Stay ConnectedThe Daily Gardener is a weekday podcast celebrating garden history, literature, and the small botanical stories that shape how we garden today.
Each episode follows an “on this day” format, uncovering the people, plants, books, and moments that have quietly influenced gardens across time.
New episodes are released Monday through Friday, and each show features a thoughtfully chosen garden book.
Copyright: Copyright ©2019-2020, Jennifer Ebeling|The Daily Gardener All rights reserved
I had to chuckle the other day as I was putting together my fall containers. The first thing I do when I transition from one season to another, is determine which plants are salvageable - the ones that have enough gas to go another season. One of my pots ended up being a bit of a hodgepodge. I call it my "Must Go" Container in honor of my husband's Great Aunt Lena. Here's the backstory: Great Aunt Lena would babysit my husband and his siblings when they were little. She was helping out my in-laws while they were both at work and she was famous for making a casserole at the end of the week she called "Must Go" hotdish. Phil's dad used to tell how one particular Must Go hotdish was extra memorable because when he was dishing himself up a plate, he pulled out an intact piece of pizza out of the depths of this hotdish; which no doubt was combined with a can of cream of mushroom soup. In any case, my "Must Go" container ended up being a bit of an homage to Great Aunt Lena; individually, the plants looked fine. But, put together, the effect was jumbled - a "Must Go" container if ever there was one. I'll have to redo it this weekend. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the English gardener, designer, and nurseryman Henry Wise who was born on this day in 1653. One can't mention Henry Wise without talking about George London. The two worked together on gardens throughout England. The partnership began when Wise was a student of London. When Wise came of age, he became London's partner at the Brompton Park nurseries. Wise was one of the greatest gardeners and plantsmen of his time. Together, he and London became THE designers to work for over two decades until London died in 1714. Wise is remembered for being the gardener for Queen Anne, although he also managed the royal gardens during the reigns of William III and George I as well. London and Wise designed formal baroque gardens. Think - box hedges, gravel walk ways, beautiful statuary and magnificent fountains. Wise laid out the stunning avenue of Chestnut trees in England's Bushy Park as well as the walled kitchen garden made for the Duke of Marlborough in Blenheim which thrills visitors still today. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Arnold Arboretum taxonomist and dendrologist Alfred Rehder who was born on this day in 1863. A dendrologist studies trees and Rehder was the top dendrologist of his generation. Rehder learned about horticulture from his father who was an amateur gardener. He worked at a number of botanical gardens around Germany. At the turn of the 20th century, Rehder was sent to the US to study American grapes - which were resistant to phylloxera - the disease that was caused by aphids and that was threatening to obliterate wine production in Europe. There was no better place for Rehder to conduct his research than Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. It was a fortuitous assignment for Rehder who ended up meeting the director of the Arboretum - Charles Sprague Sargent. Sargent recognized Rehder's intelligence and diligence. He persuaded him to stay on and gave him the tremendous assignment of compiling a bibliography of everything written about woody plants published before 1900. It resulted in a five-volume, 3,789-page work. Rehder accomplished much during his time at Harvard. He launched a quarterly botanical publication known as the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum and he came up with a system to identify geographic zones based on the relationship between temperature and the hardiness of specific plants. Rehder's work helped establish what we know as the USDA Hardiness zone maps. #OTD Today is the birthday of Canada's first professional woman plant breeder - a woman called the "dean of hybridists" and the "Grand Lady of Canadian Horticulture" - Isabella Preston, who was born on this day in 1881. Vita Sackville-West once acknowledged, "I must confess I don't know anything about Miss Isabella Prestonof Ottawa. . ." Preston's name had become famous as the result of her lily hybrids. She bred the renowned George C. Creelman hybrid lily in 1919. Vita would have loved Preston's practical and hard-won advice. When a colleague asked Preston what she should do with her rock garden, Preston's advice was rather fascinating: "Use every bit of rock – Don't be afraid of it. Plant between, atop or along side. Presently, you will be convinced that flowers need near them the harsh stability of stone." Preston was a self-taught plant hybridizer. In 1920 she joined the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa. For almost three decades, she endeavored to create more blooms on more disease-resistant plants. She created over 200 cultivars of six different plants including lilacs, lilies, crab apples, columbine, Siberian iris and roses. Preston Lilacs are named in her honor. Preston received many honors for her work. Unearthed Words "She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last." - Willa Cather "September fattens on vines. Roses flake from the wall. The smoke of harmless fires drifts to my eyes. This is plenty. This is more than enough." - Geoffrey Hill, September Song Today's book recommendation: Gardener's Guide to Compact Plants - Jessica Walliser With space becoming a premium for urban gardens and for gardeners who want to keep their gardens more manageable, compact plants are the perfect solution. One of my favorite things about this book are the amazon options for edible plants that work in small spaces. Incorporating edibles into little spaces in your garden allows you to maximize your gardens productivity and your return on investment. In addition to edibles, Jessica offers suggestions for compact flowering and fruiting trees, as well as compact shrubs, evergreens, and perennials. Plus, Jessica shares what she calls, "The Magic 7 Maintenance Tasks" - little tips for creating a successful garden one task at a time. Today's Garden Chore Now is the time to get your order together for spring bulbs. Whether you use them for planting or forcing during the winter, you will get the best selection if you order early. Once you get them, make sure you don't plant them until the weather turns colder later in the fall. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day in 1938, Charles Joseph Sauriol wrote in his journal. He wrote about a common occurrence in gardens; plants growing together. He wrote: "[I] set out plantations of Thyme, Rosemary, Tarragon, Mint, Caraway, in the Wild Flower garden which now becomes a herb garden as well. This is my answer to keeping the weeds down…. My studies converge so why not the plants?" Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Have you ordered your spring bulbs yet? Here's a new perspective on planting spring bulbs - they're important resources for pollinators. Most gardeners think about spring flowering bulbs in terms of color - which is something we desperately need after a long winter. But spring flowering bulbs are valuable for another reason: they're an early source of nectar for pollinators. Think about planting these spring bulbs this October to help out bumblebees, native bees, and other pollinators in the early days of spring: Crocus, tulips, and daffodils are obvious choices. Other excellent spring bulb selections include options like fritillaria, grape hyacinths, winter aconites, snow drops, squill and glory of the snow (Chinodoxia). All of these bulbs can be planted now through the end of October. And don't forget you can plant early-flowering spring perennials to accompany these bulbs. Choose plants like early flowering hellebores and lungwort. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1802, a 13-year-old boy named George Thorndike, planted a tree at Bowdoin College in Maine. Thorndike was part of the first class at Bowdoin. The class was made up of 8 boys. Aside from being part of the charter class, Thorndike became an important part of the college's history. The story happened after Thorndike attended the very first service at the college chapel. As he was leaving the chapel, he spied a little acorn by the path. Thorndike knew enough about plants and trees to know that the acorn was a little out of place in the pine-laden forest around Bowdoin. Thorndike planted the acorn and the following year, it had made enough progress for Thorndike to move the sapling to the college president's garden. The year George and his class graduated, in 1806, they met under the tree to say farewell. The Thorndike Oak became an important symbol for Bowdoin College and a yearly commencement tradition; students would meet under the Thorndike Oak before the ceremony. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Sara Allen Plummer Lemmon who was born on this day in 1836. 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 are 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 nursing 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" And 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 back side. 