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Historical Events

1801 William Henry Seward "Sue-erd", an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, is born.

He was also featured in the book by Doris Kearns Goodwin called Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, in which she wrote about William as a naturalist. He loved his garden.

This little passage offers so many insights into William as a nature lover. As a gardener and just to set this up, this is taking place during the civil war when there's a little break in the action for Seward, and he accompanies his wife Frances and their daughter, back to Auburn, New York, where they were planning to spend the summer. 

Seward accompanied Frances and Fanny back to Auburn, where they planned to spend the summer. For a few precious days, he entertained old friends, caught up on his reading, and tended his garden.

The sole trying event was the decision to fell a favorite old poplar tree that had grown unsound. Frances could not bear to be present as it was cut, certain that she "should feel every stroke of the axe." Once it was over, however, she could relax in the beautiful garden she had sorely missed during her prolonged stay in Washington.

Nearly sixty years old, with the vitality and appearance of a man half his age, Seward typically rose at 6 a.m. when first light slanted into the bedroom window of his twenty-room country home. Rising early allowed him time to complete his morning constitutional through his beloved garden before the breakfast bell was rung. Situated on better than five acres of land, the Seward mansion was surrounded by manicured lawns, elaborate gardens, and walking paths that wound beneath elms, mountain ash, evergreens, and fruit trees. 

Decades earlier, Seward had supervised the planting of every one of these trees, which now numbered in the hundreds. He had spent thousands of hours fertilizing and cultivating his flowering shrubs. With what he called 'a lover's interest," he inspected them daily. 
 
Then I love what Doris writes next because she's contrasting Seward with Abraham Lincoln in terms of their love of working outside.

[Seward's] horticultural passion was in sharp contrast to Lincoln's lack of interest in planting trees or growing flowers at his Springfield home. Having spent his childhood laboring long hours on his father's struggling farm, Lincoln found little that was romantic or recreational about tilling the soil.

When Seward "came into the table," his son Frederick recalled, "he would announce that the hyacinths were in bloom, or that the bluebirds had come, or whatever other change the morning had brought."
 

1809 Martha Ballard recorded her work as an herbalist and midwife.

For 27 years, Martha kept a journal of her work as the town healer and midwife for Hallowell, Maine. Today Martha's marvelous journal gives us a glimpse into the plants that she regularly used and how she applied them medicinally.

And as for how Martha sourced her plants, she raised them in her garden or foraged for them in the wild. As the village apothecary, Martha found her own ingredients and personally made all of her herbal remedies.

Here's what the writer, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Wrote about Martha's work back in May of 1809. 

Martha's far more expansive record focused on the mundane work of gardening, the daily, incremental tasks that each season exacted. 
In May of 1809, she "sowed," "sett," "planted,' and "transplanted" in at least half dozen places, digging ground "west of the hous" on May 15 and starting squash, cucumbers, muskmelons and watermelons on "East side house" the same day. 
She planted "by the hogg pen" on May 16 and 18 on May 23 sowed string peas "in the end of my gardin," and on May 26, planted "south of the hous." The plots she defined by the three points of the compass were no doubt raised beds, rich with manure, used for starting seeds in cool weather.
The garden proper had a fence, which Ephraim mended on May 12. Whether it included the plot near the "hogg pen," we do not know. 
All of these spots, managed by Martha, were distinct from the "field." which Jonathan plowed on May 15, and DeLafayette and Mr. Smith on May 27 and May 31. 
Martha's was an ordinary garden, a factory for food and medicine that incidentally provided nourishment to the soul. "I have workt in my gardin, she wrote on May 17, the possessive pronoun the only hint of the sense of ownership she felt in her work. 
The garden was hers, though her husband or son or the Hallowell and Augusta Bank owned the land. 
"I have squash & Cucumbers come up in the bed East side the house," she wrote on May 22. 
The garden was hers because she turned the soil, dropped the seeds, and each year recorded in her diary, as though it had never happened before, the recurring miracle of spring.
 
 
1899 Luigi Fenaroli, the great Italian agronomist and botanist, is born.

Luigi wrote a flora of the Alps, and he was an expert in forestry, but today we remember him for his work with chestnuts. Luigi wrote two books on chestnuts, and he was passionate about chestnuts as a good source of nutrition - especially for people who've lived in the mountains.

Although today, of course, chestnuts are beloved in Italy, as well as other parts of the world.
Chestnuts are unique in that they contain very little fat and protein compared to other types of nuts, but they are an excellent source of both carbohydrates and water. There is about a 50-50 ratio there. And so it's not surprising to learn that Roman soldiers were given porridge made of chestnuts before they went into battle. It gave them sustenance, that simple Chestnut porridge.

Today chestnuts are known as a superfood. They are healthy and irresistibly tasty. And so they rank near the top of the list for most nutritious snacks.
 

1905 Herbert Ernest Bates (pen name H. E. Bates), English author, is born.
He is remembered for his books Love for Lydia (1952), The Darling Buds of May (1958), and My Uncle Silas (1939).

In his book, A Love of Flowers (1971), Herbert wrote,

It is wonderful to think that one of the few unbroken links between the civilization of ancient Egypt and the civilization of today is the garden.
 
Herbert also wrote, 

I shut my eyes it returns: the evocation of a whole wood, a whole world of darkness and flowers and birds and late summer silence... more than the mere memory of a wood, the first and the best wood.
 
Herbert wrote about gardeners. He said,

The true gardener, like an artist, is never satisfied.
 
And he also once wrote this about gardens.

Gardens... should be like lovely, well-shaped girls: all curves, secret corners, unexpected deviations, seductive surprises, and then still more curves.
 

1926 On this day, the state of Kentucky selected the Goldenrod for its Floral Emblem.

Prior to 1926, Kentucky's floral emblem had been the Bluegrass (which seems more fitting still today), but Kentucky gardening clubs felt Bluegrass wasn't representative of the whole state.
 
And here's a fun fact: Alabama and Nebraska also picked the native goldenrod to be the State Flower.
 
Goldenrod has a lot of haters because many people confuse it for ragweed. I hate to even write that - because it makes people think they must look similar. But that's just not true. Once you see Goldenrod and Ragweed individually - you could never confuse them.
Ragweed flowers are green and not eye-catching, while goldenrods are golden and very pretty.
 
I saw an infographic a few years ago that said,
 
Goldenrod Warning: if I'm here, so is ragweed. Stay indoors! Achoo!
 
This is clearly maligning Goldenrod. It might as well say the black-eyed Susans are blooming, so is ragweed. Or the Joe Pye Weed is blooming - and so is ragweed - and so, by the way, are all the late summer bloomers - echinacea, helenium, oriental lily, asters, balloon flowers, sedums, tickseed, autumn crocus, Japanese anemones, blue mist shrub, hydrangeas, the list goes on and on. It's just an issue of timing.
The genus name Solidago is taken from the Latin "in solidum ago vulnera" and it means "I make wounds whole." And so it's not surprising to learn that Native Americans and herbalists have long recognized the curative power of goldenrod when it comes to wound care.
 
Now, If you want to plant some Goldenrod, keep in mind that it is an early autumn bloomer. It's also an important food source for honey bees and makes for a fantastic cut flower.
 
Finally, the botanical painter Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden once painted the goldenrod and observed,
Abundant it may be, but repugnant it is not. 
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Of Rhubarb and Roses by Tim Richardson

This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is The Telegraph Book of the Garden.
Well, this is such a happy and fun book for gardeners in the summertime. I love the cover, which shows a gentleman sleeping on a garden bench with a little golden Tabby cat beneath him. There's also a lawnmower and a wheelbarrow full of produce. There are beautiful garden beds. There's a beautiful garden arbor. And then, of course, there's a newspaper of the daily Telegraph That's laid out on the wheelbarrow, right by the tomatoes and the carrots and the cabbage and so forth.

But this is a book that the Telegraph put together, and it is a compilation book - an anthology of garden essays by garden writers And so in this book, you will find fantastic garden essays from the likes of Stephen Lacey, Mary Keen, Helen Yemm, Bunny Guinness, Monty Don,  Rosemary Verey, and the like.

Now here's what Tim wrote in the introduction to this book.

I'm not sure quite what I was anticipating, but I know it was not diatribes against melon frappé or the best places to find wild chives on the Lizard peninsula. I'm not sure, either, that I was quite ready for the fact that a garden column appeared in the newspaper every single day from the late 1950s on. The result was bulging file after file brought up from the Telegraph's distant archive, each filled to bursting with carefully snipped clippings. Snow, drought, storm, new plants launched, old plants rediscovered, the latest furor at the Chelsea Show - the garden columnist falls upon everything that makes one year different from the last, for with a cyclical subject such as horticulture there is the ever-present danger of repeating oneself.

The Telegraph's writers have avoided this for the most part, though I was amused to come across at least four versions of a 'May I introduce you to euphorbias?" piece by the same author. One of the fascinations of gardening is the way the same issues arise year after year while always seeming different, somehow - perhaps because of the vagaries of the seasons.
 
Thomas walks us through some of the history of garden writing over at the Telegraph. And he concludes with these words.

The best writers can achieve this balance between practical advice and lyrical appreciation - in the case of newspapers, all to a strict deadline. 

I suppose this theme of writing to order looms large for me today since the deadline for this introduction is suddenly upon me, and I find myself writing during a weekend away. As it happens, the place is Sissinghurst, and the borrowed desk I am sitting at was Vita's, my view through casement windows that of burnished orange echinacea, crimson salvias, clipped yew, and the beatific, wondering smiles of the visitors gliding by. Their expressions make me think, 

Does anything in life give as much pleasure as a beautiful garden?'

Last night, the white garden at midnight was a revelation. But that is not a subject to be enlarged upon now; I am going to write it up in the next day or two. It will, I hope, become another garden article fit for publication in the pages of the Daily Telegraph.

If you like garden writing and you love anthologies, this is the perfect book for you.

Personally, I think this is a great summer gift for gardeners because this book has already been out for a decade already -it came out in 2013, and so used copies are readily available on Amazon for a song.

But again, this is a beautiful and fun book. One reviewer wrote,

[It's] an assorted box of chocolates. I happily skipped between essays by the likes of Vita Sackville-West, Germaine Greer, and Sir Roy Strong, greedily consuming one after the other in quick succession. For those with more restraint, this is a book that promises many hours of savoured delights.
 
This book is 464 pages of funny and well-informed garden writing dating back to the 1950s.

You can get a copy of Of Rhubarb and Roses by Tim Richardson and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $2.

 
Botanic Spark

1861 Jacob Ritner, a Union captain in the civil war, wrote to his wife Emeline.

In fact, there's a great book that features all of the letters that he wrote to his wife Emeline during the Civil War, and it's called  Love and Valor: Intimate Civil War Letters Between Captain Jacob and Emeline Ritner by Charles Larimer.
 
Anyway, I stumbled on this letter that Jacob wrote on this day during the civil war when I was reading an excerpt from a book by DC Gill called How We Are Changed by War.

In this excerpt, Gill reveals how soldiers survived the war, not only physically but also mentally, and quotes Kirby Farrell:

"To preserve their sanity," writes Kirby Farrell, "soldiers [often] concentrated on a prosthetic "reality" by which to ground themselves" (Farrell 1998, 179).
 
We already know that the garden is grounding. DC writes that mental images of happy places, like gardens, can mitigate bad environments, such as a war zone.

An artificial image of home can substitute for the deficiencies of a present-day environment in a war zone. It allows soldiers to mentally project themselves into a more comforting geography.

