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Each episode follows an “on this day” format, uncovering the people, plants, books, and moments that have quietly influenced gardens across time.
New episodes are released Monday through Friday, and each show features a thoughtfully chosen garden book.
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Today we celebrate the German-American botanist who saved the French wine industry and the very first Iris-breeder who urged other hybridizers to "be bold." We'll learn about the woman who sparked significant legislative change after birds and insects were killed in her garden and the man who fought to protect habitat for the Blazing Star. In Unearthed Words, we celebrate two award-winning American poets and review their poems about the garden. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that shows how growing and gardening has changed the way we eat. I'll talk about a garden item that will get your garden or porch party-ready. And, then, we'll wrap things up with a story within a story about a man who loved apples and a man who helped settle the West. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Seeds and Berries "As a wildlife gardener, you can help wildlife have a year-round bounty by leaving the seed heads and berries intact, while still weeding or clearing some lower branches and leaves as needed. Seed-eating birds such as juncos and goldfinches enjoy the dried flower heads of asters, coneflowers, and other native plants. Winter wildflower stalks also provide wildlife with places to seek refuge from storms and predators, and insects pass the winter in the dead stalks. These stalks and seed pods also add texture and visual interest on an otherwise barren landscape in a garden habitat." Rare ghost orchid has multiple pollinators, the groundbreaking video reveals Rare ghost orchid has multiple pollinators, the groundbreaking video reveals: "Deep in remote Florida swamps, a team of researchers and photographers have made a new discovery that upends what we thought we knew about the ghost orchid, one of the world's most iconic flowers, and how it reproduces. These rare, charming orchids were long thought to be pollinated by a single insect: the giant sphinx moth. " Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1879 On this day, Dorothea Engelmann, the wife of the physician and botanist George Engelmann, died. Dorothea was also his cousin, and the couple married in their native Germany before immigrating to the United States. Engelmann had settled in St Louis, Missouri. George and Dorothea had one son, George Jr - who became a noted gynecologist. George persuaded Henry Shaw to develop the gardens around his estate outside of St Louis. When Asa Gray indicated that he thought Engelmann should run Shaw's garden, Engelmann replied that he wasn't interested; that Shaw was a man who had "no real scientific zeal." Yet, Engelmann continued to interact with Shaw, and he encouraged him to name his garden, the Missouri Botanical Garden. Today, the Missouri Botanical Garden is sometimes still referred to as Shaw's Garden. George Engelmann became the Missouri Botanical Garden's first botanist. Among his many accomplishments as a botanist, at the top of the list is the time George rescued the French wine industry. During the 1870s, the grapes in French Vineyards were under attack by phylloxera. Without intervention, the old European vines would never survive the little aphid-like pest that sucked the sap out of the roots of the grapevines. By the time the French government dispatched a scientist to St. Louis, Engelmann had been studying grapes for over 20 years. Engelmann offered a simple solution when he suggested replacing the European vines with American ones. Engelmann had already determined that the American vines were naturally resistant to phylloxera. The simple substitution of vines would eliminate the problem. Both sides agreed, and George personally arranged for millions of grapevines as well as grape seeds to be sent to France. And voila! The French wine industry was saved. As a person, George was quite cheerful and always working - either as a physician or pursuing his botanical and other scientific work. But, after Dorothea died on this day in 1879, George was distraught. Dorothea had been his partner in all of his endeavors - she was his sounding board, editor, and chief encourager. George threw himself into his botanical work, but by himself, he could find no relief from his grief. George's way back to life came when an invitation arrived from a friend and colleague. Harvard's Charles Sprague Sargent requested that George join him on an assessment of the forests of the Pacific Coast on behalf of the Forestry Division of the United States Census. George was Charles's top choice; he had long admired George's mastery of trees. By the summer of 1880, George Engelmann was 71 years old. Life wasn't done with him yet. George met up with Charles in Ogden, Utah. Along with botanist Christopher Charles Parry, they spent the summer of 1880 botanizing along the west coast from the Fraser River in British Columbia to southern Arizona along the Mexican border. George's death came four years later. He'd caught a cold after he was clearing a path through the snow from his house to his garden so that he could read his thermometers. George had faithfully kept an unbroken record of daily meteorological observations for nearly five decades. It was important to him. He recorded the daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual records of temperature, rainfall, and other weather notes. A prolific letter-writer, George's last letter was to Charles Christopher Parry - who had accompanied George and Sargent on their botanizing trip on the west coast. Parry was a true friend and had named the Englemann Spruce in honor of George. In a tribute to George after his death, Charles Sprague Sargent wrote, "… that splendid spruce [the Engelmann Spruce], the fairest of them all, will [forever]...cover the noble forests and the highest slopes of the mountains, recalling … the memory of a pure, upright, and laborious life." Today, George's portrait is featured in a couple of different places at the Missouri Botanical Garden, where his astounding collection of over 98,000 botanical specimens helped establish the Missouri Botanical Garden's herbarium. If you ever visit the Missouri Botanical Garden's Sachs Museum, you'll note that the only plant identified (with a label) is named for George Engelmann - it's the Opuntia engelmannii or Engelmann's prickly pear cactus. There is also a large bust of Engelmann in the Strassenfest Garden. Today, Engelmann's botanical notebooks are being digitized online as part of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. 1907 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English physician and iris breeder Sir Michael Foster. In the late 1890s, Michael became the first person to crossbreed and name new varieties of Iris. Michael started working with purple and yellow iris. He was successfully able to produce a beautiful blend by the third generation. In short order, Michael was receiving large wild iris specimens from all over the world. Missionaries were a great help to him and sent Trojana, Cypriana, and Mesopotamica specimens from the deserts in the Near East. Over time, Michael was able to create irises with bigger blooms and habits with higher and wider branching stems. Michael crossed late bloomers with early bloomers and created intermediate bloomers. Michael once wrote to his friend the breeder William John Caparne, advising, "In hybridizing, be bold" and Michael gave us a clue to how he regarded his work with the natural world: "Nature is ever making signs to us; she is ever whispering to us the beginnings of her secrets." In 1888, Michael introduced "Mrs. Horace Darwin" - a white iris with pale violet markings - which he had named after one of his neighbors, the daughter-in-law of Charles Darwin. Michael often named his iris in honor of his many female friends. After Michael's work became well known, iris breeding took off. Thirteen years after Michael's death, the American Iris Society was founded in 1920. Today, there are thousands of varieties of Iris. And, here's one final tidbit about Sir Michael Foster. Like many botanists, Michael was a doctor. In 1877, he discovered and documented a phenomenon he called the patellar reflex, and he noted that "Striking the tendon below the patella gives rise to a sudden extension of the leg, known as the knee-jerk." 1958 Duxbury resident, journalist, and nature-lover Olga Owens Huckins wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in the Boston Herald in Section 3 on Page 14 and was titled "Evidence of Havoc by DDT." Olga and her husband, Stuart, had created a little bird sanctuary around two kettle ponds on their property. It was a place "where songbirds sang, ducks swam, and great blue herons nested." When the Massachusetts State Mosquito control program began spraying in their area, Olga observed birds and insects dropping dead in her garden. During that time, the DDT was sprayed at a rate of 2 pounds per acre. the day Olga's property was sprayed, the pilot had extra DDT fuel oil in his tank, and he decided to dump it right over Olga's land. As a former Boston newspaper reporter, Olga voiced her anger and frustration in the best way she knew how; she wrote about it. Olga wrote, "The 'harmless' shower-bath killed seven of our lovely songbirds outright. We picked up three dead bodies the next morning right by the door. They were birds that had lived close to us, trusted us, and built their nests in our trees year after year." After writing the paper, Olga wrote another letter to an old friend named Rachel Carson. Olga wanted Rachel to help her find people in Washington who could provide more information about the aerial spraying of DDT. Olga's letter sparked four years of research for Rachel. She put it all together in a book called Silent Spring. Rachel's book opened people's eyes to the hazards of DDT, and public opinion eventually forced the banning of DDT in 1972. Today, Olga & Stuart's property has new owners. Judith and Robert Vose, III, continue to preserve the site as a bird sanctuary and also as a way to honor the brave women who stepped forward when it was put in harm's way: Olga Huckins and Rachel Carson. 1964 Today is the anniversary of the death of the former curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and devoted scientist Otto Emery Jennings. He died at the age of 86. In 1904, Jennings started out as the custodian at the Carnegie Museum. Otto kept climbing the ladder, and over the span of 41 years, he was ultimately named the director of the Museum in 1945. Over his long career, he had been chief, curator, and bottle washer. Today, the Jennings Nature Reserve near Butler Pennsylvania is named for Otto, who initiated it's protection to save the Blazing Star (Liatrisliatris spicata). The 20-acre reserve was expressly cleared to enable the Blazing Star to spread and multiply. Other common names for the Blazing Star include the Gayfeather or Prairie Star. This North American native plant and late-blooming prairie flower offers stately plumes of purple or white. The many wonderful characteristics of the Blazing Star make it a favorite with gardeners - it's easy to grow and propagate, it's low maintenance, it makes excellent cut flowers, and the pollinators love them. Monarchs go crazy for Blazing Star. The Blazing Star grows up to 16 in tall. And, gardeners should note that it has a taller cousin called Prairie Blazing Star that can grow to be 5 ft tall. Unearthed Words 1933 Today is the anniversary of the death of the American lyric poet Sara Teasdale. In 1918, Teasdale was awarded the Columbia Poetry Prize, which would later become known as the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Teasdale was born into a privileged life in St Louis, Missouri. After writing many books of poetry, she ended up in New York, where, depressed and disillusioned, she took her own life on this day in 1933. Her poem, The Garden, doesn't require a great deal of analysis. Gardeners, especially during this time of year, will relate to her longing for spring. The Garden My heart is a garden tired with autumn, Heaped with bending asters and dahlias heavy and dark, In the hazy sunshine, the garden remembers April, The drench of rains and a snow-drop quick and clear as a spark; Daffodils blowing in the cold wind of morning, And golden tulips, goblets holding the rain— The garden will be hushed with snow, forgotten soon, forgotten— After the stillness, will spring come again? 1963 Today is the anniversary of the death of the American poet Robert Frost. Frost died at the age of 88 after having a heart attack. Forty-seven years earlier, Robert wrote a poem about a girl who asked her father for a little piece of land so that she could start a garden. The result was this poem called A Girl's Garden, written in 1916. A Girl's Garden A neighbor of mine in the village Likes to tell how one spring When she was a girl on the farm, she did A childlike thing. One day she asked her father To give her a garden plot To plant and tend and reap herself, And he said, 'Why not?' In casting about for a corner He thought of an idle bit Of walled-off ground where a shop had stood, And he said, 'Just it.' And he said, 'That ought to make you An ideal one-girl farm, And give you a chance to put some strength On your slim-jim arm.' It was not enough of a garden Her father said, to plow; So she had to work it all by hand, But she don't mind now. She wheeled the dung in a wheelbarrow Along a stretch of road; But she always ran away and left Her not-nice load, And hid from anyone passing. And then she begged the seed. She says she thinks she planted one Of all things but weed. A hill each of potatoes, Radishes, lettuce, peas, Tomatoes, beets, beans, pumpkins, corn, And even fruit trees. And yes, she has long mistrusted That a cider-apple In bearing there today is hers, Or at least may be. Her crop was a miscellany When all was said and done, A little bit of everything, A great deal of none. Now when she sees in the village How village things go, Just when it seems to come in right, She says, 'I know! 'It's as when I was a farmer...' Oh, never by way of advice! And she never sins by telling the tale To the same person twice. Grow That Garden Library Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman The subtitle to this book is: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat. This book came out a year ago, released in January of 2019 by Jonathan Kauffman. It was well-received and was a 2019 James Beard Award nominee. I think what gardeners will enjoy about this book is that Jonathan is a food writer and an impeccable researcher. his topic hippie food covers the origins of Staples like sprouts, yogurt, tofu, brown rice, and whole-grain bread. How did these Foods get introduced and become so ubiquitous in our diets? Here's a quick excerpt for you: "For those of you who didn't grow up eating lentil-and-brown-rice casseroles, it may be hard to recognize what came to be called "hippie food." That's because so many of the ingredients that the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s adopted, defying the suspicion and disgust of the rest of the country, have become foods many of us eat every day. The organic chard you bought at Kroger last week? In the early 70s, farming…
