The Daily Gardener – Details, episodes & analysis

Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart

Patreon

Buy Me A Coffee

The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community

Today's Show Notes
In the garden, January is a month of plans more than action. Seed catalogs pile up. Lists are made. Dreams are revised.
So it's a fitting day to remember the people who made gardens possible — not always by planting them, but by supporting, studying, and sometimes stubbornly defending them. Some legacies grow slowly. Some arrive as books. Some are simply the decision to protect a piece of ground so others can learn from it.
Today's Garden History
1644 Henry Danvers, the 1st Earl of Danby, died.
Danvers is remembered by gardeners not for the plants he grew, but for the garden he made possible. In 1621, he founded what would become the Oxford Botanic Garden — the oldest botanic garden in Britain.
At the time, the land he donated lay opposite Magdalen College and had once served as a Jewish burial ground. Danvers conveyed five acres to the University of Oxford "for the encouragement of the study of physic and botany." It was an act of vision rather than speed. The garden wasn't fully planted until the 1640s, and Danvers did not live to see it flourish.
But he ensured its future — having the ground raised, enclosed by high stone walls, and endowed through his will so it could be maintained long after his death. Gardeners understand this kind of legacy. Not every garden is planted for the present. Some are planted for people we will never meet.
The gateway of the Oxford Botanic Garden still bears an inscription dedicating the space to the glory of God, the honor of the king, and the use of the academy and the republic — a reminder that gardens have long stood at the intersection of science, belief, and public good.
1907 Thomas Serle Jerrold died.
Jerrold was trained as a gardener at Chatsworth, under Sir Joseph Paxton — the same Paxton who would later design the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851. During Jerrold's apprenticeship, Paxton was sketching ideas that would change architecture, while teaching young gardeners how to grow things well.
Jerrold went on to become a writer who believed gardens should be practical as well as beautiful. His books carried titles that gardeners immediately understood: The Garden That Paid the Rent, Our Kitchen Garden, and Household Horticulture. He spent years living in Canada, returned to England late in life, and left behind not only books, but a philosophy — that gardens are meant to sustain households, not just impress visitors.
Unearthed Words
1985 Eliot Wadsworth II of White Flower Farm offered one of those lines gardeners tend to repeat forever.
"My appetite for new plants is like most people's appetite for macadamia nuts."
Every gardener understands this. You don't need another plant. But somehow, you always have room for just one more.
Book Recommendation
The Winter Garden by Richard Rosenfeld
The Winter Garden is a thoughtful, seasonal book that invites gardeners to slow down and notice what winter reveals: structure, light, patience, and the quieter forms of beauty that don't announce themselves in bloom.
It's a perfect January companion — a reminder that winter isn't an interruption, but part of the cycle. When flowers are gone, the garden shows its bones: the lines of paths, the rhythm of trunks and branches, the way low sun changes everything. The book meets you there, in that pared-back landscape, and makes you feel less like you're "waiting" and more like you're watching.
For gardeners who keep walking outside even in cold weather, it's the kind of book that sharpens attention. It helps you notice what's still happening — what's holding, what's resting, what's quietly preparing — and it leaves you with a steadier, calmer sense that the garden is still very much alive.
Botanic Spark
1820 Napoleon Bonaparte, exiled on the island of Saint Helena, was reported to have taken up gardening.
It makes sense. Confined, restless, and stripped of power, he turned to the small control a garden allows — arranging paths, directing plantings, taking an interest in what grew and where. Gardening gave him something immediate and living to tend.
But the story doesn't end peacefully. That same day, Napoleon reportedly shot Count Bertrand's goat after the animal wandered into the garden and ate his plants.
Even in exile, even in reflection, Napoleon remained… Napoleon.
The episode is funny, yes — but it's also revealing. Gardens ask for patience. They ask for restraint. And not everyone, even great historical figures, is equally suited to those lessons.
Final Thoughts
Wherever you are, whatever you're planning, may you find something today worth tending.
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember, for a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart

Patreon

Buy Me A Coffee

The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community

January is a quieter season in the garden. The beds are resting. The work is mostly invisible.

This is the time of year when gardeners turn to stories — to the people who noticed plants closely, saved what mattered, and carried knowledge forward, even when it would have been easier to let it go.

Today is full of those stories.

1859 Alice Eastwood was born.

Alice Eastwood would become one of the most important botanists in American history — not because she sought attention, but because she understood how easily plant knowledge can be lost if no one tends it.

Her early life was unsettled. After her mother died, Alice and her sister were placed in a convent while her father moved west. What steadied her was learning — and later, walking.