Soldiers' letters repeatedly ask for details to furnish these environments of the mind.

"Now Emeline dear," writes Union Captain Jacob Ritner on May 16, 1861, "you must write me a great long letter next Sunday.. .. Tell me all the news, how the trees grow, the garden and grass, what everybody says"
 
The power of the garden to anchor us extends past space and time, and even merely thinking of our gardens can lift our spirits and calm our worries.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

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Historical Events
1497 John Cabot, the Canadian Explorer, set sail from Bristol, England, on his ship, Matthew.
He was looking for a route to the west, and he found it. He discovered parts of North America on behalf of Henry VII of England.
And in case you're wondering why we're talking about John Cabot today, it's because of the climbing rose named in his honor. And it's also the rose that got me good. I got a thorn from a John Cabot rose in my knuckle and ended up having surgery to clean out the infection about three days later. It was quite an ordeal. I think my recovery took about eight months. So the John Cabot Rose - any rose - is not to be trifled with.
 
1519 Leonardo da Vinci, the mathematician, scientist, painter, and botanist, died.
Leonardo once said,
We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.
 
He also wrote,
The wisest and noblest teacher is nature itself.
 
And if you're spending any time outdoors, we are learning new lessons in spring. Isn't that the truth? There's always some new development we've never encountered - and, of course, a few delights.
Leonardo continued to study the flower of life, the Fibonacci sequence, which has fascinated them for centuries. You can see it in flowers. You can also see it in cell division.
And if you've never seen Leonardo's drawings and sketches of flowers, you are missing a real treat, and I think they would make for an awesome wallpaper.
Leonardo once wrote about how to make your own perfume.
He wrote,
To make a perfume, take some rose water and wash your hands in it, then take a lavender flower and rub it with your palms, and you will
achieve the desired effect.
That timeless rose-lavender combination is still a good one.
 
I think about Leonardo every spring when I turn on my sprinkler system because of consistent watering. Gives such a massive boost to the garden. All of a sudden, it just comes alive. Leonardo said,
Water is the driving force in nature.
 
The power of water is incredible, and of course, we know that life on Earth is inextricably bound to water. Nothing grows; nothing lives without water.
Leonardo was also a cat fan. He wrote,
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
 
In 1517 Leonardo made a mechanical lion for the King of France. This lion was designed to walk toward the king and then drop flowers at his feet.
Today you can grow a rose named after Leonardo da Vinci in your garden. It's a beautiful pink rose, very lush, very pleasing, with lots of lovely big green leaves to go with those gorgeous blooms.
It was Leonardo da Vinci who wrote,
Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple, or more direct than does nature because in her inventions, nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.
 
1803 On this day, Napoleon and the United States inked a deal for the Louisiana Purchase and added 828,000 square miles of French territory to the United States for $27 million.
This purchase impacted the Louis and Clark Expedition because they had to explore the area that was bought in addition to the entire Pacific Northwest.
To get ready for this trip, Meriwether Lewis was sent to Philadelphia. While there, he worked with a botanist, a naturalist, and a physician named Benjamin Smith Barton.
He was the expert in Philadelphia, so he tutored Meriwether Lewis to get him ready because Lewis did not know natural history or plants. So he needed to cram all this information to maximize what he saw and collected.
Now, in addition to all of this homework, all of this studying about horticulture and botany and the natural world, Meriwether made one other purchase for $20. He bought himself a big, beautiful Newfoundland dog, and he named him Seaman. It's always nice to have a little dog with you while exploring.
 
1806 The garden writer John Abercrombie died. 
The previous day, John had fallen down some steps. He had broken his hip a few weeks earlier, and so this last fall is what did him in.
John was a true character. He loved to drink tea. He was a vegetarian. He was Scottish, and he was a lifelong gardener. His most significant success was his book, Every Man His Own Garden.
John would go on to write other books on gardening like The Garden Mushroom, The Complete Wall and Tree Pruner (1783), and The Gardener's Daily Assistant (1786), but none of them rose to the level of popularity as Every Man His Own Garden.
John and his wife had 17 children, and they all died before him - with his last child dying about ten years before he died on this day in 1806.
 
1867 Thomas Hanbury bought a property in the French Riviera that he called La Mortola.
In 1913, The Botanical Journal shared the story of Thomas and his brother Daniel, and it also described the moment that Thomas saw his property for the first time.
It had been the dream of Thomas Hanbury from his early youth to make a garden in a southern climate and to share its pleasures and botanical interests with his favorite brother.
While staying on the Riviera, in the spring of 1867, after many years of strenuous work in the East, he decided to carry out his plan.
He was first inclined to buy Cap Martin, near Mentone, but gave up the idea as soon as he became acquainted with the little cape of La Mortola.
As he first approached it by sea, he was struck by the marvelous beauty of this spot. A house, once the mansion of a noble Genoese family, and at that time, though almost a ruin, known as the Palazzo Orego, stood on a high commanding position.
Above it was the little village, and beyond all rose the mountains.
To the east of the Palazzo were vineyards and olive terraces; to the west, a ravine whose declivities were here and there scantily clothed by Aleppo pines; while on the rocky point, washed by the sea waves, grew the myrtle, to which La Punta della Murtola probably owed its name.
 
So Thomas purchased this incredible property in May of 1867, and by July, he returned with his brother, and together the two of them started to transform both the home and the garden.
The article says that Thomas's first goal was to get planting because the property had been destroyed by goats and the local villagers who had come in and taken what they wanted from the property during all the years that it was left unoccupied now Thomas and Daniel went all out when it came to selecting plants for this property, and by 1913 there were over. Five thousand different species of plants, including the opuntia or the prickly pear cactus, along with incredible succulents (so they were way ahead of their time).
Thomas loved collecting rare and valuable plants and found a home for all of them on this beautiful estate.
Now, for the most part, Thomas and his brother Daniel did the bulk of the installations, but a year later, they managed to find a gardener to help them. His name was Ludwig Winter, and he stayed there for about six years. Almost a year after they hired him, Thomas's brother Daniel died.
This was a significant loss to Thomas, but he found solace in his family, friends, and gorgeous estate at La Mortola - where Thomas spent the last 28 years of his life.
Thomas knew almost every plant in his garden, and he loved the plants that reminded him of his brother.
Thomas went on to found the Botanical Institute at the University of Genoa. The herbarium there was named in his honor; it was called the Institute Hanbury and was commemorated in 1892.
As Thomas grew older, the Riviera grew more popular, and soon his property was opened to the public five days a week.
The garden is practically never without flowers. The end of September may be considered the dullest time. Still, as soon as the autumnal rains set in, the flowering begins and continues on an ever-increasing scale until the middle of April or the beginning of May. Then almost every plant is in flower, the most marked features being the graceful branches of the single yellow Banksian rose, Fortune's yellow rose, the sweet-scented Pittosporum, the wonderful crimson Cantua buxifolia, and the blue spikes of the Canarian Echium.\\
 
But Thomas knew that there were limitations, frustrations, and challenges even in that lovely growing zone.
It was Thomas Hanberry who said,
Never go against nature. 
 
Thomas used that as his philosophy when planning gardens,  working with plants, and trying to figure out what worked and what didn't - Proving that even in the French Riviera, never go against nature.
 
1928 On this day, folks were lined up to see the lilacs in bloom at Hulda Klagers in Woodland, Washington.
Here's an excerpt from a book by Jane Kirkpatrick called Where Lilacs Still Bloom. In it, she quotes Hulda.
Beauty matters… it does. God gave us flowers for a reason. Flowers remind us to put away fear, to stop our rushing and running and worrying about this and that, and for a moment, have a piece of paradise right here on earth.
 
Jane wrote,
The following year there were two articles: one in Better Homes and Gardens and yet another on May 2, 1928, in the Lewis River News. The latter article appeared just in time for my Lilac Days and helped promote Planter's Day, following in June. They were covering the news, and we had made it!
In the afternoon, a count showed four hundred cars parked at Hulda Klager's Lilac Garden in one hour, the road being lined for a quarter of a mile. It is estimated that at least twenty-five hundred people were there for the day, coming from points all the way from Seattle. In addition, there were several hundred cars during the week to avoid the rush.
Today you can go and visit the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens. It's a nonprofit garden, and of course, it specializes in lilacs.
The gardens are open from 10 to 4 pm daily. There's a $4 admission fee - except during lilac season when the admission fee is $5.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
A Gardener's Guide to Botany by Scott Zona
This book came out in December of 2022, and the subtitle is The Biology Behind the Plants You Love, How They Grow, and What They Need.
I think it's that last part - what they need - that most gardeners are intrigued by.
If you're a true botany geek, you'll love every page of Scott's book.
I wanted to share a little bit from the preface of Scott's book. Scott, by the way, is truly an expert. He's a research botanist by training, and his undergraduate degree is in horticulture, so he's a lifelong gardener and a trained expert. He's a conscious-competent. He knows exactly what he is writing about,
Here's what he wrote in the preface of his book.
As I sit down to write, I gaze at the windowsill near my desk. On it sits a dwarf sansevieria forming little rosettes of deep green leaves above. It hangs a slab of cork on which is mounted a tiny air plant that is pushing out oversized violet flowers, one at a time.
Nearby are two plants, an agave, and an aloe, that have similar forms, but one evolved from Mexico and the other in South America. Above them, a furry-leaved and a hybrid philodendron both grow contently in the diffuse light that reaches the shelf next to the window. My most curious visitors might ask a question about a plant or two, and when that happens, I can barely contain my delight. There is so much to tell.
Well, this book starts out with a chapter called Being a Plant, and if you are a bit of an empath, you may feel that you understand what it's like to be a plant, but Scott is going to tell you scientifically what does it mean to be a plant.
 
He writes in chapter one,
For most people, the plant kingdom is a foreign land.
It's inscrutable. Inhabitants are all around us, but they communicate in a language that seems unintelligible and untranslatable. Their social interactions are different. Their currency doesn't fit in our wallet and their cuisine. Well, it's nothing like what we eat at home in the plant kingdom.
We are tourists.
 
So I would say this book is for the very serious and curious gardener- and maybe you. This book was a 2023 American Horticulture Society Award winner. I love the cover.
It's beautiful, and of course, I love the title, A Gardener's Guide to Botany.
This is the perfect book to round out your collection. If you have the Botany in a Day book, it looks like a big botany workbook. I love that book. This book is a great companion to that.
There's also a book called Botany for Gardeners, and when I think about Scott's book here, I will be putting it on the shelf beside both books.
This book is 256 pages that will amp up your understanding of plants - No more mystery -and provide all of the answers you've been looking for.
You can get a copy of A Gardener's Guide to Botany by Scott Zona and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $20.
 
Botanic Spark
1772 Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, better known by his pen name Novalis, is born.
He was an 18th-century German poet and writer, mystic, and philosopher of early German romanticism.
All last week I was watching videos about Novalis. He led such an exciting but short life. He had a tragic romance after falling in love with a girl who tragically died of tuberculosis, and then Novalis himself died young. He died at 28 of tuberculosis as well.
But in his concise life, he accomplished so much, including the fact that during his life, he had three moments of mystical revelation, which led to a deeper understanding of the world and time, and humanity. This is partly what makes him such a fascinating person to examine.
One of the things that we remember Novalis for is his fascination with blue flowers. He made the blue flower a symbol of German romanticism. To Novalis, the blue flower represented romantic yearning. It also meant a point of unification between humanity and nature. It represented life, but it also described death.
And if you are a gardener who the blue flower bug has bitten (and who hasn't? I mean, who does not love a blue flower?), you know what I'm talking about. Blue blossoms are so rare. They're so captivating. Most people can relate to Novalis' love of Blue Flowers and why it became so significant in his writing.
Now the book where Novalis wrote about the Blue flower is a book called Henry of Ofterdingen, and it's here where we get these marvelous quotes about the blue blossom, which some believe was a heliotrope and which others believe was a cornflower,
But whatever the case, the symbolism of the blue flower became very important.
Novalis wrote,
It is not the treasures that have stirred in me such an unspeakable longing; I care not for wealth and riches. But that blue flower I do long to see; it haunts me, and I can think and dream of nothing else.
 
