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 the botanical pastimes of two young women in Oklahoma back in 1850. We'll also learn about a female botanical pioneer who specialized in grasses. We'll hear some thoughts on spring from a beloved American author. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book featuring the letters from a Texas pioneer botanist. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of an elite wedding and last-minute flower arranging. 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 Spring's Splendor: Forsythia | The Flower Infused Cocktail Blog | Alyson Brown 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 April 29, 1850 Here's a post for this day from Hunter's Home - the only remaining pre–Civil War plantation home in Oklahoma. "Emily and Amanda stayed at Araminta's for much of the day. They had a sweet potato roasting and then gathered flowers for pressing. Emily kept an herbarium into which she pressed a variety of flowers from her travels. Botany was considered a suitable science for women to learn in the 19th-century and women were expected to understand the nature of the plant as well as classification, etc. Women published botanical textbooks and used their knowledge to improve their herbal remedies. Like Emily, women also carried their herbaria with them while traveling to better collect new species." April 29, 1869 Today is the birthday of a botanist who was a petite, fearless, and indefatigable person: Agnes Chase. Agnes was an agrostologist—a studier of grass. A self-taught botanist, her first position was as an illustrator at the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C. In this position, Agnes worked as an assistant to the botanist Albert Spear Hitchcock. When it came time to apply for funding for expeditions, only Albert received approval - not Agnes. The justification was always that the job belonged to "real research men." Undeterred, Agnes raised her own funding to go on the expeditions. She cleverly partnered with missionaries in Latin America and arranged for accommodations with host families. She shrewdly observed, "The missionaries travel everywhere, and like botanists do it on as little money as possible. They gave me information that saved me much time and trouble." During a climb of one of the highest Mountains in Brazil, Agnes returned to camp with a "skirt filled with plant specimens." One of her major works, the First Book of Grasses, was translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Her book taught generations of Latin American botanists who recognized Agnes's contributions long before their American counterparts. After Albert retired, Agnes became his backfill. When Agnes reached retirement age, she ignored the rite of passage altogether and refused to be put out to pasture. She kept going to work - six days a week - overseeing the largest collection of grasses in the world from her office under the red towers at her beloved Smithsonian Institution. When Agnes was 89, she became the eighth person to become an honorary fellow of the Smithsonian. A reporter covering the event said, "Dr. Chase looked impatient, as if she were muttering to her self, "This may be well and good, but it isn't getting any grass classified, sonny." While I was researching Agnes Chase, I came across this little article in The St. Louis Star and Times. Agnes gave one of her books on grass a biblical title, The Meek That Inherit the Earth. The article pointed out that, "Mrs. Chase began her study of grass by reading about it in the Bible. In the very first chapter of Genesis, ...the first living thing the Creator made was grass. ...In order to understand grass one needs an outlook as broad as all creation, for grass is fundamental to life, from Abraham, the herdsman, to the Western cattleman; from drought in Egypt to the dust bowl of Colorado; from corn, a grass given to Hiawatha..., to the tall corn of Iowa." [Agnes] said, "Grass is what holds the earth together. Grass made it possible for the human race to abandon his cave life and follow herds. Civilization was based on grass, everywhere in the world." Unearthed Words What can beat bricks warming up to the sun? The return of awnings. The removal of blankets from horses' backs. Tar softens under the heel, and the darkness under bridges changes from gloom to cooling shade. After a light rain, when the leaves have come, tree limbs are like wet fingers playing in woolly green hair. ― Toni Morrison, American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor, Jazz Grow That Garden Library Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne This book came out in 1991, and the subtitle is Ferdinand Lindheimer's Letters to George Engelmann. In this book, Minetta shares the treasure of these letters between two marvelous 19th-century botanists. In 1979, Minetta was asked to translate 32 letters between Ferdinand Lindheimer, the father of Texas botany, and George Engelmann - the man who helped establish the Missouri Botanical Garden and specialized in the Flora of the western half of the United States. The task of deciphering, organizing, and analyzing the Lindheimer Englemann correspondence took Minetta over a decade. This book is 236 pages of a fascinating look at Texas frontier life and botany through the eyes of the German-American botanist Ferdinand Lindheimer. You can get a copy of Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $18. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 29, 1924 Today is the wedding day of Cornelia Vanderbilt. This year (2021) marks her 95th wedding anniversary. When the Vanderbilt heiress married British nobility, the diplomat John Cecil, the wedding flowers had been ordered from a florist in New York. However, the train carrying the flowers to Asheville, North Carolina, had been delayed and would not arrive in time. Biltmore's Floral Displays Manager Lizzie Borchers said that, "Biltmore's gardeners came to the rescue, clipping forsythia, tulips, dogwood, quince, and other flowers and wiring them together. They were quite large compositions, twiggy, open, and very beautiful." If you look up this lavish, classic roaring 20's wedding on social media, the pictures show that the bouquets held by the wedding party were indeed very large - they look to be about two feet in diameter! I'll share the images in our Facebook Group, The Daily Gardener Community. In 2001, the Biltmore commemorated the 75th anniversary of the wedding with a month-long celebration among 2,500 blooming roses during the month of June. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a Quaker son of Pennsylvania who accomplished so much during his lifetime and left a legacy of botanical information for future generations. We'll also learn about a woman who, together with her husband, created an impressive arboretum in the middle of Iowa. We'll hear some thoughts about spring from a Contemporary Turkish playwright, novelist, and thinker. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a fun fiction book about an adventurous young woman who joins an expedition in Yellowstone National Park at the end of the nineteenth century. And then we'll wrap things up with the fascinating story of the Alaska State Flower - the Forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris). 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 12 Gorgeous Plants That Will Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden | Bob Vila | Michelle Ullman 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 April 28, 1782 Today is the birthday of the botanist, physician, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, William Darlington. Like his fellow eminent botanists John Bartram, Humphry Marshall, and William Baldwin, William was born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania. A native of West Chester, William received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. When William was a student, Benjamin Barton, the botanist and author of the first American botany textbook was an early mentor. After signing on as a surgeon for an East India merchant, William traveled to Calcutta. A year later, William returned to England and married Catharine Lacey, the daughter of a distinguished Revolutionary War General. Lacey supported William's work. The Darlingtons were married for forty years and had four sons and four daughters. Two of their sons were named in honor of fellow botanists: their oldest son was Benjamin Smith Barton Darlington and their youngest son William Baldwin Darlington. The year 1826 was a big year for William Darlington. He organized and presided over the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Sciences, and he published his first edition of "Florula Cestrica," his summary of plants in West Chester, Pennsylvania. William was a saver and an archivist. Today, William's work to preserve his letters with Humphry Marshall and John Bartram are much appreciated. In terms of legacy, one of William's most valuable contributions to botanical history is his masterpiece called Memorials of Bartram and Marshall. In 1853, the botanist John Torrey named a new variety of California pitcher-plant for Darlington. He called it Darlingtonia Californica. As for William, his large herbarium and works were bequeathed to his beloved Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science. William was buried in Oaklands Cemetery, near West Chester. Twenty years earlier, William wrote his own epitaph in Latin - it is inscribed on his monument: "Plantae Cestrienses, quas dilexit atque illustravit, super tumulum ejus semper floreant" or May the plants of Chester, which he loved and documented, forever blossom over his grave. William's tombstone is crowned with a relief of Darlingtonia californica. April 28, 1916 Today is the birthday of the arboretum-maker Frances Bickelhaupt. Frances is remembered for the arboretum that she and her husband Robert created around their family home in Clinton, Iowa. During the 1960s and 1970s, Robert and Frances watched in dismay as