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 gardener who was also a Founding Father and a Governor of New York. We'll also learn about a botanist who brought back the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae "strel-IT-zee-ah REJ-in-ee") as well as a plant that is now the oldest living potted plant at Kew. We hear a charming poem that takes us through the seasons by an English poet who was friends with many poets, including Mary Wollstonecraft. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a good ol' garden book that teaches how to grow your own food. And then we'll wrap things up with another delightful story about the Mistletoe - this one is a heart-warmer. 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 Garden News 6 Great Plants for a New Perennial Design | Fine Gardening | Greg Loades Facebook Group I share all of my curated news articles and original blog posts 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 December 23, 1745 Today is the birthday of the American Founding Father and gardener John Jay. When he wasn't serving as the second Governor of New York and the United States' first Chief Justice, John Jay loved to garden. John's ancestral home was in Rye, New York. And today, the Jay Heritage Center oversees the Jay Estate and the incredible landscape, which includes stone ha-ha walls from 1822, one-and-a-half acres of historic sunken gardens from the 1700s, a meadow, an apple orchard, and elm tree allée. And here's a little fun fact about John Jay: His great-granddaughter, Mary Rutherfurd Jay, grew up on the ancestral Jay estate. She became one of America's earliest landscape architects and an advocate of horticultural education and women's careers. In 1801, John and his wife, Sarah, retired to their farmhouse in Bedford, Westchester County. Yet, their dream of settled farm life was cut short when Sarah died at age 45. John never remarried, and he lived out his remaining 30 years on this earth as a gentleman farmer. Today the John Jay Homestead features four gardens that reflect the John Jay family:
Personally, I find the most touching garden of all is the blue and white North Courtyard Garden, which was inspired by a book of pressed flowers from John's daughter, Maria Jay. This charming blue and white garden features violets, poppies, and irises, which bloom from spring to fall. And, I should mention that all of the gardens at the John Jay homestead are tended by local garden clubs. December 23, 1805 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish gardener, botanical illustrator, and the very first plant hunter for Kew, Francis Masson. After proving himself capable at Kew, Joseph Banks sent Francis on an expedition to southern Africa, where he met up with the Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg. Together Francis and Carl ventured into the veldt and the Blue Mountains. Surviving the extreme heat, lack of water, and dangerous wild animals, Francis made it back to England in 1775. With his gardener's eye for ornamentals, Francis brought back many plants and seeds to England. In a letter to Linnaeus, Francis reported he had "added upwards of 400 new species to his Majesties collection of living plants". Among Francis' specimens were gladioli, irises, kniphofias, lobelias, and pelargoniums as well as the stunning bird of paradise flower, which was named to honor the wife of George III, Queen Charlotte: a patroness of the arts, an amateur botanist in her own right, and a champion of Kew Gardens. And the name of the plant recognized the fact that the Queen was born in Germany in an area called Mecklenberg-Strelitz. And so, the botanical name for the Bird of Paradise is the Strelitzia reginae ("stray-LIT-zee-ah REJ-in-ee.") As for Francis, after his trip to South America, he went on expeditions to North America, Portugal, and Northern Africa. But in 1785, Francis returned to his favorite destination: South Africa. This time, Francis spent a decade there - botanizing deep into the country's interior. And it was during this time that Francis discovered the arum lily and the calla lily. And when he wasn't plant hunting, Francis was busy cultivating his magnificent personal garden in Cape Town. Today, gardeners marvel at Francis' drawings of South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom. In the twilight of his life, Francis experienced a dreadful voyage to North America. Between two run-ins with pirates and terrible weather, Francis' ship barely made it to New York. And after discovering the Trillium grandiflorum on his way to Canada, Francis died on this day in 1805. It was Francis Masson who pioneered plant exploration and transformed European gardens through his discoveries of over 1700 species. Today at Kew Gardens, you can see the oldest potted plant in the world - it's an Eastern Cape Giant Cycad (Encephalartos altensteinii). It basically looks like a large potted palm cycad. It was brought to England in 1775 after Francis Masson's first trip to South Africa. Unearthed Words Through springtime walks, with flowers perfumed, I chased a wild, capricious, fair Where hyacinths and jonquils bloomed, Chanting gay sonnets through the air; Hid amid a briary dell Or 'neath a Hawthorn-tree, Her sweet enchantments led me on And still deluded me. While summer's 'splendent glory smiles My ardent love in vain essayed, I strove to win her heart by wiles, But still a thousand pranks she played; Still o'er each, sunburned furzy hill, Wild, playful, gay, and free, She laughed and scorned; I chased her still, And still, she bantered me. When autumn waves her golden ears And wafts o'er fruits her pregnant breath, The sprightly lark its pinion rears; I chased her o'er the daisied heath, And all around was glee - Still, wanton as the timid hart, She swiftly flew from me. Now winter lights its cheerful fire, While jests with frolic mirth resound And draws the wandering beauty nigher, 'Tis now too cold to rove around; The Christmas- game, the playful dance, Incline her heart to glee — Mutual we glow, and kindling love Draws every wish to me. — Ann Batten Cristall, English poet and schoolteacher, Through Springtime Walks Grow That Garden Library The Grow Your Own Food Handbook by Monte Burch This book came out in 2014, and the subtitle is A Back to Basics Guide to Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Fruits and Vegetables. In this book, Monte puts together a simple resource for gardeners eager to reap the benefits of homegrown vegetables and fruits. Monte shares detailed instructions for fall and winter food growing and the specific health benefits for each crop. Learn how to grow, how to harvest, and how to store your own food. This book is 240 pages of guided instruction from Monte Burch - showing you how to grow all types of vegetables, fruits - and even grains. You can get a copy of The Grow Your Own Food Handbook by Monte Burch 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 December 23, 1978 On this day, The Oshkosh Northwestern out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, published a story called Mystical Mistletoe Is Historical Sprig By Pat Vander Velden. "Pliny the Elder, a first-century Roman naturalist, was one of the first freelance writers to recognize mistletoe as a lucrative story idea. He chronicled the esteem that the druids held for the mystical evergreen that grows on oak, elm, apple, hawthorn, and poplar trees. According to Pliny, the druid's name for the plant was ol-liach "all heal." The druids thought it could cure everything from sterility to the common cold. As late as the 17th century, Nicholas Culpepper said, "Mistletoe is good for the grief of itch, sores, toothaches, and the biting of mad dogs and venomous beasts." Nathaniel Hawthorne was not that impressed. In 1855 he wrote about mistletoe and called it "An uninteresting plant with white wax-looking berries dull green on parasitical stem." Hawthorne was puzzled by the raging fad of the day. "The maids of the house did the utmost to entrap the gentlemen, old and young, and there to kiss them. After which they were expected to pay a shilling." Obviously, Hawthorne was frugal and didn't approve of paying for his affection. Probably the most famous of writers to refer to mistletoe is Charles Dickens. In The Pickwick Papers, Mr. Pickwick kisses Lady Tollimglower under the mistletoe. "Mister Pickwick, with a gallantry that would have done honor to a descendant of Lady Tollimglower ... led her beneath the mystic branch and saluted her in all courtesy and decorum . . . " The custom of kissing under the mistletoe is lost somewhere between the druids and Dickens." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the botanist and doctor who established the nation's first public botanical garden. We'll also learn about the English Victorian author who loved roses. We'll recognize the inspiring former president and owner of Tulsa Greenhouse and Four State Wholesale. We'll hear an excerpt about pruning from a peach farmer. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book from American garden royalty - it's part garden book and part cookbook. And then we'll wrap things up with a story about the only First Lady recognized by The American Horticultural Society with their highest honor, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award. 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 Garden News Tree ferns are older than dinosaurs. And that's not even the most interesting thing about them | World Economic Forum | Gregory Moore Facebook Group I share all of my curated news articles and original blog posts 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 December 22, 1835 Today is the anniversary of the death of the doctor and botanist David Hosack. He was 65. In 2018, David Hosack's story was brilliantly told in the biography by Victoria Johnson called American Eden. David was a New Yorker and he was a leading doctor in America during the early days of the country. David had a fantastic gift: he was able to form incredible relationships with leading thinkers of his time. Doctor Benjamin Rush was his mentor, and England's top botanist William Curtis trained him in botany and medicinal plants. At the age of 25, David returned to his alma mater, Columbia University, to teach medicine and botany. David's patients included Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. And if you've watched the musical Hamilton, you know that although David was one of the best physicians available, he could not save Hamilton. David Hosack established the nation's first public botanical garden in the middle of Manhattan. David initially focused on medicinal plants, but he soon added vegetables, grasses, grains, fruits. And exotics collected from all over the world. It really was a paradise. David's medical students used his garden as an extension of their classroom and that was a first for students on this side of the Atlantic. At its zenith, David's garden boasted of having over 2,000 different species of plants - just incredible. It was David's pioneering work with plants that allowed him to teach an entire generation of doctors brand-new remedies to common medical problems. Now, unfortunately, David's vision for the garden way exceeded his financial ability to keep it going. Sadly David was forced to sell off and dismantle his botanical dream. And today, his former garden is the site of Rockefeller Center. Yet David's garden and his work had inspired botanists all over the world. And although his botanic garden did not survive, David's dream of a garden of discovery and learning would be carried out through the work of other pioneers like Henry Shaw, Charles Sprague Sargent, and David Fairchild. In the twilight of his life, David's wife died. After remarrying a very wealthy woman, David built a country estate with an incredible garden (of course) where he enjoyed