Full show notes at the publisherToday we celebrate an eighteenth-century man who was a friend of many famous gardeners. And, the Danish surgeon associated with many wonderful plants from the Himalayas. We'll learn about the Swedish botanist who had a thing for algae and the man who started the only arboretum between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Today's Unearthed Words feature poems and prose about winter's cold. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a wonderful book about weird plants. I'll talk about a beautiful item that would make the perfect Valentine's gift for a gardener or a special gift for a loved one, And, then we'll wrap things up with the story of the man who made the poinsettia a harbinger of Christmas. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Hidden women of history: Maria Sibylla Merian, 17th-century entomologist and scientific adventurer Here's a great post about Maria Sibylla Merian. Click to read all about her. Brassica Oleracea 'January King' From @GWmag 'January King' is a fantastic variety of savoy cabbage. Here's how to grow it. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1694 Today is the birthday of a Fellow of the Royal Society, an avid gardener, and a friend to many scientific leaders in the mid-18th century in the city of London, Peter Collinson. Peter Collinson introduced nearly 200 species of plants to British horticulture - importing many from his friend John Bartram in America. When the American gardener John Custis learned that Collinson was looking for the mountain cowslip (Primula auricula), he happily sent him a sample. Auricula means ear-shaped, and the mountain cowslip is Commonly known as a bear's ear from the shape of its leaves. The cowslip is a spring-flowering plant, and it is native to the mountainous areas of Europe. Custis also sent Collinson a Virginia Bluebell Or Virginia cowslip ( Mertensia virginica). This plant is another Spring Beauty I can be found in Woodlands. The blue about Virginia Bluebell is so striking, and it's an old fashioned favorite for many gardeners. The Virginia Bluebell is also known as lungwort or oyster wort. The plant was believed to have medicinal properties for treating lung disorders, and the leaves taste like oysters. Virginia bluebells bloom alongside daffodils, so you end up with a beautiful yellow and blue combination together in the garden - something highly coveted and absolutely gorgeous. Collinson was not the only gardener in search of Virginia bluebells. Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello and loved them so much that they were often referred to as Jefferson's blue funnel flowers. Monticello ("MontiCHELLo") Collinson once wrote, "Forget not me & my garden." Given Peter's influence on English gardens, he would be pleased to know that, after all these years, he has not been forgotten. In 2010, the author Andrea Wulf popularized Collinson in the book The Brother Gardeners: A Generation of Gentlemen Naturalists and the Birth of an Obsession- one of my favorite books, by one of my favorite authors. 1786 Today is the birthday of the Danish surgeon and botanist Nathaniel Wallich. Nathaniel served as the Superintendent of East India Company's Botanical Garden in Calcutta, India. Wallich's early work involved writing a Flora of Asia. The palm Wallichia disticha ("wall-IK-ee-uh DIS-tik-uh") was named in Wallich's honor. The name of the species - disticha - comes from the Greek "distichos" ("dis" means two and "stichos" means line). Distichos refers to the leaves of this palm, which emerge in two rows on opposite sides of the stem. The Wallinchia disticha is a very special palm, and it is native to the base of the Himalayas. The trunk is quite beautiful because it is covered in a trellis of fiber mat - simply gorgeous. This palm can grow to 30 feet tall, but it is a short-lived palm with a life span of just 15 years. In 1824, Wallich was the first to describe the giant Himalayan Lily (Cardiocrinum giganteum) - the largest species of Lily. It is hardy in USDA Zones 7-9. The giant Himalayan Lily can grow up to 12 feet tall. Once it is finished blooming, the mother Lily bulb dies, but luckily, numerous offsets develop from the parent bulb. This dying off is common among plants that push a bloom many feet into the air. It takes enormous energy to create a towering and flowering stalk. If you decide you'd like to grow giant Himalayan Lilies, (and who wouldn't?) expect blooms anytime after year four. Today, the Nathaniel Wallich Memorial Lecture takes place every year at the Indian Museum in Kolkata on Foundation Day. Wallich founded the museum in 1814. Wallich is buried in Kensal Green cemetery in London alongside many prominent botanists - like James Edward Smith (a founder of the Linnean Society London), John Claudius Loudon (Scottish writer), Sir James McGrigor (Scottish botanist), Archibald Menzies (surgeon), Robert Brown (discoverer of Brownian motion), and David Don (the Linnaean Society Librarian and 1st Professor of Botany Kings College London). 1859 Today is the anniversary of the death of a Swedish botanist who specialized in algae - Carl Adolph Agardh ("AW-guard"). In 1817, Carl published his masterpiece - a book on the algae of Scandinavia. Carl's work studying algae was a major endeavor from the time he was a young man until his mid-fifties. At that time, he became the bishop of Karlstad. The position was all-consuming, and Carl put his botanical studies behind him. 1870 Today is the birthday of the physician, naturalist, and civic leader of the south-central Kansas town of Belle Plaine - Dr. Walter E. Bartlett. In 1910, Bartlett started the Bartlett Arboretum By purchasing 15 acres of land on the edge of a town called Belle Plaine - about 20 miles south of Wichita. The property had good soil, and it also had a little creek. One of Bartlett's initial moves was too dam up the creek and create a lake for waterfowl. In the flat expanse of Kansas, Bartlett was tree obsessed. He planted them everywhere - lining walkways, drives, and Riverbanks. Bartlett was all so civic-minded, and he added a baseball diamond complete with a grandstand to the arboretum and a running track and a place for trap shooting as well. After Walter died, the park was managed by his son Glenn who was a landscape architect. Glenn had studied the Gardens at Versailles - noting that they were transformed out of sand dunes and marshes. Back home, the Bartlett Arboretum had similar challenges. Glenn married Margaret Myers, who was an artist, a magazine fashion designer, a floral designer, a Garden Club organizer, and an instructor. Combining their fantastic skillsets, Glenn and Margaret turned the Arboretum into something quite beautiful. Together, they Incorporated tree specimens from all over the world. Using dredged dirt from the lake, they created Islands. At one point, the Bartlett Arboretum was the only Arboretum between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Known for its beautiful spring tradition called Tulip Time, the Arboretum featured a tulip bed with over 40,000 bulbs. In 1997, the Arboretum was sold to Robin Macy. Macy was one of the founding members of the Dixie Chicks, and she is the current steward of the Bartlett Arboretum. Naturally, Robin incorporated music into the Arb. The Facebook Group for the Arboretum recently shared a register page from April 7th, 1929, and across the top of the register, Bartlett had quoted Wordsworth, "He is the happiest who has the power to gather wisdom from a flower." The folks who tend the flowers and trees at the Bartlett Arboretum make people happy all year long. Unearthed Words Here are some poems about the winter's cold. (As I read this, it's 2 degrees in lovely Maple Grove, Minnesota.) The birds are gone, The ground is white, The winds are wild, They chill and bite; The ground is thick with slush and sleet, And I barely feel my feet." It's not the case, though some might wish it so Who from a window watch the blizzard blow White riot through their branches vague and stark, That they keep snug beneath their pelted bark. They take affliction in until it jells To crystal ice between their frozen cells ... — Richard Wilbur, American Poet, Orchard Trees - January Snow and sleet, and sleet and snow. Will the Winter never go? What do beggar children do With no fire to cuddle to, Perhaps with nowhere warm to go? Snow and sleet, and sleet and snow. Hail and ice, and ice and hail, Water frozen in the pail. See the robins, brown and red, They are waiting to be fed. Poor dears, battling in the gale! Hail and ice, and ice and hail. — Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand Poet & Writer, Winter Song Blow, blow, thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude. — William Shakespeare, English Poet, Playwright, & Actor The Winter's cheek flushed as if he had drained Spring, Summer, and Autumn at a draught... — Edward Thomas, British Poet, Essayist & Novelist, "The Manor Farm" Someone painted pictures on my Windowpane last night -- Willow trees with trailing boughs And flowers, frosty white, And lovely crystal butterflies; But when the morning sun Touched them with its golden beams, They vanished one by one. — Helen Bayley Davis, Baltimore Poet, Maryland Federation of Women's Clubs Poet Laureate, Jack Frost (Written in 1929 and sold to the Christian Science Monitor) Grow That Garden Library Weird Plants by Chris Thorogood Chris is a botanist at Oxford Botanic Garden. The cover of Chris's book is captivating - it shows a very weird plant - it almost looks like a claw - and its grasp is the title of the book weird plants. In this book published by Kew Gardens, Chris shares all of the weird and wacky plants that he's encountered during his travels. There are orchids that look like a female insect, and there are giant pitcher plants as well as other carnivorous plants that take down all kinds of prey. One thing's for certain, the weirdness factor of all of these plants has helped them survive for centuries. Gardeners will get a kick out of the seven categories that Chris uses to organize these strange species: Vampires, Killers, Fraudsters, Jailers, Accomplices, Survivors, and Hitchhikers. Chris's writing is complemented by his incredibly detailed oil paintings and his fascinating range of botanical expertise. As someone who works with student gardeners regularly, I appreciate botanists who are able to make plants interesting - taking topics and subjects that may otherwise prove boring and making them utterly captivating. Chris is that kind of garden communicator. In addition to Weird Plants, Chris is the author of Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of the Western Mediterranean and co-author of Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of the Algarve; bothare published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. You can get a used copy of Weird Plants by Chris Thorogood and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $9. Great Gifts for Gardeners Good Directions 0113VB Heart Fly-Thru Bird Feeder Birdfeeder, Copper Finish $68.64 The Heart Fly-Thru™ Bird Feeder by Good Directions combines simplicity with elegance. Designed to show birds you love to feed them from the bottom of your heart! The heart fly-thru bird feeder by Good Directions invites birds in for a snack, & helps birders' Favorite activity last All day long! Featuring a charming heart shape & a LONG-LASTING Copper Finish, This bird feeder is the perfect addition to any garden setting. The feeder is easy to hang, Easy to love, & because it's also see-through, it's easy-to-know-when-to-fill! Measuring 15"H x 13"W x 3" D, it's sized to hold a generous 4-1/2 lb. Of seed! A beautiful piece for Valentine's day or for a special birthday. If you know someone who loves to watch the birds from their house or deck, this will make a nice addition to any bird feeder or birdhouse collection. This gift will always remind them how much they are loved; thus, the heart design. Unique fly-thru design with durable, long-lasting copper finish Charming heart shape with Plexiglass panels for added strength and durability Generous 4-1/2 pound seed capacity Drainage holes help keep seed dry Measures 15"H x 13"w x 3" D Easy to hang and easy-to-know-when-to fill Today's Botanic Spark 1895 Today is the birthday of the nurseryman known as "Mr. Poinsettia," Paul Ecke ("Eck-EE"), Sr. He was born in Magdeburg, Germany. Paul and his family immigrated to the United States in 1906. When Paul took over his father's nursery business located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in the early 1920s, the poinsettia(Euphorbia pulcherrima) was a fragile outdoor wild plant. Paul fell in love with the Poinsettia and immediately felt that the plant was a perfect fit for the holiday season because the bloom time occurred naturally during that time. By 1924, Paul was forced out of Hollywood by the movie business, and he brought his family and the nursery to San Diego County. He and his wife Magdalena had four children, and they purchased 40 acres of land in Encinitas("en-sin-EE-tis"). It was here that Paul would turn his passion for Poinsettias into a powerhouse - at one point, his nursery controlled 90% of the Poinsettia market in the United States. At first, Paul raised poinsettias in the fields on the ranch. Each spring, the plants were harvested and then loaded on two railroad cars and sent to Greenhouse Growers all along the east coast. When Paul wasn't growing poinsettias, he was talking poinsettias. He started calling it "The Christmas Flower"; Paul was endlessly marketing poinsettias and praising their attributes as a harbinger of Christmas Initially, Paul worked to decrease the growing time of the Poinsettia. By getting the time to bloom down from 18 months to 8 months, Paul made it possible for the Poinsettia to be grown indoors. After figuring out how to propagate the plant through cuttings indoors, Paul was soon able to ship poinsettias around the world by plane. Paul's son, Paul Jr., took over the business in the 1960s. He cleverly sent poinsettias to TV shows. When the holiday programs aired, there were the poinsettias - in their glory - decorating the sets and stages of all the major programs. When Paul Junior learned that women's magazines did their photoshoots for the holidays over the summer, he began growing a poinsettia crop that piqued in July. Magazines like Women's Day and Sunset were thrilled to feature the poinsettia in their Christmas magazines alongside Christmas trees and mistletoe. This venture was regarded as the Ecke family's biggest marketing success and made the Poinsettia synonymous with Christmas. And gardeners will be fascinated to learn that the Ecke family was able to distinguish themselves as a superior grower of poinsettias by using a secret technique to keep their plants compact and hardy. Their solution was simple. They grafted two varieties of Poinsettias together, causing every seedling to branch and become bushy. Competitor Poinsettias were leggy and prone to falling open. Not so, with the Ecke Poinsettia. By the 1990s, the Ecke growing secret was out of the bag, and competitors began grafti…