Dutch Elm disease claimed the beautiful Elm-lined streets of their hometown. In response, Frances and Robert began planting a diverse range of trees on their 10-acre property. Now, Frances and Robert were exceptionally disciplined when it came to planting trees - they committed to grouping all the trees by species. Today, the Bickelhaupt Arboretum has a lovely collection of trees - including ash, beech, birch, crabapple, elm, hickory, honeylocust, linden, magnolia, and oak. Bickelhaupt also has a gorgeous conifer collection, regarded as the Arboretum's crown jewel, and features many rare and dwarf conifers. In total, the Bickelhaupt Arboretum boasts over 2,000 different species of plants. In 2020, the Bickelhaupt Arboretum was damaged by the derecho ("duh-RAY-cho") - a widespread and severe windstorm that blew through the midwest on August 10, 2020. As a result of the derecho, Bickelhaupt lost 28 trees, and many more were damaged in the hurricane-force winds. The first course of action is clean up following by tree removal - for the trees were so damaged they could not be saved. Today, if you happen to visit the Bickelhaupt Arboretum, there is a poignant sculpture of Frances and Robert near the entrance. They are standing side by side, and Frances has one foot resting on the top of a shovel she holds against the earth. Unearthed Words In the winter, you may want the summer; in the summer, you may want the autumn; in the autumn, you may want the winter; but only in the spring you dream and want no other season but the spring! ― Mehmet Murat ildan ("MAY-met Moor-rat ILL-don," Contemporary Turkish playwright, novelist, and thinker Grow That Garden Library Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith This fiction book came out in 2000, and it won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award for Fiction. In this book, Diane Smith tells the story of a young woman named A. E. (Alexandria) Bartram. A lively young woman and amateur botanist, Alexandria is invited on an expedition of Yellowstone in the spring of 1898. The leader of the expedition is a Montana professor who initially thought AE Bartram was a man. He was shocked to learn the truth when Alexandra joins the team. Still, it's full steam ahead 4 the group of scientists, and they embark on a summer of fascinating Adventures and a web of entangled relationships. The backdrop is, of course, the beauty of Yellowstone and 19th-century concerns about science, economics, and nature. This book offers a little bit of everything - botany, humor, adventure - and even romance. This book is 226 pages of fiction based on true American history, nature, science, and culture. You can get a copy of Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $1 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 28, 1917 On this day, the State Flower of Alaska was adopted: the Wild Native Forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris "my-oh-SO-tiss al-pes-tris"). The Forget-me-not was part of the Alaskan culture long before it became the official state flower. During the Alaskan gold rush, the men formed lodges. A lodge called the Grand Igloo selected the Forget-me-not as the lodge emblem. Later on, women got involved with the lodge through auxiliaries. One pioneering Alaskan woman was Esther Birdsall Darling. Esther lived in Alaska from 1907 to 1918. She created a dog kennel in Nome and later started the first sled dog race. Esther became known worldwide when she began writing about her life in the north and her Alaskan sled dogs. Inspired by the "Forget-me-not" legislation, Esther wrote a poem dedicated to the State's pioneers called "Forget-me-not." It was included in the bill put before the legislature: So in thinking for an emblem For this Empire of the North We will choose this azure flower That the golden days bring forth, For we want men to remember That Alaska came to stay Though she slept unknown for ages And awakened in a day. So although they say we're living In the land that God forgot, We'll recall Alaska to them With our blue Forget-me-not. In the bill's margins, there were two handwritten verses (likely written by Esther) and often used as the first two verses to her original poem. A little flower blossoms forth On every hill and dale, The emblem of the Pioneers Upon the rugged trail; The Pioneers have asked it And we could deny them not; So the emblem of Alaska Is the blue Forget-me-not. The Forget-me-not is a member of the Borage family (Boraginaceae). In Floriography ("FLOOR-EE-ah-grah-FEE") or the language of flowers, the Forget-me-not flower represents true faithful love, fond memories, hope, and remembrance. In the middle ages, Forget-me-not was believed to be an effective treatment for scorpion bites. The buds of the flower curl like a scorpion's tail, which was believed to be a sign from nature. This is how Forget-me-not earned the common name Scorpion Grass. Celebrated in folklore, there are many stories about Forget-me-nots. The popular tale of how the Forget-me-not was named tells of a German knight walking by a river with his lady. When he stooped to pick a tiny flower, he lost his balance as he straightened to give the blossom to his beloved. He fell into the river and said, " Vergiss mein nicht." before being swept away. After the battle of Waterloo, the battlefield was covered with Forget-me-nots. The dainty flowers sprung up to mark the spots of fallen soldiers. When King Richard III banished Henry of Lancaster, he chose the Forget-me-not as a rallying symbol. The flower became an emblem for his followers. During the 20th-century, Germans planted Forget-me-nots to honor the fallen and were a special remembrance after WWI. In modern gardens, Forget-me-nots are especially beautiful in rock gardens and along water features like streams. On April 26, 1951, the Vermont Standard shared an adorable story about the Forget-me-not. "Professor Leon Dean of the English Department of UVM (The University of Vermont) spoke on the subject of "Vermont Folklore." He began by explaining that history is all about us… and that the learned historian no longer looks down upon the contributions of the local historian. Folklore, he said, can be adapted to [the] classroom… and the student can go from folklore to local, and national history. ...Even more important are people whose memories reach back in a chain - from generation to generation. Professor Dean gave the illustration of a country doctor who in the spring, would carry Forget-me-not seeds which he sprinkled on the waters of the streams he passed. In time these streams were lined with Forget-me-nots, a memorial when he was gone." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a 20th-Century Landscape Architect who focused on his client's desires and needs. This effort to personalize his work made him incredibly successful. We'll also learn about a species Tulip praised for its hardiness and peppermint candy appearance. We'll hear some thoughts about the first fine spring days. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that will help you finally replace your high-maintenance lawn with something Sustainable, inviting, and low maintenance. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of Flora- the Roman goddess of spring. 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 The 15 Best Groundcover Plants for Your Garden | Pure Wow | Arricca Elin SanSone 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 April 27, 1902 Today is the birthday of the renowned and innovative 20th-Century landscape architect Thomas Church. Known as the "Dean of Western Landscape Architects" and the "Father of the California Garden," Thomas - or Tommy as he was known to his clients and friends - is remembered for personalized landscape design. His 1955 book aptly titled Gardens are for Peopledrew on Tommy's belief that gardens are personal and needed to meet his clients' needs. Tommy wrote, "We're all different - and our gardens and what we expect our land to do for us will vary as much as our demands and our personalities. No one can design intelligently for you unless he knows what you need, what you want, and what you are like." Tommy also wrote, "The only limit to your garden is at the boundaries of your imagination." A pioneer of Modernism in the garden, Tommy's approach to design came to be known as the "California Style." Tommy's California Style included elements that seem pretty standard today: raised beds, low-maintenance, lots of groundcovers, timber decking, kidney-shaped pools, places to sit, clean lines, and asymmetry. Tommy once wrote, "Style is a matter of taste. Design is a matter of principles." Tommy's portfolio was comprised of over 2,000 private gardens, but he did some work for Berkely and Stanford and the University of California, Santa Cruz, where Tommy famously said, "Gentle be the hand that lays upon the land." In addition to his private and university work, Tommy designed the gardens for Sunset Magazine after the headquarters moved to Menlo Park in 1952. Tommy designed the Sunset Garden to encircle an acre of lawn. The trees and plants represent the 17-State circulation area of Sunset Magazine and are grown in four distinct gardens. For instance, there was a dry Arizona desert garden and a wet garden representing the Northwest. Today at Sunset, the redwood trees that were planted from five-gallon cans are now 100 feet tall. In all, there are over 300 varieties of trees, shrubs, and perennials in the Sunset gardens. The annual flower beds are replanted three times a year. Now two aspects of gardening - the amount of expertise the owner had and the amount of free time available by the owner - were both taken into account by Thomas Church. His obituary said, "[Tommy] thought it preposterous to create a garden with exotic fragile plants that need tending for busy people who just like to relax in a garden. He wanted these people to have a tranquil place they could use and enjoy without its upkeep being an albatross around their necks Thus because each garden came from his