The Daily Gardener

Today we celebrate the man who first wrote about the secateurs. We'll also learn about the Scottish botanist who established the Edinburgh "Edinbura" Botanic Garden. We hear an excerpt about planting aconites from a garden writer who adored them. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a memoir full of charming insights and reflections on gardening. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of the scientist who is remembered for her discovery that stars are made largely of the two lightest chemicals, hydrogen and helium - but she started out as a botanist. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News Butter Wakefield's London garden | House & Garden | Emily Tobin 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. Important Events May 10, 1589 Today is the anniversary of the burial of the English author, translator, and Clerk to the Kitchen of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Leonard Mascall - who was buried at Buckinghamshire. Mascall published several books; all were aimed at household management. In 1572 Leonardpublished A Booke of the Arte and Maner Howe to Plante and Graffe All Sortes of Trees. Along with cultivating fruit trees, this book was the first to refer to the secateurs or a pruning knife. The word secateurs is taken from the Latin secare, 'to cut.' Mascall's last book was published a year after he died, and it was called The Booke of Engines and Traps. In it, Leonard shared 34 traps and nine recipes for poison bates, most of which were dedicated to trapping mice. But Leonard also wrote about how to control slugs and snails in the garden - he described picking them off by hand early in the morning. While I was researching Leonard Mascall, I came across a bit of his advice regarding the placement of tender trees and shrubs from The Guardian (www.theguardian.com), Dec 9, 1891: "Leonard Mascall said, 'Most part of trees do love the sun at noon, and yet the south wind is very contrary against their nature, and specially the almond tree, the apricot, the mulberry, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree.' A gardener remarked: 'I am sure there is much in this. It is quite certain that all Japanese trees like shade and a north aspect; and the finest most fruitful old mulberry tree that I have ever seen is at Rochester, growing in a corner where it looks to the north and east, and is thoroughly protected from the south and west.'" May 10, 1725 Today is the birthday of the botanist, famous professor, and founder of one of the leading botanical gardens in Europe — John Hope. Alive during the Scottish enlightenment, John left his mark on the royal botanic gardens, plant classification, and plant physiology. He was appointed as the King's botanist for Scotland and superintendent of the Royal Garden in Edinburgh. John worked to expand the space of the Royal Botanic Garden, and he turned it into a place for research. During John's lifetime, Edinburgh was THE place to study medicine, and all medical students had to take botany courses. John created a school for botanists after spinning off the materia medica (pharmacy) department of the school, which allowed him to specialize exclusively in botany. John's students traveled to Edinburgh from all over the world. All in, John taught over 1,700 students during his tenure — and they included the likes of James Edward Smith (the founder and first President of the Linnaean Society), Charles Drayton (the future Lt. Governor of South Carolina), Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration of Independence and founder of Dickinson College), and Archibald Menzies, who became the Scottish botanist and explorer. By all accounts, John was a captivating instructor. He was one of the first two people to teach the Linnaean system. John also taught the natural system. And, he pioneered the use of big teaching diagrams or visual aids to teach his lectures. A field botanist, John encouraged his students to go out and investigate the Flora of Scotland, and he awarded a medal every year to the student who collected the best herbarium. With John's accomplishments came impressive wealth. When John died, he had amassed more than £12,000, which he had left for his wife. Today the genus