Full show notes at the publisherToday we celebrate the King whose dream castle incorporated 1,200 varieties of tulips and the man who is regarded as the greatest channeler of the English rural landscape. We'll learn about the mathematician who wrote a book inspired by the Oxford Botanic Garden and the relatively young Botanic Garden that was started in the 90s for the Northern California region. Today's Unearthed Words feature a beloved American poet who wrote a poem about Flowers in Winter. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that dives deep into the behind-the-scenes of Sissinghurst - sharing all of Vita's plant choices and how she created her masterpiece. I'll talk about a garden item that can help you keep your phone clean and useable during the garden season - no more dirty or smudged screens! And then we'll wrap things up with the anniversary of an important antibiotic discovery from a soil sample taken in the great state of Indiana. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Moths And Butterflies Shift Their Symmetry To Improve Camouflage - Discover Wildlife Using predation experiments and image analysis, this new study provides insights into how camouflaged prey have evolved. A symmetrical midline makes the animal more noticeable to predators who can compare closer symmetrical patterns more easily. For The Love Of Peat - By John Walker Peat-free compost for carnivorous plants..."David Morris now grows his cobra lilies and sarracenias successfully in a basic mix of equal parts of Melcourt Growbark Pine, perlite and lime-free grit." (from John's article). Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1679 Today is the birthday of German King Karl Wilhelm von Baden-Durlach. In 1715, Karl founded the city Karl's Ruhe or Charles' Repose after he actually had a dream about building the city. At Karl's castle in Durlach, there was a large flower garden with nearly 1,200 varieties of tulips. He also had over 7,000 orange trees. In 1738, Karl died while he was working in his tulip bed. After his death, The Karlsruhe Pyramid was installed between 1823–1825 over his grave. 1805 Today is the birthday of the English painter, etcher, and printmaker Samuel Palmer. Samuel Palmer is regarded as the greatest artist of the English rural landscape. Palmer's landscapes exude a strong connection with the land and nature. Samuel was one of the lead members of an artist group called The Ancients who followed the visionary artist William Blake in the final years before his death in 1827. The Ancients often expressed their work with a mystical view of nature. For instance, Palmer painted trees with as if they had individual personalities. It was Samuel Palmer who said, "The visions of the soul, being perfect, are the only true standard by which nature must be tried." With regard to the garden, Palmer built a studio in for himself in his garden. He would access it by exiting the house through a secret door that looked like a bookcase. 1832 Today is the birthday of the English mathematician and writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson also known as Lewis Carroll. Lewis had worked as a librarian at Christ Church College in Oxford. His office window had a view of the Dean's Garden. Lewis wrote in his diary on the 25th of April in 1856 that he had visited the Deanery Garden, where he was planning to take pictures of the cathedral. Instead, he ended up taking pictures of children in the garden. The children were allowed in the Deanery Garden But not in the Cathedral Garden, which was connected to the Deanery Garden by a door. The Oxford Botanic Garden inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland. The same garden also inspired the authors JRR Tolkien and Philip Pullman. In Lewis Caroll's Through the Looking-Glass is this favorite passage among gardeners: "In most gardens," the Tiger-lily said, "they make the beds too soft-so that the flowers are always asleep." 1888 Today the National Geographic Society was officially incorporated. The National Geographic Society was founded by a group of elite scholars, explorers, and scientists. National Geographic celebrates the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling. It was founded to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's cultural, historical, and natural resources." "Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved." –Jane Goodall 1992 The Humboldt Botanical Garden was incorporated in the State of California. Organized by a small group of volunteers, the goal was to create an educational botanical garden for the Northern California region. The Gardens are constructed on a 44.5 -acre site south of Eureka near the Humboldt Bay adjacent to the College of the Redwoods. Unearthed Words Here's a poem from the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier called Flowers in Winter. Whittier was a Quaker. He was a staunch abolitionist and a great lover of nature. How strange to greet, this frosty morn, In graceful counterfeit of flowers, These children of the meadows, born Of sunshine and of showers! — A wizard of the Merrimac, So old ancestral legends say, Could call green leaf and blossom back To frosted stem and spray. — The settler saw his oaken flail Take bud, and bloom before his eyes; From frozen pools, he saw the pale, Sweet summer lilies rise. The beechen platter sprouted wild, The pipkin wore its old-time green The cradle o'er the sleeping child Became a leafy screen. — And, while the dew on leaf and flower Glistened in moonlight clear and still, Learned the dusk wizard's spell of power, And caught his trick of skill. — The one, with bridal blush of rose, And sweetest breath of woodland balm, And one whose matron lips unclose In smiles of saintly calm. Fill soft and deep, O winter snow! The sweet azalea's oaken dells, And hide the bank where roses blow, And swing the azure bells! Overlay the amber violet's leaves, The purple aster's brookside home, Guard all the flowers her pencil gives A life beyond their bloom. And she, when spring comes round again By greening slope and singing flood Shall wander, seeking, not in vain, Her darlings of the wood. — John Greenleaf Whittier, Flowers in Winter Grow That Garden Library Sissinghurst by Vita Sackville-West and Sarah Raven The subtitle to this book is Vita Sackville-West and the Creation of a Garden. The British poet and writer Vita Sackville-West wrote a weekly column in The Observer, where she shared her life at Sissinghurst. Who better than Sarah Raven, who happens to be married to Vita's grandson Adam Nicholson, to write this extraordinary book and to share with us Vitas love of flowers and gardening. Every year, gardeners and non-gardeners alike visit Sissinghurst for inspiration and enjoyment. In fact, Sissinghurst remains one of the most visited gardens in the world. Sarah's book is loaded with beautiful photographs and drawings that help convey the triumph of this special place for gardeners and lovers of beauty. Gardeners will especially appreciate the level of detail regarding almost every plant in the garden - why they were chosen and Vita's personal take on each plant. Vita's plant lists are part of her legacy and gift to gardeners who want to model her gorgeous plant combinations. You can get a used copy of Sissinghurst by Vita Sackville-West and Sarah Raven and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $12 . Great Gifts for Gardeners LIBERRWAY Stylus Pen 10 Pack of Pink Purple Black Green Silver Stylus Universal Touch Screen Capacitive Stylus for Kindle Touch iPad iPhone 6/6s 6Plus 6s Plus Samsung S5 S6 S7 Edge S8 Plus Note $6.98 Here's a great little item for your garden tote - it's a ten pack of stylus pens. Slip them into your garden apron, put them in your shed or garage. Keep one in your purse, pocket, or in your truck. Now when you need to use your phone and your working in the garden, you won't need to remove your gloves to use your phone.
Today's Botanic Spark 1950 Science magazine announced a brand new antibiotic made by Charles Pfizer & Company, and it was called Terramycin. Pfizer & Co. Was a small chemical company that was based in Brooklyn, New York. The company developed an expertise in fermentation with citric acid. The method allowed them to mass-produce drugs. When Pfizer scientists discovered an antibiotic in a soil sample from Indiana, their deep-tank fermentation method allowed them to mass-produce Terramycin. Pfizer had been searching through soil samples from around the world - isolating bacteria-fighting organisms when they stumbled on Terramycin - found to be effective against pneumonia, dysentery, and other infections. Later in 1950, it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The name Terramycin is created from the two Latin words: terra for earth and mycin, which means fungus. - thus earth fungus. Terramycin was the first mass-marketed product by a pharmaceutical company. Pfizer spent twice as much marketing Terramycin as it did on R&D for Terramycin. The gamble paid off; Terramycin, earth fungus, made Pfizer a pharmaceutical powerhouse.
Today we celebrate a man who was an avid gardener and a friend of John Bartram's, and we learn about the founder of bacteriology and modern microbiology. We'll learn about The impact of Wardian Cases on plant exploration and the American playwright who designed her own garden on her estate. Today's Unearthed Words feature winter poems from the author of Anne of Green Gables. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a memoir from a modern scientist whose unique commentary on the natural world challenges our thinking, our responsibilities, and our actions. I'll talk about new tech to help you listen to podcasts - no matter where you are, and then we'll wrap things up with a moving editorial about Skunkweed. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Ruskin Elwood by Fieldwork | HomeAdore You guys - this is still quite the house. Aside from the seamlessness with nature - check out the hidden bar, the light fixtures, the bathroom - basically all of it! This original three-story residence designed in 2017 by Fieldwork is situated in Melbourne, Australia. Feed birds in winter: best food to choose - The English Garden What should you feed birds in winter? Now is the time of year when gardeners can expect to see lots of visiting birds in their gardens. Great post from @tegmagazine Kate Bradbury: "Birds need fat, and plenty of it: peanuts, suet, and sunflower seeds are ideal, while grated cheese, chopped apples, and cake-crumbs help ground-feeding species such as the song thrush and wren." Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1735Today Peter Collinson wrote to John Bartram after receiving Skunk Weed (Symplocarpus foetidus). My good friend, John Bartram: I am very sensible of the great pains and many toilsome steps [you took] to collect so many rare plants scattered at a distance. I shall not soon forget it; ...in some measure to show my gratitude… I have sent thee a small token: a calico gown for thy wife and some odd little things that may be of use amongst the children and family. They come in a box of books… with …. waste paper which will serve to wrap up seeds, etc [You cannot believe] how well the little case of plants survived the [journey], being put under the captain's bed, and not [exposed to any] light [until I received them]. The warmth of the ship [caused] the Skunk-weed to put forth two fine blossoms - very beautiful - it is of the Arum genus. As I hope to make a present of part of the seeds, to a very curious person, Lord Petre, I hope to procure thee some present for thy trouble of collecting. I am thy very sincere friend, P. Collinson. Skunk Weed was one of Bartram's favorite flowers. It is also known as Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), and it's a low growing wetland or marsh plant from eastern North America. The bruised leaves of Skunk Weed release a fragrance reminiscent of Skunk. The botanist William Niering wrote about the odor of Skunk Cabbage in the National Audubon Society's Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: "It's strong, and fetid odor resembles decaying flesh." Skunk Cabbages are thermogenic, meaning they have the ability to generate temperatures up to 15–35 °C (27–63 °F) above the surrounding air temp so that it thaws the frozen ground and snow as it grows in the early spring. Thanks to its ability to thermoregulate, Skunk Cabbage emerges out of the earth and looks like a little teepee of leaves. Inside that teepee, the Skunk Cabbage is warm and working on sending up a bloom. Once it does - on a 42-degree day - you can reach under the hood of a Skunk Cabbage flower, and the spadix will feel warm to the touch. As Collinson mentioned in his letter, the Skunk Cabbage is a member of the Arum family, which makes it a cousin to Jack-in-the-pulpit. In the Pacific Northwest, Skunk Cabbage leaves are still called "Indian wax paper," because the leaves were used to line baskets. And, the leaves were used in steaming pits and in food preservation. In the great Japanese bogs of Hokkaido, 10,000 visitors a day stop to see the emerging Skunk Cabbage in bloom. The visit is a traditional celebration of spring. 1828 Today is the birthday of the Prussian biologist, botanist, and writer Ferdinand Cohn. Regarded as one of the founders of bacteriology and modern microbiology, Ferdinand recognized bacteria as plants. Thanks to Ferdinand, we understand the life cycles of bacteria as well as their metabolic limitations. And, we learned that microbes could be classified by their shape (round, short rods, threads, and spirals). 1842 Today the botanist John Smith wrote a letter to Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, January 24, 1842. Dear Sir, In reply to your inquiry [regarding] the ... results obtained by [using] close-glazed cases for the transfer of living plants from one country to another, I beg to say that the several cases which have arrived… have shown that although all [some of the] plants [did not make it], still, the deaths are … few in proportion to the number that we have witnessed in cases having open lattice or wire-work lids, covered with tarpaulin ("tar-PALL-in") or some such covering. It is much to be regretted that close-glazed cases were not in use during the years ... botanical collectors were employed in New Holland and the Cape of Good Hope. For this garden: a very great number of the plants which they sent home were … dead on their arrival, [as a result of] the imperfect protection during the voyage to this country; therefore, from my experience, I have no hesitation in considering your [cases] the best for the purpose desired. I am, Sir, Your's truly, J. SMITH. For plant explorers, Wardian cases made all the difference. 1862 Today is the birthday of the American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and designer Edith Wharton. In 1904, Edith wrote Italian Villas and Their Gardens. Edith thought gardens should be a series of outdoor rooms and she wrote, "…In the blending of different elements, the subtle transition from the fixed and formal lines of art to the shifting and irregular lines of nature, and lastly, in the essential convenience and livableness of the garden, lies the fundamental secret of the old garden-magic…" Edith's summer cottage estate in Western Massachusetts was called The Mount. From The Mount, Edith could look down over her property and see her flower gardens. She designed the gardens herself. There's a sizeable French flower garden, a sunken Italien Garden, a Lime Walk with Linden trees, and even grass steps. Edith's niece was the garden designer Beatrix Jones Farrand. Unearthed Words
Today we celebrate the amateur botanist who was a two-time governor of South Carolina and the birthday of a French modernist painter who left peonies. We'll learn about the man who brought European grapes to California and the most important Prussian garden-artist of the 19th century. Today's Unearthed Words feature a poem about January. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us truly see plants. I'll talk about a garden item that is absolutely adorable, and they come in a six-pack so you'll have plenty for gifts, and then we'll wrap things up with a charming journal entry from one of my favorite garden writers. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show: Out of This World | Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens | Pittsburgh PA Check out this post featuring a preview of the Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show. How to sow micro-leaves & sprouting seeds - The English Garden The English Garden @tegmagazine shared this great post about growing sprouts. Want a quick, tasty crop any time of year? Micro-leaves and sprouting seeds are the answer. You don't even need any special equipment! This is an excellent introduction to microgreens from @tegmagazine. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1822Today is the anniversary of the death of a two-time Governor of South Carolina, the founder of the University of South Carolina, a writer, and a botanist John Drayton. Drayton grew up in Charleston, a hub of botanical activity. He knew the French royal gardener Andre Michaux and his son, who had settled in the area. The Michaux's introduced the camellias and Indian azaleas; Joel Roberts Poinsett, the man who discovered the Poinsettia, was also a son of Charleston. And, the gardener Chancellor Waddy Thompson and Benjamin Perry also helped to shape the horticulture scene in the Greenville area. Drayton is remembered for his 1807 unpublished book "The Carolinian Florist." Drayton listed almost a thousand plants, when they flowered, and where they could be found. Drayton presented his work to the South Carolina College library in 1807. The University South Carolina Society published it in 1943. Drayton explored Paris Mountain and the Greenville Area. He discovered the fragrant yellow honeysuckle (Lonicera flava Sims "Lah-NISS-er-ah FLAY-vah") - commonly known as yellow honeysuckle - growing on the south side of Paris Mountain. The name Lonicera was derived from the name of the German herbalist Adam Lonitzer (1527-1586). The specific epithet "flava" and variations all reference the yellow ('flavus') or yellowish '(flavescens') color of the flowers. Honeysuckle is also known as woodbine or goat's leaf. 1832 Today is the birthday of the French modernist painter Édouard Manet ("Mah-nay"). His painting, 'Music in the Tuileries Gardens,' ("TWEE-luh-Reehs"), was his first significant work depicting modern city life. Manet grew peonies in his garden at Gennevilliers ("Jen-vill-EE-aye"). They were reportedly his favorite flower. Manet's paintings of peonies were the perfect marriage of his skill and the subject. Manet's loose brushwork was perfect for the petals and leaves. When the explorer Marco Polo saw peonies for the first time, he wrote that they were, "Roses as big as cabbages." In Chinese, the peony is known as the sho-yu, which means "most beautiful." Traditionally, peonies are used to celebrate the 12th wedding anniversary. If you planted one on your Anniversary, the peony could outlive you. Peonies can live for over 100 years. 