understanding of its owners - none of them look the same though they have common elements." Thomas Church 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." April 27, 1952 On this day, The Knoxville News-Sentinel published a little article about a short, six-petaled, cherry-red, and white species tulip, known as Tulip clusiana - commonly called the Persian Tulip or the Peppermint Tulip. "Pretty and charming is Tulip clusiana, named for the great botanist Clusius, who is said to have grown it in his garden in Flanders. It is known to have been cultivated for more than 300 years. Louise Beebe Wilder says of it, "Clusius reported that it was sent to Florence in 1606 with the statement that it had come from Persia. Parkinson knew it as the early Persian tulip. Sir Daniel Hall says it is now apparently wild from Chitral ("Ch-eh-trull") (in Pakistan) to Spain... Reginald Farrer says it is frequently found in old olive orchards about Cannes ("Can")" [Now the] buds are long, slender, and pointed with broad streaks of rose-red up the backs of the white petals. Because of this effect, it is sometimes called the radish tulip. Other names are candy tulip and lady tulip." Clusiana tulips open with the sun and close at night. Unearthed Words When the first fine spring days come, and the earth awakes and assumes its garment of verdure, when the perfumed warmth of the air blows on our faces and fills our lungs, and even appears to penetrate to our heart, we feel vague longings for undefined happiness, a wish to run, to walk at random, to inhale the spring. ― Guy de Maupassant, ("Ghee-du-mo-pah-sawnt") The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant, Part One Grow That Garden Library Lawn Gone! by Pam Penick This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard. In this book, Pam Penick - one of my favorite garden bloggers - shares practical and down-to-earth advice for replacing a traditional, high-maintenance lawn with something endlessly more manageable and inviting. Pam's book is an inspiring look at the countless options for transforming residential landscapes with low-work flowers, shrubs, ground covers, and native plants mixed with paved or mulched areas. If you've been hesitant to take the plunge and downsize or eliminate the lawn altogether, Pam offers inspiration, reassurance, helpful ideas, how-to's, and tips. This book is 192 pages of beautiful, low-maintenance, and inviting lawn alternatives from an intelligent and practical garden blogger. You can get a copy of Lawn Gone! by Pam Penick and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $9 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day, April 27, the Romans honored Flora - the goddess of flowers and spring. One of the goddesses of fertility and a goddess of eternal youth. Flora was married to the west wind god, Zephyr, and she was the mother of Carpus - a beautiful boy whose name means "fruit." Today, carpology is the study of fruits and seeds, and a carp is the fruiting body of a fungus. The Latin term "Carpe diem" or seize the day could also be thought of as "Make the day fruitful." Today, the word flora is a general name for the plants of a region. Now, while the growing season starts with Flora, the goddess of spring, it ends with Pomona, the goddess of the Harvest. And so, the two goddesses - Flora and Pomona - were respectively celebrated at the beginning and end of the growing season. In 1884, the British artist and designer Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones created two beautiful tapestries that depicted life-sized figures of Flora and Pomona. Each Tapestry was nearly 10- feet long, and a backdrop of foliage and flowers surrounds both goddesses. To the Romans, Flora and Pomona were deemed important enough to have their own dedicated priests, temples, and festivals. Flora's priest was called the Floralis, and her festival was called the Floralia. Established in 240 BCE, the Floralia was a week-long festival loaded with symbolism around renewal and rebirth and celebrated with drinking and flowers. During the festivities, even men wore flowers, and women were allowed to wear bright-colored clothing - something considered taboo otherwise. One of the most beautiful and beloved frescos from this time depicts Flora. Beloved by many, this masterpiece highlights Flora against a green background. She's wearing a yellow dress, and she's walking barefoot with her back to us. Her left arm holds a cornucopia basket filled with delicate spring flowers, and her right hand is reaching to pluck a white flower from a shrub. The Flora fresco is housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy (cat. no. 8834). Finding representations of Flora in art is easy - if you know what to look for. Flora is often shown holding a small bouquet and crowned with a halo of blossoms. And, can you guess what Flora's special gift was? (Here's a hint: it was made (naturally) from flowers and was highly valued by the Romans for its medicinal and culinary uses.) The answer is honey. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a man who is remembered for his contributions to art and ornithology. We'll also learn about a socialite, gardener, and garden designer whose story has been largely unappreciated. We'll hear some thoughts on gardening in the Carolinas. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about resilient homesteading that incorporates an innovative approach to permaculture. And then we'll wrap things up with the incredible behind-the-scenes story of the funeral of one of the world's greatest scientific minds: Charles Darwin. 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 Zen Garden Ideas: Create Your Own Backyard Zen Garden | Garden Design | Janet Loughrey 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 April 26, 1785 Today is the birthday of the ornithologist, artist, and naturalist, John James Audubon, who was born in Santo Domingo, Haiti. John's folio series called "The Birds of America" featured 435 life-size color prints of American birds. And John's favorite state for birding was Louisiana. Honored as the namesake of the National Audubon Society, his birthday, today (April 26th), was designated as National Audubon Day to commemorate his birth and work. In 2011, Google celebrated his birthday with a Google Doodle. It was John James Audobon who said, "In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests." He also said, "When the bird & the book disagree, believe the bird." April 26, 1873 Today is the birthday of the British socialite and garden designer Norah Lindsay. After marrying Sir Harry Lindsay, Norah began gardening at their Manor home and garden in Oxfordshire called Sutton Courtenay - which was given to them as a wedding present from Harry's cousin. Norah's gardens overflowed with flowers, and she hosted regular parties and even masked balls at her estate, which also allowed her to show off her gardens. Norah recognized the powerful draw of gardens. She once described Sutten Courtenay as having a "shining quality," writing, "some gardens, like some people, have a charm potent to enslave and yet as intangible as dew or vapour." Although she adored Italian gardens, Norah's gardens were not formal but rather romantic and wild, relaxed and gentle. She memorably told one gardener that she "loved lilies, lazily lolling." Norah was influenced by William Robinson, an advocate for wild gardening, and Gertrude Jekyll, the English gardener, and writer. Like Jekyll, Norah designed her gardens with drifts of color and soft transitions. And although her gardens seemed effortless, there was a method to Norah's approach to design. Norah had an intuitive sense of scale and impeccable taste in plants. Beautiful, charming, and witty, Norah was sadly not a writer. Her legacy lives on in many of the gardens she created and her only daughter Nancy - who also loved gardening and horticulture. The British gardener, garden designer, and landscape architect Russell Page referred to Norah in his book The Education of a Gardener, saying, "Norah Lindsay could by her plantings evoke all the pleasures of a flower garden. She captured the essence of midsummer... or gave the pith of autumn… She lifted herbaceous planting into a poetic category and gave it an air of rapture and spontaneity." By the time Norah turned 51, her marriage and her bank account had both fallen flat. In a letter to a friend, Norah summed it up simply: "No husband, no money, no home." To provide for herself, Norah began designing gardens for her royal and wealthy friends - a career that would last for two decades. Norah's friends and clients were writers, gardeners, old-Hollywood stars, and politicians - and included Edward, Prince of Wales, Waldorf and Nancy Astor, Charlie Chaplin, Marshall Field III, George Shaw, and Edith Wharton. And, thanks to her wealthy clients, Norah was able to garden all over Europe - which meant that she became adept at understanding different soils, growing zones, and spaces - modifying her designs to accommodate new challenges. One of Norah's friends and clients was the Duke of Windsor. He once remarked, "If you had the money, she was the one to spend it." Yet, surprisingly, Norah's biographer wrote that Norah lived two very different lives. By night, she often dined with the rich and powerful. By day - starting at 5 am - Norah was in the garden with her garden crew. And when her long day of garden work was done, Norah took a train back home; she didn't own a car. One particular friend of Norah's worth noting was the estate owner, gardener, and garden designer Lawrence Johnston who went by Johnny. Johnny owned Hidcote Manor, "HID-cut," and Norah helped him design the magnificent 10.5-acre garden there. Johnny was planning to leave Hidcote to Norah, but that plan was thwarted when Norah died unexpectedly at 75 - shortly after being diagnosed with kidney cancer. Once, when she was in the midst of her career, regularly buying plants for clients, Norah wrote to a friend, "When I die, Magnolia will be written on my heart." Today