When Alice began studying plants seriously, she did so the way many gardeners do: by going where plants grow naturally and paying attention.

In Colorado, she climbed into the Rocky Mountains, collecting alpine plants and learning which species thrived in exposure and which needed protection.

Her careful work brought her to California, where she met Katherine Brandegee, curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences. Together with her husband, Townshend Brandegee, Katherine edited a journal called Zoe, named for the Greek word meaning life.

Zoe was a working journal, not a polished one. It gave field botanists a place to publish discoveries about western plants at a time when much of that flora was still being named and understood.

New species. Corrections. Observations. This was where the real work appeared.

Alice Eastwood did not just write for Zoe. She helped sustain it.

1893 When the Brandegees retired, Alice became curator of botany at the Academy, a position she would hold for more than fifty years.

Then came the 1906 earthquake.

The Academy burned. Cabinets collapsed. Thousands of specimens were nearly lost.

Alice climbed the damaged stairways herself, rescuing what she could — and then rebuilt the herbarium almost from scratch, traveling tirelessly to restore what had been destroyed.

Gardeners understand that instinct. When something precious is lost, you do not abandon the garden. You begin again.

2000 The botanist G. Ledyard Stebbins died at the age of ninety-four.

Stebbins helped explain something gardeners observe every season: that plants change gradually, shaped by environment, variation, and time.

His work gave botanists a way to understand plant evolution not just as theory, but as something visible in fields, hillsides, and gardens themselves.

He once said he simply pointed out what plants had been showing us all along.

In today's Unearthed Words, we explore the etymology of the word January, which takes its name from Janus, the Roman guardian of thresholds — the figure who looks both backward and forward at once.

It is a fitting image for the garden at this time of year.

January's birth flower is the snowdrop, one of the first blooms to appear while winter still holds firm. In folklore, the soft green markings on its inner petals are said to be a promise — a sign that warmth will return.

Here is a snowdrop verse to hold onto:

"The snowdrop, in purest white array,
First rears her head on Candlemas Day."

The gardening year does not begin with abundance. It begins with courage.

The New Romantic Garden: Classic Inspiration, Modern Mood by Jo Thompson

If you are gardening mostly by imagination right now, this is a winter-perfect recommendation.

The New Romantic Garden celebrates gardens shaped by feeling as much as function. These are gardens built for atmosphere, reflection, and beauty — places where restraint matters as much as abundance.

It is a book to read slowly, perhaps by the fire, letting it influence how you think about gardens long before you step back into the soil.

And finally, here's something sweet to ignite the little botanic spark in your heart.

2001 The Detroit Free Press shared the story of Harris Olson, a man whose personal mission was to turn everyone he met into a gardener — preferably, a daylily gardener.

With his warm smile and battered gray truck, license plate reading "Mr. Daylily," Harris was widely known in the Detroit area for his volunteer work and his plant breeding.

He hybridized daylilies and peonies, naming varieties for the people he loved.

For forty-five years, he served as volunteer head gardener at the Congregational Church of Birmingham. Under his direction, the nine-acre grounds became an arboretum-like landscape filled with peonies, daylilies, roses, hostas, and other perennials.

Even when his health declined, Harris refused to stop gardening. When he could no longer weed himself, he sat in a lawn chair while others worked the beds, offering commentary and encouragement.

"Life isn't worth living unless you can pull a weed," he liked to say.

Gardeners like Harris remind us that tending plants is often just an excuse to tend people — generously, patiently, and for as long as we are able.

Wherever you are, whatever season you are in, may you find something today worth tending.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember, for a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart

Support The Daily Gardener
Buy Me A Coffee 

Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community

Botanical History On This Day

1868 The botanist and garden writer Alice Lounsberry is born in New York City.

1885 The renowned British botanist and explorer Frank Kingdon-Ward was born in Manchester, England.

Grow That Garden Library™ 

Read The Daily Gardener review of Favorite Poems for the Garden by Bushel & Peck Books 

Buy the book on Amazon: Favorite Poems for the Garden by Bushel & Peck Books 

Today's Botanic Spark

1836 Martha Turnbull, mistress of Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana, penned the first entry in what would become a remarkable 59-year chronicle of life and gardening in the antebellum South.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
 
Support The Daily Gardener
Buy Me A Coffee 
 
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community
 
Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens, Georgia
Register Here
 
Historical Events
1763 Birth of William Cobbett, English writer, Member of Parliament, and farmer. 
In Parliament, Wlliam fought for agrarian reform. He did this through his regular writings called Rural Rides, where he shared what he saw while taking horseback rides throughout rural England.
William never forgot his rural roots, and he was a lifelong gardener.
He once wrote,
How much better during a long and dreary winter, for daughters, and even sons, to assist, or attend, their mother, in a green-house, than to be seated with her at cards, or, in the blubberings over a stupid novel, or at any other amusement that can possibly be conceived.
And he also wrote, 
If well-managed, nothing is more beautiful than the kitchen garden.
 