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. #OTD Today in 1893, The Times out of Philadelphia reported on a George Vanderbilt's mountain home; It said that the millionaire had transformed a forest into a blooming garden. Of course, it was describing the Biltmore - Vanderbilt's country mansion and estate. Here's what it said: "[Vanderbilt's] first step was to purchase, besides several mountains, 18,000 acres of land along the French Broad and the Swannanoa rivers. The next step ... was to restrain the natural temptation to carry out plans of his own and to employ the services of the greatest landscape artist in the country, Frederick Law Olmstead... Seven hundred men are employed, their wages running from $1 per day to the salary of $12,000 paid to the overseer. Three years ago, the work of transforming old fields, pastures and woodlands into a harmonious landscape began, and Professor Harbison.. is enthusiastic over the progress made... Boulders have been set in place, rhododendrons transplanted, and the whole is declared to be a poem in plants, trees and bowers. .. Already by the introduction of mosses and vines at the bridges portions of the place have taken on the appearance of age and the appearance of newness has been overcome." Unearthed Words "The breezes taste Of apple peel. The air is full Of smells to feel- Ripe fruit, old footballs, Burning brush, New books, erasers, Chalk, and such. The bee, his hive, Well-honeyed hum, And Mother cuts Chrysanthemums. Like plates washed clean With suds, the days Are polished with A morning haze. " - John Updike, September Today's book recommendation: Gardening with Conifers by Adrian Bloom This is such a great book. It came out in 2002. It's a fantastic resource that outlines the coniferous trees and shrubs available to North American gardeners. It also shares how to combine conifers with other plants and use them as topiary. It also offers tips on the care and propagation of conifers. And, since it's been out a while, y ou can get used copies for less than $8 using the link in today's show notes. Today's Garden Chore Prepare a spot for curing your Garlic. Garlic needs an airy, sheltered place to cure. And don't forget to order your Garlic now for planting in October. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart #OTD On this day in 1968, drummer Ringo Starr rejoined the Beatles. He had quit the band two weeks earlier. The Beatles had managed to keep the news away from the press and the public. Ringo had quit after feeling like the odd man out. During his time away from the band, he wrote "Octopus's Garden" on a yacht he borrowed from his friend actor Peter Sellers. The band asked Ringo to return via a telegram. They said they loved him and thought he was the best rock n' roll drummer in the world. Ringo arrived at Abbey Road to discover his drum kit covered with flowers spelling "Welcome Back, Ringo." Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Now is the perfect time to play doctor in the garden. Look for the sick or injured. Look for plants that haven't thrived, plants with disease, and plants riddled with pests. You don't want to leave any diseased plants in your garden over the winter. If you are able to do only one fall garden chore, taking out the sick and infirm is what you want to do. All these babies get dug up and escorted out of my garden. Generally I say that nothing green or brown leaves the property, but these are items I don't dare chop and drop, or compost - these sick plants go out. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Lancelot Brown who was born on this day in 1716. Lancelot ended up at Stowe working for William Kent - the eminent painter and Landscape Architect. Stowe was commissioned in the 1730's. The garden at Stowe was a landscape garden. Lots of straight lines and formality. The garden looked like a painting with an 11 acre lake. The main area was the Elysian Fields; 40 acres featuring buildings and monuments that flank two narrow lakes called the River Styx. The monuments honored the virtuous men of Britian and Greece. The time spent with Kent at Stowe not only transformed the land, it transformed Lancelot from a gardener into a Landscape Architect. It was his big break. After Stowe, Brown traveled all over England as a freelancer. Brown' skill and his nickname came from seeing the "capabilities" of the landscape. He became so popular that everyone with means wanted a Capability Brown landscape - they craved his garden designs and garden temples. What everyone wanted was beauty and Capability delivered just that: beautiful gardens. Today, at least 20 of his gardens remain and are in the care of England's National Trust. #OTD Today is the birthday of Agoston Haraszthy who was born on this day in 1812. Haraszthy's family wasHungarian nobility. In 1840, he immigrated to the United States.Back home, Haraszthy had gotten hold of a book that reported the Wisconsin territory offered the finest land in America. So, he went there first. Since Haraszthy's dream was to make European wine in America, he quickly discovered Wisconsin was not the place for that. In short order, Haraszthy made his way to San Francisco with the gold rush. But San Francisco was not a fit with the grapes. It was foggy and cold. But then, Haraszthy found the Sonoma Valley in 1857. Sonoma Valley was called the "Valley of the Moon" by the writer Jack London and it turned out that Sonoma was the perfect place to grow purple gold. After a dozen years of searching Harazethy had found a place suitable for growing European grapes - which were more delicate and more finicky than North American wild grapes. Giddy and hopeful, Haraszethy built a white villa for his wife and six children on a property he named Buena Vista or Good View. Then he went to Europe and collected 100,000 cuttings of 300 varieties of grapes; There were the rare white grapes of the Pinot Chardonnay, the green Hungarian grape, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and the white Riesling grapes of the Rhine and Moselle river region, just to name a few. There is an old saying that the God of wine, Bacchus, loved the hills. Well, Haraszethy loved them, too. He was the first vine dresser to grow his grapes on the mountain sides in California. In fact, Haraszthy brought many european growing methods to his estate - which included growing the grape plants closer together. This was something other growers found unwise. But Haraszthy knew that growing grapes in close proximity stressed the vines, which in turn, made better tasting grapes. Haraszthy also performed a green harvest - something no one had ever done before. Today the technique is known as dropping fruit which means doing an initial harvest of some of the grapes; the fewer grapes on the vine - the better the flavor of the remaining grapes. That year 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-feet-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 and his unique growing methods were blamed for the small tasteless grapes and the brown, dying vines. The disease was actually Phylloxera - an aphid that attacks vine roots and 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 large sugar plantation and he planned to make and sell rum. But, on July 6, 1869, as he was reaching for a vine and crossing a river on his property, he apparently fell and was eaten by an alligator. Today, Haraszthy is considered the father of California Vitoculture or Wine-Making. In 1946, a plaque to Haraszthy was dedicated in the plaza of Sonoma. In March 2007, Haraszthy was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of America. Unearthed Words Quinnipeague in August was a lush green place where inchworms dangled from trees whose leaves were so full that the eaten parts were barely missed. Mornings meant 'thick o' fog' that caught on rooftops and dripped, blurring weathered gray shingles while barely muting the deep pink of rosa rugosa or the hydrangea's blue. Wood smoke filled the air on rainy days, pine sap on sunny ones, and wafting through it all was the briny smell of the sea." ― Barbara Delinsky, Sweet Salt Air Today's book recommendation: Deer-Resistant Design by Karen Chapman This fantastic book came out this summer - It's a fantastic resource. If you are a deer-plagued gardener, you're going to want to get this book. Instead of relying on fencing or chemicals, Karen is proposing another way: making intentional selections for deer resistant plants. She showcases real home gardens across North America from New Jersey to Texas. Each homeowner shares their top ten deer-resistant plants. It's a book of best practices - proven selection for a lush, deer-defying garden. what a brilliant idea! Today's Garden Chore Consider installing more pathways in your garden. It's helpful to have a main walkway through the garden. Along the path you can add focal points like statuary or containers. You can add interest and intrigue with tall plants like cup plant or lovage. The paths provide structure and function in the garden. I remember when I installed a path along the garden in front of my front porch; Best thing I ever did. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today in 1962, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin shared a story about the first tulips.
Most of us have heard this fascinating part of botanical history, but back in 1962, this story would have been a revelation to most people. Here's what it said: "The first time tulips were mentioned in Europe was in 1554, after a botanist found a few specimens near Constantinople. Six years later, another botanist brought some of the bulbs to Holland. From about 1600 to 1650, Europe underwent a 'tulip-mania," with bulbs being sold for as much as $2,200 each."
