the student who was selected for the job. Harry moved to South Africa and promptly fell in love with William's sister Sophia. The two were married, and they had three sons and a daughter. In 1864, when their oldest son died at six years old, a friend and fellow botanist named Francis Guthrie suggested that Harry take up botany to help heal his broken heart. Well, the rest, as they say, is history. Harry started his great botanical collection in 1865, and he soon struck up a correspondence with the most famous botanists of his day. And there's one other story about Harry Bolus that I thought you would enjoy. In 1876, Harry and Francis Guthrie traveled together to the world's Mecca for botany - Kew gardens in England - along with a large collection of plants. Even though their ship hit a reef on their return voyage and their collection was lost, Harry always referred to that trip as "Forty happy days." 1852 On this day, Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher and poet, wrote in his journal: Once more, I feel the spring languor creeping over me, the spring air about me. This morning the poetry of the scene, the song of the birds, the tranquil sunlight, the breeze blowing over the fresh green fields — all rose into and filled my heart. 1947 Birth of Bonnie Marranca, New York City-based critic, publisher, and writer. In her book, American Garden Writing (1988), Bonnie wrote, I judge a garden by the gardener who cares for it, the one who invests space with daydreams. How well I know the downward gaze into the face of the earth, the feeling of a luxurious body and good, dark soil that slips through the fingers in the rush to return to its dirty delirium. Each gardener creates an ideal world of miniature thoughts that drift languidly into each other like flowers on a dry afternoon. Hear silence has the rhythm of wishes. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Perfect Specimen by Durlynn Anema This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is The 20th Century Renowned Botanist: Ynes Mexia. This book is a wonderful biography of Ynes Mexia - the Mexican American botanist born in 1870 and who discovered the Sierra Club at age 50. And that led her to her life's calling and her legacy as a botanist. And so I love what Durlynn wrote and the dedication of this book because she wrote, This book is dedicated to those people who gained confidence in their abilities later in life. And that is certainly the case with Ynes Mexia. She loved her experience with the Sierra Club so much that she decided to enroll in botany classes at Berkeley. In fact, over a 16-year period, she just kept taking botany classes on and off; She never had the goal of graduating. She just wanted to keep learning - so that's quite a paradigm shift. And as the mom of four young adults who are either in college or about to go to college, I love that perspective of being a lifelong learner - which is undoubtedly something that Ynes achieved. Now, I don't want to give the impression that Ynes was all about coursework and classrooms because that's really only a very small portion of Ynes's story. She was actually very drawn to fieldwork. She took countless trips through the Southwestern part of the United States into New Mexico and even into South America. She was very drawn to unique plants. She loved sunflowers, and she was a voracious collector. Many scholars argue that Ynes was one of the most accomplished collectors of her time. On her very first collecting trip, she collected over 500 specimens, which is essentially the same amount Darwin collected on his first expedition on The Beagle. Over her lifetime, Ynes collected over 150,000 specimens -500 of which were brand new plant species that had never been identified before. Ynes's story sadly came to an end in 1938 due to lung cancer. She was actually in Mexico on a plant collecting trip when she just could not go on any longer. So she cut her trip short, returned to the United States, and then died at Berkeley that summer on June 12th. And aside from her staggering amount of work, Ynes left a legacy when part of her estate was donated to the Redwood Preserve in California (which I think of as kind of a full-circle moment - harkening back to her work with the Sierra Club.) And so, forty acres of the Mexia estate were donated to the preserve, and one of the very tallest trees was named in honor of Ynes - a woman who is definitely worthy of a biography. I also wanted to share just a bit of what Durlynn wrote in the author's note at the beginning of this book because I think it does a beautiful job of outlining the extraordinary nature of Ynes's story. Durlynn writes, Most successful people, no matter their endeavor or occupation, find inspiration through either a parent, an important or inspirational person or an event. This is not the case with Ynes Mexia. A shy, quiet girl. She seemed to fade into the background with both her parents. She led a lonely life, which ironically aided her in her later endeavors. Mexia's is a story of retreat into self in the early years, and then blossoming to reach her highest potential after 50 years old. It is also the story of a doctor, who during the infancy of psychiatry and psychology, mentored this woman to her potential and became the father figure she never had. Read Marvel. And enjoy. Ynes Mexia's story. It's a good one. This book is 174 pages about the life of the renowned botanist Ynes Mexia. You can get a copy