And that reminds me of what it was like to be a new gardener 30 years ago. A friend got me onto growing Delphinium, and I felt just like Novalis; I could not stop thinking about the Delphinium and imagining them at maturity around the 4th of July, standing about five to six feet tall, those beautiful blue spikes.
And, of course, my dream of the Delphinium always surpassed what the actual Delphinium looked like, and yet, I still grew them. I loved them. And I did that for about ten years. So there you go, the call and the power of the blue flower.
Novalis writes later in the book,
He saw nothing but the blue flower and gazed at it for a long time with indescribable tenderness.
 
Those blue flowers command our attention. Well, I'll end with this last quote. It's a flower quote from Novalis, and it'll get you thinking. Novalis was a very insightful philosopher and a lover of nature, and he believed in the answers that could be found in nature. And so what he does here in this quote is he asks a series of questions, and like all good philosophers, Novalis knows that the answer is in the questions and that the questions are more powerful than the answers. Novalis writes,
What if you slept? 
And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? 
And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and plucked a strange and beautiful flower? 
And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand? 
Ah, what then?
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

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Historical Events
1771 On this day, heavy rains caused the ancient raised peat bog known as the Solway Moss to burst over its earthen banks and flowed down into a valley covering four hundred acres of farmland.
The next day, Solway Moss covered the surrounding land with 15 feet of thick feculent mud. Solway Moss was a one-by-two-mile-long moss land growing since the end of the last Ice Age. The raised bog was an estimated 50 feet higher than the surrounding farmland. The living surface of the Solway Moss was a unique mix of bog cotton, sphagnum, and heather. The porous soupy surface hosted a few shrubs and standing pools of water. But the rotting vegetation created a dangerous predicament that no man or cattle would dare traverse throughout the year.
Over two hundred years before the Solway Moss burst, the English and the Scots fought over the land surrounding the bog in the Battle of Solway Moss. After the English victory, hundreds of Scots drowned in the bog as they tried to return home by crossing the moss hillside. Like a sponge, peat expands to absorb moisture when it gets wet. And, during wet months like November of 1771, the peat swells; in this case, the peat swelled until it bursts.
The incredible event was recorded in a journal:
A farmer who lived nearest the moss was alarmed with an unusual noise.
The crust had at once given way, and the black deluge was rolling toward his house.
He gave notice to his neighbors with all expedition;
others received no other advice but... by its noise,
many by its entrance into their houses....
some were surprised with it even in their beds.
[while some] remaining totally ignorant…until the morning
when their neighbors with difficulty got them out through the roof.
The eruption burst… like a cataract of thick ink...
intermixed with great fragments of peat...
filling the whole valley... leaving... tremendous heaps of turf.
 
1785 Birth of Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, American Lutheran Pastor and botanist.
He was always referred to by his second name Heinrich. The Muhlenberg family was a founding family of the United States, and Heinrich came from a long line of pastors. His father, Pastor Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg, was known as the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. His brother was a major in the Revolutionary War, and his other brother was a Congressman.
Muhlenberg's journals are a treasure trove of his thoughts on botanical self-improvement. He would write:
How may I best advance myself in the knowledge of plants?
 
And Muhlenberg would set goals and reminders to challenge himself, writing:
It is winter, and there is little to do . . . Toward spring I should go out and [put together] a chronology of the trees; how they come out, the flowers, how they appear,. . . . I should especially [take not of] the flowers and fruit.

The grass Muhlenbergia was named for Heinrich Muhlenberg.
Muhly grasses are beautiful native grasses with two critical strengths in their plant profile: drought tolerance and visual punch. In addition, Muhly grasses are easy-going, growing equally well in harsh conditions and perfectly manicured gardens.
The Muhly cultivar 'White Cloud' offers gorgeous white plumes. When the coveted Pink Muhly blooms, people often stop and ask the name of the beautiful pink grass. Lindheimer's Muhly makes a fantastic screen, and Bamboo Muhly commands attention when it
is featured in containers.
All Muhly grasses like well-drained soil and full sun. If you plant them in the fall, be sure to get them situated and in the ground at least a month before the first frost.
And here's an interesting side note: Muhlenberg also discovered the bog turtle. In 1801, the turtle was named Clemmys muhlenbergii in his honor.
 
1818 Death of England's Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III.
Charlotte is remembered as the patroness of the arts, an amateur botanist, and a champion of Kew Gardens.
In addition to the astounding fact that Charlotte gave birth to 15 children, she was a fascinating royal.
Born in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany, Charlotte was the first person in England to bring a Christmas tree indoors to celebrate the holiday season. Charlotte had gotten the idea from her home country of Germany. In December 1800, Charlotte selected a yew which was brought inside Windsor Castle and festively decorated.
Charlotte and her husband, King George, both loved botany. After his mother died, George gained control of Kew and Charlotte set about expanding Kew Gardens.
On the property, Charlotte had a little cottage installed along with a rustic cottage garden. Her daughter Elizabeth likely painted the attic room ceiling with nasturtium and morning glory.
Charlotte was quite serious in her pursuit of botany. She collected plants and had a personal herbarium to help with her studies.
The President of the Linnean Society, Sir James Edward Smith, personally tutored Charlotte in botany, along with her four daughters.
And. George and Charlotte both became close friends with the botanical tissue paper artist Mary Delaney. At the end of Mary's life,
George and Charlotte gave her a house at Windsor along with a pension.
When plant hunters in South Africa discovered the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) flower, it was sent to England and named for
Charlotte's birthplace, Strelitz. The botanical name for the Bird of Paradise is Strelitzia reginae, "stray-LIT-zee-ah REJ-in-ee."
The early part of Charlotte's reign occurred before the American Revolution, which is why so many American locations were named in Charlotte's honor. Eleven cities are named Charlotte, the most famous being Charlotte, North Carolina. It's no wonder that Charlotte, NC, has the nickname The Queen's City," and there's a 25-foot tall bronze statue of Charlotte outside the Charlotte airport. Mecklenburg County in North Carolina and Virginia are both named in honor of Charlotte's home in Germany.
Charlotte died at 74 in the smallest English royal palace, Kew Palace, at Kew Gardens. She reigned for 57 years.
Today, gardeners love the Japanese Anemone Queen Charlotte. It's the perfect plant for adding late color to the garden with light pink
petals and golden-yellow centers.
 
1889 Birth of Ethel Zoe Bailey, American botanist.
Ethel graduated from Smith College in 1911 after majoring in zoology.
Ethel was the daughter of the American horticulturist Liberty Hyde Bailey. Her father instilled in her a love for botany, adventure, and archiving. Liberty brought Ethel along on his travels to Latin America and Asia in his quest for new plant discoveries.
One of her obituaries shared a story from one of their more daring trips:
One of the pair's most daring expeditions was to the wild jungle island of Barro Colorado in the Panama Canal Zone. Disregarding
warnings about disease and boa constrictors, Miss Bailey her father, then 73, and a few other botanists trekked through hip-deep water of the Mohinja Swamp in search of a rare palm.
They found it growing in the swamp, as Bailey had predicted, and photographed it in the pouring rain with the camera tripod almost
submerged in water.
In turn, Ethel became the curator of the Bailey herbarium above the Mann Library at Cornell University - a position she held for over two decades until 1957. For Ethel, maintaining the collection was her personal mission. She was essentially the steward of her father's work after he donated his private plant collection to Cornell University.
For Ethel, Cornell was home. In fact, she was one of the few people to have the honor of being born on the Cornell campus on the spot where Phillips Hall now stands.  
One biography of Ethel noted that 
She continued to volunteer on a daily basis at the Hortorium, until her death in 1983. Still driving herself to and from work, Miss Bailey had reached the auspicious age of 93. Driving had always been an important part of Miss Bailey's life. She was the first woman in Ithaca to receive a chauffeur's (driver's) license.
Ethel's remarkable ability to organize and catalog large amounts of information led to an impressive notecard filing system of every single plant that had been listed in most of the published plant catalogs during Ethel's lifetime. This massive indexing project on simple 3" x 5" cards helped Ethel's father with his research and became an invaluable resource to other researchers and plant experts worldwide. The catalog was later named the Ethel Z. Bailey Horticultural Catalogue in her honor.
Ethel received much well-deserved recognition for her work during her lifetime, including the George Robert White Medal in 1967 from the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Smith College Medal in 1970.
 
1916 Birth of Shelby Foote, American writer, historian, and journalist. 
He is remembered for his massive, three-volume, 3,000-page history of the Civil War - a project he completed in 1974.
Shelby lived in Memphis and loved to spend days in his pajamas. He did most of his writing in his home study with a view of his small and tidy garden. Shelby was old-fashioned. He took to writing with hand-dipped pens, which slowed the pace of his writing - a practice he felt made him a better writer.
One of his favorite books was The Black Flower by Howard Bahr, an acclaimed historical fiction book set during the Civil War.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Rosa by Peter Kukielski ("Kooh-KEL-ski")
This book came out in 2021, and the subtitle is The Story of the Rose.
Peter is a world-renowned rosarian or rose expert. He has written many popular books on roses, including Roses Without Chemicals. He spent twelve years as the curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. During that time, he oversaw a $2.5 million redesign of a massive rose collection in a garden designed by Beatrix Farrand. He helped lead the launch of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario. He also promotes disease-resistant roses as a leader on the National EarthKind team.
A review in Maine Gardener by Tom Atwell raved that this book is a beauty with lavish illustrations and the long, fascinating history of the rose.
In chapter one, Kukielski lists all the plants other than roses in the Rosacea family (surprising ones include mountain ash, apples, raspberries and strawberries.) He also shows, with pictures (the book has 256 color illustrations in total), the many different classes of roses. Modern roses, defined as those introduced since 1867, get their own section.
 
Tom Atwell's review also revealed the origin story of this book.
Three or four times, editors and publishers at Yale University Press asked Portland resident and rose expert Peter E Kukielski to please write a
history of the rose. Kukielski kept saying no. The last time they asked, he responded, "Perhaps you should ask why I am saying no."
When they did, he told them he'd had read many rose histories, and they all said the same thing. The world didn't need another one, he said.
What Kukielsk wanted to do was tell stories about roses. Yes, include some history, but also encompasses the rose's role in religion, literature, art, music and movies. He wanted to offer true plant geeks a bit about the rose's botany, too. In the end, that's the book he was able to write.
 
In Rosa, Peter takes us on a chronological journey through the history of the rose, including a close look at the fascinating topic of the rose water or rose oil industry. These rose-based products were an essential part of life in the middle east and Asia, with entire population centers springing up around the craft.
In a 2007 article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Peter shared that,
the only way to know a rose is to grow roses. [Peter] grew up watching his grandmother tend her rose garden in Stone Mountain, Ga. Little did she know that she was planting the seed for her grandson's future career.
 
