Episodes
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Today we celebrate a historic elm tree in Boston.
And we remember the Romantic English poet who went by L.E.L.
We'll also learn about the magazine that helped launch the National Audubon Society.
We salute the Scottish nurseryman who elevated to the top echelons of British horticulture.
We also remember the Iowa botanist who dedicated her life to protecting the vanishing prairie ecosystem.
We celebrate the fleeting summer with some poetry.
And, we Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that features Audubon's masterful illustrations.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of a canning lid shortage back in 1975.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today’s curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
5 Things To Consider Before You Landscape A Garden | Homes To Love
Here's an excerpt:
We spoke to landscaping expert John McMillan from General Lawns for his thoughts and handy tips on creating the perfect landscaped garden. How can you choose the right plants, set a theme, include a deck or a water feature or know how to describe what you want into a brief?
John has 5 crucial questions to consider to build a garden fit for your home.
1. Research, Research, Research
2. Consider your lifestyle
3. Choose carefully
4. Keep a grip on the budget
5. Keep it real
Saint Werenfrid's Day (August 14)
Gardeners know that Werenfridus is the Patron Saint of Vegetable Gardens. Werenfrid is often portrayed as a priest holding a ship with a coffin in it. And, sometimes Werenfrid is displayed as a priest laid to rest in his ship.
What do these emblems - the coffin and the ship - have to do with Vegetable Gardens?
Absolutely nothing. But the coffin and ship do remind us just how beloved St. Werenfrid was by the Dutch people.
You see, as a Benedictine monk, Werenfrid tended the gardens at his monastery, and his gardens served a vital purpose: feeding the poor and the hungry. As a gardener and a clergyman, Werenfrid was a nourisher of both bodies and souls. After decades of caring for his flock in and around Arnhem in the Netherlands, Werenfrid died at the age of 90.
After Werenfrid died, two nearby towns named Westervort and Elst started fighting over Werenfrid’s body. Each town wanted the honor of being his final resting place and, of course, being blessed by his sacred remains. Although the citizens of Elst contended that Werenfrid himself said he wanted to be laid to rest in their town, the dispute continued until the two towns agreed to let nature dictate Werenfrid’s fate. According to lore, Werenfrid’s body was placed on an unmanned boat on the Rhine and fate brought Werenfrid to the shores of Elst where today, the Werenfrid Church still stands.
And so, today we remember the gentle, loving gardener monk named Werenfrid, who is often shown holding a ship carrying a coffin.
Werenfrid is also invoked for gout and stiff joints - which, if you grow vegetables, you’ll appreciate how those conditions sometimes go along with gardening.
Alright, that’s it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1765 A crowd gathered under a large elm tree in Boston.
The group was there to protest the Stamp Act that was passed by the British Parliament.
The Stamp Act imposed a tax on paper in the American colonies, which meant that all the paper had to have a stamp on it. So, if you were publishing a newspaper, or needed a mortgage deed, or court papers, it all had to be printed on paper with a tax stamp on it.
Now, there was an old elm tree that became a rallying point for resistance against the British, and that tree became known as the Liberty Tree.
The Liberty Tree had been planted in 1646 - just sixteen years after Boston became a city. As the colonists began rejecting orders from Britain, the Liberty Tree became a bulletin board of sorts. As it's symbolism grew, protesters would share calls to action on the trunk.
When the stamp act was repealed, the Liberty Tree was THE place people went to celebrate; hanging flags and streamers, as well as lanterns from its branches.
After the war began, Thomas Paine wrote an ode to the Liberty Tree in the Pennsylvania Gazette:
Unmindful of names or distinctions they came
For freemen like brothers agree,
With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued,
And their temple was Liberty Tree…
Four months later, in August, British troops and Loyalists descended on the Liberty Tree. A man named Nathaniel Coffin Jr. cut it down.
1802 Today is the birthday of the English poet and novelist Letitia Elizabeth Landon - and when she first started out, she signed her poems with her initials - L.E.L.
Letitia wrote,
“I will look on the stars and look on thee, and read the page of thy destiny.”
Letitia’s destiny was set in motion as she explored the woods and overgrown gardens near her home. Spending time in nature actually inspired Letitia to write poetry. By the time she was 18, her governess shared her poems with a neighbor, William Jerdan, who was the editor of the Literary Gazette. Married and twice her age, Jerdan nonetheless began a relationship with Letitia. Lucasta Miller’s book, L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon tells her tragic life story - how Jerdan fathered children with Letitia but then forced her to give them all up as infants, how he stole the income from her published works and then dumped her for another younger woman. Letitia’s story ended at the age of 36 in Africa. She committed suicide shortly after she married the Governor of Ghana.
One of Leticia’s first poems was an ode to the Michaelmas daisy (Aster amellus) in the genus Aster of the family Asteraceae. Also known as Autumn Asters, the plant has narrow green leaves covered by clouds of daisy-like purple-petaled flowers with yellow centers. The name of this Aster is from the Latin word for star which is a reference to the shape of its showy flower heads that are just coming into bloom now in mid-August.
Last smile of the departing year,
Thy sister sweets are flown;
Thy pensive wreath is far more dear,
From blooming thus alone.
Thy tender blush, thy simple frame,
Unnoticed might have past;
But now thou contest with softer claim,
The loveliest and the last.
Sweet are the charms in thee we find,
Emblem of hope's gay wing;
‘Tis thine to call past bloom to mind,
To promise future spring.
— Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.), The Michaelmas Daisy.
Letitia’s poetry was romantic and she is often referred to as the female Byron.
Here’s a verse Letitia wrote about April:
Of all the months that fill the year,
Give April's month to me,
For earth and sky are then so filled
With sweet variety!
— Letitia Elizabeth Landon, April
1873 The magazine Forest and Stream debuted.
Forest and Stream featured outdoor activities like hunting and fishing. It was dedicated to wildlife conservation, and it helped launch the National Audubon Society.
In 1930, the magazine merged with Field & Stream.
1822 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish nurseryman and seedsman James Dickson.
James Dickson led a remarkable life. He was born to a poor family in Scotland. As a young boy, he began working as a gardener on the nearby estate of an Earl. The job was a perfect fit for James. One day James overheard one of his fellow gardeners inquire about the name of a plant. When another young Gardener successfully answered, James was instantly inspired to learn everything he could about plants.
After working his way up as a gardener in Scotland, James eventually moved to London where he set up a nursery business in Covent Garden ("Cuv-int"). James became a trusted authority on mosses, fungi, and grasses and he even wrote two large botanical volumes.
With his hardwon botanical knowledge and eager disposition, he became friends with both the explorer Joseph Banks and the King’s gardener, William Forsyth. These key relationships put him in the top horticultural social circles of his day.
As a nurseryman, James was hardworking and insightful. When the British Museum decided to find a new gardener, Joseph Banks asked James if he was interested in the job. James put together a modest bid to improve and maintain the landscape around the museum. Not only did James win the bid but it was a position that he held for the rest of his life.
In terms of posterity, James was a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society as well as was one of the seven men who established the Linnean Society.
James returned to Scotland to go on botanizing expeditions many times during his life. One of his botanist peers, Sir James Edward Smith, recognized James' strengths saying he had a “powerful mind, spotless integrity, singular acuteness and accuracy” and he memorably called James “lynx-eyed” because he was so good at spotting plants in the field.
James married Margaret Park after his first wife died. This marriage also resulted in a lifelong friendship with his brother-in-law Dr. Mungo Park. James introduced Mungo to his friend Joseph Banks and that's how Mungo became a famous explorer. Mungo traveled the world in the late 1700’s - going first to Sumatra and then to Gambia. James and his family thought Mongo had died after not hearing from him for two years. but on Christmas morning in 1797 James was working at his beloved British Museum Garden. James had gotten up early to tend to the greenhouses making sure that the fires were still going.
He was tending to his work and looked up and saw Mungo. It made for a happy family Christmas. Almost 10 years later, Mungo would undertake another journey - this time to Niger. But, sadly, after this trip, James would never see his dear friend and brother-in-law again. Mungo was attacked and killed by natives in 1806.
Fourteen years later, on this day, James died at his home at the age of 84. The poor Scottish child-gardener had made a successful life for himself tending the best gardens in England and is counted among the founding pillars of English horticulture.
James requested to be buried in the churchyard where he had spent much time as a younger man collecting mosses.
James is remembered with the Dicksonia - the tree fern genus.
1880 Today is the birthday of botanist Ada Hayden.
Ada was the curator of the Iowa State University herbarium.
As a young girl growing up in Ames, Iowa, she fell in love with the flora surrounding her family’s home. Ada was a talented photographer, artist, and writer, and she put all of those skills to good use documenting Iowa’s prairies.
And, Ada became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from Iowa State.
Ada inherited her grandparent's farm, and she often brought her botany students there to walk through the Prairie and to take notes on their observations.
Ada’s life work was to save the vanishing prairie ecosystem.
Ada loved the Prairie. She wrote,
"Throughout the season, from April to October, the colorful flowers of the grassland flora present a rainbow-hued sequence of bloom. It is identified with the open sky. It is the unprotected battleground of wind and weather.”
When Ada died, the University named a 240-acre-tract of virgin Prairie, Hayden Prairie, in her honor.
Unearthed Words
We are closing in on Labor Day. Here are some words about the fleeting summer.
Catch, then, oh catch the transient hour;
Improve each moment as it flies!
Life's a short summer, man a flower;
He dies - alas! how soon he dies!
— Samuel Johnson, English writer and poet
Give me the joys of summer,
Of Summer Queen so fair,
With a wealth of lovely flowers
And fruits and sun-kissed air!
Talk not to me of winter
With ice and frost and snow,
Nor changing spring and autumn
When howling winds will blow.
No, I will take the joys
Of Summer every time,
So to this Queen of Seasons
I dedicate my rhyme.
— Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr., Poet, Midsummer Joys
Summer's lease hath all too short a date.
— William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet and actor
Grow That Garden Library
Audubon's Masterpieces by John James Audubon
This book came out in 2004 and the subtitle is 150 Prints from the Birds of America.
Amazon reviews of this book are very positive:
“Beautiful book. I admired framed Audubon prints in decorating magazines and at Pottery Barn's website for a long time, but couldn't afford their prices. I finally decided to buy this book, use an Exacto knife, and cut out prints to frame myself (yes, feel free to cringe at the thought of tearing apart such a beautiful book--I did, too). I framed twelve prints in inexpensive 8x10 dollar frames from a store of a similar name.”
“I actually purchased a second copy of this book. I was so impressed with my first that I purchased a 2nd to frame individual prints (they're a perfect 8x10), and they look amazing in the grouping of twelve on my wall… Everyone thinks I paid a fortune for them!”
“Audobon's Masterpieces is simply put: gorgeous. I bought this book for the sole purpose of having a pretty book of birds to lay out on my coffee table… Please buy this for your sister, mother, nerdy bird-loving brother/father/boyfriend/hobo down the street. It brings a smile to my face every time I glance at the pretty hardback cover and randomly open up to a page of beauty. Nature is beautiful, people.”
John James Audubon was a French American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. During his life, Audubon identified 25 new species of birds. His detailed illustrations depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed.
This book is 352 pages of Audobon’s Masterwork of Bird Illustrations.
You can get a copy of Audubon's Masterpieces by John James Audubon and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $18
Today’s Botanic Spark
1975 The Hearne Democrat, out of Hearne, Texas, announced there was a canning lid shortage.
Here’s what it said:
"The problem has reached crisis proportions in parts of the country where home gardeners have planted crops in hopes of saving on grocery bills. As harvest begins, these home gardeners are discovering the canning lid shortage means there is no way of preserving their ripe fruits and vegetables for fall and winter use...
Part of the cause is the tremendous increase in the number of home gardeners. The federal office of Consumer Affairs estimates that 12 million new gardeners have joined the market for home canning equipment in the past two years...
Another part of the problem is that, in addition to the greatly increased number of gardeners who need lids, some home canners have been buying far more lids than they will need. Because of this hoarding for future use, the shortage has been aggravated." -
Today we celebrate an early Swedish explorer of Niagara Falls.
We'll also learn about a plant that Thomas Jefferson loved.
We salute the Russian botanist who arranged plants by geography.
We also recognize the Czech, who became the most famous collector of orchids in the world.
And, we'll remember the lives of a British plant hunter and a German chemist.
I've got a wonderful poem about August for you today.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about canning - the author says you'll be able to make your mamma jealous with your canning skills after getting her book.
And then we'll wrap things up with a mystery about a plant collected by the botanist Albert Ruth.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
10 Berries That Birds Love | Treehugger | Tom Oder
"Have you ever thought about birdscaping your garden?
Birdscaping in this case doesn’t mean putting out a lot of feeders with different types of seed. It means planting the types of plants that will attract birds to your garden.
A good way to get started is by planting berry-producing plants — and now is the perfect time of year to do that.
Here are 10 easy-to-grow berry-producing shrubs, vines, and trees that produce berries that birds will love. Most of these plants should grow well throughout the United States, according to Bill Thompson III of Bird Watcher's Digest in Marietta, Ohio.
As a bonus to help you get started with birdscaping, we’ve also included two popular fruit trees that birds love."
Boy, nasturtiums are such wonderful plants, aren't they?
August is a time when your nasturtiums look fabulous, even after a summer of blooming their hearts out. Right about now, your nasturtiums will bloom better if you remove a few of the center leaves. Opening up the plant a little bit will promote airflow - and allow the sun to shine on the base of the plant.
Nasturtiums are 100% edible.
You can add the petals to any salad - just as you would watercress.
In fact, you can make a beautiful sandwich with nasturtium flowers and a little salad dressing.
Jane Eddington shared this idea in the Daily News out of New York in 1928.
She wrote,
“If you have never tried a nasturtium leaf spread with a thin mayonnaise between two thin slices of bread and butter, you do not know how pleasant a little bite – in two senses – you can get from this Indian-Cress filling."
And before I forget, I found this wonderful article on nasturtiums that was featured in the Hartford Current out of Hartford, Connecticut, in August of 1914.
It had all of these wonderful recipes for nasturtiums.
It not only gave some good advice about nasturtium capers and nasturtium sandwiches, but also, a nasturtium sauce for fish, meat, and vegetables, a nasturtium vinegar, and a nasturtium potato salad. I'll have all of that in today's show notes -if you're geeking out on nasturtiums.
And, here is a little insight into how nasturtiums like to coexist with us: the more we cut nasturtiums - to bring in as cut flowers, or to eat them raw, or as capers - the more they are they will bloom. Regular cuttings seem to encourage more lateral development, and therefore you get more flowers.
Win-win.
If you protect your plants with burlap or sheets on cold fall evenings, your nasturtiums just might surprise you and bloom well into November.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1750 The botanist Peter Kalm visited Niagara Falls.
Niagara was a natural attraction for botanists like Peter who studied under Carl Linnaeus. (It was actually Linnaeus who came up with the idea to send trained botanists to Niagara.)
There are no records of the plants that Peter collected on this day all those years ago. However, botanists suspect that Kalm's Lobelia and Kalm's Saint John's Wort were both collected there; and that's how they were both named for him by Carl Linnaeus.
1805 Today Meriwether Lewis discovered the Snowberry or Symphoricarpos albus.
I love the story of how Lewis came across the Snowberry.
Meriwether was really looking for the Shoshone Indians, but he found the Snowberry instead.
Meriwether wrote in his journal that he discovered something like a small honeysuckle, except that it was bearing a berry,
“... as large as a garden pea and as white as wax."
The plant was a truly new discovery to the scientific community.
And, Meriwether showed his botany chops when he said he thought it resembled the honeysuckle because it actually IS a member of the honeysuckle family. The Latin name for Snowberry is from the Greek meaning "fruits joined together," because the berries are clustered in pairs.
Sadly, Snowberries aren't good eating; they're pretty tasteless. But, the birds - especially grouse - love it.
As for Meriwether, botanists suspect that he probably took a specimen of the Snowberry in his pack because some of the seeds made their way to Philadelphia to Thomas Jefferson's favorite nurseryman: Bernard McMahon.
Once the Snowberry was in his hands, McMahon did what he always did; cultivate the plant and take cuttings. After McMahon grew the Snowberry, he sent cuttings to Thomas Jefferson. By October of 1812, Jefferson wrote back to report that the Snowberries were thriving in his garden. He gushed that they were some of the most beautiful berries he had ever seen - a hearty endorsement for the Snowberry.
1815 Today is the birthday of the Russian botanist Edward August Von Regal.
Edward was born in Switzerland - but he lived most of his life in Russia.
Edward worked in a number of botanical gardens, including gardens in Germany and Switzerland.
In 1852, Edward founded a magazine called Garten Flora, where he described new plant species.
Three years later, in 1855, Edward moved to St. Petersburg, where he oversaw the imperial botanical garden. Edward was a very hands-on botanist. When he went to St. Petersburg, he immediately addressed the setup and the level of excellence. He changed how all the plants were arranged and rebuilt the greenhouses (most of which were heated by hot water). Edward loved to arrange plants in groups based on geography. For instance, he would have an area for plants of St. Petersburg, and an area for the plants of Siberia, and an area for the plants of North America, and so on.
While in St. Petersburg, Edward also started a Russian gardening society, as well as several botanical journals.
And if you're a fan of Curtis's botanical magazine, which was started by William Curtis (who was employed at Kew), you'll appreciate knowing that volume 111 is dedicated to Edward August van Regal.
1823 Today is the birthday of Benedict Roezl, who was born on this day in Czechoslovakia.
Benedict was probably the most famous collector of orchids during his lifetime.
Benedict had an interesting life. As a gardener, he traveled all over Europe. He was also the founder of a Czech botanical magazine called Flora.
Eventually, Benedict made his way to the United States. He was making his way south to Mexico, so after first landing in New York, he went to Denver. There, he collected the Yucca Angustifolia.
Benedict indeed ended up in Mexico. For a time, he owned a restaurant. But he was also trying to make a go of a business growing a nettle called the Boehmeria nivea, which produces a fiber that can be harvested.
Now Benedict was a tinkerer and he had built a machine to extract the fiber from the Boehmeria. One time, Benedict brought his invention to an exhibition. At one point, someone asked if Benedict's machine would be able to extract fiber from an agave. When Benedict attempted to try it, his hand got entangled in the machine and was crushed. The accident changed his life, and he began collecting plants full-time.
Benedict used an iron hook in place of his amputated hand; it made him popular among the locals who brought the plants to him.
Benedict started collecting for a man named Frederick Sander, who was known as the king of orchids. But it was Benedict behind the scenes that made it all happen. Although, as a collector, he was a bit of a mess. Still, Benedict collected over 800 orchids from Mexico and South America, along with thousands of other plants like agaves and cacti. In Columbia, he discovered the Zambia Roezlii, the tallest and oldest orchid of all. Benedict collected for Sander for 40 years.
Even though Benedict was 6'2" tall, and had that imposing iron hook for a hand, during his collecting days, Benedict was robbed 17 times and, once, even attacked by a jaguar.
At the end of his life, Benedict returned to Czechoslovakia. His country welcomed him home with open arms, and he was honored by the Russian Czar. After he died at home in his bed, Benedict's funeral was attended by the Austrian emperor.
Today, there is a statue of Roezl in Prague. If you happen to go, It's located on the southern end of Charles Square.
1870 Today is the anniversary of the death of the nurseryman and botanist John Gould Veitch.
The Veitch Nursery dynasty was a force in the British nursery trade. Their dominance was born out of the idea to hire their own plant hunters to collect exclusively for them. John Gould Veitch became a plant hunter himself. He's remembered for collecting in Japan and in Australia where he once complained that the seeds of many plants,
“were so tiny he did not know if he was collecting seed or dust.“
John Gould Veitch's life was cut short by tuberculosis. He died when he was just 31 years old.
1872 Today is the birthday of the German chemist and botanist Richard Willstätter.
We sure could use Richard's expertise today…
Richard was trained as an organic chemist, and early in his career, he focused on plants. Richard was one of the first scientists to study plant pigment, and his work with chlorophyll earned him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1915.
That very same year, 1915, a friend and fellow scientist by the name of Fritz Haber asked Richard to help him formulate poisonous gas to use as a weapon in World War 1. Richard's conscience wouldn't allow him to use his talents in that way. However, he did help to lead an effort to devise a filter that could protect soldiers from enemy gases. Richard's 3-layer filter was mass-produced - 30 million were made by 1917 - and Richard was awarded the Iron Cross for his work.
By September of 1938, Richard, who was Jewish, tried to remain in his home in Munich. That month, Richard was forced to surrender his passport.
On November 10th, a co-worker and fellow professor at the Chemistry Institute named Margarete Rohdewalde called Richard to warn him that the SS were on their way to his home with the intent of taking him to Dachau. When the SS arrived, his housekeeper, Elise, recalled that they searched his home "from top to bottom," looking in all of the closets and under all of the beds, but they could not find him.
It turns out, Richard had avoided their capture by being in the south side of his garden where Richard wrote that "the last roses were just freezing." Over the next three days, Richard sat at his desk and waited for them to return. But they did not come for him.
Although he could have found a university job in the United States, Richard felt drawn to Switzerland. In March of 1939, he managed to leave Germany legally. Elise followed him and took care of him as he battled the strain of leaving his books, his home, and his country.
Shortly after leaving Germany, Richard's heart began to fail. His memoir shares that he died in Switzerland on the afternoon of August 3rd, 1942. And, Elise noted that he passed while a violent thunderstorm raged outside.
Unearthed Words
Here is a poem about August
For which there is no possible rhyme other than sawdust.
Now, the task of justifying that word is going to be immense
If I want to make sense,
But anyway, here goes:
I once had a doll called Rose
Whose body was encased in a species of strong white cotton.
Well, I have not forgotten
How curious I was to see what was within
The cotton skin.
And so I made, with surgical precision,
A long incision.
Poor Rosie bled and bled and bled.
She bled not blood, but sawdust,
And then went limp.
Well, so do I, in August.
Get the connection?
Now, for those to whom August means a similar disaffection
I have news today:
Relief is on the way
For, and I say this without fear of starting an angry dialogue,
September will follow Aug.
It means that those kids who screamed "help, help" at the river all summer will go back to school
And I can keep my cool,
Sitting tight
Instead of leaping up in fright.
It means the lawn will stop being so assiduous about growing,
Requiring mowing
Every second day.
Hooray!
It means I can give up wondering whether
To try for a tan, or will the sun merely turn me to leather?
It means the rabbits can finish off what they've left of my garden for all I'll care.
Allowing my temper to simmer down from way up there.
For all of which thank God,
Although, of course, there'll be the goldenrod;
Frankly, I think it's pretty
But visitors from the city
To such a view object.
Pointing out how it makes their eyes and noses runny and wet.
"Why don 't you get rid of the stuff?" they ask,
As though exterminating goldenrod were some sort of easy task.
Tsk! By the time you've yanked out one you turn around
To find its sisters, aunts, and cousins springing blithely from the ground.
What goldenrod knows about family planning you could put in a gnat's eye,
That's why
Some farms grow wheat or corn or hops
But goldenrod's my bumper crop,
A fact allergic friends remember
And so I can be lonely in September.
— Maggie Grant, Ottawa Newspaper Columnist, August
Grow That Garden Library
Not Your Mama's Canning Book by Rebecca Lindamood
This book came out in 2016, and the subtitle is Modern Canned Goods and What to Make with Them.
Rebecca's book offers both savory and sweet recipes for canned goods. Her book teaches not only how to can but also how to elevate your food flavors. Her recipes feature unique flavor combinations - including jams and jellies, pickles and relishes, and drunken fruit—just a heads up that some recipes call for pressure canning, but not all.
As Rebecca says - with her book, you can,
“Make your mama proud. But don't tell her your canning is better than hers!”
Rebecca is the founder of the blog Foodie with Family. She worked as both a full-time cook and a food columnist. She lives in Belfast, NY.
This book is 224 pages of expert modern-day canning advice.
You can get a copy of Not Your Mama's Canning Book by Rebecca Lindamood and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $14.
Today's Botanic Spark
1892 The botanist Albert Ruth collected a plant in Sevier County that he thought was Partridge Berry.
Over 40 years later, in 1934, Ruth's specimen of Partridge Berry ended up at the University of Tennessee under unusual circumstances.
In 1934, the University of Tennessee's herbarium had been destroyed in a fire - which was especially sad since the herbarium was quite excellent and contained over 30,000 specimens.
To rectify the matter, the botanist and university professor, AJ Sharp, put out a call for new specimens from botanists all over the globe. His effort met with success.
And, that's how Albert Ruth's Partridge Berry made its way to AJ Sharp.
Now, When Dr. Sharp saw Ruth's specimen, he immediately recognized that it was NOT a Partridge Berry. Instead, what Sharp was looking at, was the twinflower, the flower named for Carl Linnaeus, the Linnea Borealis – an extremely delicate plant.
Although the twinflower is found in Greenland and Alaska and Scandinavia, it has never been known to grow in the Smoky Mountains. To this day, no one has ever found the spot where Albert Ruth found his twinflower.
To date, there have been two attempts to locate Ruth's twinflower led by Dr. Peter White out of the University of North Carolina. But Peter rightly cautions anyone attempting to search for the twinflower in the Smokies. Peter says there are two things you need to have in order to botanize in the Great Smoky Mountains,
"Excellent rock climbing experience and a great life insurance policy." -
Episodes manquant?
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Today we remember the busiest man in London.
Dahlias take 90 to 120 days to flower after planting, depending on the variety you are growing. Generally, the larger the plant and flowers, the longer it takes. If you want flowers before late summer, consider starting your dahlia tubers indoors in pots 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost. Pinching back (the same as cutting off), the main stem encourages the plant to become bushier. Every enthusiastic dahlia grower will tell you their storage method works like a charm. And—they are right—for their specific conditions. The point is, it's the health of the tuber and the overall environment that counts. The optimum storage temperature is 40-45°F (4-7°C). We run into problems when the heating systems in our homes make the humidity level too low for the tubers. Consider using the plastic food wrap method where each tuber is wrapped individually to keep moisture in. Growers who use this method report a higher number of viable tubers each spring. Exposure to some cold is necessary for their development each year, so we wait until early frosts have blackened the foliage before digging up the tubers and storing them for the winter. Come spring, a handy rule is, if it's the right time to plant tomatoes, it's the right time to plant dahlias. On a brighter note, while not entirely deer-proof, dahlias are not their first food choice when other plants are available.
We'll also learn about the man honored by the Baobab tree.
We salute a daughter of Winterthur,
We also recognize a life cut short in the world of tropical botany.
And we'll look back on a letter from one garden writer to another written on this day in 1961.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that puts your focus on the grill for preparing your garden harvest.
And then we'll wrap things up with a story about Gallant Soldiers.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
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And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
7 Best Tips for Growing Dahlias | Melissa J. Will
Here's an excerpt:
Melissa gathered these tips for growing dahlias from numerous sources, including books, research papers, my own experience, and advice from professional growers whose livelihood depends on their success.
Melissa provides seven top tips and answered Frequently Asked Questions for an excellent overview of everything needed to grow dahlias.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1803 Today is the birthday of the English gardener, architect, and Member of Parliament, Joseph Paxton.
Joseph Paxton was brilliant. It was Charles Dickens who dubbed him, "The Busiest Man in England."
Joseph designed the Crystal Palace, aka the People's Palace, for the first World's Fair. The Crystal Place was a large exhibition hall. It was an extraordinary and revolutionary building.