of The Perfect Specimen by Durlynn Anema and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $14. Botanic Spark 1701 Birth of Madeleine Françoise Basseporte ("Mad-ah-lin Frahn-swahz Bass-ah-port"), French botanical artist, miniature painter, interior decorator, and teacher. Madeleine was a student of Claude Aubriet, the man honored with the naming of the Aubrieta ("Aubreesha") genus. The only reason Madeleine was able to study with Aubriet was that her talent was undeniable. Despite his lack of credentials, Claude himself had risen through the ranks to become the Royal Painter of France. In 1741, Madeleine succeeded Claude as the Official Painter of the Royal Garden - an unprecedented appointment as Madeleine became the first woman to hold the position. It was a role she would carry out for over four decades. Madeleine was 40 years old when she took on this assignment. She never married or had children. Instead, she dedicated herself to her work. At a minimum, she was required to produce twelve botanical paintings for the King every year. On top of that, King Louis XV also gave her the responsibility of teaching all the princesses how to draw and paint flowers. Madeleine also taught botanical art to many other artists and scientific illustrators throughout her career. She also became the godmother to several children from academic families she knew well. Madeleine also had the honor of working as an artist and designer for the King's official mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Pompadour was a major patron of creatives in architecture, porcelain, and decorative arts. Madeleine had an instant rapport with Pompadour. After Madeleine captured the beauty of the flowers around Madame Pompadour's chateau, Madame Pompadour insisted that the King give Madeleine a pay raise. And he did. Now it's important to know that as the first female Official painter of The Royal Garden, Madeleine did not work in a bubble. She exchanged letters with the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc and the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who appreciated her work so much that he wrote, "nature gives plants their existence, but Mademoiselle Basseporte preserves them for us forever." (Translation my own). Madeleine was also a contemporary of Carl Linneaus. On January 30, 1749, Bernard Jussieu wrote a letter to Linnaeus teasing that Madeleine was "very proud of the title you give her, of your second wife." Despite her work alongside the top scientific minds of her time, her beautiful, botanically accurate art, and her groundbreaking appointment, Madeleine (unlike her predecessor Claude Aubriete) was never honored with the naming of any flower. But that doesn't mean she wasn't deserving of it. Today scholars hold Madeleine's work in esteem as scientific art - designed to show the structure and physiology of her plant subjects. To me, Madeleine's art has a delicate, sensitive quality. Her expression of leaves, in particular, shows her depth of understanding regarding her plant subjects. In 2021, Nina Gelbart wrote a book called Minerva's French Sisters by @yalepress. The book explores the biographies of six forgotten female scientists from 18th century France - including Madeleine Françoise Basseporte. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens, Georgia Register Here Historical Events 1814 Birth of Charles MacKay, Scottish poet, writer, and songwriter. In The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay, Charles wrote a song about the Meadow Sweet: Rose! We love thee for thy splendor, Lily! For thy queenly grace! Violet! For thy lowly merit, Peeping from thy shady place! But mine airy, woodland fairy, Scattering odors at thy feet, No one knows thy modest beauty, No one loves thee, Meadow-Sweet! 1851 Birth of Alice Morse Earle (books by this author), American historian and author. Alice wrote two garden books: Old Time Gardens (1901) and Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday (1902). Alice wrote, Farm children have little love for nature and are surprisingly ignorant about wildflowers save a few varieties. The child who is garden bred has a happier start in life, a greater love and knowledge of nature. On the peony, Alice wrote: [She] always looks like a well-dressed, well-shod, well-gloved girl of birth, breeding, and of equal good taste and good health; a girl who can swim, and skate, and ride, and play golf. 1902 Birth of Thomas "Tommy" Dolliver Church (books by this author), California landscape architect. Tommy pioneered the modern California Style design style. In 1955, Tommy wrote, When your garden is finished I hope it will be more beautiful than you anticipated, require less care than you expected, and have cost only a little more than you had planned. Unlike people, gardens never strive for perpetual youth—they want to look old from the day they were born. Their greatest glory comes with maturity. 1904 Birth of Cecil Day-Lewis (books by this author), Irish-born British poet. He used the pen name Nicholas Black for his mystery stories. Cecil was the Poet Laureate for four years before his death in 1972. He was also the father of actor Sir Daniel Day-Lewis. In Cecil's Overtures to Death and Other Poems (1938), In June we picked the clover, And sea-shells in July: There was no silence at the door, No word from the sky. A hand came out of August And flicked his life away: We had not time to bargain, mope, Moralize, or pray. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Food Forest Handbook by Darrell Frey and Michelle Czolba This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Design and Manage a Home-Scale Perennial Polyculture Garden. Before I even get started with my review, I have to say that this book gets high praise on Amazon; it's a five-star book. The authors are passionate about growing food year-round - without fossil fuels - and increasing biodiversity on the land and wild market gardening. In the introduction to their book, Darryl and Michelle point out that the food forest is one of the oldest ways to garden. It's the edges of the forest that were the most fruitful places for both hunting and gathering. And today, food forests are making a comeback. Now you might be asking yourself, what is a food forest? Well, a food forest is simply a food-producing garden that's built around trees and perennials. I've been a passionate fan of orchards and mini orchards for the past couple of years. I'm installing one up at my cabin, planting even more trees this spring. Darryl and Michelle point out that, A well-managed food forest is an integrated system and it includes all kinds of plants, fruits, vegetables, herbs, medicinal plants, and plantings that promote beneficial insects and balanced nutrients. And in case you're starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Don't be. Because these food forests can be simple and include only a few species, or they can contain a myriad of plants. The bottom line here is that Darryl and Michelle will help you feel confident and inspired to create your own food forest, whether on a small or grand scale in your backyard, front yard, patio, or allotment. This book is 256 pages of planning, designing, and managing your very own food forest. You can get a copy of The Food Forest Handbook by Darrell Frey and Michelle Czolba and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $20. Botanic Spark 1920 Birth of Edwin George Morgan (books by this author), Scottish poet and translator associated with the Scottish Renaissance. He is remembered as one of the foremost Scottish poets of the 20th century. In 1999, Edwin became the first Glasgow Poet Laureate. In 1968, Edwin wrote, Yes, it is too cold in Scotland for flower people; in any case who would be handed a thistle? Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1684 Death of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Dutch ornate still-life painter. He is remembered as the most influential flower painter of his day. Jan's flowers were known for their vibrancy and realism. But gardeners would catch that Jan's bouquets were just a beautiful fantasy since the individual flowers bloom at different seasons of the year. 1785 Birth of John James Audubon, American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. He once wrote, A true conservationist…knows the world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children. The Ottowa Daily Republic published a charming story about his burial. John J. Audobon, the naturalist, and bird lover, is buried in Trinity, cemetery. There has been erected over his grave an Iona cross; the arms of which are connected by a circular band of stone, making apertures of the four corners at the intersection. In one of these, (apertures) robins built a nest last month. This fell under the eye of a caretaker, who got a pole and dislodged the nest. The birds flew about disconsolately for a time, then went away. So far as anyone knows, Audubon did not turn over in his grave, and neither did any of the carved birds on the [cross] cry out. 1798 Birth of Eugene Delacroix, French Romantic artist. He is remembered as the leader of the French Romantic school and one of the last great historical painters. Eugene received his artistic training in Paris. His striking piece called A Vase of Flowers (1833) shows a crystal vase filled mostly with dahlias. It is Eugene Delacroix's earliest-surviving flower painting. 1822 Birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. Regarded as the father of landscape architecture, Frederick is remembered for designing many popular urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Their first project was Central Park, followed quickly by Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. Frederick wrote, The root of all my good work is early respect for, regard, and enjoyment of scenery. Frederick's firm was passed onto his sons who expanded the business under the name Olmsted Brothers. Aside from his legacy as a landscape architect, Frederick dedicated his entire life to social reform. In many ways, his designs for public spaces played an important role in his social work. His vision for Central Park was an ordered oasis for all of the city's social classes, where everyone could come together and enjoy nature. It was Frederick Law Olmsted who said, The enjoyment of scenery employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it; tranquilizes it and yet enlivens it. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Crinum by Augustus Jenkins Farmer Augustus is better known as the plantsman Jenks Farmer. This book came out in 2021 - right at the very end of December - and the subtitle is Unearthing the History and the Cultivation of the World's Biggest Bulb. Well, Crinums are a passion for Jenks. What he's done in this book is he has collected every possible story and nugget of information about the Crinum species and hybrids that flourish in our gardens. Crinums are classic plants. They're also heirlooms and pass-down plants - and because of that sentimental quality, there are an endless number of stories about Crinums. Now I have to share what Jenks wrote about Crinums in the introduction to this book. He wrote, Plants that hunker down below ground reveal only a small part of themselves to people. Called geophytes or earth lovers, the below-ground bulbs are the heart of the being. Down there, a Medusa's tangle of bony, basel plates, armlong roots, and crisp bud tips explode from mother bulbs. Once you see the underground being, you understand why in some cultures Crinums represent connections to the underworld and the dead. You also understand why people carry them continent to continent and share them friend to friend. If you've ever had a sourdough starter or overplanted zucchini, then you understand the urge to share a passion, to give parts away. I'm compelled to give Crinums away. I give little bulbs to farm visitors, take them as house gifts, pass them on at conferences, offer them to strangers, or plant them guerrilla-style in parking lots. Based on my experience, growing and planting hundreds of thousands of Crinum, this book becomes comprehensive with the advice of generous Crinum professionals and enthusiasts. You'll fall for the hidden stories, the hidden plant parts in a few years you'll share too. Then you'll leave a happy trail of Crinum lilies marking your travels, telling your stories, and sharing your passion too. This book is 100 pages of a passion for Crinums by one of our modern plantsmen. You can get a copy of Crinum by Augustus Jenkins Farmer and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $25. Botanic Spark 1951 On this day, the American physicist Charles Townes sat on a park bench and came up with a theory that would lead to the development of the laser. He recalled, I woke up early in the morning and sat in the park. It was a beautiful day and the flowers were blooming. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Podchaser Leave a Review Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events Today is National Zucchini Bread Day. 1851 Birth of George Herbert Engleheart, English clergyman and daffodil breeder. In 1889, George began breeding daffodils - some 700 varieties in his lifetime. Fans of Beersheba, Lucifer, or White Ladyowe a debt of gratitude to Reverend Engleheart. George spent every spare minute breeding, and his parishioners would often find a note tacked to the church door saying, No service today, working with daffodils. 1852 Birth of Marcus Jones, American geologist, mining engineer, and botanist. Marcus's mother loved plants, and every day, she sent Marcus to gather fresh flowers, which she displayed on the family's mantle. This daily chore was the beginning of his passion for botany. Marcus won national recognition for his work as a prominent botanist of the American West, and in 1923, he sold his personal herbarium for $25,000 - an impressive amount at the time. To this day, his collection represents the largest archive of plants from Utah. Marcus died in 1934 in San Bernardino, California. At the age of 81, he returned from a plant collecting trip at Lake Arrowhead when another driver hit his car. As seatbelts wouldn't be invented for another 25 years, Jones was ejected from his vehicle and died from a skull fracture. Jones columbine, Aquilegia jonesii (ii = "ee-eye") is named for him. It is rare and, like most columbines, does not transplant well. Jonesii plants and seeds are sold by select nurseries. 1925 Birth of Joseph Henry Maiden, English-Australian botanist. Born in London, Joseph immigrated to New South Wales, Australia, hoping that the climate would improve his health. Joseph quickly landed a job as a museum curator in Sydney, and he also married a local woman named Eliza Jane Hammond. During his time in Australia, Joseph contributed to understanding Australian flora, especially the Eucalyptus genus. After thoroughly studying Australian woods and essential oils, Joseph wrote his book called The Useful Native Plants of Australia. In 1896, Joseph was appointed the Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens. In total, Joseph served as a botanist in Australia for 43 years. As for his Australian legacy, Joseph is remembered every September 1st, the first day of spring down under. It's also known as Wattle Day or Acacia Day. In Australia, the Wattle is a common name for Acacia. Recognizing their beauty and value, Joseph established the Wattle Day League, which fought to make the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha "ah-KAY-see-ah pik-NANTH-ah") Australia's national floral emblem, and he also worked to establish Wattle Day. Since the inception of Wattle Day in 1909, Australians have worn a Wattle blossom, which looks like a little yellow pompom, in honor of the day. The Wattle blossom is also a favorite with pollinators. As plants, Wattles are tough evergreen shrubs and trees that can withstand Australia's droughts, winds, and bushfires. There are 760 Wattle species native to Australia's forest understory, woodlands, and open scrub. The common name Wattle refers to an old germanic term for weaving and the English craft of building with interwoven flexible twigs and branches. As the English settled in Australia, they often harvested Wattle (Acacia) and used it in their building construction. And here's a fun fact about Wattles (Acacia): Giraffes love to eat them. 1873 Birth of Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best remembered for his works for children. In his poem, Peacock Pie, Walter wrote: A poor old Widow in her weeds Sowed her garden with wild-flower seeds; Not too shallow, and not too deep, And down came April -- drip -- drip -- drip. Up shone May, like gold, and soon Green as an arbour grew leafy June. Weeps she never, but sometimes sighs, And peeps at her garden with bright brown eyes; And all she has is all she needs -- A poor Old Widow in her weeds. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Essential Garden Design Workbook by Rosemary Alexander and Rachel Myers This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Completely Revised and Expanded. Well, the original version of this book was a best-selling classic. This is the upgraded book that came out five years ago. In this book, the eminent designer and educator Rosemary Alexander teamed up with rising design star Rachel Myers. And what these two women did is they share new garden plans, a ton of new photos and diagrams, and updated profiles of their 50 top plants that they think are timeless and that should be used by today's designers. So there are all kinds of fantastic, modern tips and advice in this book. This is also an excellent book for designers and gardeners interested in incorporating sustainability or plant diversity into their plans. Rosemary and Rachel show how to integrate computer-aided design into the garden design process. And this book is perfect for folks wanting to start a garden design business. Now, of course, nowadays, you don't have to be an artist to be a landscape designer or to convey what you want to do with a particular garden or a job site. But you do need to know how to do the basics. You have to be able to survey a site and draw a plan to scale or use the right software to do that. Then if you're making a more significant presentation, maybe to a company or to an Arboretum, you'll need to include specific details, visuals, and even a mood board. And of course, costing if you want to land their proposal. And so this book gives you everything from soup to nuts on garden design. As Rosemary says, she believes that garden design is one of the most satisfying and rewarding professions - and I have many friends who would agree with her. Now when Gardens Illustrated reviewed this book, they said, The attention to detail at every stage is fantastic. Even if you don't want to be a designer, this book is worth having. This book is a big one. It's 392 pages of garden design - for students, professionals, and anyone looking to create a well-designed outdoor space. You can truly learn from the experts, and they will share it in detail in this book. You can get a copy of The Essential Garden Design Workbook by Rosemary Alexander and Rachel Myers and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $16. Botanic Spark 1912 Birth of Julia Francis McHugh Morton, American author and botanist. A Fellow of the Linnean Society, Julia Morton was a famous expert and lecturer on plants. She was revered especially for her knowledge of plant medicine and toxicity. Known as the poison-plant lady, Julia worked to educate the public through letters and phone calls, lectures, and articles - even creating posters designed for hospital emergency rooms. Among the many ER calls Julia received was one from a doctor in Scotland. When a patient fresh from a Jamaican holiday was gravely ill, Julia deduced that a toxic castor bean from a souvenir necklace had been ingested. Over the years, Julia was the subject of many newspaper articles. Clever headlines showcased Julia's expertise, "She gets to the root of problems" and "She leaves no leaf unturned." In 1988, The Miami News published an article about Julia's help with a murder case of a teenage girl. The girl's car was found in the Dadeland Mall parking lot. The police brought Julia a half-inch blade of grass that was found stuck to the door handle of the car and some pieces of leaves that were wedged inside the door. Julia identified the grass as Giant Burma Reed and the leaves as undeveloped leaflets of Spanish Needles. She concluded that a short distance from the Dadeland Mall (perhaps near a nursery in a tall patch of Burma Reed), police might find the girl's body. Julia also predicted there were two killers. She correctly assumed that one had wet hands and had left Burma Reed on the driver's door, while the other had closed the passenger door so quickly it clipped the Spanish Needles. The following day, police officers found an area that matched Morton's description and solved their case. Like Marcus Jones, Julia Morton died in a car accident in 1996. She was 84. It was Julia Morton who said, Plants are always up to something. So I don't take a vacation. I operate on solar energy. I can only stay indoors a certain length of time. 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 Happy Earth Day - a celebration that started in 1970. 