1845 Birth of Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer, German botanist and plant physiologist.
Wilhelm was born in his father's apothecary. He grew up and learned every aspect of the business, which had been in his family for generations. One of his childhood friends noted,
In those days, it was not yet customary to obtain drugs in cut and powdered form; thus, he spent hours cutting roots and herbs and pulverizing dried drugs with a heavy pestle in a mortar.
In addition to life at the A=apothecary, Wilhelm loved collecting plants in the Alps. His early study of plants and his natural curiosity set the stage for his in-depth plant experiments as an adult. In terms of plant physiology, he's remembered for the Pfeffer pot or pepper pot to measure osmotic pressure in plant cells.
 
1874 Birth of Karl Foerster, German plant breeder, writer, and garden designer.
When Karl turned 18, he took over his family's Berlin nursery, which was a bit of a mess. Karl quickly streamlined the business by simplifying his plant inventory.
Although Karl loved all plants, he was especially drawn to tough, low-maintenance, hardy perennials. Karl used three factors to determine whether a plant would be sold in his nursery: beauty, resilience, and endurance.
Today, Karl is most remembered in Karl Foerster Grass. The story goes that Karl was on a train when he spied the grass growing along the tracks. Karl frantically pulled the emergency brake, stopped the train, and quickly collected the specimen that now bears his name. In 2001, Karl Foerster grass was the Perennial Plant of the Year.
Karl's plant standards and his appreciation for low maintenance spaces with year-long seasonal interest helped shape the New German Garden Style of garden design.
A Karl Foerster garden had some signature plants: grasses, delphinium, and phlox. Naturally, all of these plants were favorites in Karl's breeding work.
Karl once wrote,
Grasses are the hair of mother earth.
And he also wrote,
A garden without phlox is not only a sheer mistake but a sin against summer.
Karl lived to the ripe old age of 96.
And looking back, it's staggering to think that Karl spent nearly nine decades gardening, and it was Karl Foerster who said,
In my next life, I'd like to be a gardener once again. 
The job was too big for just one lifetime.
 
1892 Birth of Vita Sackville-West, English author and garden designer.
In 1930, Vita and her husband, the diplomat, and journalist Harold Nicolson, bought Sissinghurst Castle - at least what was left of it. Together, they restored the house and created the famous garden, which was given to the National Trust in 1967.
Vita explored the depths of her own creativity as she shaped the gardens at Sissinghurst. When she came up with the idea for a Sunset Garden, she wrote,
I used to call it the Sunset Garden in my own mind before I even planted it up.
Vita's Sunset Garden included flowers with warm citrus colors, like the yellows, oranges, and reds of Dahlia's Salvias Canas and tulips.
Vita also created a White Garden – one of the most difficult Gardens to design, maintain and pull off. Why is that? Well, the main reason is that, after flowering, most white blooms don't age well; they turn brown or yellow as they wither and die on the plant. But I have to say that ten years ago, I did help a friend install a white garden. And when it was in bloom, it really was spectacular.
During World War II, there came a point when Vita and Harold were convinced that a German invasion of Britain was likely. Vita planted 11,000 daffodils, a message of defiance to the enemy.
In 1955, Vita was honored with the Veitch Memorial Medal. She died seven years later in 1962.
She once wrote,
The waking bee, still drowsy on the wing, 
Will sense the opening of another year 
And blunder out to seek another spring.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
The Art of Edible Flowers by Rebecca Sullivan 
This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Recipes and ideas for floral salads, drinks, desserts, and more.
This sweet little book is a fun little recipe book of the many ways flowers can be incorporated into drinks and edibles.
Recipes include a Rose and Lavender Cocktail Syrup, a Jasmine and Green Tea Ice Cream, Lavender and Orange Cheesecake, Pumpkin Carpaccio with Mustard Flower Sauce, Artichoke Flower with Borage Butter, Fermented Elderflower Fizz and a soothing Poppy Milk.
The recipes are simple, creative, and elegant.
This book is 80 pages of edible, beautiful, tasty blossoms.
You can get a copy of The Art of Edible Flowers by Rebecca Sullivan and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $12.
 
