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
Today we celebrate a German botanist, an American botanist, an explorer, and an English poet and novelist. We hear an excerpt about the change in seasons. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that challenges us to see trees in a new way - with profound understanding, respect, and intelligence. And then we'll wrap things up with the birthday of a beloved American poet and his humorous poem about gardening. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News History of Sydney's Spring Walk| The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney | Miguel Garcia Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events September 20, 1552 Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau, German botanist, polyglot, and physician. He translated Greek and Arabic medical references along with other European texts and created a master medical reference. The book helped educate people about the plaque and earned Lorenz a coat of arms and title. In an age when people were afraid of nightshade plants, Lorenz grew potatoes. His large seven-acre garden was divided into four main quadrants connected by paths. In the middle of the garden, a large dining hall and art gallery entertained guests. September 20, 1872 Birth of Mary Sophie Young, American botanist, and explorer. Born in Glendale, Ohio, she had seven older brothers who she credited for her toughness. After getting her Ph.D., she was put in charge of the Austin herbarium for Texas. She concealed her gender by signing correspondence "M.S. Young." During her career, she fell in love with botanizing in West Texas, and her work helped create a flora of Texas. On a 1914 trip, she wrote in her journal: It's about five o'clock now. The 'lonely' time is beginning. The air is very transparent and very still, and everything glistens. There is something of that uncanny feeling of the consciousness of inanimate things. September 20, 1902 Birth of Florence Margaret Smith (pen name Stevie Smith), English poet and novelist. She was awarded the Cholmondeley Award for Poets and won the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry. A play Stevie by Hugh Whitemore, based on her life, was adapted into a film starring Glenda Jackson. She wrote, Nothing is more wistful than the scent of lilac, nor more robust than its woody stalk, for we must remember that it is a tree as well as a flower; we must try not to forget this. Unearthed Words July let me go with the sea She stood there handing me over to the future I seemed farther than ever before July she watched me die under the arms of August September lived in harmony She took me by the hand And gave me one more chance October and a century of life." ― Patricia Rezai, Submerged in a Garden of Lust Grow That Garden Library To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest. A Canadian botanist, biochemist, and visionary, Diana won the 2019 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award for this book, which shares her family's Celtic ancestry along with a deeper perspective on trees and their communities - what we call forests. Diana shares why trees matter, the role they play in solving our climate change crisis, and a path toward a greater appreciation for these quiet giants of our planet. This book is 304 pages of a tree celebration and cautionary plea to recognize and safeguard their value to us all. You can get a copy of To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $16. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart September 20, 1881 Birth of Edgar Albert Guest, British-American writer, columnist, and poet. Thanks to his happy, hopeful poetry, he was beloved and became known as the "People's Poet" during the first half of the 20th century. Here's an excerpt from his poem called To Plant a Garden: If your purse no longer bulges and you've lost your golden treasure, If at times you think you're lonely and have hungry grown for pleasure, Don't sit by your hearth and grumble, don't let mind and spirit harden. If it's thrills of joy you wish for get to work and plant a garden! If it's drama that you sigh for, plant a garden and you'll get it You will know the thrill of battle fighting foes that will beset it If you long for entertainment and for pageantry most glowing, Plant a garden and this summer spend your time with green things growing. If it's comradeship you sight for, learn the fellowship of daisies. You will come to know your neighbor by the blossoms that he raises; If you'd get away from boredom and find new delights to look for, Learn the joy of budding pansies which you've kept a special nook for. If you ever think of dying and you fear to wake tomorrow Plant a garden! It will cure you of your melancholy sorrow Once you've learned to know peonies, petunias, and roses, You will find every morning some new happiness discloses. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a Swedish botanist and professor, a Scottish minister, and naturalist, and a British botanist. We hear an excerpt about September's changing colors. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about the language of plants - what they are saying to us if we only knew how to listen. And then we'll wrap things up with an American writer and her description of the end of summer. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News E Is For Evergreen | Boyles & Wyer | John Wyer Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events September 17, 1702 Death of Olaus Rudbeck, Swedish botanist. Four months before he died, a fire destroyed much of Upsala. At 72, he helped lead the effort to save the building where he taught even after learning that the fire had destroyed his home along with his personal collections and writings. Thanks to Olaus, the university library was saved. After the fire, he drew up plans to rebuild the city. (The plans were carried out without him.) Twenty-nine years after his death, Carl Linnaeus named the Rudbeckia, or Black-Eyed Susan, after him. Linnaeus wrote, So long as the earth shall survive and as each spring shall see it covered with flowers, the Rudbeckia will preserve your glorious name. September 17, 1833 Birth of Hugh Macmillan, Scottish minister, and naturalist. In The Ministry of Nature, (1871), he wrote, Nature looks dead in winter because her life is gathered into her heart. She withers the plant down to the root [so] that she may grow it up again, fairer and stronger. She calls her family together within her inmost home to prepare them for being scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. September 17, 1910 Birth of Patrick Millington Synge, British botanist, writer, and plant hunter. He served as chief editor for the Royal Horticultural Society. In 1934, he joined the British Museums expedition to the Ruwenzori range in Kenya and Uganda, which inspired his book The Mountains of the Moon - a nod to Herodotus's name for the area. The equatorial mountain lakes were home to six-foot-tall impatiens, 30-foot-tall lobelia, and thick, tree-like heather. The experience was otherworldly and his writing is romantic and lyrical. He wrote, Slowly we glide out through a long lane of water cut through the papyrus thicket into Lake Kyoga, where blue water lilies cover the surface with a far-stretching shimmer of blue and green... Vita Sackville-West loved his book, writing, Readers of Mr. Patrick Synge's enthralling book... will remember his photographs of this alarming plant (groundsel). Patrick is remembered in the daffodil Narcissus hispanicus ex 'Patrick Synge' and in the exotic-flowering favorite Abutilon 'Patrick Synge'. Unearthed Words And finally, it seemed autumn had realized it was September. The last lingering days of summer had been pushed off stage and in the hidden garden long shadows stretched towards winter. The ground was littered with spent leaves, orange, and pale green, and chestnuts on spiky coats sat proudly on the fingertips of cold branches." ― Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden Grow That Garden Library Thus Spoke the Plant by Monica Gagliano This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is A Remarkable Journey of Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries and Personal Encounters with Plants. In this book, research scientist Monica Gagliano explores plant communication - a subject that influenced her research and ultimately changed her life. Monica has studied plant communication and cognition for a good amount of her academic career. She shares firsthand accounts from people all over the world and then shares the scientific revelations. This book is 176 pages of plant stories - strange, beautiful, and unforgettable. You can get a copy of Thus Spoke the Plant by Monica Gagliano and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $20 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart September 17, 1907 Birth of Elizabeth Enright, American writer, illustrator, and creative writing teacher. She won the Newbery Medal for Thimble Summer (1938). In book three of her popular Melendy family series called Then There Were Five (1944), she wrote, The mullein had finished blooming and stood up out of the pastures like dusty candelabra. The flowers of Queen Anne's lace had curled up into birds' nests, and the bee balm was covered with little crown-shaped pods. In another month -- no, two, maybe -- would come the season of the skeletons, when all that was left of the weeds was their brittle architecture. But the time was not yet. The air was warm and bright, the grass was green, and the leaves and the lazy monarch butterflies were everywhere. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a German naturalist and two American female landscape architects. We hear an excerpt about September from a modern Southern writer whose stories are set in the North Carolina/Tennessee mountains. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about Walled Gardens. And then we'll wrap things up with the birthday of an American plantsman and ecologist. His work continues to inspire the botanists who follow in his footsteps. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Plan for Growth and Happiness | SAFnow.org | Molly Olson Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events September 16, 1651 Birth of Engelbert Kaempfer, German naturalist, physician, explorer, and writer. He is remembered for his ten-year exploration through Russia, Persia, India, and Asia between 1683 and 1693. He was the first European to bring botanical specimens back from Japan. His book, Amoenitatum Exoticarum (1712), was an invaluable medical resource and offered the first flora of Japan, featuring nearly 500 plants from the island. He was the first Western botanist to describe the Ginkgo. September 16, 1876 Birth of Marian Cruger Coffin, American landscape architect. She was one of two women in her 1904 landscape architecture class at MIT. Since most architecture firms didn't hire women, Marian started her own practice in New York City and became one of America's first working female landscape architects. She started out with small projects in the suburbs of Rhode Island and ended up as the most in-demand landscape architect for the East Coast elite. Her client list included the Fricks, the Vanderbilts, Marjorie Merriweather Post, the Huttons, and the du Ponts. Her legacy includes many of her Delaware commissions: Gibraltar (Wilmington, Delaware), the University of Delaware campus, Mt. Cuba, and Winterthur. In 1995, author Nancy Fleming expanded her Radcliffe thesis and wrote Money, Manure & Maintenance - a book about Marian Coffin's gardens. The title was a reference to the three ingredients Marion thought necessary for a successful garden. Marion once observed, The shears in the hands of the average jobbing gardener are, indeed, a dangerous implement. As much devastation can be done in a few moments as it will take an equal number of years to repair. This I have observed to my sorrow... September 16, 1887 Birth of Annette Hoyt Flanders, American landscape architect, and writer. A daughter of Milwaukee, she worked on all types of gardens in the Midwest and out East. For her design of the French Gardens at the McCann Estate, she received the Architectural League of New York's Medal of Honor in Landscape Architecture (1932). In a 1942 article in The Record (New Jersey), she advised, Hold on to every bit of beauty you've got. Don't tear up your gardens. We're going to need gardens more than ever, and what's more, we can't afford to create an economic crisis by throwing out of work hundreds of people who are dependent for their livelihood on things we need for our gardens. She once said, Real beauty is not a matter of size — a tiny, inexpensive garden can be just as beautiful as a big one. Unearthed Words There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that it is all about to end as if summer was holding its breath, and when it let it out again, it would be autumn. ― Sharyn McCrumb, King's Mountain Grow That Garden Library Walled Gardens by Jules Hudson This book came out in 2018, and it is from the National Trust. In this book, Jules Hudson of the BBC shares some of the most spectacular walled gardens throughout England and Wales. In centuries gone by, these gardens were vital to sustaining family life - not only for food - but also for medicine and beauty. In the late 18th century, these gardens became synonymous with wealth as the elite sought to grow exotic fruits right in their own backyard. Over time, these kitchen gardens were enhanced with glasshouses and heated walls. The level of creativity, commitment, and charm reflected in these gardens are evident still today. This book is 240 pages of walled kitchen gardens in all their glory. You can get a copy of Walled Gardens by Jules Hudson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $12 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart September 16, 1874 Birth of Frederic Edward Clements, American plant ecologist. In 1916, he introduced the concept of a biome to the field of ecology. He also helped pioneer the study of vegetation succession. He believed his botanist wife, Edith, would have been a world-renown ecologist if she hadn't devoted so much time to help him. Together the "Doctors Clements" traveled across America researching and teaching the next generation of ecologists. For fieldwork, Frederic devised a technique known as the quadrat method: pound four stakes into the ground, wrap a string around the stakes, and tally the number and kinds of plants in the square. MIT's John Vucetich marveled at the power and scale of Frederic's work, writing, To draw a string around that many sets of stakes, to sit down before a small patch of the Earth that many times, to get down on the level with plants, to take a quick look, gain a gestalt, and then engage in the deliberative task of touching every single plant, recognizing its species name and writing it down, pressing pencil to paper, once for each individual—to do that not for a weekend, not a few dozen times, but to perform that meditation thousands of times over a lifetime—there is no more intimate, more mesmerizing way to connect with nature. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today in botanical history, we celebrate an American doctor, a Viscountess, and a Canadian fiction writer. We hear a little excerpt about September - such a milestone month for so many people. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about one of America's greatest explorers. And then we'll wrap things up with tomato tips from garden writer Stuart Robinson who shares how to get the last of your harvest to ripen faster. A question on many gardener's minds... Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Torture Orchard | The Counter | Julie Cart Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events September 15, 1795 Birth of James Gates Percival, American poet, surgeon, and geologist. In The Language of Flowers, he wrote, In Eastern lands they talk in flowers, And they tell in a garland their loves and cares: Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers, On its leaves a mystic language bears. In The Flight of Time, he wrote, Roses bloom, and then they wither; Cheeks are bright, then fade and die; Shapes of light are wafted hither, Then, like visions, hurry by. September 15, 1872 Birth of Frances Garnet Wolseley, 2nd Viscountess Wolseley, English gardening author, and teacher. Her Glynde College for Lady Gardeners in East Sussex was patronized by Gertrude Jekyll, Ellen Willmott, and William Robinson. She wrote, It is with real sorrow that we see so many [survivors] of an era of not particularly good taste in the shape of iron benches. It is their undoubted durability which has preserved them, and we who try to rest upon them are the sufferers, not only for their unpleasing appearance but from the ill-chosen formation of the back… September 15, 1937 Birth of Marjorie Harris, Canadian non-fiction writer, garden expert, and garden author. She was the host of The Urban Gardener radio show for CBS. In addition to countless articles and columns for various publications, she wrote more than a dozen books on gardening. She wrote, The longer you garden, the better the eye gets, the more tuned to how colors vibrate in different ways and what they can do to each other. You become a scientist as well as an artist, with the lines between increasingly blurred. Unearthed Words The windows are open, admitting the September breeze: a month that smells like notepaper and pencil shavings, autumn leaves, and car oil. A month that smells like progress, like moving on. ― Lauren Oliver, Vanishing Girls Grow That Garden Library The World was My Garden by David Fairchild This book came out in 1938, and the subtitle is Travels of a Plant Explorer. In this book, you learn directly from the fabulous Plant Explorer David Fairchild about what it was like to travel the globe searching for new plant species to bring home to the United States. In this first-hand account, David shares his extensive botanical expertise in addition to detailed stories about his time with primitive cultures in the far reaches of our planet. In addition to his outstanding botanical work, David was a great photographer, and he provided all of the photos for this remarkable book. This book is 634 pages of botanical exploration with David Fairchild as your guide. You can get a used copy of this rare, out-of-print book, The World was My Garden by David Fairchild, and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $50. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart September 15, 2004 On this day, in The Gazette (Montreal), garden writer Stuart Robinson shared tips for getting tomatoes to ripen faster. He wrote: The first trick is to trim some of the leaves covering the green fruit so that they're more exposed to the sun. This helps them warm up during the daytime. But the very best way of making sure that all the fruit on a vine turns ripe is to cut down on their competition. Step one is to pinch off all the side shoots... Be ruthless and remove them all, even if they seem to be producing a small set of flower buds… Step two is… trim the growing tips from all the remaining stems to stop the plant from getting any bigger. One gardener I know swears that severe pinching threatens the plant so much that it hurries to set its fruit (and seeds) much quicker. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today in botanical history, we celebrate a poet, an English garden designer, and a garden historian. We'll hear a fun excerpt about calculating cold weather from a Pulitzer-prize-winning play by David Auburn. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a bible on winter growing and harvesting - so year-round gardening - from the master himself: Eliot Coleman. And then we'll wrap things up with some thoughts on transplanting - the toll it takes on plants… and us. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Florist Nikki Tibbles on How to Arrange Hydrangeas | House & Garden Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events September 14, 1613 Death of Sir Thomas Overbury, English poet, and writer. He died after being poisoned when he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. He once wrote, The man who has nothing to boast of but his ancestors is like a potato - the only good belonging to him is underground. September 14, 1699 Baptism of Batty Langley, English garden designer, writer, architect, and artist. His elaborate garden designs often featured mazes. If you see one online, you'll find them mesmerizing. A jack of all trades, he offered his wealthy clients a myriad of garden features to choose from, including grottos, baths, fountains, cascades, garden seats, structures, and sundials. Batty sought to soften Baroque gardens featuring formality and geometric shapes with natural landscapes. George Washington was a fan of his work and ordered his New Principles of Gardening (1728) for his library at Mount Vernon. Batty wrote, There is nothing more agreeable in the garden than good shade, and without it a garden is nothing. September 14, 1931 Birth of Susan Campbell (artistic name: Susan Benson), English illustrator, food writer, and garden historian. She eventually became an expert on the history of walled kitchen gardens after visiting Thomas Pakenham at Tullynally Castle. For over four decades, she researched and wrote about over 700 walled kitchen gardens in the UK and worldwide. In 2001, she established the Walled Kitchen Garden Network with fellow garden historian Fiona Grant. Recently, she studied the garden belonging to Charles Darwin's father, Robert Darwin. In a 1984 interview, Suan commented, Oh, painting was agony. Agony. And writing is a doddle compared [to] illustrating… [But kitchen gardens] seemed as secret as anything with their big walls… and I longed to see what they were like. Unearthed Words Let X equal the quantity of all quantities of X. Let X equal the cold. It is cold in December. The months of cold equal November through February. There are four months of cold, and four of heat, leaving four months of indeterminate temperature. In February, it snows. In March, the lake is a lake of ice. In September, the students come back, and the bookstores are full. Let X equal the month of full bookstores. The number of books approaches infinity as the number of months of cold approaches four. I will never be as cold now as I will in the future. The future of cold is infinite. The future of heat is the future of cold. The bookstores are infinite and so are never full except in September..." ― David Auburn, Proof Grow That Garden Library The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman This book came out in 2009, and the subtitle is Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses. In this book, Renaissance man Eliot Coleman shares his ingenuity and time-tested experience with growing and harvesting food year-round. If you're considering extending your growing season, Eliot's book is regarded as the bible of successful winter sowing, growing, and harvesting. With The Winter Harvest Handbook, gardeners can remain active and productive even in the coldest winters using unheated or minimally heated, movable plastic greenhouses. Eliot shares how to make and maintain your greenhouse, along with growing and marketing tips for over 30 different crops. This book is 264 pages of a proven model for enjoying fresh, locally-grown produce all through the winter. You can get a copy of The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $15. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart September 14, 1938 On this day, the Canadian naturalist Charles Joseph Sauriol wrote in his diary, I stood out on the lawn at 12.30 A.M. The Valley silvered in moonlight could have been back in July… Moving is transplanting, and transplanting causes most plants to droop momentarily. We always feel a trifle sad about pulling up stakes... Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a German landscape gardener who introduced English gardens to Germany. We'll also learn about an American painter and printmaker best known for her incredible painting Love Locked Out (1890)... but she was also a gardener and painted beautiful landscapes. We'll also look back at a cautionary story about a botanist who protected his peach crop at a tremendous cost and using terrible judgment. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that will help you learn how to cook with all those garden veggies. If you're running out of ideas - this book is perfect for you. And then we'll wrap things up with a bit of glimpse into a magnificent garden property in Baden, Germany, back on this day in 1835. It's quite the story. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Butternut squash and caramelized onion galette | House & Garden | Deb Perelman (Smitten Kitten) PLUS! Brand New Book Release tomorrow: Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events September 13, 1750 Birth of Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, German landscape gardener. He is regarded as the man who introduced English gardens to Germany, and his planting style is still prevalent in German landscapes today. One of Friedrich's most significant commissions was at Nymphenburg Palace, where he transformed formal baroque gardens into English landscape gardens for King Max I. The transformation was a compelling blend of old and new, with some established gardens along the central axis left untouched. In 1816, he built the historic Geranium House (glasshouse) at Nymphenburg. Today the building houses a permanent exhibit featuring Friedrich's work at the palace park. Friedrich recognized the importance of natural borders along woodlands, open space between trees and shrubs, and removing trees for the sake of the landscape. He valued certain trees - like oaks and lindens - over more common species like maple and ash. September 13, 1844 Birth of Anna Massey Lea Merritt, American painter, and printmaker. Born in Philadelphia, she spent most of her life in England. She is best known for Love Locked Out (1890), which she painted to honor her husband, who died three months after their wedding. In addition to her portraiture and religious work, she painted landscapes. She wrote, The nastiest of all weeds is that sycophant - Dock - also called Herb Patience. When you grasp the strong-seeming stalk, it has no fiber, it melts away in a soft squash, leaving its root in the ground; even Nettles are pleasanter to touch. September 13, 1916 On this day, the Hartford Courant (Connecticut) reported: Dr. Henry Hurd Rusby, a noted botanist and dean of the medical faculty of Columbia University, shot and wounded Alfred Fasano, aged 13, here today when Fasano and three other boys... were pilfering peaches from his orchard. A double-barreled shotgun was the weapon used. He told the police that he had been annoyed by boys stealing his fruit and… that he intended only to frighten the boys. Unearthed Words He was the first to admit that he had been singularly ill-qualified for all his previous jobs. Just a few months earlier, he had accepted the editorship of Gardening Magazine. "Nobody could know less about gardening than me," he said. But it didn't stop him dispensing advice for his readers. "I would solemnly give them my views on whether it was better to plant globe artichokes in September or March." Now, at last, he had fallen into a job for which he was extremely well qualified, one in which the only seeds to be planted were those of wholescale destruction. ― Giles Milton, Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat Grow That Garden Library Vegan 100 by Gaz Oakley This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Over 100 Incredible Recipes from Avant-Garde Vegan. In this book, Gaz celebrates the versatility and adventure you can find when you dedicate time to creating new dishes with vegetables. Gaz is a famous chef - thanks to Social Media and his fantastic channels on Instagramram and YouTube - where he shares many of his recipes with his avid fanbase. Personally, Gaz decided to change his diet and go vegan - and ever since, he's found new ways to make exciting and tasty meals to make again and again. Gaz is known for creating innovative and straightforward food that helps people - even gardeners - see new possibilities for plant-based dishes. This book is 224 pages of vibrant vegetables in many full-page photographs that steal the show and define modern vegan cooking. You can get a copy of Vegan 100 by Gaz Oakley and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $8. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart September 13, 1835 On this day, British artist and writer James Forbes stopped at the castle in Baden during his horticultural tour through Germany, Belgium, and France. In his journal, he wrote of Baden: ...the tremendous precipices of rock, and plantations, render this spot the most picturesque… on my tour through Germany. [There is an] excellent promenade, called the English garden, with neatly kept walks and pieces of lawn, [and] a magnificent building called the "Conversation House," with numerous orange trees arranged in front of it. In the interior, I was much surprised to see in a very spacious room, splendidly furnished, [and] a large concourse of ladies and gentlemen, during Sunday, very busy at the gambling tables; in fact, the ladies appeared to be fully as expert gamblers as the gentlemen. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a botanist remembered for his work collecting cinchona trees in South America. We'll remember the French royal painter known as the "the Raffaele of flowers." We'll also learn about the German architect who thought he'd discovered the Hanging Gardens of Babylon over a hundred years ago. We'll recognize the work of the British Botanist who is remembered in the name of a bamboo, an English writer who was often inspired by nature, and we'll also take a look back at a discovery by South African botanists. We hear an excerpt from a fun fiction book - "A compelling and human cast of characters, full of humor, heart, heartbreak, and the language of flowers make this perfect for fans of Marian Keyes."—Booklist We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that came out during the pandemic - The Well-Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith And then we'll wrap things up with a little letter from botanist David Hosack written on this day in 1806. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Pumpkin Pie Cereal Treats | Better Homes & Gardens Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events
September 10, 1817 Birth of Richard Spruce, English botanist and bryologist. A fearless explorer, he spent fifteen years botanizing along the Amazon river. Toward the end of his journey, he managed to smuggle out cinchona saplings, which were a promising treatment for malaria. He was most fascinated by small plants - unassuming mosses and liverworts. He wrote, I like to look on plants as sentient beings... which beautify the earth during life, and after death may adorn my herbarium…
September 10, 1825 On this day, French King Charles X honored the Belgian painter, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, with the Legion of Honor. To test his skills, Queen Marie Antoinette once summoned Redouté in the middle of the night and ordered him to paint a cactus. He did. Redouté was also a favorite of Josephine Bonaparte and her flowers at Malmaison are the subjects of his most beautiful work. A master painter of lilies and roses, Redouté was known as "the Raffaele of flowers."
September 10, 1855 Birth of Robert Koldewey, German archaeologist. He supposedly discovered the location of one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon in southern Iraq. He also found the famous Ishtar Gate (1902), which he cut into pieces and smuggled to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin where it remains to this day. Despite working for over two decades, the Hanging Gardens site was only half-excavated when he was forced to leave the country in 1917. His discovery of the gardens has since been refuted.
September 10, 1870 Birth of Lilian Gibbs, British botanist. When she wasn't working at the British Museum in London, she was going on expeditions. She was the first woman and botanist to ascend Mount Kinabalu (Borneo) in February 1910. She discovered many new plants and is remembered by many plant names including Racemobambos gibbsiae "rass-ih-MOE-bam-bos Gibbs-ee-ay" (Miss Gibbs' Bamboo).
September 10, 1903 Birth of Cyril Connolly, English literary critic and writer. In The Unquiet Grave, he wrote: Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils.