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Now is the perfect time to play doctor in the garden. Look for the sick or injured. Look for plants that haven't thrived, plants with disease, and plants riddled with pests. You don't want to leave any diseased plants in your garden over the winter. If you are able to do only one fall garden chore, taking out the sick and infirm is what you want to do. All these babies get dug up and escorted out of my garden. Generally I say that nothing green or brown leaves the property, but these are items I don't dare chop and drop, or compost - these sick plants go out. Brevities #OTD It's the birthday of Lancelot Brown who was born on this day in 1716. Lancelot ended up at Stowe working for William Kent - the eminent painter and Landscape Architect. Stowe was commissioned in the 1730's. The garden at Stowe was a landscape garden. Lots of straight lines and formality. The garden looked like a painting with an 11 acre lake. The main area was the Elysian Fields; 40 acres featuring buildings and monuments that flank two narrow lakes called the River Styx. The monuments honored the virtuous men of Britian and Greece. The time spent with Kent at Stowe not only transformed the land, it transformed Lancelot from a gardener into a Landscape Architect. It was his big break. After Stowe, Brown traveled all over England as a freelancer. Brown' skill and his nickname came from seeing the "capabilities" of the landscape. He became so popular that everyone with means wanted a Capability Brown landscape - they craved his garden designs and garden temples. What everyone wanted was beauty and Capability delivered just that: beautiful gardens. Today, at least 20 of his gardens remain and are in the care of England's National Trust. #OTD Today is the birthday of Agoston Haraszthy who was born on this day in 1812. Haraszthy's family wasHungarian nobility. In 1840, he immigrated to the United States.Back home, Haraszthy had gotten hold of a book that reported the Wisconsin territory offered the finest land in America. So, he went there first. Since Haraszthy's dream was to make European wine in America, he quickly discovered Wisconsin was not the place for that. In short order, Haraszthy made his way to San Francisco with the gold rush. But San Francisco was not a fit with the grapes. It was foggy and cold. But then, Haraszthy found the Sonoma Valley in 1857. Sonoma Valley was called the "Valley of the Moon" by the writer Jack London and it turned out that Sonoma was the perfect place to grow purple gold. After a dozen years of searching Harazethy had found a place suitable for growing European grapes - which were more delicate and more finicky than North American wild grapes. Giddy and hopeful, Haraszethy built a white villa for his wife and six children on a property he named Buena Vista or Good View. Then he went to Europe and collected 100,000 cuttings of 300 varieties of grapes; There were the rare white grapes of the Pinot Chardonnay, the green Hungarian grape, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and the white Riesling grapes of the Rhine and Moselle river region, just to name a few. There is an old saying that the God of wine, Bacchus, loved the hills. Well, Haraszethy loved them, too. He was the first vine dresser to grow his grapes on the mountain sides in California. In fact, Haraszthy brought many european growing methods to his estate - which included growing the grape plants closer together. This was something other growers found unwise. But Haraszthy knew that growing grapes in close proximity stressed the vines, which in turn, made better tasting grapes. Haraszthy also performed a green harvest - something no one had ever done before. Today the technique is known as dropping fruit which means doing an initial harvest of some of the grapes; the fewer grapes on the vine - the better the flavor of the remaining grapes. That year 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-feet-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 and his unique growing methods were blamed for the small tasteless grapes and the brown, dying vines. The disease was actually Phylloxera - an aphid that attacks vine roots and 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 large sugar plantation and he planned to make and sell rum. But, on July 6, 1869, as he was reaching for a vine and crossing a river on his property, he apparently fell and was eaten by an alligator. Today, Haraszthy is considered the father of California Vitoculture or Wine-Making. In 1946, a plaque to Haraszthy was dedicated in the plaza of Sonoma. In March 2007, Haraszthy was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of America. Unearthed Words Quinnipeague in August was a lush green place where inchworms dangled from trees whose leaves were so full that the eaten parts were barely missed. Mornings meant 'thick o' fog' that caught on rooftops and dripped, blurring weathered gray shingles while barely muting the deep pink of rosa rugosa or the hydrangea's blue. Wood smoke filled the air on rainy days, pine sap on sunny ones, and wafting through it all was the briny smell of the sea." ― Barbara Delinsky, Sweet Salt Air Today's book recommendation: Deer-Resistant Design by Karen Chapman This fantastic book came out this summer - It's a fantastic resource. If you are a deer-plagued gardener, you're going to want to get this book. Instead of relying on fencing or chemicals, Karen is proposing another way: making intentional selections for deer resistant plants. She showcases real home gardens across North America from New Jersey to Texas. Each homeowner shares their top ten deer-resistant plants. It's a book of best practices - proven selection for a lush, deer-defying garden. what a brilliant idea! Today's Garden Chore Consider installing more pathways in your garden. It's helpful to have a main walkway through the garden. Along the path you can add focal points like statuary or containers. You can add interest and intrigue with tall plants like cup plant or lovage. The paths provide structure and function in the garden. I remember when I installed a path along the garden in front of my front porch; Best thing I ever did. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today in 1962, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin shared a story about the first tulips.
Most of us have heard this fascinating part of botanical history, but back in 1962, this story would have been a revelation to most people. Here's what it said: "The first time tulips were mentioned in Europe was in 1554, after a botanist found a few specimens near Constantinople. Six years later, another botanist brought some of the bulbs to Holland. From about 1600 to 1650, Europe underwent a 'tulip-mania," with bulbs being sold for as much as $2,200 each."
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Well, it's time to get serious about remaking our containers – especially on the front porch and around the front door. Editing containers from time to time is essential to keep them looking great. Sometimes combinations don't work well, other times plants can grow in unexpected ways – too tall, too bushy, or just an abject failure. With the arrival of fall, it's the perfect time to remove spent plants and replace them with selections that are more seasonally appropriate. Fall pansies are wonderful to incorporate if you live in a cold climate. They can take the colder temperatures with no problem. Of course mums and asters and even grasses are wonderful in fall pots. I always like to look for bargains at my local nurseries and big box stores. Sometimes those finds get placed in containers temporarily before they find a home in the garden. And don't forget you can include houseplants when you're working with your fall containers. Pathos and Croton, even chopped up sections from an overgrown Boston fern are tremendous additions to fall containers. Brevities
#OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the Irish botanist and friend of Linnaeus, Patrick Browne who died on this day in 1790. There are no photographs of Patrick Browne - who was also a physician; but we was described this way: "The Doctor is a tall comely man, of good address and gentle manners, naturally cheerful, very temperate and in general health." Browne's major work was The Civil and Natural History of Jamaicapublished in 1756 in which he described 104 new species. In fact, Browne's work was the first book in the English language to use Linnaeus' classification system. Linnaeus was very pleased with Browne's work. He told the botanist Peter Collinson (who was friends with John Bartram and Benjamin Franklin) that after he had read Browne's book he reflected "No author did I ever quit more instructed" and he gushed that Browne, "ought to be honored with a Golden Statue." Browne named the genus to which cloves belong: Syzygium aromaticum. #OTD Today is the birthday of the German Austrian rosarian Rudolf Geschwind who was born on this day in 1829. As a child, Geschwind loved gardening. As a young man, he studied Forestry and his first job was working for the Austro-Hungarian Department of Forestry. Although he performed excellent work in the field of forestry, Geschwind's true passion was roses. At the age of 30, Geschwind began experimenting with breeding roses. It was a pursuit he would perfect over the next five decades. Geschwind's speciality was breeding roses that were frost resistant. Geschwind created close to 150 rose cultivars. His prized collection of climbing roses were displayed at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. When Geschwind died in 1910, the Countess Maria-Henrieta Chotek, known as "The Countess of Roses," or "The Pink Countess," purchased Geschwind's entire collection - including some which had never been made