1862Today, the Hungarian vintner, Agoston Haraszthy, brought 1,400 varieties of grapevines from Europe to California and planted the first vineyard in the Sonoma Valley in California. Haraszthy's family was Hungarian nobility. Haraszthy had gotten hold of a book that reported the Wisconsin territory offered the finest land in America. So, in 1840, he immigrated to the United States. He quickly discovered Wisconsin was not the place for growing grapes. In short order, Haraszthy made his way to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. But San Francisco was not a fit with the grapes, either. It was foggy and cold. But then, in 1857, Haraszthy found the Sonoma Valley - called the "Valley of the Moon" by the writer Jack London. After a dozen years of searching, Haraszthy had found a place suitable for growing purple gold. The Sonoma Valley was the perfect place to grow European grapes - which were more delicate and finicky than North American wild grapes. Giddy with hope, Haraszthy built a white villa for his wife and six children on a property he named Buena Vista or "Good View." Haraszthy also brought many European growing methods to his estate in California. First, he grew the grape plants closer together. This was something other growers found unwise. But Haraszthy knew that growing grapes near each other stressed the vines, which in turn, made better-tasting grapes. Second, Haraszthy was the first vinedresser to grow his grapes on the mountainsides in California. There is an old saying that the God of wine, Bacchus, loved the hills. Well, Haraszthy's grapevines loved them, too. Finally, Haraszthy performed a green harvest - something no one had ever heard of - Least of all Haraszthy's neighbors. Today the technique is known as dropping fruit; it merely means doing an initial early harvest of some of the grapes. The benefit of fewer grapes on the vine is that it improves the flavor of the remaining grapes. Haraszthy also brought in a team of Chinese laborers, and they worked to dig out the first wine caves in the state. The most impressive accomplishment included a 100-foot-deep stone wine cellar built on the side of a hill. In 1863, Haraszthy incorporated his vineyard as the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society. Thanks to investors, Haraszthy purchased an additional 4,000 acres making Buena Vista the second largest vineyard in the state. In 1866, a vine disease swept through the area. Haraszthy's neighbors reactively blamed his unique growing methods for the small tasteless grapes and the brown, dying vines. In reality, the disease was Phylloxera, which is caused by an aphid that attacks vine roots. Phylloxera causes grapes to harden on the vine. It wiped out Buena Vista. Haraszthy filed for bankruptcy. With his vineyard and his reputation in tatters, Haraszthy went south to Nicaragua. He planted a massive sugar plantation, and he planned to make and sell a new beverage: rum. But, on July 6, 1869, as he was reaching for a vine while crossing a river on his property. He lost his balance, fell into the river, and was eaten by an alligator. Today, Haraszthy is remembered as "The Father of California Viticulture" (Wine-Making). In 1946, a plaque to Haraszthy was dedicated on the plaza of Sonoma. In March 2007, Haraszthy was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of America. 1866Today is the anniversary of the death of Prussian landscape architect and gardener Peter Joseph Lenné ("Linny"). Lenné is regarded as the most important Prussian garden-artist of the 19th century. He was the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Berlin and Potsdam. Peter came from a long line of gardeners. In many respects, his accomplishments mirror those of his younger colleague across the ocean, Frederick Law Olmsted. Lenné cofounded a Royal Horticultural Society in Germany. He worked tirelessly designing parks and landscape areas with green spaces. Lenné admired William Kent, whom he named "the father of the new landscape architecture." Lenné established English landscape garden designs in Germany. Many of his designed spaces are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Lenné's legacy includes over 100 designed spaces from including parks, gardens, canals, and avenues. Rauch memorialized Lenné with a large bust in the garden of the new palace in Potsdam. The Magnolia Lenne variety was named in his honor. Today, the Peter-Joseph-Lenné-Prize of Berlin awards fresh and creative ideas for design, planning, and use of plants in garden architecture and landscape planning. 2009The Denver Post reported that a retired English professor and amateur botanist named Al Schneider and a Colorado State University Botany student named Peggy Lyon discovered a new plant in the Asteraceae, or sunflower, family and it was called Gutierrezia elegans. ("Goo-tee-ah-REEZ-ee-ah") Al and Peggy named their variety "elegans" for its elegant qualities of symmetry. The common name of the plant that Al and Peggy discovered is the Lone Mesa snakeweed. The Spanish botanist Mariano La Gasca, who originated the Gutierrezia genus named in honor of the apothecary and professor Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno. Gutierrezia is a group of flowering plants native to western North America and western South America. Native peoples have regarded this plant family as an essential source of medicine, and plants of this genus are known generally as snakeweeds or match weeds. Unearthed Words The days are short The sun a spark Hung thin between The dark and dark. Fat snowy footsteps Track the floor And parkas pile up Near the door. The river is A frozen place Held still beneath The trees' black lace The sky is low. The wind is gray. The radiator Purrs all day. — John Updike, January Grow That Garden Library The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey Richard Mabey has a passion for plants that come through in this beautiful book called The Cabaret of plants. As a naturalist, Richard says, he has written, "a story about plants as authors of their own lives and an argument that ignoring their vitality impoverishes our imaginations and our well-being." Mabey is a naturalist with the voice of a poet. Mabey challenges ordinary perceptions of plants: that they are inactive, that they are background, or that they are simply props for the outdoors. Like Peter Wohlleben, Mabey sees these plants as having a self. "The Cabaret of Plants" is loaded with beautiful stories and tidbits from science, literature, and botany. It's engaging and challenging and inspiring. Mabey has been interacting with the natural world for over four decades. His 1972 book called "Food for Free" was revolutionary and taught readers how to forage. This book came out in 2015. You can get a used copy of The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $5. Great Gifts for Gardeners 6 Pack Ceramic Succulent Planter Pots Set, Wirezoll 6 Cute Owl Bonsai Pots with 3 Gardening Hand Tools for Home and Office Desktop Decoration (6) $19.99 Great decor for desk, bookshelf, dining table, living room, hosting room, etc. Great gift idea for friends and family who love indoor gardening/succulents/cactus/cacti Mini unique succulent pots, they're perfect for showing your lovely succulent. Adding a touch of animal forest accent to your house and create your own little urban jungle with these cute owl succulent planters. Meticulously handcrafted and glaze firing, smooth glaze, and bare clay create an interesting visual contrast. Due to handcrafted, every owl planter's glaze is different, but overall is consistent The six pcs mini owl planters are made of superior quality and breathable ceramics baked in high temperatures, which are good for your plants Each mini plant pot has its own unique owl face. Those little button eyes and beaks will make you smile every time you see your adorable owl succulent pots. Today's Botanic Spark 1942Today the garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence wrote to her friend, the playwright, Ann Preston Bridgers: "We had thin toast and your wild strawberry jam for tea this afternoon by the fire in my studio... Bessie and I took a salad and a pan of rolls and went to have supper with your family last night. Mrs. B. insisted upon adding both ham and chicken. We had [Ann's mountain friend] Blanche's walnuts for dessert. And Robert and I made Cleopatras, not so good, somehow, like the ones at Christmas… I must put the puppy to bed before he chews up all the files of Gardening Illustrated."
Today we celebrate the birthday of the English Statesman who created "Garden walks" and the birthday of a man who is remembered by Muhly grass. We'll learn about the man memorialized by a plant name that misspells his last name, and we'll also learn about the disastrous freeze for Florida growers that happened in the mid-1980s. Today's Unearthed Words feature poetry and quotes that teach the lessons we can learn from winter. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that shares terrific essays on the benefits of gardening. I'll talk about a garden item that can definitely come in handy for gardeners, and then we'll wrap things up with the story of a botanist who recognized that new species can always be discovered, even in areas previously explored. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles The Wardian case: Botany game-changer | Kew From @kewgardens The Wardian case: Botany game-changer: It's incredible to think that the Wardian case was invented by British doctor and amateur naturalist Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in 1829 by complete accident... Gardens: Winning ways for winter Oodles of great tips for designing a Winter Garden from Anglesey's assistant head gardener David Jordan: One of Jordan's favorite combinations is the shaggy-barked paperbark maple teamed with the variegated evergreen shrub Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety' and the pink, scented blossoms of Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn.' At Anglesey, the euonymus is cloud-pruned in summer to create a sinuous shape, but as Jordan points out, "It has adventitious roots, so you could grow it up the walls of a house and have it as a backdrop." Jordan also recommends the crab apple tree Malus 'Evereste' as a centerpiece to a winter border. "You get long, persistent fruit, and you can underplant with dogwood in red or orange that works with the color of the fruit. Underplant with snowdrops, then daffodils, and this takes you through to May when you get the flowers – that gives you a long window of interest." The winter garden recipe runs something like this: a tree with colorful or tactile bark – try Tibetan cherry (Prunus serrula), paperbark maple (Acer griseum) or Arbutus unedo, the strawberry tree – acts as an anchor for the rest of the planting; then add a mid-level shrub with scented flowers, colored stems or attractive leaves (dogwoods, euonymus, daphnes, viburnums or sarcococcas); finally, there's the option of a low-growing ground cover (snowdrops and hardy cyclamen, or foliage such as bergenias or pulmonarias). Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1561 Today is the birthday of the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon. Francis wrote a splendid essay called "Of Gardens." The essay contains many quotable thoughts on gardening - although the opening line is the most quoted. "God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which, buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks; and a man shall ever see, that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection. I do hold it, in the royal ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens, for all the months in the year, in which several things of beauty may be then in season." In 1606, Francis introduced "Garden Walks" as a concept at Gray's Inn field. Bacon lived at Gray's Inn, and during that time, the Inns were putting gates and fencing around their land to provide greater privacy and security. It was in the gated field at Gray's Inn where Bacon created his walk. People were enthralled with the idea. Along the walk, Bacon added flowers and trees like Violets and Primroses, Cherry Trees, and Birch. This whole notion of strolling through a pleasure garden was the 16th century equivalent of the modern-day habit of walking in a shopping mall for exercise. In 1594, Francis Bacon said a learned man needs a garden, library, laboratory -- and a "goodly, huge cabinet" (of curiosities). And, Bacon said, "As is the garden - such is the gardener. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds." 1785Today is the day the American Lutheran Pastor and botanist Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg was made a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was always referred to by his second name Heinrich. The Muhlenberg family was a founding family of the United States, and Heinrich came from a long line of pastors. His father, Pastor Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg, was known as the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. His brother was a major in the Revolutionary War, and his other brother was a Congressman. Muhlenberg's personal journals are a treasure trove of his thoughts on botanical self-improvement. He would write: "How may I best advance myself in the knowledge of plants?" And, Muhlenberg would set goals and reminders to challenge himself, writing: "It is winter, and there is little to do . . . Toward spring I should go out and [put together] a chronology of the trees; how they come out, the flowers, how they appear,. . . . I should especially [take not of] the flowers and fruit." The grass Muhlenbergia was named for Heinrich Muhlenberg. Muhly grasses are beautiful native grasses. They offer two incredible strengths in their plant profile: drought tolerance and visual punch. Muhly grasses are easy-going, and they grow equally well in harsh conditions and perfectly manicured gardens. The Muhly cultivar 'White Cloud' offers gorgeous white plumes. When the coveted Pink Muhly blooms, people often stop to inquire as to the name of the beautiful pink grass. Then, Lindheimer's Muhly makes a fantastic screen, and Bamboo Muhly commands attention when it is featured in containers. All Muhly grasses like well-drained soil and full sun. If you plant them in fall, be sure to get them situated and in the ground at least a month before the first frost. And here's an interesting side note: Muhlenberg also discovered the bog turtle. In 1801, the turtle was named Clemmys muhlenbergii in his honor. 1818Today is the anniversary of the death of the American physician Caspar Wistar ("Wiss-Star"), the Younger. His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1777, Caspar Wistar treated the wounded during the battle of Germantown and decided he would pursue medical training. Wistar had some pretty impressive friends: his best friend was probably Thomas Jefferson, and his most famous botany friend was probably Alexander von Humboldt. During his life, every Sunday Night, Wistar would hold a salon - an open house - at his home on the corner of Fourth and Locust Street. His friends would stop by - along with any members of academia, or the elite or high society, along with other accomplished people who happened to be in Philadelphia that evening. They all knew that Wistar's house was the place to go to meet up with the best minds of the day. The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in Caspar Wistar's honor (some people say Wistaria to reflect the proper spelling of Wistar's last name. Either is fine because guess what - the misspelling is preserved for all time under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature). It's like one of my kid's birth certificates - it can be amended, but the original is wrong and will be until the end of time. Wistar died of a heart ailment unexpectedly on January 18, 1818. His final utterance was: "I wish well to all mankind." After Wistar died, his friends continued holding Wistar parties for a core group of 50 members. They would each take turns hosting, and the kept the tradition going for another forty years. Today, Wistar ("Wiss-Star")is the name of The Wistar Institute, the nation's first independent biomedical research center. Today, they focus on cancer, infectious disease & vaccine research to benefit human health. 