And in a 2008 article featured in the Red Deer Advocate, Peter shared great insights into why roses reign supreme in the fall.
It turns out, as many gardeners will attest, roses often save their best blooms for fall. All year long, roses store energy, which is ultimately released at the end of their season, resulting in gorgeous showy blossoms in autumn.
Peter advised,
"In my opinion, late September into October is a very close second to June as far as beauty. The days are nicer, the nights are cooler and the sunlight is better, coating everything with a golden glow."
Summer is hard on roses, which require a lot of energy to flower. 
"It's hot, humid and exhausting. Roses have their fabulous spring, shut down a bit in summer and then display another burst of glorious colour in the fall when they're less stressed."
 
And in a 2021 interview with Margaret Roach, Peter shared his tip regarding what rose to plant. 
Talk to the local rose society, Kukielski suggests, and neighbours who garden: "If the person down the street is growing Queen Elizabeth and it looks great, take that as a cue.
 
And that passion and pragmatism made Peter Kukielski the perfect author for this book on roses.
This book is 256 of the story of the rose, the Queen of flowers, and her long reign through human history.
You can get a copy of Rosa by Peter Kukielski and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $7.
 
Botanic Spark
1861 Birth of Archibald Lampman, Canadian poet, and naturalist.
Archibald loved camping and the countryside. The natural world inspired his verse, and he became known as "The Canadian Keats."
As a result of contracting rheumatic fever in his childhood, Archibald's life was cut short, and he died at 37.
Archibald's poem Knowledge compares our quest for wisdom to a garden.
What is more large than knowledge and more sweet;
Knowledge of thoughts and deeds, of rights and wrongs,
Of passions and of beauties and of songs;
Knowledge of life; to feel its great heart beat
Through all the soul upon her crystal seat;
To see, to feel, and evermore to know;
To till the old world's wisdom till it grow
A garden for the wandering of our feet.
Oh for a life of leisure and broad hours,
To think and dream, to put away small things,
This world's perpetual leaguer of dull naughts;
To wander like the bee among the flowers
Till old age find us weary, feet and wings
Grown heavy with the gold of many thoughts.
 
Archibald is buried at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, and a plaque near his grave is inscribed with his poem "In November," which ends with these words:

The hills grow wintery white, and bleak winds moan
About the naked uplands. I alone
Am neither sad, nor shelterless, nor grey,
Wrapped round with thought, content to watch and dream.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
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Historical Events
1769 Birth of Samuel Thompson (books about this person), American self-taught New Hampshire holistic doctor, and herbalist. In 1809, he was tried and acquitted for the murder of Ezra Lovett after treatment with lobelia inflata, a herb commonly called puke weed that he regarded as a key to treating disease. Despite his iconoclast approach to medicine, Samual's herbal remedies and vapor baths were popular, and his followers were known as Thompsonians. In addition to lobelia, Samuel primarily used herbs like barberry bark, red clover, and cayenne. In his New Guide to Health (1833), Samuel wrote,
I have made use of Cayenne in all kinds of disease, and have given it to patients of all ages and under every circumstance that has come under my practice... It is no doubt, the most powerful stimulant known, but its power is entirely congenial to nature, being powerful only in raising and maintaining that heat on which life depends.
 
1830 Birth of Henry Arthur Bright (books by this author), English gardener and writer. Henry began a diary, which would become a book called A Year in a Lancashire Garden. In February 1874, Henry was doing what gardeners do this time of year: cleaning up and editing the garden for the new season, looking through garden catalogs, and mulling over unappreciated plants - like the humble spring Crocus.
But all things are now telling of spring. We have finished our pruning of the wall-fruit; we have ...sown our earliest peas… We have been looking over old volumes of Curtis's Botanical Magazine and have been trying to get... old forgotten plants of beauty, and now of rarity. We have found enough, however, to add a fresh charm to our borders for June, July, and August...
I sometimes think that the Crocus is less cared for than it deserves. Our modern poets rarely mention it, but in Homer, when he would make a carpet for the gods, it is of Lotus, Hyacinth, and Crocus.
 
1944 Birth of Alice Walker (books by this author), American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she published The Color Purple, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In her book, In Search of Our Mother's Garden (1983), Alice wrote,
In search of my mother’s garden, I found my own.
 
Grow That Garden Library™ 
Book Recommendation
The Wardian Case by Luke Keogh
This book came out late in 2020, and the subtitle is How a Simple Box Moved Plants and Changed the World.
When Australian Luke Keogh ("Key-oh") set out to tackle the topic of the Wardian case, he was working in Munich on an Anthropocene Exhibit and curating a piece about how goods had been moved around the globe. This topic led him to the topic of the Wardian Case. Wardian Cases are a great topic, and original Wardian cases are getting harder and harder to find.
For all their miraculous functionality, Wardian cases are actually quite simple. They essentially are wood boxes with a glass top. The box could be filled with potted plants or be layered with bricks, moss, and soil and then have plants potted directly into the box.
Luke's book is a look back at not only the cases but the inventor of the Wardian case and the man they were named for: Nathanial Bagshaw Ward. Nathaniel's story began in 1829 when he was struggling to grow plants. He lived close to the London docks, and there was a lot of air pollution, which wasn't suitable for plants or people. Anyway, Nathaniel was a life-long naturalist, and he decided that he wanted to create this perfect environment for a moth to grow in. So he settled on using a large bottle, and then he put the moth pupa in the bottle along with some plants. As he was waiting for the moth to hatch, he realized that he had a beautiful little fern growing in the little biosphere he created, and he was suddenly struck by how well the fern had grown in that sealed environment (as opposed to his home garden). And that was the inspiration for the Wardian case, which was essentially the precursor to the terrarium.
Nathaniel experimented for years before finally creating a Wardian case that could be used on ships and long voyages and make it possible for explorers to bring back live specimens. His first case went all the way to Australia. Ward waited for seven months for the ship to return, and he was pleased to hear from the captain that his case was a grand success. In fact, halfway through the journey, the plants were doing so well that they had to prune back some of the growth during the voyage.
In his book, Luke shares many fascinating stories about Ward and his cases and how they transformed plant exploration, food, and the world. For instance, Ward was passionate about having windowsill boxes in the homes of the lower class so that they could grow plants in their home. Luke's book offers wonderful insights, history, images, and maps of trade routes to help contextualize the importance of this simple and yet profound invention.
You can get a copy of The Wardian Case by Luke Keogh and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $25.
 
Botanic Spark
1874 Birth of Amy Lawrence Lowell (books by this author), an American poet of the imagist school. In 1926, she posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for a collection that included her popular poem Lilacs.
In Madonna of the Evening Flowers, Amy wrote:
You tell me that the peonies need spraying,
That the columbines have overrun all bounds,
That the pyrus japonica should be cut back and rounded.
You tell me these things.
 
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Historical Events
1809 On this day, Thomas Jefferson (books about this person) wrote to his friend and favorite nurseryman, Bernhard McMahon.
At the time, Jefferson was counting the days until he retired from the White House.
From Jefferson's letters, it's clear that he was looking forward to spending more time in his garden.
The previous July, Jefferson had written McMahon and confided:
Early in the next year I shall ask [for] some cuttings of your gooseberries 
and [I'll also] send a pretty copious list for...the best kinds of garden seeds and flowers. 
I shall be at home early in March [and plan to] very much devote myself to my garden… 
I have the tulips you sent to me in great perfection, also the hyacinths, tuberoses, amaryllis, and artichokes.
 
And so, when Jefferson wrote to McMahon on this day - a month before leaving office - he was following up with the list of plants he wanted at Monticello ("MontiCHELLo"). As you might imagine, Jefferson's letter reads the same as any written by an avid gardener in pursuit of new stock:
Sir
I have been daily expecting some of the large hiccory nuts from Roanoke… 
but they [have] not yet arrived.   
I must now ask [a] favor of you 
to furnish me with the [items mentioned below] for the garden, 
which will occupy much of my attention... at home. 
…If you will be so good as to send them by the stage 
which leaves Philadelphia on the 1st of March… 
they will come in time for me to carry on to Monticello. 
I salute you with esteem.
Th: Jefferson

• Chili strawberry
• Hudson strawberry
• Some of the fine gooseberry plants of which you sent me the fruit last year
• Some roots of Crown imperials(Fritillaria imperialis - a dazzling and unique member of the Lily (Liliaceae) family)
• lilium convallarium (lily of the valley)
• Auricula
• Sea kale, or Crambe maritime
• One gallon of Leadman’s dwarf peas (mentioned in your book page 310)

 
1823 John Galvin was born. An English-American born in Kent, he mastered his grandfather's nursery business in Ireland before immigrating to America with his mother at 18.
After working for several nurseries in New England, including the property owned by Thomas Motley which would eventually become the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard, John went on to beautify Boston as the City's Forester. John's greatest legacy was transforming old circus grounds and a playground into the Boston Public Garden. After the Massachusetts Public Garden Act was passed in 1856, George Meacham was hired to design the park. But it was John Galvin, and his crew who installed the trees, shrubs, flowers, and turf.
Outside of his work for the city, John opened the very first retail florist shop in Boston, making life much easier for him and his customers. Before John's flower shop, Bostonians had to order their roses and other cut flowers by mail. They would put their orders in little post boxes that John had placed in various stores around the city. It was a cumbersome process. John named his business John Galvin & Co., and the work became a family affair as John's wife and seven children helped the business prosper. Over time, the middle child, a son named Thomas, took over the business, and he became a successful gardener, landscape designer, and florist in his own right.
John was a beloved member of many Boston social and charitable groups. He embraced his Irish heritage and loved dancing jigs and reels. One obituary noted that his favorite Irish song was Malony Don't Know that McCarthy is Dead, sung to the tune of the Irish Washerwoman.
Two years before he died, at the age of 76, the April 6th, 1899 edition of the New England Florist shared a little story about John. They wrote,
The veteran florist John Galvin, the father of Thomas W Galvin, had his pocket picked on the street the other day - March 31st, we believe. But [he] knew nothing about it until told by a friend whom [John] suspected of trying to spring an April Fool's on him. [That is,] until he found his pocketbook with $70 in cash missing.
[But in a stroke of good fortune,] the thief, while being chased by the police, [dropped the pocketbook.] [John's ownership] was ascertained [after finding] his name marked [inside].
The moral is to get $70 in your pocketbook and then be sure your name is on it.
 
1944 On this day, Del Monte ran an ad supporting the quality of their canned and jarred fruit over homegrown. 
Despite prior marketing in support of Victory Gardens, on this day Del Monte floated a pitch to consumers on this day during WWII that featured a woman holding a can of peaches saying,
I learned the hard way all right! — and believe me, since I put up fruit of my own I appreciate Del Monte quality more than ever!
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich
This book came out late in 2021, and the subtitle is Classic Recipes, Local Secrets.
This is Pati's third cookbook. It follows two previous cookbooks that were very well received: Pati's Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking and Mexican Today: New and Rediscovered Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen.
Born and raised in Mexico City, Pati Jinich ("Hee-nich") hosts her PBS television series Pati's Mexican Table, which is going on its tenth season and has won numerous awards, including James Beard Awards and Emmys.
In her latest cookbook book, Treasures of the Mexican Table, Pati is sharing heirloom recipes that have been held onto in families for generations. These recipes utilize vegetables like peppers, onion, garlic, and countless herbs straight from the garden. If Chipotle's success indicates the popularity of Mexican food, then Pati's Treasures will be sure to please - taking center stage on your outdoor dining tables this summer. Pati's cookbook is a hefty work - 416 pages and weighing in at almost three pounds.
Inside, you'll find history and tradition, as well as cherished family recipes covering every category of cooking from soups to tacos, quesadillas, burritos and tamales and salsas, pickles, guacamole, beans, rice, and pasta, just to name a few.
You can get a copy of Pati Jinich Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $23.
 