his remaining days on earth. December 22, 1880 Today is the 140th anniversary of the death of the English Victorian author George Eliot. George Eliot was the pen name for a woman named Mary Ann Evans, and her many works like Silas Marner and Middlemarch are packed with images from the garden. To Mary Ann, plants were the perfect representation of faith. Like faith, our botanical friends require care and feeding to grow and flourish. On October 1st, 1841, Mary Ann wrote a letter to her old governess, Maria Lewis. She wrote: "Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." My favorite quotes from Mary Ann, (George Eliot), are about her love of roses. She wrote: "I think I am quite wicked with roses. I like to gather them, and smell them till they have no scent left." And, Eliot wrote this little poem about roses: "You love the roses—so do I. I wish The sky would rain down roses, as they rain From off the shaken bush. Why will it not? Then all the valleys would be pink and white, And soft to tread on. They would fall as light As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once. Over the sea, Queen, where we soon shall go, Will it rain roses?" This concept of raining roses was something Eliot wrote about several times. She loved that idea. This last quote about roses is the one she is most famous for: "It never rains roses; when we want more roses, we must plant more..." December 22, 1928 Today is the birthday of the president and owner of Tulsa Greenhouse and Four State Wholesale, William B. Arnett. The origins of Bill's greenhouse went back to 1916, when it was founded by Gordon Vernon Voight back in the early days of Tulsa. During the depression, Bill's dad and a partner took over the retail nursery business started by Voight, and they, in turn, developed it to include a wholesale operation. After learning the ropes from his father, Bill officially took over the business in 1966. Bill and his wife Louise ran the business together. While they raised their four daughters, they oversaw five retail shops, three wholesale houses, and one growing facility. Now, the wholesale side of the business created exciting opportunities for Bill. At one point, The Tulsa Greenhouse provided flowers for florists across four states. Bill enjoyed sharing his expertise with others. And in addition to personally training florists, Bill influenced an entire generation of new designers by contributing to design schools every holiday season. A lover of fresh flowers, Bill prided himself on knowing every aspect of the business, including how to grow each of the flowers in his nursery. In his obituary, Bill's family recalled the time Bill flew on the first jet airliner out of Tulsa. Now, this was no vacation. Bill had brought along a bouquet of fresh roses, and he wanted to see just how fast he could ship them across the country. He was a true floral businessman. At the time of Bill's death, he'd lost his wife Louise (after being married to her for 60 years), he'd served as president of the Wholesale Florists and Florist Suppliers of America, he'd left a mark on the florist industry in the heart of the country, and he'd closed his business in 2005 (after 90 years of operating in Tulsa). And I found out about Bill after I stumbled on his obituary online. In Bill's obituary, one of his daughters said something that I thought was such a beautiful quote and a wonderful tribute about what it was like to grow up with her dad, "We were surrounded by flowers all our lives — there were flowers galore." Unearthed Words My thoughts turn to the work of pruning. Ideally, the first blasts of winter have left their mark and strip the trees of leaves. But I've seen antsy farmers prune while lots of leaves still hang in the tree. The work is slow, and it's hard to see. I delay my pruning because, for me, vision is crucial. The art of pruning involves seeing into the future. I can easily spot the dead branches by their dried, dark, almost black wood. But it's hard to envision new growth and the new shape the tree will take two or three or four years from now. When I prune, I have to keep that vision in mind. Otherwise, I'll hesitate and grow timid and insecure, as I gaze down the just-worked row and see all the butchered trees and fallen limbs lying in the dirt. With each dead limb, there's hope for new growth. That's why I enjoy this part of pruning: I'm always working with the future. I'm like a bonsai gardener with my peach trees, shaping each tree for the long term. When working with dying trees, I feel one of the most important and strongest emotions a farmer has: a sense of hope. — David Mas Masumoto ("Mahs Mah-sue-moe-toe"), Peach & Grape Farmer and Author, Epitaph for a Peach, Pruning Grow That Garden Library The Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is From the Garden to the Table in 120 Recipes. In this book, America's most respected gardening couple Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman, share what they've learned from growing and eating on their extraordinary Four Season Farm in Maine. This book shows you how to grow what you eat and how to cook what you grow. And this book is an excellent resource for the times we are living through - there's even a section for what to plant for a yearly cycle survival garden. Barbara and Eliot divide their book into two parts. The first half covers gardening, and the second part is devoted to the recipes. I should also mention that Barbara is a master cook. This book is 496 pages of step-by-step instructions from America's garden royalty - it's a big book with an even greater value. You can get a copy of The Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman 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 December 22, 1912 Today is the birthday of the American socialite and the First Lady of the United States as the wife of the 36th President, Lyndon B. Johnson, Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson who always went by "Lady Bird". On her 70th birthday, Lady Bird made her greatest contribution to American botany when she gave a financial endowment and a land grant of 60 acres to found the National Wildlife Research Center in Austin, Texas. A non-profit dedicated to conservation and preservation, the Center conducts scientific research on wildflowers as well as other native and naturalized plants. Together with Helen Hayes MacArthur, Lady Bird served as the co-chair of the center. For her philanthropy and love of nature, Lady Bird was awarded the American Horticultural Society's highest honor, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award. Although her work as the first lady had brought her incredible experiences, Lady Bird wrote: "My story begins long before that - with a love of the land that started in my childhood." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the Scottish botanist who is remembered for the phenomenon known as Brownian Motion. We'll also learn about the woman remembered as the Queen of the Traditional English Country Garden. We'll have a little mini-class on Mistletoe and the etymology of its name. We'll listen to a verse from a garden writer and forager who grows wild plants during the winter. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that features a dozen gardens of an incredible modern garden designer. And then we'll wrap things up with a century-old article that shared a new way to water plants. 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 Garden News 6 Healthy Winter Vegetables That Don't Require a Whole Lot of Space To Grow | Well + Good | Emily Laurence 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 December 21, 1773 Today is the birthday of Scottish botanist Robert Brown. Robert made important contributions to botany and (science in general) through his pioneering use of the microscope. In particular, Robert is best known for being the first to notice the natural continuous movement of minute particles. Today we call that phenomenon of movement Brownian Motion. Now how did Robert come up with this? Well, for his 1827 experiment, Robert looked through his microscope at pollen immersed in water, and he started to notice subtle movements of the pollen - even though the water was still. He's what he wrote about it, "These motions… arose neither from currents in the fluid, nor from its gradual evaporation, but belonged to the particle itself" Now, at the time, Brown was unable to explain why the particles moved. It wasn't until 1905 that Einstein was able to understand the cause of Brownian motion fully. Einstein suggested that this motion was due to the movement of water particles - in essence, little atoms in the water that were bumping into the pollen. And I thought you'd get a kick out of this: Einstein also famously said, "If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist." Today, Brownian Motion helps explain the "spin" from black holes. Robert Brown also coined the term nucleus in living cells. In Latin, the term nucleus means "little nut." Robert Brown was the first person to recognize the difference between angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (non-flowering plants like conifers). And houseplant enthusiasts will appreciate knowing that Robert named the Hoya plant genus after his friend and fellow botanist Thomas Hoy who was also a gardener for the Duke of Northumberland. Now, Robert also worked closely with Ferdinand Bauer - one of the world's most accomplished natural history artists. Together they joined Captain Matthew Flinders on a ship called Investigator. The Flinders expedition was the first to circumnavigate Australia. With the assistance of Peter Good, who was hunting for viable seeds and live plants for Kew Gardens, Robert amassed a large collection of specimens during his years in Australia. And as a result of all his time and work in Australia, Brown published the remarkable survey on Australian flora, which he called The Prodromus. The Prodromus opened doors for Robert Brown when it attracted the attention of Joseph Banks. The two became great friends, and Banks asked Brown to serve as his personal botanical librarian. When Banks died in 1820, he left his home, collections, and library to Robert Brown - along with a large yearly allowance. December 21, 1918 Today is the birthday of the English garden designer, lecturer, prolific garden writer, and one of the greatest gardeners of the 20th century, Rosemary Verey. Regarded as the "Queen of the Traditional English Country Garden," Rosemary's garden masterpiece is a blend of nature and geometry, traditional and cottage. You'll see graceful draping of wisteria, blousy roses, warm stone, and symmetrical chimneys create Rosemary's intimate, timeless, and genteel garden that has been described as a bucolic dream. And I thought you'd enjoy hearing Rosemary's thoughts on the winter garden: "I love the garden in winter, almost as much as the summer." "Winter's palette is clear and spare, restrictive enough to curb the excesses of even the most daring gardeners." "A garden in winter is the absolute test of the true gardener." The seeds of Rosemary's magnificent garden were sown in her relationship with a young Landscape Architect named David Verey. After marrying David in 1939, the couple moved into his ancestral home Barnsley House - a Cotswold-stone manor house - near Cirencester in Gloucestershire. Unlike garden designers who cut their teeth on other people's gardens. Rosemary honed her skills as a gardener and developed her signature style in her own backyard at Barnsley House. After a while, Rosemary went on to work with many famous clients. Rosemary helped design Elton John's gardens at Woodside, and she also worked with Prince Charles. Rosemary Verey's book Classic Garden Design (1984) gives us insight into how much she learned from studying gardens of the past, with their topiary, knot gardens, and