September 10, 1981 On this day, the Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania) featured a story about the impact of hormones on plant growth: South African botanists discovered that a birth control pill pushed into the soil next to a plant stem can produce dramatic effects on growth and improve foliage. Research has shown that hormones in the pill accelerate fertilization and development of plants. Unearthed Words Agapanthus and peonies in June. Scented stock and sweet peas in July. Sunflowers and sweet William in August. By the time September's oriental lilies and ornamental cabbages appeared, she wasn't hiding upstairs in the workroom anymore. She was spending more time in the shop, answering the phone, dealing with the customers. One Sunday she spent the afternoon at an allotment belonging to a friend of Ciara's, picking lamb's ear and dusty miller and veronica for a wedding, and didn't think about Michael once, but she kept remembering a Patrick Kavanagh poem she'd learned at school, the one about how every old man he saw reminded him of his father. ― Ella Griffin, The Flower Arrangement Grow That Garden Library The Well-Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is The Restorative Power of Nature. Before this book came out in 2020, I don't think Sue had any idea just how timely this book was going to be. I remember when Sue's book was finally released, I heard an interview with her and also an urban gardener in California. The two of them together talked about the importance of gardening and for so many people who were really suffering at home during the pandemic, gardening became a way of coping - along with pets. A lot of people got pets during the pandemic. This is why it was so hard to adopt a pet on Petfinder - or source plants and seeds. In fact, we're still struggling with the repercussions of that particular year because growers not only sold their plant inventory for 2020, they often borrowed against some of the plant material that they were saving for 2021. Of course, many of us know the healing power of gardens. But what I loved about Sue Stewart Smith is her unique take on all of this. Sue approaches gardens from her area of expertise, which is psychology. And it's helpful that Sue is also a passionate gardener herself. Now I love this aspect of gardening - their power to heal and help us - and I could do a deep dive on this all day. I love talking about it. I love reading about it. What I really like about Sue's book is that she offers endless examples of the power of gardening and its impact on our brains, on our thinking, on our ability to be happier, to continue to process and learn and grow, etc. It's so, so powerful. Now it's been over a year since this book has been out. So if you're looking for used copies, there are definitely some available on Amazon. This book is 352 pages of garden power - the power to heal, restore, and save us. You can get a copy of The Well-Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $10 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
September 10, 1806 On this day, the botanist David Hosack wrote to Thomas Jefferson at Monticello about Lewis and Clark. He was hoping to gain access to any potential plant discoveries on the expedition: If, sir, the gentlemen who are at present on their travels to Missouri discover any new or useful plants I should be very happy in obtaining a small quantity of the seeds. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate an old account of Tripoli gardens. We'll remember a botanist, naturalist, and author who believed in the power of walking. We hear an excerpt from a book by author Susan Wiggs. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a wonderful book about small garden design. And then we'll wrap things up with a novelist who found his own garden paradise in the Cotswolds. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Jay's Garden in the Mountains | Fine Gardening Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events June 21, 1535 Today is the birthday of the German physician, botanist, and traveler Leonhard Rauwolf. For two years, between 1573 and 1575, he made a trip through the Near east to search for new herbal medicines. When he returned, he published a book with new botanical descriptions for his herbarium, and he later wrote a travel book about his adventures. Here is an excerpt from Rauwolff's description of Tripoli in Lebanon: "The town of Tripoli is pretty large, full of people, and of good account, because of the great deposition of merchandises that are brought thither daily both by sea and land. It is situated in a pleasant country, near the promontory of the high mountain Libanus, in a great plain toward the sea-shore, where you may see an abundance of vineyards, and very fine gardens, enclosed with hedges for the most part, the hedges consisting chiefly of Rhamnus, Paliurus, Oxyacantha, Phillyrea, Lycium, Balaustium, Rubus, and little Palm-trees, that are low, and so sprout and spread themselves. In these gardens, as we came in, we found all sorts of salads and kitchen-herbs, such as Endive, Lettuce, Ruckoli, Asparagus, Celery,... Tarragon..., Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Turnips, Horseradishes, Carrots, of the greater sort of Fennel, Onions, Garlic, etc. And also fruit, as Water-melons, Melons, Gourds, Citruls, Melongena, Sesamum (by the natives called samsaim, the seeds whereof are very much used to strew upon their bread) and many more; but especially the Colocasia, which is very common there, and sold all the year long.... In great plenty there are citrons, lemons and oranges.... At Tripoli they have no want of water, for several rivers flow down from the mountains, and run partly through the town, and partly through the gardens, so that they want no water neither in the gardens nor in their houses." June 21, 1898 Today is the birthday of American botanist, naturalist, and author, Donald Culross Peattie. During his lifetime, Donald was regarded as the most read nature writer in America. He wrote about plants and nature. His book, Flowering Earth, was written for the layperson - explaining concepts like chlorophyll and protoplasm and specimens like algae and seaweeds. The Hartford Times said this about Peattie's Flowering Earth: "Peattie makes the story of botany and its pursuit as fascinating to the reader as it is to him, and the reading of it a delight." Over time, Peattie began to focus on trees. His popular books on North American trees include Trees You Want to Know (1934), The Road of a Naturalist (1941), American Heartwood (1949), A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America (1950), and A Natural History of Western Trees (1953). From his book American Heartwood, Donald wrote, "Wood, if you stop to think of it, has been man's best friend in the world. It held him in his cradle, went to war as the gunstock in his hand, was the frame of the bed he came to rejoicing, the log upon his hearth when he was cold, and will make him his last long home. It was the murmuring bough above his childhood play, and the roof over the first house he called his own. It is the page he is reading at this moment; it is the forest where he seeks sanctuary from a stony world." Peattie's writing voice is friendly and lyrical. He wrote, "I have often started off on a walk in the state called mad-mad in the sense of sore-headed, or mad with tedium or confusion; I have set forth dull, null and even thoroughly discouraged. But I never came back in such a frame of mind, and I never met a human being whose humor was not the better for a walk." And he wrote, "All the great naturalists have been habitual walkers, for no laboratory, no book, car, train or plane takes the place of honest footwork for this calling, be it amateur's or professional's." Unearthed Words She pulled up to the curb in front of number 115, a boxy house with a garden so neat that people sometimes slowed down to admire it. A pruned hedge guarded the profusion of roses that bloomed from spring to winter. Each of the roses had a name. Not the proper name of its variety, but Salvatore, Roberto, Rosina- each one planted in honor of their first communion. There were also roses that honored relatives in Italy whom Rosa had never