Botanic Spark
1819 Birth of John Ruskin (books by this author), Victorian-era English art critic, watercolorist, and philanthropist.
John's love of nature is reflected in much of his writing. John wrote:
Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty.
 
John also recognized that beauty and utility didn't always go hand in hand. He once observed,
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for instance.
 
John's named his home and garden Brantwood. The name Brantwood is Norse; Brant means steep. Situated on a wooded highpoint overlooking a lake, today Brantwood is administered by a charitable trust.
As with most gardens from time to time, John's own garden experienced times of neglect. By the end of the summer in 1879, John wrote,
Looking over my kitchen garden yesterday, I found it [a] miserable mass of weeds gone to seed; the roses in the higher garden putrefied into brown sponges, feeling like dead snails; and the half-ripe strawberries all rotten at the stalks.
 
As for his legacy, there's one famous garden saying from John Ruskin that has remained popular through the years:
Kind hearts are the garden,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the blossoms,
Kind deeds are the fruit.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
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Historical Events
1688 Birth of Cadwallader Colden (books about this person), Scottish-American physician, botanist, and Lieutenant Governor of New York. The genus Coldenia in the borage family is named for him. After arriving in the United States in 1718, Cadwallader and his wife raised ten children in Queens on their Coldenham estate. His fifth child was a girl named Jane, and early on, she expressed interest in botany. Cadwallader could not resist teaching her the topic. He opened up his library to her, shared his correspondence with her, and allowed her to be present when the family was visited by many of the leading botanists of the time, like John Bertram. Today Jane is remembered as America's first female botanist. Cadwallader was so proud of Jane that he once wrote to a friend,
I (have) often thought that botany is an amusement which may be made greater to the ladies who are often at a loss to fill up their time… I have a daughter (with) an inclination... for natural philosophy or history… I took the pains to explain to her Linnaeus's system and put it in English for her. She [has] grown very fond of the study… Notwithstanding that, she does not understand Latin. She has already (written) a pretty large volume in... the description of plants.
 
1812 Birth of Charles Dickens (books by this author). The English Victorian-era writer and social critic had a garden at Gad's Hill Place, and he walked around the garden every day before writing. Charles' favorite flower was the Mrs. Pollock geranium (1858). The bloom is a classic geranium, bred by the Scottish gardener and hybridist Peter Grieve. Charles grew geraniums in his garden and conservatory at Gad's Hill. He even wore geraniums on his lapel. Charles' novels contain many garden references.
In Hard Times, he wrote,
Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.
And in Bleak House, he wrote:
I found every breath of air, and every scent, and every flower and leaf and blade of grass and every passing cloud, and everything in nature, more beautiful and wonderful to me than I had ever found it yet. This was my first gain from my illness. How little I had lost, when the wide world was so full of delight for me.
 
1880 On this day, Henri Frederic Amiel (books about this person), Swiss philosopher and poet, wrote in his journal:
Hoarfrost and fog, but the general aspect is bright and fairylike and has nothing in common with the gloom in Paris and London, of which the newspapers tell us. This silvery landscape has a dreamy grace, a fanciful charm, which is unknown both to the countries of the sun and to those of coal smoke. The trees seem to belong to another creation, in which white has taken the place of green…. No harshness anywhere -- all is velvet. My enchantment beguiled me out both before and after dinner. 
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Green by Ula Maria
This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Simple Ideas For Small Outdoor Spaces.
Jason Ingram did a lovely job capturing beautiful images of these enchanting outdoor vignettes designed by Ula Maria.
Ula Maria is a young landscape designer from Lithuania. She won the RHS Young Designer of the Year Medal back in 2017.
In her book, Green, Ula is determined to reveal a simple truth about dealing with outdoor spaces: you don't have to be a plant guru to have a beautiful and functional outdoor space. There are styles and types of gardens to suit every individual.
In this book, Ula focuses on outdoor spaces that are on the smaller side. Do you want to install a tiny Oasis on the balcony of your apartment? No problem. Are you looking to add a touch of the Mediterranean to your garden space and incorporate more color and vibrancy into an outdoor dining room? Well, Ula has you covered.
Ula shares some of her favorite plants, and she divides them into functional areas like plants that can be used for structure or interest, et cetera.
Stepping outside the comfort zone of your home and into the unknown of the outdoors may seem daunting at first. But remember that, unlike interior spaces, even the best gardens are never truly finished and are often frayed around the edges.
This sentiment is something that Ula embraces, saying, "that's the beauty of nature." 
Ula's book is 176 pages of doable ideas and encouragement to get your creativity flowing regarding your 2022 outdoor spaces - whether they're around your home or out in the garden,
You can get a copy of Green by Ula Maria and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes.
Note: I saw that a few used copies were going for around $4, but you'll need to act quickly if you want to get one at that price.
 
Botanic Spark
1867 Laura Ingalls Wilder (books by this author)was born.
The writer, Marta McDowell, profiled Laura in one of her recent books, and she shed new light on Laura as a naturalist in one of her blog posts. She wrote,
Long before she was a writer. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a gardener and farmer growing food for the table and raising crops for sale.
In early February of 1918, over a hundred years ago, this month, Laura Ingalls Wilder used her writing talents to encourage people to garden in an article that she wrote for a local newspaper. Laura wrote,
Now is the time to make a garden. 
Anyone can be a successful gardener at this time of year and I know of no pleasant, her occupation these cold snowy days than to sit warm and snug by the fire making a garden with a pencil and a seed catalog. 
What perfect vegetables do we raise in that way? Best of all, there is not a bug or worm in the whole garden and the work is so easily done. 
How near the real garden of summer approaches the ideal garden of our winter fancies depends upon how practically we dream. and how hard we work. 
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Today in botanical history, we celebrate Laurel Hill and Root Crop Preservation in 1835.
We'll also remember the botanist who discovered the Titan arum and a little poem about the November garden by Louise Driscoll.
We'll hear an excerpt from Pomegranate Soup.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a beautiful garden book from 2016.
And then we'll wrap things up with a look back at a charming garden column from 1999.
 
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• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to [email protected]
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
So, there's no need to take notes or search for links.
The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Curated News
Circulating Specimens: History | herbariumworld.wordpress.com | Maura Flannery
 
Important Events
November 16, 1776
On this day, around 7 am Hessian troops allied with the Britsh opened fire on the American revolutionaries on Laurel Hill in Philadelphia. Laurel Hill is not named for the plant called Laurel. Laurel Hill was originally part of the Joseph Sims estate, and Joseph went by "Laurel," the property was named Laurel Hill in his honor.
Mountain Laurel is botanically known as Kalmia latifolia in honor of the Finnish botanist Pehr Kalm.
After his expedition to North America in the mid-1700s, Pehr correctly predicted that the American colonists would eventually rebel.
Laurel Hill became America's first National Historic Landmark Cemetery.
 
November 16, 1835
On this day, the Hartford Courant wrote a piece called Gardener's Work For November.
It is now quite time to [preserve] the roots and ...Mr. McMahon's method of preserving roots is as follows:
Previous to the commencement of severe frost, you should take up, with as little injury as possible, the roots of your turnips, carrots, parsnips, beets, salsify, scorzonera, Hamburg, or large-rooted parsley, skirrots, Jerusalem artichokes, turnip-rooted celery, and ...horseradish…
On the surface of a dry spot of ground, in a well-sheltered situation, lay a stratum of sand two-inches thick, [the place the root crops], covering them with another layer of sand, (the drier the better,) and…continue to layer about of sand and roots till all are laid in…
then cover the heap or ridge [with] a good coat of straw, up and down as if thatching a house.
 
November 16, 1843
Birth of Odoardo Beccari, Italien botanist.
After growing up an orphan, Beccarri managed to get an education in his native Italy, and he eventually traveled to England to study at Kew.
Beccarri was friends with Hooker and Darwin, but he also befriended James Brooke, which meant he could spend three years exploring Borneo.
During his lifetime, Becarri traveled all over India, Malaysia, and New Zealand. But it was on a little voyage he took to central Sumatra (in Indonesia) in 1878 that Beccarri discovered the plant with which he will forever be associated: the Amorphophallus titanum - or the Titan arum - the largest flower in the world.
Seven years later, in 1885, the first Titan arum specimen bloomed at Kew, and when it happened, it created a sensation.
Today, a Titan arum bloom still draws thousands of visitors. People love to take a selfie in front of the giant blooming plant.
The flower is commonly referred to as the corpse flower as it smells like rotting flesh.  
In a recent fascinating article, scent scientists identified the compounds that make up that terrible smell. The odor includes aspects of cheese sweat, rotting fish, decomposing meat, and garlic, among even worse unmentionable compounds.
The putrid smell is meant to attract beetles and other insects to move pollen between blooming plants so that they can reproduce. It takes the corpse flower a decade before it can bloom. Incredibly, the plants only bloom for 24-36 hours before collapsing.
Between that first bloom at Kew (back in 1885) and the year 2000, fewer than fifty Titan arum blooms had been recorded. But, in 2016, suddenly, dozens of corpse flowers around the world bloomed within weeks of each other. Horticulturists are still attempting to discern the reason for the clustered bloom event.
 
November 16, 1920
On this day, The Buffalo Times shared a poem by Louise Driscoll that had appeared in The New York Times called November Garden. Here's the first and last verse.
In my November garden,
I found a larkspur blossoming, 
A lovely, radiant blue thing. 
It swayed and shone, 
And did not seem to know
It was alone 
In my November garden. 
Where dry, dark leaves are falling 
And all the birds have flown.
The birds and Summer went 
A way that no man knows.
But here is honey that
No bee will find. 
No bird will linger at 
This larkspur cup.
This grace the butterfly 
Has left behind.
Summer went away
And gave it up
Yet it is bravely blue
Swinging there alone 
As if to challenge you!
 