1985 Record-breaking cold temperatures damaged 90% of Florida's orange and grapefruit crop. Newspaper accounts sounded grim saying: "A nightmare for citrus growers...The fourth killer cold wave in five growing seasons seized Florida's 760,000-acre Citrus Belt on Monday with an icy grip that growers said froze millions of oranges and could destroy thousands of acres of trees already weakened by the disastrous Christmas 1983 freeze. Shocked by lows that fell to the low- and mid-teens throughout the northern two-thirds of the orange belt by Monday morning, growers said the latest in the string of freezes undoubtedly would end the careers of many of the state's 30,000 citrus growers. "It's a nightmare come true: back-to-back 100-year freezes," said Marion County citrus-man John Futch. A 100-year freeze is expected to occur only once every century. All-time low-temperature records were set across the state early Monday, including 19 degrees in Orlando and 17 degrees in Daytona Beach. Farmers as far south as Naples lost fruit and vegetable crops to the numbing cold. Citrus experts with Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest growers' organization with more than 15,000 members, said the low temperatures Monday rivaled "Between last night and tonight, I don't think there'll be a tree alive in Hernando County when this is over," Dr. William Croom said Monday morning after surveying his 104-year-old, 110-acre grove on Powell Road. "I'm not going to replant. I'll be 65 in March. That's just too late in life" to start over. As the temperature fell to 15 degrees, Croom's grove foreman, Barney Parrott, and three other workers lighted 300 oil-fueled stack heaters among trees in an 8-acre section in an effort to salvage the healthiest portion of his grove. "We'll be back out tonight, although I don't know if it'll do any good," he said Monday. Unearthed Words Today's words are about the lessons we can learn from winter. Spring passes, and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes, and one remembers one's perseverance. — Yoko Ono, Japanese-Multimedia Artist, Widow of John Lennon People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy. — Anton Chekhov, Russian Playwrite & Writer One kind word can warm three winter months. — Japanese Proverb "What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness." — John Steinbeck, American Author & Nobel Prize Winner To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring. — W.J. Vogel If there were no tribulation, there would be no rest; if there were no winter, there would be no summer. — St. John Chrysostom ("kri-SOSS-tum"), Bishop of Constantinople "Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art of winter gardening, and even the most experienced gardener can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them." — Vincent A. Simeone ("Sim-EE-OH-nee"), Horticulturist Grow That Garden Library By Pen & by Spade by David Wheeler This book features thirty-three essays From David Wheeler's passion project known as Hortus magazine (Which I just subscribed to). Hortus provides expert information on plants and gardening, with articles focusing on gardens around the world. The essays explore the various benefits of gardening. They are written by multiple writers who share personal stories and lessons from the garden. This book features essays from Robert Dash (who examines the overlap between gardening and poetry), Rosemary Verey (who shares thoughts on the courtyard gardens of Charleston), Hermia Oliver does the same with Flaubert's gardens; And, Dennis Wood reveals the joy of gardening after retirement. These essays are an excellent source of good gardening advice: how to plant a scent garden ("Stick to a sunny, sheltered spot," advises Stephen Lacey), how to grow blue-hued gentians (seek out an acid soil, counsels Stephen G. Haw). This book came out in 1991. You can get a used copy of By Pen & by Spade by David Wheeler and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $1. Great Gifts for Gardeners Esschert Design Garden Tool Belt, Gray & Green, $13.18 Adjustable green and gray garden tool apron. Deep pockets, adjustable belt, and compartments for markers make this apron a must for every busy gardener. Tool Belt 13; 26 Inch 1; 482 Inch 13; 26In Perfect For Use In The Garden Or Yard Grey And Green Canvas Tool Belt With Plastic Clasps Today's Botanic Spark 1917 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Presbyterian minister, writer, and an American botanist Ellsworth Jerome Hill. Ellsworth was born in Leroy, New York. When Ellsworth was only 20 years old, one of his knees stopped working, and the doctor suggested he study botany. Ellsworth wood crawl from the house to the orchard, where he would pick a few flowers and then crawl back to the house to identify them. And the following year, Ellsworth moved to Mississippi, where it was warmer, and he used two canes to assist with walking. By middle age, Ellsworth met and married a young woman named Milancy Leach - who would become his indispensable helpmate. When he was lame, or when he didn't have the strength to complete all of his tasks as he collected specimens, Milancy would step in and finish the work for him. By the time he was 40, Ellsworth had put his lameness behind him. In the back half of his life, he seemed to be able to manage his physical challenges and, with Milancy's help, had learned how to cope with the symptoms. In a touching tribute to Ellsworth after his death, the botanist Agnes Chase rote: "Most of these collections were made while he walked on crutches or with two canes. He told me that he carried his vasculum over his shoulder and a camp stool with his crutch or cane in one hand. To secure a plant, he would drop the camp stool, which opened of itself, then he would lower himself to the stool and dig the plant. He recovered from his lameness but often suffered acute pain from cold or wet or overexertion. But this did not deter him from making botanical trips that would have taxed a more robust man – in the Dunes, I have seen him tire out more than one able-bodied man. " It was Ellsworth Jerome Hill who said, "In studying the flora of a restricted region, no matter how carefully it seems to have been explored, one is frequently surprised by new things... No region can be regarded as thoroughly explored until every acre of its wild areas at least has been examined. Some plants are so rare or local or grow under such peculiar conditions that a few square rods or even feet may comprise their range."
Full show notes at the publisherToday we celebrate a man known as "The Pathfinder" and the birthday of a man who impoverished himself writing a book in tribute to Carl Linnaeus. We'll learn about the woman who was as passionate about botany as she was assisting with the war effort and today's National Day that celebrates a garden creature. (Hint: it has a bushy tail) Today's Unearthed Words feature a riddle from an English-American writer and poet. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us understand the language of flowers. I'll talk about a garden item that comes in handy if you grow houseplants, and then we'll wrap things up with the birthday of a botanist who had an incredible love story and wrote beautiful poetry. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles A Winter Greenhouse: A Productive Way To Harvest Vegetables All Winter | @savvygardening Have you ever dreamt of harvesting fresh vegetables year-round?! Get inspired by @savvygardening - a winter greenhouse is a project worth thinking about... AND, they share this great tip: Keep a heat-generating compost pile INSIDE the greenhouse. 10 Unusual Vegetables For Adventurous Gardeners | Mother Earth News | @MotherEarthNews The list includes Cardoon, Shiso Perilla ("SHE-so per-ILL-ah"), Oca tubers, Celeriac ("sell-AIR-ee-ack"), Malabar Spinach, Kohlrabi, Seakale, Amaranth, Winter Radish, and Salsify & Scorzonera ("score-zah-NEAR-ah"). Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1813 Today is the birthday of the American explorer, soldier, and the first Presidential candidate of the Republican Party, John Charles Frémont. Frémont is remembered as "The Pathfinder" after helping many Americans who were heading West by creating documents and maps of his expeditions West. John and his wife, Jesse, created an entire map of the Oregon Trail. When Frémont saw Nebraska, he didn't see merely an endless prairie; he saw beauty. To Fremont, the entire state was one big garden, accentuated with fertile soil, swaying grasses, and wildflowers as far as the eye could see. Fremont was one of the first explorers to write about cottonwood trees. He discovered them near Pyramid Lake in Nevada on Jan 6, 1844. Years later, botanists would name the cottonwood in his honor, calling it the "Populus fremontii." Cottonwoods are the fastest growing trees in North America. After all of the beautiful elm trees at my childhood home succumbed to Dutch elm disease, my parents selected cottonwoods because they knew they would grow quickly - Up to six feet or more each year. They couldn't stand how naked the house looked without the beautiful large elm trees. In truth, there's no comparison between a cottonwood tree and an elm tree, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful trees by landscape painters. In addition, because the Cottonwood tree grows so quickly, it often has weak wood that can easily be injured or damaged. Cottonwood trees are in the Poplar species. Only the female trees produce the fluffy cotton seeds that float through the air and collect in your garden and garage in June. 1837 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English physician and botanical writer Robert John Thornton. Robert adored Carl Linnaeus. He was a huge fan. When Robert wrote his book called "The Temple of Flora," he dedicated it to Linnaeus. Robert wanted his book to be the very best illustrated botanical book ever made, and his goal was that it would be a memorialization of Linnaeus' work. Robert's idea was to have 70 large plates of exotic plants that would be organized according to Linnaeus's classification system. Another unique aspect of Robert's illustration concept was that the plants would appear in their native environment. Unfortunately, after working with the very best illustrators of his time, Robert had to stop production on the Temple book after only twenty-eight plant illustrations. He ran out of money, and the project stalled. Yet, even in its unfinished state, it remains one of the most excellent compilations of botanical illustrations that has ever been created. Although Robert was overly ambitious with his goals for the "Temple of Flora," the work is still considered to be arguably one of the loveliest botanically Illustrated books in the world. The most famous engraving in the book is of a night-blooming cereus cactus plant. The bloom takes up almost the entire width of the image, and in the background (in the dark), you can see the ruins of a castle. The night-blooming cereus is known as "The Queen of the Night." The flowers of the night-blooming cereus don't last long, but they are stunning. The night-blooming cereus is native to Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. Most people would be surprised to know a cereus cactus can get to be ten feet tall. Outside the Southwest, the cereus is generally grown as a houseplant. If you're waiting for your cereus plant to bloom, just know that it won't start flowering until it's at least five years old. Initially, you may only get one or two blooms for a few years. That said, once you do get a flower, you will be in love because the bloom is seven inches across, and the scent is heavenly. 1879 Today is the birthday of Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan - a prominent English botanist and mycologist. She died in 1967. Gwynne-Vaughn also helped form the University of London's Suffrage Society - where she was the first female professor. During #WWI, she also helped establish the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Due to her extraordinary wartime leadership, Gwynne-Vaughan was one of the first women to receive a Military Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire award. Early on in her botanical career, Gwynn-Vaughan researched rust fungi. Rust is a plant parasite that invades a plant and uses it as a host for its survival. Rust actually invades the plant's cells, and it steals nutrients from the plant. The plant treats the rust like an infection. Sometimes the plants are able to fight off the rust. Other times, the rust wins, and the plants succumb to the Rust. Rust destroys 15 million tons of wheat each year. The University of London recently released a lovely article about Gywnne-Vaughan called "Fungi and the Forces," which revealed that Gwynne-Vaughan was as accomplished in the armed forces as she was in the theater of fungi. In fact, a handful of fungi are named for her - like Palaeoendogone gwynne-vaughaniae and Pleurage gwynne-vaughaniae. 2001Today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day, which was founded in 2001 by Christy Hargrove, a wildlife rehabilitator in Asheville, North Carolina. Christy created the special day to acknowledge that food sources for squirrels are scarce in mid-winter. Gardeners are generally of two minds when it comes to squirrels. They either don't mind them, or they really dislike them. Squirrels can be a challenging pest in the garden because of their tremendous athleticism. Squirrels have a 5-foot vertical. Nowadays, their ability to leap is well-documented on YouTube. And, squirrels are excellent sprinters and swimmers. Squirrels are master zig-zaggers when they run - a skill that comes in handy when they need to evade predators. A squirrel nest is called a drey. Squirrels make their nests with leaves, and the mother lines the inside of the drey with grass. Squirrels perform an essential job for trees. They help the forest renew itself by caching seeds and burying them. The caching of seeds by squirrels is vital for many tree species. As squirrels bury acorns and other seeds, they either sometimes forget or simply don't return to some of their buried food. Although squirrels have tremendous ability to source buried food, they can smell an acorn buried in the ground beneath a foot of snow. Unearthed Words Today's poem is a winter riddle from James Parton. The answer is snow: "From Heaven I fall, though from earth I begin. No lady alive can show such a skin. I'm bright as an angel, and light as a feather, But heavy and dark, when you squeeze me together. Though candor and truth in my aspect I bear, Yet many poor creatures I help to insnare. Though so much of Heaven appears in my make, The foulest impressions I easily take. My parent and I produce one another, The mother the daughter, the daughter the mother." - James Parton, English-born American biographer, A Riddle - On Snow Grow That Garden Library The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh Today's book is a fiction book. Vanessa weaves the Victorian language of love into a love story: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. For the main character, Victoria Jones, flowers are more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, 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. An unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger forces her to confront a painful secret from her past. Brigitte Weeks of The Washington Post gave my