public. As a member of one of the most distinguished families of the Czech nobility, Chotek had the means to handle this impressive transfer. In fact, Chotek was so serious about the effort to preserve Geschwind's work that she sent two of her gardeners to oversee the transfer of the collection. It was no small affair - it involved packing and moving over 2,000 roses to her estate - the Manor House or Castle known as Dolna Krupa. Over a century before Dolna Krupa was the place where Beethoven is presumed to have written his Moonlight Sonata. Maria-Henrieta's great grandfather, Jozef, was friends with Beethoven and he allowed Beethoven to live at Dolna Krupa for nearly a decade. Maria-Henrieta Chotek was born almost 60 years after Beethoven's stay at Dolna Krupa in 1863. As a woman who never married, her inheritance allowed her to pursue her passion for roses with abandon - and she did. She was in her 30's when she inherited Dolna Krupa. Once it was all hers, she set about creating one of the top three rosaria in Europe. During its prime, the rosaria at Dolna Krupa rivaled the roseria in France and the Rosarium of Sangerhausen in Germany. Chotek was a woman of action and she didn't just direct activities - she was very hands on. As a rosarian herself, Chotek developed new cultivars and conducted experiments. One time while visiting an exhibition, Chotek watched as a German horticulturist named Johannes Böttner presented a rambling rose called the Fragezeichen which means the "Question Mark" (What a great name!) The rose intrigued Henrieta Chotek so much, that she immediately left for Frankfurt to see the Fragezeichen trials personally. The year 1914 marked a turning point in Chotek's life and in the fate of many of Geschwind's roses. That year, in June, the Rose Congress was held at Zweibrücken. Chotek's work and rosaria were honored. But in the days following the event, Marie Henrieta's cousin, Sophie Chotek Ferdinand, wife of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was murdered alongside her husband in Saraevo and World War I had begun. Chotek swung in to action; this time as nurse caring for wounded soldiers. When the war was over, her rosarium was destroyed. Chotek immediately set about rebuilding her rosarium. She even began a rose breeding school right on the grounds pf Dolna Krupa. But, lacking the means and the energy of youth, Chotek was never able to restore Dolna Krupa to its former glory. During WWII, Dolna Krupa was ransacked by the Russian Army. In February, 1946, destitute and sick, Chotek died while in the care of nuns. She was 83 years old. Today, the Music Museum at Dolna Krupa holds a Rose Celebration in honor of Chotek. Tourists visit Dolna Krupa, primarily to see the place Beethoven lived. Visitors bring their own baskets and collect leaves of the wild garlic that grows rampant on the grounds of the estate. Unearthed Words Here's an excerpt from a poem called A Year's Windfallsby the English poet, Christina Rossetti: "In the parching August wind, Cornfields bow the head, Sheltered in round valley depths, On low hills outspread. Early leaves drop loitering down Weightless on the breeze, First-fruits of the year's decay From the withering trees." Christina Rossetti wrote the words to two of my favorite Christmas Carols: "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Love Came Down at Christmas". It was Christina Rossetti who said, "My garden cannot be anything other than "my self." Today's book recommendation: Colors from Nature by Bobbi McRae Colors from Nature was published in 1993. McRae shares how to grow plants to collect, prepare and use natural dyes. Today's Garden Chore Now's the perfect time to relocate your hostas to improve the aesthetic of your garden. It's hard to know sometimes when you plant a hosta how you will feel about it once it's matured. When they are little, we often place hostas in a haphazard fashion - here's an empty spot - let's stick a hosta there. If you're not careful, the garden can end up looking like the hosta version of a patchwork quilt. And while you're placing them, remember that your blue or darker hostas like more shade - while the lighter colors of the yellowy green hostas and variegated hostas can take more sun. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart #OTD On this day in 1915 Ingrid Bergman, the actress, was born in Stockholm, Sweden. (She also died on the same day in 1982 at the age of 67.) Bergman appeared in a number of films including the iconic Casablanca. In 1969, Bergman appeared in a movie called Cactus Flower. Bergman was portraying a nurse named Stephanie Dickinson working in a Dentist's office. The dentist was played by Walter Matthau. Gardeners adore the movie Cactus Flower for the following lines read by Bergman: Early in the film Bergman is talking to Matthau and she puts him in his place by saying, "Doctor, you once compared me to my cactus plant. Well, every so often, that prickly little thing puts out a flower." Then, later in the film she memorably exclaims, "My cactus! It's blooming!" Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
This past week, I started looking for perennials I want to divide. After the hail storm and siding installation we had earlier this month, I don't feel too bad about digging up the plants. The garden looks tough. Might as well dig up old plants.
I always start with my hostas - in part, because they recover so quickly. Next spring, you'll never know that they were transplanted this fall. In addition, they, like the ferns, get used make great ground covers. Got a chronic creeping charlie, creeping buttercup, or creeping anything... plant a hosta. It can handle the creepers and even if they manage to survive under the dense canopy, they aren't as vigorous and you won't see them anyway.
Brevities
#OTD On this day in 1773, French explorer and botanist Aimé Bonpland was born.
Bonpland had traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America for five years - from 1799-1804, collecting & classifying 6,000 new plants. He co-authored many books about his discoveries.
One of his journal entries says this:
"We just arrived at a town where the locals invited us to eat a dish called enchiladas. When I tried it, my tongue burned and I started to sweat. I was told that this feeling is due to a fruit called "chili." I have to analyze it ..."
And here's a little trivia about Bonpland: When Napolean's wife Josephine died, Bonpland was present at her deathbed.#OTD Today in 1798, the first American vineyard was planted 25 miles from Lexington, Kentucky.
It was started by a Swiss immigrant named John James Dufour. He established the first successful commercial vineyard and winery in America. He called it "The First Vineyard."
Dufour had read newspaper accounts of the American Revolution as a young boy in Switzerland. What struck him most was something the French fighters had said. They were fighting alongside the colonists and they bemoaned the fact that they didn't have any wine to drink in America. It left an impression on DuFour. His grandfather and father were both vine dressers in Switzerland. Dufour wanted to bring their winemaking skills to America.
In 1796, Dufour arrived in America. Initially, he made a point of visiting Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and other estates. DuFour noticed they were working with the wild grapes, which Dufour felt were inferior.
After one year of success with "The First Vineyard", Dufour wrote to his father, brothers and sisters in Switzerland and invited them all to join him. Seventeen members of his family made the voyage.
After his family arrived, Dufour petitioned congress for the privilege of getting land in Indiana. The area had a steep valley that reminded the family of Switzerland. Congress granted a special approval for Dufour. By 1806, the first wine was made from the vineyard in Indiana, known as "The Second Vineyard" and the area became known as New Switzerland.
#OTD Today is the birthday of the man known as the King of Colorado Botany, Charles Christopher Parry, who was born on this day in 1823.
Parry discovered both the Torrey pine and Engelmann spruce which gives you a clue about his impressive mentors. Although he rubbed shoulders with the best botanists of his time, Parry's focus was not academic. He was more interested in making sure the public and the common man benefitted from his work.
In 1845 while he was at college, Parry's teacher was the great John Torrey. Parry was good friends with Asa Gray - who was also a student of John Torrey. In 1848, Parry learned about the botanical trade from the star of the Missouri Botanical Garden: George Engelmann.
In the summer of 1862 he brought Elihu Hall and J. P. Harbour on an expedition to Colorado. The men gathered ten sets of over 700 species. According to William Weber, their effort remains "the largest [collection ever] made in Colorado in a single season".
Parry spent 20 summers in Colorado - in a cabin nestled between Torrey Peak and Gray Peak - mountains he named after John Torrey and Asa Gray. Parry named another mountain Eva Peak in honor of his wife. He even named one Mount Flora.
In 1870, during a visit to England, Parry met the master botanist of his age: Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In fact, it was Hooker who referred to Parry as the "King of Colorado Botany".
And it wasn't just Colorado that Parry explored. He traveled throughout the West, amassing over 30,000 specimens for his herbarium. When Parry was collecting in California, he continued his habit of recording his thoughts into notebooks. Occasionally, he waxed poetic about the landscape. In one example from his time in California, he wrote:
"A newborn moon hangs her crescent over the western hills and by its full-orbed light we hope to see our way to winter quarters on the Pacific."