1812 On this day, Mary Russell Mitford (books by this person), the English writer and poet, wrote to Sir William Elford, an English banker, politician, and amateur artist. In her letter, Mary wrote, I place flowers in the very first rank of simple pleasures, and I have no very good opinion of the hard worldly people who take no delight in them. 1832 Birth of Julius Sterling Morton (books about this person), American newspaper editor, Secretary of Agriculture, and father of Arbor Day. In 1867, after moving west from Detroit, J. Sterling and his wife Caroline were shocked by Nebraska's treeless landscape. Together, they conceived of a day to promote tree planting. The original proposal to the agricultural board of Nebraska was for a "Sylvan Day" - to promote forest trees. In Latin, "sylva" means "wood" or "forest." And Sylvanus was the Roman god of woods and fields. But, J. Sterling decided that a broader celebration of all trees was in order, and he proposed "Arbor Day." The first Arbor Day on April 10, 1872, was an overwhelming success - with over a million trees planted in frontier Nebraska. Arbor Day quickly became a national holiday - celebrated on April 22 to honor J. Sterling Morton's birthday. Nowadays, Arbor Day is generally celebrated on the last Friday in April in the United States. Arbor Day 2022 will occur on Friday, April 29th. Despite his many professional and honorable appointments at the state and federal levels, J. Sterling considered Arbor Day the ultimate accomplishment of his life. In 1923, the beautiful Morton family home, known as Arbor Lodge, and the surrounding property were gifted to Nebraska. Today Arbor Lodge is a historic state park. It was J. Sterling Morton who said, Other holidays repose upon the past; Arbor Day proposes for the future. 1839 Birth of August Wilhelm Eichler, German botanist. Wilhelm developed one of the first widely used natural plant classification systems to reflect evolution. In addition, he divided the plant kingdom into non-floral plants and floral plants. Wilhelm worked tirelessly as a private assistant to the naturalist Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martinus. When Karl died, Wilhelm continued working on Karl's Flora Brasiliensis. It was a labor of love, but it was still unfinished. And after Wilhelm died, botanist Ignatius Urban continued with the project until its completion. Today, Wilhelm Eichler Strasse (Street) in Dresden is named in Wilhelm's honor. It was Wilhelm Eichler who said, The felling of the first tree is the beginning of human civilization. The felling of the last is his end. 1946 Birth of Midas Dekkers (books by this author), Dutch biologist, and writer. A beloved children's book author, Midas has written over fifty children's and young adult books. In his book about "the way things fall apart -- about the inevitable ruin of everything from bodies and works of art to ideals and whole societies," called The Way of All Flesh: The Romance of Ruins, Midas wrote, It's a sign of wisdom that seeds don't squander their energy all at once, instead calmly waiting until the time is right. Seeds aren't stupid. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The First Mess Cookbook by Laura Wright This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Vibrant, Plant-based Recipes to Eat Well Through the Seasons. To review the book today, I had to run over into my kitchen about 15 steps away and grab my dog-eared copy of The First Mess. I love this cookbook. If you're looking to totally revamp the way you cook, if you want to make plants the star of most of the dishes you're making- especially in the summertime- you need to get a copy of Laura Wright's The First Mess Cookbook. It's a beautiful, beautiful book. It actually looks more like a book than it does a cookbook, which appeals to me. It's so pretty that I can have it out and on display in my kitchen. Before I get into the cookbook, I wanted to share a little story with you that Laura wrote in the introduction. Raspberry picking throughout the humid Ontario summers was my first job as a youth and I suppose this is where the inspiration for my blog, The First Mess, began. I would put on my rubber boots, grab a basket, and head toward the back of my parents' two-acre property in the country at the end of the line where rows of raspberry bushes, heaving with fruit under the steamy July sun. One Berry in the basket, one in my mouth. My brother and I would get $2 for every pint we could scrounge up. And Dad would sell them at his farm market store the next day. I don't think I ever made it to more than $10 a pick. I was too busy, eating those warm berries that tasted of jam, nectar, and light. That all- sensory field experience is my first clear memory of connecting to food beyond the notion of hunger being satisfied. Isn't that a sweet story? Laura's cookbook is organized by meal: mornings and breakfast, soups and stews, salads and dressings, hearty mains and big plates, vegetables and a couple of grains, energizing drinks and small bites, and then finally desserts and small treats. Laura also features a really helpful guide to stocking your pantry for success. This is the time of year most of us are doing some spring cleaning. If your pantry is something that you're struggling with, if it's gotten a little crowded over the last two years during the pandemic, or if it's just no longer serving you, take a look at what Laura puts in the front of her cookbook because it's one of my go-to guides. I refer people to this for stocking your pantry for success. Here are some of my personal favorites from Laura's recipes: Cookies for Breakfast Vanilla Coconut Coffee Creamer Eggplant Bacon Small Batch Roasted Soup Cider and the Sunflower Dressing Corn Salad Sesame Cucumber Noodles Warm Balsamic Mushroom Salad with Pine Nuts Cauliflower with Spices (with Walnut Sauce) Mustard Roasted Broccoli Pata