favorite review of this book: " I would like to hand Vanessa Diffenbaugh a bouquet of bouvardia (enthusiasm), gladiolus (you pierce my heart) and lisianthus (appreciation). . . . And there is one more sprig I should add to her bouquet: a single pink carnation (I will never forget you)." This is a lovely fiction book for gardeners who are looking for something light and fun to read over the winter. This book came out in 2012. You can get a used copy of The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $1. Great Gifts for Gardeners Universal Products 10 Pack of 6 Inch Clear Plastic Plant Saucers for Indoor and Outdoor Plants $9.49 Make sure this fits by entering your model number. MADE IN THE USA - 10 pack of 6" clear, round, plastic plant saucers. Each plant saucer measures 6" at the top and 4-7/8" at the bottom. SUPERIOR PROTECTION - Never worry about excess water or spilled soil staining or damaging your household surfaces again! These drip trays will catch excess debris and moisture with their waterproof design. OPTIMAL PLANT DRAINAGE - Ensure your favorite houseplants, pots, planters, and flowers have an ideal drain tray while not having to worry about over or under watering them. EXCELLENT FOR DIY - These saucers are great for gardening projects and home décor. You can decorate around the base of your favorite potted plants and flowers while protecting your surfaces against moisture. SATISFACTION GUARANTEE - Take advantage of these benefits for multiple home garden locations around your house with this 10-pack of saucers! They are backed by a 90-day manufacturer warranty. Today's Botanic Spark 1854 Today is the birthday of the Washington DC-based USDA botanist Erwin Frink Smith. Smith had attempted to solve the problem of the peach yellows. Peach Yellows is a disease caused by a microorganism called a phytoplasma that was affecting Peach Orchards. It became known as the Peach Yellows disease because the main symptom begins with new leaves that have a yellowish tint. Had Smith solved the problem of the Peach Yellows, he would have become world-famous - but he didn't. Years later, it was actually the botanist Louis Otto Kunkel who discovered that a type of leafhopper was carrying the disease. Now Smith may not have solved the Peach Yellows problem, but he was a peach of a guy. In researching Smith, I discovered a rare combination of kindness and intellect. He developed a reputation for hiring and promoting female botanists as his assistants at the Bureau of plant industry in Washington DC. Smith gave these women tasks based on their strengths instead of their job descriptions, and in many cases, they were able to work on projects beyond the scope of their job description. Smith's friend, Dr. Rodney True, revealed Smith's unique combination of strength in a tribute after he died. He wrote: "Erwin developed a knowledge of French, German, and Italian literature that opened to him worlds of intense pleasure… He read his Bible in a copy of the Vulgate, and Dante was a favorite … in Dante's own great language. Goethe was often quoted in the original. Seldom have I known a man who brought such joy and understanding to the works of great writers. His library was a sort of map of his mind. In it were all manner of noble things. He was quick, enthusiastic, and strangely appealed to by beauty in all its forms." The happiest day in Smith's life was no doubt when he married the pretty Charlotte Mae Buffet on April 13, 1893. They shared an epic love for each other and for reading and poetry. Tragically, after twelve years of marriage, Charlotte was diagnosed with endocarditis. She died eight months later on December 28, 1906. Smith dealt with his grief by putting together a book of poetry, stories, and a biography of Charlotte. The book is called "For Her Friends and Mine: A Book of Aspirations, Dreams, and Memories."Smith wrote, "This book is a cycle of my life— seven lonely years are in it. The long ode (on page 62) is a cry of pain." There are many touching passages – too many to share here now." There's one passage from Smith describing Charlotte's fantastic ability to attune to the natural world, and I thought you'd find it as touch as I did when I first read it: "Charlotte's visual powers were remarkable. They far exceeded my own. Out of doors, her keen eyes were always prying into the habits of all sorts of living things: ants, spiders, bees, wasps, fish, birds, cats, dogs. Had she cared for classification, which she did not, and been willing to make careful records, she might have become an expert naturalist. Form in nature seemed to interest her little or at least comparative studies of form. What did interest her tremendously was the grade of intelligence manifested in the lower forms of life. She would spend hours watching the habits of birds and insects, and never without discovering new and interesting things. Whether she looked into the tops of the tallest trees, or the bottom of a stream, or the grass at her feet, she was always finding marvels of adaptation to wonder at and links binding the world of life into a golden whole. She made lists of all the birds that visited her neighborhood. She knew most of them by their songs, and some times distinguished individuals of the same species by little differences in their notes, as once a song-sparrow at Woods Hole, which had two added notes. She knew when they nested and where, how they made their nests, and what food they brought to their young. In studying birds, she used an opera-glass, not a shotgun. She was, however, a very good shot with the revolver."
Full show notes at the publisherToday we celebrate the German botanist who's 1542 book is one of the most historically significant works of all time and the birthday of a man who discovered the rutabaga. We'll learn about the man known as "The Father of English Botany" and the man known as the "Father of American Horticulture." Today's Unearthed Words celebrate the sleeping winter landscape. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us create a spa experience in our own homes using herbs from the garden. I'll talk about a garden item that can turn your plants into wall art, and then we'll wrap things up with the story of a man who came up with the idea for a magazine for gardeners who read and readers who garden. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Great Dixter's Head Gardner, Fergus Garrett, On Conifers | House & Garden Great post from @_houseandgarden about "Why the Conifer is Having a Comeback." "Conifers do not have to be plonked in island beds with gaudy heathers, or peppered around Seventies-style rockeries like missiles... Their range is mouth-watering, adding form and texture with a twist." Best Plants To Paint For Beginners | Kew Pick up your brushes - Here's Kew's list of the best plants to paint for beginners | @kewgardens Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1501 Today is the birthday of the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. Leonard and his wife had ten children. The genus Fuchsia is named after Fuchs. Leonhart published the first drawing of a corn plant. He also drew one of the first illustrations of the pumpkin plant. It took Leonard 31 years to write his herbal masterpiece called Historia Stirpium. In the book, he describes 497 plants and 500 illustrations. In 1542, the book was published, and the medicinal uses for each plant were included in the descriptions. His goal was to make the knowledge of herbs accessible to the people. The fact that his book contained so many illustrations definitely helped him achieve his goal. Leonard's book described over a hundred plants that had never been written about - like Pumpkins, Chili Peppers, Corn, and Squash. Leonard's Historia Stirpium is regarded as one of the most historically valuable and significant books of all time. Now, I wanted to share that the cover of the book - which is beautiful - was a bit of a mystery to me. It shows a tree with a coffin in its branches. It turns out it was a printer mark of the printer, Michael Isingrin, who was the printer of Historia Stirpium. The image of the coffin in a tree forms a Christian cross, and the tree holding the coffin was a holly tree. The inscription "Palma Ising" (i.e., by the hand of Isingrin) is the mark that identifies Michael Isingrin, the printer. " The depiction of a holly tree (Ilex spp. ) was deliberate. Holly is a symbol of eternal life. So essentially, the image represents life and death - the coffin in the tree. Incidentally, the holly tree is regarded as the evergreen twin of the oak. 1560 Today is the 460th birthday of the Swiss botanist Gaspard Bauhin. Gaspard spent his life classifying plants, and he ordered plants in a way that's familiar to us today - using binomial names, one name for the genus, and one name for the species. Gaspard was also the first to document a vegetable he named the napobrassica, the vegetable we know today as the rutabaga. Gaspard's name for the rutabaga was prophetic because DNA testing has proven that the rutabaga is the result of a turnip crossing with a cabbage. Gaspard mentioned in his work that the rutabaga was grown in the northern fields of Bohemia, where the people simply called it "root." Can you survive on rutabaga's or Swedish turnips, as they are sometimes called? Yes. Yes, you can. Rutabagas can grow to be as big or bigger than a bowling ball. Almost a year ago, Helen Rosner wrote an article called, "What Rutabaga Does Better Than Anything Else." It turns out; the rutagaba is perfect for making neutral-tasting, nicely-textured vegetable noodles. Use turnips and the noodles are too spicy. Use zucchini, and the noodles are meh. Use carrots, the noodles are too sweet. But, rutabaga noodles are just right. Rosner's favorite restaurant in Brooklyn makes rutabaga noodles using a Japanese slicer resulting in perfect paper ribbons of rutabaga. If you look at the finished dish, you'd never know they weren't real pasta. Gaspard wrote, "Pinax Theatri Botanici" ("An Illustrated Exposition of Plants"). In his book, he described thousands of plants, and he classified them using binomial nomenclature. Naturally, his work is considered a forerunner to that of Carl Linnaeus. 1705 Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and theologian John Ray. Ray is regarded as the most distinguished British naturalist of the seventeenth century and "The Father of English Botany." Ray was born to a blacksmith, and his mother was an herbalist. He was ordained as a minister but then turned his attention to zoology and botany after the King of England ordered the clergy to condemn their covenant with the church. In 1650, twenty-five years before the first maps of Europe were written for the masses; Ray went on a quest. He traveled around Europe for three years - with two friends - and he observed flora and fauna. Ray coined the botanical terms 'petal' and 'pollen.' His book, Historia Plantarum, was the first textbook of modern botany. The naturalist Gilbert White wrote, "Our countryman, the excellent Mr. Ray, is the only describer [of plants and animals] who conveys some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators." The sculptor, Faith Winter, created a distinguished-looking statue of John Ray. It was unveiled by the botanist David Bellamy on October 11, 1986. 1890 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish-American plantsman Peter Henderson. Known as "The Father of America Horticulture," he published "Gardening for Profit" in 1866, followed by "Gardening for Pleasure." "Gardening for Profit" was the first to book ever written about market gardening in the United States. When Peter arrived in the US, he worked for a time for the nurserymen George Thorburn and Robert Buist. After years of refining his growing systems and practices, he established his seed company on his 49th birthday. Peter ran the company - alongside his two sons, Alfred and Charles. In Peter's biography written by his son, Alfred, it said: "His long experience as a market gardener probably made him realize more than most seedsmen, the necessity of testing seeds before offering them for sale, but whatever the cause, the fact remains, that he was the first in this country to initiate the true and natural way of proving the vitality of seeds—that is, by sowing them in the soil, the seedman's usual plan being to germinate them in moist cotton or flannel—nearly always a misleading method." Peter lived nearly his whole life in Jersey City. He began of friendship with Andrew Carnegie after reading his book called Triumphant Democracy. He also became friends with the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher; they shared a giddy love for flowers. Mr. William R. Smith, the superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at Washington, paid Peter the highest possible tribute in calling him "The Great Horticultural Missionary." Unearthed Words Here are some poems that use a sleeping metaphor to describe the Landscape in Winter. The hiss was now becoming a roar - the whole world was a vast moving screen of snow - but even now it said peace, it said remoteness, it said cold, it said sleep. — Conrad Aiken, American Writer I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again." — Lewis Carroll, English Writer The cold earth slept below; Above the cold sky shone; And all around, With a chilling sound, From caves of ice and fields of snow The breath of night like death did flow Beneath the sinking moon. — The moon made thy lips pale, beloved; The wind made thy bosom chill; The night did shed On thy dear head Its frozen dew, and thou didst lie Where the bitter breath of the naked sky Might visit thee at will. — Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic Poet, The cold earth slept below When against earth a wooden heel Clicks as loud as stone on steel, When stone turns flour instead of flakes, And frost bakes clay as fire bakes, When the hard-bitten fields at last Crack like iron flawed in the cast, When the world is wicked and cross and old, I long to be quit of the cruel cold. Little birds like bubbles of glass Fly to other Americas, Birds as bright as sparkles of wine Fly in the nite to the Argentine, Birds of azure and flame-birds go To the tropical Gulf of Mexico: They chase the sun; they follow the heat, It is sweet in their bones, O sweet, sweet, sweet! It's not with them that I'd love to be, But under the roots of the balsam tree. Just as the spiniest chestnut-burr Is lined within with the finest fur, So the stoney-walled, snow-roofed house Of every squirrel and mole and mouse Is lined with thistledown, sea-gull's feather, Velvet mullein-leaf heaped together With balsam and juniper, dry and curled, Sweeter than anything else in the world. O what a warm and darksome nest Where the wildest things are hidden to rest! It's there that I'd love to lie and sleep, Soft, soft, soft, and deep, deep, deep! — Elinor Wylie, American Poet, Winter Sleep Grow That Garden Library The Herb Lover's Spa Book by Sue Goetz This book came out in 2015, and the subtitle to this book is: Create a Luxury Spa Experience at Home with Fragrant Herbs from Your Garden. Sue shows us how easy it is to grow and prepare therapeutic herbs for a custom spa experience in the comfort of your own home. It will help you unplug, relax, and make the world go away. Sue was the perfect author for this book - an herb gardener, spa enthusiast, and award-winning garden designer - she gives simple steps for growing and preparing herbs for aromatherapy oils, lotions, tub teas, masks, scrubs, sachets, and more. You can get a used copy of The Herb Lover's Spa Book by Sue Goetz and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $3. Great deal! Great Gifts for Gardeners Pack of 6 Glass Planters Wall Hanging Planters Round Glass Plant Pots $22.99 I had a friend who had these little glass globe planters on her walls, and she filled them all with succulents, and over the holidays, she added mini led lights with the warm color, and they are battery-operated, and it looked so great. She hung hers with screws. I'm planning to use my favorite moldable glue product -Sugru - to hang mine. Anyway, they look very cool on the wall with air plants or with pathos or what have you. It ends up looking like plant art for your walls. Perfect anywhere - mine will be going in the guest bathroom.