#OTD Today is the birthday of Roger Tory Peterson of Peterson's Field Guide to Birds fame - he was born in 1908.
Peterson not only wrote the guides, he also illustrated them.
Peterson was the noted American naturalist who brought the natural world to the masses in the 20th century. A son of Jamestown, New York, Peterson helped new generations of people fall in love with ornithology.
Peterson admired the gumption of the common starling. He felt blue jays had "a lot of class" and he said the house sparrow was "an interesting darn bird."
Peterson once famously described a purple finch as a "Sparrow dipped in raspberry juice (male)."
When it came to the Audobon Oriole, Peterson quipped that its song was like "a boy learning to whistle."
What was Roger Tory Peterson's favorite bird? The King Penguin.
Here are some famous Peterson quotes:
"Few men have souls so dead that they will not bother to look up when they hear the barking of wild Geese."
"Birds have wings; they're free; they can fly where they want when they want. They have the kind of mobility many people envy."
"Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble."
And finally, the book, The World of Roger Tory Peterson worth a read if you can get hold of a copy.Unearthed Words
Buttercup nodded, and said good-by; Clover and daisy went off together; But the fragrant water-lilies lie Yet moored in the golden August weather." Celia Thaxter ~ August The poet Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835-1894) grew up on an island. Her father built a hotel on Appledore Island and it became a hub for artists, creatives, and writers of New England during the late 19th century. With the natural beauty of the island and Celia's lovely garden, it's no wonder that Appledore became a muse for many. Today, Celia's garden is as enchanting as it was over 100 years ago. Celia grew cut flowers for her father's hotel. She also wrote a best-selling book called An Island Garden.Today's book recommendation: Midwest Foraging by Lisa M. Rose
If you're a beginner forager, and most of us fall in to that category, this beautifully formatted guide will be your go to resource - even advanced foragers find it helpful. Lisa's plant profiles include color photos, tips for identification, and excellent ideas for both eating and preserving your treasures. Lisa's friendly and matter-of-fact approach shines through in this work; she takes the fear out of foraging!
Today's Garden Chore
August is the perfect time to sow winter salads for the greenhouse or cold frame.
Thought it's tempting to say, "Let us wait," wise gardeners know that WSR's(Winter Salad Requirements) are more fully satisfied when effort is made in August.
Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
It was on this day in 2002, that Spaniards threw 120 tons of tomatoes at each other at the annual Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain.
Every year, on the last Wednesday of August, the town of Buñol, in #Spain, celebrates the biggest tomato fight in the world and Spain's messiest festival: ¡¡¡¡LA TOMATINA!!!!
It has been a tradition since 1945, when some kids had a tomato fight in the town square. Now, every year, trucks bring in tons of tomatoes grown especially for the event. In the town square, a Spanish ham is attached to the top of a greased pole. Most years, climbers are not able to reach the ham - but occasionally one climber makes this remarkable accomplishment. Then, visitors and residents alike begin the tomato fight and revel in the red sauce. The tomato-throwing spree attracts upwards of 50,000 visitors to Buñol every single year.Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Today is National Banana Lovers Day.
Botanically speaking, the banana is a berry - a many seeded fruit.
And, banana trees are not trees. The banana plant is a giant herb. Inside the guts of the banana tree trunk is a white tube. It may be cooked, and tastes like bamboo shoots.
Under a black light (ultraviolet or UV), ripe bananas glow a beautiful bright blue. Scientists believe this is a signal to banana eating animals like insects and bats that can see UV light.
In 1690, the first shipments of bananas reached Salem, Massachusetts. They tried boiling them with pork. Needless to say, it took another 200 years for bananas to catch on in North America.
Today, average U.S. banana consumption is almost 30 pounds per year.
Until the early 1800s in Hawaii, most banana varieties were 'kapu' - forbidden for women of Hawaii to eat, under penalty of death.
Banana's are facing a huge threat in the form of a pathogenic fungus called Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (TR4) or Panama Disease. TR4 was first discovered in Taiwan in the 1990s. It has slowly made its way around the world. Just this month, on August 8th, researchers confirmed that TR4 is infecting banana plants in Latin America - Columbia declared a national state of emergency. This may seem extreme or over-reactive to people who don't realize that the fungus, TR4, lives in the soil for decades, making the land unlivable for future banana crops. TR4 first attacks the roots before spreading through the rest of the plant. Unfortunately, fungicides do not work against the disease.
Thanks to Sir Joseph Paxton, the English gardener, architect and politician, who cultivated the Cavendish banana - who named it after William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire who fancied them. In November 1935, five years after receiving a specimen imported from Mauritius, Joseph Paxton's plant finally flowered and by the following May it was loaded with more than 100 bananas, one of which won a medal at that year's Horticultural Society show.
Today, bananas still grow on the Devonshire estate and the Cavendish banana is the most-consumed banana in the western world - it accounts for 99.9% of bananas in the western world - it accounts or 99.9% of bananas traded globally. It replaced a tastier variety who was wiped out be a fungal disease in the 1950s.
Today, work is underway to create a Cavendish banana replacement. Although, earlier this month, a scientist predicted, "Eventually, it will not be possible to produce the Cavendish banana variety for international trade."
We eat the variety of banana known as the Cavendish banana.
Brevities
#OTD Today is the birthday of Maria van Oosterwijck who was born on this day in 1630.
Oosterwijck was an incredible Dutch Golden Age painter, specializing in flower paintings and still life. Her art was rich, vividly detailed, and incredibly realistic. Her still lifes of flowers in ornate vases were often set against a dark background and featured flowers like sunflowers, roses, carnations, hyacinths, parrot tulips, berries and her most famous paintings included a red admiral butterfly.
In her 40's, her studio was opposite another flower painter by the name of Willem van Aelst. He attempted to woo Maria, but her heart belonged really only to her art. When he kept asking her, she finally agreed to marry him if he could prove that he could match her work ethic - he needed to paint every day, for 10 hours a day, for a year... only then would she marry him. Well, he couldn't do it and Maria remained single throughout her life.
Oosterwijck's paintings were purchased by Kings and Emperors after she smartly secured an agent to market her work.
#OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Edwin James who was born on this day in Vermont in 1797.
As a young man, James compiled the very first Flora of Vermont plants.
James went on one of the first expeditions of the American West from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains. He discovered the mountain Columbine, Aquilegia caeruleawhich ultimately became known as the Colorado Blue Columbine and the State Flower of Colorado.
An account of James' climb of Pikes Peak on July 13, 1820, states:
"A little above the point where the timber disappears entirely, commences a region of astonishing beauty . . . covered with a carpet of low but brilliantly flowering alpine plants. . ."
James' phrasing, "a region of astonishing beauty," became the title of a 2003 book on the botanical history of the Rocky Mountains by Roger Lawrence Williams.
After the expedition, James married and settled in Burlington, Iowa. His home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. James died in 1861 after an accident. A monument to James was installed on Pike's Peak and the Des Moines County Medical Society planted Rocky Mountain Blue Columbine on his grave in the Rock Springs Cemetery. Newspaper accounts said the location was in the most picturesque part of southeastern Iowa.
#OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Emil Christian Hansen, who died on this day in 1909.
Prior to Hansen, brewing was a volatile experiment and batches could easily get infected with disease. Hansen forever changed the brewing industry with his discovery of way to separate pure yeast cells from wild yeast cells. Hansen's method was created while he was working for the Carlsberg Laboratory. But, Carlsberg Labs did not patent the process. Instead, they decided to publish it; sharing all the details with brewers around the world Hansen named the yeast after the lab – Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis – and samples of Carlsberg No. 1 (as it was called) were sent to breweries around the world by request and free of charge. Within 5 years, most European breweries were using Carlsberg No. 1. By 1892, American breweries, Pabst, Schlitz and Anheuser-Busch, were manufacturing their beers with pure yeast strains. Emil Hansen was a renaissance man. In addition to his work in botany, he attempted careers an actor, a portrait artist, a teacher, an author, (he wrote under a pseudonym). And it was Emil Hansen who made the first Danish translation of Charles Darwin's Voyage of The Beagle.#OTD Today is the birthday of the English botanist Brian Lawrence Burt who went by "Bill."