met, and a few for people she didn't know - La Donna, a scarlet beauty, and a coral floribunda whose name she couldn't remember. The sturdy bush by the front step, covered in creamy-white blooms, was the Celesta, of course. A few feet away was the one Rosa, a six-year-old with a passion for Pepto-Bismol pink, had chosen for herself. Mamma had been so proud of her that day, beaming down like an angel from heaven. It was one of those memories Rosa cherished because it was so clear in her heart and mind. ― Susan Wiggs, American author of historical and contemporary romance novels, Summer by the Sea Grow That Garden Library Small Garden Design by Paul Bangay This book came out in 2019. In this book, the Australian designer Paul Bangay known for large, elegant gardens, is now sharing his top tips for designing gardens in small spaces - for people who want beautiful gardens on balconies, courtyards, lightwells, or rooftops. As with large gardens, garden design fundamentals like — incorporating structure and smart plant selection. Small Garden Design focuses on tips for working with various spaces and is gorgeously illustrated with photos by Simon Griffiths. This book is 272 pages of small garden design loaded with practical tips on plant choices, paving, irrigation, soil, outdoor dining, lighting, and ideas for making small spaces appear larger. You can get a copy of Small Garden Design by Paul Bangay and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $43 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart June 21, 1948 Today is the birthday of the Scottish novelist Ian McEwan ("Muh-Cue-in"). Ian has written short stories and novels for adults and a children's novel called The Daydreamer, which Anthony Browne illustrated. In 2012, he and his wife, the writer Annalena McAfee, bought a beautiful nine-acre dream property in the Cotswolds. One of their gardens features foxgloves and iris, lady's mantle, allium, and meadow rue. Ian's best-selling 2001 novel Atonement was made into a movie starring James McAvoy and Keira Knightley in 2007. A passage from the book reads, "It made no sense, she knew, arranging flowers before the water was in — but there it was; she couldn't resist moving them around, and not everything people did could be in a correct, logical order, especially when they were alone." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate an English novelist and poet who started out as an architecture student, and one of his first jobs was moving a graveyard. We'll also learn about a writer of charming garden verses. And we'll hear an excerpt about lilacs. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a look at some of the most exclusive private gardens in Paris. And then we'll wrap things up with the birthday of a New York architect and children's book writer who wrote about a spelling bee - a bee that would come in handy when it comes to writing Botanical Latin. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News How to bring more nature into your day and take part in 30 Days Wild | CountryFile Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events June 2, 1840 Today is the birthday of the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy. A Victorian realist like George Eliot, Thomas Hardy was a product of provincial England. A fan of John Milton, the Romanticism of William Wordsworth influenced his writing. He's most remembered for his novels set in rural Wessex, Far From the Madding Crowd (1874) and Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891). In Shaun Bythell's book, The Diary of a Bookseller, he shares a common mispronunciation of Thomas's first literary success, "A customer at 11.15 a.m. asked for a copy of Far from the Maddening Crowd. In spite of several attempts to explain that the book's title is actually Far from the Madding Crowd, he resolutely refused to accept that this was the case, even when the overwhelming evidence of a copy of it was placed on the counter under this nose: 'Well, the printers have got that wrong.' Despite the infuriating nature of this exchange, I ought to be grateful: he has given me an idea for the title of my autobiography should I ever be fortunate enough to retire." In Tess the D'Urbervilles, Thomas gives us a charming description of summer. He wrote, "The season developed and matured. Another year's instalment of flowers, leaves, nightingales, thrushes, finches, and such ephemeral creatures, took up their positions where only a year ago others had stood in their place when these were nothing more than germs and inorganic particles. Rays from the sunrise drew forth the buds and stretched them into long stalks, lifted up sap in noiseless streams, opened petals, and sucked out scents in invisible jets and breathings." And here's an excerpt where Tess compares the stars to apples. "Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?" "Yes." "All like ours?" "I don't know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound - a few blighted." "Which do we live on - a splendid one or a blighted one?" "A blighted one." Today, the National Trust takes care of Thomas Hardy's charming thatch cottage and garden near Dorchester. Thomas's great-grandfather built the cottage. In 1891, workers were digging on Thomas Hardy's property called Max Gate. They were installing a drain in the driveway when they discovered a large druid stone that thrilled Thomas, and he set it in his garden. Nearly a century later, it was discovered that Hardy's house was situated on top of a large Neolithic enclosure - an ancient stone circle - and burial site. Here's an excerpt poem by Thomas Hardy, which began writing in 1913, called "The Shadow on the Stone." It took him three years to complete the poem, and the shadow of the gardener that he sees is that of his wife Emma, who had passed away. I went by the Druid stone That broods in the garden white and lone, And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows That at some moments fall thereon From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing, And they shaped in my imagining To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders Threw there when she was gardening. During the 1860s, as a young man - before he became known as a poet and writer - Thomas Hardy took a job as a trainee architect while he was going to school in London for architecture. One of his first jobs was to move remains and grave markers at St Pancras to make way for the Midland Railway line. Charles Dickens referred to the St Pancras churchyard in his Tale of Two Cities as the place where Jerry Cruncher used to fish - meaning he robbed graves. Despite his unhappy task, Thomas had a burst of inspiration, and he decided to place hundreds of the headstones on their sides and nestle them around an ash tree. The effect was that of a sunburst radiating out from the trunk. Over time, the Ash tree became known as the Hardy Tree at St Pancras Old Churchyard in London. As the tree's roots intertwined with the headstones, the Hardy Tree developed a bit of a reputation and fascinated generations of future writers. Today, the Hardy Tree, still surrounded by grave markers, is an obscure stop for tourists. June 2, 1865 Today is the birthday of the artist, costume designer, poet, and writer Minnie Aumônier ("o·mo·nyé"). Over the years, Minnie's life story has passed into obscurity, although we know she was born into an artistic family. In 1876, her father, William, founded an architectural sculpture firm in London known as Aumonier Studios. Her Uncle James was a painter. Minnie wrote some beautiful verses about the garden. One of her verses says, "There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it." Minnie was romantic and sentimental. Her poetry is sugar sweet and winsome - the kind of verse that ends up on garden art - like this verse: "When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden." Unearthed Words Caroline wiped her cheek with the back of her gardening glove, leaving a dark smudge below one eye, then pulled off her gloves. 'But it's fitting in a way - Father loved the fact that a lilac only blossoms after a harsh winter.' Caroline reached over and smoothed the hair back from my brow with a light touch. How many times had my mother done that? 