Joseph was the head gardener to the Duke of Devonshire in Chatsworth. Now, you might be wondering how Joseph's job as the head gardener had given him the experience he needed to create the Crystal Palace. Well, the answer is simple: he had built four massive greenhouses for the Duke over fifteen years from 1833 to 1848, and that made Joseph one of the top greenhouse experts in the world. And, English royalty knew it.
Don't forget that the beautiful Crystal Palace was essentially a large greenhouse. Gardeners will appreciate that Joseph's iron and glass architectural plans were inspired by the "transverse girders & supports" of the giant water lily - which itself is an architectural wonder.
Now Instead of creating a large empty building for exhibits, Joseph decided to build his greenhouse around and over the existing Hyde Park. The high central arch - the grand barrel vault you see in all the old postcards and images of the Crystal Palace - actually accommodated full-sized trees that were already in the park when Joseph began to build around them.
Joseph's Crystal Palace was built in a very short amount of time, and this was due again to Joseph's expertise and connections. He had built relationships with various iron and glass companies in building greenhouses for the Duke, and he had even designed many of the components needed to create a greenhouse. For instance, the large beautiful columns also served a purpose: drainage.
The Joseph Paxton biographer Kate Colquhoun wrote about the immensity of the Palace:
"[Paxton's] design, initially doodled on a piece of blotting paper, was the architectural triumph of its time. Two thousand men worked for eight months to complete it. It was six times the size of St Paul's Cathedral, enclosed a space of 18 acres, and entertained six million visitors."
The Crystal Palace was an enormous success and was open every day except Sundays all during the summer of 1851. Queen Victoria and Albert were there on the day it opened - May 1st. And by the closing day on October 11th, six million people had walked past the international exhibits at the Crystal Palace.
For his work with the Crystal Palace, Joseph Paxton was knighted. Still, if I could knight Joseph Paxton, I would honor him for cultivating my favorite breakfast item: the Cavendish banana - the most consumed banana in the Western world. Naturally, Joseph cultivated the banana in the greenhouses he built for the 6th Duke of Devonshire - William Cavendish - who is honored with the name of the banana.
Even with the perfect growing conditions, it took Joseph five years to get a banana harvest. But, in November 1835, Joseph's banana plant finally flowered. By the following May, the tree was loaded with more than 100 bananas - one of which won a medal at the Horticultural Society show in London.
Today, bananas still grow on the Devonshire estate, and the Cavendish banana is the most-consumed banana in the western world. It replaced a tastier variety, which was wiped out by a fungal disease in the 1950s.
Today, work is underway to create a Cavendish banana replacement. Without attention to this matter, we will someday see the extinction of the Cavendish banana.
Now, if you'd like to read about Joseph Paxton - he's such a fascinating person - you should really check out the biographies written by Kate Colquhoun. Her first Joseph Paxton biography is called A Thing in Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton (2003), and her second book is called The Busiest Man in England: The Life of Joseph Paxton, Gardener, Architect, and Victorian Visionary (2006). You can get a used copy of either of these books and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $10.
1806 Today is the anniversary of the death of the 18th-century Scottish-French botanist and naturalist Michel Adanson.
Michel created the first natural classification of flowering plants. In fact, Jussieu ("Juice You") adopted Michel's methodology to create his masterpiece that defined plant groups called Genera Plantarum (1789).
Although today we think mainly of Darwin and Linnaeus, they stood the shoulders of people like Michel Adanson. Michel was the first person to question the stability of species. When he saw breaks or deviations in nature, he came up with a word for it - and one we still use today - mutation.
One of the most profound experiences in Michel's life was the five year period he spent living in Senegal, where he collected and described many new plants and animals.
That experience provided the foundation for his most famous work - the two-part Familles des Plantes (1763). In the book, Michel classified plants by evaluating a variety of plant characteristics in contrast to Linnaeus' more straightforward sexual system. Again, Michel's perspective on this was revolutionary and was embraced by Jussieu and other botanists. Today, it is called the natural system of classification.
Linnaeus recognized Michel's contribution by naming the genus Adansonia, which features the spectacularly unique Baobab ("BOW-bab") trees of Africa, Australia, and Madagascar.
The Baobab tree is remarkable and memorable - it has a Seussical quality - and it is one of the most massive trees in the world. In Africa, they are called "The Queens of the Forest" or "The Roots of the Sky." The last name refers to a legend that tells how long ago, in a fit of anger, the devil pulled the Baobab tree out of the ground, only to shove it back into the earth upside down - leaving its roots shooting up into the air.
Although they seldom grow taller than forty feet and they are generally sparsely branched, the trunks have astounding girth - and they can be almost thirty feet wide. In fact, some large Baobab cavities have served as jails, post offices, and even pubs. And there is a massive Baobab tree in Gonarezhou, Zimbabwe, that is called Shadreck's Office by the locals and was used as a safe by a famous poacher for keeping his ivory and rhinoceros horns.
And inside those enormous trunks, they can store up to 32,000 gallons of water. The outer bark is about 6 inches thick, but inside, the cavity is spongy and vascular. This is why animals, like elephants, chew the bark during the dry seasons.
The Baobab can grow to enormous sizes, and carbon dating indicates that they may live to be 3,000 years old. They go by many names, including boab, boa boa, Tebaldi, bottle tree, upside-down tree, monkey bread tree, and the dead-rat tree (referring to the appearance of the fruit).
Finally, the flowers of the Baobab bloom at night, and they are bat-pollinated. The fruit of the Baobab looks like an oblong coconut with a brown velvety hard outer shell. But inside, the flesh is sweet and tastes a bit like yogurt. The Baobab fruit contains more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more antioxidants than blueberries or cranberries, and more iron than steak.
And here's a fun fact: the cooking ingredient Cream of Tartar was initially made from Baobab seed pulp. Today, it is mostly sourced as a by-product of making wine.
In 1774, Michel Adanson wrote another masterpiece - an encyclopedic work covering all of the known plant families. Sadly, it was never published. But, that work was clearly meaningful to Michel, who requested that a garland for his Paris grave made up of flowers from each of the 58 plant families featured in his book.
And Michel's work - his papers and herbarium - were clearly treasured by his surviving family. They privately held his entire collection for over a century before transferring everything to the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, in the early 1960s. The Hunt Institute was so energized and grateful for the gift that they republished Michel's Familles des Plantes in two volumes in 1963 and 1964.
1877 Today is the birthday of Louise du Pont Crowninshield, who was born on this day @WinterthurMuse.
Louise spent her life working on projects related to ecological preservation, charity, and horticulture. Aside from her philanthropic efforts, Louise is remembered as the last du Pont to live in the residence at Winterthur ("Winner-TOUR") before it became a museum and library.
The Winterthur estate covers 1,000 acres of rolling hills, streams, meadows, and forests. A love-long lover of nature and a natural designer, Henry Francis du Pont got his bachelor's in horticulture from Harvard. Henry thoughtfully developed Winterthur, and he planned for the gardens to be a showpiece. When it came to sourcing plants, du Pont spared no expense to source top plants from around the world. Today, you can visit Winterthur Garden and see for yourself the Quarry, Peony, and Sundial gardens as well as the Azalea Woods and the Enchanted Woods.
You can get a lovely used copy of a book called Henry F. du Pont and Winterthur: A Daughter's Portrait and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $2.
1945 Today is the anniversary of the death of the American botanist Alwyn Howard Gentry.
It's been 75 years since Alwyn's life was tragically cut short when his plane crashed in fog into a forested mountain during a treetop survey in Ecuador. At the time, Alwyn was just 48 years old, and he was at the peak of his career. Alwyn was regarded as a towering figure in tropical biology and ranked among the world's leading field biologists. He also was the senior curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Theodore Parker III was also on the plane with Alwyn. Parker was a world expert ornithologist.
Parker's fiance survived the crash, and she told a reporter that both Alwyn and Parker had survived the crash as well. But sadly, they were both trapped in the wreckage of the plane, and without immediate medical attention, they passed away together the following morning. The only consolation for the many who knew and loved them was that Alwyn and Parker both died doing what they loved.
Throughout his professional life, Alwyn had been in awe of the powerful pull of the rainforest, writing:
"The Amazon is a world of lush green vegetation, and abundant waters has inspired naturalists, fortune hunters, dreamers, explorers, and exploiters."
According to Conservation International, Alwyn had collected more specimens than any other living botanist of his time - a staggering 70,000 plants.
To this day, botanists rely on Gentry's Guide to the Woody Plants of Peru for understanding and direction when it comes to neotropical and tropical plants.
1961 Today Katharine Stuart wrote to Elizabeth Lawrence.
My dear Elizabeth,
By now, you will have given me up entirely as a friend. It is shocking that I have not written to you in so long, and especially that I have never answered your letter offering me some of Mr. Krippendorf's hellebores.
Perhaps you can forgive me, though, when you hear all the things that have been happening to me since May 24th, the date of your letter. [Turns out, Katharine had an appendectomy.]
I enclose some of Andy's snapshots of the garden in early spring. As you can see, it isn't a garden — no plan, no style, no proper arrangement of colors — but at least the pictures give you the feel of the land in a cold, late Maine spring.
Everything is very different now. The picket fence hardly shows for the flowers; the grey windbreak is covered with the blossoms of Mme. Baron Veillard, Jackmarie, and Mrs. Cholmondley, and on the little terrace, the hybrid roses are full of bloom.
We lost one of our big Balm of Gilead trees in a fierce wind and rain storm, and Andy has made a most ingenious birdbath from a section of its big trunk, into which he poured cement… yesterday, we could watch two song sparrows, and a yellow warbler take their baths [in it] under the pear tree.
Even if I can't garden, I can enjoy the flowers in a maddeningly remote way. My first water lily is in blossom in the pasture pond...
Today, my first-ever hardy cyclamen is in bloom under the Persian lilac. It is enchanting and a triumph, as I have failed so often with them. I finally raised this one indoors last winter and set it out this spring. I don't even know the variety, for the tag is lost. It has pink blossoms and variegated leaves. Everything else is at sixes and sevens—iris needs separating; one long perennial bed is too crowded; one is too skimpy thanks to winter losses. It has been a year of frustration. Andy finally sold our beautiful Herefords, and there goes my source of manure. Oh, dear, we are crumbling badly! But just writing you gives me hope, and I am determined that I shall get back to normal again. We really feel encouraged.
Ever affectionately, Katharine
Unearthed Words
Today is National Watermelon Day. Here are some words about Watermelon.
Go along, Mister Winter-
Crawl into your frosty bed.
I'm longing like a lover
For the watermelon red.
— Frank Lebby Stanton, American lyricist
And the windows opened that night,
A ceiling dripped the sweat
Of a tin god,
And I sat eating a watermelon
All false red,
Water like slow running
Tears,
And I spit out seeds
And swallowed seeds,
And I kept thinking
I'm a fool
I'm a fool
To eat this Watermelon,
But I kept eating
Anyhow.
— Charles Bukowski, American-German poet and novelist, Watermelon
Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.
— Charles Simic, American-Serbian Poet, Watermelons
Up from the South, by boat and train.
Now comes the King of Fruits again;
Lucious feast for judge or felon,
Glorious, sun-kissed Watermelon;
Green as emerald in its rind,
But cutting through it thou shalt find
Sweetest mass of crimson beauty
Tempting angels from their duty.
— Ode to Watermelon, anonymous
It is pure water, distilled, and put up by nature herself,
who needs no government label
to certify to the cleanliness of her methods
and the innocence of her sun-kissed chemistry.
It is the tiniest trace of earth salts.
It has a delicate aroma.
It is slightly a food, generously a drink, and altogether poetry.
Not altogether is it poetry.
Not in respect of price.
Not even the most hard-working of the poets
can afford to buy the early Watermelon.
— The Citizen-Republican, Scotland, South Dakota, Watermelon
On Saturday, he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of Watermelon. That night he had a stomach ache.
— Eric Carle, American designer, illustrator, and writer of children's books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Grow That Garden Library
From Garden to Grill by Elizabeth Orsini
This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Over 250 Vegetable-based Recipes for Every Grill Master.
From kebabs and salads to made-from-scratch sauces and seasonings, bring your garden to your grill with more than 250 mouthwatering vegetarian grilling recipes!
Bring your garden harvest to the grill! Backyard barbecues aren't just for burgers and hotdogs. Delicious vegetables can be part of every diet with From Garden to Grill--featuring more than 250 mouthwatering, vegetable-based grilling recipes, variations to add meat, tips to make meals paleo, and changes to go gluten-free or vegan! With everything from sauces and salads to small plates and main courses, this book shows grill masters how to incorporate fresh produce into healthy and hearty meals:
*Grilled Zucchini Salsa *Kale and Feta Pita Pizza *Caramelized Corn *Eggplant Ratatouille *Foil Pack Vegetables *Quinoa Veggie Wraps *Grilled Romaine Salad *Grilled Veggie Paninis *Butternut Squash Kebabs *Artichoke Pizza *Portobello Mozzarella Caps
Whether you are dedicated to a lifetime of healthy living or just love bringing that freshly grilled char to seasonal veggies, this is the cookbook for you.
This book is 320 pages of grilled garden goodness.
You can get a copy of From Garden to Grill by Elizabeth Orsini and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $13
Today's Botanic Spark
1948 On this day, The Guardian posted a brief snippet about the Gallant Soldiers plant.
Now before I read the post, here's a primer.
Gallant Soldiers is loosely derived from its Latin name: Galinsoga parviflora (gal-in-SOH-guh), and it's also known as Quickweed. Gallant Soldiers is a herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae or Daisy family. Over a single summer, a single specimen of Gallant Soldiers can produce over 7,000 seeds - so they'll be marching on.
Galinsoga was named for Mariano Galinsoga, who was a botanist and a Spanish doctor for royalty during the 1700s, and he famously observed that women who wore corsets had more health problems than peasant women who did not wear them.
Now, Galinsoga is a trooper when it comes to medicinal uses. Galinsoga is a super coagulator, antibiotic agent, and a healer. And the next time you run into stinging nettle, grab some Galinsoga, and you'll be all smiles.
Rich in iron, Galinsoga is also edible. In fact, every part of the plant, except the root, can be eaten. In the United States, foragers are beginning to add Galinsoga to their list, but in China and South America, Galinsoga is already regularly added to soups, stews, and salads.
On the Forager Chef website, it says
"Galinsoga can be used raw or cooked. Got a call from a farmer that the spinach was killed by hail?
Don't worry, just toss some Galinsoga in that pasta.
While you're at it, put it in the salad mix and on the fish entree, then throw the purchased microgreens in the compost where they belong, as fodder to grow interesting, edible weeds.
Like so many other greens sans watercress, It's shelf life shames conventionally harvested salad greens.
I would regularly get two weeks of shelf life from what I picked or more...
Galinsoga tastes mild and fades into the background; there's not even a hint of bitterness.
It's a blank canvas for whatever you like.
This also means from a health/diet perspective, you can consume mass quantities cooked, unlike other aggressive growers like garlic mustard, whose bitterness I tend to blend with other plants."
Great information there.
Now let's hear that post from The Guardian on Galinsoga from 1948:
"In some gardens, near Kew and Richmond, there flourishes an unusual weed which nine out of ten people will call "Gallant Soldiers." It has escaped from Kew, where it was introduced some years ago from Peru under the name of Galinsoga parviflora. Local gardeners made the name easier to pronounce, but the corruption did not stop there. Sir Edward Salisbury, the director of Kew Gardens, tells how he found a gardener one day pulling out Galinsoga from his borders. He asked its name. The gardener replied, "I don't rightly know, but I have heard it called Soldiers of the Queen." -
Today we remember the master landscape and portrait painter who grew up with a magnificent mulberry tree.
Vacancy in the Park The Plain Sense of Things Nuns Painting Water Lilies
We learn about the planting of the first potato in Hawaii, and the discovery of a tree named for Benjamin Franklin.
We also remember the poet who was inspired not by his day job at an insurance company, but by a beautiful park that was across the street from his house.
We review some August Weather Folklore - and all I have to say is you might want to grab your coat.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that lets us drop in on some of the most beautiful spaces on the planet.
And then we'll wrap things up with a little post about a gorgeous garden at Longwood.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world, and today's curated news.
Subscribe
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Cheery Hollyhocks Brighten Up the Garden | Southern Living
These vibrant blooming stalks can reach heights of 8 feet.
Here's an excerpt:
"In summer, we can't get enough of hollyhocks. These plants are long-blooming summer flowers that appear in spikes of bright blossoms. Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) are cottage garden favorites because of their appearance and extended bloom time. The warm-weather bloomers are low-maintenance plantings and make great additions to cut flower gardens. They're also known to attract birds to the garden."
These perennials and biennials thrive in the sun and in the right conditions will grow to heights of 3 to 8 feet and widths of 1 to 3 feet. Their dramatic heights make an impact in mass plantings and can create magical effects in the garden. They're also capable of acting as privacy plantings. Hollyhocks are beautiful when planted in en masse in one color or in a variety of colors. They're vibrant and welcoming and can add a cheery note to backyard gardens and front-yard designs. (Hello, curb appeal!)
The foliage of hollyhocks is bright green, sometimes in shades of blue-green, and the flowers appear in a rainbow of colors including red, white, pink, purple, yellow, and blue. Foliage surrounds the base of the plant and appears on stems higher up the center stalk. When it's time to bloom, the flowering stalks are covered in buds, and the blooms begin to unfurl, opening from the bottom and emerging gradually up the stalk.
In regard to care, usually, you'll have to wait a year after first planting to enjoy hollyhock blooms. Be patient: Once the hollyhocks have spent a year growing, they'll put on a vibrant show. In addition to full sun and regular water, they also appreciate having a support system nearby. The tallest varieties like to be planted against a wall or a fence to keep them growing upright. Some popular selections to plant include 'Chater's Double,' which has peachy-pink, yellow, and white blooms, 'Peaches 'n Dreams,' which has double apricot-hued blooms, and 'Creme de Cassis,' which has vibrant magenta flowers.
Did you have hollyhocks in your family garden growing up? Do you want to plant some of these summer blooms in your garden this year?"
Link to Pinterest Page on Hollyhock Dolls
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1788 Today is the anniversary of the death of the landscape and portrait painter, known for his painting of the Blue Boy, Thomas Gainsborough.
Gainsborough is regarded as one of the master Landscape painters. But, he is also remembered for his portraits, which made his subjects look relaxed, natural, and beautiful. Thomas's portraits were a direct result of customer preference, and Thomas's customers were the elite. In fact, his commissioned paintings of King George III and Queen Charlotte made him a favorite with royals. So much so, that after Thomas died at age 61, he was buried in the royal church.
Today, you can visit Thomas's house in Sudbury. It has been turned into a charming art center,... and there's also the garden - the garden Thomas grew up in. And, it has a spectacular mulberry tree with falling down branches dating to the early 1600s during the reign of James I, who encouraged the planting of mulberry trees so that he could establish a silk industry. Although England never successfully became known for silkworms, the craft of silk weaving became firmly rooted. The Gainsborough families were weavers. In fact, over 95% of the woven silk in England comes from Sudbury.
Now, back when James I and his advisers were trying to get into silk making, they lacked the knowledge about Mulberry trees. There are actually two kinds of Mulberries.
The white mulberry tree feeds silkworms, and the black tree supplies the fruit.
The Gainsborough Mulberry (as well as every other Mulberry cultivated in England) was the black Mulberry. And this tree, the Gainsborough Mulberry, would have been over a hundred years old when Thomas was born.
In addition to the ancient Gainsborough Mulberry, which is regarded as a sentinel tree or a tree that has kept watch for a great many years, the Gainsborough garden includes two beds for Herbs and another that has plants used for dying fabric. There are also beautiful trees such as the medlar, quince, and Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Mollis), which gives some beautiful color and scent to the garden early in the year. The rest of the garden is made up of plants that were available during Thomas's lifetime in the 18th Century.
And, Thomas once said,
"Nature is my teacher and the woods of Suffolk, my academy."
1820 The first potatoes were planted in Hawaii.
It turns out, the American brig, the Thaddeus, brought more than the first missionaries to the island.
Four years later, the mango tree would be introduced. By 1828, the first coffee plant would be grown in Kona. It marked the beginning of the Kona Coffee Industry.
1938 The Belvedere Daily Republican, out of Belvedere Illinois, published a small article about a tree named for Benjamin Franklin.
Here's what it said:
"About 200 years ago, John Bartram, an eminent botanist, discovered a strange flowering tree in a Georgia forest and named it "Franklinia" in honor of his fellow Philadelphian, Benjamin Franklin."
The discovery of the Franklinia made John Bartram famous.
The Franklinia is in the tea family, and it has blossoms similar to the Camellia.
Thirty years after Bartram's discovery, the Franklinia went extinct in the wild - the last one was seen in 1803 - and the only surviving Franklinias are descended from the original seed and the work of Bartram's Garden, North America's oldest botanic garden, who worked to preserve the species. Bartram himself lovingly cultivated the Franklinia.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said,
"I have thought that wildflowers might be the alphabet of angels."
1955 Today is the anniversary of the death of poet Wallace Stevens
Stevens said,
"Death is the mother of beauty.
Only the perishable can be beautiful,
which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers."
Stevens was one of the most skilled poets of the 20th Century. He lived his entire adult life near Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Connecticut.
By day, Stevens worked at Hartford insurance company where he became a Vice President, and by night, he was a poet; it was in an unusual combination.
Stevens lived two miles from his work, and he walked to work every day, undoubtedly using the time to find inspiration and to write poems.
The park across from his house was one of his favorite places. Elizabeth Park is huge, covering over 100 acres with formal gardens, meadows, lawns, greenhouses, and a pond. Stevens wrote the following poems About Elizabeth Park:By 1950, Stevens was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his poetry.
And, here's a little known fact about Wallace Stevens: He once started a fist-fight with Ernest Hemingway in Key West.
Unearthed Words
August Weather Folklore. It's surprising how many August sayings mention winter.
Here's some August Weather Folklore:
As August, so February.
If the first week in August is unusually warm,
The winter will be white and long.
So many August fogs, so many winter mists
For every fog in August,
There will be a snowfall in winter.
Observe on what day in August the first heavy fog occurs, and expect a hard frost on the same day in October.
If a cold August follows a hot July,
It foretells a winter hard and dry.
In August, thunderstorms after St. Bartholomew (August 24th) are mostly violent.
When it rains in August, it rains honey and wine.
August is that last flicker of fun and heat before everything fades and dies. The final moments of fun before the freeze. In the winter, everything changes.
— Rasmenia Massoud, author and short story writer, August Weather
Grow That Garden Library
How They Decorated by P. Gaye Tapp and Charlotte Moss
This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Inspiration from Great Women of the Twentieth Century.
"Interior designer and blogger P. Gaye Tapp recollects the lives and impeccably decorated homes of 16 iconic women in her upcoming book, How They Decorated: Inspiration From Great Women of the Twentieth Century."
—New York Magazine
"In How They Decorated: Inspiration from Great Women of the Twentieth Century, blogger P. Gaye Tapp casts her eyes on the decorating styles of iconic women like Babe Paley, Pauline de Rothschild, Mona Von Bismarck, and Elsa Schiaparelli. Whether these women employed top decorators or executed their homes on their own, the book provides great insights into lives fabulously lived."
—Forbes.com
"Covering these sixteen elegant women, she shows how they (most, of course, worked with decorators, architects, and designers) orchestrated rooms of great charm, individuality, and style. Tables are lavishly set, bedrooms invite lingering, fashions are paraded. And then, just when the lavish interiors are feeling rather intense, she introduces Georgia O'Keeffe (bold simplicity) and then Lesley Blanche, the ultimate romantic. It's a book to treasure. I love it."
—The Style Saloniste
Now, this is not a gardening book. But this book is 224 pages of gorgeous decorating and many feature botanicals and indoor gardening that add nature-inspired beauty to these incredible spaces.
You can get a copy of How They Decorated by P. Gaye Tapp and Charlotte Moss and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $26.
Today'sBotanic Spark
A few days ago, Andrea Brunsendorf of Longwood gardens wrote an excellent post about the little Studio Garden and the plants she used to create some of her gorgeous containers. I thought you would love to hear about it. Be sure to read Andrea's full post for more details on additional plants that she loves. If you especially enjoy hearing about plant styling and putting different combinations of plants together, you will particularly enjoy listening to Andrea's post.
Here's an excerpt:
"As Longwood's Director of Outdoor Landscapes, I am very fortunate that my office opens up to a little patio known as the Studio Garden. This 35-[square]-foot space... centers around a large elliptical concrete pad, surrounded by low stone walls to sit for lunch or lean one's bicycle against before or after it gets you around the gardens in the morning. This beautiful little space serves as a constant reminder that the physical action of gardening is good for us … not just for our bodies, but also for our mental well-being, as it gives our minds a respite.
This morning…[as I wrote about my containers,] I was reminded of the basic human need for nurturing something like plants … and the simple pleasure that comes with it.
In early June, once all the seasonal change-outs from spring to summer have taken place… you will find me squirreling around, collecting left-over plants to switch out the Studio Garden's seasonal containers from spring bulbs to summer annuals. This year… sparked the idea of creating a calm... interesting space to rest my eyes … and ... meet colleagues for a social-distancing lunch.
The mantra I followed while gathering from the surplus plants was looking for green—one of the most diverse, versatile, and beautiful colors in the plant kingdom.
I pulled back from intense flower colors and focused on the textures, structures, and foliage of plants by combining those based on harmony and contrast. I looked at the plant's character and habit, beyond their flower color, when assembling them in pots.
I should mention that I tend to mass containers and pots together of the same neutral material and similar style but vary their sizes and shapes. For example, I utilize mass groupings of aged concrete containers and groupings of smaller terracotta pots to build my pot compositions in the Studio Garden.
In my larger container in the Studio Garden, I have the beloved silver dollar gum (Eucalyptus cinereal) with a purple-leaved shrubby spurge, Caribbean copper-plant (Euphorbia cotinifolia)... [combined with} fine-textured pheasant tail grass (Anemanthele lessoniana). [This is a] grass that I miss so much from my gardening days in London, where of course, it is hardy; [but] here in Pennsylvania, in Zone 6b, we just must enjoy it during the warmer months before the extreme winter colds take it.
Honestly, I am not sure how … the pheasant tail grass from New Zealand is going to weather the high humidity combined with summer's heat on my patio, but as gardeners, we should not be afraid to experiment. Trialing new plants, growing them in different conditions, or creating 'unusual' compositions are all worthy ventures. Sometimes a plant fails and doesn't thrive, or the impact of the intended design is not what we hoped for, but in the end, we have learned something, we have grown from that experience, and we have become more knowledgeable and skilled in our art and craft of gardening … all while enjoying that simple human pleasure of caring for plants." -
Today we celebrate an English poet who didn't want gardens to be monetized.
We'll also learn about the 8th generation seedsman of a beloved Boston company.
We remember the naturalist who followed the seasons up and down the country.
We also recognize the exuberant botanist, who created the Dot Map.
We welcome the new month with some poems about "the Queen of the Ripe Season" - August.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that was created by one of the world's best garden photographers. It's a beauty.