Botanic Spark
1902 Birth of Luis Barragán, Mexican architect and engineer. In 1980, he won the Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture. In 1948 he designed and built his own home with cement after being inspired by local modernist architecture. In 2004, the Luis Barragan house was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In addition to architecture, Luis loved landscapes. He once wrote,
I don't divide architecture, landscape and gardening; to me they are one.
And he also wrote,
A garden must combine the poetic and he mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
 
Support The Daily Gardener
Buy Me A Coffee
 
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community
 
Historical Events
1746 Birth of André Michaux (books about this person), French botanist and explorer.
André grew up on a royal farm in Satory south of Versailles. His father trained both he and his brother in horticulture, and after his father died, André carried on at the farm. André married a prosperous farmer's daughter from a nearby farm named Cécile Claye. A month shy of their first wedding anniversary Cécile delivered a son, Francois-André. Later in life, André would name an oak in his son's honor.
Tragically, Cécile died after the delivery. André battled through the next decade by studying horticulture. His friend, the naturalist Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier ("Lew-ee Ghee-ohm Lew-moh-nay"), urged him to focus on exotic plants, and the great botanist Bernard de Jussieu gave André a solid understanding of botany. The next step for André was travel.
In 1786, André was asked to go to North America. As a single father, he brought François-Andre, then 15, along with him. André's mission was to establish a botanical garden in America. The goal was to set up a botanical clearinghouse of sorts and send seeds and specimens back to France. André established his nursery on the land where the Charleston Area National Airport exists today. In fact, at the Charleston airport, there is a stunning mural installed in 2016 that honors Andre and his son. In one panel, Andre-François and his father are depicted in the potager or kitchen garden. The central scene shows the rice fields along the Ashley River and the Charleston Harbor, where Michaux introduced one of the first Camellia plants.
Native to Asia, Camellias are small, evergreen flowering trees or shrubs, and Camellias are in the Theaceae or tea family, which is why Camellias are commonly called tea plants.
In Floriography ("FLOOR-EE-ah-grah-FEE") or the language of flowers, the Camellia represents love and loyalty. Camellia blossoms are beautiful and come in various colors, sizes, bloom times, and forms. And, best of all, Camellias are long-lived and can grow for 100 to 200 years.
Finally, here are two fun facts about the Camellia:
In California, Sacramento is nicknamed the Camellia City, and the Camellia is the state flower of Alabama.
 
1836 Birth of Sir Michael Foster, English physician, and iris breeder. He's regarded as the father of iris cultivation.
In the late 1800s, Michael became the first person to crossbreed new varieties of Iris. He started his work with purple and yellow iris and made a beautiful blend by the third generation.
Soon Michael had large wild iris specimens arriving from all over the world. He found that missionaries could be a great help to him. They sent Trojana, Cypriana, and Mesopotamica varieties from the Near East.
In time, Michael's iris creations had bigger flowers and grew taller. He crossed Irises in every conceivable way, and he once wrote to the plant breeder William John Caparne, "In hybridizing, be bold."
Michael once said,
Nature is ever making signs to us; she is ever whispering to us the beginnings of her secrets.
 
April 26, 1970, Elizabeth Lawrence (books by this author) reflected on the spring, writing,
This spring, I was asked if I am bored. How can anyone ask that of a gardener? No Gardener could ever be bored, for ...
Every season is new and different from all those that went before. 
There always is something new in bloom, something expected and something unexpected, something lost that is found, and there is always disappointment, but being sad is not the same thing as being bored.
"It acts like spring, but I dare not hope," Carolyn Dorman wrote on Saint Valentine's Day.
"It was about this time in 1899 that the temperature here in Northern Louisiana was 20 degrees below… God spare us, daffodils are beginning now, and Magnolia Alba Superba will soon be in bloom." 
It is the white form of Magnolia x soulangiana that Caroline calls "alba superba". She thinks it more beautiful than the Yulan.
In my garden the Yulan (Magnolia denudata) and two of its hybrids M. x soulangiana and M. x veitschii, came into bloom together on March 8th. I can't think of when, if ever before, all three have bloomed at once when the weather was warm but not hot, when there was no frost and no rain, and when only a few petals were whipped off by wind.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Private Gardens of Santa Barbara by Margie Grace
This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is The Art of Outdoor Living.
Margie is a two-time-named International Landscape Designer of the Year. She has worked in the field for over three decades, and she is the perfect host to showcase these magnificent private gardens in Santa Barbara, which is often called the American Riviera. 
This book features eighteen gardens designed by Margie and representing a range of spaces from large estates to surf retreats.
This is an elegant coffee table book - a total escape - to the lush spaces of Santa Barbara's private gardens, and they are water-smart, maintenance-smart, and fire-smart.
This book is 256 pages of incredible private California gardens showcased by one of the country's top designers.
You can get a copy of Private Gardens of Santa Barbara by Margie Grace and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $28.
 