Hopea is named after John Hope. And, there's a magnificent beech tree that grows near the John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Unearthed Words You cannot have too many aconites. They cost, as I said before, about fifty shillings a thousand. A thousand will make a brave splash of color, which lasts a month. If you can afford ten thousand, you are mad not to buy them. There are so many exciting places you can put them. . . in the hollow of a felled tree, by the border of a pond, in a circle round a statue, or immediately under your window, so that you can press your nose against the glass when it is too cold to go out, and stare at them, and remember that spring is on its way. ― Beverley Nichols, Down the Garden Path Grow That Garden Library My Wild Garden by Meir Shalev This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Notes from a Writer's Eden. In this charmingly illustrated book, Meir shares his garden that lies on the perimeter of Israel's Jezreel Valley, with the Carmel mountains rising up in the west. Meir's garden is "neither neatly organized nor well kept," and he adores his lemon tree, figs, and rescuing plants like a purple snapdragon from the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv highway. Mitch Ginsburg of The Times of Israel wrote this after reading Meir's book: "I went to sleep every night with the smell of fresh figs and lemons and the sound of birdsong in my ears and the image of Shalev's beloved black cat, Kramer, the hero of many of his Hebrew children's stories, sleeping the day away beneath the buckthorn tree." Meir's book starts out with a little story about the time he awoke to find a wedding party trampling his garden as they posed for photos. After the group insisted his garden couldn't possibly be a real garden, he let them know they had three minutes before the sprinkler system turned on. Clever man. They left. He didn't have a sprinkler system. This book is full of stories like this, and they feature marvelous topics like lupines, cyclamen, poppies, sea squill, a mole rat, a wasp nest, and compost - just to name a few. This book is 304 pages of garden bliss from a novelist who shares his garden with wit and love. You can get a copy of My Wild Garden by Meir Shalev and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $21 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart It's the birthday of scientist Cecelia Payne who discovered while still in graduate school that stars are made largely of the two lightest chemical elements – hydrogen and helium; she was born in 1900. And Celia decided her fate when she was just eight years old - that's when she decided to become a scientist. She had been walking in an orchard when she suddenly recognized a plant she had heard her mother describe – the plant that looks like a bumble: the bee orchid. Later she recalled her excitement at seeing the plant the first time: "For the first time I knew the leaping of the heart, the sudden enlightenment, that were to become my passion… These moments are rare, and they come without warning, on 'days to be marked with a white stone'." And it is Cecelia Payne who said these wonderful quotes: "An admission of ignorance may well be a step to a new discovery." And then this one (which harkened back to Payne's discovery of the bee orchid). "The reward of the young scientist is the emotional thrill of being the first person in the history of the world to see something or understand something." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the botanist who discovered the function of leaves. We'll also learn about a visionary German naturalist and polymath who recognized the power and complexity of nature as he explored Central and South America. We hear an excerpt about the power of gardening to turn a gardener into a philosopher. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about the best way - the very best way - to cook vegetables from the garden. This is a cookbook that teaches how to make individual vegetables shine - and it's a cookbook every vegetable gardener should have in their kitchen. And then we'll wrap things up with a fun little story about the winning entry at the 1917 Raisin Day Parade.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy.