Today's Botanic Spark 1989 David Wheeler's gardening journal, Hortus, was started. Adrian Higgins wrote about David's founding of Hortus in the Washington Post eight years ago saying: "A curious throwback to the analog age landed in my mailbox the other day: Hortus, a journal of garden writing. Almost everything about the quarterly periodical is wonderfully old-fashioned: It produces tactile and aesthetic pleasures once taken for granted ... Flop in a soft chair, thumb the pages and ponder that Hortus doesn't exist in some electronic ether ... David Wheeler started Hortus 31 years ago, and he has a motto that Hortus "is for gardeners who read and readers who garden." Thirty-one years later, the subscription list continues to stay modest. Subscriptions are about $75 a year, which includes airmail postage. Wheeler also writes for newspapers and other periodicals to supplement his income. He tells his friends that Hortus "pays for the tonic, but not the gin." FYI: I just bought a subscription myself — Merry Christmas to me.
Today we celebrate the Spanish Enlightenment priest and botanist who named the Dahlia and the glamorous movie star who traded in her star sapphire collection for a tractor. We'll learn about the item vintners were selling during prohibition and the woman who became the most widely read American Garden author in the United States. Today's Unearthed Words feature thoughts on the blackest month of the year: January. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a new book written by a 20-year Fellow of the Linnaean Society - he's the man who began his career as a forensic botanist after getting a phone call from the authorities. I'll talk about a garden item that comes in so handy - especially if you're going to hang things in trees. And then we'll wrap things up with thoughts on the lengthening days - we gain about two minutes of sunlight a day right now. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Planting Hope by Debi Holland | Richard Jackson's Garden Here's an inspiring post from Debi Holland @RJGarden: "I work with people who have experienced bereavement or long-term illness. Gardening has been a tremendous respite, an escape from the house, provided achievable goals with visible results from a few hours toil when other aspects of life may not be so straightforward." Marks Hall Arboretum and walled garden in Essex - Gardens Illustrated Marks Hall Arboretum is absolutely gorgeous in the winter. The Arboretum sits on a 2,200-acre estate in Essex. You wouldn't know it by looking at it, but the soil there is clay. The beautiful thing about this garden is that it has been organized into geographic zones, so from an inspiration standpoint, it's splendid. There's a beautiful 3-acre lakeside garden. This garden beautifully compliments the rest of the estate offers five interlinked gardens. There are hedges and walls, groupings of ornamental grasses, and long flowering perennials. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1745 Today is the birthday of the Spanish Enlightenment priest and botanist Antonio José Cavanilles ("Cah-vah-nee-yes") Antonio was a prolific botanist and probably Spain's first expert botanist. He was born in Valencia - Spain's third-largest city. When Antonio struggled to find a job at the university, he moved to France. In Paris, he was influenced by Andre Jussieu ("Juice You")and André Thouin (pronounced "too-ah"). By the time he was 36, he had decided to focus on botany. Antonio named over a hundred genera. He gave the name Cosmos to the Mexican Aster. Cosmos comes from a Greek word meaning harmonious or orderly. When Alexander Von Humboldt sent seeds of a beautiful plant to Antonio, he suggested that the plant should be named after Antonio called Cavenillesia. But, Antonio declined the honor named it the Dahlia after the botanist Andrew Dahl, instead. Dahl was Swedish and a student of Carl Linnaeus. Ironically, Dahl never had anything to do with the Dahlia. The plant's botanical name is Dahlia pinnata ("pin-AYE-tah"). Pinnata refers to the fact that the leaves are divided in a feathery manner. Now, around the same time, dahlia seeds arrived in Germany, and a botanist there decided to name the plant Georgina after a Russian explorer by the name of Professor Georgie. For decades, Germans refused to call it the Dahlia and stuck with the name Georgina. However, in 1834, London Gardeners Magazine settled the matter once and for all, declaring that the name would be Dahlia and not Georgina. German gardeners capitulated. And, despite being the first to grow the Dahlia, no Dahlia variety has ever been named after Antonio José Cavanilles. The French Revolution caused him to return to Spain. Antonio was 45 years old when he returned home, and he had already established himself as a respected botanist. At the turn of the century in 1801, Antonio was promoted to be the director of the Royal Botanic Garden. The garden was created by King Fernando VI in 1755 (10 years after Antonio was born.) In 1774, three staggered terraces were added to the botanic garden along with an iron gate that surrounds it. A greenhouse was constructed. Decades later, it would become Antonio's professional home. During Antonio's lifetime, botanists were beginning to classify plants using Carl Linnaeus's classification method. Not every botanist agreed with this, but Cavanilles was quick to jump on the bandwagon. Under his direction, the Madrid Botanical Garden became the center of botany for Spain and Europe. Antonio died three years after becoming the director of the garden. His early death prevented Cavanilles from finishing his book on the plants of the garden. It featured descriptions and drawings of the main species at the garden - many were the fruit of the great scientific expeditions of the 18th century. Four years later, after Antonio Cavanilles died, Napoleon would invade Spain, and the botanical torch would be passed to England and France - Spain's botanical golden age was over. Today the Madrid Botanical Garden is home to over a 100,000 plant species and roughly 1,500 trees. 1920 (100 years ago!) Prohibition began in the U.S., and many people became interested in learning about fermentation overnight. You might be curious to know how vintners handled the challenge of prohibition. Well, instead of making wine, they made wine bricks. Wine bricks were essentially grape concentrate. Some cities and towns even went so far as to ban wine bricks. The city of Richmond Virginia band them, and in an article from 1931, the Attorney General had to do his duty. The law does not differentiate between the person who buys wine bricks for the delicious fruit juice in them and the person who maliciously tampers with them in such a way as to produce a forbidden beverage. No chances must be taken. Every Virginian must be protected against himself. Wine bricks were marketed as a way to make your own grape juice, but of course, everyone knew the real reason for the wine brick Market. And there was a little slogan that became popular during the wine brick era: "Hic! Hic! Here's the brick with the kick!" 1942 Today is the anniversary of the death of the movie star and homesteader Carole Lombard. Lombard died tragically when her plane crashed shortly after taking off from Las Vegas. Three years earlier, just before the premiere of Gone With the Wind, Carole had married Clark Gable. As newlyweds, Carole and Clark had bought a 21-acre estate - just 40 minutes outside of Beverly Hills. Instead of living glamorously, they turned the estate into a working farm. Lombard had sold her star sapphire collection to fund their dream. Carole set up all the crops they would grow, and she worked long hours on the ranch. They had an orchard/citrus grove, a dairy, and a vineyard, and the farm produced peaches, grapes, oranges, lemons, walnuts, apricots, hay, and alfalfa. They used the alfalfa they grew for feed. They sent their grapes to the local hospital. The Farmers Association marketed their citrus crop. Many biographies mention that Carole and Clark raised turkeys for MGM to use at its commissary. Carole bought Clark a tractor, and Clark enjoyed taking care of his two prized racehorses and the cattle. To top it all off: Carole and Clark called each other "Ma" and "Pa." They were really and truly living a farm fantasy. They even used kerosene lamps in their living room. They loved their simple life together on their ranch, and Carole loved watching things grow. 1948 Today is the anniversary of the death of the American Gardener and Garden writer Louisa Boyd Yeomans King. At the age of 26, she married a wealthy man from Chicago by the name of Frances King, which is why her pen name was Mrs. Francis King. Louisa learned to garden from her mother-in-law Aurelia. Her mother-in-law lived on a large estate, and she had a huge garden and an impressive garden library. In 1902, Louisa and her husband moved to Michigan, where they built a home called Orchard House. With the help of a gardener by the name of Frank Ackney, Louisa began to plan and create her garden. She also began writing about her Gardens. Soon, she was giving lectures, contributing pieces to magazines, writing columns, and organizing garden clubs. She even became friends with prominent gardeners of her time like Gertrude Jekyll, Charles Sprague Sargent, and the landscape architects Fletcher Steele and Ellen Biddle Shipman. Louisa learned to garden during the heyday of American Garden Culture, and her garden writing in newspaper columns and magazine publications made her the most widely read American Garden author in the United States. For Louisa's first book, "The Well-Considered Garden," the preface was written by her dear friend Gertrude Jekyll. In 1915, when the book debuted, it was considered an instant classic in garden literature. Louisa would go on to write a total of nine books. The garden estate known as Blithewold has a copy of "The Well-Considered Garden." Their particular text also contains a handwritten inscription along with Louisa's signature. The inscription borrows a quote from Sir William Temple who said, "Gardening is an enjoyment and a possession for which no man is too high or too low." Louisa changed the quote and wrote, "Gardening is an enjoyment and a possession for which no woman is too high or too low." In 1922, House & Garden Magazine dubbed Louisa, "The Fairy Godmother of Gardening." We know that the garden photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston was a fan of her work because she donated her entire collection of Louisa's books to the library at the New York Botanical Garden. Louisa helped start the Garden Club of America and the Women's National Farm and Garden Association. She held leadership positions in both organizations. When her husband died suddenly in 1927, Louisa was forced to sell Orchard House. She moved to Hartford, New York, and bought a property she called Kingstree. This time, she set up a smaller garden. The size meant less work, which better-accommodated her writing and speaking commitments. When Louisa died on this day in 1948, her ashes were scattered at Kingstree. It was Louisa Yeomans King who said, "Each has his most real thing. Mine is the garden." Unearthed Words Today's poems reflect on the harshness of January. The winter months can be in agony - if for no other reason than the biting cold. Thus the saying, "The blackest month in all the year Is the month of Janiveer." Another piece of winter lore says, "As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens." January and February are the coldest months of the year and the toughest for many people to get through. It's no wonder that people have vented their feelings about these two cold months through poetry. Where has thou been all the dumb winter days When neither sunlight was nor smile of flowers, Neither life, nor love, nor frolic, Only expanse melancholic, With never a note of thy exhilarating lays? — Alfred Austin, English Poet, Poet Laureate, "A Spring Carol," Soliloquies in Song [W]hat a severe yet master artist old Winter is... No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel. — John Burroughs, American Naturalist, "The Snow-Walkers," 1866 It's January, and I'm kicking snow off the ground. I just threw out the flower you made me promise to water, handle with care because I was too careless, you said. Careless with things and people, around me and behind and I remember being still for just a second or two, thinking that it's so much easier to leave and start anew, then take care of what's already here. ― Charlotte Eriksson, Author, The Glass Child January, month of empty pockets! let us endure this evil month, anxious as a theatrical producer's forehead. — Sidonie Gabrielle Colette, French Author, Nominated for Nobel Prize January gray is here, Like a sexton by her grave; February bears the bier, March with grief doth howl and rave, And April weeps—but, O ye hours! Follow with May's fairest flowers. — Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic Poet, Dirge for the Year Grow That Garden Library Murder Most Florid by Mark Spencer The subtitle to this book is: Inside the Mind of a Forensic Botanist Mark is a passionate plantsman, and he's a champion of plants and the study of Botany. Mark is also passionate about connecting people with the natural world. Creating a niche for himself, Mark is a consultant botanist who specializes in Forensic Botany as well as the history of botany. Murder Most Florid is a book where Mark shows us how plants and the environment can help investigators solve crimes. Mark didn't train to become a forensic botanist. He became one through an accidental event in his life. It started with the phone call asking for help with a murder. Forensic Botany actually goes back to the early part of the 20th century and was memorably used to convict the kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby. "Murder Most Florid is an enthralling, first-person account that follows Mark's unconventional and unique career, one that takes him to woodlands, wasteland, and roadsides, as well as police labs, to examine the botanical evidence of serious crimes. From unearthing a decomposing victim from brambles to dissecting the vegetation of a shallow grave, Mark's botanical knowledge can be crucial to securing a conviction. More widely, this gripping book challenges our attitude to death and response to crime. It picks holes in the sensationalized depictions of policing we see on TV and asks pertinent questions about public sector funding in the face of rising crime. Most importantly, Mark's book shows us how the ancient lessons of botanical science can still be front and center in our modern, DNA-obsessed world." And before I forget, let me just tell you that there is a fantastic video podcast of Mark presenting to the Linnaean Society Where he's been a fellow for over 20 years. Mark is an honorary curator at the Linnaeus society's herbarium. He has worked for over a decade at the Natural History Museum in London. In this presentation, Mark talks about the book and his work. I thought it was fascinating. If you get a chance to watch it, you really should. I have created a link to it in today's show notes. Great Gifts for Gardeners 5 Pack 12 Inches Tree Branch Hooks, S Shape Hooks - Metal Hanger Hook for Hanging Bird Feeders, Baskets, Plants, Lanterns and Ornaments (Black): Garden & Outdoor $13.99 Material: Black metal S hook, anti-rust. Premium vinyl coatings rust-resistant heavy-duty metal Diameter 1/5 Inch holds up to 35 pounds. Very sturdy. Size: 12 Inches or 23inches Easy to Use: S-shaped hooks can be easily hung on the existing objects without any tools. Multipurpose: Ideal for outdoor hanging bird feeders, birdhouses, plants, wind chimes, string lights, lanterns and ornaments, and so on. Applications: They can be used both indoor and outdoor. Specially designed for outdoor use, can be hung on trees, bushes, gutters, ladders, balconies, and more. Today's Botanic Spark Despite the fact that we're in the middle of January and it's so cold, and our gardens are buried under many feet of snow, The days are getting longer. The good news is that…