Burtt died in 2008. He is remembered for his contributions to the family Gesneriaceae; the family that includes African violets. When Burtt started going on and plant expeditions in 1951, the Gesneriaceae family was poorly represented. Thanks to his work, plants were sent to Edinburgh which became the hub for the family. Burtt's collections started trends in England making both the African violet and the Streptocarpus household plants. The common name of Streptocarpus or "Streps" as they are called is the Cape primrose. If you look online, you will see a picture of Bill Burtt, standing in a forest in South Africa on one of his botanizing trips. In his hands, he is holding a very large Streptocarpus grandis leaf that looks to be about 4-feet tall. #OTD Today in 1971, restaurateur and local fresh food activist Alice Waters opened California's Iconic Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. Waters never intended to be a chef or to start a revolution. She just wanted to open a nice little restaurant that served fresh, good-tasting food. When the restaurant opened on this night in 1971, Alice Waters personally greeted her customers at the door.Unearthed Words
"This was one of those perfect New England days in late summer where the spirit of autumn takes a first stealing flight, like a spy, through the ripening country-side, and, with feigned sympathy for those who droop with August heat, puts her cool cloak of bracing air about leaf and flower and human shoulders." - Sarah Orne Jewett, The Courting of Sister Wisby, 1887Today's book recommendation: Nueva Salsa by Rafael Palomino
Rafael Palomino is a world-famous chef, restauranteur, and cookbook author. This cookbook, Nueva Salsa, was published in 2003.
Salsas offer tremendous flavor, variety, and spice. They are quick and easy to make at home. Nueva Salsa features over 60 fantastic recipes including tomato-based versions as well as salsas that are Asian-inspired. There's a decadent Fruit Salsa and Three Berry Salsa which is the perfect accompaniment to desserts, shortbreads, and ice creams.
You can get used copies of Nueva Salsa on Amazon using the link in today's show notes for a little over a dollar!
Today's Garden Chore
Incorporate more tall herbs into your garden by utilizing the area in the back of your beds.
Herbs like dill, comfrey, hyssop, fennel, and lovage work great in the back of your ornamental beds.
Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
110 years ago today, a little article appeared in The St. John Weekly News out of St. John, Kansas. it was titled "Making Home Attractive" and it was written by Ruth Cameron.
Here's what it said:
"There ought not to be such thing as an unlovely home outside the city the next two months.
For all the threadbare, barren spots of the poorest home may be covered and healed by the beauty brought in from outside.
It takes but a very little time to bring some of the flowers that bloom In the fields and gardens into the house.
And yet many a time I've seen the garden gay with rose and poppy, pansy and nasturtium, and the house flowerless or maybe illy decorated with one or two bowls of half decaying flowers.
You haven't just the little time necessary?
Then make it the children's daily 'task to keep the flower vases freshly filled.
Teach them to have pride in it. Remember occasionally to comment in their presence to a visitor on some tasteful arrangement they have made, and you need never have an empty vase as long as the flowers last.
And not only will you have beautified the house thereby, but you will also have curtailed Satan's proverbial chance of hunting up mischief for idle hands.
If you can possibly manage it - and It's worth while to try to make the time even if you have to leave a few specks of dust on the mopboard behind the bookcase - go out occasionally with the children and help them gather the flowers.
Teach them harmony of color and grace of arrangement.
Perhaps in doing the latter, a principle [that] an artist friend taught me may help:
"If possible never rearrange flowers," he said. "Just as you gather them is nature's arrangement and it Is best."
And if you do manage to make some of these morning excursions with your children into the garden or field, the chances are that you will bring back to your work something even better than flowers.
Don't be satisfied with a few vases. Have two or three in every room.
Not just in the dining room and living room, but in every chamber and the kitchen for good measure.
A vase of nasturtiums over the sink or a bowl of pansies on the kitchen table isn't going to make it any harder to do the dishes or fill the lamps.
So many vases cost, you say?
How much? For ten cents you can get a slim, tall glass vase that, filled with your peonies or roses, would be a fit ornament for a duchess' piano.
For eleven cents you can buy a blue Japanese bowl that overflowlng with your nasturtiums, wouldn't look bad on a queen's breakfast table.
And when you are picking the flowers that probably you've had too many of to half appreciate, don't forget the people who are unlucky enough to know how to appreciate a single flower.
Probably, there is a flower mission handy ready to take anything you may give to these who need.
If there isn't, try at least once or twice this summer being a flower mission to some poor shut-ins all by yourself."
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
If your garden looks a little sad right now, it could probably benefit from the addition of some no-fail fantastic fall perennials. Here are some of my favorites: If you have a sunny, wet area, Joe-Pye weed is a perfect choice. The blooms are super tall and a favorite with pollinators. The latin name is Eutrochium purpureum. Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (Hylotelephium telephium) is fantastic this time of year. It's super easy to propagate as well - in the spring when it starts to grow, I'll give it a hair cut and then simply place the clippings together in well-drained area in the garden and viola! A new Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is born. It's just that easy to propagate them. Up at the cabin, I have three new autumn joys thanks to the haircuts I gave the parent plants in mid June. Asters are glorious right now. You can grow them from seed or from transplants. If your asters are tall and leggy, make a note to give them a few haircuts during the month of June. I'll keep mine cut back to about a foot tall until the 4th of July and then I'll let them be. As with Joe-Pye and Autumn Joy, the Chelsea Chops keep my asters more compact - the way I prefer them this time of year. The latin name for New England asters is Symphyotrichum novae angliae (They were moved into their own genus.) Finally, sweet autumn clematis is in it's glory in the garden right now. Throughout the spring and the summer, I'm not very nice to the young vines. They can act a bit thuggish and I rip out everything I find during the months of May and June. The vines that make it to fall are the lucky ones - benefitting from my absences in the garden during the summer; weeks when I was too busy or away for travel. While I was gone, the remaining vines made big enough strides to earn the right to stay through to fall. The beautiful blooms give me pause for the way I treated them in the spring, yet I know my garden would be overrun if I didn't at least attempt to thwart it in the spring. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Stephen McCormick who was born on this day in 1784. McCormick was from Auburn, Virginia and he patented a cast iron plow with replaceable parts. Inventing equipment for agriculture was something of a family activity; his cousin of was Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the famous reaper. The concept of removable, replaceable parts created the need for factories to build them. Farmers liked the idea of only needing to buy the parts they needed; instead of buying an entirely new plow. In a little over a decade, McCormick had sold more than 10,00 plows. #OTD Today is the birthday of Edward Beard Budding who was born On this day in 1796. Budding had been working part time at carpet mill. During his shift, he watched a machine remove the nap from wool. It gave him an idea. Inspired by the machine from the carpet mill and working mostly at night, Budding adopted the machine into what became the world's first push lawn mower. Budding even tested his machine at night - to avoid the curiosity of his neighbors and also to make sure they wouldn't make fun of him. In South Downs in West Sussex, England, there is the Budding Museum of Gardening which features some of the very first lawn mowers preserved and researched by an ex-bank manager named Clive Gravett. In addition to the museum made up of Gravett's impressive collection of mowers spanning the past 150 years, Gravett created a charity dedicated to Budding. A year ago, Gravett wrote a book called, Two Men Went to Mow: The Obsession, Impact and History of Lawn Mowing. In it, Gravett tells the full story of this the lawn mower and it's impact on the world. A passionate gardener with a love of history, Gravett has helped to preserve Budding's legacy. There's just one piece of Budding's legacy that has remained illusive: one of his original lawn mowers. Gravett suspects they ended up being used as scrap during the first and second world wars. #OTD Today in 1959, the state flower of Alabama was changed to the camellia. The women of Butler County had decided the camellia was a better choice than the goldenrod which they considered a weed and which had been officially adapted back in 1927. Twenty years ago, Alabama decided to get more specific, naming the Camellia japonica L. the official state flower - to avoid confusion with the many other types of camellia. The Camellia japonica is sometimes called "the rose of winter". #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan - a prominent English botanist and mycologist. She died in 1967. Early on, Gwynn-Vaughan researched rust fungi. But she also helped form the University of London's Suffrage Society - where she was the first female professor. During #WW1 she also helped form 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. 