many regret that Norah did not write books to document her work. Little remains outside of her personal letters that capture Norah's charm, cleverness, and quick wit - and her fresh perspective on gardens and gardening. The American garden historian, Allyson Hayward, wrote an excellent biography of Norah in 2007 called Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer. Unearthed Words In the Carolinas, there are two growing seasons: warm and cool. The cool season runs from about October or November through April or May (depending on where you garden). The warm season runs from May or June through September or October. If you plan your Carolina garden around no other guiding principle than this, you will be well in front of people who don't. ― Katie Elzer-Peters, Carolinas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening: How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest the Best Edibles Grow That Garden Library The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach. In this book, Ben shares what he's learned gardening on a hill farm In Vermont Mad River Valley. Ben shares his incredible ingenuity and intelligent approach to working the land And restoring the biosphere. The author of A Sanctuary of Trees, Gene Logsdon, wrote this about Ben's book, "Grow rice in New England? Yes. Heat water to 155 degrees F on cold winter days at a rate of a gallon a minute by piping it through a compost pile? Yes. How about dinner tonight of your own rack of lamb garnished with homegrown mushrooms? Yes. Your choice of scores of different vegetables and fruits even in winter? Yes. Plus, your own dairy products from your own sheep. All the while, the soil producing this magic, on a site once thought little more than a wasteland, grows yearly more fertile and secure from natural calamity." An early adopter of permaculture principles, Ben is constantly testing ideas for better homesteading on his property in Vermont. Ben founded Whole Systems Design, LLC - a land-based response to biological and cultural extinction and the increasing separation between people and elemental things. So he's a practitioner expert when it comes to permaculture. This book is 320 pages of Inspiring and practical advice to create your edible sanctuary and resilient landscape. You can get a copy of The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $25 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 26, 1882 On this day, the funeral for Charles Darwin was held at noon sharp at Westminster Abbey. Thousands attended it. The deputy organist at Westminster Abbey, John Frederick Bridge, felt Darwin deserved to have an original funeral anthem and so, the day before the funeral he wrote original lyrics inspired by the Book of Proverbs and set them to music: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and getteth understanding. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand, riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Bridge also wrote original funeral hymns for Robert Browning and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Attendees needed tickets to get into the funeral. The ten pallbearers included Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (The son of the famous botanist William Jackson Hooker and Darwin's closest friend), Thomas Henry Huxley (English biologist and anthropologist), Alfred Russel Wallace (British naturalist and evolutionary theorist - and a surprising friend to Darwin), James Russell Lowell (U.S. Ambassador), and William Spottiswoode "Spots-Wood" (President of the Royal Society). Darwin was buried at the Abbey next to the eminent scientist Sir John Herschel and just a few feet away from Sir Isaac Newton. On the Sunday following the funeral, the Bishop of Carlisle, Harvey Goodwin, said in his sermon, there is no "necessary conflict between a knowledge of Nature and a belief in God." One of Darwin's pallbearers, William Spottiswoode, delivered a eulogy for Darwin at the Royal Academy a few days after the funeral, on April 29, 1882. William said: "If patience and perseverance in good work… if a continual overcoming of evil with good in any way constitute elements of greatness, then the man of whom I speak—Charles Darwin—was truly great." On his deathbed, at Down House, Charles Darwin told his wife, Emma, "I am not the least afraid of death—Remember what a good wife you have been to me—Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me." And he told repeatedly told his children, "It's almost worthwhile to be sick to be nursed by you." Darwin's beloved dog, Polly, died naturally, two days after her master. Today, gardeners can visit Down House and explore the home and gardens of Charles Darwin. And, if you would like to pay homage to Darwin in your own garden, you can purchase one of David Austin's favorite and best-selling roses: Charles Darwin. The Charles Darwin yellow rose is gorgeous and wonderfully fragrant - with notes of soft floral Tea and pure lemon. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the birthday of the greatest playwright who ever lived - and he incorporated over 200 seeds, flowers, fruits, herbs, grasses, and trees into his large body of work. We'll also learn about Wordsworth's favorite flower - lesser celandine. We'll hear some words about the flowers we often fall in love with - simple flowers. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about Kitchen Gardening. And then we'll wrap things up with English Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) for the patron saint of England, St. George. 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 Isabel Bannerman on the evocative pleasure of scented plants | House & Garden | Isabel Bannerman 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 April 23, 1564 Today is the birthday of the English author, poet, and playwright William Shakespeare. A lover of gardens and the science of botany, William Shakespeare included hundreds of references to flora and fauna in his plays and sonnets. And each flower would have conveyed symbolic meaning to his audiences. In addition, William was a master of metaphor. Since William's death, there have been many books written on the elements of nature mentioned in Shakespeare's works. In 1906, the garden author and illustrator Walter Crane created beautiful anthropomorphized plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays as people in his 1906 book, "Flowers from Shakespeare's Garden." In 2017, a book called Botanical Shakespeare by the Shakespeare historian Gerit Quealy was published. The subtitle for the book is An Illustrated Compendium of All the Flowers, Fruits, Herbs, Trees, Seeds, and Grasses Cited by the World's Greatest Playwright. And, by the way, this book is gorgeous - the watercolor illustrations are incredible, and I love all the quotes and insights provided by Gerit. Helen Mirren wrote the forward. Today, Shakespeare fans and gardeners delight in Shakespeare Gardens, and there are roughly 50 of these specialty gardens around the world that only cultivate plants mentioned in William's work. There's a lovely semi-hidden Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco. There's another Shakespeare Garden with over 50 flowers on the Evanston campus of Northwestern. Central Park has a little Shakespeare Garden located between 79th and 80th Streets. And in 1914, the Dunedin Botanic Garden in New Zealand established a Shakespeare Garden, including a replica of Shakespeare's Boxwood Knot Garden in Stratford on Avon. Here are some favorite flower quotes from Shakespeare: Sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste. — William Shakespeare, Richard III There's rosemary, that's for remembrance pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. That's for thoughts... – William Shakespeare, Hamlet I know a bank where the wild thyme grows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine... – William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream April 23, 1770 Today is the anniversary of the death of one of the founders of English Romanticism, the poet William Wordsworth. A lover of nature, William wrote about our relationship with the natural world. Although William is best known for his poem about Daffodils that starts, "I wandered lonely as a cloud," William's favorite flower was the spring-blooming Lesser Celandine (Ficaria Verna), and he wrote three poems about it. He wrote: There is a flower, the lesser celandine That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain And, the first moment that the sun may shine Bright as the sun himself, 'tis out again!' Lesser celandine is a yellow buttercup or Ranunculus. It's a woodland star-shaped flower that loves wet areas, and when it is happy, it spreads everywhere. In fact, many places now label Lesser Celandine as an invasive plant. Lesser Celandine also has the unfortunate common name pilewort - since it was used to treat hemorrhoids. William loved Lesser Celandine so much that he asked that his tombstone be carved with the flower. But, in a twist of fate, Thomas Woolner, the British sculptor, and poet carved a poppy flower known as greater celandine - a flower that looks nothing like Wordsworth's favorite blossom. The marble Wordsworth memorial was described by the Oxford University Press this way: "The memorial, erected in August 1851, is a white memorial tablet in the shape of a squat, stylized obelisk, with the poet's profile in relief on the base section, against a panel of grey marble… In two narrow squares on each side of [Wordsworth's] head are... the daffodil, the celandine, the snowdrop, and violet." Unearthed Words The arbutus is now open everywhere in the woods and groves. How pleasant it is to meet the same flowers year after year! If the blossoms were liable to change – if they were to become capricious and irregular – they might excite more surprise, more curiosity, but we should love them less; they might be just as bright, and gay, and fragrant under other forms, but they would not be the violets and squirrel-cups, and