 
Unearthed Words

It is the pomegranate that gives Fesenjoon its healing capabilities. The original apple of sin, the fruit of a long-gone Eden, the pomegranate shields itself in a leathery crimson shell, which in Roman times was used as a form of protective hide. Once the pomegranate's bitter skin is peeled back, though, a juicy garnet flesh is revealed to the lucky eater, popping and bursting in the mouth like the final succumber of lovemaking.
Long ago, when the earth remained still, content with the fecundity of perpetual spring, and Demeter was the mother of all that was natural and flowering, it was this tempting fruit that finally set the seasons spinning. Having eaten six pomegranate seeds in the underworld, Persephone, the Goddess of Spring's high-spirited daughter, had been forced to spend six months of the year in the eternal halls of death. Without her beautiful daughter by her side, a mournful Demeter retreated to the dark corners of the universe, allowing for the icy gates of winter to finally creak open. A round crimson herald of frost, the pomegranate comes to harvest in October and November, so Fesenjoon is best made with its concentrate during other times of the year.
― Marsha Mehran, Pomegranate Soup
 
Grow That Garden Library
Plant by Phaidon Editors 
This book came out in 2016, and the subtitle is Exploring the Botanical World.
This book is gorgeous. You might remember it - it's got a black background and then a simple blossom design. Each of the leaves is made with a different type of fabric which makes for a magnificent cover.
Now, of course, like all Phaidon books, this book is so visually appealing from the cover to the inside of the book. The whole point is to show the beauty and the diversity of plants through 300 works of botanical art that date back from ancient times all the way to modern times.
You'll see plants and flowers and the entire botanical world portrayed using a variety of different mediums.
Phaidon did a great job of curating all of these images. This is the first book to pull together botanical art across so many different media types and from such a broad timeline and every corner of the globe.
Of course, in this book, you're going to see beautiful botanical art, but then you're also going to get lots of expert information about the pieces of art and the plants that are depicted.
Phaidon is known for putting together high-level, very specialized books. And in this case, to tackle this broad topic of plants, they pulled together all kinds of experts, museum curators, horticulturists, historians, botanists, and more. Then they had each of them contribute their expertise in creating the text for this book.
I love what Gardens Illustrated wrote about this book:
"A dazzling collection of more than 300 images of plants that brings the evolution of botanical art right into the 21st century... Alongside old favorites, such as Redoute and Mary Delany, there is much here that is both unfamiliar and arresting... An extraordinary collection." 
This book is 352 pages of botanical art that gives us a new appreciation and understanding of plants and their role in our history and culture.
You can get a copy of Plant: Exploring the Botanical World by Phaidon Editors and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $17.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
November 16, 1999
On this day, The Columbus Telegram shared a column by Elizabeth Coblentz  - an Old Order Amish woman who handwrote her column by lantern light in her Indiana home.
November is now on the calendar, and we are still having beautiful days in the 70s. The laundry is drying well out there on the clothesline, and work is continuing in our garden. 
I have been taking the celery, carrots, red beets, cabbage, and pumpkins out from the garden today. Hopefully, the weather will stay nice, and some vegetables will grow even larger. 
To the reader who sent me radish and turnip seeds to plant: I did plant them in August, and we are now feasting on them. They are very good and tender, which was surprising considering our hot, dry summer. 
I put some leftover small potatoes in the ground, and the yield was good. I should have put more sweet potato plants in the ground, but at least we have enough for a good taste this winter. We'll be glad for all this hard work in the garden during the long, cold, dark days of January when we can open those canning jars and taste the bounty of summer. 
Sunday evening, we planned a favorite around here for supper: tacos. 
We had a large gathering, but having family over is the best of times. Those sweet, precious grandchildren are always welcome here, so the house was full of children. We all enjoy a taco supper. The tomatoes, mangoes (peppers) and onions used on the tacos were all from our garden. Canned hamburger was browned for the tacos, and there was lots more to feast on because everyone else brought a covered dish. As the family gets bigger and older we have to use larger containers now. 
Here is a good dessert to use those beets from the garden:
 
Red Beet Chocolate Cake 
1 1/2 cups sugar 
3 eggs 
1 cup oil 
1 1/2 cups cooked, pureed, fresh beets 
2 (1 ounce) squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 3/4 cups flour 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
sifted confectioner's sugar

• Mix flour, soda, and salt. Set aside.
• Combine sugar, eggs, and oil in a mixing bowl. Stir vigorously. (People who use electric mixers can use them here at medium speed for 2 minutes.)
• Beat in beets, chocolate, and vanilla.
• Gradually add dry ingredients, beating well after each addition.
• Pour into buttered 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan.
• Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or till cake tests done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan.
• Cover and let stand overnight to improve flavor. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

PS. You can put cream cheese icing on instead of powdered sugar.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today in botanical history, we celebrate nutmeg, some flower recommendations for a green garden, and the rebirth of the NYC flower show after a ten-year hiatus.
We'll hear an excerpt from some writing by Ray Bradbury.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a beautiful book by Bunny Williams.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the fate of Empress Josephine's copy of Pierre-Joseph Redoute's botanical watercolors known as ''Les Liliacees'' (''The Lilies'').  
 
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The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter
Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:

• A personal update from me
• Garden-related items for your calendar
• The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week
• Gardener gift ideas
• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to [email protected]
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links.
The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Curated News
First NYC Tree Canopy Study Shows Growth as Storms and Budget Cuts Threaten Gains | thecity.nyc | Rachel Holliday Smith
 
Important Events
November 15, 1843
On this day, the New England Farmer ran a little blurb about the Nutmeg Tree.
The nutmeg tree flourishes in Singapore, near the equator. It is raised from the nut in nurseries, where it remains till the fifth year when it puts forth its first blossoms and shows its sex. It is then set out permanently. The trees are planted thirty feet apart, in diamond order a male tree in the center. They begin to bear in the eighth year, increasing for many years, and they pay a large profit. There is no nutmeg season. Every day of the year shows buds, blossoms, and fruit, in every stage of growth to maturity. The nutmeg is a large and beautiful tree, with thick foliage and of a rich green color. The ripe fruit is singularly brilliant. The shell is glossy black, and the mace it exposes when it bursts, is of a bright scarlet, making the tree one of the most beautiful objects of the vegetable world. 
Well, this article from 1843 was correct. Nutmeg trees can actually grow to be about 65 feet tall. They bear fruit for six decades or longer - so they're very productive. The fruit of the nutmeg tree resembles and apricots.  
And by the way, in case you're wondering the nutmeg is not a nut, it is a fruit - and that's why people with nut allergies can enjoy nutmeg because it's not a nut.
Now the botanical name for nutmeg is Myristica fragrans. The etymology of the word Myristica is Greek and means “fragrance for anointing”, which gives us a clue to one of the ways that nutmeg was used in ancient times.
You may have heard that nutmeg is illegal in Saudi Arabia. According to the journal of medical toxicology, nutmeg can be toxic and in Saudi Arabia, they consider nutmeg to be a narcotic.  Nutmeg is not allowed anywhere in the country unless it's already incorporated into some type of pre-blended spice mix.
 
November 15, 1981
On this day, Henry Mitchell wrote an article for the Washington Post called Blooms in the Boxwood in which he shared some of his favorite plants to grow in a primarily-green garden.
Regarding the Japanese anemone, Henry wrote,
It abides a good bit of shade and never looks better than against a background of box and ivy. The delicate-looking (but tough as leather) flowers are like white half-dollars set on a branching stem about four feet high, with a yellow boss of stamens in the middle. Its leaves all spring from the ground, like large green polished hands, so it looks good from spring to fall, and in winter you tidy it up and the earth is bare (sprigs of the native red cedar or holly can be stuck in…
Regarding bugbane, Henry wrote,
...named for its supposed baneful effect on bugs... Its foliage is as good as or better than that of the anemone, and in October it opens its foxtail flowers (a quite thin fox, admittedly) on firm thin stems waist to chest high. The flowers are made of hundreds of tiny white florets, somewhat like an eremurus or a buddleis, only more gracefully curving than either. Against a green wall it is very handsome; gardeners who sometimes wonder what is wrong with marigolds and zinnias, reproached for their weedy coarseness, need only consult the bugbane to see the difference in elegance. 
For Chrysanthemums, Henry advises:
As fall comes, you might indulge in a white cushion chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemums in my opinion cannot be made to look very grand or elegant, so I would not overdo them. Of course, they are fine for specialists who like to grow hundreds of different sorts, but I am speaking of just a green garden with a touch of white. Then you come again to the white Japanese anemones and bugbanes.
 
November 15, 1984
On this day, The New York Times announced the return of a Spring Flower Show for the city.
The International Flower Show ended, after over 10 years of exhibiting in the Coliseum, because of increasing costs and the demise of estates that recruited their garden staffs to create and grow exhibits,
The new show's exhibition space will be 60,000 square feet, as against the 200,000 square feet provided by the Coliseum. An advantage of the new flower show's layout is that it will be on one floor.
Larry Pardue, executive director of the Horticultural Society of New York, sponsor of the show, said: 
''It will be unlike any show in the country. Rather than view a series of small gardens, visitors will be totally immersed in two huge gardens, 76 feet by over 100 feet long. It will be designed to be an emotional experience.''
By all accounts, the 1985 flower show was a huge success and was visited by more than 83,000 people.
Larry Pardue became the Sarasota, Florida executive director of the Marie Selby Botanic Gardens, which specialized in orchids, bromeliads, and other epiphytes.
 
Unearthed Words
One day many years ago, a man walked along and stood in the sound of the ocean on a cold sunless shore and said,
"We need a voice to call across the water, to warn ships; I'll make one. I'll make a voice that is like an empty bed beside you all night long, and like an empty house when you open the door, and like the trees in autumn with no leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold shore. I'll make a sound that's so alone that no one can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their souls, and to all who hear it in the distant towns. I'll make me a sound and an apparatus and they'll call it a Fog Horn, and whoever hears it will know the sadness of eternity and the briefness of life."
The Fog Horn blew.
― Ray Bradbury, The Fog Horn
 
Grow That Garden Library
A House by the Sea by Bunny Williams
This fantastic book came out in 2016 and it is all about Bunny’s marvelous, Caribbean home called La Colina.
This book is a beautiful coffee table book and what's really neat about this book is that each chapter is written by her friends. So Bunny has one friend write about the architecture and then another friend discusses the collections and another friend talks about the cooking and the food. Then Paige Dickey, the garden writer, toured the gardens and writes this wonderful essay about Bunny's beautiful gardens at La Colina.
Of course,  if I wasn't a huge bunny Williams fan if I didn't have her book called An Affair With A House or her book On Garden Style,  I maybe would be tempted not to get this book. But I am a huge bunny Williams fan and I know that everything she does is done with so much beauty, grace, and style that I could not resist getting a copy of this book.
Then once I learned that Paige Dickey was the person that got to review the gardens? Well, then I had to get my copy of this book.
This beautiful book would make a great Christmas present. The photographs are absolutely incredible.
I'll tell you a few of my favorite things from the garden section of this book. There is an entrance to the cactus garden that features all of this blue pottery and in each one of these blue pots is a cactus which makes for a stunning entrance to her cactus garden.
There's also a gorgeous stone shell fountain at the end of the swimming pool and it's covered in vine. In fact, Bunny is known for her use of vines in the garden - something to keep your eyes peeled for if you get this book because you'll see her use of vines throughout the garden. Bunny not only has vines climbing up structures, but they also just ramble around and kind of make their way - softening a lot of the hard edges in the garden.
The hardscapes are absolutely to die for and there's an avenue of Palm trees in this over-the-top, incredible garden. The entire property is just truly breathtaking.
This book is 256 pages of Bunny Williams in the Caribbean and it's a must-have if you enjoy Bunny Williams and her work.
You can get a copy of A House by the Sea by Bunny Williams and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $20.
 