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. When she was just 30 years old (and when she was still single), Gwynne-Vaughan was selected to be the head of the Botany department at London University's Birkbeck College. She was filling a position previously occupied by David Gwynne-Vaughan. Although he had left to become Professor of Botany at Queen's University Belfast, the two fell in love and were married. He kept his job and she kept hers and they found a way to make their marriage work across the Irish sea. But their life together was cut short. Just four years into their marrriage, David died from tuberculosis. Unearthed Words "August was nearly over - the month of apples and falling stars, the last care-free month for the school children. The days were not hot, but sunny and limpidly clear - the first sign of advancing autumn." ― Victor Nekrasov, author Today's book recommendation: Rachel Carson by Linda Lear Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, sparked the modern environmental movement. Author Linda Lear, writes her biography, in Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature - which came out in 2009. The book has been praised for Lear's exhaustive research and for portraying the human side of Rachel Carson's too short life. Here's a fun fact: Lear also wrote a fine biography of Beatrix Potter. You can get used copies using the Amazon Link in today's show notes for around $4. Today's Garden Chore Add the peony Sarah Bernhardt to your "must have" plant list for 2020 and find a spot for her this fall. The Sarah Bernhardt peony has been around since 1906 - so she's already over 100 years old. She may be an antique, but she is truly as wonderful today as she was when she was named for a french actress who was enormously popular in the early 1900's - Sarah Bernhardt. She once played the role of Queen Elizabeth. The Sarah Bernhardt peony was introduced by the world's top peony breeder - a Frenchman - named Victor Lemoine. When you look up Sarah Bernhardt peony, here are the words used to describe her: "double-flowered, gorgeous, very large, frilly blooms, apple blossom pink, romantically fragrant, super large, etc." Here are a few fun facts about Sarah Bernhardt: Of the 50 million cut peony flowers sold each year from the Netherlands, 20 million are Sarah Bernhardt.Florists love Sarah B's. And Sarah Bernhardt was selected as the 2004 Dried Cut Flower of the Year by the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart The biologist Helen Sharsmith was born today in 1905. A native Californian, Sharsmith and her husband both received their doctorates from the University of California, Berkeley. Sharsmith's dissertation on the Flora of the Mount Hamilton Range of California was published as a book in 1945. Twenty years later, she wrote another book called Spring Wildflowers of the San Francisco Bay Region (1965). Her husband named a stickseed after her called Hackelia Sharsmithii. It's a pretty little endangered herb in the borage family. Hackelia sharsmithii is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Sharsmith's stickseed. Adorably, the Sharsmiths had two children - a rich man's family - a boy and a girl. The boy was named John, after the naturalist John Muir. The girl was named Linnea, after Carl Linnaeus Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Sometimes I think cutting your bangs are a great analogy for pruning in the garden. You know how when your bangs are growing out - maybe a little past your eyebrows - and you think, "I am gonna grow these bangs out. I'm gonna have amazing hair." Then, they start to go past your nose and you realize that this was a complete mistake. Then, you don't have the stamina to make it all the way to having no bangs, and it's time to get this crazy idea back in check. Sometimes, the thing same thing happens with the flowers that are spilling into your paths and walkways. Today, the student gardeners and I clipped back the cat mint that of been allowed to go wherever it wanted - in addition to the sumac and artemisia. Sometimes, even though it requires extra courage, it's necessary to prune things back. When it's done, your garden looks a little lighter, a little more put together, and everybody seems happier that work was done. The garden feels brand new and ready to show off it's new haircut to the world. Brevities
#OTD Today is the day that Catholics celebrate the patron of gardeners and flowers - it's at Saint Rose of Lima day. Saint Rose worked to serve the poor. She was a Dominican. There was a malaria epidemic during the 1600s and Saint Rose worked to heal the sick and in some cases, she did. Saint Rose was the first saint born in the Americas. When she was born, her parents named her Ysabelle but she became known as a Rose. One time, when she was sleeping in her cradle, her mother saw the figure of a rose on the side of her cheek and she started calling her Rose. She was also called Rose because of her beauty. Sadly, Rose died in 1617; she was just 31 years old. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish ornithologist and poet Alexander Wilson. Wilson immigrated to the United States from Paisley Scotland. His family called him Sandy. He quickly became one of the foremost naturalists of his time. Before John James Audubon, there was Alexander Wilson - who was born the 20 years before Audubon. Wilson is known as the father of American ornithology. Wilson wrote the very first ornithology of American birds. When Wilson completed his publication, which he had prepared in nine volumes, it was sold for an exorbitant price: $120. Even John James Audubon passed on owning a copy for that sky-high price. Wilson ended up living at Gray's Ferry, where he took charge of a school founded by John Bartram. Right down the street, lived William Bartram, of all people. Bartram operated his own nursery called Bartram Botanical Gardens and he became a mentor for Wilson. Bartrum was the best kind of mentor; encouraging and honoring of Wilson's unique talents and interests. In fact, it was actually William Bartram who helped Wilson learn to draw birds.
#OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Eliza Sullivant. She had been taught by her husband about botany and other subjects. When she died in 1850, her husband William Starling Sullivant praised her drawings of mosses. Eliza was his second wife. His first wife died following the birth of their child. Sullivant fell in love with Eliza about the same time he fell in love with botany. The Sullivants lived in a gorgeous Italianate home that they called Sullivant Hill. There was a large pasture there and Sullivant would get up early in the morning and walk through it; identifying the flowering plants, grasses, and sedges. He got curiouser and curiouser about botany. Before you know it, he was corresponding with Dr. Asa Gray from Harvard and Dr. John Torrey from Princeton. Once when Sullivan was botanizing in Highland county, Ohio. He ran across a little plant with tiny delicate white flowers and ornate leaves. He sent it to Gray and Torrey. They, in turn, named it Sullivantii ohioensis. Sullivant's herbarium, which had nearly 10,000 specimens, was donated to Harvard through Dr. Asa Gray. #OTD Today is the birthday of Hazel Marguerite Schmoll who was born in McAlester, Kansas on this day in 1890. Schmoll was born in a sod cabin. Her family settled in Colorado when she was just two years old. Schmoll was the first woman to earn a doctorate in botany from the University of Chicago. Schmoll had the opportunity, early on in her career, to work with Alice Eastwood. She mostly mounted and catalog specimens. It was Hazel Schmoll who said, "I hope we can keep some wilderness areas. People need some places where they can get away from the crowds and be refreshed by nature." Unearthed Words "In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb color effects as from August to November." - Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905
Today's book recommendation: The Prickly Pear Cookbook by Carolyn Niethammer I remember the first time I grew Prickly Pear Cactus in my garden and I fell immediately in love with it. This charming cookbook celebrates the Prickly Pear Cactus. The spines of the plant actually protect it from being eaten. Fortunately, we've found a way around that. The cookbook contains 60 recipes for using the fruit of the cactus, in addition to the pads – all of which are edible and all of which are nutritious. And Niethammer teaches that it is increasingly included in the treatment of diabetes. Niethammer is a wild food expert and a master cook.