Botanic Spark
1897 Birth of Joseph Pla (books by this author), Spanish journalist and a popular author.
His seminal work, The Gray Notebook, was a diary he wrote in 1918 during the onset of the Spanish flu pandemic. Joseph was a law student at the University at Barcelona, but when the school shut down, he was forced to return home to Palafrugell ("Pala-frew-yay") on the coast of Spain. Realizing he would rather be a writer than a lawyer, he kept a journal to improve his writing skills. It was Joseph Pla who once said,
Cooking is the landscape in a saucepan.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
 
Support The Daily Gardener
Buy Me A Coffee
 
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community
 
Friends of the Garden in Athens, Georgia
Register Here
 
Historical Events
1849 Birth of Luther Burbank (books about this person), American botanist and horticulturist.
During his 55-year career, Luther developed over 800 varieties of plants. He is remembered for many plants, including the Shasta daisy and the white blackberry.
A russet-colored variant of a Luther potato became the world's predominant potato in food processing and was called the Russet Burbank Potato. Luther hoped the potato would help revive Ireland's potato production after late blight destroyed potatoes all across Europe.
Luther once said,
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind.
 
1858 On this day, Robert Fortune (books about this person) left for his fourth trip to China.
Months earlier, he had sent thousands of tea seeds to the United States.
The Americans didn't feel they required Fortune's oversight to cultivate the plants, although the distribution of the little seedlings wasn't very strategic.
Most of the seeds and plants were distributed via members of congress from southern states who sent the plants home to their farming constituents.
James Rion of South Carolina wrote,
In the fall of 1859, I received from the Patent Office, Washington, a very tiny tea plant, which I placed in my flower garden as a curiosity. It has grown well, has always been free from any disease, has had full outdoor exposure, and attained a height of 5 feet, 8 inches There cannot be the least doubt but that the tea plant will flourish in South Carolina.
Two years later, the start of the Civil War derailed those early hopes for tea production in the United States.
 
1865 On this day, Edmund Hope Verney received a letter.
By this point, Edmund had been botanizing Vancouver Island for three years. All throughout his expedition, he was gobsmacked by the beauty of the landscape - especially during spring and had written,
I cannot believe that any part of the world can show a greater variety and number of wildflowers than this.
As much as he could, Edmund sent specimens back home to Claydon in England. Occasionally, he would get discouraged if he didn't hear back - sometimes not even a thank you.
But on this day, 1865, Edmund's stepmother wrote with words of praise,
Your seeds are excellent - just what we wanted - the Colony is celebrated for its Pines and Cypresses. 
The Bishop says bulbs, too. 
If [possible], perhaps you can bring some with you - all lilies are valuable.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
The Art and Science of William Bartram by Judith Magee
This book came out in 2007, and it's one of the best authoritative books on William Bartram.
William was an eminent artist and naturalist, and he was one of the first people to explore the flora and fauna of the American Southeast between 1773 and 1777. Bartram's work was sent to his patron back in London, and today the London Natural History Museum houses most of William Bartram's drawings.
Judith's book showcased for the first time all sixty-eight Bartram drawings from the Natural History Museum, along with other pieces from his contemporaries.
This book also shares some of Bartram's writings and letters, proving that Bartram was influential during his lifetime and a beacon for the next generation of American naturalists. Bartram's work had an impact beyond the world of science. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and other writers found in the significance of Bartram's drawings and writing a source of inspiration.
Bartram accomplished so much during his lifetime, especially because he was entirely self-taught. Bartram's humility and compassion made it possible for him to spend time with Native Americans during his explorations. He became an authority on the birds of North America. In 1773, William collected and propagated seeds from the Franklinia or the Franklin tree. The tree survives today, thanks to William Bartram.
This book is 276 pages of William Bartram's life and contributions in the context of modern scientific thinking.
You can get a copy of The Art and Science of William Bartram by Judith Magee and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $46.
 