box-edged beds. Many classic elements exist in her Barnsley garden: she mixes formal style with roses and herbaceous perennials, which softens and adds interest - even in winter. One of the reasons Rosemary's garden garnered so much attention was because it was a departure from the formal style of English gardening that was so popular during the 1970s. And just to give you an example of how popular Rosemary's gardens were: She opened her garden for a single day in 1970, and it became so popular that the garden was open every day except Sunday and visited by over 30,000 people every single year. One of the most significant elements of Rosemary's Barnsley House garden is the yellow Laburnum Walk. Laburnums are small European ornamental trees that have hanging clusters of yellow flowers. Rosemary had seen Russell Page's Laburnum Arch, which was the likely inspiration for her Laburnum Walk. If you ever see it, Rosemary's walk is a vision. The laburnums romantically drape over a sea of allium parted by a concrete walkway texturized with pebbles. It is absolutely glorious. That's why many consider Rosemary's Laburnum Walk to be one of the most iconic garden plantings of the last fifty years. And it was Rosemary Verey who introduced and popularized the potager. Today's Rosemary's potager garden is one of the favorite attractions to the visitors of the fabulous grounds of Barnsley House. Today, you can go to Barnsley House because it's no longer a family home. It has transitioned from the Verey family home to a boutique hotel and spa. And Rosemary once said this about Barnsley House, "Although I arrived here more than fifty years ago, I constantly try to see the garden with new eyes. This is the wonderful thing about gardening; trees are ever-growing taller, shrubs developing, ground cover taking over. Then scene changes and every year has its own character, influenced by frost, rainfall, and sunshine – elements over which we have no control; but we can aim to plan so that each season has its moments of interest, with winter scent, spring blossoms and bulbs, summer exuberance and autumn color." December 21, 1997 On this day, The Saskatoon Sun, out of Saskatchewan, Canada, shared an article about the tradition of mistletoe. "Mistletoe is especially interesting botanically because it is partially parasitic. As a parasitic plant, it grows on the branches of trees, sending out roots that penetrate into the branches to take up nutrients. Mistletoe's common name is derived from the ancient belief that the plant was propagated from bird droppings. This belief was related to the then-accepted principle that life sprang spontaneously from dung. Mistletoe is derived from an old English word Mistletan. Mistel is the Anglo-Saxon word for dung, and tan is the word for twig, so mistletoe translates to "dung-on-a-twig." By the 16th century, botanists had discovered that the plant's sticky seeds tended to cling to the bills of birds so that they were left on branches where birds rubbed their bills to clean them." Unearthed Words Most weeds don't make it through winter. They need warm rain and steady sun. Frozen soil inhibits root growth; snowfalls discourage sprouts. Even watercress, which usually positions itself in flowing water, gets hurt by a freeze. If you live in an area where the snow falls over several months, you know that small sigh of sadness when you go out to gather wild things, and frost has taken over. This year I've been cultivating weeds indoors to ease those winter doldrums. I've got Chicory, Dandelion, and Poke Roots potted in buckets in a kitchen corner. I've got Watercress stretching out of a pot standing in freshwater. I've got Chickweed daily going to seed three months early on the window sill. While my wild Winter Garden doesn't provide the abundance of the outdoors, it grows leaves enough to garnish winter meals with sprigs of wild flavor, nutrients, and color. — Susan Tyler Hitchcock, garden writer, and forager, Gather Ye Wild Things Grow That Garden Library The Gardens of Luciano Giubbilei by Andrew Wilson This book came out in 2015, and it is the second edition. In this book, Andrew showcases the incredible work of the garden designer Luciano Giubbilei ("Lou-CHAN-no JOO-bee-lay"). Known for the understated elegance of his garden designs, Luciano utilizes the composition of space and evolves his approach to suit his clients and his maturing ideas. This book spotlights a dozen gardens from Luciano's portfolio. And every detail is shared: from Mood boards to final plantings. Andrew's book thoughtfully includes pages on nursery production, site development, sourcing plants, the artists that Luciano works with, Luciano's working methods, and how Luciano finds inspiration - And I love that level of detail. This book is 240 pages of Luciano Giubbilei's work - it's a coffee table book - and a celebration of a magnificent dozen of his creations - along with planting plans, archival documents, and gorgeous photographs from garden photographer Steven Wooster. You can get a copy of The Gardens of Luciano Giubbilei by Andrew Wilson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $47 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart December 21, 1917 On this day, The Weekly Tribune out of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, shared a little story about the Right Way to Water Plants. Now back in 1917, the concept of watering plants via wicking was new and confusing. Here's a little glimpse into how it was introduced to the general public: "Lucien Daniel, a French botanist, has discovered that young hothouse plants and slips of vegetables, as well as flowers, thrive far better by a system of continuous watering than by drenching the soil at stated periods. The new method depends upon the law of capillary attraction. Near each plant is placed a jar containing water, into which is dipped one end of a strip of linen or cotton, whose other end lies near the plant. With this uninterrupted supply of water, drop by drop, the plants thrived, greatly outdistancing other plants, which were submitted to an intermittent drenching." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the man who cleverly saved the Royal Botanic Garden during the French Revolution. We'll also learn about the woman who lavishly decorated her bathroom with a garden theme almost a hundred years ago. We look back at a successful bid to save a 700-year-old Christmas Tree in Oregon. We'll remember one of the great nurserymen and rosarians of our time… after two years, we still feel his loss. We hear words about the peace that comes in winter by the writer Rachel Peden. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book subtitled, "How to Have Your Yard and Eat It Too." And then we'll wrap things up with the story of an arboretum that came to life thanks to the vision and obsession of one Atlanta man. 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 Garden News The Best Plants For Stunning Winter Bark | Gardening Etc | Sarah Wilson 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 December 18, 1829 Today is the anniversary of the death of a French naturalist, biologist, and academic, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Lamarck died lonely, blind, and impoverished in Paris on this day in 1829. He was buried in a common grave. Regarded as the Father of Evolutionary Theory, Lamarck paved the way for Darwin's Origin of the Species. By 1809, Lamarck had worked out a complete theory of evolution. Lamarck speculated on the inheritability of acquired traits. He believed that all life evolved upward - beginning with dead matter, progressing from simple to complex forms, and ending in "human perfection." A progressive thinker, Lamarck also proposed an early version of continental drift. By 1790 Lamark was working as a botanist at the Royal Herbarium in Paris. As the French Revolution intensified, Lamarck saved the Royal Garden by quietly and ingeniously renaming it. Instead of The Royal Garden, the sign simply read The Garden of Plants. Lamark's little sign trick worked, and the garden was saved. December 18, 1930 On this day, The Boston Globe shared a little snippet called "Bathrooms like Gardens." Here's an excerpt: "Lady Cromer has her favorite flower, the iris, as the motif of her bathroom. The walls are painted with growing irises in flower on the bank of a river, the river being the bath itself, and the whole effect is that of a charming garden." December 18, 1958 On this day, the Statesman Journal out of Salem, Oregon, reported on a 700-Year-Old Tree Saved From Axemen. "[In Seaside, Oregon], a giant 700-year-old Christmas tree has been added to a five-acre tree farm park dedicated to the public. The Sitka Spruce, 195 feet tall and 15 feet, 9 inches in diameter… contains enough wood to build six two-bedroom houses. The ink was barely dry on England's Magna Carta when the spruce sprouted. The tree passed its 500th birthday before the American Revolution. The American Forestry Association, which keeps records on big trees. lists a 180-foot Sitka Spruce in Washington's Olympic National Park as the largest tree. While it boasts an eight-inch edge in diameter, it is 15 feet shorter than Oregon's champion." December 18, 2018 Today is the second anniversary of the death of the rose breeder and writer David Austin. When David passed away, I found some old advertisements that he posted in The Observer in 1973. That post was already twelve years after creating his first commercially available Rose - the Constance Spry. A 1973 ad showed how early-on David found his calling. It read: "Old-fashioned roses, shrub roses, rare and unusual roses, many of our own breeding. Roses of charm, and fragrance. The country's finest collection."A handbook of roses" free." Unearthed Words Under the big Swamp Maple in the east lot, the gray geese and the white Pilgrim ganders gather silently. During winter nights, they sleep in the open face tool shed, and often in the night, they think of new expressions of scorn and at once utter them. ("We are the watchdogs, we geese. We saved Rome.") That peaceful morning they walked on the clinging, moist snow and were still. They looked thoughtful as if contemplating the sense of peace that provided the whole farmscape. I realized to my astonishment that if total peace ever actually befell the whole world all at one time, it would be the most spectacular sight mankind has ever seen. Nobody would be able to believe it, or, perhaps, even to survive it. — Rachel Peden, ecologist and writer, The Land, The People Grow That Garden Library Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist by Michael Judd This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is How to Have Your Yard and Eat It Too. In this book, Michael shares his life at his Long Creek Homestead in Frederick, Maryland. Michael's gorgeous property includes 25 acres of mixed woodland, food forests, gardens, and a nursery designed for experimentation and education. Michael's book is his how-to manual for following in his footsteps: transforming a sea of grass into a flourishing edible landscape that pleases the eye as well as the taste buds. With his delightful personality and quick humor, Michael explains the complexities of permaculture design into his simple do-it-yourself projects like:
The book features beautiful photography and practical designs that can be easily grafted to the urban landscape's micro-habits, scaled up to the acreage of homesteads, or adapted to already flourishing landscapes. This book is 144 pages of an edible landscaping primer with a permaculture twist to help anyone with a desire to turn their landscape into a luscious and productive edible Eden. You can get a copy of Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist by Michael Judd and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $14. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart December 18, 1999 On this day, The Marshfield News-Herald out of Marshfield, Wisconsin, published a story called "Dream Fulfilled: Georgia Man Lovingly Cultivates Arboretum at His Home." The story features Tom Cox, a man who has a passion for trees. Here's an excerpt: "Tom, 54, is a boy on a great adventure. It's as if he has played in every tree's branches, smelled and felt every leaf. He uses careful, precise words when he talks about the textures of leaves: crisp, refined, leathery, or lacy. It is the same with bark. One is striated, another like patchwork. Still, another is smooth like silk. Tom describes in meticulous detail how certain trees will look in 10 or 15 years. He envisions the blossoms, leaf color, or berries the trees will display at different ages and seasons. Tom purchased 14 acres, built a house, planted trees on half the property, and started his private Arboretum, which he shares with garden clubs and groups like Trees Atlanta. Now he has 600 trees, with varieties representing 38 countries, and he tends them all himself. Small signs identify each by genus and species. His wife Evelyn does some weeding and mulching, but he doesn't ask her to water. Or mow. He cuts the grass, careful to avoid nicking a tree. Evelyn travels with her husband to many weekend plant shows. She calls their 10-year-old station wagon the "dirt mobile." Tom calls it the "plant mobile." She laughs about her trips home, crowded by some 60 to 70 plants. Evelyn said, "I've had to fend off an occasional spider or two. Most of all, I just enjoy seeing him enjoy it. When he first started, he'd buy bare-root plants and call me outside every Saturday to look at a new bundle of sticks and at tree bark. He's really into bark, you know." To Tom, unusual trees aren't hard to grow, just hard to find because nobody asks for them. His Japanese apricot, which blooms bright orange in February, is one example. "Everybody would have one if they only knew about it." And, he often spots unusual trees in local hardware stores. One of his favorite evergreen trees is a Japanese black cedar he bought at an Ace Hardware in south Atlanta. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate one of the world's best composers and his intense appreciation of nature. We'll also learn about the botanist who cracked the code on pollinating vanilla and came up with a new word for the cyclical nature of things. We'll recognize the incredible written work of a daughter of Indiana - and yes, she is famous. We Grow That Garden Library™ with something light and enjoyable - a New York Times Best Selling Fiction Novel from 2012. And then we'll wrap things up with a little mistletoe history that is sure to leave an impression - it's not about kissing - but it will definitely give you something to talk about around the dinner table over Christmas break. 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 5 Low-Maintenance Annuals For Your Garden | Gardening Etc | Sophie Warren-Smith 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 December 17, 1770 Today is the baptism day of the German composer and pianist Ludwig Van Beethoven. Beethoven grew up loving nature. Living along the Rhine, little Ludwig would take walks with his father. Beethoven turned to nature for inspiration when he wrote his sixth symphony - which is why the subtitle for the sixth symphony is called "Pastoral." After coming up with the idea that each movement would reflect a complete day in the country - from sunrise to sunset - Beethoven used music to imitate nature. In his music notes, Beethoven even added little headlines like "storm" or "scene at a brook" to make certain that the musicians understood the link between the notes they were playing and nature. Once, while walking with a friend, Beethoven pointed at the water and said, "Here I composed the 'Scene by the Brook,' and the yellowhammers up there - the quails, nightingales and cuckoos 'round about - composed with me." And Beethoven wanted listeners of his music to recognize the powerful link between nature and our feelings. As Beethoven sought out nature to inspire his 6th Symphony, at one point, he simply wrote: "effect on the soul" in his notes. And it was the manor house of Dolna Krupa where Beethoven is presumed to have written his Moonlight Sonata. A hundred years later, the Countess Maria-Henrieta Chotek, known as "The Countess of Roses," established Dolna Krupa as one of the world's top three rose gardens. And here's a fun side note: Beethoven's last name is a combination of "beet," which translates to beet (as in the vegetable), and "hoven," which means farm. So the blended meaning of his last name is beet farm. December 17, 1858 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Belgian botanist and horticulturist, and Director of the Jardin botanique de l'Université de Liège ("lee-EZH") Charles François Antoine Morren. Charles made some very significant contributions to botany. First, Charles discovered how vanilla was pollinated. Before Charles Morren, the pollination of vanilla was a mystery. Although Hernán Cortés brought vanilla to Europe for 300 years, no one knew how to pollinate the flower. Charles discovered that a Native bee of Mexico - the Melipone ("meh-lip-in-ah") bee, a social and stingless bee, was the only pollinator for vanilla. Like Monarchs and Milkweed (Asclepias), the Melipone bee and vanilla co-evolved. At the same time, Charles discovered the bee, the Museum of Paris came up with a way to pollinate Vanilla by hand using a blade of grass or a pointed stick (like a toothpick). Today almost all vanilla is pollinated by hand using this method. In addition to discovering how vanilla was pollinated, Charles Morren coined the term phenology. Derived from a Greek word that means "to show or make to appear," Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially concerning climate and plant and animal life. Gardeners who keep phenological journals record the first and last days of events in the garden (i.e., the first snow, the first robin, the first frog, etc.) In 1849, Morren used the term during a lecture at the Academy of Brussels. Four years later, Belgium had an unseasonably warm winter, which prompted Morren to write a paper called Phenological Memories of the Winter 1852-1853. In the paper, Morren describes how plants responded to the unusual weather that winter. Finally, Charles and his son wrote 35 volumes of an exceptionally beautiful journal that shared the beauty of horticulture in Belgium. All the 35 volumes of "The Belgique Horticole" are available digitally for free at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. December 17, 1901 Today is the birthday of the Indiana environmentalist, newspaper columnist, and author Rachel Peden. Rachel was the wife of an Owen county cattle farmer named Dick. Her father, Benjamin Franklin Mason, was a fruit farmer, growing peaches, apples, and strawberries. Ben developed a reputation as a breeder when he created a peach called Shipper's Late Red. Rachel referred to her dad as "the orchardist" in her writing. A self-described Hoosier farmwife, Rachel's byline was "Mrs. RFD" (for "Rural Free Delivery"), and her longtime columns in The Indianapolis Star and The Muncie Evening News charmed her readers with stories about nature and farm life. And yes, Rachel loved to garden. Rachel wrote: "[I love] the therapy of working in [the garden], and the acquaintance of my neighbors from the natural world that I meet there." When I was researching Rachel, I stopped to read her memorial on Find a Grave. I'm not sure who wrote it, but I loved their appeal to the folks at Find A Grave. They wrote: "Find A Grave has determined that Rachel does not meet their criteria for being "famous", but they are wrong." The author of three books published by Knopf publishing, Rachel wrote: "Rural Free: A Farmwife's Almanac of Country Living" in 1961, "The Land, the People" in 1966 (which earned her the Indiana University Authors Award), and "Speak to the Earth" in 1974. Keep Rachel's love and awe for the natural world in mind as you listen to this excerpt from "The Land The People": "Snow was falling softly as if from a coarse sifter being turned from very high above the earth. It had been going on a long time; leafless trees were whitened, weeds and tangled raspberry canes in the garden had become a great heap of foamy white lace. A sparrow created a miniature snowstorm when he alighted on a delicate peach twig. The twig quivered under his weight, the sparrow rose, snowflakes sparkled and fell on the snow-toppled woodpile under the peach tree." And Rachel wrote one of my favorite quotes about summer and roses, "The serene philosophy of the pink rose is steadying. Its fragrant, delicate petals open fully and are ready to fall, without regret or disillusion, after only a day in the sun. It is so every summer. One can almost hear their pink, fragrant murmur as they settle down upon the grass: 'Summer, summer, it will always be summer." Unearthed Words The garden is completely winterized except for the roses, which need more hay, and the four small box yet to be covered with burlap. We have a sentimental feeling for these box. Once many years ago, on a holiday with the children, we were driving to North Carolina. We stopped at Mount Vernon and bought four seedlings, cuttings of George Washington's original box hedge. They were $0.25 each, and now they are nearly two feet tall. Every fall, Bob builds a little covered patio of burlap around each one. — Jean Hersey, American writer and author, The Shape of a Year, December Grow That Garden Library The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh This book came out in 2012, and this is a fictional novel. And Vanessa's book was a New York Times Best Seller, and it features the Victorian language of flowers. This is one of the books I always keep on the nightstand in our guest bedroom. The Amazon description of this book says: "The Victorian Language of Flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it's been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what's been missing in her life. And when she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness." This book is 334 pages of garden-inspired fiction featuring newfound love as well as heartache. You can get a copy of The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $1 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart December 17, 1948 On this day, The Kansas City Times shared a story about Mistletoe. Mistletoe is the common name of hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. Mistletoe attaches to a host tree or shrub with a structure called the haustorium. Then, the Mistletoe extracts water and nutrients from the host plant. And, apparently, in 1948, young boys used to shoot it down from trees... "The Druids of early English history made a great ceremony of cutting the mistletoe. After a sacrifice, the Arch Druid cut the [Mistletoe] out of an oak tree with a golden knife, taking care that it did not touch the ground, and carried it away in a white cloth. The South Missouri youth uses a squirrel rifle instead of a golden knife and would as soon shoot [Mistletoe] garland out of a pecan tree as an oak. If he Is lucky enough to catch it before it hits the ground, his object is to keep the berries from shattering. [Why?] [Because] the spray with the most berries... will bring the greatest returns, either commercially at the florists or personally elsewhere. [There is] historical precedence for his method of gathering mistletoe. In Switzerland, it has been the custom to shoot [Mistletoe] down with bow and arrow catching it with the left hand as it falls. In Sweden, it must be shot out of a red oak. A similar custom prevailed in Wales until the early part of the nineteenth century." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate a botanist remembered for his work with Pears and Camellias. We'll also learn about a botanist who specialized in grasses and traveled extensively to collect them. We'll learn about the work of a forensic botanist back in the early 1980s. We take a moment to savor December - courtesy of a verse from the American naturalist and writer Hal Borland. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that came out this summer, and it brings the goodness of the Catskills right to your table. And then we'll wrap things up with a cute little story about a plant name you won't soon forget. 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 Garden News How Did Madagascar Become the World's Biggest Producer of Vanilla? | Atlas Obscura | Dan Nosowitz 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 December 16, 1886 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Massachusetts merchant, amateur horticulturist, and politician Marshall Pinckney Wilder. When Marshall started out, his father gave him three options: attend college, start a farm, or work in the family store. Marshall elected to farm. But Marshall was unexpectedly pulled into the family business after his uncle died. In a twist of fate, Marshall was a natural businessman, and he helped take the family wholesale business to even more successful heights. With his financial success, Marshall bought an old farm in Dorchester, Massachusetts, for $5,500. Marshall called the property Hawthorn Grove. But shortly after moving into Hawthorn Grove, Marshall's young wife Eliza died. With four small children to raise, Marshall quickly married again. After his personal affairs were squared away, Marshall began designing ten acres worth of gardens on the property - complete with several large greenhouses. Marshall devoted all of his spare time to horticulture, and he loved to dabble in plant breeding. Historical records indicate that Marshall developed a double California Poppy. But without a doubt, Marshall's favorite pursuits were Pears and Camellias. Marshall successfully cultivated two European Pears - the Bartlett and the Anjou. In Pears alone, Marshall experimented with over 900 varieties. And Marshall's Camellia collection made him quite famous in certain botanical circles. In all, Marshall Wilder created over 300 Camellia varieties. And Marshall's top award-winning Camellias were all named after the women in his life: Mrs. Abby Wilder (named for his second wife), Mrs. Julia Wilder (named for his third wife - who was also Abby's sister), and Jenny Wilder (named for his granddaughter). In 1839 a greenhouse fire destroyed all but two of Marshall's beloved Camellias. Still, Marshall bounced back quickly the following year thanks to his success in the wholesale business. When Marshall wasn't gardening at Hawthorne Grove, he was active in horticulture organizations in and around Boston. In addition to serving as the third president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Marshall was the founder and first president of the American Pomological Society. And on Google right now, it says, "The American Pomological Society was founded by Marshall Pinckney Wilder in 1848, to foster the growing of fruit and the development of new varieties, and is the oldest fruit organization in North America." When the great Landscape Architect Andrew Jackson Downing suddenly died, it was Marshall Wilder who delivered his eulogy before the Pomological Congress in Philadelphia in 1852. And, since 1873, the Pomological Society awards the "Wilder Medal" to pomologists who demonstrate outstanding service to horticulture in the broad area of pomology. During his lifetime, Marshall became quite famous for his horticultural activities. After his death, Marshall's private plant collection was used to create the Boston Public Garden. And here's a fun fact about Marshall Pinckney Wilder: He had a nephew who became a well-known American author and speaker with dwarfism and shared the same name as his uncle - Marshall Pinckney Wilder. And it was Marshall's nephew named Marshall who inspired the phrase, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." That phrase was written by Elbert Hubbard, who was inspired by the younger Marshall's passion, optimism, and innovation. December 16, 1935 Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and agrostologist Albert Spear Hitchcock. During a trip to Ecuador, Albert took a marvelous photo of an Espeletia with the common name Frailejones ("Fray-lay-HOE-ness") or Big Monks. These large plants are in the sunflower family, and they are reminiscent of mullein with their hairy leaves. But these plants are succulents, and at high altitudes, they can capture water vapor from passing clouds. Peter Rockstroh wrote this about Espeletia in a blog post a few years ago, "Of all the botanical oddities to be found in Colombia, Frailejones are probably one of the most striking. Their distinctive shape is unmistakable, and their image is iconic of the páramo ecosystem. Frailejones are members of the cosmopolitan sunflower family (Asteraceae), giant "daisies" in the genus Espeletia. They are the tallest plants in the family, with some reaching nearly 60'/18.5 m. When not in bloom, few people would even recognize them as members of this family. They can look quite spooky, as some populations retain their dead foliage folded over the stem, forming a thick coat to avoid water from freezing in the xylem. When these plants are standing in the mist, it is easy to understand how they could be mistaken for friars wearing thick, brown robes. Hence the name Frailejón in Spanish, a "Big Friar." Although the "Big Friar" or the "Big Monk" easily captures attention, Albert Hitchcock's name is synonymous with grasses. In the back half of his career, Albert joined the USDA, and from that point forward, his professional career was devoted to grasses. Albert helped to establish the nearly completely comprehensive grass collection at the National Herbarium in Washington. Albert's book called the Manual of Grasses remains a primary reference for the subject. In addition to his masterpiece on grasses, Albert wrote over 250 botanical works during his lifetime. A staunch conservationist, Albert was alarmed at the rapid rate of destruction of the world's tropical forests and jungles. Albert was also a tremendous mentor and colleague. Sadly, Albert suffered a heart attack while he was on his way home from a major Botanical conference in Amsterdam. Albert died on board the ship City of Norfolk. After Albert's death, the botanist Agnes Chase prepared his eulogy, and she recounted how Albert once walked nearly 250 miles over a three-week-long botanizing trip. And Agnes remembered that Albert had fashioned a special wheelbarrow to haul his specimens around - and she recalled this excerpt from Albert's writing about the experience, "I waded through water almost up to my knees, pushed my wheelbarrow, and still managed to keep my collection dry. The mosquitoes were very bad. I had to [wear] my coat, put cheesecloth around my head, and a pair of extra socks on my hands. My shoes had worn through, and my feet were blistered... But, for all the discomforts, the collecting was magnificent, and I felt fully repaid." Albert Hitchcock's massive private herbarium and library were donated to the Smithsonian in a fitting final gesture. December 16, 1982 On this day, the News-Press out of Fort Myers, Florida, shared a story called "Botanist Determines if the Gardener did it" by Walter Putnam. Here's an excerpt: "When police investigators are stumped by a thorny problem, they sometimes call in University of Florida scientist David Hall to help them nip a case in the bud. If the gardener did it, Hall is the one to help prove it. He could be considered a "Quincy" of the plant world. Unlike the television hero and real-life medical examiners who collect criminal evidence through autopsies, Hall gathers his from stems and twigs. David said, "I first got into forensic botany when Dr. Dan Ward and I were asked to help on a South Florida murder case. A guy was suspected of strangling a woman. He told police that she invited him in... But they found bits of bark on the windowsill and in his pants cuffs. We matched that bark to bark on the tree outside her window. He'd climbed in the window and attacked her." Hall's specialty is plant taxonomy or identifying plants. "When you deal with names of plants, you have to know a whole lot about other things about them: the ecology, their physiology, the morphology (shapes of plants)." Hall recalled one suit in which the family of a train accident victim claimed the crossing sign had been down long before the collision. The railroad maintained the victim's car had knocked it over. A type of fungus growing on the signpost proved it had been on the ground long before the accident. Hall said, "I've never been called to testify, not in a single [case]. They've all been settled out of court." Unearthed Words December is a blizzard in Wyoming and a gale on the lakes, and the Berkshires frosted like a plate of cupcakes. It is bare trees and evergreens. It is wrestling weed stems and a gleam of partridgeberry on the hillside, a cluster of checkerberries, and winter greens in the thin woodland. It is ground pine, older than the hills where it grows, and it is a seedling maple from two years ago clinging to one last scarlet leaf. It is a stiff-tailed young squirrel scrambling up an oak tree, and it is a mask-faced coon in the cornfield listening for the hounds. It is ice on the pond, lichen on the rock, a flock of chickadees at the dooryard feeder. – Hal Borland, American naturalist and writer, The Golden Circle, December Grow That Garden Library The Catskills Farm to Table Cookbook by Courtney Wade This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Over 75 Recipes. In this book, Courtney takes us to the Catskills, where she shows us that the food is centered around fresh vegetables and fruit, meat, dairy, wild game, and foraged produce. A chef, photographer, and graphic designer, Courtney lives on a farm in the Catskills in upstate New York. Her lovely cookbook is the perfect showcase for all of Courtney's strengths. Courtney's book is divided into seasons and shares recipes from favorite local hangouts. Along with excellent harvesting and growing advice, Courtney's recipes bring the goodness of the Catskills right to your table. This book is 240 pages of delicious recipes and inspiring photography that will transport you to upstate New York. You can get a copy of The Catskills Farm to Table Cookbook by Courtney Wade 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 December 16, 1916 On this day, an adorable little story was shared in the Star Phoenix out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. "A famous botanist was pacing slowly along a country road, his eyes, as usual, roaming from side to side for new plants to study. Suddenly an eager look swept across his futures, and he leaned over the low fence enclosing a cottage garden. He had found a plant he did not know. What could it be? If only he had a specimen of it to study! At that moment, a shock-headed lad strolled along the road and stopped to gaze open-mouthed at the botanist. "I say!" called the botanist, urgently. "See that there that pale pink one in the corner? Do you know it?" "Aye," said the country boy, briefly. "What's its name? Do you know what family it belongs to?" The lad jerked a grubby thumb over his shoulder toward the little cottage as he spoke more briefly still: "Higginses!" Note: Edited for readability. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the 17th-century philosopher and naturalist, who was the first woman to make a living from her writing. We'll also learn about the forensic botanist who solved the crime of the decade in the 1960s in Australia. We'll recognize the Herb Society's project that now occupies two and a half acres at the U.S. National Arboretum. We look back at an entry about winter from one of America's most beloved naturalists. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that Martin Crawford, author of Creating a Forest Garden, called a "must-read for anyone interested in agroforestry, forest gardening, or utilizing forests for specialty crops." And then we'll wrap things up with the story of a vine discovered by a Harvard botanist and his son as they were walking to a Red Sox game back in August 1988. 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 Garden News How a few plants in your front garden could boost your wellbeing | World Economic Forum | Victoria Masterson Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. 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 December 15, 1673 Today is the anniversary of the death of the 17th-century philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction-writer, naturalist, and playwright Margaret Cavendish. Margaret's perspective on the natural world helped shape our modern viewpoint. And it should be noted that Margaret was the first woman to make a living from her writing. Yet Margaret has always been an easy target for ridicule; her points were often lost in confusing verse and the novelty of her ideas. In one of her poems, she compared the brain to a garden: The Brain a Garden seems, full of delight, Whereon the sun of knowledge shineth bright, Where fancy flows, and runs in bubbling streams, Where flowers grow upon the banks of dreams. There various thoughts as several flowers grow: Some milk-white innocence, as lilies, show, Fancies, as painted tulips' colors fixed, By Nature's pencil neatly intermixt; Some as sweet roses, which are newly blown, Others as tender buds, not yet full-grown; Some, as small violets, much sweetness bring. Thus many fancies from the brain still spring. — Margaret Cavendish, Similarizing the Brain to a Garden One of my favorite poems by Margaret is called The Duchess to Her Readers. In this poem, Margaret shares her appreciation for her husband; theirs was a love marriage, and William helped Margaret with her work. A Poet am I neither born nor bred, But to a witty poet married: Whose brain is fresh and pleasant as the Spring, Where Fancies grow and where the Muses sing. There oft I lean my head, and listening, hark, To catch his words and all his fancies mark: And from that garden show of beauties take Whereof a posy I in verse may make. Thus I, that have no gardens of my own, There gather flowers that are newly blown. — Margaret Cavendish, The Duchess to Her Readers Virginia Woolf was not a fan of Margaret. In "A Room of One's Own," Virginia wrote, "What a vision of loneliness and riot the thought of Margaret Cavendish brings to mind! As if some giant cucumber had spread itself over all the roses and carnations in the garden and choked them to death." December 15, 1908 Today is the birthday of the Australian botanist and forensic botanist Joyce Winifred Vickery. 1960 was a pivotal year in Joyce's career. In 1960, all of Australia was focused on the building of the now famous Sydney Opera House. And to pay for the construction, the government of Australia held a lottery. A man named Bazil Thorne spent three pounds - a quarter of his paycheck - to purchase the winning ticket. After Bazil's win of 100,000 pounds, his eight-year-old son Graeme was kidnapped and brutally murdered. The crime stunned the country. But ultimately, it was Joyce Vickery's forensic work that helped the police solve the case. In the Graeme Thorn kidnapping, Joyce had been tasked with identifying two plant particles from the boy's clothing. Vickery recognized them as parts of landscape or garden plants - distinctly out of place from the scrub area where Graeme's body had been found. Instead, Joyce matched the plant debris to a False Cypress and a Smooth Arizona Cypress outside the suspect's home. And soil scraping showed pink limestone mortar that ultimately matched the mortar on the suspect's brick home. Joyce's work and testimony helped prove that 34-year-old Stephen Bradley had committed the heinous crime. He was sentenced to life in prison. December 15, 1978 On this day, construction began on the National Herb Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum. Since 1965 a National Herb Garden was a dream of the Herb Society based in Kirtland, Ohio. After the Herb Society came up with $200,000 for the garden, Congress matched the funds. And so, the National Herb Garden was a gift from The Herb Society of America to the American people. Located in Washington D.C., the garden occupies two and a half acres of the over 400 acres in the U.S. National Arboretum. As the most extensive professionally-designed herb garden in North America, the garden was intended to inspire people to plant herbs in their own gardens and to use herbs in their cooking. The National Herb Garden comprises annual, perennial, and woody herbal plants situated in three sections: a knot garden, a rose garden, and specialty gardens. The knot garden is made up of Japanese holly, dwarf blue cypress, and dwarf arborvitae. The Rose Garden is a nod to the critical role of roses in herbalism. And finally, the ten specialty gardens are oval-shaped and have themes. There's the Dioscorides ("DEE-scor-ee-days") Garden. Dioscorides discovered an early version of aspirin when he found that sap from white willow tree bark and leaves helped with colds, body aches, and fevers. And so, the Dioscorides Garden grows the herbs described by Dioscorides. There is also a Colonial Garden and a Dye Garden that grows herbs to color fabric and textiles, and other fascinating gardens like the Native American Garden. There are even gardens devoted to Modern Botanicals, Culinary and Industrial plants, as well as Fragrance, Oriental, and Beverage Gardens. The National Herb Garden was dedicated on June 12, 1980, and celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2020 during the pandemic. Unearthed Words Nature in winter is like a great toy shop at night. The doors are locked, and only at the mysterious depths of the shop does some cold light burn. If we press our noses on the pane, we can just make out the forms of bigger objects. All the tenderer delights have been taken from the window — flower and moth and bird. What is there left for us to play with? Winter is a study in halftones, and one must have an eye for them or go lonely. Trees, skies, and even the black, white and gray and rufous ("roo-fiss") colors of winter birds and little mammals are all subdued, modest, economical of a lofty beauty. Now one may make friends with owls and mice, with the different colored stems of willows and corner ("core-nul") and sassafras and spicebush, with winter buds in their furry scales, with the berries that the birds seek out, with the bark of trees and the prints of the four-footed. — Donald Culross Peattie, American naturalist, and writer Grow That Garden Library Farming the Woods by Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel This book came out in 2014, and the subtitle is An Integrated Permaculture Approach to Growing Food and Medicinals in Temperate Forests. In this book, you're going to learn about Forest Farming. According to Ken and Steve, Forest Farming is one of many agroforestry practices that is specifically focused on growing crops underneath the forest canopy of an existing forest. I love Ken and Steve's book because they teach us new and exciting ways to relate to the forest. This book is an excellent resource for gardeners looking for something new and different to try, especially if they live near a forest or some woods. Ken and Steve share many examples of forest farming. You'll meet a couple who cultivate shiitake mushrooms alongside wild mushrooms in the cool shade of a Hemlock Forest. You'll visit a delightful forest in February and watch sap get collected from the sugar trees to make maple syrup. These are just a few of the ways that forestry and farming - and gardening - can go hand-in-hand; they are not at odds. Since the beginning of time, people have sustained themselves from tree-based systems, and Ken and Steve will help you learn how to return to the forest. Farming the Woods teaches gardeners how to maintain a healthy forest while growing a wide range of food, medicinal, and other non-timber products. This book was the first in-depth guide for farmers and gardeners who have access to an established woodland and are looking for productive ways to manage it. And in case you're wondering, forest crops include American ginseng, shiitake mushrooms, ramps (wild leeks), maple syrup, fruit and nut trees, ornamental ferns, and more. This book is 384 pages of must-read wisdom for gardeners looking to diversify their gardening practices and incorporate agroforestry, permaculture, forest gardening, and sustainable woodlot management. You can get a copy of Farming the Woods by Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $30 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart The other day, I stumbled on this Q&A featured in The Arizona Daily Star: "Question: A recent gardening article referred to a form of Boston Ivy known as "Fenway Park." The writer described it as a sprout from the famed dark green vine that clings to the wall of Boston's baseball stadium. Can you clarify? Perhaps the Ivy came from Chicago's Wrigley Field... Answer: The ivy didn't come from Wrigley Field, but neither did it come from Fenway Park. Peter Del Tredici of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston said the ivy came from a building a block or two away from Fenway Park. Peter saw it when he and his son were walking to a Red Sox game in August 1988. Peter noticed that the top portion of some Boston ivy growing on a building near Fenway was bright yellow, instead of the normal darker green. Peter asked permission of the building's owner to take some cuttings from the yellow part and then propagated the plant at the arboretum's greenhouses. Later, Peter asked the Red Sox owners for permission to name the resulting ivy "Fenway Park." Peter's Boston Ivy species is now bred and sold as Parthenocissus tricuspidata ("parth-in-oh-SIS-us tri-cus-puh-DAY-tah" 'Fenway Park.' Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the English garden writer who fell in love with one of the world's first science fiction writers - and she turned out to be a woman. We'll also learn about the Connecticut botanist and conservations who created a new undergraduate degree program he called Human Ecology. We'll hear a delightful interview with the month of December in today's poem. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us turn our cupboards into our very own kitchen apothecary through recipes that help and heal us. And then we'll wrap things up with the state flower of Alabama - the Camellia. 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 New variety of apple discovered by Wiltshire runner | The Guardian Archie Thomas stumbled across solitary windfall fruit that could be a cross between a cultivated apple and a European crab apple. Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. 