And then we'll wrap things up with a little Q&A about the origin of Plant Names.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Double Coconut: The Largest Seed in the World | Kew
Here's an excerpt::
“On the beautiful islands of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean grows a legendary palm. Lodoicea maldivica (“LOW-DOE-ah-SEE-ah MAHL-div-eh-cah”) , also known as the double coconut, or coco-de-mer, is renowned for producing the largest and heaviest seeds in the world.
With their rather suggestive shape and weighing up to an impressive 25kg, (about 55 pounds!) while measuring up to half a meter long, these spectacular seeds are attractive to scientists, tourists, and poachers alike.
Legend has it that the double coconut possesses medicinal properties [and] single nuts currently sell for £500-£2,000.
Sadly, due to overharvesting, there are now only around 8,000 wild mature Lodoicea palms on just two islands.
To protect them from going extinct, seeds in the wild and in botanical gardens worldwide that have managed to grow them, are carefully guarded, sometimes even placed in cages, to prevent poaching.”
Weather Update
August really begins to set the stage for fall and fall-like weather.
But, remember, the most significant change that is affecting your plants right now is the reduction in daylight. We are not as sensitive to it, but believe me, our plants notice even the most subtle changes in the amount of daylight.
All through August, the length of daylight starts to rapidly decline as the calendar approaches the autumnal equinox, with 12 hours of day and night, approaches in September. In the northern half of the United States, we lose 2 to 3 minutes of daylight every single day in August.
For example, today, in NYC, the sun will set at 8:11 pm. But, already by the end of the month, the sun will set around 7:30 pm.
And, in Seattle tonight, the sun sets at around 8:45 pm. By the end of the month, it will set almost a full hour earlier.
The last full month of summer brings many changes in the weather.
Hurricanes begin to get active later in August. In a typical year, August brings triple the number of named storms compared to July. If you look at the number of storms during the summer, August's total would be greater than June and July combined.
The Rockies and Alaska usually get their first snows in August.
August brings average cooler temperatures, and the length of daylight decreases. Although you may not be noticing the decrease in light, your houseplants are certainly making adjustments - especially African Violets (Saintpaulia species), Christmas Cactus, and Cyclamens.
Are you growing, Gladiola?
The plants are also sometimes called the Sword Lily.
Gladiola is Latin for a small sword.
In Victorian times, the Gladiola meant, "You pierce my heart."
And the next time you see a Gladiola, take a closer look: Members of this family produce parts in multiples of three. There are three sepals, colored to look like petals, and three true petals, and three stamens.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1743 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English poet Richard Savage.
Richard once wrote about a practice among the wealthy, allowing their servants to show their gardens in exchange for money. Even the Queen let her Richmond garden and cave to be viewed for a sum. It was a practice that distressed Richard.
Richard wrote:
But what the flowering pride of gardens rare,
However royal, or however fair,
If gates, which to access should still give way,
Open but, like Peter's paradise, for pay?
If perquisited varlets frequent stand,
And each new walk must a new tax demand?
What foreign eye but with contempt surveys?
What Muse shall from oblivion snatch their praise?
Richard wisely withheld these lines from publication while the Queen was alive. But after her death, he published his work in its entirety.
1900 Today is the anniversary of the death of the seedsman Charles Henry Bass Breck.
Charles was the 8th generation heir to Joseph Breck & Sons, a wholesaler, and retail company located in Boston, Massachusetts. Breck & Sons specialized in seed, flowers, and agricultural tools and was founded by Joseph Breck - who was a descendant of one of the first puritan families in the country.
Charles' father, Joseph, amassed a botanical publishing empire after he acquired the New England Farmer, and later Horticultural Register and Gardens magazine. For decades, the Breck's catalog, which featured many plant engravings, served as the primary educational reference for east coast farmers.
Charles served as vice-president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for over twenty years until his death on this day in 1900. And here's a little-known fact about Charles - he was an accomplished flutist, and he was a generous patron of the arts in Boston.
Forty years after Charles died, Breck & Sons had two locations at 85 State Street and 85 Franklyn Street in Boston. One of their most famous customers was Beatrix Farrand. Beatrix Farrand bought seed and roses from the Brecks for her estate Dumbarton Oaks Gardens in Washington, D.C.
1923 The botanist Edwin Way Teale married Nelly Imogene Donovan.
Edwin and Nelly met in college. After they married, they moved to New York so that Edwin could continue his education at Columbia University.
Edwin's first job was writing for the magazine Popular Science.
On the side, Edwin began taking pictures and specializing in nature photography. When Edwin was 42, he left Popular Science and became a freelancer. By 1943, his book By-ways to Adventure: A Guide to Nature Hobbies won the John Burroughs Medal for distinguished natural history writing.
During World War II, Teale's son, David, was killed in Germany. Edwin and Nelly began traveling across the country by automobile, and the trips help them cope with their grief.
The trips became not only a catharsis but also an integral part of Edwin's writing. Their 1947 journey, covering 17,000 miles in a black Buick, following the advance of spring, led to Edwin's book north with the spring.
Additional road trips lead to more books: Journey Into Summer, Autumn Across America, and Wandering Through Winter. Wandering Through Winter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1966.
And, it was Edward Way Teale who said:
For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.
Any fine morning, a power saw can fell a tree that took a thousand years to grow.
Nature is shy and noncommittal in a crowd. To learn her secrets, visit her alone or with a single friend, at most. Everything evades you, everything hides, even your thoughts escape you when you walk in a crowd.
Our minds, as well as our bodies, need the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight, and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn, and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among the trees.
1927 Today is the birthday of the botanist Franklyn Hugh Perring who is born in London on this day.
Franklyn was the best kind of botanist, possessing the eagerness of an amateur and the training of a true professional. He also had an outstanding field botanist with a phenomenal memory for plants. At heart, he was a conservationist.
In 1962, Franklyn, along with Max Walters, wrote The Atlas of the British Flora, which some called the most important natural history book of the 20th century.
After getting his Ph.D. at Cambridge, Max Walters, the director of the University herbarium, invited Franklyn to map the distribution of all the wildflowers trees and ferns of England and Ireland. The year was 1954, and it was a very ambitious and groundbreaking project; Franklyn said, "yes." And, that's how Franklyn Perring was the first person to create a Dot Map.
Thanks to the help of countless citizen scientists, Max and Franklyn successfully mapped all of Britain's plants in under five years - and that fact is even more impressive after learning the entire country was divided into 10 km squares. Frank once wrote,
"The amateur naturalist or the professional can make a significant contribution to biological knowledge by volunteering to collect data in the field."
When Franklyn finished his project, he went on to help David Webb map the plants of Ireland. And he also encouraged fellow scientists, to make similar atlases of distribution; for example, zoologists could map the distribution of mammals, butterflies, and other life forms.
Franklyn adored leading groups of people on field trips by any means available - bicycle, train, or on foot. He was excellent with volunteers and little details - like dots - but he wasn't considered to be a sharp strategist.
In an unpublished 1965 Biographical Sketch, Frank said,
"[I] Rarely if ever relax [and I] read perhaps two novels a year – at Christmas and during the summer holiday – nearly always spent abroad ... [My] favorite reading is Jane Austen and Dickens: take one of the latter on each long journey. I remember reading Pickwick in the Pickwick Hotel, San Francisco. [I'm also] very fond of music, especially Mozart and Britten. Britten's Spring Symphony and Elgar's Introduction and Allegro and Violin Concerto spell out for me the Englishness of England which I want to see preserved."
And here's a charming little snippet about Franklyn's personality that was captured in a recent twitter exchange.
On September 14th, 2018 the fanatical botanist Mick Crawley posted that he was,
"Botanizing from the train. Some species are so distinctive that you can identify them with confidence, even at high speed. The triffid-like climber that scrambles over so many rail-side fences, covered with masses of tiny white flowers, is Fallopia baldschuanica ("Fa-LOW-PEE-ah Bald-shoe-AYE-nick-ah:)." (aka The Silver Lace Vine)
Mick's tweet drew the attention of the Chief Exec of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Stephen Trotter, who replied,
"Reminds me of the late Franklyn Perring who when botanizing from a car defined species as being 30mph, 50mph or 70mph plants!"
To which, I replied, "Ha! Love this insight - Plant ID at high speeds. What a concept!"
Thank you, Franklyn Perring, for the new botanical sport! And, it's something we can actually safely do during the pandemic.
Unearthed Words
August 1st is Lammas Day ("La-MA-ss"). Lammas was a festival that celebrated the annual wheat and corn harvest. After Lammas Day, corn ripens as much by night as by day.
And, Lammas is a cross-quarter day - a day between an equinox (when the sun sets due west) and a solstice. In this case, Lammas is the mid-point between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox.
Here are some poems to welcome August.
Fairest of the months!
Ripe summer's Queen
The hey-day of the year
With robes that gleam with sunny sheen
Sweet August doth appear.
— R. Combe Miller, English poet and clergyman, Fairest of the Months
The brilliant poppy flaunts her head
Amidst the ripening grain,
And adds her voice to sell the song
That August's here again.
― Helen Winslow, American editor and journalist
Buttercup nodded and said good-bye,
Clover and Daisy went off together,
But the fragrant Waterlilies lie
Yet moored in the golden August weather.
The swallows chatter about their flight,
The cricket chirps like a rare good fellow,
The asters twinkle in clusters bright,
While the corn grows ripe and the apples mellow.
— Celia Laighton Thaxter, American writer and poet, August
Note: The poet Celia Laighton Thaxter grew up on Appledore Island. Celia's dad built a hotel on the island, and it became a hub for creatives and a muse for many. Along with creating a lovely cut flower garden, Celia wrote a book called An Island Garden.
Grow That Garden Library
In Bloom by Ngoc Minh Ngo("Nah-OW-P min NO")
This book came out in 2016, and the subtitle is Creating and Living With Flowers.
"The first reason to buy the book is Ngoc Minh Ngo is one of the best garden photographers at work these days. She is as hypnotized as anybody by the heartbreaking simplicity of a dogwood blossom as its petals unfurl. But what sets her apart is her ability to convey with a camera how much that moment means to her."
"The photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo celebrates people who make beauty their life’s work with the gorgeous IN BLOOM: Creating and Living With Flowers (Rizzoli, $45). The textile and wallpaper designer Neisha Crosland covers the walls of her London house with chinoiserie-style flowers. The potter Frances Palmer imprints clay vessels with the vivid dahlias from her Connecticut garden. The horticulturalist Umberto Pasti celebrates Morocco’s rich floral history in tile and fabric. The painter Claire Basler rings rooms with floral murals in her French chateau, while in the Bronx, Livia Cetti cuts, dyes, crimps, and folds paper into exquisite flower arrangements. Each place is wondrous; for those not lucky enough to have friends around to enhance life with such magic, Ngo’s enchanting photographs invite us in."
—New York Times Book Review
"Oh, the dahlias. Oh, the aged Moroccan tiles. Oh, the coppery-brown irises. In Bloom is about creative types whose work life revolves around flowers. For most of them, their lives, period, revolve around flowers. Certain flowers, all flowers, fresh flowers, dead flowers."
—Dallas Morning News
This book is 224 pages of floral inspiration from one of the best botanical photographers of our time.
You can get a copy of In Bloom by Ngoc Minh Ngo and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $30
Today's Botanic Spark
1950 The Ithaca Journal out of Ithaca New York published a question from a reader.
The reader wanted an answer to this question:
Please list a few plants that are named for people.
Here is the answer:
The poinsettia was named for Joel R. Poinsett, a famous statesman.
Wisteria is named in honor of Caspar Wistar, ("Wiss-Star") a distinguished physician, and scientist of Philadelphia.
Leonard Fuchs, a German botanist, discovered the plant known as fuchsia, while William Forsyth, a Scotch botanist, is responsible for the name of forsythia.
The name of Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a French soldier and explorer, is perpetuated in the bougainvillea.
The Paulownia is named for the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna, daughter of Czar Paul I. -
Today we remember the beloved English writer who was punished for treason but adored with flowers.
We'll also learn about the female botanical illustrator who is known as the "Audubon of botany."
We celebrate the Dean of American Architecture.
We also salute the "poet of the blackbirds."
We honor the establishment of the horticulture program at the Smithsonian Gardens.
In Unearthed Words, we say goodbye to July and hear some poems about the fleeting summer.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that celebrates 25 years of the Garden Conservancy through over 50 gardens from across the country.
And then we’ll wrap things up with a little story about the Alligator Pear.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today’s curated news.
Subscribe
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
How To Grow A Mood-boosting Garden| Financial Times | Clare Coulson
Here's an excerpt:
“Isabel Bannerman – who along with her husband, Julian, has created atmospheric gardens for the Prince of Wales at Highgrove [and other royalty] – is a passionate flag-bearer for good-for-you gardening. “Plants are a really good steadier. You can’t let them die, you have to keep going. Like having children, but less demanding,” she says. But as she also notes, gardens are very forgiving. “There’s always another year, another season to look forward to, to try again. There is so much beauty, such sensory pleasure, all of which feeds the soul and the psyche.”
For Bannerman, scent is key to creating gardens that transport and revive – a subject she explores in her book Scent Magic: Notes from a Gardener. Natural chemical “uppers”, including indole, are present in the fragrance of lilac and jasmine, while the calming qualities of lavender are connected to linalool. Bannerman uses their powers to envelop the home."
Garden designer Jo Thompson says it is really important to have an “enclosed garden (the hortus conclusus). “It’s really important to have a place to sit or even a retreat,” she says. “These areas are magical and inspiring. You’re in nature, there’s movement and life but you feel safe...”
American journalist and author Florence Williams has gathered and simplified the research in her book The Nature Fix, which reveals that we are hard-wired to be in the natural world. “Our brains become relaxed because these are things that we are designed to look at, hear and smell,” she says. “The frontal lobe – the part of our brain that’s hyper-engaged in modern life – deactivates a little when you’re outside, while alpha waves, which indicate a calm but alert state, grow stronger.”
Korean researchers have found that pictures of landscapes stimulate brain function in... areas associated with empathy and altruism."
Alright, that’s it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1703 It was on this day in 1703 that the English journalist and author Daniel Defoe was made to stand in the pillory in front of the temple bar. Daniel is remembered for his popular novel Robinson Crusoe which, at the time, claimed to be second to the Bible in its number of published translations.
After Daniel was convicted of treason for one of his political writings, he was punished with time at the pillory. The pillory was essentially a stockade; the hands and head were stuck between two giant beams of wood. The person would stand in the pillory for days. It was a horrible punishment and it was usually reserved for hideous crimes.
While Daniel was in the pillory, the crowds did their best to show their support; they sang songs, shouted encouragements, and threw flowers at his feet instead of mud.
In 1830, a biography of Daniel said that his stocks were adorned with garlands and that drinks were provided to celebrate Daniel's release.
The image of Daniel standing with his head and hands in the stocks surrounded by an adoring audience was memorialized in an 1862 painting by Eyre Crowe. Gardeners will especially notice the flowers strewn on the ground in the foreground. On the right, there are two women struggling to hold on to a large basket of flowers as they are being pushed away by the red coats. Behind the women, a man has managed to attach a small bouquet to the tip of a spear that he is attempting to give to Daniel who is standing calmly in the pillory.
1860 It’s the birthday of the botanical illustrator Mary Vaux Walcott who born in Philadelphia on this day.
Gardeners appreciate Mary for her meticulously accurate watercolors of plants and flowers. For this reason, Mary is regarded as the "Audobon of Botany."
Mary began her career as an illustrator one summer after being challenged to paint a rare blooming Arnica. Although her effort was only a modest success, it encouraged her to pursue art. In the pursuit of her art, Mary met Charles Doolittle Walcott. They were both doing fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, and they found they were equally yoked. They married the following year.
At the time, Charles was the secretary of the Smithsonian; that's how Mary was tapped to develop the Smithsonian process printing technique.
Mary created hundreds of illustrations of the native plants of North America.
Her five-volume set entitled North American Wildflowers showcases the stunning beauty of common wildflowers, many of which are at peak bloom right now.
In addition to her work as a botanist, Mary was a successful glacial geologist and photographer.
She was the first woman to summit a peak over 10,000 feet in Canada when she tackled Mount Stephen. Today Mary even has a mountain named after her in Jasper - Mount Mary Vaux.
1895 Today is the anniversary of the death of Richard Morris Hunt, who was an American architect during the gilded age.
Gardeners know Richard for his collaborations with Frederick Law Olmsted. They worked together on the Vanderbilt mausoleum and the Chicago world‘s fair. Their ultimate collaboration occurred in Asheville, North Carolina, where they worked together to design the gardens, house, and manor village for the Biltmore Estate.
Richard is often recognized as the Dean of American Architecture. He was the first American trained at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
If you get the chance to walk around Central Park, you’ll discover a memorial to honor Richard Morris Hunt. The memorial is located on the eastern perimeter of the park, and it was created by the same man who created the monument to Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French.
When he was alive, Richard wanted to elevate the public taste in design and the arts, but he was also flexible enough to meet them where they were. Modern-day designers will recognize the truth of Richard’s advice to other Landscape Architects. He said,
"The first thing you've got to remember is that it's your clients' money you're spending. Your goal is to achieve the best results by following their wishes. If they want you to build a house upside down standing on its chimney, it's up to you to do it."
1917 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Irish war poet and soldier Francis Ledwidge.
Francis grew up in the Irish countryside. When he became a writer, he established himself as the "poet of the blackbirds." Francis was killed in action during World War I at the Battle of Passchendaele.
When the clouds shake their hyssops and the rain
Like holy water falls upon the plain,
'Tis sweet to gaze upon the springing grain
And see your harvest born.
And sweet the little breeze of melody
The blackbird puffs upon the budding tree,
While the wild poppy lights upon the lea
And blazes 'mid the corn.
— Francis Ledwidge, A Rainy Day in April
Broom out the floor now, lay the fender by,
And plant this bee-sucked bough of woodbine there,
And let the window down. The butterfly
Floats in upon the sunbeam, and the fair
Tanned face of June, the nomad gypsy, laughs
Above her widespread wares, the while she tells
The farmer's fortunes in the fields, and quaffs
The water from the spider-peopled wells.
The hedges are all drowned in green grass seas,
And bobbing poppies flare like Elmo's light
While siren-like the pollen-stained bees
Drone in the clover depths. And up the height
The cuckoo's voice is hoarse and broke with joy.
And on the lowland crops, the crows make raid,
Nor fear the clappers of the farmer's boy,
Who sleeps, like drunken Noah, in the shade.
And loop this red rose in that hazel ring
That snares your little ear, for June is short
And we must joy in it and dance and sing,
And from her bounty draw her rosy worth.
Ay! soon the swallows will be flying south,
The wind wheel north to gather in the snow
Even the roses spilt on youth's red mouth
Will soon blow down the road all roses go.
— Francis Ledwidge, June
1972 It was on this day that the horticulture program at the Smithsonian Gardens was established by Sydney Dylan Ripley, who served as the secretary of the Smithsonian.
An American ornithologist and conservationist, Sidney had been inspired by the area around the Louvre in France as a child. With the Louvre always in the back of his mind, Sidney hoped to make the Smithsonian a bustling destination with activities to engage crowds of visitors and tourists. The horticultural services division was created to provide landscaping in and around the Smithsonian museums. Sidney knew that gardens not only attracted pollinators but people as well.
In 2010, the Smithsonian horticultural program was renamed the Smithsonian Gardens to recognize the central role that the gardens play in the visitor experience.
Unearthed Words
Today we say, “Goodbye, July. Until next year, we’ll miss you.” Today’s words are about the fleeting summer.
Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet
You have seen the blossoms among the leaves;
tell me, how long will they stay?
Today they tremble before the hand that picks them;
tomorrow they await someone's garden broom.
—Hanshan, Chinese Tang Dynasty
Grow That Garden Library
Outstanding American Gardens by Page Dickey
This book came out in 2015 and the subtitle is A Celebration: 25 Years of the Garden Conservancy.
This gorgeous book celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Garden Conservancy. The book highlights eight gardens preserved by the conservancy and 43 gardens that have participated in the Open Days Program.
The author, Page Dickey, is a well-known garden writer. Among her many books are Gardens in the Spirit of Place, the award-winning BreakingGround: Portraits of Ten Garden Designers, and Duck Hill Journal. She created Duck Hill, her garden in North Salem, New York, over the past 30 years.
This book is 272 pages of inspiring gardens from all around the country and photographed in a variety of seasons from spring to fall.
You can get a copy of Outstanding American Gardens by Page Dickey and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $20.
Today’s Botanic Spark
Today is National Avocado Day.
Avocado is a fruit, and it was initially called an alligator pear by Sir Hans Sloane in 1696.
And, Guinness has a giant avocado recorded at 5 pounds, 6 and ½ ounces.
Don’t forget that the skin of an avocado can be toxic to cats and dogs - but the flesh of an avocado is higher in potassium than bananas.
Now, the next time the price of avocados gets you down, remember that avocados are harvested by hand. Pickers need to use a 16-foot pole to reach the hanging fruit.
And, finally, here’s a little fun fact about avocados:
The conquistadors used avocado seeds to write.
It turns out, the avocado seed produces a milky liquid that changes to the color red when exposed to air. -
Today we celebrate the author and poet who wrote some beautiful garden verses.
We'll also learn about a magnificent Australian artist and botanical illustrator, and her art is now part of Australia's national library.
We celebrate the selection of the State Flower for Arkansas - and the very cute story of how it came to be picked.
We honor the life of the poet and WWI soldier who wrote what is probably the most popular poem ever about trees.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about living naturally with eco-friendly ideas that don't sacrifice style, function, or sustainability.
And then we'll wrap things up with the story of first academy award-winning animated cartoon that gardeners will love.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Director of science at Kew: it's time to decolonize botanical collections
Professor Alexandre Antonelli is the Kew Gardens director responsible for the world's largest collection of plants and fungi. He was born and raised in Brazil and wrote this landmark piece for The Conversation research website. Alexandre believes that the time has come to decolonize botanical collections by ridding the field of "structural racism."
Here's an excerpt:
“I’ve often struggled to answer the simple question, “Where are you from?” As I was born and raised in Brazil, like many people my origin is mixed… I dislike pre-defined labels.
At school, I was taught that Brazil was “discovered” in 1500 by the Portuguese. The fact that several million people lived there prior to that was barely mentioned in our books. We were told of a long history of brutal exploitation of our natural resources, including vast amounts of gold, rubber and timber. All this was achieved through the exploitation of our native people and African slaves – including my own ancestors.
…[That] Brazil is … the world’s most biodiverse country... astounded colonial botanists. Charles Darwin was astonished at our “lands teeming with life”, as was Alfred Russel Wallace, who spent years in the Amazon. It is not lost on me that these were both white British men.
And Britain is also where I ended up professionally. After two decades studying biodiversity across the world, I’m now head of science at Kew, responsible for the world’s largest collections of plants and fungi.
For hundreds of years... colonial botanists would embark on dangerous expeditions in the name of science but were ultimately tasked with finding economically profitable plants. Much of Kew’s work in the 19th century focused on the movement of such plants around the British Empire, which means we too have a legacy that is deeply rooted in colonialism.
...Scientists continue to report how new species are “discovered” every year, species that are often already known and used by people in the region – and have been for thousands of years.
...The first inhabitants of Brazil and the first users of plants in Australia often remained unnamed, unrecognised, and uncompensated. They are quite literally invisible in history. This needs to change.
By opening up our collections and practices, we will give voice to a past that includes troubled chapters, but one that will hopefully contribute to a brighter future.”
Have you tried growing Castor Bean?
It's one of Michael Pollen's favorite plants.
Check out the way he starts his article on the plant called, "Consider the Castor Bean":
"Pretty they are not, but a garden can labor under a surfeit "surfut" of prettiness, be too sweet or cheerful for its own good. Sometimes what’s needed in the garden is a hint of vegetal menace, of nature run tropically, luxuriantly amuck. For this, I recommend the castor bean."
While most of us have heard of castor oil (extracted by crushing and processing the seeds), growing the castor bean plant can be a new adventure for gardeners.
The castor bean plant is the only member of the genus Ricinus communis and belongs to the spurge family. Unlike other members of the euphorbia family, castor bean does not have that milky latex sap, the sap of castor bean is watery.
The giant, tropical leaves and peculiar seed pods make the plant an exotic addition to your garden. A native plant from Ethiopia, castor bean can grow to 40 feet tall when it can grow year-round. For most gardeners who grow castor bean as an annual in a single season, castor bean will grow quickly and vigorously, but it will only reach about 8-10 feet.
If you grow castor bean, you need to be aware that the seeds are extremely poisonous. If you have kids around, keep plants out of reach, and eliminate the seeds altogether by cutting off the flowering spike. As you probably suspected from the Latin name, the toxin in castor seeds is ricin (RYE-sin), one of the world's deadliest natural poisons.
During the Cold War, the Bulgarian journalist, Georgi Markov, was killed when an umbrella rigged as a pellet rifle, shot a small BB into his leg as Markov stood in line at a bus stop. After he died in 1978, Scotland Yard investigated and found the BB; it was the size of a pinhead, and it had been drilled with two holes producing an X-shaped cavity, and the holes had been packed with ricin. The holes had been coated with a sugary substance that trapped the ricin inside the BB. The coating was designed to melt at body temperature, at which time the ricin was free to be absorbed into the bloodstream and kill him.
Despite their unnerving history, castor beans are still good garden plants. They look beautiful with cannas, bananas, and elephant ears for a tropical garden. They make a beautiful backdrop for grasses. And, they shine at the back of the flower border where they create a magnificent screen in no time.
Castor Beans do best in full sun, and they don't like wet feet - so plant them high and dry or in well-drained locations.
When you are done harvesting blackberries or boysenberries, it is time to do a little housekeeping.
Cut this year's fruit-bearing canes back to the ground and tie up the new green canes to take their place.
Once all the fruiting has finished, you can begin to trim back your blackberries and boysenberries. The canes that just produced the fruit will start to dry and become woody and brown. Now is the time to cut them right back to the ground.
While you're at it, cut back any diseased or damaged canes.
Next, look for anything too long or out of control. Try to make your plants have a beautiful, pleasant form.
Take the new canes and train them where you want them to go. Make sure to spread them out so that they get good airflow. Remember, taking the time to do this right now will make them easier to pick from next season.
Thornless varieties make the job of pruning blackberries and boysenberries much easier. Don't forget: The fruit grows on new wood.
And be sure to remove all dead or broken limbs - and suckers as well.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1818 It's the birthday of the author and poet Emily Brontë.
Emily's older sister, by two years, was Charlotte. Her younger sister and closest friend was Anne. They were two peas in a pod.
Emily's mom died when she was three. She lost two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth when she was six. The result of this loss was an exceptional closeness between the four surviving Brontë children: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell.
Emma Emmerson wrote a piece called the Brontë Garden. In it she revealed:
“The Brontës were not ardent gardeners, although… Emily and Anne treasured their currant bushes as ‘their own bit of fruit garden’."
Charlotte [once wrote:] "Emily wishes to know if the Sicilian Pea (Pisum sativum)and the Crimson cornflower are hardy flowers, or if they are delicate and should be sown in warm and sheltered situations."
Emily's father, Patrick, once wrote;
Oh why, in the snow and storms of December,
When the branches lie scattered and strewn,
Do we oftest and clearest and dearest remember
The sunshine and summer of June?
Emily Brontë wrote:
Reason, indeed, may oft complain
For Nature's sad reality,
And tell the suffering heart, how vain
Its cherished dreams must always be;
And Truth may rudely trample down
The flowers of Fancy, newly-blown.
Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?
The wild rose-briar is sweet in spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild-briar fair?
Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly’s sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He still may leave thy garland green.
Friendship is like the holly tree.
The holly is dark when the rose-brier blooms,
But which will bloom most constantly?
Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
1848 Today is the birthday of the Australian artist and botanical illustrator Ellis Rowan.
In a 1994 newspaper article, Sarah Guest described Ellis this way:
"She was an explorer. She set off alone at 68, for Papua New Guinea - and died in 1922.
She dyed her hair red; had a face-lift; left her husband (the suggestion is that she was bored); was a member of one of Victoria's great pastoralist families; was a much-admired, prolific, technically proficient and joyous painter of plants and birds; and a conservationist she campaigned to stop the slaughter of birds for the decoration of ladies' hats... in her day she was known as "Australia's brilliant daughter" which, indeed, she was."
Ellis discovered painting after her botanist husband, Frederick, encouraged her to develop a talent. Ellis developed her passion into her profession, and it led her into unknown parts of Australia. During the First World War, Ellis was living in New Guinea. At one point, she painted 45 of the 62 known species of birds of paradise.
As a woman living during the mid-1800s, Ellis followed the dress code of her era. Wherever she went, whether on an expedition or at home, she was always impeccably dressed, wearing heavy ankle-length dresses, high collars with full sleeves - complete with crinolines, corsets, whalebone stays, and a hat.
Just before Ellis died, the federal parliament in Australia debated whether or not to buy 1,000 of Ellis' paintings. The Australian artist and novelist, Norman Lindsay, called Ellis' work vulgar art. Lindsey didn't think wildflowers were worthy subjects for real art. Ultimately, Ellis' paintings were purchased for $5,000. They are now a treasured part of Australia's national library.
1901 On this day, the General assembly of Arkansas selected the apple blossom as the floral emblem.
This selection was not without controversy.
The Floral Emblem Society, led by Love Harriett Wilkins Barton, had supported the apple blossom.
The Arkansas Federation of women's clubs wanted the passionflower. The disagreement between the two groups became known as the battle of the blooms.
Love became a one-woman crusader for the apple blossom, writing articles and memos to newspapers - even personally mailing letters to affluent citizens. Whenever she sent anything, she included a promotional pamphlet that she had created praising the apple blossom. In an ingenious move, she not only promoted the apple blossom, but she also dissed the passionflower, saying it was "as pretty as a non-native of Arkansas," and saying that it would "grow anywhere the farmer's hoe let it." Ouch.
When the legislature was set to vote, Love appeared at the capital wearing ... wait for it.... a bright apple red dress.
And, she pulled a Martha Stewart and personally gifted every lawmaker with an apple and a note that said,
"These are the results of our beautiful apple blossoms. But, what is the result of a passionflower? A dried, shriveled pod."
Well played, Love.
Unearthed Words
Today is the anniversary of the death of the journalist, poet, and World War I soldier Alfred Joyce Kilmer, who was born in Brunswick, New Jersey. He was killed in action while serving as a sergeant in the 165th Infantry regiment on July 30, 1918
Every year on his birthday in April, Kilmer's childhood home at 17 Joyce Kilmer Ave. in New Brunswick, holds an Open House from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Joyce is best remembered for his poem, Trees:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Joyce also wrote these gems:
The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings.
— Joyce Kilmer, Spring
If I should live in a forest
And sleep underneath a tree,
No grove of impudent saplings
Would make a home for me.
I'd go where the old oaks gather,
Serene and good and strong,
And they would not sigh and tremble
And vex me with a song.
— Joyce Kilmer, Old Poets
Grow That Garden Library
Natural Living Style by Selina Lake
This book came out in March of 2019, and the subtitle is Inspirational ideas for a beautiful and sustainable home.
In her review of this book Julie from Try Small Things said,
"They say change starts at home. What I've come away with from Natural Living Style are all kinds of ideas for reducing plastics and waste around the home in favor of natural or greener alternatives. As it turns out, they can be functional, sustainable, and that's inspired living."
Selina's book is divided into sections, Inspirations, Textures, Natural Living Spaces, and The Natural Garden, where Selina writes about green gardening, growing your own food, and exploring, enjoying, and living in the natural world. The book is sprinkled with lots of earthy-friendly tips and inspiration to help you create an eco-friendly home and garden.
This book is 160 pages of eco-living without sacrificing style.
You can get a copy of Natural Living Style by Selina Lake and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $16.
Today's Botanic Spark
1932 On this day, Walt Disney premiered his first academy award-winning animated cartoon.
The short was called "Flowers and Trees," and it was the first cartoon to use technicolor.
Flowers and Trees was supposed to be a black-and-white cartoon, but Walt Disney decided it would make the perfect test film for the new technicolor process. The vivid colors of the natural world were the ideal subject for a technicolor production. Meanwhile, the Mickey Mouse short features were judged to be successful enough; they remained in black-and-white until 1935.
Flowers and Trees premiered at the Chinese theater in Los Angeles on this day and won the Academy Award for animated short subject.
In the movie, the trees and flowers are anthropomorphized, and they wake up at the beginning of the day and begin lifting their heads and stretching.
In this short film, a beautiful lady tree is wooed by a suitor tree, while an evil old leafless tree attempts to steal her away.
The two trees duel for her affection. When the old tree loses the battle, he sets the forest on fire. Together, all the plants in the forest work together to put the fire out.
In the end, the two trees are together and happy; they get engaged in the final seconds of the movie. The gentleman tree presents the lady tree with a ring made from a curled up caterpillar. And, as the trees embrace, bellflowers begin to play the wedding march, while the other flowers dance around the hugging trees. -
Today we remember the botanist who jumped in a birch bark canoe with Aaron Greeley and paddled to Mackinac Island 110 years ago today.
We'll also learn about the woman who was a housewife until the age of 48 and then transformed into one of Australia's leading naturalists.
We celebrate the artist who died today among his canvases of sunflowers.
We also hear the letter Beatrix Potter wrote about her garden on this day in 1924.
We honor the life of a marvelous landscape designer who died in a fire on this day already four years ago. He once said, "I've had a wild life."
Today we hear some fun poems about tomatoes.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about shrub and hedge plants - an excellent resource for gardeners looking to define borders and add practical, healthy, and low-maintenance beauty to their property.
And then we'll wrap things up with a botanist who shared his disdain for honeysuckle.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Why Front Gardens Matter | The Guardian | Clare Coulson
Here's an excerpt:
“Last month… Charlotte Harris, one half of the landscape design duo Harris Bugg, decided to dig up her paved front garden in east London. “It was a discussion we’d been having for a while,” says Harris, who gardens with her girlfriend Catriona Knox. “Around here every bit of green space feels precious,” she says. “Obviously there are parks, but I think each of us has to take responsibility for any space we have.”
In an area where 50% of the front gardens have no plants, the ones that do provide moments of joy. Harris’s neighbors include a couple who boast “the most beautiful magnolia” in their shady spot, ... another front garden [is] an abundant [vegetable] patch complete with frames and climbing squash. “They were the inspiration, really,” adds Harris. “It’s a gift, isn’t it? It’s the ultimate in gardening altruism because your back garden is for you to enjoy, but your front garden is about improving everyone’s experience.”
Over the past couple of months, the front garden has gained a powerful new significance… [a] point of contact… with friends or family delivering supplies or catching up with a neighbor you’d hardly spoken to before.
Iris Chores Before Fall
When your irises finish blooming, cut off the dead flower stalks; but not leaves. Irises use their swords, the green leaves, to nourish rhizomes for the following year.
Since they are semi-dormant, you can divide them now if necessary. Replant them as soon as possible and remember to cut off about two-thirds of the foliage to compensate for root loss. Simply cut the leaves in a fan shape and enjoy more iris next year.
How to Create a Peter Rabbit Garden
Of course, Peter Rabbit is the creation of Beatrix Potter, who was a noted botanist and mycologist. (A mycologist studies fungi).
Now to make your Peter Rabbit Garden, we will draw inspiration from Beatrix's Potter's garden was located at Hill Top Farm.
In making your Peter Rabbit garden, you could add a little wooden fence or a low stone wall around the perimeter.
Inside, use the herbs and perennials featured in the books:
Herbs include Mint, Chamomile, Lavender, Parsley, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, and Tansy.
Edibles include Lettuce, Beets, Radish, Rhubarb, Onions, and Strawberry.
Then add Pansies, Roses, and Pinks.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1810 On this day, a 24-year-old botanist named Thomas Nuttal, jumped in a birch bark canoe with Aaron Greeley, the deputy surveyor of the territory of Michigan, and they paddled to Mackinac Island arriving two weeks later on August 12.
Thomas spent several days on Mackinac - He was the first real botanist to explore the flora of Michigan, and indeed, of Mackinac Island. Thomas immediately set about collecting and writing detailed accounts of the flora he discovered. He documented about sixty species - about twenty were previously unknown. One of the new Mackinac discoveries was the dwarf lake iris (Iris lucustris), which became the state wildflower of Michigan.
1874 Today is the birthday of the Australian naturalist and prolific writer Edith Coleman.
Until recently, little was known about Edith. The author, Danielle Claude, wrote a book about Edith called The Wasp and the Orchid, which explored how Edith went from being a housewife until the age of 48 and then transformed into one of Australia's leading naturalists.
Edith had a special appreciation for orchids. Beginning in January 1927, one of her daughters told her that she had seen a wasp entering the flower of the small tongue orchid backward. The odd behavior was something both Edith and her daughter would repeatedly see over the next few seasons. The response was perplexing, especially after Edith dissected the plants and discovered that they were male. Edith continued to study their behavior, and she finally found that the wasp was fertilizing the orchid. The orchid uses this stealth pollination strategy Called pseudo-copulation to trick the male wasps into thinking they are meeting with a female wasp. By getting the males to enter the plant, the plant can be pollinated.
Edith became the first woman to be awarded the Australian natural history medallion. Edith will forever be remembered for her groundbreaking discovery about orchid pollination.
1890 Today is the anniversary of the death of the artist Vincent Van Gogh.
After shooting himself in the stomach, Vincent managed to get back to his home and live for two additional days before dying beside a stack of his sunflower canvases.
In March of 1987, his painting titled Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers was sold by Sotheby's in London for $39.85 million, more than three times the highest price ever paid at the time for a painting at auction.
1924 Beatrix Potter writes to a little girl named Dulcie and describes her garden.
She writes that her garden has:
“... a box hedge around the flower bed, and moss roses and pansies and black currants and strawberries and peas —and big sage bushes for Jemima, but the onions always do badly.
I have tall white bell flowers I am fond of — they are just going over, next there will be Phlox; and last come to the Michaelmas Daisies and Chrysanthemums. Then soon after Christmas, we have Snowdrops. They grow wild and come up all over the garden and orchard, and some in the woods.”
2016 It's the anniversary of the death of the landscape designer extraordinaire, Ryan Gainey.
Ryan died trying to save his two beloved Jack Russell terrier's, Jellybean Leo and Baby Ruth, from a fire at his home. Neither he nor his dogs survived.
When it came to landscape design, Ryan was entirely self-taught.
In the beautiful documentary about his life called "The Well-Placed Weed: The Bountiful Life of Ryan Gainey." (btw I shared it in the FB group so check it out)
In the documentary, Ryan asked the filmmaker, "I've had a wild life. Do you know why?"
His reply was simple and 100% Gainey: "I created it."
Ryan purchased a home in Decatur Georgia that used to be the site of Holcomb Nursery. He removed many of the greenhouses behind his home but kept the low brick walls that had served as the foundation for the greenhouses. The result was that Ryan instantly had a series of garden rooms that he could decorate and design to his heart's content. Throughout his career, Ryan became friends with notable designers and gardeners like Rosemary Verey ("VEER-ee") and Penelope Hobhouse.
Ryan loved Verey; they had a special bond. He loved the Camellia japonica. Ryan's gardens looked effortless with things spilling over and nestled in a way that made them look like they had been in the garden for decades. It was Ryan who said,
"Where lies the genius of man? It is the ability to control nature... but for one purpose only; and that is to create beauty."
One hundred forty-eight days before Ryan passed away, an enormous white oak fell over and crushed his house. Ryan considered the tree to be the soul of his life.
Unearthed Words
The street
filled with tomatoes
Midday,
Summer,
light is
Halved
Like
A
Tomato,
its juice
Runs
through the streets.
In December,
Unabated,
the tomato
Invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
Takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
Sinks
into living flesh,
Red
Viscera,
a cool
Sun,
Profound,
Inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
We
Pour
Oil,
Essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
Adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
Parsley
Hoists
its flag,
Potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it's time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth,
Recurrent
and fertile
Star,
Displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.
— Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet & Nobel Prize winner, Ode to Tomatoes
(translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
She took the purity pledge (Sweet Baby Girl,
Super Snow White, Artic Rose),
fled the grasp of Big Beef and Better Boy
on a Southern Night and, baptized
in hydroponics, gleamed waxy
and vapid under a fluorescent gaze.
She was a good girl (Beauty Queen, Gum Drop,
Mighty Sweet, Sugar Plum, Pink Champagne),
a tidbit on the tip (Flaming Burst, Solar Flare,
Razzle Dazzle, Roman Candle)
of his tongue (Lucky Tiger, Top Gun,
Tough Boy, Sun King).
She was Plum, Pear, Grape, and Cherry,
because one thing is always like another—
like a wad of chewed-up gum, tasteless
and shriveled on the marriage vine
and gave it away too soon.
She was a Jezebel (Shady Lady,
Spitfire, Perfect Flame),
hot to the touch, steeped in dark earth,
sun-soaked, bright tang bursting
in the throat. A little dirt
on the tongue never hurt anyone.
— Janice Northerns, poet, Good Tomato
Janice was inspired to write "Good Tomato" after reflecting on the fact that "Tomato" was a popular slang term for a woman between the 1930s and the 1950s. The poem came together after she incorporated the many fascinating gendered names of tomato varieties like Beauty Queen, Sugar Plum, Better Boy. Note: Italicized terms are all names of tomato varieties.
Grow That Garden Library
Shrubs & Hedges by Eva Monheim
This book came out in March of this year and the subtitle is Discover, Grow, and Care for the World's Most Popular Plants.
Washington Gardener said this book is, "...clear enough for beginners, detailed enough for pros."
Ruth Rogers Clausen wrote that,
"Shrubs and hedges are often taken for granted by professional horticulturists and garden owners alike. However, this invaluable book celebrates them, with readable and fascinating details about a range of species suitable for individual locations. The author’s passion and experience shine through the text. Detailed information is included for each cultivar, hybrid, and/or selection, its suitability for specific sites, sound growing and pruning tips, and its place in ecological landscapes, along with tool care, reference material, and more. Undoubtedly Shrubs & Hedges will become a significant reference book for years to come."
Eva Monheim is co-founder of Verdant Earth Educators (VEE) - a horticulture education and consulting firm. She's an instructor at the world-famous Longwood Gardens in their Professional Horticulture Program where she teaches woody plants and arboriculture. Eva is also a faculty member at The Barnes Arboretum of St. Joseph University where she teaches Landscape Management.
This book is 224 pages shrub and hedge plants - a great resource for gardeners looking to define borders and add practical, healthy, and low-maintenance beauty to their property.
You can get a copy of Shrubs & Hedges by Eva Monheim and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $23.
Today's Botanic Spark
1951 On this day the botanist Charles Clemon Deam replied to an inquiry about the honeysuckle.
Charles wrote:
"That [plant's] name is to me the same as a red flag to a bull. I cannot tell you in words how I regard this vine.
Your question is: Does it propagate from seed?
I do not believe it does.
I have never heard a good word for it. All that I can say affirmatively is that it is no good for anything."
And, before Charles finished writing his censure of the honeysuckle, he twice suggested that some new "insecticides" might kill it. -
Today we celebrate the botanist and writer who published the first book about salad.
We'll also learn about the horticulturist whose life was cut short on this day when the steamship he was on caught on fire and sank.
We celebrate the man who helped generations of people fall in love with ornithology.
We also hear some garden poetry that features women.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about creating a Pollinator Victory Garden by having a garden that is healthy, diverse, and chemical-free.
And then we'll wrap things up with a glimpse into a Maine garden on this day in 2011.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Thriving With Nature | Mental Health Foundation
“There are lots of ways in which spending time in nature can be positive for our mental health and wellbeing. New and exciting research is happening all the time that adds to our understanding of how our natural environment affects the health of our bodies and minds. The reasons why time in nature has this effect on us are complex and still being understood. The benefits are often related to how our senses connect us to the environment around us, from the shapes in nature we see to the scents that trees give off and the soft fascination that nature can stimulate which helps our minds rest.”
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1662 Today the English Gardner and writer John Evelyn recorded in his diary that he met with the dowager Queen Henrietta Maria.
John kept a detailed diary for 66 years, and he had a devoted passion for gardening. As a result, his diary has been a treasure for garden historians over the years.
And, here's a little known fact about John Evelyn: he was the first garden author to publish a book about salads (or sallets as they were spelled at the time).
Check out the benefits of eating salad as described by John:
"By reason of its soporiferous quality, lettuce ... still continues [to be] the principal foundation of … Sallets, which ... cool and refresh, [and have] beneficial influences on morals, temperance, and chastity."
(FYI: Soporiferous means Inducing or tending to induce sleep. Here John is referring to the fact that some lettuce secretes lactucarium - a milky fluid found in the base of the lettuce stems. It is known as lettuce opium because of its sedative and pain-relieving properties. It has also been reported to promote a mild sensation of euphoria.)
It was John Evelyn who wrote:
"The gardener’s work is never at an end, it begins with the year and continues to the next. He prepares the ground, and then he plants, and then he gathers the fruits."
"Gardening is a labor full of tranquility and satisfaction; natural and instructive, and as such contributes to the most serious contemplation, experience, health, and longevity."
And, keep in mind John's appreciation for the amount of work a garden requires as I tell you this little story about him.
In 1698, John Evelyn had owned his estate for 40 years. Everyone who knew it said it was magnificent - both inside and out. It was decorated to the nines. Of all that he owned, John's garden was his pride and joy.
That year, the Russian Czar, Peter the Great, brought an entourage of 200 people to England to visit William III. In a gesture of hospitality, William volunteered John Evelyn's home to host the Czar and his people during their visit. John and his wife graciously moved out to give the Czar his privacy.
Well, it wasn't long before John's servants began sending him urgent messages begging him to return.
When John came home, he walked into a nightmare. The whole estate had been trashed. Priceless paintings had served as dartboards. His floors were ruined, windows were smashed; even the garden was destroyed.
The servants told how the 6'8 Czar had played a game with his friends, where they put him in one of John's wheelbarrows and then raced him through the garden beds, crashing into walls, trees, and hedges. It was a complete disregard for the sanctity of John's garden. For twenty years, John had nursed along a hedge of holly that had turned into a glorious living wall. It was ruined. The party even managed to knock down part of the stone wall that surrounded the garden.
It must have been a scene akin to the movie Animal House.
John immediately sent word to the king about what had happened, and arrangements were made straight away to move the Czar to other lodgings. King William settled with John to have his property restored - his home needed to be gutted and rebuilt from the floors up.
John Evelyn was 78 years old when this happened to him. I'm sure there was no amount of restitution that could restore the years of love he had spent in his garden. He lived for another eight years before dying in 1706.
1815 Today is the anniversary of the tragic death of the horticulturist and writer Andrew Jackson Downing.
Andrew was the author of The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, which came out in 1845. He also served as the editor of a magazine called The Horticulturist.
Regarded as one of the founders of American Landscape Architecture, Andrew used his work in The Horticulturist magazine as a platform for advancing his pet causes. It was Andrew who first came up with the idea for a New York park. In fact, Andrew's dream became the park we know today: Central Park. Andrew also advocated for individual states to create schools devoted to agriculture - and that hope became a reality as well.
In 1846, the National Mall in Washington, DC, was run down and neglected. It fell to Andrew to devise plans to revive the space.
When the Frenchman Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the mall in 1791, he envisioned a grand avenue. In sharp contrast, Andrew's vision simple. Not a fan of formal European gardens, Andrew wanted to create what he called a public museum of living trees and shrubs. Instead of a grand avenue, Andrew designed four separate parks that were connected by curving walkways and featured many different trees. Sadly, Andrew's plans were never fully funded or carried out.
In the summer of 1852, Andrew boarded a steamship called The Henry Clay. At some point, the steamship got into a race with another boat called The Armenia. When The Henry Clay began to overheat, a fire broke out in the engine room. Coincidentally, a former girlfriend of Andrew's also happened to be on board The Henry Clay that fateful day. As passengers escaped the flames to jump into the water, some began to drown. When Andrew jumped in the water to save his old flame, her panic caused them both to drown.
Now, before Andrew attempted to save his old paramour, he was one of the men who quickly threw some deck chairs off the boat. The thinking was that the chairs could be used as flotation devices. As fate would have it, Andrew's wife Carolyn survived the disaster by holding on to a deck chair. When the ordeal was all over, many friends tried to comfort Carolyn by insinuating that she was likely saved by one of the chairs Andrew had thrown into the water. But this sentiment was small consolation to her, given that she lost her husband as he was busy trying to save an old love.
Andrew Jackson Downing was just 36 years old when he died on this day two hundred and five years ago.
1996 Today is the anniversary of the death of Roger Tory Peterson of Peterson's Field Guide to Birds fame - he was born in 1908.
A son of Jamestown, New York, Roger, helped new generations of people fall in love with ornithology. Roger not only wrote the guides, but he also illustrated them. He was the noted American naturalist who brought the natural world to the masses in the 20th century.
Roger 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."
Roger once famously described a purple finch as a "Sparrow dipped in raspberry juice (male)."
When it came to the Audobon Oriole, Roger 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 Petersonis worth a read if you can get hold of a copy.
Unearthed Words
Today's words feature Women and the Garden.
In January, for example, the housewife should be busy planting peas and beans and setting young rose roots.
During March and April she will work 'from morning to night, sowing and setting her garden or plot,' to
produce the crops of parsnip, beans, and melons which will 'winnest the heart of a laboring man for her later in the year.
Her strawberry plants will be obtained from the best roots which she has gathered from the woods, and these are to be set in a plot in the garden. Berries from these plants will be harvested later the same year, perhaps a useful back-up if the parsnips have failed to win the man of her dreams.
July will see the good wife 'cut off ...ripe bean with a knife as well as harvesting the hemp and flax, which it will be her responsibility to spin later in the year.
— Thomas Tusser, English poet and farmer, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandry, 1573
You are a tulip seen today,
But (dearest) of so short a stay
That where you grew, scarce man can say.
You are a lovely July-flower,
Yet one rude wind, or milling shower.
Will force you hence, and in an hour.
You are a sparkling rose in the bud.
Yet lost ere that chaste flesh and blood
Can show where you grew or stood.
You are a full-spread fair-set vine.
And can with tendrils love entwine.
Yet dried, ere you distill your wine.
You are like balm enclosed well
In amber, or some crystal shell,
Yet lost ere you transfuse your smell.
You are a dainty violet.
Yet withered ere you can be set
Within the virgin's coronet.
You are the queen all flowers among.
But die you must, fair maid, ere long.
As he, the maker of this song.
— Robert Herrick, English poet and cleric, A Meditation for His Mistress
Grow That Garden Library
The Pollinator Victory Garden by Kim Eierman
This book came out in January of 2020, and the subtitle is Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators.
Peter Nelson, Director of The Pollinators film, said of this book,
"The Pollinator Victory Garden is a book for these times. Kim Eierman empowers readers with ideas, direction, and the inspiration they need to create beautiful and eco-friendly habitats for many different pollinators. Creating healthy, diverse, and chemical-free habitats are essential steps in solving pollinator decline, and The Pollinator Victory Garden guides you towards creating your own lovely garden habitat."
Kim Eierman is an environmental horticulturist and landscape designer specializing in ecological landscapes and native plants. She is the Founder of EcoBeneficial, a horticulture consulting and communications company in Westchester County, New York. Kim also teaches at the New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Native Plant Center, Rutgers Home Gardeners School, and advanced education classes for Master Gardeners.
This book is 160 pages of ideas and information to support pollinators and help the environment.
You can get a copy of The Pollinator Victory Garden by Kim Eierman and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $16.
Today's Botanic Spark
2011 In the popular gardener book The Roots of My Obsession, the former executive director of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Bill Cullina wrote:
“Yesterday it happened.
With everything finally planted, the weeds temporarily at bay, and the garden refreshed by rains after a long dry stretch, I reached that brief apogee in the arc of the season where I could sit on the bench and just appreciate.
It is that magic time of year between the rising cacophony of spring and the slow murmuring descent of autumn when there is stillness in my soul.
Right now, nothing needs doing.
It has been the most frenzied spring yet at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, where I work — a season stretching well into summer. We planted just over twenty-nine thousand plants and created four acres of new gardens. I have laid out so many plants this year that I started seeing them in my sleep — one pot after another plunked atop the freshly turned earth in endless triangles stretching off to infinity.”
In 2019, Bill Cullina was named the F. Otto Haas Executive Director of the University of Pennsylvania's Morris Arboretum. He started his new job a year ago on July 8, succeeding Paul W. Meyer, who served the Arboretum for 43 years, 28 years as executive director. -
Today we remember the first woman to have circumnavigated the world.
Willow baskets Conical votives Personalized walkways Raised flowerbeds Lion's head fountains And more!
We'll also learn about the wealthy horticulturist who built a magnificent estate on the shores of Lake Waban.
We celebrate the botanist who was the first editor of Rhodora, the New England Botanical Club's journal.
We also salute the father of British plant geography.
We honor the Reverend, who wrote two sweet little books for Burpee about sweet peas.
Today's Unearthed Words feature some silly light-hearted poems about the garden.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that gives us something to do in terms of projects for our garden,
And then we'll wrap things up with the story of the woman who founded the Greening of Harlem.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Landscape designer Piet Oudolf on finding solace in the garden | PBS NewsHour
“The world has looked strange these past months, familiar places no longer familiar at all.
Many people have turned to their own or community gardens during this period, growing vegetables and flowers, nourishing body and soul. Gardening centers have been among the first essential businesses to reopen. Sales of seeds have soared.
Piet Oudolf isn't surprised.”
Piet Oudolf ("Peet Ow-dolf") quotes from the transcript:
"I think every day is an experience, because there's always something you will like, and it's not only about the plants. It's also about the light and the movement.
Once you touch the plants and just start to work with them, there's a big chance that you get lost in the world of plants and that you want to experience more of gardening.
You can think while you're gardening. You can think about life and how to follow up after this crisis.
But at least people want to go to places where I normally would go to, to gardens and to parks. And I think that people will realize that we, as human beings, need that, to feel good.
What I say for people that just start gardening, I think anything that you see at the garden center that you like can be a good start — to become a serious gardener."
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1740 Today is the birthday of the explorer and botanist Jeanne Baret.
Jeanne was the first woman to have circumnavigated the globe as part of the expedition, which was led by Louis Antoine de Bougainville.
Beret was able to join the expedition after posing as a valet to the expedition's naturalist: Philibert Commerçon.
Before the expedition, Jeanne had been employed as Commerçon's housekeeper. A few years later, his wife died, and Jeanne took over the management of the household and began a personal relationship with Commerçon.