ground laurels we loved last year. Whatever your roving fancies may say, there is a virtue in constancy which has a reward above all that fickle change can bestow, giving strength and purity to every affection of life and even throwing additional grace about the flowers which bloom in our native fields. We admire the strange and brilliant plant of the green-house, but we love most the simple flowers we have loved of old, which have bloomed many a spring, through rain and sunshine, on our native soil. ― Susan Fenimore Cooper, American writer, and amateur naturalist Grow That Garden Library Kitchen Garden Revival by Nicole Johnsey Burke This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is A modern guide to creating a stylish, small-scale, low-maintenance, edible garden. In this book, Nicole shares everything you need to know to set up and establish a functional and beautiful kitchen garden. Nicole sees the potential for kitchen gardens in any and all outdoor spaces. A fan of raised beds, smart crop selection, gorgeous design, attentive care, and harvesting your favorite garden-fresh edibles, Nicole's season-by-season guide helps you create the kitchen or food garden of your dreams. This book is 208 pages of growing your own delicious organic food in a beautiful, low-maintenance raised garden right outside your door. You can get a copy of Kitchen Garden Revival by Nicole Johnsey Burke and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $11 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today, April 23, is St George's Day - the feast day of the patron saint of England, St. George. Known as the dragon slayer, St. George was partial to the color blue, and he is remembered with the English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) - a flower that blooms around this time each year. Cicely Mary Barker created a Blue Bell Fairy poem along with a beautiful watercolor. The first verse goes like this: My hundred thousand bells of blue, The splendor of the Spring, They carpet all the woods anew With royalty of sapphire hue; The Primrose is the Queen, 'tis true. But surely I am King! And in her book, The Brief Life of Flowers, Fiona Stafford writes, "Bluebells are reminders of the very origins of 'spring,' the great gush of life." English bluebells are simpler and less floriferous than the invasive Spanish variety. Anne Brontë recognized the simplicity of the bluebell in her poem about the blossom. She wrote, But when I looked upon the bank My wandering glances fell Upon a little trembling flower, A single sweet bluebell. Today a modern bluebell poem from Stella Williams addresses the damage humans can do to natural areas - like the woodlands where bluebells like to grow. In 2018, The Woodland Trust featured verses the poem along woodland paths to remind people that traipsing through nature areas can cause long-term damage. Here's The Bluebell Blues by Stella Williams, a content manager at The Woodlands Trust. Help us beat the bluebell blues, a problem caused by paws and shoes. Keep to the path, enjoy the view and let the new green leaves push through. As leaves unfurl and buds hang free, they hint at beauty we'll soon see; but if dogs or walkers go off track, we may never get that beauty back. Now the flowery bells unfold and violet carpets are unrolled, to delight you and all who follow. Let's ensure they're here tomorrow. When the bluebells fade and die beneath the soil, their bulbs still lie. If damaged, they could disappear; protect them, and they'll grow next year. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the man who conceived of a new holiday that became Arbor Day. We'll also learn about the man who developed the first classification system for plants based on evolution. We'll hear some grateful words about spring from the author Barbara Kingsolver. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a garden cookbook that is a total gem for the gardener-cook. And then we'll wrap things up with a look back at the dedication of the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. 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 Plants and People of Vanuatu ("vah-new-AH-too") | The New York Botanical Garden | Earth Day Documentary Premiere 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 April 22, 1832 Today is the birthday of a Nebraska newspaper editor, Secretary of Agriculture, and father of Arbor Day, Julius Sterling Morton. In 1867, after moving west to Nebraska from Detroit, J. Sterling and his wife Caroline were shocked by the 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. J. Sterling decided that a broader celebration of all trees was in order. 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 yearly national holiday - celebrated on April 22 to honor J. Sterling Morton's birthday. Despite his many professional and honorable appointments at the state and federal level, J. Sterling considered Arbor Day to be 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. Nowadays, Arbor Day is generally celebrated on the last Friday in April in the United States. Arbor Day 2021 will occur on Friday, April 30th. It was J. Sterling Morton who said, Other holidays repose upon the past; Arbor Day proposes for the future. April 22, 1839 Today is the birthday of the German botanist August Wilhelm Eichler. Wilhelm developed one of the first widely used natural systems of plant classification. Most importantly, it was the first classification system based on evolution. In addition, Wilhelm divided the plant kingdom into non-floral plants and floral plants. Wilhelm spent many years working tirelessly as a private assistant to the naturalist Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martinus. Karl had traveled to Brazil and collected over 20,000 specimens. He spent the final three decades of his life documenting his findings in a book called Flora Brasiliensis, which Wilhelm helped edit. Generally speaking, a Flora is a book describing all plants from a set geographic area. When Karl died in 1868, Wilhelm carried on the work of Flora Brasiliensis unassisted. It was a labor of love. 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. Wilhelm Eichler who said, "The felling of the first tree is the beginning of human civilization. The felling of the last is his end." Unearthed Words Spring is made of solid, fourteen-karat gratitude, the reward for the long wait. Every religious tradition from the northern hemisphere honors some form of April hallelujah, for this is the season of exquisite redemption, a slam-bang return to joy after a season of cold second thoughts. ― Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life Grow That Garden Library Kitchen Garden Cookbook by Jeanne Kelley This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is Celebrating the homegrown & homemade. Jeanne is also the author of the acclaimed Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden and Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library Holiday Baking. In this cookbook, Jeanne shares the recipes she developed to feature the fruits, vegetables, herbs, eggs, and even honey harvested from your own garden. Jeanne's simple recipes are inspiring and delicious. Whether you have a large garden, a small kitchen garden, or simply enjoy shopping for fresh ingredients from the farmer's market, Jeanne's cookbook will give you plenty of new ideas for every season in the garden. Jeanne's cookbook is cleverly divided into four main sections, spring, summer, fall & winter, and the coop & the hive. What I love about Jeanne's cookbook is her focus on the "greatest hits" of a traditional kitchen garden - like tomatoes, zucchini, and berries. Jeanne also shares her tips for planting a well-thought-out kitchen garden. Jeanne offers more than 100 recipes featuring the fresh and natural flavors of whatever is in season. Some of my favorites include her shaved zucchini salad with almonds, ricotta & pea crostini, grilled ham and cheese with herb pesto, cherry tomato and thyme frittata, lettuce, butter & Radish Salad, and her summer herb drizzle with sliced tomatoes and mozzarella. This book is 224 pages of beautiful photography, quaint illustrations of Jeanne's garden, and a fabulous go-to cookbook for the gardener-cook. You can get a copy of the Kitchen Garden Cookbook by Jeanne Kelley and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $2. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 22, 1965 On this day, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden was dedicated. Jackie did not attend the dedication. Her mother attended in her place. The dedication brought tears and smiles. Jackie had helped design the garden - which was to be called the White House East Garden - along with her friend, the horticulturist and gardener Rachel Lambert Mellon, who always went by "Bunny." After the assassination of President Kennedy, the first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, reached out to Bunny to complete the East garden. Bunny agreed to do the work on one condition: that the garden be named the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden in honor of her friend, the former First Lady. The dedication ceremony for the garden was bathed in sunlight. First Lady Johnson gave a speech, saying: "There could be only one name for this garden." Jackie was not keen to have the garden named in her honor. Both the Rose Garden and the East Garden had been John's ideas. After Lady Bird persisted, Jackie finally relented but asked that the naming be downplayed and placed inconspicuously on a bench in the garden. In fact, there is a bench in the garden - a Lutyens bench - designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens ("Lutchins"). This bench is an iconic feature of many gardens. The bench was placed next to the grape arbor, and on one of the posts for the grape arbor, there is an elegant, small, silver plaque - 2.5 inches square. The font for the plaque is Bunny's own handwriting - and it says, "This garden is dedicated to Jacqueline Kennedy with great