Botanic Spark
2001 On this day, The Baltimore Sun shared a story called Maryland's Mr. Grass Plantsman: Kurt Bluemel ("Blu-MEL") by Nancy Taylor Robson.
Nurseryman and landscaper Kurt Bluemel had dealt with groundhogs, rabbits, and rapacious deer. 
But nothing in his career prepared him for the destructive powers of elephants and giraffes. 
"They are like organic lawnmowers!" he [said]. 
Kurt Bluemel (the company) is one of the largest, most extensive wholesale growers of ornamental grasses in the nation, which is why six years ago the Disney company asked him to help design, supply and plant the 125 acres of Savanna at its new Animal Kingdom in Florida. 
He assumed the animals would graze the landscape, so he was careful to avoid poisonous plants. 
But, he was unprepared for their voraciousness. 
"We planted acacias they have very long thorns as part of the permanent landscape, but the giraffes ate them down to the ground. Thorns and all!" 
Another surprise was the soil or lack of it. 
"Florida only has sand," he says. 
"It's like hydroponic growing. As soon as you stop giving things water and fertilizer, they stop growing. 
But with food and water, in three months, the vegetation was unbelievable! 
We miscalculated planting distances as a result." 
Kurt died of cancer in 2014 at the age of 81. He was known as Mr. Grass and The King of Grasses after a lifetime spent championing ornamental grasses and perennials to bring nature, movement, and vibrancy to the landscape.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
 
Support The Daily Gardener
Buy Me A Coffee 
 
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community
 
Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens Georgia
Register Here
 
Historical Events
1810 Birth of William Griffith, English botanist and naturalist.
By the time a young William arrived at the botanical garden in Calcutta, he was eager to make his mark. But he clashed with the old ways of running the garden established by Nathaniel Wallich.
When Nathaniel departed to tend to his deteriorating health, William was put in charge of the garden. In his youth and inexperience, he acted in haste and he executed a complete renovation of the garden. For instance, there was an avenue of gorgeous Cycas trees that was a signature element of the garden and beloved by visitors, but William had the entire avenue removed. And in his singular focus on organizing plants by classification, he sacrificed beauty and common sense. Plants that were happy under the canopy of established trees and shrubs were suddenly exposed to the harsh Indian sun, and they burned and perished out in the open. In a little over two years, the garden bore no resemblance of its former glory.
In September of 1844, William married his brother's wife's sister - Emily Henderson. By the end of the year, William quit his post and left the Calcutta botanical garden for good. Together, William and Emily returned to Malacca in Southwestern Malaysia, but William got sick on the voyage. He had languished for ten days and then died from hepatitis. He was 34.
Meanwhile, back at the Calcutta Botanical Garden, it's hard not to imagine the shock Nathaniel Wallich experienced when he returned to the garden in the summer of 1844 and saw the complete devastation in every bed and every planting in every corner of the garden. Nothing was untouched - it had all been changed.
Nathaniel shared his grief in a letter to his old friend William Hooker:
Where is the stately, matchless garden that I left in 1842?
Is this the same as that?
Can it be?
No–no–no!
Day is not more different from night that the state of the garden as it was from its present utterly ruined condition. But no more on this.
My heart bleeds at what I am impelled daily – hourly to witness.
And yet I am chained to the spot, and the chain, in some respects, is of my own making.
I will not be driven away.
Lies, calumnies, every attempt... to ruin my character – publicly and privately... are still employed – they may make my life miserable and wretched, they may break my heart: but so so long as my conscience acquits me... so long will I not budge one inch from my post.
 
1847 Birth of Henry Frederick Conrad Sander, German-English orchidologist and nurseryman.
When he was 20, Conrad met the Czech plant collector Benedict Roezl. The two men struck up an idea for a business that left Benedict free to explore and collect plants and Conrad focused on selling the specimens.
Conrad set up shop in St. Albans, and Benedict was soon sending shipments of orchids from Central and South America.
After his successful arrangement with Benedict, Conrad expanded his operations. He soon had over twenty collectors gathering specimens and was growing orchids in over sixty greenhouses. Europe's top collectors and even royalty stopped by to examine Conrad's inventory.
Soon known as the King of Orchids, Conrad wrote a two-volume masterpiece on every variety of orchid. He named his book Reichenbachia in honor of the legendary orchidologist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach.
In return, Reichenbach honored Sanders by naming the "Queen of Philippine Orchids" Vanda Sanderiana, which the locals called the waling-waling orchid. The waling-waling is considered one of the rarest, most beautiful, and most expensive orchids, and it is also one of the largest species of orchids in the world.
Orchids are some of the world's oldest flowering plants, producing the world's tiniest seeds. A single Orchid seedpod can contain three million seeds! Orchids are also the largest family of flowering plants in the world. With over 25,000 species, Orchids represent about ten percent of all plant species on earth, and there are more orchids on earth than mammals and birds!
Now, once they are germinated, Orchids can take five to seven years to produce a flower. And if you look at the orchid bloom closely, you'll see that the blossom, like the human face, is perfectly symmetrical, which only adds to their visual beauty. And, by the time you are buying that Orchid at Trader Joe's, it is likely already decades old. But never fear, Orchids are long-lived and can reach their 100th birthday.
The vastness and complexity of orchids can be frustrating. Charles Darwin grew so discouraged writing his book about orchids that he wrote to a friend,
I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything.
 