Full show notes at the publisherToday we celebrate a bryologist who Asa Gray called, "a noble fellow" and the botanist who, along with his wife, helped found the New York Botanic Garden in the Bronx. We'll learn about one of the first and most prolific professional female garden photographers and the female botanist with a mountain named in her honor. Today's Unearthed Words feature poetry that's all about using our imagination and memory when it comes to our gardens in the dead of winter. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us appreciate our garden through our senses during all four seasons. I'll talk about a garden item that is cute and functional and can be used outside of the garden as well, and then we'll wrap things up with the anniversary of the opening of the museum that was started with the estate of the botanist Sir Hans Sloane. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Curated Articles Gardening with Dave Allan: Scent in the winter garden | HeraldScotland Here are some great suggestions from Dave Allan about sweetly scented flowering shrubs for your Winter Garden: Take the small cream flowers of shrubby Lonicera fragrantissima(Common Name: sweet breath of spring): They suffuse the air with compelling fragrance. You know they're frustratingly close but sometimes must act as a sniffer dog to track them down, hidden in a tangle of leaf-stripped twigs. I can't see beyond Viburnum bodnantense 'Dawn.'It's always a joy to have a whiff every time I pass by on the way up to the duck run. A flush of little buds readily replaces any that have been blasted brown by frost and snow. Viburnum farreri and V. tinus also faithfully flower from November to February. I'm thinking of shrubs like Mahonia japonica and M. x media (Common Name: Oregon grape-holly). These evergreens do boast highly scented sprays of the tiniest yellow buttons, so don't banish them to the gloomiest corner just because they're tough woodland edge plants. Why not plant them where you'll actually see them? 6 must-visit garden shows for 2020 From House Beautiful (ww.housebeautiful.com) | @hb: "What are the best British garden shows to visit in 2020? From the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show to fringe events like Seedy Sunday, these gardening events are perfect for the green-fingered horticultural lover, regardless of whether you're a budding beginner or a seasoned pro." Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Important Events 1803Today is the birthday of William Starling Sullivant. Sullivant was born to the founding family of Franklinton, Ohio. His father, Lucas, was a surveyor and had named the town in honor of the recently deceased Benjamin Franklin. The settlement would become Columbus. In 1823, William Sullivant graduated from Yale College. His father would die in August of that same year. Sullivant took over his father's surveying business, and at the age of thirty, he began to study and catalog the plant life in Central Ohio. In 1840, Sullivant published his flora, and then he started to hone in on his calling: mosses. Bryology is the study of mosses. The root, bryōs, is a Greek verb meaning to swell. It's the etymology of the word embryo. Bryology will be easier to remember if you think of the ability of moss to swell as it takes on water. As a distinguished bryologist, Sullivant not only studied and cataloged various mosses from across the United States, but also from as far away as Central America, South America, and from various islands in the Pacific Ocean. Mosses suited Sullivant's strengths, requiring patience and close observation, scrupulous accuracy, and discrimination. His first work, Musci Alleghanienses, was: "exquisitely prepared and mounted, and with letterpress of great perfection; ... It was not put on sale, but fifty copies were distributed with a free hand among bryologists and others who would appreciate it." In 1864, Sullivant published his magnum opus, Icones Muscorum. With 129 truly excellent illustrations and descriptions of the mosses indigenous to eastern North America, Icones Muscorum fixed Sulivant's reputation as the pre-eminent American bryologist of his time. In 1873, Sullivant contracted pneumonia - ironically, an illness where your lungs fill or swell with fluid - and he died on April 30, 1873. During the last four decades of his life, Sullivant exchanged letters with Asa Gray. It's no wonder, then, that he left his herbarium of some 18,000 moss specimens to Gray's beloved Harvard University. When Sullivant was still living, Gray summoned his curator at Cambridge, Leo Lesquereux, (pronounced "le crew"), to help Sullivant, he wrote to his friend and botanist John Torrey: "They will do up bryology at a great rate. Lesquereux says that the collection and library of Sullivant in muscology are Magnifique, superb, and the best he ever saw.'" On December 6, 1857, Gray wrote to Hooker, "A noble fellow is [William Starling] Sullivant, and deserves all you say of him and his works. The more you get to know of him, the better you will like him." In 1877, four years after Sullivant's death, Asa Gray wrote to Charles Darwin. Gray shared that Sullivant was his "dear old friend" and that, "[Sullivant] did for muscology in this country more than one man is likely ever to do again." The Sullivant Moss Society, which became the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, was founded in 1898 and was named for William Starling Sullivant. 1859Today is the birthday of the American botanist and taxonomist Nathaniel Lord Britton. Britton married the famous bryologist Elizabeth Gertrude Knight. Together, they used Kew Gardens in London as their inspiration for the New York Botanical Garden. An obituary of Britton, written by the botanist Henry Rusby shared this charming anecdote - an exchange that happened some few years back between Nathaniel and Henry: "Attracted one day, by the beauty of some drawings that lay before him, I inquired as to their source. When told that he, himself, was the artist, I asked in astonishment, 'Can you draw like that?' 'Of course,' he said. 'What you suppose I did all that hard work in the drawing class for?'" 1864Today is the birthday of Frances Benjamin Johnston - who always went by Fannie. Fanny was a photographer, and she took the portraits of many famous people during her career. Some of her famous subjects included Mark Twain, Susan B Anthony, Booker T. Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt. In 1897 the magazine Ladies Home Journal featured in an article that was written by Fanny called "What a Woman Can Do with a Camera." But gardeners should also know the name Frances Benjamin Johnston because Fannie also took incredible photos of gardens - public and private - during the early to mid part of the 1900s. Her garden photography of the elite was used in magazines and periodicals like House Beautiful and Country Life. And Fannie went around the country using lantern slides of gardens as visual aids for her lectures on topics like "The Orchids of the White House," "American Gardens," and "Problems of the Small Gardener," to name a few. One newspaper account said Fannie, "presented with the enthusiasm of a true garden lover." Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. wrote that Fannie's photographs were "the finest existing on the subject of American gardens." Over her career, Fannie was recognized as one of the first female press photographers in America. And if you're a gardening cat lover, you'll be pleased to know she had two cats; Fannie named them Herman and Vermin. 1923 Today is the anniversary of the death of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Lemmon is remembered for her successful 1903 piece of legislation that nominated the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) as the state flower of California. Asa Gray named the genus Plummera in honor of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Plummera is yellow wildflowers in the daisy family, and they bloom from July through September in southeastern Arizona. Lemmon and her husband, John Gill Lemmon, were both botanists. Her husband always went by his initials JG. Although Sara partnered equally with her husband on their work in botany, their papers were always published with the credentials "J.G. Lemmon & Wife." The Lemmons had found each other late in life in California. They had both suffered individually during the civil war. John was taken prisoner at Andersonville. He barely survived, and his health was impacted for the rest of his life. Sara had worked herself ragged - tending wounded soldiers in New York - while teaching. In 1881, when Sara was 45 years old, the Lemmons took a honeymoon trip to Arizona. They called it their "botanical wedding trip." The Lemmons rode a train to Tucson along with another passenger - President Rutherford B. Hayes. When they arrived, the Lemmons set off for the Santa Catalina Mountains. In Elliot's history of Arizona, he recounts the difficulty in climbing the mountain range: "The Lemmons often sat on the stone porch of their cave and dug the thorns and spines out of their hands and feet." Once, they saw, " . . . a lion so large he carried a huge buck away without dragging feet or antlers." When they returned to Tucson unsuccessful and discouraged, they were told to meet a rancher named Emerson Oliver Stratton. Thanks to Stratton, they were able to ascend the Catalinas from the backside. When they arrived at the summit, Stratton was so impressed with Sara's drive and demeanor he named the mountain in her honor - Mount Lemmon. Sara was the first woman to climb the Catalinas. Twenty-five years later, in 1905, the Lemmons returned to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. When they climbed the Catalina's in celebration, Stratton was again at their side, helping them retrace the steps of their "botanical wedding trip" to the top of Mount Lemmon. Unearthed Words Today we hear some poetry about the importance of using imagination and memory in regards to our gardens during the winter months. From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens - the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind's eye. — Katherine S. White, Garden Author Soon will set in the fitful weather, with fierce gales and sullen skies and frosty air, and it will be time to tuck up safely my roses and lilies and the rest for their winter sleep beneath the snow, where I never forget them, but ever dream of their wakening in happy summers yet to be. — Celia Thaxter, American Poet & Storyteller Of winter's lifeless world each tree Now seems a perfect part; Yet each one holds summer's secret Deep down within its heart. — Dr. Charles Garfield Stater, Methodist Pastor & West Virginian Poet, Buckwheat Fields, and Brush Fences Gardeners, like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute. What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us. But there is a second way of seeing. Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past, and years gone by. — Allen Lacy, Garden Writer In winter's cold and sparkling snow, The garden in my mind does grow. I look outside to blinding white, And see my tulips blooming bright. And over there a sweet carnation, Softly scents my imagination. On this cold and freezing day, The Russian sage does gently sway, And miniature roses perfume the air, I can see them blooming there. Though days are short, my vision's clear. And through the snow, the buds appear. In my mind, clematis climbs, And morning glories do entwine. Woodland phlox and scarlet pinks, Replace the frost, if I just blink. My inner eye sees past the snow. And in my mind, my garden grows. — Cynthia Adams, Winter Garden, Birds and Blooms magazine, Dec/Jan 2003 Grow That Garden Library Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman This book came out in 2002, and the subtitle to Cultivating Delight is "A Natural History of My Garden. This book was the sequel to Diane's bestseller, "A Natural History of the Senses." In this book, Diane celebrates the sensory pleasures of her garden through the seasons in the same vein as Tovah Martin's "The Garden in Every Sense and Season." Diane is a poet, essayist, and naturalist, and she writes in lyrical and sensuous prose. Let me give you an example. Here's how Diane starts her section on spring: "One day, when the last snows have melted, the air tastes tinny and sweet for the first time in many months.That's settled tincture of new buds, sap, and loam; I've learned to recognize as the first whiff of springtime.Suddenly a brown shape moves in the woods, then blasts into sight as it clears the fence at the bottom of the yard. A beautiful doe, with russet flanks and nimble legs, she looks straight at me as I watch from the living room window, then she drops her gaze." The Boston Globe praised this book, saying Ackerman has done it again... one of the most buoyant and enjoyable garden reads... uplifting and intelligent. The New York Times review said: "Understated elegance, lush language, historical and scientific nuggets, artful digressions, and apt quotations, Ackerman's book reminds us that we, too, can make our paradise here and that tranquility can be achieved by contemplating the petals of a rose." You can get a used copy of Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $2. Great Gifts for Gardeners DII Men and Women Kitchen Shamrock Green Buffalo Check Apron, Green and White Buffalo Check $14.99 I have a thing for aprons. I love looking for them. I like to have my student gardeners use them, and I often get a set of aprons to bring to family gatherings. They make for cute pictures of us all working in the kitchen together. This year for the garden, I found this adorable shamrock-green buffalo-check apron, and it's perfect for my student gardeners. It has a little pocket in the front for their phones, and it's so cheerful. I can't wait to see them all and their aprons. Now, if you're not a fan of shamrock green, but you do like buffalo plaid, this apron comes in several colors. You can get red and white, or red and black, pink and white, blue and white, a tone on tone gray, and a black and white. So, tons of options ONE SIZE FITS MOST: The apron measures 32" x 28", with an adjustable extra-long strap to warp around the neck and waist, one size fits most men and women. EASY CARE LONG-LASTING MATERIAL: 100% Cotton Fabric, Machine Washable. Wash with Cold Water in Gentle Cycle & Tumble Dry Low. Do not bleach them or run them through a hot dryer A PERFECT GIFT WITH CUSTOMIZED LOGO SPACE: Plenty space for logo printing, monogram, and embroidery make the apron a great gift for birthdays, Mother's day, holidays, housewarming, and hostess gifts. Today's Botanic Spark 1759The British Museum opened. (261 years ago). The British Museum was founded in 1753 when Sir Hans Sloane left his entire collection to the country of England. At first glance, a personal collection doesn't sound worthy of starting a museum. But over his lifetime, Sloane ended up becoming a on…
Full show notes at the publisher
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