affection by those who worked with her in the White House, April 22, 1965." In appreciation for Bunny's work, Jackie gifted Bunny a large folio-sized scrapbook tracing the work on both the Rose Garden and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. A self-taught gardener and designer, Bunny kept the book in her magnificent personal garden Library at her Oak Hill estate in Upperville, Virginia. In fact, the basketweave brick hardscaping in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is a replica of Bunny's paving at Oak Spring. To make the surface permeable, Bunny made sure there was no mortar between the bricks. In the weeks following the dedication, a little story about Bunny's time designing the White House gardens began circulating through newspapers. The Morning Call out of Paterson, New Jersey reported that, "Robert Kennedy… recalled the day that Bunny Mellon's garden hoe cut the White House communication link with the outside world. Mrs. Mellon did a lot of the actual spading and planting herself, Senator Kennedy noted, "Often, during Cabinet meetings, we would see her out there in the rose garden - a little figure with a bandana around her head," he said. One day, he recalled, there was complete consternation. Mrs. Mellon's hoe had cut right through a buried cable that connected the President of the United States with key spots around the world. Immediately after that, a long-planned improvement and modernization of White House communication equipment was hastily commenced... Cables were moved out of the Rose garden, into another area of the grounds, and deeply buried in a vault-like structure, secure from any future woman with a hoe. President Kennedy, who had not previously paid much attention to yards and gardens, became intensely interested in the appearance of the White House grounds and devoted a lot of thought to improving them, Robert Kennedy recalls, even in times of great crisis, "John Kennedy found time for his gardens." JFK learned the names of most of the species and proudly reeled them off to visitors as he showed them around. President Kennedy actually had a lot more to do with the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, which is to be used by First Ladies and their children, than did Mrs. Kennedy. It was a consciousness of this that made the gentle Jacqueline Kennedy very reluctant to have the garden bear her name. The new garden is an interesting contrast to the rose garden. Whereas the latter is strong and bold, with large clusters of brilliantly hued tulips, marching lines of flowering crabapple trees, and beds laid out in strong diagonal lines. The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden was deliberately planned by Mrs. Mellon to be a gentle garden. Tulips are widely scattered and are in shades of white, yellow, and soft orange. Bed outlines are circular rather than diagonal. This is the first time, incidentally, that an area in or around the White House ever has been named for a First Lady. The White House curator office says it can find no record that any other First Lady was so honored. There are not many things around the mansion named after Presidents, in fact. The only present exception is the Lincoln Room." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a man who found all the answers to life in nature, and we still learn from his profound observations today. We'll also learn about a botanist and publisher who found fame and forged meaningful connections with top botanical illustrators and horticulturists of his time. We'll hear an excerpt about spring in Paris from an American author and journalist who lives in France. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a fun fiction book about a botany major who feels a kinship with plants on the brink of extinction. And then we'll wrap things up with a little article published on this day in 1985 about ferns from the great garden writer Frances Perry. 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 The 7 Best Indoor Herb Gardens | Bustle | Scarlett James 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 April 21, 1838 Today is the birthday of the Scottish-American naturalist, conservationist, and author John Muir. Muir was known by many names: "John of the Mountains," "Father of Yosemite," and "Father of the National Parks." In particular, John's work to preserve Yosemite resulted in a famous picture of Muir posing with President Teddy Roosevelt on Overhanging Rock at the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite in 1903. And, when I was researching Charles Sprague Sargent (the first director of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum in Boston), I stumbled on a fun little story about John and Charles that was featured in a 1915 article. It's a favorite of mine because it highlights the personality differences between the extroverted John Muir and the very serious Charles Sargent. It turns out that the two men had gone on a trip one fall to hike the mountains in North Carolina. John wrote, "The autumn frosts were just beginning, and the mountains and higher hilltops were gorgeous. We climbed slope after slope through the trees till we came out on the bare top of Grandfather Mountain. There it all lay in the sun below us, ridge beyond ridge, each with its typical tree-covering and color, all blended with the darker shades of the pines and the green of the deep valleys. . . . I couldn't hold in and began to jump about and sing and glory in it all. Then I happened to look round and catch sight of [Charles Sargent] standing there as cool as a rock, with a half-amused look on his face at me but never saying a word. "Why don't you let yourself out at a sight like that?" I said. "I don't wear my heart upon my sleeve," he retorted. "Who cares where you wear your little heart, man?" I cried. "There you stand in the face of all Heaven come down on earth, like a critic of the universe, as if to say, Come, Nature, bring on the best you have: I'm from BOSTON!" It was John Muir who said these wonderful quotes: The mountains are calling, and I must go. In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks. 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. April 21, 1864 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English bookseller, printer, publisher, pharmacist, and botanist, Benjamin Maund. Benjamin had a large garden where he enjoyed cultivating seeds from around the world. He had a special curiosity about wheat and was interested in crossing and growing different wheat cultivars. He even exhibited wheat and gave talks on it when he had time. In 1846, an English newspaper reported that Benjamin was the first botanist to attempt to improve wheat through hybridization. On Christmas day in 1813, after his father died, Benjamin bought a bookstore and publishing house. The entrepreneurial move would set the stage for his greatest work - a monthly publication designed to be both useful and affordable called, The Botanic Garden. Despite the publication's London imprint, Benjamin lived and worked in the small market town of Bromsgrove all of his life. Published between 1825 and 1850, The Botanic Garden brought Benjamin notoriety and authority. Benjamin became a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and he even corresponded with other top botanists like Darwin's mentor, John Stevens Henslow of Cambridge University. Benjamin's main goal was to share "hardy ornamental flowering plants, cultivated in Great Britain." Each monthly edition of The Botanic Garden featured a colored illustration of four different flowers, along with four pages of descriptive text. As a result, Benjamin worked with some of the best botanical artists of his time, including Augusta Withers, Priscilla Bury, and Edwin Smith. In fact, Benjamin's own daughters, Eliza and Sarah, experimented with botanical illustration, and their work was also featured in the publication. Today, all of the issues of The Botanic Garden, along with over 1200 pieces of original botanical art produced for publication, are preserved at the Natural History Museum in London. Benjamin also introduced a biennial to Britain - the Spiny Plumeless Thistle or Welted Thistle (Carduus acanthoides "KARD-ew-us "ah-kan-THOY-deez"). As with most thistles, the Welted Thistle is an invasive herb that can grow one to four feet tall. It has a thick taproot that can grow to a foot long, and the purple to pink flower can appear individually or in clusters. Although it is a thistle, the Welted Thistle bloom is really quite pretty. Poignantly, sixty-four years after his death, Benjamin's hometown memorialized him with a tablet showing his head surrounded by a wreath of Carduus acanthoides.