'It's a miracle all of this beauty emerges after such hardship, don't you think? ― Martha Hall Kelly, author, and native New Englander, Lilac Girls (New York Times bestseller) Grow That Garden Library Secret Gardens of Paris by Alexandra D'Arnoux and Bruno De Laubadere This book came out in 2000. In this book, Alexandra and Bruno offer us a sneak peek into some of Paris's most exclusive private gardens; most are unavailable for tours or visitors. Many of these hidden gems have been maintained for centuries as secret gardens and retreats that have been passed down through families and owners who relish their private slice of heaven on earth. These gardens range from formal to eclectic. There are Japanese-inspired gardens, tropical or exotic hideaways, topiary gardens, and urban retreats, just to name a few. This book is 176 pages of privileged access to 50 private Parisian gardens You can get a copy of Secret Gardens of Paris by Alexandra D'Arnoux and Bruno De Laubadere and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $3 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart June 2, 1929 Today is the birthday of the New York architect and children's book writer Norton Juster. In 1961, Norton wrote his most famous book, The Phantom Tollbooth, which tells of a little boy named Milo who receives a make-believe Tollbooth with the power to take him to the Lands Beyond. In this imaginary world, Milo meets many extraordinary characters, including a Bee obsessed with spelling. Here's a cute little excerpt: "Then just as time ran out he spelled as fast as he could - "v-e-g-e-t-a-b-l-e". "Can you spell everything?" asked Milo admiringly. "Just about," replied the bee with a hint of pride in his voice. "You see, years ago I was just an ordinary bee minding my own business, smelling flowers all day, and occasionally picking up part-time work in people's bonnets. Then one day I realized that I'd never amount to anything without an education and, being naturally adept at spelling, I decided that—" At that moment, another far-fetched character enters the story. Now the etymology of the curious blend "spelling bee" has never been fully established - although it is a distinctly American term. When the pioneers were settling this country, they held all kinds of bees to help each other accomplish arduous tasks more quickly. For instance, there were sewing bees and quilting bees, husking bees, logging bees, spinning bees, and apple bees. There were also fire brigades and barn-raisings - both clearly missed opportunities for fire bees and barn bees. Perhaps that's how we got the term "spelling bee." Maybe people just added the word bee to any novel social gathering, and somehow, spell bee just seemed to be perfect - a friendly term - describing a high-pressure competition intended to motivate kids to learn to spell. The term first appeared in print in the 1870s. Recently, word experts have suggested that the word bee was rooted in a Middle English word for favor or prayer - "bene," which is the root of the word beneficial. Over time, bene became the English word "been" (or "bean"), which Websters defines as "voluntary help given by neighbors toward the accomplishment of a particular task." So the new theory is that the word evolved over time from bene to been to bee. Over on his blog, Scientist Sees Squirrel, Stephen Heard shared a post called Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Latin Names in which he included the very hard to spell: Weberbauerocereus cephalomacrostibas ("Weberbauer-uh-SEER-ee-us sef-ah-LO-mah-cros-tuh-bus"), which is a cactus and Cryptodidymosphaerites princetonensis ("krip-toe-did-uh-mus-fuh-rye-tees princeton-EN-sis"), which is a fungus. Stephen writes, "These names mostly have one thing in common: they try to do way, way too much. They try to mention a place, and the name of a related taxon, and a descriptive trait, and another descriptive trait, and then modify that … and then they keep on going." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a gardener who transformed and developed the Cambridge Botanic Garden. We'll also learn about a writer and gardener who won a Pulitzer for her writing and praise for her work in garden design. We hear an excerpt about the first day of June. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about houseplants featuring projects, profiles, and guidance. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of a world-famous writer and her personal paradise on an Australian island. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Our Enchanted Botanic Garden Experience | FamilyFunCanada | Kristi McGowan Why Was June Made? by Annette Wynne Why was June made?—Can you guess? June was made for happiness! Even the trees Know this, and the breeze That loves to play Outside all day, And never is too bold or rough, Like March's wind, but just a tiny blow's enough; And all the fields know This is so— June was not made for wind and stress, June was made for happiness; Little happy daisy faces Show it in the meadow places, And they call out when I pass, "Stay and play here in the grass." June was made for happy things, Boats and flowers, stars and wings, Not for wind and stress, June was made for happiness! Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events June 1, 1850 Today is the birthday of the gardener and author Richard Irwin Lynch. Richard learned to garden from his father, who was classically trained at Kew. By the time he was seventeen, Richard had followed in his father's footsteps and worked at Kew - starting with herbaceous perennials before moving into tropicals. Enthusiastic and driven, Richard became the curator of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden when he was 30. During his four decades in the position, Richard transformed and elevated the garden by expanding and diversifying the garden's collections through swaps and hybridizing. In 1904, Irwin published his masterpiece The Book of the Iris - a book dedicated to the culture and identification of irises. The iris is the birth flower for the month of February and the state flower of Tennessee. The iris has been a symbol of royalty and power, and the "Fleur de Lis" represents the iris. And here's a heads up to gardeners: if you're growing them without success, remember that Irises need full sun to bloom their best, and if they don't get enough sun, they won't bloom. The Iris fragrance is found in the roots, and it is used for perfume. Historically, Iris root extract has been applied to the face to remove freckles. June 1, 1837 On this day, the American writer and gardener Edith Wharton had a heart attack while staying at the country estate of her friend and co-author of The Decoration of Houses, the architect Ogden Codman. This event was the first of three heart attacks for Edith. She died on August 11th of that year and was buried at Versailles. Edith wrote many popular admonitions. My favorite is this one. She wrote, "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." She also wrote: "Beware of monotony; it's the mother of all the deadly sins." And she also wrote: "If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time." Edith's childhood in Europe afforded her a chance to see the great gardens of Italy and France. As an adult, she became a fan of the famous garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. In 1904, in a departure from her standard storytelling, Edith published a major gardening book, Italian Villas and Their Gardens, with pictures by Maxfield Parrish. Edith thought gardens should be a series of outdoor rooms, and she wrote, "…In the blending of different elements, the subtle transition from the fixed and formal lines of art to the shifting and irregular lines of nature, and lastly, in the essential convenience and livableness of the garden, lies the fundamental secret of the old garden-magic…" Recognizing the grandness of Italian Villa's, Edith wrote, "The Italian garden does not exist for its flowers; its flowers exist for it." Edith had her own wonderful estate for a period of time. It was called the Mount. It was built in 1920, and Edith used it as her summer country estate. Tucked in Lennox, Massachusetts, the Mount. Edith was built on a high ledge and from the terrace. Edith could look down over her property