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 December 14, 1843 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish botanist, garden designer, and author John Claudius Loudon. A prolific garden writer and publisher, John coined the term arboretum. There are two stories I love to tell about John. One is his love story with his wife Jane, and the other is a famous miscommunication he had over some beech trees. Well, John's love story with his wife was made for movies. The two met when John insisted on meeting the fantastic new sci-fi author of a book named The Mummy by Henry Colburn. When John went to meet with Henry, he discovered Henry was a nom de plume for Jane. The two fell in love and married a year later. Now the second story I like to tell about John is about his letter to the Duke of Wellington and what happened next is like a Shakespeare comedy. John had written the Duke to ask if he could inspect the Waterloo Beeches. These gorgeous beech trees had been planted as a memorial to the battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately, when the Duke got John's note, he misread the signature at the bottom of the letter. Instead of JC Louden, the Duke mistakenly believed the note was from CJ London or the Bishop of London. Compounding this problem, the Duke misread the word beeches as "BREECHES." And so, the Duke thought the Bishop of London wanted to inspect his pants. So, the Duke wrote the Bishop back, saying: "My dear Bishop of London, It will always give me great pleasure to see you… Pray whenever it suits your convenience, whether I am at home or not. My servant will receive orders to show you so many pairs of breeches of mine as you wish, but why you should wish to inspect those that I wore at the battle of Waterloo is quite beyond [my] comprehension." From that day forward, the incident became known as the story of the "Waterloo Breeches." And, we wouldn't have it - without John Claudius Louden. John and his wife Jane were considered high society, and their friends included Charles Dickens. As he grew older, John's arms stopped working after an attack of rheumatic fever. As a result, Jane became his arms, handling most of his writing. When his arms got so bad that surgeons needed to amputate his right arm, they found him in his garden, and he told his doctors he wanted to return to the garden immediately after the procedure. Two weeks before Christmas in 1843, John was dictating his final book called, A Self Instruction to Young Gardeners. Around midnight, he suddenly collapsed into Jane's arms and died. Jane completed the book on her own. December 14, 1910 Today is the birthday of the American botanist and conservationist Richard Hale "Dick" Goodwin. Reflecting on how he decided to pursue botany in college, Richard wrote, "I loved the outdoors and wild places and had the thought that by entering that field I might be able to contribute toward the rehabilitation of devastated country," A Harvard grad, Richard went to work at Connecticut College in 1944 as a professor of botany. The job intrigued Richard because it came with an additional role: serving as the Director of the College Arboretum. Together with a fellow professor named William Niering, Richard began a pioneering undergraduate program that brought together science and public policy, and he called it Human Ecology. Richard and his wife Esther bought a 100-acre farm in East Haddam, Connecticut. Over the years, they continued to add on to the property, and by the time they donated the land to the Nature Conservancy, their gift had encompassed 1,200 acres with an impressive ecosystem of diverse trees, plants, and wildlife. In a 1991 interview, Richard spoke about the preserve: "You hear about the enormous complexity of the tropical forest, but even this place in our backyard is highly complex." And, then right in the middle of his commentary, Richard spotted a new flower… "There it is," he said, "a ragged fringed lily." In 2002, Richard wrote his memoir and called it A Botanist's Window on the Twentieth Century. Unearthed Words I sat with chill December Beside the evening fire. "And what do you remember," I ventured to inquire, "Of seasons long forsaken?" He answered in amaze, "My age you have mistaken; I've lived but thirty days." — John Bannister Tabb, American poet, and priest, An Interview Grow That Garden Library Alchemy of Herbs by Rosalee De La Foret This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Transform Everyday Ingredients into Foods and Remedies That Heal. In this book, Rosalee teaches us how our cupboards can be a source of relief for that next cold, scrape, headache, digestive issue, stressful day, or sleepless night. Imagine purposefully making food and beverages to make yourself feel better. For example, make a Cinnamon Tea for a sore throat, eat Garlic Hummus to boost your natural immunity, and make a simple cayenne salve for body aches and soreness. An herbal consultant and educator, Rosalee teaches us how to see our pantries in a whole new light - transforming everyday ingredients into foods and remedies that heal. By turning your cupboards into your personal kitchen apothecary, Rosalee teaches us how to make remedies that are inexpensive and straightforward. While using herbs can often seem complicated or costly, Rosalee teaches us to learn about herbs in an affordable and straightforward way - it's just like cooking dinner. This book is 384 pages of taking off your chef hat and putting on the herbalist's mantle - making personalized food and drink to help you feel better and stay healthy. You can get a copy of Alchemy of Herbs by Rosalee De La Foret 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 December 14, 1819 On this day, Alabama became the 22nd state to join the Union. Forty years later, the Camellia ("kah-MEE-lee-ah") became the official state flower of Alabama. Before that, Alabama's state flower was the Goldenrod. Camellia is an evergreen plant in the tea family. The flower size of Camellias can range from 1 centimeter to dinner plate size. Camellias have made their way into stories in books and on the movie screen, symbolizing love, affection, and admiration. In Harper Lee's 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (which is set in Alabama), Mrs. Dubose's Camellia is the 'Snow on the Mountain' Camellia, also known as the 'White Doves' or the 'Mine-No-Yuku' Camellia. Shallow-rooted, Camellias need well-drained, acid soil. The older the Camillia, the more water-wise and drought-tolerant the plant. Like peonies, Camellias are long-lived plants in terms of age, and they can easily live to be 100 years old or older. In mature forests, wild camellias can grow to be more than 50 feet tall. There are two small villages in Tuscany that host the Ancient Camellias festival. This part of Tuscany offers a perfect habitat for Camellias with cool, shady woodlands and flowing waters. Finally, the Camellia was the favorite flower of the French fashion designer and businesswoman Coco Chanel. Coco's favorite Camellia was the Alba Plena. Although she adored the bloom, she loved that the flower had no scent because it never competed with her trademark perfume - Channel No. 5. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the Indiana botanist remembered in a particular species of Red Oak (Quercus rubra). We'll also learn about the Red-Pole - one of the smallest birds in the finch family. We'll recognize the French flower breeder remembered for his work with the Lilac (Syringa vulgaris). We hear a poem about the Winter garden from a man known as The People's Poet. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about growing perennials - but not ornamentals. This book is all about perennial edibles for your garden. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of a man known as Little Flower. 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 Brazil's Amazon: Deforestation 'surges to 12-year high' | BBC News Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. 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 December 11, 1843 Today is the birthday of the Indiana physician, naturalist, and botanist Jacob Schneck. Jacob loved plants. He had a special passion for trees, and he spent as much time as he could in the field botanizing. And for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Jacob put together a collection of various types of wood for an exhibition. Once while he was out botanizing, Jacob's observation and general cleverness allowed him to see a distinctive feature in a species of Red Oaks. To confirm his suspicions, Jacob shared his discovery with a fellow botanist named Nathaniel Lord Britton. Britton agreed with Jacob, and to recognize his discovery, Britton named the oak in Jacob's honor, calling it the Quercus Schneckii(ii = "ee-eye"). Today, most people just call it the Schneck Oak. Jacob died at the age of 63. Newspaper accounts indicated Jacob had been battling pneumonia but as a physician, he had still gone out on horseback to tend to his patients. Jacob's efforts probably cost him his life. It's no wonder that Jacob's funeral was reported to be the largest ever held in Mount Carmel, Illinois. Jacob's obituary said, "No man in Wabash county had endeared himself to so many people as had Dr. Schneck. Year after year he had gone about in our midst, quietly doing his great work for humanity, turning away now and then to investigate some scientific question, especially in the realm of botany, his favorite study, and one in which he had acquired a national reputation." After Jacob died, his collection of specimens, stones, shells, and fossils was displayed at the Carnegie public library in 1934. When he was alive, Jacob spent a great deal of time fashioning cases and containers to display his collection. Each specimen was labeled in Dr. Schneck's impeccable handwriting. December 11, 1855 On this day, Henry David Thoreau wrote about walking through a spruce swamp and stumbling on a flock of Lesser Redpolls ("Red-Poles"). These little birds are some of the smallest in the finch family. Lesser Redpolls are small and brown with red foreheads. If you've ever stumbled on a flock of birds enjoying berries during this time of year, you will be able to relate to Thoreau's wonder at birds in winter. To Holden Swamp… For the first time I wear gloves, but I have not walked early this season... I thread the tangle of the spruce swamp, admiring the leaflets of the swamp pyrus… the great yellow buds of the swamp pink, the round red buds of the high blueberry, and the firm sharp red ones of the panicled andromeda. Slowly I worm my way amid the snarl, the thicket of black alder, blueberry, etc., see the forms, apparently of rabbits, at the foot of maples, and cat-birds' nests now exposed in the leafless thicket. Standing there, though in this bare November landscape, I am reminded of the incredible phenomenon of small birds in winter, that erelong, amid the cold, powdery snow, as it were a fruit of the season, will come twittering a flock of delicate, crimson-tinged birds, lesser red-polls, to sport and feed on the seeds and buds just ripe for them on the sunny side of a wood, shaking down the powdery snow there in their cheerful social feeding, as if it were high midsummer to them. These crimson aerial creatures have wings which would bear them quickly to the regions of summer, but here is all the summer they want. What a rich contrast! tropical colors, crimson breasts, on cold white snow... I am struck by the perfect confidence and success of Nature... The winter with its snow and ice is not an evil to be corrected. It is as it was designed and made to be… December 11, 1911 Today is the anniversary of the death of the French flower breeder Victor Lemoine ("Loom-one"), who died on this day in 1911. Victor enhanced the beauty of so many flowers in our gardens: Lilacs, Mock-Oranges, Phlox, Peonies, Gladiolus, Tuberous Begonias, Geraniums, and Deutzias. Around the year 1850, Victor borrowed money from his gardener father and began a nursery that survived three generations thanks to his son Emile and his grandson Henri. The Lemoine nursery thrived on land bought in Nancy, France (pronounced "non-cee"). A few years after starting his nursery, Victor created his first double-flower on the Portulaca grandiflora or the Moss Rose. As with so many of Victor's creations, the double-flower created double the beauty. In 1854, Victor turned the original five-petaled single blossom of the geranium into a double-flowered stunner he named after his hometown, called "Gloire