Commerçon had poor health, and it was likely that he needed Jeanne to join him on the expedition because he needed her assistance.
Jeanne was an excellent botanist in her own right. When the ship stopped in Rio de Janeiro, an old leg injury prevented Commerçon from collecting specimens. Thus, it was Jeanne who ventured out into the tropics and returned with the lovely tropical vine that would be named to honor the expedition's commander: Bougainvillea.
1810 Today is the birthday of one of America's most prominent horticulturalists – Horatio Hollis Hunnewell.
Horatio was staggeringly wealthy. He was a railroad financier. But he also had a lifelong love of nature and gardening.
When Horatio purchased over 40 acres of land along the eastern and southern shores of Lake Waban ("Wah-bin"), he built a magnificent estate there. He had married Isabella Pratt Wells, and he decided to call his impressive home Wellesley in honor of his wife's maiden name.
When it came time for the nearby town and college to settle on a name, they also chose the name Wellesley after discussing the matter with Horatio, who happened to be the most generous benefactor of the city.
The Hunnewell estate was so large that when the Hunnewell children grew up, seven of the nine had homes built on the property - right next to their parent's original house. Aside from the impressive homes, Horatio added many magnificent features to the estate, including a pinetum with over 325 specimens of conifers.
Hollis Honeywell made the following remark in 1899 about his trees,
"No Vanderbilt, with all his great wealth, can possess one of these [trees] for the next 50 years, for could not be grown in less time than that."
And, Horatio also installed the very first Topiary Garden in America at Wellesley. He referred to it as the Italian Garden, and it was ideally situated along the shore of Lake Waban. When it came to the Topiary Garden, Horatio went all out. Whenever he had guests, Horatio would have them hop aboard a large authentic Italian Gondola boat complete with an authentically dressed gondola man. After they glided up to the Topiary Gardens, they would stop and take a tour. Horatio's shores rivaled that of Lake Como in northern Italy.
It's difficult to fathom how much attention this one-of-a-kind garden received from the public. Thousands of visitors from all over the country came to Wellesley just to see the topiary garden firsthand. Many more took in its beauty through photographs and engravings published in the most popular periodicals of the time.
To this day — a century and a half later — the Hunnewell Topiary Garden is among the most spectacular sites in the region.
There are a few stories about Horatio I discovered during my research. The first is that Horatio and his friend Nathaniel Thayer Jr. brought the game of tennis to America. The second story is that Horatio was the first person to cultivate and popularize rhododendrons In the United States.
1864 Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Benjamin Lincoln Robinson.
In 1892, Benjamin was appointed the curator of the Asa Gray Herbarium at Harvard.
When Benjamin took over, both the herbarium and the library were in dire straits. Benjamin brought in funding and expanded the herbarium. Today, the Gray Herbarium and library are still housed at Harvard at 22 Divinity Ave.
In 1899, the first issue of the New England Botanical Club's journal, Rhodora, was published. And, Rhodora's first editor was Benjamin.
1881 Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and the father of British plant geography Hewett Cottrell Watson.
In recognition of his significant contributions, the botanical society of the British Isles named their journal Watsonia.
Beginning in 1834, Hewett was one of the first botanists to research plant evolution. Hewett's work also paved the way for a new science now known as ecology.
When Darwin created his theory of evolution, he was standing on the shoulders of curious early evolutionists like Hewett.
Darwin's popularity and success overshadowed the folks like Hewett, who came before him. Yet, it's evident that when Hewett read Darwin's Origin, his reaction was one of wonder... and also self-reflection. He spent his adult life trying to reach Darwin's conclusion. Now, as an older man, he could see the match he had lit being passed to a true torch-bringer.
After reading the origin, Hewett wrote to Darwin. Hewett's letter is a part proud dad, part awed fan, and yet, he still takes time to advise Darwin on areas to improve or take heed. In two different passages, Hewett points out that Darwin had succeeded where he had stopped short, saying Darwin had figured out the quo modo or the method to knit the strings of the theory of evolution together.
Hewett's letter to Darwin is quite something to read – even after all this time:
21 Nov 1859
My dear Sir
Once [I started] to read the ‘Origin’ I could not rest [until] I had galloped through [all of it]. I shall now begin to re-read it more deliberately. Meantime I am tempted to write you [my] first impressions…
1st. Your leading idea will assuredly become recognized as an established truth in science, i.e. “natural selection”. (It has the characteristics of all great natural truths, clarifying what was obscure, simplifying what was intricate, adding greatly to previous knowledge). You are the greatest Revolutionist in natural history of this century, if not of all centuries.
2d. You will perhaps need … to limit or modify, ... the principle of ‘natural selection’.
3d. Now [that] these novel views are brought… before the scientific public, it seems truly remarkable how [we didn’t see them sooner]..
A quarter-century ago, you & I must have [had]the same state of mind... But you were able to see & work out [the theory], … while I failed to grasp it. ...
How greatly this...will shock the ideas of many men!
very sincerely | Hewett C. Watson to C. Darwin | Esq.
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2540,” accessed on 26 April 2019, http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/DCP-LETT-2540
1895 On this day, a photo of the horticulturist and Reverend William T. Hutchins of Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, appeared in the Springfield Republican.
William is remembered for his book called "All About Sweet Peas," published in 1892 by the Burpee Seed Company. Five years later, William wrote another book for Burpee calledSweet Peas Up-to-Date.William's writings were used as promo material for Burpee, and customers positively received them. Incredibly, Burpee distributed fifty thousand copies of "All About Sweet Peas."
In August of 1898, The Star-Gazette out of Elmira New York reported on a talk that William had given about the history and culture of sweet pea.
“Mr. Hutchins said that the flower is a native of Sicily, and is widely cultivated there, but in late years it has come into popular favor in America, and is now raised in nearly every part of the country.
The speaker mentioned some of the rare varieties and told how they are obtained…
He also gave a most interesting description of the gardens of Mr. Eckford in England, whose cultivation [of] about seventy-five of ...the choicest sweet peas have been given to the flower lovers of the world.”
And, in 1950, Charles H. Curtis, the editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle, wrote,
“Fifty years ago, a parson from Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, stood on the platform in the Lecture Hall of the Crystal Palace. He was the Rev. W. T. Hutchins, an enthusiastic grower of Sweet Peas, who had a voice as sweet and persuasive as the fragrance of his subject. I can hear him now.”
One of my favorite articles featuring William was published in The Atlanta Constitution on March 31, 1991. The title of the article was "Oh, Sweet Peas, Please Climb Above My knees" and was written by Laura Martin.
Laura dug up this quote by William, who said that the sweet pea has "a fragrance like the universal gospel."
And, regarding the sweet pea, Laura wrote,
“Finding a plant with outstanding beauty and fragrance is a treat. Many roses, of course, offer this combination, but easier and far less demanding are old-fashioned sweet peas, which will trail and climb in your garden while emitting a delicious scent. Common name: Sweet Pea . Botanical name: Lathyrus odoratus.”
The Greek word lathyros means pea or pulse, and the Latin word odoratus means fragrant.
Today, Japanese varieties have the most abundant blooms, and some Australian varieties are frilly. Sweet peas are a long-lasting vase flower, which makes them quite popular with florists and brides.
Finally, in terms of floriography, or the language of flowers, sweet peas convey bliss and pleasure. They also mean saying goodbye after having a good time. Nothing says thank you like sweet peas.
Finally, of the sweet pea, John Keats wrote:
Here are sweet peas, on tiptoe for a flight;
With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things,
To bind them all about with tiny rings.
Unearthed Words
July 27 is Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day - a silly, light-hearted day that brought to mind these nonsense poems.
One fine October morning
In September, last July
The sun lay thick upon the ground
The snow shone in the sky
The flowers were singing gaily
The birds were full in bloom
So I went down to the cellar
To clean the upstairs room
— Anonymous
There should be no monotony
In studying your botany;
It helps to train
And spur the brain--
Unless you haven't gotany.
It teaches you, does Botany,
To know the plants and spotany,
And learn just why
They live or die--
In case you plant or potany.
You learn, from reading Botany,
Of wooly plants and cottony
That grow on earth,
And what they're worth,
And why some spots have notany.
You sketch the plants in Botany,
You learn to chart and plotany
Like corn or oats--
You jot down notes,
If you know how to jotany.
Your time, if you'll allotany,
Will teach you how and what any
Old plant or tree
Can do or be--
And that's the use of Botany!
— Berton Braley, American poet, Science Newsletter, March 9, 1929, Botany
Grow That Garden Library
Rustic Garden Projects by Marianne Svärd Häggvik
This book came out in February of 2019, and the subtitle is Step-by-Step Backyard Décor from Trellises to Tree Swings, Stone Steps to Stained Glass.
I tell you what; if you're bored and looking for something to do in the garden, this book is a charming gift to have on hand. It is loaded with ideas and gorgeous pieces of garden art. The projects will give you something to do and help you express yourself in the garden. Some are simple and quick, and others might take you a few days to complete.
Projects include:The author Marianne is an engineer based in Stockholm. She had been puttering around in her garden for ages before Marianne and her husband decided to compile a book of their beautiful and fun garden projects.Marianne is the owner of Heliconia Garden, a garden design company in Sweden.
This book is 256 pages of ideas and projects - all shared with today's gardener in mind.
You can get a copy of Rustic Garden Projects by Marianne Svärd Häggvik and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5.
Today's Botanic Spark
1949 Today is the birthday of the founder of the Greening of Harlem Coalition, Bernadette Cozart.
Bernadette was a professional gardener and urban gardening advocate.
She founded the Greening of Harlem Coalition in 1989. Her efforts transformed Harlem, bringing flower gardens and green spaces to areas previously covered by concrete and neglect.
It was Bernadette Cozart who said,
“Instead of taking children on field trips to see farms and gardens, why not bring nature into the community? I don't think it's fair that they should have to go outside the community to have that experience of seeing things grow.” -
Today we remember a pioneering seedsman out of Rockford, Illinois, whose company became the world's largest mail-order seed company.
Blueberries are low on the glycemic index, which means that they do not cause your blood sugar to spike. They are considered to be a very nutritious fruit, supplying high levels of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Studies show that they help improve memory. Numerous studies have shown that blueberries help lower blood pressure. Blueberries are closely related to cranberries and may help prevent urinary tract infections.
We'll also learn about an Irish playwright and critic who had a unique writing hut in his garden.
We recognize the botanist who botanized in Yellowstone for an entire summer.
We also revisit some July Folklore in Unearthed Words.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about the History of Indoor Plants by one of my favorite authors.
And then we'll wrap things up with the story of an English writer and politician who used humor in his work.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
How to Grow and Care for Blueberry Bushes for Buckets of Sweet Blueberries | Stephanie Rose over at Garden Therapy
"Blueberries are easy to grow, look beautiful in the garden, taste fabulous, and are well-known to be good for you. If you have just a bit of space and some sun, plant a blueberry bush or two as gorgeous landscaping and enjoy the many benefits of sun-ripened blueberries picked straight from your garden.
Here are a few other known health benefits of blueberries:Add a few blueberry plants to your landscape for their white, bell-shaped blooms in the spring and the bright globes of blue in the summer. But the REAL show happens in the late fall when the bushes turn bright red, neon pink, orange, or red-purple. Blueberry bushes make a great edible alternative to short growing shrubs like boxwood. Imagine a row of blueberries lining the fence and how many berries you will have! And you know garden-grown food always tastes better than grocery store-bought food."
Never trust a July sky or Never trust the sky in the month of July. As July, so next January. If the 1st of July be rainy weather, it will rain more or less for three weeks together. If ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard. Whatever July and August do not boil, September can not fry. No tempest, good July, Lest the corn look ruely. Corn should be knee-high by the Fourth of July.
Work early, and stay cool.
To avoid the high temps, potential sunburn, and bug bites, I go out in the morning, work for no more than a two-hour stint and wrap up no later than 10 am. For self-care, I set up a sports umbrella for shade, and I bring a massive fan around with me to stay cool. The fan also keeps the bugs at bay; mosquitos especially are not good fliers.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1842 Today is the birthday of a pioneering seedsman out of Rockford, Illinois, Roland Hallet Shumway - who always went by his initials R.H.
The RH Shumway Seed Company became the world's largest mail-order seed company; their "Marketmore" seeds are especially popular.
Famous Shumway Seed customers included Bing Crosby and Perry Como.
When Roland was 19, he enlisted in the army to serve in the Civil War. He contracted bronchitis and became totally deaf during his service.
Once Roland was asked how he would like to be remembered. He gave a three-word response: Good Seeds Cheap.
Roland said that he wanted to make sure,
"That good seeds were within reach of the poorest planters "
As with any venture, hustle and heart drove Roland's success.
Roland said,
"From the beginning of the new year, until after spring planting, my industrious employees work 16 hours a day, and myself and my family 18 or more hours per day. Are we not surely knights at labor? How can we do more? Do we not deserve the patronage of every planter in America?"
In 1905, Roland donated land in Rockford for the Shumway Market on the condition that the city would preserve the Farmer's Market in perpetuity, "for the benefit of all and the poor especially. "
The market ran year-round on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
This was THE place for farmers and people to gather and sell their fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
In the 1980s, Shumway Seed was sold, and today the area behind the market building is a parking lot.
1856 Today is the birthday of the Irish playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw.
In 1906, when he was 50 years old, George and his wife Charlotte bought an ivy-covered brick country house set on almost four acres of land that ultimately became known as Shaw's Corner in Ayot St Lawrence.
For over four decades, George wrote most of his work in his tiny writing shed in the garden at Shaw's Corner. Both Pygmalion and Heartbreak House were created in George's little writing hut.
Now, when George worked in his little hut, he sat in a straight back wicker chair and wrote using a black typewriter that was positioned on a little shelf-desk attached to the wall in the corner. George could communicate with the outside world using the wall-mounted phone that was above the desk. The hut had windows on the front and back sides, and there was a little bed built into the side opposite the desk. George wouldn't have had much room to move around other than to get to his desk, stand up, turn around, and then lie on his bed.
It was all very modest and humble except that his little summer house had a unique feature to distinguished itself - it was built on top of a revolving platform. This ingenious device made it so that the little hut could be turned to face the sun throughout the day.
When the Shaw's first bought the property, there wasn't much except for open land. Over the years, Charlotte and George worked to transform the place into a personal sanctuary.
At first, the Shaw's split time between Shaw's corner and their London house. However, as they grew older, they gravitated more and more to Shaw's corner. The Shaw's loved their garden. From family records, we know the Shaws especially enjoyed delphiniums, iris, and tulips.
And, every day, George and Charlotte would walk around the garden together every morning and keep tally the number of kilometers by adding a stone to a pile in the garden. At the age of 94, George was still actively gardening until his unexpected death after a fall. George had been pruning a tree and slipped off the ladder. After their deaths, George and Charlotte's ashes were spread over the garden paths they had loved to walk together.
To this day, George's July birthday is honored with performances of his plays in his garden.
It was George Bernard Shaw who said all of these gardening quotes:
I have found, after a good deal of consideration, that the best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.
Gardening is the only unquestionably useful job.
The planting of a tree is a modest form of immortality and one of the few truly long-term expressions of hope to mortal human beings.
Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs, as well as a tree, does.
1899 Today is the 121st anniversary of the 14-week botanical expedition through Yellowstone led by the botanist Aven Nelson.
Aven had hired a student named Leslie Gooding to be the chore boy for $10 per month.
The group assembled at the University of Wyoming, where Nelsen was a new teacher.
Leslie remembered the excitement on campus at the prospect of going on the trek, saying,
"Some three or four months were to be spent in Yellowstone park collecting plants… Many students… were anxious to accompany Dr. Nelson on [the] expedition, and were willing to work for nothing just to see the Park… This was in the days when autos were much like hen's teeth, and trips through the Park by stage were expensive. "
(Note: The euphemism "hen's teeth "refers to something being exceptionally rare; since hens have no teeth, it implies that something is so scarce it is virtually nonexistent. So, during the time of this expedition – no vehicles.)
In addition to Leslie, another botany student named Elias Nelsen, (no relation to Aven), joined the group.
On this day, back in 1899, Leslie and Elias had gone collecting near an area called Artist Paint Pots; it's a dangerous area with over 50 springs, geysers, vents, and mud pots. Geothermal features are some of the deadliest natural features in Yellowstone, but people often fail to realize that fact.
To this day, park rangers rescue one or two visitors, who fall from boardwalks or wander off designated paths and punch their feet through the thin earthen crust into boiling water.
Yet, drawn by curiosity, Elias ignored the warning signs and went off the path. Suddenly, he found himself with one leg sunk into boiling mud. He managed to free himself, and Aven's wife did what she could with soda and flour to bandage his wounds, and the doc at the nearest town recommend Elias return home for treatment.
Despite the challenges posed by Yellowstone, Aven Nelsen and his team collected roughly 30,000 specimens, although only about 500 species were represented. Aven had purposely gathered 20 -30 duplicates per species because he correctly assumed that institutions and collectors would want specimens from Yellowstone.
Today, Aven is remembered as the Father of Wyoming Botany, but his greatest legacy is the Rocky Mountain Herbarium created from Aven's collection of Yellowstone plants.
Unearthed Words
Here are some words from July Folklore:
Grow That Garden Library
Once Upon a Windowsill by Tovah Martin
This book came out in 1988, and the subtitle is A History of Indoor Plants.
This book is an oldie but goodie.
Tovah Martin is a devoted and passionate organic gardener and the author of The Indestructible Houseplant, The Unexpected Houseplant, The New Terrarium, and Tasha Tudor's Garden, as well as many other gardening books.
This book is 312 pages of how plants moved indoors, plant lore, plant culture, and the evolution of our relationship with plants.
You can get a copy of Once Upon a Windowsill by Tovah Martin and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $30.
Today's Botanic Spark
1839 Today is the birthday of the English writer and politician Winthrop Mackworth Praed, who is remembered for his humorous verse.
He wrote,
"I remember, I remember how my childhood fleeted by. The mirth of its December, and the warmth of its July."
At his home, Winthrop had a fine grove with beautiful grounds that overlooked a harbor. At one point, he even built an orangery.
Sadly, Winthrop died at age 37 from tuberculosis.
Yet, for many years, his fans enjoyed this little story about him:
"A man went to a bookshop and asked, "Have you, Browning?"
And the clerk replied, "No, we can't sell him. People say they can't understand him."
Then the customer asked, "Have you Praed?"
And the clerk said, "Yes, we've prayed, and we can't understand him. -
Today we remember the founding of a garden that inspired the book Alice in Wonderland.
We'll also learn about the botanist remembered with the Forsythia genus.
We'll salute the Lake poet who likened plant taxonomy to poetry.
We also revisit a diary entry about a garden visitor and a letter from a gardener to her sister.
Today's Unearthed Words feature an excerpt from a July Afternoon by Walt Whitman.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about the unloved flowers as they have been referred to Weeds.
And then we'll wrap things up with an unforgettable story of flowers and a performance called "A Case of Floral Offerings" from 1874.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
This L.A. music producer is obsessed with houseplants: See how they amplify his work | latimes.com | Micah Fluellen
“Mark Redito (“Ra-DEE-toe”) is an L.A.-based electronic music producer who, it turns out, is also the proud plant parent to over 40 houseplants. He visually couples his earthy soothing sound with heavy plant imagery, from short snippets of him tenderly caring for plants to abstract videos of 3-D modeled flora. Redito’s aesthetic is the seamless marriage between the ambient digital world and a tangible natural ecosystem. You can find short teaser videos of thumping tracks playing over footage of sped-up plant growth and gardens, photographs of technology blended with nature, and updates of his own garden developments on his Instagram account @markredito.
"My hope is that when people listen to my work, they would be inspired to go outside and experience nature or start their own garden. My upcoming album to be released this summer, “Natural Habitat,” is all about that — the interconnectedness and innate connection we have with nature and with plants.
(What’s your best tip for gardeners and new plant parents?)
Ease into it and remember to take it slow. When I started getting into plants, my collection grew from five plants to about 30 in a month. As much as I enjoyed having plants and taking care of them, it was a lot of work for one guy to water and tend to 30-plus plants on one Saturday morning.”
Are you growing, Cleome?
My daughter just had her senior pictures taken, and I took some cuttings from the garden for her to hold during her photoshoot. For one of the images, I had her hold just one large white blossom in her hands. It looked like a giant puffball, and it had a very ethereal quality about it.
Cleome is beautiful - but it is also sticky - so keep that in mind if you handle it.
I know some gardeners have no trouble sowing cleome directly into their gardens, but some gardeners complain that it can be an inconsistent germinater.
I like to sow cleome right now since the seeds like intense light to get going. Sometimes cleome can benefit from staking - so keep that in mind as well.
And, if you are planning a cutting garden, it is hard to beat cleome. The blooms are a show-stealer in any arrangement.
Go to a local farmers market - not for the produce - for the knowledge.
The growers at the farmer's market have expertise in growing, which is often an untapped resource. Plus, the growers are so generous with Information.
It's always a pleasure to talk to someone who has first-hand knowledge about growing plants.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1621 The Botanic garden at Oxford, also known as the Physic Garden, was founded on this day in 1621 at precisely 2 pm. It was a Sunday.
The garden is the oldest in England. When the garden was founded, its primary purpose was to be a medicinal garden. Henry Danvers, the first Earl of Danby, funded the garden by giving Oxford University 250 pounds. Unfortunately, the land they purchased was flood-prone. The 5-acre tract was mostly pasture land and lined the banks of the River Cherwell. So, to protect the garden from flooding, the ground for the garden was built up. Records show a Mr. Windiat brought in 4,000 loads of "mucke and dunge" to elevate the area that we now know as the Oxford Botanic Garden.
During the founding ceremony, dignitaries of the University walked in a procession from St. Mary's church to the garden. Mr. Edward Dawson, a physician, and Dr. Clayton, the Regius Professor of Medicine, each gave a speech and a stone was placed in the garden gateway by the Vice-Chancellor himself.
The Garden has a fascinating history, and there are at least two father-son connections to the Garden.
Bobart the Elder and his son, Bobart the Younger, established the herbarium.
Both William Baxter and his son served as curator.
Lewis Carroll, who was a math professor at Oxford and he visited the garden with a young Alice Liddell, which inspired Alice in Wonderland.
J.R.R. Tolkien, who also taught at Oxford, loved the gardens and could be found sitting beneath his favorite tree: an ornamental black pine.
In 1941, after the discovery of the dawn redwood tree, a dawn redwood seed was planted in the garden. The tree still grows at the Oxford Botanic Garden.
In 2019, Oxford University's gardens, libraries, and museums attracted over 3 million visitors. The Garden and Arboretum had a record-setting year with over 200,000 visitors, which was an increase of 23%.
And, today, the garden is continuing to prepare for its 400th anniversary in 2021. Planting projects and garden redesigns are all being worked on to give visitors a stunning welcome next year. In addition, some of the beds are going through a bit of a time machine; they are being planted according to their 17th-century prescriptions so that visitors can glimpse how the garden looked when it was established four centuries ago.
1804 Today is the birthday of the Scottish botanist William Forsyth.
William trained as a gardener at the Oxford Physic Garden and was an apprentice to Philip Miller, the chief gardener. In 1771, Forsyth himself took over the principal gardening position.
Three years later, he built one of the very first rock gardens with over 40 tons of stone collected from the land around the Tower of London and even some pieces of lava imported from Iceland. The effort was noted for posterity; the garden was a bust.
Forsyth was also the founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society. The genus, Forsythia, was named in his honor by Carl Peter Thunberg. There are several different varieties of Forsythia, which also goes by the common name golden bell. A member of the olive family, Forsythias are related to the Ash tree. And, the Forsythia is a vernal shrub. Vernal shrubs bloom in the spring.
1834 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Along with his friend, William Wordsworth, he helped found the Romantic Movement in England and was a member of a group called the Lake Poets.
As a poet, Coleridge recognized the inherent rhythm of taxonomy, and he likened it to poetry when he said that taxonomy was simply "the best words in the best order."
In his poem called Youth and Age, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote,
Flowers are lovely.
Love is flower-like.
Friendship is a sheltering tree.
Coleridge wrote a 54-line poem about a Mongolian emperor's summer garden at Xanadu. The emperor was Kubla Kahn.
Coleridge's Kubla Kahn is one of his most famous works. The poem begins by describing Kahn's palace and the garden contrasted with the setting of an ancient Mongolian forest.
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
It was Samuel Taylor Coleridge who said:
Summer has set in with its usual severity.
1938 On this day, the Canadian Naturalist Charles Joseph Sauriol ("Sar-ee-all") wrote about sharing his garden with a toad.
He wrote,
"One particular toad has taken quite a fancy to the Wild Flower garden. His den is alongside the Hepatica plant. There he sits half-buried, and blinks up at me while I shower water on him."
1946 On this day Elizabeth Lawrence wrote to her sister:
Dear Ann,
I am going to send you, as soon as they are ripe, some seeds of Campanula americana, which came to me from one of my delightful farm women correspondents. I asked Mr. Krippendorf if he knew it, and he said yes, it was his favorite weed.
Scatter them as soon as you get them along the drive. Along the fence at the foot of the terrace, and on the other side near the tiger lilies.
Then in the spring, I will send (or maybe fall) some roots of the day lily Margaret Perry. It will spread all along, and bloom with the campanula and the lilies. ...The campanula is an annual but it will self-sow, and the combination will make a mass of bloom for six weeks or more.
Then I am going to send you seeds of Cassia marilandica (“The virtuous and beloved dead need neither cassia buds nor myrrh”) to scatter lower down on the driveway. ...
I expect that you will have more lycoris. Mine are still coming, and I dash out very quickly to stake each one before Mr. Cayce can get to it. Mr. Krippendorf wrote that his were coming out fast, but that he did not expect them to last long as he was bringing out his granddaughter’s boxer to spend a week with his, and he thought the two of them would break off thousands. Mr. Krippendorf feels as I do about dogs. But Bessie does not. ...
The summer has been so cool and green, and so many of the choice and difficult amaryllids have bloomed.
So am I as the rich, whose blessed key
Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure,
The which he will not every hour survey.
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure.
[Shakespeare sonnet 52]
Unearthed Words
The fervent heat, but so much more endurable in this pure air —
the white and pink pond-blossoms, with great heart-shaped leaves;
the glassy waters of the creek, the banks, with dense bushery, and the
picturesque beeches and shade and turf;
the tremulous, reedy call of some bird from recesses, breaking the warm, indolent, half-voluptuous silence;
an occasional wasp, hornet, honey-bee or bumble
(they hover near my hands or face, yet annoy me not, nor I them, as they appear to examine, find nothing, and away they go) —
the vast space of the sky overhead so clear, and the buzzard up there sailing his slow whirl in majestic spirals and discs;
just over the surface of the pond, two large slate-colored dragon-flies, with wings of lace, circling and darting and occasionally balancing themselves quite still, their wings quivering all time, (are they not showing off for my amusement?)—
the pond itself, with the sword-shaped calamus;
the water snakes—
occasionally a flitting blackbird, with red dabs on his shoulders, as he darts slantingly by—
the sounds that bring out the solitude, warmth, light and shade—
the squawk of some pond duck—
(the crickets and grasshoppers are mute in the noon heat, but I hear the song of the first cicadas;)—
then at some distance, the rattle and whirr of a reaping machine as the horses draw it on a rapid walk through a rye field on the opposite side of the creek—
(what was the yellow or light brown bird, large as a young hen, with a short neck and long-stretched legs I just saw, in flapping and awkward flight over there through the trees?)—
the prevailing delicate, yet palpable, spicy, grassy, clovery perfume to my nostrils;
and over all, encircling all, to my sight and soul, and free space of the sky, transparent and blue—
and hovering there in the west, a mass of white-gray fleecy clouds the sailors call "shoals of mackerel"—
the sky, with silver swirls like locks of tossed hair, spreading, expanding—
a vast voiceless, formless simulacrum—
yet may-be the most real reality and formulator of everything—
who knows?