and see her flower gardens, which she herself designed. There's a large French flower garden, a sunken Italian or Walled Garden, a Lime Walk with 48 Linden trees, and grass steps. During her time at The Mount, Edith wrote The House of Mirth. In the story, Edith wrote about having fresh flowers, and Her character, which is about to face financial ruin, says to her mother, "I really think,... we might afford a few fresh flowers for luncheon. Just some jonquils or lilies-of-the-valley----" In terms of her talent, Edith felt she was much better in the garden than she was as a writer. Speaking of garden design, Edith's niece was the garden designer Beatrix Jones Farrand. Edith once wrote a friend, "I'm a better Landscape gardener than a novelist, and this place (The Mount), every line of which is my own work, far surpasses The House of Mirth." Sadly, Edith's time at The Mount was short-lived as her marriage ended nine years later, and she was forced to sell the place. In her story called The Line of Least Resistance, Edith wrote from the perspective of a husband who had financed elaborate gardens: "The lawn looked as expensive as a velvet carpet woven in one piece; the flower borders contained only exotics… A marble nymph smiled at him from the terrace, but he knew how much nymphs cost and was not sure that they were worth the price. Beyond the shrubberies, he caught a glimpse of domed glass. His greenhouses were the finest in Newport, but since he neither ate fruit nor wore orchids, they yielded, at best, an indirect satisfaction." In 1920, toward the end of her career, Edith wrote her Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece: The Age of Innocence - becoming the first female to win the award in her category. In 1993, Edith's book was the basis for the movie with the same title, The Age of Innocence, featuring a young Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis. In the book, Edith described a neglected garden, "The patch of lawn before it had relapsed into a hayfield; but to the left an overgrown box-garden full of dahlias and rusty rose-bushes encircled a ghostly summer-house of trellis-work that had once been white, surmounted by a wooden Cupid who had lost his bow and arrow but continued to take ineffectual aim." In terms of her personal preferences, Edith loved reliable bloomers like lilies, hydrangeas, delphinium, cleome, and dahlias. Regarding peonies, she once described them as having "jolly round-faced' blooms. Unearthed Words The last rain had come at the beginning of April, and now, at the first of June, all but the hardiest mosquitoes had left their papery skins in the grass. It was already seven o'clock in the morning, long past time to close windows and doors, trap what was left of the night air slightly cooler only by virtue of the dark. The dust on the gravel had just enough energy to drift a short distance and then collapse on the flower beds. The sun had a white cast, as if shade and shadow, any flicker of nuance, had been burned out by its own fierce center. There would be no late afternoon gold, no pale early morning yellow, no flaming orange at sunset. If the plants had vocal cords, they would sing their holy dirges like slaves. ― Jane Hamilton, American novelist, the author of The Book of Ruth, and winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction, A Map of the World(a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1999) Grow That Garden Library Practical Houseplant Book by Zia Allaway and Fran Bailey This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Choose Well, Display Creatively, Nurture & Maintain, 175 Plant Profiles. In this book, Zia and Fran share a dozen inspiring projects, over two hundred in-depth plant profiles, along with expert guidance to help you cultivate and care for your houseplants. The twelve inspiring plant projects featured in this book include a desertscape, an air plant stand, a macrame hanger, an open bottle terrarium, a willow climbing frame, a succulent wreath, a kokedama fern, a moth picture frame, a drive terrarium, a wood-mounted orchid, a living space divider, and a propagation shelf. This book is 224 pages of houseplant projects, profiles, and guidance. You can get a copy of Practical Houseplant Book by Zia Allaway and Fran Bailey and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $3 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart June 1, 1937 Today is the birthday of the Australian novelist and gardener Colleen McCullough ("muh-CULL-ick"). Her friends called her Col. Colleen was exceptionally bright. Born and raised in Australia, she worked at Yale as a neurophysiologist for $10,000 a year. During her spare time, she wrote her first breakthrough novel, Tim - a story about a middle-aged widow who has a relationship with her young, handsome, and developmentally disabled gardener. Tim became a movie starring Mel Gibson. But it was her next novel that would end up changing Colleen's life: The Thornbirds - the Australian love story between a Catholic priest and a young woman named Meggie Cleary. In The Thornbirds, Colleen wrote, "There's a story... a legend, about a bird that sings just once in its life. From the moment it leaves its nest, it searches for a thorn tree... and never rests until it's found one. And then it sings... more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. And singing, it impales itself on the longest, sharpest thorn. But, as it dies, it rises above its own agony, to outsing the lark and the nightingale. The thorn bird pays its life for just one song, but the whole world stills to listen, and God in his heaven smiles." The Thorn Birds sold 30 million copies, became a blockbusting TV miniseries, and allowed Colleen the chance to follow her heart and desire for privacy. By 1979, Colleen moved to a ten-hectare property on Norfolk Island - a small island outpost of Australia between New Zealand and New Caledonia - and a place that she would call home for the rest of her life. A daughter of Australia, Colleen's home country, loved her back and declared her a national treasure in 1997. Colleen died in 2015, but today her garden and home, complete with a fern room, is now open for tours. The gardener and garden broadcast personality, Graham Ross, wrote about meeting Colleen and shared his comments on Facebook, "When we first met Colleen McCullough in her garden, 'Out Yenna' ('Out Yonder in Norf'k) on Norfolk Island a decade or more ago, it was like meeting an old friend. It's a long drive through the Kentia palm plantation... to find the beautiful two-story weatherboard home. There was no greeting party of minders, no official anything, just a hearty "G'day," then "would you like a cup of tea"' followed by "let's look at the garden such as it is"... The garden was entirely the domain and responsibility of her Persian cat, Shady, who would roll in Sweet Alice (Alyssum), gather seeds in her long fur, and then roll around elsewhere in the dirt distributing the seeds. It was the largest planting of Sweet Alice we'd ever seen. In the center of the garden was a magnificent glass screen by a woman artist... who also had a copy of the work, according to Colleen, "hanging in Canberra's Parliament House." But it was her finale, her coup de grace, that remains with us after the long chat and yarning. We had recently published our first major text, "Our World of Gardening," with Simon and Schuster and took a copy for her as a sign of appreciation for her time. What happened next remains with us as the true essence of Colleen McCullough. She was enormously grateful for our book. At first, we thought 'overly so' but left the room after telling us of her gratitude. Ten minutes later, she returned with a copy of every book she'd ever written from 'Tim' to the 'Roman Series.' She then proceeded to autograph and included a personal message of every publication. It was a hugely generous gesture and followed with the amazing statement, "You are the first authors to ever offer me a copy of their book." A few photographs for the record were taken, and strong handshake and we left with over a dozen books under our arms and a fond memory that remains fresh today." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
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