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

November 15, 1985
On this day, The New York Times announced the auction of Empress Josephine's copy of Pierre-Joseph Redoute's botanical watercolors for ''Les Liliacees'' (''The Lilies'').
Now the speculation in this article was that the auction could go from being five minutes long to five hours or longer. They had no idea who was going to ultimately win this particular auction and they estimated that Redoute The Lilies would go for anywhere from $5 to $7 million.
Now this work was extra special because it was commissioned by Marie Antoinette. In fact, there's a famous story that Marie wanted to make sure that Redoute was as good as what she had heard and so she summoned him to come to her chambers in the middle of the night, one night and when he got there, she ordered him to paint her a cactus on the spot. He did and so obviously he proved his worth to her and he began painting many of the flowers that were in the Royal Gardens.
Now Josephine Bonaparte was a huge lover of the gardens. She loved the flowers. She loved all of the new, exotic flowers from the tropics so she was always looking for new, beautiful blossoms to put in the Royal garden and of course, she was a huge Redoute fan.
This impressive Redoute collection became hers and was passed on through her family line until 1935 when the collection was auctioned off in Zurich. Since that time it was held in a vault, in a bank as part of a family trust.
Now, when it came to this particular auction, the reporter for this article spoke with a London dealer named Peter Mitchell who specialized in flower paintings and stressed the important significance of this work. He felt it was so unusual to have all of these originals still intact and still so beautiful and he expressed his concern that the collection might be bought by a syndicate, which basically means that a group of people would get together to buy the collection and then split it up. Thus, everybody in the syndicate would get their share of the collection.
To cut the suspense, that's exactly what ended up happening.
I checked the New York times for the result of this sale and here's what they wrote.
“The sale lasted only three minutes. It was one of the fastest ever for such an expensive property. And the price achieved was the 10th highest for work purchased at an art auction house. 
''I have $5 million against all of you on the phone and most of you standing,'' John L. Marion, Sotheby's president, said from the rostrum. ''Is there any advance on $5 million? I give you fair warning - sold for $5 million.'' The 10 percent buyer's commission brought the total selling price to $5.5 million.
Now the gentleman that represented the syndicate said that he thought the collection was worth $20 million and so he was thrilled with his purchase. He also gave a little insight into the syndicate, which was made up of executives from different companies, there was also a shopping mall developer, partners in law firms, commodities traders, as well as every major investment bank in New York. He said that. 75% of them wanted the watercolors for themselves (they wanted to own a piece of Redoute’s botanical art) while the other 25% were using it purely for investment.
And so that was the fate of Pierre Joseph Redoute’s The Lilies collection of botanical watercolors that had been owned by Empress Josephine Bonaparte.
Today for you and I, we can purchase copies of Redoute’s work on Etsy for around $20.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today in botanical history, we celebrate a German-American botanist who reached out to Queen Charlotte, an American poet who found inspiration in nature and the father of ecology.
We'll hear an excerpt from The Sugar Queen - a great fiction book.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that's part of a wonderfully informative series from the RHS.
And then we'll wrap things up with a little story about the glory of Kansas gardens in November.
 
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The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter
Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:

• A personal update from me
• Garden-related items for your calendar
• The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week
• Gardener gift ideas
• Garden-inspired recipes
• Exclusive updates regarding the show

Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.
 
Gardener Greetings
Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to [email protected]
 
Facebook Group
If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
So, there's no need to take notes or search for links.
The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you'd search for a friend... and request to join.
I'd love to meet you in the group.
 
Curated News
The Almanac A Seasonal Guide to 2021by Lia Leendertz 

Mercy Park garden adds 3 new sculptures | The Joplin Globe | Emily Younker
 
Important Events
November 3, 1766
On this day, a young botanist named  William Young returned to America after receiving the title of the Queen's botanist.
William Young was born in Germany, and he immigrated to the United States when he was just a little boy at the age of two.
His family settled in Philadelphia and eventually became neighbors to one of America's first botanists, John Bartram.
Growing up, William spent a great deal of his childhood exploring Bartram's gardens. Bertram even encouraged him to pursue botany, and he took him along on some collecting trips.
By all accounts, William was a smart and self-directed young man. When he was in his early twenties, he decided that he wanted to get the attention of the brand new Queen of England, Queen Charlotte.
Charlotte was the bride of George III, and William put together a little parcel for her - a little gift of seeds - along with a letter (no doubt congratulating her on her wedding and introducing himself as an American botanist.)
Charmed by William's thoughtful gift, Charlotte decided to summon William to England. She wanted him to come to England to study botany for a year and then return to America to collect plants on behalf of the royal family. And so that's exactly what William Young ended up doing.
When he left America, he had no formal training in botany. He was, however, full of potential and eager to learn. This opportunity in England was an extraordinary chance for William to learn the science of botany from the worldwide center for botanical research: England.
At the same time, this series of events caused a bit of jealousy and a shock in the American botanical community. John Bartram himself was an old man by the time this happened for William, and he made comments along the lines of, "Hey, I've been in America, collecting and cultivating for decades, and I've never received an offer like this."
And so many of the American botanists really couldn't believe William's good fortune. His trip was essentially like winning a botanist lottery with the promise not only of training but steady work and support from a generous, well-funded patron.
Despite Charlotte's hopes for William, his peers were dubious of William's ability to measure up to the task. While William was passionate about botany, he hadn't demonstrated any particular acumen or success that should have garnered the kind of opportunity that had come his way. The bottom line was, they didn't think William had it in him.
Yet, William's critics were not entirely fair. After all, William had been bold enough to send that package of seeds to the new Queen. And he was smart enough to leverage his German heritage when he wrote to her. Charlotte had German heritage as well, and when she first came to England, she surrounded herself with other Germans who spoke her language and shared her history, customs, and culture. Summoning William to England was just another example of Queen Charlotte making herself feel more at home away from home.
When William arrived in England, he was in his early twenties. He had a huge learning curve to conquer when it came to his new station in life. He had no idea what it was like to be in front of royalty or how to behave in Royal circles.
Of course, William didn't have a ton of life experience as a young person in his twenties. So, he performed exactly as one might imagine he would: dazzled by the luxury and lifestyle, he quickly began racking up bills. With each passing month, he found himself deeper in debt until he ended up arrested and in jail for the large debts that he owed.
Incredibly, it was the Queen who bailed him out - but not before sending him home to Philadelphia with the hopes that he could still perform as a plant collector in America.
And so it was on this day. November 3 in 1766, that William returned to America with his new title as botanist to the King and Queen. Instead of being humbled by his financial misdeeds, William returned proud and haughty. He strutted about under the auspices of his Royal appointment, but his behavior didn't endear him to his American peers.
They heard the rumors about how William had acted when he was in England and they were turned off by his peacocking and attire. In a letter to the botanist Peter Collinson, John Bartram wrote,
“I am surprised that Young is come back so soon. He cuts the greatest figure in town and struts along the streets whistling, with his sword and gold lace.”
And then Bartram confided that William had visited his garden three times, feigning respect and bragging about his yearly pay from the Royal family, which amounted to 300 pounds sterling.
Now William was no fool, and it's clear that he craved acceptance from his peers. At the same time, he was probably aware of how some of his peers truly felt about him. But he did not dwell on this conundrum and focused on his work. He still had collecting to do for the King and Queen, and he needed to mend fences on that front if he ever hoped to make it as a botanist. And so, he set off for the Carolinas, where he spent an entire year collecting plants. Then, he carefully and quite expertly packaged up all of the plants that he had found and traveled back to London - personally bringing all of these plants to the King and Queen and hoping to get back in their good graces.
Although William arrived in England only to be refused to be seen by the King and Queen, he still managed to make his trip a resounding success. By shepherding rare, live plants in wonderful condition from the Carolinas to England, he impressed English collectors.
And there was one plant in particular that really helped to repair and save William's reputation, and that was the Venus Fly Trap. William brought many live specimens of the Venus flytrap to England, and as one might imagine, the plant caused a sensation.
Without the flytrap, there was probably little that William could say to restore his reputation. So in this sense, his plants, especially the Venus flytrap, did the mending and the PR work for him. What William did was essentially no different than an apologetic spouse who brings their partner flowers after a fight. That's exactly what William did on this trip when he returned and presented the Venus flytrap to England.
One other fact about this trip is that William proved himself to be an expert plant packer. Clearly, one of the biggest challenges for early botanists was keeping specimens alive - that was really hard to do. Dead specimens didn't garner anywhere near the attention or pay of living plants. William's skill in this area underscores just how intelligent and thoughtful William could be. A 1771 letter to Humphrey Marshall detailed William's packing technic:
William Young sends his plants very safely by wrapping them in moss and packing them pretty close [together] in a box. He ties the moss in a ball around the roots with a piece of packthread...It's very surprising how well they keep in this manner. 
William's method differs little from the way plants are packaged and sent by mail today.
William ends up devoting his life to botany. He returned to American and collected plants in the Carolinas, returning to England when he had a full shipment. William mastered his collecting strategy over his lifetime - returning again and again to the Carolinas, scouring the wilderness for rare plants like the Venus flytrap that had brought him so much success.
Along the way, William continued to struggle financially as he paid his debts. But by the end of his life, William was able to get his affairs in order, and he actually died a fairly wealthy man. Tragically, he died young at the age of 43.
In December of 1784, William decided to set out once again for the Carolinas. Unbeknownst to him, he was going on what would become his final collecting trip. He never did reach the Carolinas. He only made it as far as Maryland, where he collected along a waterway known as Gunpowder Falls, where he fell into the river and died after being swept away by the current. His body was found about seven weeks later.
 
November 3, 1794
Birth of William Cullen Bryant, American poet.  
William drew inspiration from the natural world. He once wrote a lovely verse about roses:
Loveliest of lovely things are they,
On earth, that soonest pass away.
The rose that lives its little hour
Is prized beyond the sculptured flower.
William also wrote about the month of November in a little poem called A Winter Piece. 
...When shriek'd
The bleak November winds, and smote the woods,
And the brown fields were herbless, and the shades,
That met above the merry rivulet,
Were spoil'd, I sought, I loved them still,—they seem'd
Like old companions in adversity.
 
November 3, 1841
Birth of Eugenius Warming, Danish botanist.
Eugenius was one of the founders of modern plant ecology. He's credited with writing the first ecology textbook with his book, Oecology of Plants: An Introduction to the Study of Plant Communities (1895).
 
Unearthed Words
She went to the window. A fine sheen of sugary frost covered everything in sight, and white smoke rose from chimneys in the valley below the resort town. The window opened to a rush of sharp early November air that would have the town in a flurry of activity, anticipating the tourists the colder weather always brought to the high mountains of North Carolina.
She stuck her head out and took a deep breath. If she could eat the cold air, she would. She thought cold snaps were like cookies, like gingersnaps. In her mind, they were made with white chocolate chunks and had a cool, brittle vanilla frosting. They melted like snow in her mouth, turning creamy and warm.
― Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen
 
Grow That Garden Library
Genealogy for Gardeners by Simon Maughan  and Dr Ross Bayton
This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is Plant Families Explored & Explained.
Anything that has genealogy and gardening in the title is a book that I'm interested in.
Before I get into this particular review, I should mention that this book is part of one of my favorite garden series by the RHS. So in this series is the book Latin for gardeners as well as botany for gardeners.
And now this book Genealogy for Gardeners is designed to help you explore and understand plant families - and plant family trees, which to me is even more exciting.
Now you may be wondering why. Well, I think the authors do a great job of explaining that in the preface to their book. They write,
While most of us think of plants, that’s belonging to one big happy family. The fact is they don't. There are hundreds of different plant families, which botanists have cleverly grouped together using what they know of family histories and genealogy and now, of course, DNA to bring some sense and order to more than a quarter of a million different plant species. 
But why should this matter to you as a gardener, aside from just wanting to become more knowledgeable about plant families?
Well, here's the explanation from the authors:
Plant families are all around us. Whatever the time of year, go for a walk and look for wild or garden plants. You'll be surprised at how many plant families are represented within a small radius of your home. Even in your own garden, there will be a fantastic genealogy of plants. 
Thanks largely to the efforts of plant collectors and horticulturists who brought the plants into cultivation from the four corners of the world. 
When it comes to being a good gardener making connections is what it's all about. And if you are faced with a strongly acidic soil, and know that rhododendrons will grow, then you can broaden your planting ideas to include other plants in the same family, such as Heather. Mountain Laurel, leather leaf, blueberries, and others. If you are designing with plants, you may know that all plants and a particular family, and share certain features, which enables you to mix displays effectively and extend your range. 
Now that is a very compelling reason to get to know your plant families.
One of the things that I love about this particular series of books is that the illustrations are incredible. The editors have pulled images of botanical art that truly are the best example of some of these plants. The beauty of these books, including the cover, just is not rivaled.
In fact, the minute I spot these books, they just have a look and a feel to them - I know immediately that it's part of this series from the RHS. These books are in my office on a special little bookshelf of books that I reference all the time, and this little series from the RHS is such a gem. This particular book about plant family, garden, genealogy - Basically the genealogy of plants-  is one that I go back to again and again, and again. So this is a fantastic book.
As I mentioned, the illustrations are great. It is very clearly laid out.
They've really done the heavy lifting when it comes to simplifying this material, making it very understandable and accessible. And yet, they do not dumb it down. That's not what this book is about.
If you want a book on this topic that is exceptionally clear And is a delight to read, then this is the book that you've been waiting for.
So, whether you're a landscape designer, a horticulture student, or just an amateur gardener, Genealogy for Gardeners will help you better understand and utilize plant families in your garden.
This book is 224 pages of plant families and plant family trees - and it's part of one of the top garden book series on the market today.
You can get a copy of Genealogy for Gardeners by Simon Maughan and Ross Bayton and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $20.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
November 3, 1903
On this day, The Cherokee Sentinel (Cherokee, Kansas) published this heartwarming blurb about the gardens in the Heartland of America. Here's what they wrote:
It's November, and gardens and flowers are as green and beautiful as in summer. Verily, Kansas is an American Italy and the garden spot of the world. 
Well, I don't know how true that was, and I question whether that was written for the benefit of enticing immigrants to come to Kansas.
Nevertheless, I found it very sweet, and I thought it was a great way to end the show today.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today in botanical history, we celebrate the botanical name of the Saguaro Cactus, a Russian writer and mystic, and November potpourri.
We'll hear an excerpt from Tom Perrotta's best-selling 2011 book.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that celebrates the Islamic Garden.
And then we'll wrap things up with some hip Book Recommendations from 1975.
 