— Walt Whitman, American poet and the Father of Free Verse, A July Afternoon by the Pond
Grow That Garden Library
Weeds by Richard Mabey
This book came out in 2012, and the subtitle is In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants.
The author Richard Holmes said, "[A] witty and beguiling meditation on weeds and their wily ways….You will never look at a weed, or flourish a garden fork, in the same way again."
And, if you thought your garden was full of them, this book is chock-full of 336 pages of weeds.
You can get a copy of Weeds by Richard Mabey and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $14.
Today's Botanic Spark
1874 On this day, the Opelousas Courier shared an incredible story called "A Case of Floral Offerings."
The story was from Berlin, it told of an actress who was playing the role of a female Hamlet.
She wanted to have bouquets and wreaths thrown to her at the end of her performance.
When a man told her that the flowers would cost $20, the actress said that it was too much for one night.
But, the gentleman had an idea. He said twenty dollars would be sufficient for two nights.
And he explained how it would work. He said,
"Today, I and my men will throw the bouquets to you from the first tier. After the performance is over, I shall take the flowers home with me in a basket [and] put them in the water... Tomorrow night [we will toss them at your feet again].
No one in the audience will know that the bouquets have been used before."
The actress liked the man's ingenious plan, and she happily paid him the money. -
Today we remember the man who brought Lilacs to America.
We'll also learn about the man who created the Missouri Botanical Gardens, also known as "Shaw's Garden."
We celebrate the French author, who exchanged his personal library for a lifetime supply of cantaloupe.
We also look back at an article from 1938 and the topic was tropical peas.
In Unearthed Words, we'll hear an excerpt from Vita Sackville-West.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a brand new book for 2020 about creating gorgeous gardens and design mastery. Let the chase begin.
And then we'll wrap things up with a little article from 1975 about something called the "Dial-A-Garden-Tipline."
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Robert Miller: An ancient, ubiquitous plant easily ignored — but shouldn't be | RegisterCitizen.com
“Because it’s tiny and everywhere, it’s easy to not see it.
But moss is really too remarkable to overlook.
Scientists now believe it was these simple plants, spreading like a carpet over the face of the then-barren earth that changed our atmosphere into the oxygen-rich state it’s now in and those allowed life to flourish here. Moss helped create our world.
“It’s all over the place,” said Cathy Hagadorn, executive director of Deer Pond Farm, the nature sanctuary in Sherman owned by Connecticut Audubon Society. “It’s beautiful.”
Birds use moss to line their nests. Four-toed salamanders lay their eggs in the sphagnum moss at the edge of swamps. Gardeners depend on peat moss to give new saplings a nice moisture-absorbing bed to start growing in.
Because they’re great at absorbing water, mosses prevent erosion. They play a part in the forest cycle, helping in the decomposition of downed trees and stumps.
And they’re great at returning oxygen to the atmosphere.
“Pound for pound, moss delivers more oxygen to the atmosphere than any other plant,” said Jim Fucetola, chief of operations at Moss Acres, a Pennsylvania-based company that sells moss to gardeners. “Fifteen percent of trees deliver oxygen to the atmosphere. For mosses, it’s 100 percent.”
Alright, that’s it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1696 It's the birthday of the colonial governor of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth, who was born on this day in 1696.
American gardeners remember Benning because he brought the lilac along with other trees and shrubs when he immigrated to States from England.
In 1750, the first lilac was planted at the Wentworth home. In 1919, it was adopted as the New Hampshire State Flower because lawmakers felt it was,
"symbolic of the hardy character of the men and women of New Hampshire; the granite state."
1800 It's the birthday of the man who created the Missouri Botanical Gardens, also known as "Shaw's Garden," or "Hank's Garden" - the great horticulturist and botanical philanthropist Henry Shaw.
Henry is celebrated on the St. Louis Walk of Fame with this epitaph:
"Henry Shaw, only 18 when he came to St. Louis, was one of the city’s largest landowners by age 40. Working with leading botanists, he planned, funded and built the Missouri Botanical Garden, which opened in 1859. Henry donated the land for Tower Grove Park and helped with its construction. He wrote botanical tracts, endowed Washington University’s School of Botany, helped found the Missouri Historical Society, and gave the city a school and land for a hospital. Of Henry’s gifts, the Botanical Garden is best-known. Said as early as 1868 to have “no equal in the United States, and, indeed, few anywhere in the world."
In addition to the Botanical Garden, Henry built the Linnean House in 1882. It is the oldest continuously operated public greenhouse west of the Mississippi River and was initially designed to be an orangery, a place to overwinter citrus trees, palms, and tree ferns.
And, there's a little story I love that reveals Henry's regard for the plants in his garden.
It was posted in the St. Louis Star and Times on April 5, 1933:
"Mr. Shaw was escorting a lady through his gardens, pointing out objects of interest.
The visitor said: " I cannot understand, Sir, how you are able to remember all of these difficult names."
He replied, with a courtly bow, "Madame, did you ever know a mother to forget the names of her children? These plants and flowers are my little ones."
1802 Today is the birthday of French author of "The Three Musketeers" and gourmet Alexandre Dumas (" Doo-Ma").
Alexandre also wrote the Count of Monte Cristo, which contains many passages about the garden. Here's one for Chapter 44:
“The garden was long and narrow; a stretch of smooth turf extended down the middle, and at the corners were clumps of trees with thick and massy foliage, that made a background for the shrubs and flowers.”
Alexandre was a larger-than-life character, and there are actually quite a few stories about him that gardeners will find charming.
For instance, in the mid-1860s, the Library in Cavaillon ("Ca-VAY-on"), France was just getting started, and they asked Alexandre for a donation of some of his books.
Alexandre responded,
“I agree on one condition: Just as the town and the Cavaillon authorities love my books, so I love their melons. In exchange for my 300 or 400 books, I request a town by-law be passed giving me a life annuity of 12 Cavaillon melons a year.”
The town happily agreed to the terms Alexandre set forth, and Alexandre received a dozen Charentais ("Shar-en-TAY") melons every year until he passed away in 1870.
The cantaloupe melons of Cavaillon are perfectly suited to growing in the soil and climate of the Durance River Valley and are perfect for growing cantaloupe. Cavaillon is still the home of the sweet, Charentais melon. In fact, visitors to Cavaillon are greeted by a nine-ton statue of a Charentais melon, and the annual melon festival happens every year the weekend before Bastille day.
Now gardeners may wonder if a Charentais is similar to French cantaloupes or North American musk melons. Although they are related, they are not the same. Charentais melons are sweeter and have a jasmine and apricot fragrance.
Just before he died, Alexandre finished his final book, and he titled it Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine (The Grand Dictionary of Cuisine). It is especially poignant to see that Alexandre included an entry on the Charentais melon. In fact, Alexandre did not mince words, and he gushed that it was the greatest melon he'd ever encountered.
There is yet one more hilarious story about Alexandre that occurred when he was traveling in Switzerland. One day Alexandre decided he wanted mushrooms for supper. Now Alexandre spoke only French while the owner of the inn he was staying at spoke only German. To convey what he wanted, Alexandre quickly made a charcoal sketch of a mushroom on the wall. After seeing the sketch, the innkeeper went out for a while and then came back and presented Alexandre with an umbrella.
It was Alexandre Dumas who said,
All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.
It is not the tree that forsakes the flower, but the flower that forsakes the tree.
To despise flowers is to offend God.
1938 On this day, The Miami News published an article with the title "Tropical Peas Will Mitigate Relief Wants."
The article begins this way,
"If English peas don't suit your palate, plant pigeon peas. The suggestion is that of a Miami pioneer, Charles F. Sulzner, who through the years has pointed out to newcomers the advantages of growing tropical fruits and vegetables, often of a type requiring no painstaking cultivation...
Pigeon peas, as Sulzner demonstrated in his spacious grounds, ...grow on trees, and may be had by the simple process of picking."
Pigeon peas make a lovely and distinct addition to the edible garden.
The cultivation of the pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), can be traced back more than 3,500 years. Other common names include Congo pea, Angola pea, and red gram. In Barbados, pigeon pea was used to feed pigeons.
Gardeners who love growing peas in the spring may thoroughly enjoy growing pigeon pea in the summer. It's a hardy perennial that can produce multiple harvests during the season.
The sweet, fresh green peas are technically beans. They can be eaten raw when green or dried. The dried beans need to be soaked before boiling.
Pigeon peas have a nutty taste and crisp texture. The entire pod may be eaten.
As a bonus, the yellow-red flowers attract flocks of hummingbirds, and the plants are also nitrogen-fixers and enrich the soil.
Unearthed Words
When skies are gentle, breezes bland.
When loam that's warm within the hand
Falls friable between the tines.
Sow hollyhocks and columbines.
The tufted pansy, and the tall
Snapdragon in the broken wall.
Not for this summer, but for next.
Since foresight is the gardener's text.
And though his eyes may never know
How lavishly his flowers blow.
Others will stand and musing say
'These were the flowers he sowed that May.'
But for this summer's quick delight
Sow marigold, and sow the bright
Frail poppy that with noonday dies
But wakens to afresh surprise:
Along the pathway, stones be set
Sweet Alysson and mignonette,
That when the full midsummer's come
On scented clumps the bees may-hum,
Golden Italians, and the wild
Black bumble-bee alike beguiled;
And lovers who have never kissed
May sow the cloudy Love-in-Mist.
Nor be the little space forgot
For herbs to spice the kitchen pot:
Mint pennyroyal, bergamot.
Tarragon and melilot.
Dill for witchcraft, prisoner's rue.
Coriander, costmary.
Tansy, thyme. Sweet Cicely,
Saffron, balm, and rosemary
That since the Virgin threw her cloak
Across it, -so say cottage folk -
Has changed its flowers from white to blue.
But have a care that seeds be strewn
One night beneath a waxing moon.
And pick when the moon is on the wane.
Else shall your toil be all in vain ...
— Vita Sackville West, English author and garden designer, The Land
Grow That Garden Library
Chasing Eden by Jack Staub and Renny Reynolds
This book came out in January of this year, and the subtitle is Design Inspiration from the Gardens at Hortulus Farm.
This is one of my favorite new books for 2020. I adore the title.
The author Anna Pavord ("PAY-vord") said, "Vision, tenacity, and a perfectionist's eye are the qualities that shine out from this account of a paradise garden created by two of America's foremost stylists."
This is the overview from Timberpress:
“One of the most spectacular private gardens in America, Hortulus Farm is the masterpiece of Renny Reynolds and Jack Staub, renowned experts in the fields of design, gardening, and entertaining. It is beautifully captured in Chasing Eden, a lavishly illustrated roadmap to creating a personal Eden.
Hortulus Farm is a not only a model of classical tenets, but also a showcase of how traditions can be successfully broken. Gardeners will discover information on specific design principles, from vistas and allées to hardscaping and water features. They will also learn how to adapt these principles to less-than-optimal settings without sacrificing a site’s sense of place. Both aspirational and practical, Chasing Eden will inspire home gardeners to create their own earthly paradise.”
You will read this book and then head straight out to the garden. Let the chase begin!
This book is 272 pages of gorgeous gardens and design mastery - all shared to inspire today's gardener.
You can get a copy of Chasing Eden by Jack Staub and Renny Reynolds and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $23.
Today's Botanic Spark
On this day in 1975, the Green Bay Press-Gazette shared a little notice for their "Dial-A-Garden-Tipline."
Readers could dial the number at any time and hear a taped garden message. Here were the topics posted in the paper:
July 17 Russian Olive diseases
July 18, 19, 20 Dutch Elm disease
July 21 How to Blanch Vegetables
July 22 Growing Cauliflower
July 23 Birch Borer
July 24 Training Young Trees -
Today we remember a gardener who became a saint.
We'll also learn about the woman remembered forever in the name of one of the world's most popular hostas.
We celebrate the Scottish botanist who was the first to describe the Prairie Buttercup.
We'll also hear some wonderful words about simply being in the garden.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about gardening and friendship in a heartwarming book from 2015.
And then we'll wrap things up with a wonderful pesto recipe.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
Apple|Google|Spotify|Stitcher|iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
My Relationship With My Garden Hose | May Dreams Gardens
"In the spring, we optimistically buy that big heavy hose that is guaranteed to last a lifetime and never kink. And when we see that hose all wrapped up on the store shelf, we believe those claims.
Then we get it home and discover what bad manners it has. Kink? Of course, it will kink the minute you look at it and even think about watering. Heavy? So heavy you can barely stand the thought of pulling it around the garden to water."
Plant of the Week: Mukdenia rossii' Crimson Fans' ("muck-DEEN-ee-uh")
"In 2007, I bought Mukdenia rossii 'Crimson Fans' after somewhere seeing--I forget now--photos of the pretty leaves.
It grew. It's an easy plant with no fussy requirements at all except moist soil. (But wait.)
...Eventually, if the conditions are right, the green leaves develop a pretty crimson margin--the 'Crimson Fans'. Yes, I'm a fan of the crimson fans.
And this, my friends, is where things get tricky--"if the conditions are right" being the operative phrase. Too much sun and the leaves will burn by turning brown. Not enough sun and the leaves will stay green.
The challenge has been finding just the right balance between sun and shade. I've had this plant both in the ground and in a pot, as the trial and error experiment went on, year after year, trying one location after another to meet--but not exceed--the sunlight requirements."
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
300 Today, Catholics honor St. Phocas the Gardener who lived in Turkey during the third century.
A protector of persecuted Christians, Phocas grew crops in his garden to help feed the poor.
Phocas is remembered for his hospitality and generosity; his garden played an essential part in living both of those virtues.
When Roman soldiers were sent to kill him, they could not find shelter for the night.
Naturally, when Phocas encountered them, he not only offered them lodging but a meal made from the bounty of his garden. During the meal, Phocas realized they had come for him. While the soldiers slept that night, he dug his own grave and prayed for the soldiers. In the morning, Phocas told the soldiers who he was, and the soldiers, who could conceive of no other option, reluctantly killed him and buried him in the grave he had dug for himself.
Although gardening can be a solitary activity, Phocas, the gardener, paved the way, showing us how to use our gardens to connect us to others through generosity and hospitality.
1883 Today is the birthday of the woman who is remembered for one of the most popular hostas in American gardens: Frances Ropes Williams.
Frances had a shady garden in Winchester, Massachusetts. And, what is the most-used plant by shade gardeners? Hostas. That's right.
And Frances had an appreciation for hostas before they became widely used in American gardens. A graduate of MIT, Williams was lucky enough to get the chance to work with Warren H. Manning, the famous Boston landscape architect, for a little over two years.
Frances stopped working to marry Stillman Williams. But sadly, he died after almost twenty years of marriage, leaving Frances with four young children - two boys and two girls.
Frances and her family loved the outdoors. When the kids were little, Frances made them one of the very first playsets.
When the children were grown, Frances found purpose in her garden, and she zeroed in on her hostas. She became known for hybridizing them, and she even wrote about them for various botanical magazines.
Frances discovered the hosta that would be named for her honor quite by happenstance. She had visited her daughter in college in New York, and she stopped by Bristol Nurseries in Connecticut on her way home. Nestled in a row of Hosta sieboldiana, was a hosta that had a yellow edge. Frances bought it and continued to grow it in her garden.
Years later, Frances hosta ended up in the hands of Professor George Robinson at Oxford. Frances had labeled the plant FRW 383. When the professor couldn't remember what Frances had labeled the plant, he simply called it hosta Frances Williams.
Frances's work with hosta helped the newly-formed American Hosta Society. After she died in 1969, a hosta garden was planted in her memory at MIT.
1886 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish-born botanist and author John Goldie. He led an extraordinary life.
He started as an apprentice at the Glasgow Botanic Garden. As a young man, another botanist bumped him off what was to be his first plant exploration. However, the botanical gods were smiling on him. The expedition was doomed when most of the party died from coast fever along the Congo River.
Two years later, William Hooker encouraged John to travel to North America. He started in Montreal and made his way down the Hudson River to New York. He wrote that he carried as many botanical specimens "as his back would carry."
On June 25, 1819, John was in Toronto. When he reached the east side of the Rouge River, John wrote in his journal of the wildflowers and especially the Penstemon hirsutus ("her-SUE-tis") that was growing on the east slope of the riverbank. John was astounded by the beauty and of seeing so much Penstemon in "such a quantity of which I never expected to see in one place."
During John's incredible walking tour of Canada, he discovered a yellow variety of pitcher plant as well as a rare orchid named Calypso bulbosa. He also encountered the Prairie buttercup. John was the first person to describe Prairie buttercup.
The name for the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, is from the Latin term Ranunculus which means "little frog." The name was first bestowed on the plant family by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder. The name Ranunculus, which I like to call the Ranunculaceae, is in reference to these mostly aquatic plants that tend to grow in natural frog habitat.
After his North American tour, John returned to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens, and for five years, he trained an eager young apprentice and fellow Scottsman named David Douglas. When Douglas met an early death, John planted a Douglas-Fir next to his house to remember his young friend.
After John discovered the giant wood fern, Hooker called it Dryopteris goldieana in his honor, and it earned the name Goldie's woodfern.
John worked tirelessly, and he recorded a total of fourteen plant species previously unknown to science. In 1844, John ended up settling with his family in Canada. He brought them to Ontario - a place he had especially enjoyed during his botanical expeditions.
Unearthed Words
Here are some wonderful thoughts about simply being in the garden.
I love my garden, and I love working in it. To potter with green growing things, watching each day to see the dear, new sprouts come up, is like taking a hand in creation, I think. Just now, my garden is like faith - the substance of things hoped for.
― Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author, Anne's House of Dreams
Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful!' and sitting in the shade.
― Rudyard Kipling, English journalist and poet
It takes a while to grasp that not all failures are self-imposed, the result of ignorance, carelessness, or inexperience. It takes a while to grasp that a garden isn't a testing ground for character and to stop asking, what did I do wrong? Maybe nothing.
— Eleanor Perenyi, gardener and author
She keeps walking, so I keep following, making our way down a stone path that leads to a set of tiered gardens. It is magical back here, garden after garden, the first filled with herbs like Mama grows, rosemary and lavender and mint and sage. Beyond that is a rose garden. There must be fifty rose bushes in it, all with different-colored blooms. We keep walking, down to the third tier, where there are tended beds like Daddy's vegetable patch in our backyard.
"Look at this," Keisha says.
She stands beside row upon row of little green plants with thick green leaves. She kneels beside one of them and pulls back a leaf. There are small red strawberries growing underneath. She picks one and hands it to me. I've never eaten a strawberry that tastes like this before. It's so rich, with juice like honey. It's nothing like the ones Mama buys at Kroger.
― Susan Rebecca White, author, A Place at the Table
Grow That Garden Library
Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening by Carol Wall
This book came out in 2015, and the subtitle is: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart.
People Magazine said,
"In this profoundly moving memoir, Owita teaches Wall how to find grace amid heartbreak and to accept that beauty exists because it is fleeting—as in her garden, as in life."
Oprah.com said,
"With her children grown and out of the house, Carol Wall is obsessed—perhaps overly so—with ripping out her azaleas. That is until she meets a certain Giles Owita, Kenyan gardener, supermarket bagger, general-life philosopher, and perhaps one of the most refined and gracious characters to ever hit the page (except that he's real)… A warning for the shy: The basic goodness of Owita's attitude may cause you to beam spontaneously as you read, leading to off looks from strangers at the coffee shop."
This book is 320 pages of gardening goodness - growing both plants and lovely friendship.
You can get a copy of Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening by Carol Wall and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $20.
Today's Botanic Spark
Since we are in full-on pesto-making mode, I wanted to share a recipe that I discovered called Radish, Salmon, and Radish Green Salsa Verde Toasts by Amy Scattergood.
Radish-Green Salsa Verde
2 cups radish greens, from approximately 2 bunches, chopped
1 cup cilantro
1/ 2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
Salt
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
Zest and juice from 1 orange
In a food processor or blender, combine the radish greens, cilantro, oil, garlic, a pinch of salt (or to taste), lemon zest and juice, and orange zest and juice. Blend until smooth. This makes about 1 1 / 2 cups salsa verde.
Assembly
4 ounces crème fraîche
4 slices whole wheat or country white bread, toasted
4 ounces smoked salmon, more if desired
1 cup thinly sliced radishes
Prepared salsa verde
Divide the crème fraîche among the toasted bread slices, spreading it evenly over each piece. Top with the salmon, followed by the radish slices. Drizzle or spoon over the salsa verde and serve immediately. -
Today we remember the kind Harvard botanist who was a friend of Darwin.
Larkspur and Nigella Morning Glory Portulaca ("Port-you-LAKE-ah") Rose Moss Annual sunflowers Achillea (yarrow)("Ack-ah-LEE-ah) Silphium ("SILL-fee-um) Cup Plant Helianthemum ("HE-LEE-anthemum") Rock Rose Rudbeckia black-eyed Susan Echinacea Coneflower Ratibida ("RAH-tib-it-ah") Grey-headed Coneflower Asters Dianthus Euphorbias Foxgloves Sempervivum Sedum Tulips Mulleins Bearded Iris Lilacs
We'll also learn about the botanist who specialized in South American flora and found the Cinchona tree: the source of quinine.
We salute the pioneer of the study of allelopathy - when one plant species releases chemical compounds that affect another plant species.
We also recognize the man who transformed the springtime landscape at the beautiful Magnolia Gardens.
We honor the first woman to attend Cornell University's school of forestry.
Today's Unearthed Words feature a poem called The Sleep of Seeds.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about the "Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation"; learn how to grow whatever you want, whenever you want.
And then we'll wrap things up with a delightful story about a horticulture teacher.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
16 Drought Tolerant Plants to Grow in Your Garden | Ken Druse | Garden Design
“Drought-tolerant plants can be identified just by looking at them or feeling or smelling their bruised foliage. Many fragrant herbs, for example, are drought-tolerant.”
Have you ever tried drying flowers?
Successfully drying one of your favorite flowers is such a joy.
Some flowers look even better when they are dried.
There are many options for drying flowers; air drying is the simplest. Then, of course, there's pressing.
If you've never tried sand drying a bloom, you should give it a shot. Just fill a microwave-safe container with a layer of silica sand. Put the flower on top of the sand and then bury the bloom in the sand. Place the bloom along with a cup of water in the microwave. Heat in microwave in 30-second increments. Your flower should be dried in 2-3 minutes.
Another step you can take in your flower-drying hobby is to prepare a spot in your garden shed, garage, pantry, or kitchen for drying flowers.
Repurpose a pot rack or do something simple like string some twine between some eye hooks. Sometimes just creating space can inspire you to take some cuttings and bring beautiful blooms indoors. One of my favorite pictures from my garden is a single row of hydrangea cuttings drying upside down in my kitchen. Bliss.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1909 Today is the birthday of Cornelius Herman ("Neil") Muller, the American botanist and ecologist.
Cornelius pioneered the study of allelopathy ("ah-la-LOP-OH-thee"). Allelopathy occurs when one plant species releases chemical compounds that affect another plant species.
Most gardeners know that black walnut is an example of allelopathy. In addition to the roots, black walnut trees store allelopathic chemicals in their buds, in the hulls of the walnuts, and their leaves.
1917 Today is the birthday of John Drayton Hastie of Magnolia Gardens.
The Drayton family has lived on the plantation on the banks of the Ashley River since the 1670s.
Magnolia Gardens is often regarded as one of the most staggeringly beautiful places in the entire South. And it's worth noting that it was built on the backs of slaves.
The journalist Charles Kuralt once wrote about Magnolia Gardens. He said,
“By 1900, the Baedeker guide to the United States listed three must-see attractions: the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Magnolia Gardens.
Maybe because I am a sucker for 300-year-old live oak trees hung with Spanish moss and for azaleas and camellias and dogwoods and for Cherokee roses growing on fences — I think I’d put Magnolia Gardens first on that list.”
Representing the 9th generation of the Drayton Family at Magnolia Gardens, John Drayton Hastie was a passionate plantsman. He knew and loved all of the winding brick paths and the thousands of specimens at Magnolia Gardens - including the Middleton Oak, which measured over 12 feet in diameter.
And John knew all about the history of the gardens. In 1840, Magnolia Gardens was home to the first azaleas ever planted in America. John often said that it was the successful cultivation of azaleas at Magnolia Gardens that led to the desire for the spring bloomer all across the south - from Charleston to Mobile. And the oldest azalea at Magnolia Gardens is the Indicia from Holland.
John lived through some challenging times at Magnolia. After Hurricane Hugo ripped through Magnolia Gardens, John was optimistic saying,
“There [were] some advantages, not that I wanted them… [Before the hurricane], we had trouble getting sunlight. Now I'll be able to plant more roses and perennials."
Magnolia Gardens is where you'll find the Audobon Swamp Garden. It takes almost an hour to walk through, and it is a feast for the senses. The black water swamp is swaddled by hundreds of Black Cypress and teaming with wildlife from alligators and large turtles to herons and bald eagles.
In addition to the swamp, Magnolia Gardens has a Biblical Garden and huge maze that was inspired by the maze at England's Hampton Court to honor Henry VIII.
Through most of the 20th century, John Drayton Hastie and his wife were the friendly and knowledgeable hosts to the over 150,000 guests and tourists that visited the property every year.
Today, Magnolia Gardens is run by a nonprofit foundation that was established in 1985. And, John's grandson, Taylor, is writing a new chapter for Magnolia Gardens. Beginning in the early 2000s, Taylor worked to begin what experts called "the most ambitious" effort to unearthed the records and history of plantation slavery. The Magnolia Plantation Foundation funded the creation of a free online website and database dedicated to African American genealogy and history in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida called Lowcountry Africana.
Before John Drayton Hastie died as an old man, he'd already experienced a brush with death. Almost 70 years earlier (in 1933), when John was 15 years old, he went camping with some friends on Morris Island. And, at some point, the boys went for a swim in the ocean. John was standing near the shore in about two feet of water when a shark attacked him. The shark bit John on both legs. Somehow John managed to free himself. His buddies brought him to Fort Moultrie, where the medical staff was astounded by the severity of his wounds. John made a full recovery at a Charleston Hospital.
After John died in 2002, his remains were placed within an oak tree at Magnolia Garden. Today, there is a marker by the Drayton Oak which reads:
“Within this Oak, planted three centuries ago in the original Magnolia Plantation Garden by his ancestor, Thomas Drayton Jr., of Barbados, are interred the remains of John Drayton Hastie whose later life was devoted to continuing the Horticultural efforts of eight generations of family predecessors, and to transforming their springtime garden into one of beauty for all seasons. “
1938 The St. Cloud Times runs a story about a Miss Louise Klein Miller.
Louise, at the age of 84, was retiring as supervisor of Cleveland's Memorial Gardens - after supervising them for over a quarter of a century.