1949 On this day, the Santa Cruz Sentinel out of California, published a lovely story about an upcoming Arbor Day celebration that would plant trees to honor Luther Burbank.
In a bittersweet gesture, Nurseryman Joe Badger was personally planting a flowering plum tree. Joe's plum tree will be planted in Mrs. Burbank's garden at Santa Rosa, Calif, near the spot where her husband is buried.
Burbank's widow said,
"No, there will be no wreath-laying on Luther Burbank's grave... Laying a wreath is only a ceremony... It doesn't make things grow." she said.
Instead, she and Nurseryman Joe Badger, who as a youngster stole plums from the Burbank experimental gardens, will plant a flowering plum tree adjoining the Redwood highway, where passersby can enjoy it.
The flowering plum was developed by her husband. He gained world fame with his Burbank potato, his spineless cactus, and many other horticultural achievements.
Her husband now lies buried under a huge Cedar of Lebanon tree in a simple unmarked grave. Beside him lies his white dog, Bonita, who was his constant companion until Burbank died in 1926.
Burbank requested that no marking be placed above his burial place. Instead, he was buried beneath his Cedar of Lebanon. He, himself, had planted the seed sent by a friend in Palestine.
He had said,
"When I go, don't raise a monument to me; plant a tree."
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
The Art of Outdoor Living by Scott Shrader
This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is Gardens for Entertaining Family and Friends.
For anyone who wants to live well in their garden, here is a guide to creating stylish and livable outdoor spaces--for entertaining, playing, and relaxing.
Scott Shrader is a California landscape designer who has an intuitive ability to connect his outdoor landscape creations with the heart of the home. His designs are known for their sense of flow, style, and serenity. Scott's specialty is creating lush outdoor rooms where meals and company can be enjoyed at your leisure. Scott's blending of the indoors and the outdoors can be seen in these twelve gorgeous properties highlighted in this book.
Scott also shares his tips for keeping guests happy outdoors and he breaks down how planning ahead makes outdoor spaces comfortable, inviting places you don't want to leave.
This book also features some essays where Scott shares in-depth observations on all aspects of outdoor living and gardens including topics like sustainability, lifestyle, and paths.
This book is 240 pages of making outdoor spaces comfortable places for cooking, entertaining, playing, and relaxing.
You can get a copy of The Art of Outdoor Living by Scott Shrader and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $26.
 
Botanic Spark
1862 Birth of Norman Rowland Gale, English poet, storyteller, and reviewer.
His best-known poem is The Country Faith, which ends with this verse:
God comes down in the rain,
And the crop grows tall—
This is the country faith,
And the best of all!
In his book A Merry-Go-Round of Song, there is a poem about fairies. Norman wrote,
If you could pierce with magic eyes
The secrets of the lavender,
You'd find a thousand Fairylings
A-perching there, with folded wings.
And pouring sweetness into her.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
 
Support The Daily Gardener
Buy Me A Coffee 
 
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community
 
Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens Georgia
Register Here
 
Historical Events
1606 Birth of Edmund Waller (books about this person), English poet, and politician who was one of the longest-serving members in the English House of Commons.
Edmund is remembered for his carpe diem or "seize the day" poem, Go, Lovely Rose (1645), in which the rose must relay an urgent message: that time is short, that she is beautiful and that he loves her. 
Go, lovely rose!
Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be. 
 
1616 Birth Mathias de l'Obel ("ma-TEE-us dew Lew-bell"), Flemish physician and botanist.
Mathias practiced medicine in England, and he was the first botanist to recognize the difference between monocots and dicots.
Today we remember Mathias de l'Obel ("LEW-bell") with the Lobelia plant. Before researching Mathias, I pronounced obelia as "LOW- beel- ya." But now, knowing the French pronunciation of his name, I will say it "LEW-beel-ya." It's a subtle little change (LOW vs. LEW), but after all, the plant is named in Mathias's honor.
Now, for as lovely as the Lobelia is, the common names for Lobelia are terribly unattractive. They include names like Asthma Weed, Bladderpod, Gagroot, Pukeweed, etc. Vomit Wort, and Wild Tobacco. These common names for Lobelia reflect that Lobelia is very toxic to eat.
Despite its toxicity, Lobelia is one of the sweetest-looking plants for your summer containers. This dainty annual comes in pink, light blue, and royal blue. Personally, every year, I buy two flats of light blue Lobelias. But no matter the color you choose, lobelias are a favorite of pollinators. The delicate blossoms frequently host bees, butterflies, and moths, which only adds to their charm.
 