Today's Garden Chore
Now is a fantastic time to start thinking about spring plant swaps.
Here's a garden little hack you can try to make your spring rush a little easier. Take your divisions now and pot them up in soil with a heavy amount of perlite. And, then dig the pots into the ground. They'll be thrilled to overwinter there and they'll look fabulous in the spring.
Then, when everyone is going bananas the day or two before the plant swap, you can go and grab a coffee and then pat yourself on the back for making great use of your fall divisions.
Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
Today in 1942, the Michigan Botanical Club summer meeting was held at the university of Michigan Biological Station at Douglas lake. It was a three day meeting lasting through August 26 and it was held in conjunction of the Sullivant Moss Society, named in honor of William Starling Sullivant mentioned earlier in today's episode. Happy coincidence. During the meeting there were daily field trips and evening discussions about mosses and lichens and liver warts. This focus on mosses was something new to the members of the Wildflower Association who were in attendance. The records show that,
"they were apparently amazed and delighted at having found an entirely new world of nature." It was reported that one of their members, Fred Case, Jr had been stricken with polio and couldn't attend the meeting. So, the members put together a dish garden containing: a seedling pitcher plant, a one-inch tall cedar, 25 or 30 mosses and other woodland plants. Fred was just 15 years old and he had already written a treaty called Orchids of the Western Great Lakes Region which he had dedicated to the botanist Marjorie T. Bingham, who was his teacher and friend. Fred had organized all of the members of the first junior chapter of the Michigan Wildflower Association in Saginaw. The group was really his Boy Scout Troop. They had started up wildflower sanctuary on his dad's place. But, all of the junior members entered the armed services during World War II ... except for Fred - thanks to his polio diagnosis. When the men returned from the war, they went on with their lives and the junior chapter of the Saginaw Wildflower Association closed. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
At the cabin, a Mullein has seeded itself in one of my beds and I'm letting it grow. (I was touring gardens in Washington DC a few years ago and the garden had a section for Mulleins. It was so pretty.) On more than one occasion, I have had to rescue it - to make sure that no one in the family pulled it or weed-whacked it. Now, there it stands; 6 feet tall, big leaves, soft as lamb's ears, and the yellow florets are just starting to pop out from the flower spike. If you look closely at Mulleins, they have these little fine hairs on the very soft leaves. The purpose of those little fine hairs is to trap moisture from the air; to help the plant survive - even when there's no water around. Inside the leaf and the flower of Mullein, is a compound called mucilage. It's a soothing property - a soothing slime - that protects tissue when it comes into contact with it. Herbalists use that mucilage to treat dry coughs; the mucilage reduces the acidity level in the esophagus which helps stop the cough reflex. Whenever I look at Mullein, I always think of Whitman's charming thoughts on it. Whitman wrote: "The farmers, I find, think the Mullein a mean unworthy weed. But, I have grown to a fondness for it. Every object has its lesson, enclosing the suggestion of everything else —and lately I sometimes think all is consecrated for me in these hardy, yellow flower'd weeds. As I come down the lane early in the morning, I pause before their soft wool-like fleece and stem and broad leaves, glittering with countless diamonds. Annually for three summers now, they and I have silently returned together; at such long intervals I stand or sit among them, musing [...] of my sane or sick spirit, here as near at peace as it can be." Brevities #OTD On this day in 1745, Prince Charles Stuart plucked a white rose and placed it in his hat. Charles got the nickname "Bonnie Prince Charlie." Some have speculated, that the event sparked the significance of the Burnett rose - a white rose - because it became a celebrated symbol of Scotland. Here's a little poem about the white rose from Hugh MacDiarmid: The rose of all the world is not for me. I want for my part Only the little white rose of Scotland. That smells sharp and sweet - and breaks the heart. #OTD Today in 1830, the first lawn Moore was invented by Edward Beard Budding. Budding had adopted a machine that was used to remove the nap from wool. Budding had been working part time at carpet mill and he got the idea when he was working there; watching that machine with the wool. Budding apparently tested his machine at night, so that his neighbors wouldn't be curious or make fun of him. And, if you ever get the chance to go and see the Budding Museum of Gardening, it looks like a fun place to go. It shows mowers from all over the world. There's also a pruning exhibit. The museum is in England. Cute little museum. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Jacob Weidenmann, who was born on this day in 1829 in Zürich Switzerland. Weidenmann was a landscape architect. He came to the United States in 1856. By 1861, he was named the first superintendent of parks for Hartford, Connecticut. When he was there, he designed the Bushnell Park in Cedar Hill cemetery. By the 1870's, he was collaborating with Frederick Law Olmsted. In 1871, Weidenmann published his very first book it was called Beautifying Country Homes.His work on the Cedar Hill Cemetery led him to write a book called Modern Cemeteries - where he actually talked about how to landscape memorial grounds. After Weidenmann had finished designing in Hartford, he was asked to design the capital grounds in Des Moines. When Weidenmann died, he was buried in a quiet corner of the cemetery he had designed in Connecticut. Today, Harvard awards the Weidenmann prize to the student who shows outstanding ability in landscape design. #OTD Today is National Eat a Peach Day. Peaches are native to northwest China. August is one of the months that peaches are harvested. Thomas Jefferson had peaches growing at Monticello. The scientific name for peaches is Persica. The name Persica derives from the belief that peaches were from Persia - but they were actually from China. Unearthed Words "In June we picked the clover, And sea-shells in July: There was no silence at the door, No word from the sky. A hand came out of August And flicked his life away: We had not time to bargain, mope, Moralize, or pray." ― Cecil Day-Lewis, Overtures to Death and Other Poems Today's book recommendation: Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar This book is a favorite among women and female gardeners looking to utilize herbs for women's health. Specifically, there are tons of great recipes in here and lots of useful information. The book covers common disorders and the herbs that are effective for treating them. Gladstar shares how to select in-store herbs and then how to pair hundreds of herbal remedies. I think what is especially helpful about this book is Rosemary's exclamation of the properties of herbs and then, not only how herbs are healing, but how they promote good health as well. Rosemary is called the godmother of modern herbalism Today's Garden Chore Spruce up the ironwork in your garden. The other day I was at a big box store looking for some pieces for my irrigation system, when I remembered to pick up some cans of white spray paint for my ironwork. I bought it to refresh a set of table and chairs I bought from a friend. It's amazing how good it all looks with a fresh coat of paint. For other ironwork that I want to keep with a more natural look, I will just get some clear coat and use that. And if you're doing a lot of spray painting (like I was with the tables and chairs), it makes sense to buy one of those little spray grip accessories that attach to the top of your spray paint cans. They minimize finger fatigue. They are called spray grips or contour grips - and you can find them at your big box hardware stores. They're usually sold right by the paint cans. They are totally worth the investment. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Here's a an interesting story that was shared in the Montclair Times in 1903. An amateur botanist and his friend were passing by a florist and they spied an elephant ear. The botanist asked his friend, "Did you ever taste elephant ears?" The companion said he never had. The botanist answered this way: "It's a good thing for you - although it is an experience that will remain in your memory for a long time to come. I remember - oh, it seems like a hundred years back, yet the incident & fresh in my mind and as clear as crystal - when three boys were leaning across a wall looking at the plant in a garden. I was one of the boys - and the other two were telling me what a sweet taste elephant leaves had. [...] One of the boys put a piece in his mouth - at least he pretended to - and I agreed to chew some also. Well, persimmons are as sugar compared to the drawing and bitterness of the elephant leaf. For half an hour after I had put the bit of leaf into my mouth, I drank enough water to float a ship." If you want to eat elephant ears, it's their tuber that's edible. The leaves and the stem are the most toxic parts of the plant. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
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