The first woman to attend Cornell University's school of forestry, Louise became the landscape architect for Cleveland schools; she was the only female landscape architect working in an extensive city school system.
Collinwood is a neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland. On Ash Wednesday, March 4, 1908, the Collinwood school fire became one of the country's biggest tragedies.
The school had only two exits. The construction created a chimney effect; the school became a fire trap. Almost half of the children in the building died.
In 1910, Louise planned the Memorial Gardens to honor the 172 children, two teachers, and one rescuer who died in the blaze.
The year before, in 1909, the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation that,
"a memorial should stand in perpetuity to honor those who lost their lives in this school fire tragedy.”
The Collinwood memorial is a large square planting bed that is rimmed with 3.5-foot walls made of concrete that is tiled. The plantable area of the memorial measures roughly 20' x 40'. There's also a deep bench around the perimeter, and the walls are slanted to make seating more comfortable. The downside is that the bench and the scale of the raised bed make access to the planting area is sometimes very challenging.
During Louise's era, students grew flowers in a school greenhouse for the Memorial.
Over 70 years, the garden fell into neglect. 2018 was the 110th Anniversary of the Collinwood School Fire; there have been a few attempts to make sure that the garden continues to be a meaningful memorial. The struggle to maintain the Memorial continues.
In July of 1910, there was an article in the Santa Cruz newspaper that described the new memorial garden - which at the time included a large lily pond:
"There was a poet who said he sometimes thought that never blows so red the rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every hyacinth the garden wears, drops in her lap from some once lovely head.
Then there will never be lilies so fair as those that will bloom in the lily pond that is to be on the site of the Collinwood school."
Unearthed Words
It didn't rain all summer.
Instead of water, my father used prayer
for his garden. Despite his friends' laughter,
he planted spinach and lettuce,
countless rows of cucumbers
in beds lined up meticulously
ignoring old people's warnings
about the drought.
Every afternoon, he pushed his hat back,
wiped off his sweat,
and looked up at the empty sky, the sun scorching
the acacia trees shriveling in the heat.
In July, the ground looked like cement.
Like the ruins of a Roman thermal bath,
it kept the vestiges of a lost order,
traces of streams long gone.
He yelled at me to step back
from the impeccable architecture
of climbing green beans,
the trellis for tomatoes,
although there was nothing to be seen,
no seedlings, no tendrils,
not even weeds,
just parched, bare ground—
as if I were disturbing
the hidden sleep of seeds.
— Lucia Cherciu "Lew-chee-AH CARE-chew", poet, Edible Flowers, The Sleep of Seeds
Grow That Garden Library
Making More Plants by Ken Druse
This book came out in 2012, and the subtitle is The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation.
Druse says that propagation—the practice of growing whatever you want, whenever you want—is gardening itself.
In this book, Druse shares his proven techniques to expand the plants in your garden. This book has over 500 photos to help you practice the steps of propagating successfully.
The book is 256 pages of propagation demystified - all shared to help you learn the steps and tools necessary to create more plants. What gardener doesn't want more plants?
You can get a copy of Making More Plants by Ken Druse and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $30.
Today's Botanic Spark
While researching Louise Klein Miller, I ran across a delightful story about her time teaching horticulture:
"Louise had been telling a crowd of pupils about the different insects that attack plants and warned them, especially against the malevolent San Jose scale. She suggested that they go to the school library and get a book about it and read of Its habits and the remedy for checking its career.
One young woman went to the librarian the next morning and said she wanted something about the San Jose scale.
Without even looking up from her desk, the Librarian said, ‘Go to the music department.’” -
Today we remember the creation of legislation that turned 778 acres of land into a beloved park in New York City.
We'll also learn about the State Flower of Maine - it's the only floral emblem that does not produce a blossom.
We salute the Swarthmore ("SWATH-more") College alumni and horticulturist who created a magnificent garden at their home known as Todmorden ("Todd-MORE-din").
We'll also read some poems that celebrate the new habits we cultivate in the summer.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about authors and their gardens - love this topic.
And then we'll wrap things up with an old article about rose care during the heat of the summer.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
And I celebrate my dad's 78th birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Heights Garden Club: Hosting a Successful Tour During a Pandemic Pt 1 | Ravenscourt Gardens
Here's an excerpt:
“This June we had the opportunity to do a garden tour in a large residential garden.
We took several precautions, starting with using SignUpGenius to take reservations in half-hour increments. We extended tour hours from one to two. We required everyone check-in, wear a mask, and use social distancing while in the garden.”
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1853 On this day, the legislation that created Central Park passed.
Central Park was allowed 778 acres of land and was created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux ("Vox"). The Park was inspired by England's Birkenhead Park, which was created by Joseph Paxton.
And there were many wonderful firsts that happened during the construction fo the Park. Vaux first coined the term landscape architect while working on the Park. And Olmsted imagined a gathering place for all social classes, a place where everyone could come together and enjoy nature. And, it was after Olmsted's work on Central Park as well as Boston's Emerald Necklace, Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, that Olmsted became known as America's Park-maker.
Now, as with any project, the development of Central Park hit some speed bumps. For instance, the American architect Richard Morris Hunt clashed with Olmsted and Vaux over his design for one of the entrances to the Park. Although Hunt had won a competition to design the southern entrance, Olmsted and Vaux balked when they saw Hunt's plan.
You see, Hunt had designed this very elaborate grand entrance - something he called the Gate of Peace. It included a circular fountain within a square parterre. But the most magnificent part of his plan was a semi-circular terrace complete with a 50-foot column. At the base of the column, there was going to be a monument to Henry Hudson. And then, the pool around it would feature Neptune in his chariot and Henry Hudson standing on the prowl of a ship.
Hunt really believed the public would embrace his grand vision and so he decided to promote his designs for the Park all on his own. But Hunt did not appreciate Vaux's power to squelch his idea. Although privately, Vaux said that Hunt's plans were "splendid and striking,"; publicly, he told a friend they were, "what the country had been fighting against... Napoleon III in disguise all over." Vaux summarized that Hunt's designs were "not American, but the park was."
Ironically, in 1898, a memorial to Richard Morris Hunt was installed in Central Park. It's located on the eastern perimeter of the Park, and it was created by the same man who created the monument to Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French.
Today, Central Park is also home to Strawberry Fields, a two and ½ acre garden memorial dedicated to the memory of John Lennon.
Yoko Ono and Lennon used to enjoy strolls through that section of Central Park after they moved to the Dakota building. After Lennon was shot, Ono came up with the idea for the memorial.
During the installation of the memorial, Ono said,
"It is our way of taking a sad song and making it better."
Now initially, the concept called for every nation to donate a remembrance tree to Strawberry Fields. But soon, Ono and the New York City Parks and Recreation Commission found themselves dealing with trees that couldn't grow in a northern climate.
So, they made a second request: Send us some trees for Strawberry Fields. This time, when they sent the request, they did something very smart. They sent some instructions and tips about what trees would survive New York winters. Now that second request brought 150 specimens from countries around the world. For instance, England sent an English Oak tree, Canada, a Maple tree.
But there was one notable exception to the list of countries that sent trees, and it was the United States. Sadly, the Reagan White House never acknowledged the request.
And, in case you're wondering, the Strawberry Fields memorial was made possible by a $1 million donation from Yoko Ono to the city. It didn't cost taxpayers a dime.
1945 On this day, the White Pine Xone and Tassel (Pinus strobus) were named the Maine State Flower on July 21, 1945.
And here's a little-known fact about Maine's selection: Maine is the only state with a floral emblem that does not produce a blossom.
And, I thought you would enjoy this little post from The New England Farmer. They shared the story of how the White Pine Cone came to be the State Flower:
"Mrs. Jane Dingley is the state chairman of the Maine floral emblem society, and … said [although] the apple blossom would make a fine appearance in a garland,... it withers and falls the day it is born and can hardly represent the enduring nature of our state.
Goldenrod is perhaps the most widespread of all Maine's flowers, but … the petals are so fine it would make an indistinct blur in the hands of the engraver.
The grand old pine, however, has none of these faults. It is green and beautiful in summer and winter.
So there you go; Mrs. Jane Dingley was making her case for the White Pine.
And as luck would have it, the Maine state pomological society also agreed with Jane:
"We should select the pine as our floral emblem on account of its historical value. It was the pine tree that made our state; it was the great giants and monarchs of the forest that attracted the king of England to this country. He sent out his emissaries to select them for his masts."
Of course, what they mean is that England used the White Pines to build their ships.
And if you're confused by that term Monarch of the Forest, listen to this: The Eastern White Pine (Pinaceae Pinus strobus) is regarded as the largest conifer in the northeastern United States. It's often referred to as the Monarch of the North.
1960 Today is the anniversary of the death of the heiress and horticulturist Edith Wilder Scott.
When Edith was a young woman, she met and fell in love with Arthur Scott at Swarthmore College. Arthur, by the way, invented the throw-away paper towel and was the heir of the Scott Paper Company. After their wedding, the young couple toured New Zealand on a year-long honeymoon.
In the early 1900s, Arthur and Edith bought an old ramshackle country club in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia), and they turned it into their home. They christened their new place Todmorden Farm. And, today it is on National Register of Historic Places.
Both Edith and Arthur loved horticulture, and they surrounded Todmorden with gardens. Together they had a special love for lilacs, iris, peonies, and rhododendrons. In fact, Arthur helped found the American Peony Society and was an active member of the American Iris Society. Arthur believed that,
"If a person was interested in horticulture and loved flowers, then he had to be a good man."
Like her husband, Arthur, Edith hybridized many of the plants on their property, which resulted in many awards and medals for her. For her success with horticulture, Edith became a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania in 1950. And she was also bestowed with an honorary degree by Swarthmore College.
In 1929, after Arthur died, Edith worked to establish the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College in her husband's honor.
The current arboretum director, Claire Sawyers, said that Edith wanted the arboretum to display ornamental plants that plant lovers could study and learn from. Today, the arboretum contains several plant specimens named for the Scotts, and it also specializes in teaching horticulture by visual demonstration - one of the best ways to learn. And at the time of its creation, the arboretum curator Andrew Bunting added:
"Perhaps Scott's true passion was plants, not paper."
And there's one final sidenote about Arthur Scott that is particularly relevant today: his reason for inventing the paper towel - which was featured in his obituary:
"In the early 1900s, there was a severe flu epidemic in Philadelphia. Arthur heard that a teacher had cut paper for her students to blow their noses on, so he invented a throw-away paper towel. This story was told to the family by Arthur's daughter and the resulting invention is supported by his patent application #US1141495 of Nov. 10, 1910 (issued June 1, 1915). It noted,
'My object is to embody in the towel, cleanliness and antiseptic qualities, coupled with such cheapness that the towel may be destroyed after use. The towels are preferably formed in rolls, so that only one towel at a time may be exposed and detached, the roll form in which the towels are arranged acting to protect the unused towels from absorbing moisture and gases from the atmosphere.'
This is how the paper towel was first marketed as a medical device for sanitation purposes.
The inventions of the paper towel and throw away ScotTissues were two of the most important contributions to our health. Encouraging the washing of hands by providing a disposable towel, minimized the spreading of germs and a multitude of diseases."
Unearthed Words
Here are some thoughts about the new habits we cultivate in the summer.
Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.
— Sam Keen, American author and professor
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist and writer, Bed in Summer
Grow That Garden Library
Philosophy in the Garden by Damon Young
This book came out in April of 2020, and it explores the relationships between "relationships: authors and their gardens. "
The Daily Telegraph said,
“This is a gardening book that takes readers not on a walk around great estates but on a tour of great minds…It's a lovely extension on the notion that gardens make you contemplative and in working with the soil you see life's big picture.”
The book is 208 pages of authors and their gardens. For example:
“Why did Marcel Proust (“Proost”) have bonsai beside his bed?
What was Jane Austen doing, coveting an apricot?
How was Friedrich Nietzsche inspired by his ‘thought tree’?”
You can get a copy of Philosophy in the Garden by Damon Young and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $11.
Today's Botanic Spark
1951 Today the Lancaster Era newspaper out of Lancaster Pennsylvania reported on rose care during the heat of the summer.
Here's an excerpt:
“Hot Summer weather is not a serious problem to healthy rose plants as long as a regular schedule of care is followed. Giving roses an adequate water supply is probably the prime responsibility during these hot dry periods. A plentiful supply of water is important to keep up the blooming rate and growth and to build energy which will mean better plants next year.
...The best method is to let the hose slowly trickle over a board at the base of the plants. … An important thing to remember is to avoid wetting the foliage of rose plants when watering the beds since this practice often contributes to the spread of fungus diseases. Naturally, a good damp soil attracts weeds, but these unwelcome guests may be discouraged by mulching with … composted grass clippings, buckwheat hulls, ground corn cobs, or other available material.“ -
Today we remember the beloved botanist who served on Captain Cook's third South Seas trip.
We'll also learn about the Austrian botanist and monk who pioneered the study of heredity.
We celebrate the usefulness of daylilies.
We also honor the life of a young man who was killed paying his florist bill and the life of the garden writer who wrote for The New Yorker.
We'll hear some poems that highlight the Garden as a sanctuary, a holy place to heal and be refreshed.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about Gardening in Your Front Yard - it's packed with ideas and projects for big and small spaces. It's an idea that is gaining popularity and acceptance thanks to stay-at-home orders and physical distancing - one of the positive effects of dealing with the pandemic.
And then we'll wrap things up with remembering Katharine Stuart and the people who loved her the most.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Unconventional Wisdom: 8 Revolutionary Ideas for Your Garden from Thomas Rainer - Gardenista
"When you meet landscape architect Thomas Rainer he comes across as a pleasant, mild-mannered fellow… not at all the type to be traveling around the world, as he does, spouting revolutionary ideas calculated to upend years and years of conventional gardening wisdom. As he writes in his preface to Planting in a Post-Wild World, the 2015 book he wrote with Claudia West, his ideas come from his time as a boy in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, where he spent countless happy hours roaming a stretch of indigenous Piedmont forest near his home."
This article reveals a list of Thomas's dos and don'ts for growing an earth-friendly garden that he says produces better results with less work. Here's a high-level overview - be sure to read the article for the full scoop.
1. Amending the Soil: Don't
2. Double Digging: Don't
3. Soil Testing: Do
4. Mulching: Don't
5. Planting Cover Crops: Do
6. Curbside Planting: Do
7. Buying A Lot of Plants: Do
8. Experimenting and Having Fun: Do
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1789 Today is the anniversary of the death of the British botanist David Nelson.
David served as the botanist on Captain Cook's third South Seas trip; William Bligh was the Sailing Master.
After gathering many new specimens, David spent the bulk of his time caring for over 500 breadfruit plants that Bligh was transporting to the West Indies.
Breadfruit is a reference to the texture of the cooked fruit, which is similar to freshly baked bread. And, breadfruit tastes like potato.
A likable fellow, David had traveled on another expedition with Captain Charles Clerke of the ship Discovery, who said David was "one of the quietest fellows in nature."
As you might recall, the Captain Cook expedition suffered a mutiny on April 28, 1789. For his protection, David was kept below deck and under guard.
David decided to go with William Bligh and his followers to Timor. The 3,500-mile voyage was grueling, and David died on this day, just 54 days after the mutiny.
David's death was a blow to Bligh and his crew. To honor this mild man of botany, Bligh conferred full naval honors for his funeral service.
Three years later, Captain Bligh visited Tasmania. He named "Nelson's Hill," the highest point on the island, in David's honor. Today Mount Nelson is the Hobart location of Tasmania University.
1822 Today is the birthday of the Austrian botanist and monk Gregor Mendel.
Gregor discovered the basic principles of heredity through his experiments with peas in his garden at the Augustinian monastery that he lived in at Brno ("BURR-no") in the Czech Republic.
Or, as I like to tell the kids, Gregor learned about heredity when he gave peas a chance. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)
During a seven-year period in the mid-1800s, Gregor grew nearly 30,000 pea plants, and he took note of everything: their height and shape and color. And, his work resulted in what we now know as the Laws of Heredity, and to this day, most kids study this in school. And it was Gregor who came up with all of the genetic terms and terminology that we still use today, like dominant and recessive genes.
1960 On this day, the Chicago Tribune ran an article about the daylily, saying that they were "tops" in usefulness.
Here are some highlights:
"Because they combine exquisite charm with extreme hardiness, daylilies are without doubt nature's most useful flower...
Their usefulness derives from their ability to thrive lustily under virtually any circumstances, which makes them particularly adaptable to so-called problem areas where the gardener may have experienced difficulty growing other flowers.
For the weekend-gardener with a large tract to work, daylilies are the answer for far corners which ...never [get attended] to. The abundant foliage [of the daylily] will tend to keep the areas free from weeds, too."
1974 On this day, the IRA murdered Brian Shaw. Brian was just 21 years old when he was killed. A former soldier, Brian, had become a truck driver and had just married a girl from Belfast. Two weeks after their wedding, Brian disappeared when he went to pay the florist bill for flowers they had used at his wedding. And poignantly, the bill was still in his pocket when his body was found.
1977 Today is the anniversary of the death of the garden writer Katharine White.
Now, Katharine was married to Andy - but most of us probably know him as E.B. White, the author of three beloved children's books, Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970).
In the early 1930s, Katharine and Andy bought a farmhouse in North Brooklin, Maine. By the end of the decade, they left their place in New York for good and moved to the farmhouse permanently.
It was Katharine White who once wrote:
"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."
Katharine began writing garden pieces for The New Yorker in 1958.
In 1979, Katharine's book Onward and Upward in the Garden was edited and published posthumously by her husband, Andy. Gardeners especially enjoy Andy's tenderly written preface to his gardener wife. Anatole Broyard gushed about Katharine's book in his review saying,
"It is itself a bouquet; the final blooming of an extraordinary sensibility."
Now, Katharine carried on a marvelous correspondence with another garden writer: Elizabeth Lawrence. And, their letters convey a warmth and curiosity that I thought you would find delightful:
July 2, 1958 [Katharine to Elizabeth]
Dear Miss Lawrence,
I am in New York for the moment, so it was on my desk here at The New Yorker that I found today your book, "The Little Bulbs"... Already I have dipped into it with delight. I shall carry it back with me to Maine next week and study it and consult it ... for years...
The varieties [of bulbs] I have established ...are the obvious ones I'm afraid: the two colors of scylla, snowdrops, snowflakes, crocuses, white and blue grape hyacinths, and among the small tulips only Clusiana and Kaufmanniana. Your book will help me to expand, I hope…
June 15, 1959
Dear Elizabeth,
Here I am back again with a question, in spite of my promises.
...Do you know the address of Jan de Graaff, and does de Graaff bring out a catalog? I have been studying the lily offerings for the autumn of this year and every one of them, both in specialists' catalogs and in those of the big nurseries, of course, brags of lilies from the great de Graaff.
P.S. It is 48 degrees here today and has been this for 48 hours. Discouraging. (Note the date!)
October 8, 1959
Dear Elizabeth,
Speaking of gourds, for the first time, my small decorative gourds did not mature in time for me to wax and polish them while watching the World Series. I am a baseball fan; I hate to confess — and I have loved baseball since I was a child.
November 1959 Friday morning
Dear Katharine,
I don't know anything about modern flowers that have lost their fragrance.
I think some hybrid roses are as sweet as old ones. At the fall flower show, I was intoxicated by the scent of one flower of Sutter's Gold...
How in the world do you accomplish all you do?
I have been interrupted five times since I came to my desk an hour ago, the last by a friend who wouldn't take the plants I offered on a day I was in the garden and would like to have them right now. I told her to come on. If she doesn't, she will choose a still worse time.
Aren't those letters magnificent?
You can read all of Katharine and Elizabeth's letters in detail in a wonderful book called Two Gardeners: Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence--A Friendship in Letters by Emily Herring Wilson.
After Katharine died, her husband Andy sent a little verse he had written to their close friends and family. It said simply:
To all who loved my lovely wife.
To all who spoke their sorrow,
I send this printed card of thanks
so l can face tomorrow.
I'd hoped to write a full reply
To each, to say "I love you."
But I'll reveal the sticky truth:
There's just too many of you.
Unearthed Words
Here are some inspiring verses that highlight the Garden as a sanctuary, a holy place to heal, and be refreshed.
God made a beauteous garden
With lovely flowers strown,
But one straight, narrow pathway
That was not overgrown.
And to this beauteous garden
He brought mankind to live,
And said "To you, my children,
These lovely flowers I give.
Prune ye my vines and fig trees,
With care my flowers tend,
But keep the pathway open
Your home is at the end.
― Robert Frost, American poet, God's Garden
If words are seeds,
let flowers grow
from your mouth,
not weeds.
If hearts are gardens,
plant those flowers
in the chest of the ones
who exist around you.
— R.H. Swaney, American poet
For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum and bee;
For all things fair we hear or see;
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet
Grow That Garden Library
Shrubs by Andy McIndoe ("MAC-IN-doe")
This book came out in February of 2019, and the subtitle is Discover the Perfect Plant for Every Place in Your Garden.
Gardens Illustrated said this about Andy's book,
"McIndoe is a devoted and knowledgeable ambassador for shrubs…His advice is clear, practical, and honest: the sort of counsel every gardener needs. The book will be an invaluable addition not only to the bookcases of gardeners but also those of garden designers seeking to broaden their plant palette."
This is one of my favorite books on shrubs, and it's 337 pages of fabulous photos and detailed shrub profiles - all shared with today's gardener in mind.
You can get a copy of Shrubs by Andy McIndoe and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $14.
Today's Botanic Spark
After researching Katharine White, I discovered some touching correspondence that occurred between her husband, Andy, (the author of Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web), and her friend and fellow garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence.
In July 1979, Elizabeth wrote to Andy about Katharine's book (after Katharine died):
Dear Andy,
Thank you for having the publisher send me Onward and Upward (it really is). I have been re-reading and re-reading ever since, with great pleasure and great sorrow. I can't bear not [being] able to tell Katharine what a wonderful book [she wrote]…
[I am writing] to ask for permission to quote a paragraph from a letter you wrote to me [a while ago. You wrote:]
"Katharine just spent three days in bed, in pain, caused by aback injury brought on by leaning far out over a flower bed to pick one spring bloom— the daffodil Supreme. It seems a heavy price to pay for one small flower. But when she is in her garden, she is always out of control. I do not look for any change, despite her promises."
I am not sure about your [species], whether it is the daffodil supreme, or the daffodil Supreme, Rijnveld, 1947, 3a. But I don't think it likely that any Observer will know the difference. I thought the paragraph fits in with your loving introduction [to Onward and Upward in the Garden].
[...] I am having a miserable time trying to say something worthy of the book in the space allotted to me.
Aff, Elizabeth
On March 24, 1980, Andy concluded a letter back to Elizabeth with these words:
Tired snow still lies about, here and there, in the brownfields, and my house will never look the same again since the death of the big elm that overhung it. Nevertheless, I manfully planted (as a replacement) a young elm. It is all of five-and-a-half feet high.
By Katharine's grave, I planted an oak. This is its second winter in the cemetery, her third.
Yrs,
Andy
Five years later, Andy died at home in Maine. He is buried next to Katharine in the Brooklin Cemetery.
-
Today we celebrate the decoupage botanical artist that left her mark on botanical history.
We'll also learn about a Louisiana botanist, naturalist and author who lived in a home called Briarwood.
We salute the English poet who was killed in WWI - he appreciated the pure beauty of flowers.
We also recognize one of Canada's leading botanists - he was 90 years old when he died on this day 100 years ago.
We honor July with a beautiful poem called Keeping July.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that inspired kids to cook with their garden harvest, and it's part of the best-selling American Girl cooking series.
And then we'll wrap things up with the Landscape Architect who fought to have a tree instead of a parking meter in front of his office building.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
Apple|Google|Spotify|Stitcher|iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
Ann-Marie Powell talks lockdown and sharing her garden.
"No one is more surprised at the success of her lockdown project than Ann-Marie Powell. The popularity of her daily Instagram Live posts from her garden is, she says, simply astonishing.
Begun on day one of lockdown and broadcast every day since, the My Real Garden account now has more than 9,500 followers, making it more successful than her official design Instagram feed. In fact, it's become such a part of her life she's planning to keep it going even as lockdown eases.
Ann-Marie has turned a corner of her garden into a studio. The award-winning designer and RHS judge started the My Real Garden feed after being inundated with requests for gardening advice from friends as Britain went into lockdown. Someone suggested she put the advice online and base it on her own Hampshire garden, which had been sadly neglected while her house was done up.
'My garden was literally full of weeds because it had not been looked after for two years. I like to be doing so I thought it'll motivate me, it'll be like a bit of a diary and if I put it out there that I've got to do it. I didn't realize that so many people would be interested!'
Broadcast live every lunchtime, My Real Garden followed Ann-Marie, who trained at Capel Manor, as she shaped her lawn, planted fruit and chose plants for shady spots. There's been advice on watering and deadheading to keep summer displays going."
My Real Garden reaches its 100th consecutive broadcast today, July 1, and will now become a twice-weekly rather than daily event with the Sunday Social at 12.30 BST and the new Wine and Water Wednesday at 7 pm when followers will join Ann-Marie to water their gardens with wine in hand.
'My Real Garden' will continue twice a week on Instagram Live
Although she's done television in the past, it's the freedom of the Instagram Live that Ann-Marie has loved: 'It's been really lovely just being in charge of what I say. I can be as silly as I want, have a bit of a laugh, and God knows, haven't we needed to have a laugh.'
And she’s made virtual friends from as far away as Canada, Belgium and Detroit.
'It's just been amazing to just have this nurturing, lively, thriving community of like-minded people.'
You can follow My Real Garden on Instagram at @myrealgarden, and there's more information on the website."
What's the Difference Between Oregano and Marjoram?
If you've grown both, you know they look quite similar, and they are often confused for one another. But, when it comes to flavor and taste, it is easy to tell them apart.
Oregano tends to be earthy, pungent, and spicy. It can easily overpower the other flavors in a dish. To subdue the pungency, cooks recommend using the dried form of oregano.
On the other hand, marjoram is milder. Use that alliteration to help you remember, Mild Marjoram. Marjoram's flavor is more refined; it's floral and woodsy. Because marjoram is sweeter and milder, chefs recommend using fresh marjoram instead of dried marjoram for cooking.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1744 On this day, the botanical tissue paper decoupage artist Mary Delaney wrote to her sister about her garden.
Mary Delaney had an extraordinary life. Her family had forced her to marry a sixty-year-old man when she was 17. He was an alcoholic. To make matters worse, when he died, he forgot to include her in his will.
Despite her lack of inheritance, Mary realized that, as a widow, she had much more freedom than she had as a single young lady. In society, she could do as she pleased.
Fate brought fortune for Mary when love came knocking on her door in June 1743. Mary met an Irish doctor named Patrick Delaney. He was also a pastor. Although her family wasn't thrilled with the idea of a second marriage to the son of a servant, Mary did it anyway. She and Patrick moved to his home in Dublin, and his garden was a thing of beauty, which leads us to the letter Mary wrote to her sister on this day in 1744. Mary wrote:
"[The] fields are planted in a wild way, forest trees and … bushes that look so natural... you would not imagine it a work of art ... [There is] a very good kitchen garden and two fruit gardens which ... will afford us a sufficient quantity of everything we can want. There are several prettinesses I can't explain to you — little wild walks, private seats, and lovely prospects. One seat I am particularly fond of [is] in a nut grove, and [there is] a seat in a rock … [that] is placed at the end of a cunning wild path. The brook ... entertains you with a purling rill."