de Nancy" or "Glory of Nancy." And Northern gardeners owe Victor a debt of gratitude for his work with peonies. Victor crossed the Paeonia wittmanniana with the Siberian albaflora; creating a peony that could withstand a winter freeze. It was Victor Lemoine who created some of our most memorable heirlooms: the white Le Cygne or Swan peony, the Primevere with creamy white outer guard petals, and packed with canary yellow petals inside, the blush-colored Solange peony, the pink Sarah Bernhardt, La Fee the Fairy peony, and the creamy-white Alsace-Lorraine peony. But, it is the Lilac that will forever be associated with Victor Lemoine. Incredibly, Victor didn't start working on Lilacs until he was almost fifty. That said, Victor's wife, Marie Louise, was his tireless assistant when his eyes and fine-motor skills were failing. Marie Louise hand-pollinated the little lilac flowers, helping both her husband and her son with hybridizing. Victor worked magic with his Lilacs. He made them bloom earlier and later. Victor improved the quality of the bloom, and he expanded their color spectrum. And Victor Lemoine grew the very first double Lilac. By the time the Lemoine nursery closed its doors in 1968, Victor and his family had bred 214 new Lilac cultivars. Unearthed Words Gray skies above us, and the snow Blankets the frozen earth below. Where roses bloomed, the drifts lie deep. The hollyhocks are fast asleep. The cedars green are wearing white Like rich men's wives on opera night. The elm tree strangely seems to throw A lean, gaunt shadow on the snow. The last brown leaves of twig and stem Have found the storms too much for them. Winter, the tyrant of the land, Once more is in supreme command. — Edgar Albert Guest, British-American poet, Winter in the Garden Edgar was known as The People's Poet during the first half of the 20th century. Edgar's poems were happy and hopeful, which is why people liked them. Grow That Garden Library Growing Perennial Foods by Acadia Tucker This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is A Field Guide to Raising Resilient Herbs, Fruits, and Vegetables. In this book, the regenerative farmer, climate activist, and organic market gardener Acadia Tucker shares her passion for growing perennial food crops. Inspired by farming pioneers like Eliot Coleman, Acadia has grown over 200 hardy food crops. And Acadia knows that perennials are an investment crop that yields dividends many times over in their resiliency, taste, nutrients, and maintenance. Besides sharing her ten steps for helping perennials thrive, Acadia's field guide is loaded with detailed profiles of popular perennial herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Each plant profile offers Acadia's specific directions regarding planting, growing, harvesting, storing, and preserving the harvest - in addition to recipes. This book is 280 pages of passion for perennial food crops from a woman with hands-on experience. It's like Acadia's right there with you - explaining, encouraging, and giving you all the information for investing in perennials in your own market garden. You can get a copy of Growing Perennial Foods by Acadia Tucker 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 December 11, 1882 Happy birthday to the Little Flower, aka Fiorello LaGuardia, born on this day in 1882 on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village. During his lifetime, Mayor LaGuardia was often referred to as the Little Flower (Fiorello means little flower in Italian). And although the reference could have been construed as a slight for LaGuardia's short stature (he was only 5'2"), it ultimately became an ironic endearment as LaGuardia had a larger than life, take-charge personality. Little Flower is remembered for his desire for justice and fairness; he was a champion of the working class and immigrants. Fiorello LaGuardia, Little Flower, died at age 64. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today we celebrate the birthday of a beloved American who, in her lifetime, was known more as a gardener than a poet. We'll also learn about the gift from Japan that resulted in the Plant Quarantine Act in the United States. We'll remember the botanist knighted for his incredible scientific services to the British Empire. We'll hear a poem about King Midas and his garden. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that reminds us of the importance of beauty in our garden harvest. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of the botanist known as "Mad Ridley"... and it turns out he wasn't mad at all. 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 Story of the 'Conference' Pear | The English Garden | Greg Loades Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. 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 December 10, 1830 Today is the birthday of Emily Dickinson. The Dickinson author, Judith Farr, reminds us that during her lifetime, Emily Dickinson was, "known more widely as a gardener... than as a poet." Emily grew up gardening. She would help her mother with their large edible and ornamental garden. The flower garden became Emily's responsibility when she got older. She planted in a carefree cottage garden style. After Emily died, her sister Lavinia took over the garden. Emily's niece and editor, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, recalls: "All [Lavinia's] flowers did as they liked: tyrannized over her, hopped out of their own beds and into each other's beds, were never reproved or removed as long as they bloomed; for a live flower to Aunt Lavinia was more than any dead horticultural principle." December 10, 1909 On this day, 2,000 cherry trees arrived in Seattle from Japan. When the First Lady Helen Taft indicated, she wanted to beautify Potomac Park, the mayor of Tokyo donated 2,000 cherry trees for the project. But once the trees arrived on this day in 1909, they were found to have pest issues and disease. And it was this delivery of trees that lead to plant quarantine legislation for America. So, if you've ever wondered about the laws that govern bringing plants into the country, that legislation is rooted in this bad batch of cherry trees which the USDA ordered to be burned. Now, you can imagine Japan's mortification over the first lot of trees. In response, Japanese horticulturists immediately started cultivating and fumigating a new lot of cherry trees. It took three years to grow the trees and get them ready for travel. Finally, in 1912, Tokyo's mayor Yukio Ozaki rectified the matter from 1909 three-fold when he sent 6,000 trees to the United States. By this time, Charles Marlett's Plant Quarantine Act of 1912 was in place to ensure that all plant material entering the country was healthy and sanctioned. And this larger batch of trees was split between New York and Washington DC. December 10, 1911 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Victorian British botanist, explorer, President of the Royal Society, and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who died at 94. Joseph accomplished much during his long life. The botanic gardens of the world were a discovery and classification network that Joseph masterfully orchestrated. To Joseph, the botanic gardens were essentially botanical laboratories on a mission to enhance the world's economy and promote trade. And Joseph was Charle's Darwin's closest friend and collaborator. In fact, they corresponded about Darwin's theory before it was made public. And Joseph was instrumental in getting Darwin's work published. Many regard Joseph as Darwin's PR man. Joseph was brilliant and concise. It was Joseph Dalton Hooker who once famously wrote, "Life is short, and books are long." In 1877, Joseph was knighted for scientific services to the British Empire. And here's an adorable factoid about Joseph: Kew Gardens shared that, during his travels, Joseph would send letters to his young son with the salutation "my dear little Lion" or "my dear cub." Unearthed Words December 10, 1925 Today is the birthday of an American poet of the Pacific Northwest; Carolyn Kizer. Carolyn occasionally wrote about the garden, and my favorite garden poem by Carolyn is this charming piece about King Midas growing golden roses called The Ungrateful Garden. Here are some definitions to help you understand Carolyn's poem: An ague ("AYE-gyoo") is a shivering fever, serried ("SAIR-id") means standing in a row, to "silt up" is to block or fill with silt, and a shift is a nightgown. To keep the show clean, I've eliminated all offensive language. Midas watched the golden crust That formed over his steaming sores, Hugged his agues, loved his lust, But (cursed) the out-of-doors Where blazing motes of sun impaled The serried roses, metal-bright. "Those famous flowers," Midas wailed, "Have scorched my retina with light." This gift, he'd thought, would gild his joys, Silt up the waters of his grief; His lawns a wilderness of noise, The heavy clang of leaf on leaf. Within, the golden cup is good To lift, to sip the yellow mead. Outside, in summer's rage, the rude Gold thorn has made his fingers bleed. "I strolled my halls in golden shift, As ruddy as a lion's meat. Then I rushed out to share my gift, And golden stubble cut my feet." Dazzled with wounds, he limped away To climb into his golden bed, Roses, roses can betray. "Nature is evil," Midas said. — Carolyn Kizer, American poet, The Ungrateful Garden Grow That Garden Library Growing Beautiful Food by Matthew Benson This book came out in 2015, and the subtitle is A Gardener's Guide to Cultivating Extraordinary Vegetables and Fruit. Let me just start by saying I love Matthew's book because he is not only a gardener but also a garden photographer. His garden was designed with a photographer's eye, and his Stonegate Farm property in Balmville, New York, is one of the most beautiful places I've seen displayed in a garden book. For anyone wondering why beauty matters, just ask your kids how appearance influences what they will - and won't - eat. Matthew knows first hand that beauty inspires behavior and behavior change. If our harvest is visually appealing, we will eat better and be healthier. Matthew's gentleman's farm is on one small acre of land. He also operates a CSA offering vegetables, orchard fruit, cut flowers, herbs, eggs, and honey. Matthew uses his expertise in growing and selling 50 garden crops for inspiration and instruction in his book. This book is 264 pages of beauty - from the garden to the harvest - Matthew shows us how to grow delicious and alluring food. You can get a copy of Growing Beautiful Food by Matthew Benson 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 December 10, 1855 Today is the birthday of the English botanist, geologist, and naturalist Henry Nicholas Ridley. As the first Director of the Singapore Botanic Garden, Henry arrived in Singapore in 1888. Henry has been described as the Rubber Tree's Johnny Appleseed because he single-handedly pioneered Malaya's rubber industry. Not only did Henry plant and encourage the planting of the trees, but he also figured out ingenious ways to tap the tree's latex without harming the tree. Henry's exuberance for persuading Malayan farmers to grow rubber trees lead to an unfortunate nickname, "Mad Ridley." Without Henry, rubber wouldn't have become a viable cash crop alternative when the Malayan coffee crops succumbed to disease. At one point, the requests for Henry's seeds were pouring in at a rate of a million seeds a day. Henry not only provided the seed for farmers courtesy of the Botanic Garden, but he lived to see the rubber trade market begin to transform Malaya. By 1920, Malaya produced over half the world's rubber, and rubber remains an essential crop for the region today. And to think that it all started with rubber seed that Henry collected from just 22 plants... Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