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Curated News
Getting Happier with Horticulture: The Healthy Benefits of Gardening | gradynewsource.uga.edu | Gianna Perani
 
Important Events
November 2, 1902
On this day, Nathaniel Britton, one of the founders of the New York Botanical Garden, wrote to the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie asking for permission to name a genus of Giant Cactus native to Arizona and northern Mexico in his honor.
Three days later, Mr. Carnegie's secretary responded:  
“Mr. Carnegie has yours of November 2nd and asks me to say he is greatly honored by the proposal and will do his best to live up to it.” 
And so, the majestic Saguaro ("suh-GWAR-oh") Cactus, the largest cactus in the United States and a plant synonymous with the American West, was christened the Carnegiea gigantea.  
Saguaros can live for over two centuries. The Saguaro root system has one large tap root accompanied by a very intricate and shallow root system that lies within the top three inches of the soil. Any precious drops of rain are guided down to the ground beneath its mighty arms.  After thirty-five years of life, Saguaro's produce a white night-blooming flower that is bat-pollinated. Saguaros begin to develop their arms after reaching the age of fifty. The average Saguaro weighs three tons.
The largest Saguaro ever recorded was called "Granddaddy." Granddaddy stood forty feet tall, had over 52 limbs, and was estimated to be three hundred years old.
 
November 2, 1906
Birth of Daniil Andreyev ("Da-NEEL An-drave"), Russian writer, poet, and mystic. He wrote a book called The Rose of the World over eight-and-a-half years as a prisoner in a Stalin prison camp.
Daniil once wrote,
"Perhaps the worst will never come to pass, and tyranny on such a scale will never recur. Perhaps humanity will forevermore retain the memory of  Russia’s terrible historical experience. Every heart nurses that hope, and without it life would be unbearable."
Daniil had uncanny powers of recall and memory. He was also a voracious reader and grew his personal library to over 2,000 books by the time he was arrested in 1947. Daniil suffered from a spinal defect and wore an iron corset while in prison to cope with the pain.
Daniil began having mystic experiences as an adolescent. His first poem was called The Garden. In 1949, at the Vladimir high-security prison, Daniil started to have regular spiritual encounters and visions. And so he used those experiences to write Rose of the World at night. He had his final transcendent revelation in November of 1953 and then finished the book after his release from prison in 1957. And then, Daniil kept the book to himself - hiding it from the government in order to keep it from being destroyed.
Daniil's Rose of the World remained hidden before finally getting published in 1991 under Gorbachev. The Rose of the World was an instant bestseller. Daniel H. Shubin wrote the latest English translation in 2018.
Shubin writes that,
“[Daniil] Envisioned the reign of rows of the world on Earth in the twenty-third century, the future Epoch being a golden age of humanity, whose essence will develop… into a close connection between God and people. It includes a society that consists of a worldwide ecclesiastical fraternity.”
Daniil himself explained Rose of the World this way:
Rose of the World can be compared to an inverted flower whose root is in heaven, while the petal bowl is here, among Humanity, on Earth. Its stem is the revelation through which the spiritual sap flows, sustaining and strengthening its petals... But other than the petals, it also has a pith; this is its individual teaching.
 
November 2, 1954
On this day, The Journal Herald (Dayton, Ohio) ran a little snippet on the wonder of Potpourri from the November garden.
The November garden has her odors. In most instances, they are not so beguiling as those of spring and summer, yet they are far from displeasing. 
There is the sharp, vinegary tang that rises from leaves, sodden and cold. 
There is the odor of soil on which frost has laid whiteness; an odor, which seems different from that of earth newly turned in spring. 
There is the pungence that rises from rotting apples and pears; and the heavy fragrance which issues from the chrysanthemum leaf and blossom. 
Occasionally a flower remains whose breath is that of July. Even though the hand of chill has pressed heavily on the garden, the sweet alyssum has summer perfume. And a rose, spared, has a scent which speaks nostalgically of June. 
But in the main, the odor of the November garden is distinctive, sharp, penetrating, and has something of that element of age, which cannot be associated with redolence but rather with a potpourri.
 
Unearthed Words
She felt strong and blissfully empty, gliding through the crisp November air, enjoying the intermittent warmth of the sun as it filtered down through the overhanging trees, which were mostly stripped of their foliage. It was that trashy, post-Halloween part of the fall, yellow and orange leaves littering the ground.
― Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers
 
Grow That Garden Library
The Art of the Islamic Garden by Emma Clark
This book came out in 2011 - so an oldie, but goodie. (It's already ten years old.)
And here's what Emma wrote at the beginning of this book:
Even a glimmer of understanding of traditional Islamic art and architecture clearly reveals that its beauty is not simply surface decoration, but is a reflection of a deep knowledge and understanding of the natural order and of the divine unity that penetrates all of our lives. Studying Islamic art and architecture and completing a master's thesis on Islamic gardens and garden carpet at the Royal college of art opened my eyes to the meaning of art. 
Understanding something of the religion of Islam in general and Islamic art in particular, it became clear that all art to a greater or lesser degree should be a vehicle of hope. 
It should remind us what it means to be human of our place in the universe and our role as is said in Islam as God's vice-regent on earth.
And then she writes, and bear in mind; this is 2011:
In the increasingly difficult times in which we live, it is good to be reminded that gardens and nature, transcend nationality, race, religion, color, and ideology. The Islamic garden is not only for Muslims, it's beauty is apparent to  everyone. 
In her book, Emma offers an introduction to the design, the symbolism, and the planting of the traditional Islamic garden. Emma also gives some practical tips if you're interested in creating an Islamic garden for yourself.
Emma points out that we all have different starting points for our gardens. We have different garden sizes and situations (urban garden or a country garden), obviously different climates and soils, etc.  And so, she spends a couple of chapters offering up ideas for plants and trees and shrubs that you might want to consider incorporating into an Islamic-inspired garden.
Now there is a pattern to Islamic gardens. They're often constructed around a central pool or fountain with four streams flowing symbolically to the earth's four corners.
My favorite part of this book is exploring the symbolism behind Islamic art and gardens. And by the way, there is a magnificent chapter in this book that is all about the prince of Wales carpet garden. It's just spectacular.
Now this book is out of print, and I predict that copies of this book will only get harder to get as time goes on. So if you have any interest, you should make sure that this one gets on your list.
You can get a copy of The Art of the Islamic Garden by Emma Clark and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $26.
 
Today's Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
November 2, 1975
On this day, The New York Times Around the Garden segment recommended some new garden books.
Some bright newcomers have been added to the trowel‐watering can library. Here they are. 
Masakuni Kawasumi spent three years in this country adapting his Japanese methods of bonsai growing to American species of trees. His “Bonsai With American Trees” ($10, Kodansha International) is the result, an excellent basic primer...
Tapeworm plant, living stones bead vine, spiderweb, and polka dot are a few of the off‐beat plants described in “Fun With Growing Odd and Curious House Plants” Virginie and George Elbert ($8.95, Crown). The odd‐sized book, 6½ x 11 inches, gives brief biographies and how‐to‐grow tips for many unusual house plants, delightful changes from the tried‐and‐true.
And while on the subject of fun, there is Jack Kramer's “How to Identify & Care for House Plants” ($8.95, Doubleday). The fun comes in matching line‐drawings and silhouettes to the author's organizational key. Though probably not meant to be a puzzle book, it is. ...a plant number 8‐1‐3 turns out to be none other than a cattleya orchid.
Thalassa Cruso, television “lady of the trowel” has done it again. This time she is telling about “Making Vegetables Grow” ($8.95, Knopf), one of her best with chatty helpful tips on bringing the crop in abundantly. 
Light gardens are booming, especially among those who have dark apartments and want some greenery indoors. “The Complete Book of Houseplants Under Lights” by Charles Marden Fitch ($9.95, Hawthorn) updates the hobby and is full of ideas. 
Joining the series of “state” books on wildflowers by John E. Klimas Jr., is “A Pocket Guide to the Common Wild Flowers of New York” ($5.95, Walker). Compact tuck in a backpack, Descriptions are in everyday language, not botanist's twang.
Environmental awareness has come full circle with “Organic Flower Gardening” by Catherine Osgood Foster ($12.95, Rodale Press). An organic gardener's book on raising flowers? Mrs. Foster explains why, 
“One is for the sake of the bees, wasps and other beneficial insects and butterflies … another good reason is to protect the birds … the most important is that you avoid starting chain reactions in the environment from poisonous chemical sprays and dusts you might introduce.” 
And for winter reading by the fireplace, here are a few: 
“A Gardener Touched With Genius, The Life of Luther Burbank” by Peter Dreyer ($10, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan): 
“The Best of American Gardening” by Ken and Pat Kraft ($10, Walker), a clip hook of garden tips gleaned from 100‐year‐old seed catalogues; 
“The Plant Hunters” by B. J. Healey ($8.95, Scribners), a brief biography of discoverers of exotic species from the 17th century to the present.
And for reference; “Ornamental Grasses” by Mary Hockenberry Meyer ($9.95, Scribners), an excellent well-illustrated guide to this unusual group of plants. 
“The Personal Garden, Its Architecture and Design” by Bernard Wolgensinger and Jose Daidone ($30, Van Nostrand Reinhold), beautifully illustrated with design concepts from European, Western and Japanese gardens. 
“Plant A Tree” by Michael A. Weiner ($15.95, Macmillan) subtitled, “A working guide to regreening America.” 
Good reference book for city planners, libraries, and schools on tree planting and care, nationwide. Florida, Texas, and California where the avocado is grown commercially, the trees do not start flowering until six years old, or sooner if grafted. One rare exception was reported by Barbara Stimson, a gardener in Maine, who wrote in a recent Letters to the Editor, Flower and Garden, that her indoor avocado did flower, but no fruit, when it was about two years old and four feet high.
 
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."