Mary and Patrick were happily married for twenty-five years.
When Patrick died, Mary was widowed again; this time at the age of 68.
But Mary's life was not over.
She hit it off with Margaret Bentinck. Bentinck was the Duchess of Portland, and together they pursued botanical activities. They loved to go out into the fields and collect specimens. It was thanks to the Duchess that Mary got to know Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander.
When Mary was in her early 70s, she took up decoupage - which was all the rage at the time - and she created marvelous depictions of flowers. Today, historians believe Mary probably dissected plants to create her art. Botanists from all over Europe would send her specimens. King George the Third and Queen Charlotte were her patrons. They ordered any curious or beautiful plant to be sent to Mary when in blossom so she could use them to create her art.
Her paper mosaics, as Mary called them, were made out of tissue paper. Mary created almost 1000 pieces of art between the ages of 71 and 88.
If you ever see any of her most spectacular decoupage pieces, you'll be blown away at the thought of them being made from tiny pieces of tissue paper by Mary Delaney in the twilight of her life in the late 1700s.
1888 It's the birthday of the naturalist, botanist, ornithologist, prizewinning horticulturist, painter, archaeologist, historian, author of six books, and a proud daughter of the great state of Louisiana: Caroline Dormon.
Her friends called her "Carrie."
Carrie was a tiny woman; she was also a powerhouse, forming her own opinions and ideas about the natural world.
A traditionalist, Carrie always wore dresses - she thought pants were quite scandalous.
Carrie was born at her family's summer home called Briarwood. It would become her forever home and a national treasure.
In the 1920s, Carrie built a writing cabin at Briarwood she called Three Pines because of the trio of tall pines around it. Carrie told her friends it was a place for daydreams.
By the 1950s, a second cabin was built at Briarwood. Carrie liked to take the screens off the windows every spring so wrens could build nests inside.
At Briarwood, Carrie installed trails through the woods, and she planted hundreds of plants. She even installed a reflecting pool for "Grandpappy" - her name for her favorite tree on the property.
Grandpappy is estimated to be over 300 years old; he's a longleaf pine, and he's still alive today.
And, I thought you would enjoy a story about Grandpappy that Carrie used to share with visitors:
Once a forester wanted to "core" Grandpappy to determine a more exact age for the tree. Carrie stopped him and said, "It's none of your business how old Grandpappy is, or how old I am for that matter."
And that's quintessentially Carrie Dorman, aka the Queen of the Forest Kingdom.
1889 Today is the birthday of the WWI English poet Leslie Coulson who was killed in action at the Battle of Le Transloy, in France.
Coulson wrote:
The gold stalks hide
Bodies of men who died
Charging at dawn through the dew to be killed or to kill.
I thank the gods that the flowers are beautiful still.
1920 Today is the 100th anniversary of the death of one of Canada's leading botanists John Macoun. He was 90 years old when he died.
Here's a little story John shared about growing up in Ireland:
"We had a garden well fenced in. [My mom] encouraged us to spend our idle time in it...I seemed to prefer taking an old knife and going out to the fields and digging up flowers and bringing them in and making a flower garden of my own. I only remember primroses and the wild hyacinth. Another characteristic was the power of seeing. I could find more strawberries and more birds' nests ... than any other boy."
After arriving in Canada, John had started out as a farmer. In 1856, he became a school teacher, partly to nourish his nearly "obsessive" interest in botany, but also to find a more balanced life. John wrote that before teaching,
"I had never had more than one holiday in the year, and that was Christmas Day. [My brother,] Frederick, and I might take a day's fishing in the summer, but an eight-mile walk and scrambling along the river was not very restful."
Within five years, John had begun regular correspondence with prominent botanists like Asa Gray and Sir William Hooker.
In John's autobiography, there are many touching passages about his love of botany. Here's a little glimpse into how he cultivated his understanding of plants:
"I would take a common species of roadside or garden plant of which I knew the name and then immediately endeavor to work out its correct name from the classification. The Mullein was the species that I took first. I found it more difficult than I had thought on account of its long and short stamens, but I soon came to understand the arrangement of the stamens and pistils so well that most plants could be classified by their form alone."
Once, John was approached by his future father-in-law, Simon Terrill, who was a bit skeptical of John's prospects. John wrote,
"Simon Terrill, who was a well-known Quaker in that district, ... found me with a plant in my hand and said: 'John, what dost thee ever expect to make out of the study of botany?' told him that I did not know but that it gave me a great deal of pleasure."
Unearthed Words
Dens of chairs and blankets,
a circus show at home,
lines and nets and rackets,
no-one keeping score.
Eight books each to represent,
a fox in socks surveys,
on July first the power went
and the movie was delayed.
Calves the very height of style
in all their sepia glory,
starlings at the seaside
taking inventory.
Lettuce growing rivalry
in green and purple lines,
questions answered silently,
learning to tell time.
Rapunzel can no longer hide,
rooster calling on repeat,
Gorse clicks and crackles from all sides,
a nineties dance floor beat.
Chippings, pavers, rollers,
our road consolidated,
filling tearing, smokers
keep children fascinated.
A linnet pair on seedy heads,
thrushes gobbling berries,
an old pink paper license,
explaining pounds and pennies.
Old heads of lavender
on thin but sturdy stalks
we edge through the calendar
these days not to recall.
— Joanna O'Sullivan, Irish writer and poet, Keeping July
Grow That Garden Library
Garden to Table by the Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen
This book came out in 2018. It is part of the best-selling American Girl cooking series, and the subtitle is Fresh Recipes to Cook & Share.
This book features recipes from six categories of garden harvests: veggies, herbs, berries, fruits, root vegetables and gourds, and citrus.
The book is 144 pages of over 50 Recipes for kid-friendly dishes highlighting seasonal ingredients from the garden.
You can get a copy of Garden to Table by the Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $9.
Today's Botanic Spark
1933 Today is the birthday of Landscape Architect Robert Fenton who was born in 1933.
Robert was a Harvard grad, and he settled down in Pennsylvania.
While researching Robert, it was impossible to avoid all the newspaper articles that covered a disagreement Robert had with the city of Pittsburgh.
In 1965, Robert was a young, 32-year-old Landscape Architect with an office at 6010 Centre Avenue. Newspaper accounts said he had wanted to "spruce up what he called a drab neighborhood in the East Liberty section." After trying for weeks to get permission to plant a tree in front of his building from the City Forester Earl Blankenship, Robert decided it was better to ask forgiveness, and went ahead with the planting. Robert told reporters that planting the tree was in line with President Johnson's thinking on beautification and that,
"If you try to get anything done through the city, you get, "no, no, no." So we decided to break up the sidewalk and put it in... hoping no one would notice. Unfortunately, the installation accidentally took out a parking meter."
Newspaper accounts shared that,
"In the dead of night, Fenton brought in a high lift, a 15-ton truck, and five men. The tree he had selected was a beauteous 25-foot ash with a five-inch base and it cost Fenton $110 (in 1965). The total project cost Fenton $275."
The city departments took umbrage at Robert's actions. After two weeks of discussions, the City Attorney David Stahl said the tree was cut down and hauled away by City Forester Earl Blankenship in the middle of the night. Robert came to work and was shocked to discover the tree gone, cut down to the ground. Just days earlier, Robert had told town reporters that,
"I think it's going to be so difficult to remove the tree that the city will let it stay and merely warn me not to let it happen again."
Newspaper accounts of this story were super punny:
Tree Goes, City Barks
Citizen on a Limb
Poetic Tale of a Tree Somehow Lacks Meter
A Tree Grew In...Violation
'Woodman Spare That Tree' Cry of Architect Falls on Deaf Ears
City Thinks Meter Lovelier Than Tree
Want Meter There and No Shady Deal
Today, if you look at the same spot on Google Earth, whaddya know? There's a tree growing in front of the building... but there's no parking meter. -
Today we celebrate the English naturalist who kept a journal for almost three decades.
We'll also learn about the famous English novelist who loved to garden.
We salute the father of American landscape architecture and his trip to Gettysburg on this day in 1863.
We also recognize the Spanish woman who pioneered a system of organic gardening known as synergistic gardening.
We'll hear a classic poem for gardeners.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book devoted to the ecology, evolution, and life history of solitary bees - a must-read for gardeners dedicated to learning more about our precious pollinators.
And then we'll wrap things up with a Maxfield Parrish Print that is beloved by gardeners ever since it appeared on the cover of Collier's Magazine.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
Subscribe
Apple|Google|Spotify|Stitcher|iHeart
Gardener Greetings
To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to [email protected]
And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.
Curated News
This Five-Minute Exercise Will Make You a Better Gardener | Mary-Kate Mackey
"Phyllis Helland has a simple process for doing that. Phyllis is a friend of mine who is a home gardener, and also an artist by profession. Every day she spends a few minutes observing and drawing the growth on a single plant.
This is an exercise in seeing, not producing a recognizable sketch. She advises:
'If you think you don't draw well, simply switch to your non-dominant hand. I always see more when I do that because it slows me down. Or use a phone camera instead. That's more of a broad stroke, but it still helps me see. It's like being a little kid again. Kids notice things, and the adults are astonished.'
Now, why would doing this simple exercise help your gardening?
Phyllis says it will raise your awareness of what's growing around you—whether it's those previously unnoticed predacious bugs on the beans or a glorious unplanned flower combination. The daily observations can also deepen your knowledge."
Recently, I've started collecting cuttings from my garden to make my own potpourris and sachets.
Here's is a quote from Eleanor Sinclair-Rhode about this lovely garden pastime:
"No bought potpourri is so pleasant as that made from one's own garden, for the petals of the flowers one has gathered at home hold the sunshine and memories of summer, and of past summers only the sunny days should be remembered."
Do a summer check of all your irrigation systems and repair anything broken.
I sooo wish I would have done this last summer. By the time I discovered a leak, we had a big water problem to address.
In the garden, too much water can be just as harmful as too little. Throw in temperature extremes, and you have a perfect storm - inviting fungal and other diseases, pests, and other problems.
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1720 Today is the birthday of the English naturalist, Gilbert White.
Gilbert kept a journal for almost three decades, where he recorded observations of his garden. Gilbert's observations were eventually published as a Calendar of Flora and the Garden. Then they were woven into a book called the Naturalist's Journal.
People immediately recognized Gilbert had a gift for observation and for describing with vivid clarity the natural world.
Here's a little of what Gilbert wrote in his journal on this day in 1781; his 61st birthday:
"Farmers complain that their wheat is blighted.
In the garden at Dowland's,... stands a large Liriodendrum tulipifera ("LEER-EE-OH-den-drum TOO-lip-IF-er-ah"), or tulip-tree, which was in flower. The soil is poor sand but produces beautiful pendulous Larches.
Mr. R's garden... abounds in fruit, and in all manner of good and forward kitchen-crops. Many China-asters this spring seeded themselves there... some cucumber-plants also grew-up of themselves from the seeds of a rejected cucumber thrown aside last autumn. Mr. R's garden is, at an average, a fortnight before mine."
Gilbert White's journals are a treasure, and luckily we can read them for ourselves online at one of my favorite websites: NaturalhistoryofSelbourne.com.
1817 Today is the anniversary of the death of the author and gardener Jane Austen.
Jane loved gardens. She had a heart for ornamentals, herbs, and kitchen gardening. And, her family always had a garden - growing their food and beautifying their homes with flowers.
In every one of her books, Jane included gardens.
We know from Jane's letters to her sister Cassandra that gardens brought her joy, and they were also regulating.
In 1807, Jane wrote about the redesign of her garden which included syringia or mock orange and laburnum - a small tree with beautiful hanging yellow flowers in spring, which is how it got the common golden chain or golden rain:
"I could not do without a syringa... We talk also of a laburnum. The border under the terrace wall is clearing away to receive currants and gooseberry bushes, and a spot is found very proper for raspberries."
In 1814, Jane wrote about the garden outside the rented room where she was staying,
"The garden is quite a love... I live in the room downstairs; it is particularly pleasant...opening upon the garden. I go and refresh myself every now and then, and then come back to solitary coolness."
1863 It was on this day that the father of American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, walked the battlefield of Gettysburg - just 15 days after the battle.
Olmsted was the General Secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) - overseeing the support of sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army during the Civil War. There were times when Olmsted personally treated the battlefield wounds of soldiers.
Olmsted was recruited for the job based on his success in designing and overseeing New York City's Central Park, one of the country's most significant public works projects.
A week after the battle at Gettysburg, Olmsted arranged for 40 tons of supplies to flow into Gettysburg every day - bringing in items like surgeon's silk, fans, butter, shoes, and crutches.
On this day in 1863, the scene had settled down enough that Olmsted could walk the fields of Gettysburg.
In Martin's biography of Olmsted, he shared that Olmsted, "was struck by the scale of the place; everything had happened across distances far greater than he had supposed."
Ever attuned to the landscape, Olmsted also noted that,
"The hills were gentle and rolling, so very out of kilter with the carnage that was everywhere still in evidence... Olmsted came across spent shells and twisted bayonets, broken-down wagons, and half-buried dead horses. Particularly touching, to Olmsted, was the random strew of Union and Confederate caps, often together on the ground, shot through with bullet holes."
1937 Today is the birthday of the Spanish woman who pioneered a system of organic gardening known as synergistic gardening - Emilia Hazelip.
Emilia was born in Barcelona. As a young adult, she embraced communal living and was part of the hippie movement. She managed to make her way to California, where she worked on ecological farms. At the time, Ruth Stout's no-work gardening and Alan Chadwick's raised bed concept were gaining traction.
In 1977, Masanobu Fukuoka's ("MAH-SIN-oh-boo FOO-ku-OH-KAH") book, "The One-Straw Revolution" was translated into English. Emilia got a copy, read it, and immediately set about applying the principles in her own garden.
By the time Emilia started tinkering with Fukuoka's principles, she was 40 years old, and she had been gardening for about 17 years. The gardening system she devised became known as synergistic gardening, and it was a mashup of Fukuoka's ideas and elements of permaculture.
Emilia was the perfect person to come up with synergistic gardening; She was attuned to nature, and he questioned the effectiveness of human methods that altered natural systems.
YouTube has a great video of Emilia, showing how she creates an edible vegetable garden.
She says,
"The work of Fukuoka was proof that my intuition was right, meaning that working the land is not necessary. However, when I started to reproduce it, the results I obtained were so poor that I quickly understood the need to modify and adapt his system to other cultural and climatic conditions; this is how it was born what I decided to call Synergic Agriculture."
Back in 2012, Monica Brandies wrote an excellent article on Emilia that was featured in the Tampa Tribune. Here are some highlights.
"I've watched [a DVD of The Synergistic Garden with Emilia Hazelip twice and learned some new ideas that Rosalind [Baker] is already using with success.
Hazelip [says] the following:
Don't worry about fertilizer. Don't disturb the soil any more than necessary - no tilling or digging, no stepping that compacts the soil. [This way,] the earthworms and microorganisms in the soil can work with multiplied efficiency. And instead of the soil wearing out as it does in modern agriculture, it gets better year by year.
Cut down on compost. Hazelip uses no compost except in potting soil in flats in the greenhouse.
Elevate beds. Hazelip's beds are elevated 10 to 30 inches by digging deeper paths and piling the soil upon beds that are 4 feet wide, so it's possible to reach the center without stepping in. Her paths are 20 inches wide.
Cover the soil with mulch. The beds are always covered with organic mulch straw in her case, leaves in mine. But I have sinned by leaving some soil bare. I will try never to do that again. Nature always keeps the soil covered. Hazelip pulls back the mulch to add seeds or transplants but pushes it back right away around the transplants... Hazelip removes spent plants by cutting them off just above ground level, so the roots stay in the ground very important. Then the part of the plant you don't eat is laid on top as additional mulch. Over the years, you need less and less mulch.
Use the weeds you pull. Weeds are pulled out by the roots and laid in the path until they are dead. Then they are added to the mulch. Obviously, she doesn't have any of the invasive vines we have here, but they are the only ones I will have to bag up and discard. At first, such beds need hand weeding as much as any beds, but as the years go by, they need less and less weeding.
Hazelip used a spoon to plant some of her transplants and a trowel for the ones that needed a larger hole, but that was the extent of her digging. I am now doing all this as much as possible. It is never too late to learn."
Unearthed Words
The gardener does not love to talk.
He makes me keep the gravel walk;
And when he puts his tools away.
He locks the door and takes the key.
He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue.
Nor wishes to be spoken to.
He digs the flowers and cuts the hay.
And never seems to want to play.
Silly gardener! Summer goes,
And winter comes with pinching toes,
When in the garden bare and brown
You must lay your barrow down.
Well now, and while the summer stays
To profit by these garden days
O how much wiser you would be
To play at Indian wars with me!
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist and poet, The Gardener from a Child's Garden of Verses
Grow That Garden Library
The Solitary Bees by Bryan N. Danforth, Robert L. Minckley, John L. Neff, and Frances Fawcett
This book came out in August of 2019, and the subtitle is Biology, Evolution, Conservation.
The author Alexandra-Maria Klein said,
"This book is a comprehensive most up-to-date resource on the biology and evolution of solitary bees. . . . People reading this book will likely further educate their friends, children, or colleagues by sharing stories about the interesting natural history of solitary bees they learned by reading across this book. By doing this, an increasing number of people will ultimately contribute to protecting nature and biodiversity."
And, Stephen Fleming, said,
"In the many vignettes and case studies throughout the text, the wonders of solitary bees are revealed. . . . I expect to return to this book to learn more about the truly incredible world of bees for a long time to come."
The book is a whopping 488 pages devoted to the ecology, evolution, and life history of solitary bees - a must-read for gardeners dedicated to learning more about our precious pollinators.
You can get a copy of The Solitary Bees by Bryan N. Danforth, Robert L. Minckley, John L. Neff, and Frances Fawcett and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $31.
Today's Botanic Spark
1908 On this day, the Maxfield Parrish Print, called The Botanist, appeared on the cover of Collier's Magazine.
Parrish's image shows a full-length profile of a man wearing a long botanical green coat. In his raised right hand, he is holding a plant, and in his left hand, he is clutching a magnifying glass. Some opened reference books are tucked under his arm. He has a specimen case slung over his back. The classic image was made into poster-sized prints in the 1970s.
It's one of my favorite pieces of botanical art. -
Today we celebrate one of Alabama's first botanists and the poet who went by the pseudonym AE.
We'll also learn about Wood Expert and xylotomist ("xy·lot·o·mist") who solved the crime of the century.
We celebrate one of the 20th century's leading landscape architects.
We also celebrate the Dog Days of summer through poetry.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about plant passion and inspiration in order to "Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart."
And then we'll wrap things up with the story of a touching 2014 botanical art installation around the Tower of London.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.
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Curated News
New National Wildflower Network Opens Major Routes Across UK for Pollinating Insects | The Independent
"A national network of linked wildflower highways has been launched this week to provide more habitat for the UK's vital pollinating insects, including bees, butterflies, hoverflies, and moths.
The newly completed B-Lines network for England has been launched by conservation charity Buglife with support from Defra.
The scheme will create a vast interconnected web of potential and existing wildflower habitats across the whole country.
Catherine Jones, pollinator officer at Buglife, said: "A complete England B-Lines network is a real landmark step in our mission to reverse insect declines and lend a helping hand to our struggling pollinators. We hope that organizations and people across England will help with our shared endeavor to create thousands of hectares of new pollinator-friendly wildflower habitats along the B-Lines."
Buglife is asking people to grow more flowers, shrubs, and trees, let gardens grow wild and to mow grass less frequently, not to disturb insects, and to try not to use pesticides.
Almost 17,000 tonnes of pesticides are sprayed across the British countryside each year.
The country has lost 97 percent of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s and 87 percent of its wetlands. Both of these habitats support a huge array of wildlife."
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
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
1901 Today is the anniversary of the death of botanist Charles Theodore Mohr.
Although he was born in Germany and educated in Stuttgart, Charles became one of Alabama's first botanists. He emigrated to the United States in 1848.
A trained pharmacist, Charles traveled the world before settling in Alabama, and he especially enjoyed collecting plant specimens in Surinam. Charles's travel log shows that he even participated in the California gold rush and lived Mexico, Indiana, and Kentucky before settling in Alabama.
In 1857, Charles started Chas. Mohr & Son Pharmacists and Chemists in Mobile, Alabama. Charles spent his entire life collecting and organizing his specimens. In fact, by the time his book on the plants of Alabama was published, Charles was seventy-seven years old.
After Charles died, his herbarium specimens were donated to the University of Alabama Herbarium (15,000 specimens) and the United States National Herbarium (18,000 specimens).
1935 Today is the anniversary of the death of the poet George William Russell, who went by the pseudonym AE.
Russell attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. There he met a lifelong friend - the poet William Butler Yeats.
Russell became the editor of The Irish Homestead.
His famous quotes include the following:
"Our hearts were drunk with a beauty our eyes could never see."
"You cannot evoke great spirits and eat plums at the same time."
1967 Today is the anniversary of the death of Wood Expert and xylotomist Arthur Koehler.
Xylotomy is preparing little pieces of wood and then examining them under a microscope or microtome. Koehler worked as a chief wood technologist at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin.
Koehler's expertise led him to become one of the very first forensic botanists.
When the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped in 1932, a homemade ladder was used to access the nursery.
Koehler, along with 38,000 others, sent letters to the Lindbergh's offering prayers and assistance. Yet Koehler's expertise would become the linchpin to convicting the man accused of the crime, making Koehler one of the world's first official forensic botanists.
Forensic botany is simply using plants to help solve crimes.
Three months after the crime was committed, samples of the ladder were sent to Koehler. Koehler studied the pieces through his microscope discovered that four different kinds of wood were used to make the ladder—Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Birch, and North Carolina pine.
In an interview with the Saturday Evening Post, Koehler was quoted saying, "I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but I have specialized in the study of wood. Just as a doctor who devotes himself to stomachs or tonsils … so I, a forester, have done with wood."
A year later, Koehler was invited to see the ladder in person, and that in-person visit was revealing. Koehler discovered the ladder was handmade. He measured each piece to the nose, getting exact measurements. He understood how each piece was cut, how the pieces would have fit into a car, and then assembled at the Lindbergh home. Incredibly, Koehler was able to determine the origin of the piece of North Carolina pine used to build the ladder - it was sold in the Bronx.
Ransom notes from the case lead police to hone in on the same area. Koehler was convinced the suspect would have the woodworking tools required to build the ladder.
In the Lindbergh case, the wood from the ladder helped identify a carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann. When the police arrested Hauptmann, they not only found $14,000 of ransom money but the evidence Koehler could link to the ladder: the saws used to make the cuts, the particular nails used to build the ladder and a missing floorboard from Hauptmann's attic that was clearly used in the construction of the 16th rail of the ladder.
In fact, when the rail was removed, it slipped perfectly back into place in Hauptmann's attic - right down to the nail holes and nails on the board. Koehler estimated the chances of someone else supplying the lumber for the ladder to be one in ten quadrillions.
Koehler's knowledge and testimony during the trial were vital to Hauptmann's capture and conviction. The "Crime of the Century" solved by carefully studying the only witness - a "wooden witness."
It was Arthur Koehler who said,
"In all of the years of my work, I have been consumed with the absolute reliability of the testimony of trees.
They carry in themselves the record of their history.
They show with absolute fidelity the progress of the years, storms, drought, floods, injuries, and any human touch.
A tree never lies."
1996 Today is the anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century's leading landscape architects, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe.
Jellicoe was multi-talented, but his true passion was landscape and garden design, which he described as "the mother of all arts." He was a founder member of the Landscape Institute.
Over his 70-year career, Jellicoe designed more than 100 landscapes around the world. Jellicoe designed the John F Kennedy memorial site by the River Thames in Berkshire.
Jellicoe's final and most ambitious project was the Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas. Jellicoe imagined a design where visitors could walk through the history of the landscape, from the Garden of Eden and the gardens of ancient Egypt to a design inspired by Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain (1924).
As the Moody Garden website acknowledges, "It was the culminating work of his design career but has not, as yet, been implemented. We live in hope."
Jellicoe's favorite garden was the gardens he designed in Hemel Hempstead. Jellicoe designed the Hemel Hempstead Water Gardens to improve the quality of life for the townspeople. Jellicoe designed a canal with dams and little bridges to take visitors from the town parking lot to shopping.
Jellicoe designed the canal after seeing one of Paul Klee's paintings of a serpent. Jellicoe said,
"The lake is the head, and the canal is the body," wrote Jellicoe in his book Studies in Landscape Design. "The eye is the fountain; the mouth is where the water passes over the weir. The formal and partly classical flower gardens are like a howdah strapped to its back. In short, the beast is harnessed, docile, and in the service of man."
Unearthed Words
Here are some words about the Dog Days of summer - which officially started on July 3 and runs through August 11.
How hushed and still are earth and air,
How languid 'neath the sun's fierce ray -
Drooping and faint - the flowerets fair,
On this hot, sultry, summer day.
— Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon ("Lew-Pro-awn", Canadian writer and poet, An Afternoon in July
Cool in the very furnace of July
The water-meadows lie;
The green stalks of their grasses and their flowers
They still refresh at fountains, never dry.
— John Drinkwater, British poet and dramatist
Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world.
— Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic, and writer
A ladder sticking up at the open window,
The top of an old ladder;
And all of Summer is there.
Great waves and tufts of wistaria surge across the window,
And a thin, belated blossom.
Jerks up and down in the sunlight;
Purple translucence against the blue sky.
"Tie back this branch," I say,
But my hands are sticky with leaves,
And my nostrils widen to the smell of crushed green.
The ladder moves uneasily at the open window,
And I call to the man beneath,
"Tie back that branch."
There is a ladder leaning against the window-sill,
And a mutter of thunder in the air.
— Amy Lowell, American poet, Dog Days
"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."
— Russel Baker, American journalist and satirist
Grow That Garden Library
How to Make a Plant Love You by Summer Rayne Oakes
This book came out in July of 2019, and the subtitle is Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart.
Michael Brune, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, said,
"I don't care what color your thumbs are —Summer Rayne Oakes will not only inspire you to connect with nature by taking care of plants but open your eyes to how even the humblest of them take care of us."
Summer keeps over 500 species of live houseplants in her Brooklyn apartment. She's an environmental scientist, an entrepreneur, and (according to a New York Times profile) the icon of wellness-minded millennials who want to bring nature indoors.
The book is 208 pages of plant passion and inspiration. It covers both plant styling and care.
You can get a copy of How to Make a Plant Love You by Summer Rayne Oakes and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $15.
Today's Botanic Spark
2014 The outdoor public art piece called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red was installed in the moat around the Tower of London.
The work commemorated the centenary of the outbreak of World War I and was made up of 888,246 ceramic red poppies, one for each British or Colonial serviceman killed in the War.
The title, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, refers to the first line of a poem by an unknown soldier in World War I.
For this magnificent piece fo public art, Paul Cummins designed the ceramic poppies, and Tom Piper handled the conceptual design.
Almost one million of Paul's ceramic red poppies appeared to burst forth from the Tower and then flow across the moat. Poppies seeped out of the Weeping Window and cascaded down a wall. Almost 20,000 volunteers helped with the installation. And, although it was started on this day in 2014, it was not completed until November 11 of that same year. - Montre plus