Unearthed Words Spring had come to the market as well. Everywhere there were young green things, the tips of asparagus, young leeks no bigger than scallions. There was crisp arugula, curled and tangled, and fresh green peas, plump in their pods. I had no idea what I wanted to make for dinner. This didn't pose a problem; on the contrary, it was an opportunity, a mini-adventure. The season's new ingredients brought new ideas. The first baby tomatoes were coming in from Sicily. I bought a box of small red globes still on the vine and a red onion in my favorite childhood shade of royal purple. Maybe I would make a salsa for the dorade (do-rahd) I'd picked up at the fishmonger. I imagined a bright confetti, the tomatoes mixed with freshly chopped coriander, maybe a sunny mango. ― Elizabeth Bard, American author, Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes Grow That Garden Library Kinship of Clover by Ellen Meeropol This botany-inspired fiction book came out in 2017 with a theme centered around endangered plants and a premise that examines how to stay true to the people you care about while trying to change the world. In this book, Ellen Meeropol tells the story of a botany major at the University of Massachusetts, named Jeremy who feels a kinship with plants that are nearing or have become extinct. Jeremy first appeared in Ellen's book House Arrest as a nine-year-old child who had survived family trauma and found safety in the family greenhouse where he loved to draw plants. This book is 248 pages of one young man's struggle to fight for the environment and climate justice without losing the people he loves. You can get a copy of Kinship of Clover by Ellen Meeropol and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 21, 1985 On this day, the garden writer, Frances Perry, shared a charming article in her regular gardening column in The Observer about how to grow a fern spore. She wrote: My father-in-law, Amos Perry, once told me that if I pushed a stopperless bottle upside down in moist shady soil, a fern would grow inside it. So I did just that and then forgot it. Two years later, while separating some large hellebore plants, we came across the old bottle. Sure enough, there was a baby fern growing inside. The spores; can survive in their millions until conditions for growth are right. Next, Frances shared how to propagate ferns: The best way to propagate [ferns] is by division. This is a good time both to plant and divide. Propagation by means of spores is more laborious. Towards the end of summer, the spores are found on the backs of mature fronds. When ripe, they can be shaken off, then sown on fine soil in a pot or pan. Do not cover with soil, but lay a pane of glass over the top to maintain humidity. Stand the pot in a saucer with a little rainwater at its base. Keep the temperature at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and remove the glass for about an hour daily to change the air. Wipe it dry before returning. Eventually, green cushion-like bodies will appear… Later, first tiny green leaves... It will be at least another 12 months before good plants are produced. Finally, Frances highlights a variety of ferns. Regarding Queen Victoria's fern, she wrote, Queen Victoria's Fern, Athyrium filix-femina 'Victoriae' ("ah-THEER-ee-um FY-lix--FEM-in-uh"), which has its 3-foot fronds and all their pinnae (segments) crossed to form V's as well as boasting crested edges, was found near a Scottish cart track more than a century ago. Regarding the Royal Fern, Frances said, No waterside fern is more regal than the Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis ("oz-MUN-duh ray-GAH-lis"), the 8- to10-foot fronds once sheltered an ancient British king, Osmund, from marauding Danes. Then Frances shared her favorite ferns for wet gardens and indoor spaces. She wrote: Good ferns for soggy spots include all of the Heart's Tongues; the Netted Chain Fern, Woodwardia areolata ("wood-WAR-dee-ah arr-ee-oh-LAY-ta"), a creeping plant for swampy ground, and the Dwarf Oak Fern, Gymnocarpium dryopteris 'Plumosum' ("jim-n-oh-KAR-pi-um dry-OP-ter-is ploom-oh-sim"). Ferns suitable for indoor culture include most Maidenhairs, Adiantums ("AYE-dee-ANT-ums") — which incidentally loathe tobacco smoke — the Hare's Foot [or the Squirrel's Foot fern], Davallia fejeensis, ("duh-vall-ee-uh fee-jay-en-sis") — ideal for hanging baskets with its brown exposed tubers like animal paws, the long-fronded aptly-named Ladder Ferns (Nephrolepis "nef-ro-LEP-iss" varieties - like the sword fern or Boston fern) and the Bird's Nest Fern, Asplenium nidus "as-PLEE-nee-um Nye-dis"; which produces 24-inch fronds shuttlecock fashion in a wide circle. In nature, Asplenium perches on trees, but our 20-year-old does very well in a large flower pot. I only water into the center of the plant, not into the soil. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Today we celebrate the botanist who named the fuchsia plant. We'll also learn about the first American to become a full-time naturalist. We'll hear some charming thoughts on April and May from a Scottish author who mentored Lewis Carroll. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a 25-year-old garden classic written to help gardeners in the Big Apple - New York City. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of the Daffodil King, Peter Barr, on his 195th birthday today. 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 Garden Blogger's Bloom Day For April | Phillip Oliver Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. 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 April 20, 1646 Today is the birthday of the French priest and botanist Charles Plumier. He was born in Marseille. Regarded as one of the most important botanical explorers of his time, Charles served as a botanist to King Louis XIV of France. He traveled many times to the New World, documenting plant and animal species. During his third expedition to the Greater Antilles, Charles discovered the Fuchsia triphylla on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Charles named the fuchsia plant after the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. And because he named the Fuschia, Charles is sometimes referred to as the Father of the Fuchsia. Now, the Fuchsia has colorful upside-down blossoms that hang from the stems. This is how Fuchsias get the common name ladies eardrops. And that drooping habit is reflected in the Irish name for Fuchsia - Deora Dé - which translates to "God's Tears." And it's worth noting that the fruit of all the species of Fuchsia is edible. However, many Fuschia fruits are bland and have a bad aftertaste. But the Fuschia variety Splendens has flavorful fruit and can be used to make jam. Now, in addition to the Fuchsia, Charles discovered and named both the Begonia and the Magnolia. Charles named the Begonia after Michel Begon, who was the governor of the French Antilles for three years from 1682 to 1685. In fact, it was Begon who recommended Charles for the position of plant collector in the Caribbean to King Louis XIV. So this naming of the Begonia was a little payback by Charles to Michel Begon. On the other hand, the naming of the Magnolia was in recognition of the great botanist Pierre Magnol - who introduced the concept of plant families. Now the plant names Fuschia, Begonia, and Magnolia first debuted in Charles Plumier's 1703 book called New Plants of the Americas. Charles drew the plants and animals that he discovered — and his drawings were actually quite good. In fact, Charles's illustrations of fish were featured in a 2018 book by Professor Ted Pietsch called Charles Plumier and His Drawings of French Caribbean Fishes. And Carl Linnaeus and his wife were huge Plumier fans. They used Charles's artwork to make wallpaper for their home. Today, Charles is remembered by the genus Plumeria. A tropical, the Plumeria grows in shrubs and trees. Plumeria is sometimes called the common name Frangipani. This is because an Italian Marquis named Frangipani used Plumeria blossoms to create a perfume used to scent gloves during the 16th century. April 20, 1739 Today is the birthday of the American botanist, artist, and naturalist known as The Flower Hunter, William Bartram. The son of the Quaker botanist John Bartram, William - or Billy (as he was known to his family) - was the first American to pursue a life devoted to the study of nature. Together, William and his father were the leading American plant collectors and horticulturists of their time. The two explored colonial Pennsylvania and New York. In his heart, William was an artist, and his nature art was widely acclaimed. But before William's notoriety for his art was established, his father, John, worried that Billy would end up a starving artist. He attempted many times to steer his son toward other more lucrative endeavors. Ultimately, William's father came around, and he and William went on their final adventure together in Florida. While John collected specimens, William sketched and wrote. During this trip, John and William came upon a unique tree, a tree that John named the Franklin tree after his dear friend Benjamin Franklin. The botanical name for the tree is Franklinia alatamaha, "frank-LIN-ee-ah ah-lah-tah-MAH-hah." William returned to the spot later in life and collected seeds for propagation — and thank goodness he did. By 1803, the Franklin Tree had gone extinct in the wild. And so, all Franklin trees cultivated and prized in gardens and arboretums around the world are descended from the seeds William Bartram collected and cultivated over two hundred years ago. William was also the first person to describe and name the Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia "kwer-sih-FOE-lee-ah"). After his trip with his father, William returned to Florida to farm, another career move that worried his dad. In 1791, his book about his 2,400-mile exploration of the American South, Travels, was published. The book became an immediate sensation in Europe, where people were curious about the flora and fauna of the New World. In BJ Healey's book, The Plant Hunters, he presents a charming summation of William's story. He wrote, "Through his [book] Travels — one of the earliest and certainly the most finest record of American experience, landscape, and people in the eighteenth century; a book that achieved world-wide recognition and profoundly influenced Wordsworth, Coleridge, and many later writers — [William] more than proved himself a worthy son of the Old Quaker pioneer. John Bartram need not have been troubled in his later years, he would have been proud of Billy in the end." Unearthed Words May had now set in, but up here among the hills, she was May by courtesy only; or if she was May, she would never be might. She was, indeed, only April with her showers and sunshine, her tearful, childish laughter, and again the frown and the despair irremediable. Nay, as if she still kept up a secret correspondence with her cousin March, banished for his rudeness, she would not very seldom shake from her skirts a snowstorm and oftener the dancing hail. Then out would come the sun behind her, and laugh, and say — "I could not help THAT; but here I am all the same, coming to you as fast as I can!" ― George MacDonald, Scottish author, and mentor to Lewis Carroll, Sir Gibbie Grow That Garden Library Ken Druse's New York City Gardener by Ken Druse This book came out in 1996, and the subtitle is A How-To and Source Book for Gardening in the Big Apple. In this book, one of America's top horticulturists, Ken Druse, shares his top tips for New York City's urban gardeners as well as his favorite haunts for resources. When he wrote this book, Ken gardened in a tiny, shady, 21x50-foot space behind his Brooklyn townhouse. When this book came out, Ken had just bought a two-and-a-half acre plot of land on an island in the middle of a small New Jersey river. And although some things have changed over the years, much of what Ken shares - in this 25-year-old how-to garden classic - remains relevant. This book is 221 pages of gardening goodness in the Big Apple and timeless inspiration for urban or small-space gardeners. You can get a copy of Ken Druse's New York City Gardener by Ken Druse and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5 Note: When this post was published, out-of-print hardcover copies of this book start at $700. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 20, 1826 Today is the birthday of the Scottish nurseryman and merchant, Peter Barr. After learning that work remained incomplete for cataloging daffadowndillies (as they were called at the time) - or daffodils as we now know them, Peter became inspired to collect, breed, and study them. Today, Peter is credited as the man who popularized the daffodil. In America, Peter's promotion of daffodils inspired a daffodil craze after the Civil War ended. Over his lifetime, Peter bred over two million daffodils in his Surrey nursery, which earned him the moniker "The Daffodil King." At one point, the Peter Barr daffodil - a white trumpet variety - commanded $250 per bulb. And as you can imagine, each spring, people would travel from all around to see thousands of daffodils representing over a hundred unique daffodil varieties blooming at Peter's nursery. During his seventies, Peter traveled the world, collecting daffs in Asia and South America. When Peter finally retired, he went home to Scotland, and once there, he pivoted - and began cultivatingPrimroses. Two years before his death, Peter famously mused, "I wonder who will plant my grave with primroses?" When Peter died, his obituary hailed that Peter was known from "one end of Great Britain to the other." Today the Peter Barr Memorial Cup is awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society for excellence in daffodils. And in 2019, there was a Grand Blue Plaque Unveiling at Peter's English nursery along Garratt Lane. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a botanist remembered with the Haworthia ("how-wurth-EE-ah") genus. We'll also learn about a botanist who spent 25 years researching the forests of the Eastern United States. We'll hear about the Greek goddess of spring from author Jen Calonita. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about flower arranging. And then we'll wrap things up with National Garlic Day. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf. Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org Curated News Recipes from the gardens of Great Dixter | House & Garden | Aaron Bertelsen Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there's no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you'd search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
Today we celebrate a botanical artist who learned to paint from her famous younger brother. We'll also learn about a botanist who was fascinated with seed dispersion and weeds. We'll hear a little snippet about spring from an author and ecologist. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about the cultural significance behind Japanese Gardens. And then we'll wrap things up with National Orchid Day. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:
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 Missouri Botanical Garden's Robbie Hart finds his passion in the Himalayas | St. Louis Business Journal | Nathan Rubbelke 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 April 16, 1847 Today is the birthday of the American botanical illustrator Ellen Thayer Fisher. Born in Boston, Ellen's family eventually moved to Brooklyn, New York. The daughter of a Civil War surgeon and doctor, Ellen's younger brother Abbott became a famous American painter and naturalist. When Abbott attended the Brooklyn Art School and the Academy of Design, he would come back home and share with Ellen what he was learning about drawing and painting. When she was 22, Ellen married Edward Thornton Fisher, and together they had seven children. In her spare time, Ellen focused on the subject of botanicals - painting mainly floral still lifes. Sometimes her brother, Abbott, would assist with the final touches of her work - which is why some of her paintings are also signed by her brother. Abbott always called her "Nellie," and Ellen always signed her paintings with this family endearment. To help with her family's finances, Ellen painted for exhibitions - likely using her brother's connections, but she also gave "lessons by letter" to aspiring artists. By 1884, Ellen began producing art for the Boston publisher, Louis Prang - the man known as the father of the American Christmas card. Louis turned Ellen's art into beautiful greeting cards. Some of Ellen's more popular pieces feature Blackberries, Poppies, and a there's one with a Thistle that's visited by a bumblebee. April 16, 1886 Today is the birthday of the English botanist and ecologist, Sir Edward Salisbury. The youngest of nine children, Edward's passion for plants started as a young boy. Edward loved to go out into the countryside to dig up plants to grow in his own garden patch at home. Once he identified the plant, he attached a label with the Latin name. His older brothers teased him by calling his garden 'The Graveyard.' Edward grew up to become one of the leading British botanists of the twentieth century. During World War II, he was the director of Kew - a position he held for thirteen years. During the war, Edward wrote a paper called "The Flora of Bombed Areas." Bomb sites were fascinating to Edward. What drew his attention was the way that seeds were dispersed in the aftermath of bombing. Edward immersed himself in the subject of seeds and how they traveled - whether by human shoes, bird droppings, animal feed bags, or wind. Edward wrote many books, but he is best known for his classic garden book called, Weeds and Aliens. In the book, Edward tells the story of going for a walk in the countryside. When he got home, he discovered that the cuffs of his wool trousers were full of seeds. In a moment of inspiration, Edward decided to try to grow them. The net result was that Edward grew more than 300 plants, "comprising over 20 different species of weeds." Indeed, Edward loved plants, and he was especially interested in their native habitats and how they grew in the wild. Edward had strong opinions about plants. He once said, "The double lily was and is a crime against God and man." Edward died in 1978. He lived to be 92. Unearthed Words The world is exploding in emerald, sage, and lusty chartreuse - neon green with so much yellow in it. It is an explosive green that, if one could watch it moment by moment throughout the day, would grow in every dimension. ― Amy Seidl, ecologist, writer, and teacher, Early Spring: An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World Grow That Garden Library Japanese Garden Design by Marc Peter Keane This book came out in 2017. In this book, the landscape architect Marc Peter Keane shares how gardens are designed in Japan. Marc moved to Japan in 1985, where he's been teaching garden design and designing gardens. Marc does a masterful job of conveying the intentions and motivations for some of Japan's most beautiful gardens. Now intentions and motivations are two important aspects of Japanese gardens that often go unnoticed since Japanese gardens look so natural and wild. Yet, these peaceful places are man-made. Japanese gardens tell stories - and those stories, according to Marc, are very controlled and intentional. Marc helps translate these stories along with helping us to appreciate the metaphors the gardens represent. In the forward to Marc's book, is this charming anecdote: At the end of his life, American poet Ezra Pound, wrote: "Let the wind speak. That is paradise." The Japanese garden designer, like the poet, creates a theater for the wind to speak, and to our delight, we find that the wind has words. With Japanese Garden Design, Mr. Keane provides an etymology, grammar, and lexicon for deciphering, just what the wind has to say." This book is 192 pages of beautiful Japanese gardens along with cultural and historical insights that make the beauty of these gardens even more meaningful. You can get a copy of Japanese Garden Design by Marc Peter Keane 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 Today is National Orchid Day. It has been observed annually on April 16th since 2015. Now, Orchids are my new go-to order from the florist. If I need to give a gift, I'll send an orchid because they are so long-lived and they are simply spectacular. Orchids have been an obsession for many gardeners. The great Enid Haupt, also known as "the fairy godmother of American horticulture," fell immediately in love with orchids when her future husband, Ira Haupt, gifted her with a Cymbidium Orchid. Enid was immediately enthralled by it, and she began a life-long love affair with orchids. And I love what the American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and science historian Stephen Jay Gould, once wrote about Orchids: "Orchids manufacture their intricate devices from the common components of ordinary flowers, parts usually fitted for very different functions. Orchids were not made by an ideal engineer; they are jury-rigged from a limited set of available components. Thus, they must have evolved from ordinary flowers." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
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