Anyway, I could go on and on. I still endorse this fabulous cookbook from Laura Wright. It gets five stars on Amazon. It also earned high praise from one of my favorite authors, Deborah Madison, and rightly so. This book is 296 pages of plant-based recipes that you can use for vegetable cooking ideas, seasonal cooking, and even whole food diets. So this should be on your list for 2022 and beyond. You can get a copy of The First Mess Cookbook by Laura Wright and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $7. Botanic Spark 1943 Birth of Louise Elisabeth Glück (books by this author), American poet and essayist. Louise won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. Her other awards include the National Humanities Medal, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Bollingen Prize. From 2003 to 2004, she was Poet Laureate of the United States. Louise is known for using her own experiences and nature as inspiration for her work. Her poems are emotive, frank, and very human. Louise once wrote, My childhood, closed to me forever, turned gold like an autumn garden. In her poem "Witchgrass, Louise wrote, I don't need your praise to survive. I was here first, before you were here, before you ever planted a garden. And here's an excerpt of Louise's poem Snowdrops. Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know what despair is; then winter should have meaning for you. I did not expect to survive, earth suppressing me. I didn't expect to waken again, ...to open again in the cold light of earliest spring-- Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1619 Birth of Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. In 1660, Jan planted a hedge, now known as Van Riebeeck's Hedge, to mark the border of the Dutch East India Company settlement in Cape Town, South Africa. The hedge was made up of native wild almond trees (Brabejum stellatifolium). Today, parts of the hedge still live in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and Bishopscourt. The Van Riebeeck Hedge is not considered a National Monument in South Africa. 1752 Birth of Humphry Repton (no 'e' in Humphry!), English landscape designer. Humphry was trained and molded by the great Capability Brown. Yet as he matured, Humphry began to forge his own path in his approach to design and led a transformation of English gardens that was all his own. He designed over 400 gardens, and his picturesque landscapes are known for their gently rolling vistas, attractive clumps of trees, terraces, and homes nestled in amongst shrubs and foliage. Humphry wanted landscapes to bring out "the natural beauty" and minimize "the natural defects." Like many successful modern landscape designers, Humphry put a great deal of energy into planning his designs. He painstakingly created these gorgeous red leather portfolios for his clients. His red books, as he called them, showcased his design ideas. Humphry's clients could see his pastoral watercolors depicting the current state of their property. Then they would lift a flap of paper and see what their property would look like after Humphry improved it. It was a kind of popup book for their property. Today Humphry's red books are regarded as impressive works of art - and many have been preserved in public and private collections. Humphry Repton coined the term landscape gardener. He had the term carved into his pinebark business cards. In 1818, Humphry died, and per his request, he was buried in a rose garden. Humphry used these words for his epitaph: Unmixed with others shall my dust remain; But moldering, blended, melting into earth, Mine shall give form and color to the rose. And while its vivid blossoms cheer mankind, Its perfumed odor shall ascend to Heaven. 1816 Birth of Charlotte Brontë, English novelist, and poet. Charlotte was the oldest of the three Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë) who survived into adulthood. Their novels became classics of English literature. The sisters published their first collaborative work called Poems under the pseudonym of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. They wanted to hide their gender to help sales, so the sisters kept the first letter of their first names: Charlotte was Currer, Emily was Ellis, and Anne was Acton. Still, only two copies of Poems were sold. Emma Emmerson wrote a piece called The Brontë Garden. In it, she revealed: The Brontës were not ardent gardeners, although… Emily and Anne treasured their currant bushes as 'their own bit of fruit garden'. While they may not have been avid gardeners, they knew enough about growing flowers for Charlotte to write: Emily wishes to know if the Sicilian Pea (Pisum sativum)and the Crimson cornflower are hardy flowers, or if they are delicate and should be sown in warm and sheltered situations. In her writing, Charlotte could be a little glum about flowers. In Villette (1853), Charlotte wrote, I like to see flowers growing, but when they are gathered, they cease to please. I look on them as things rootless and perishable; their likeness to life makes me sad. I never offer flowers to those I love; I never wish to receive them from hands dear to me. In The Professor (1857), Charlotte wrote, In sunshine, in prosperity, the flowers are very well; but how many wet days are there in life—November seasons of disaster, when a man's hearth and home would be cold indeed, without the clear, cheering gleam of intellect. 