1880 Birth Muriel Wheldale Onslow (books by this author), English biochemist. She researched flower color inheritance and pigment molecule biochemistry.
Muriel married a fellow biochemist named Victor Onslow. Victor was actually the son of royalty - his dad was the fourth Earl of Onslow.
When Victor was a student at Cambridge, he was paralyzed from the waist down after diving off a cliff into a lake. Victor's physical limitations did not stop Muriel from loving him. Even though they were married for only a little over three years before Victor's untimely death, Victor and Muriel's love story was one of mutual admiration and respect. When Muriel recorded her memoir of Victor, she wrote that he was a man of amazing courage and mental vitality; and that he was an inspiration to their peers in biochemistry.
Muriel worked with snapdragons, which come in a range of flower colors including green, red, orange, yellow, white, purple, and pink - and now even bicolor and speckled. The snapdragon was the perfect subject for Murial's work. Muriel's coloration research resulted in four major papers on snapdragon color inheritance and worldwide recognition.
In 2010, the Royal Institution in England sponsored a play about four female biochemists - including Muriel Onslow. The play was called Blooming Snapdragons.
Snapdragons or Antirrhinum majus ("ant-er-EYE-num MAY-jus") are beloved cottage garden flowers. They are a cousin to the foxglove. Snapdragons are happiest when planted early, in cool weather. They will bloom their hearts out all summer long. Then, if you cut them back in August, you will get a second flush of color in the fall. 
 
1899 Birth of Yury Karlovich Olesha (books by this author), Russian and Soviet novelist. He was part of the Odessa School of Writers and is considered one of the greatest Russian novelists of the 20th century. Here's an excerpt from his book, Envy (1927):
"Once he raised his arm to show his friends the back of his hand, where the veins were laid out in the shape of a tree, and he broke out in the following improvisation:
"Here," he said, "is the tree of life. Here is a tree that tells me more about life and death than the flowering and fading of tree gardens. I don't remember when exactly I discovered that my wrist was blooming like a tree…but it must have been during that wonderful time when the flowering and fading of trees still spoke to me not of life and death but of the end and beginning of the school year! It was blue then, this tree, blue and slender, ...and turned my metacarpus's entire landscape into a Japanese watercolor…
"The years passed, I changed, and the tree changed, too.
"I remember a splendid time; the tree was spreading. The pride I felt, seeing its inexorable flowering! It became gnarled and reddish-brown—and therein lay its strength!
...But now, my friends! How decrepit it is, how rotten!
"The branches seem to be breaking off, cavities have appeared…
It's sclerosis, my friends! And the fact that the skin is getting glassy, and the tissue beneath it is squishy —
isn't this a fog settling on the tree of my life, the fog that will soon envelop all of me?" 
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Terrain by Greg Lehmkuhl
This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Ideas and Inspiration for Decorating the Home and Garden.
And yes, in case you're wondering, this is the same Terrain as in the historic nursery set in southeast Pennsylvania.
Terrain is a nationally renowned garden, home, and lifestyle brand with its own signature approach to living with nature. It's an approach that bridges the gap between home and garden, the indoors and the outdoors. An approach that embraces decorating with plants and inviting the garden into every living space.
That blurring of the outdoors and the indoors makes this book such a delight for gardeners. The book is loaded with gorgeous photos of ideas, projects, tips, and applications. There are tons of ideas for flower arranging beyond simple bouquets. You'll learn to use branches and wild natural elements like a pro. There are beautiful container gardens, wreaths for all seasons, preservation tips with glycerin, forcing branches, decorating with natural elements, and so many doable gorgeous ideas for every season of the year.
This book is a whopping 400 pages of a master class on decorating with nature and bringing the best of the garden indoors.
You can get a copy of Terrain by Greg Lehmkuhl and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $10.
 
Botanic Spark
1878 Birth of Edward Thomas (books by this author), British Poet. Edward's mentor was Robert Frost, and a trip to see Frost inspired his most famous poem, October. Like Henry David Thoreau, Edward loved simplicity in his work and life. 
There are two verses I wanted to share with you today. The first is from his poem Cherry Trees.
The cherry trees bend over and are shedding
On the old road where all that passed are dead,
Their petals, strewing the grass as for a wedding
This early May morn when there is none to wed.
The second is an excerpt from his poem, The Manor Farm (1878)
Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed
The speculating rooks at their nests cawed
And saw from elm tops, delicate as flowers of grass,
What we below could not see, Winter pass.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.