1838 Birth of John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist, conservationist, and author. John Muir was known by many names: "John of the Mountains," "Father of Yosemite," and "Father of the National Parks." John's work to preserve Yosemite resulted in a famous picture of himself posing with President Teddy Roosevelt on Overhanging Rock at the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite in 1903. There's a fun little story about John and Charles Sprague Sargent, the director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard, that was featured in a 1915 article. The two men had gone on a fall trip to hike the mountains in North Carolina. John found the scenery so inspiring that when they got to the top of Grandfather Mountain, he began to sing and dance and jump around, while Charles just stood there. This must have been a common trait among the botanists and academics John knew because he once wrote, In drying plants, botanists often dry themselves. Dry words and dry facts will not fire hearts. John is remembered with these words. The mountains are calling, and I must go. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world. Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Royal Gardens of the World by Mark Lane This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is 21 Celebrated Gardens from the Alhambra to Highgrove and Beyond, and the illustrated cover is spectacular. This book is a celebration of Royal Gardens, and Mark does a brilliant job of sharing the history, the plantings, and the evolution of each garden. And in addition to all of that, he highlights some of the key plant or signature plants of these spaces and then shares all the behind-the-scenes details about how these gardens were designed and laid out. Now the gardens that are profiled are located primarily in Europe and Asia. But as Mark points out in his introduction, Many more Royal Gardens are waiting to be visited and researched, and each tells its own story. Mark says, I am simply the interpreter and the messenger. Sometimes the story focuses on restoration, others follow the lives of the main protagonists and other still simply chart the course of history. It's also worth noting that history is not isolated. These gardens are a response to events occurring throughout Europe, Russia, the Far East, and elsewhere And Marriages between members of Royal households in turn introduced different ideas and creative passions which were reflected in their gardens. Now, as you can imagine, entire books have been written about each of these gardens individually, but Mark's intention here is to celebrate the art of gardening through some of the finest garden jewels that have ever been created. This book is 240 pages of a five-star book on Amazon about Royal Gardens, their history, their fantastic designs, and their signature plants. You can get a copy of Royal Gardens of the World by Mark Lane and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $25. Botanic Spark Today, April 21, is the National Day of Sa'di ("SAH-dee"), the Master of Persian prose and poetry who was born in 1210. Sa'di lived in Shiraz ("SHE-raz"). In his lifetime, and through the 19th century, Shiraz was a center for growing grapes and great wines. (Shiraz wine is from Shiraz.) Shiraz was also a center for learning, literature, gardens, and poetry. The poet, Hafez, was also from Shiraz. Now, although he was born and raised in Shiraz, Sa'di spent much of his life traveling. And over three decades, he met and interacted with people from different places, with different customs, traditions, and languages. And his constant traveling led Sa'di to a place of acceptance and love for all humanity. Sa'di once wrote these poignant words of understanding: Sa'di once wrote these poignant words of understanding, I bemoaned the fact I had no shoes Until I saw the man who had no feet. And there was a common Persian saying that goes, Each word of Sa'di has 72 meanings. Today, Persian scholars believe that Sa'di is Shakespeare-like in terms of his understanding of the human condition, and in various literary ways, he shared his insights. Now you might be surprised to learn that Ralph Waldo Emerson was a Sa'di fan. Emerson felt that study's work was biblical in terms of the wisdom that he was trying to impart. In fact, Emerson wrote about Sa'di, and one of his verses went like this. The forest waves, the morning breaks, The pastures sleep, ripple the lakes, Leaves twinkle, flowers like persons be, And life pulsates in rock or tree. Saadi! so far thy words shall reach; Suns rise and set in Saadi's speech. In terms of a legacy, Sa'di's best-known works are Bustan ("Boo-ston") (The Orchard) and Gulistan ("Goo-luh-ston") (The Rose Garden). Now there's a very old copy of the Gulistan that features a beautiful painting of Sa'di in a rose garden, and I shared it inthe Facebook Group for the show. Now I wanted to end the show today with a little something from The Rose Garden or The Gulistan because, in that book, Sa'di is led to a garden by a friend on this day, April 21st, back in 1258. And that's why today is National Sa'di Day. It's the day he was brought to a garden. And so there is a verse that is a favorite among gardeners from The Gulistan or The Rose Garden, and it goes like this. If... thou art bereft, And ...Two loaves alone to thee are left, Sell one, and with the dole Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
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