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]

Curated News A farmer to chef reveals his deep vegetable knowledge | Agrinews | Mark Kennedy

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.

Important Events May 6, 1742 Today is the birthday of Jean Senebier, a Swiss pastor and botanist. Where would we be without Senebier? Still breathing... but lacking the knowledge that carbon dioxide is consumed by plants and, in turn, that plants produce oxygen as part of the process of photosynthesis. In a nutshell, Senebier's work is crucial because he had learned the function of leaves: capturing carbon for food. Before Senebier, the purpose of leaves and what they did for plants and people was unknown. It was Jean Senebier who said, "Observation and experiment are two sisters who help each other."

May 6, 1859 Today is the anniversary of the death of the naturalist and botanist Alexander Von Humboldt. He was 89 years old. When it came to his expeditions, Alexander didn't travel alone. In 1799, Alexander was accompanied by the French botanist Aimé Bonplant. In 1806, Friedrich Georg Weitsch painted his portrait; two years after he returned from his five-year research trip through Central and South America. Friedrich painted a romantic, idealized vista of Ecuador as the setting for Alexander's painting. Alexander had climbed the Chimborazo Mountain in Ecuador, believed at the time to be the highest mountain in the world, so perhaps Friedrich imaged Alexander viewing the landscape from Chimborazo. Surrounded by a jungle paradise, a large palm shades Alexander's resting spot. In the painting, a very handsome Alexander is seated on a large boulder; his top hat is resting upside down on the boulder behind him. Friedrich shows the 37-year-old Alexander wearing a puffy shirt that would make Seinfeld jealous, a pinkish-orange vest, and tan breeches. In Alexander's lap, he holds open the large leather-bound Flora he is working on, and in his right hand, he has a specimen of "Rhexia speciosa" (aka Meriania speciosa). A large barometer leans against the boulder in the lower-left corner of the painting. It symbolized Alexander's principle of measuring environmental data while collecting and describing plants. King Ferdinand was so pleased with the portrait that he hung it in the Berlin Palace. that he ordered two more paintings to be made featuring Alexander's time in the Americas. Alexander was a polymath; he made contributions across many of the sciences. He made a safety lamp for miners. He discovered the Peru Current (aka the Humboldt Current. He believed South America and Africa had been joined together geographically at one time. He named the "torrid zone,"; the area of the earth near the equator. Apropos the area he was exploring, torrid means hot, blistering, scorching. He went to Russia, and it was there that he predicted the location of the first Russian diamond deposits. Alexander was also a pragmatist. It was the Great Alexandre Von Humboldt who said: "Spend for your table less than you can afford, for your house rent just what you can afford, and for your dress more than you can afford." Alexander developed his own theory for the web of life. Humboldt wrote: "The aims I strive for are an understanding of nature as a whole, proof of the working together of all the species of nature." In 1803, in Mexico, he wrote, "Everything is Interaction."

Unearthed Words "Lilacs on a bush are better than orchids. And dandelions and devil grass are better! Why? Because they bend you over and turn you away from all the people in the town for a little while and sweat you and get you down where you remember you got a nose again. And when you're all to yourself that way, you're really proud of yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone. Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher. Nobody guesses, nobody accuses, nobody knows, but there you are, Plato in the peonies, Socrates force-growing his own hemlock. A man toting a sack of blood manure across his lawn is kin to Atlas letting the world spin easy on his shoulder." ― Ray Bradbury, American author and screenwriter, Dandelion Wine

Grow That Garden Library Eating from the Ground Up by Alana Chernila This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Recipes for Simple, Perfect Vegetables: A Cookbook. In this book, Alana says, "Vegetables keep secrets, and to prepare them well, we need to know how to coax those secrets out." Alana divides her cookbook into these key sections: Barely Recipes (Recipes that let the vegetables shine), A Pot of Soup, Too Hot To Cook, Warmth, and Comfort, and Celebrations and Other Excuses to Eat With Your Hands. Alana's cookbook was inspired by the question, "But what's the best way to eat a radish?" Alana was at a booth at the farmer's market. "One side of the table held a tower of radish bunches, and the other, a basket of bagged baby arugula. When my first customer held a bunch of radishes and asked me for direction, I did my best to answer. "Throw them into a salad? Slice them up and dip them in hummus?" Not enamored with her lackluster response, Alana went home and experimented. "Next Saturday, when someone asked me my favorite way to eat a radish, I was ready. "Make radish butter! Chop them up fine and fold them into soft butter with some crunch salt, parsley, and a little lemon juice." I think the whole town at radish butter that week. Each week that first summer, I'd take vegetables home from one mark to prepare for the next, studying up for the following week's questions. The result was this cookbook. Isn't that fantastic?! This book is 272 pages of vegetable mastery in the kitchen. You can get a copy of Eating from the Ground Up by Alana Chernila and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5

Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart May 6, 1917 On this day, The Fresno Morning Republican shared a full-page story about the raisin industry. The Raisin Day parade had been held the previous week. The winning entry was a series of five floats that told the story 40-year-old raisin industry. Here's an excerpt: The first float showed the pioneer and his family after their Journey from the east to the fertile valley of the San Joaquin. The pioneer's vision was portrayed by a float in advance. Then came the realization of his vision with the little home and the raisin grapevines. But there was no organization, no cooperative marketing, and each grower sold his crop to the packer or marketed his crop. Disaster came, and the third float denoted poverty. The vineyard was mortgaged and sold by the sheriff. The fourth float portrayed prosperity. The businessman, grower, and laborer were linked together for better conditions. The fifth float denoted the result of the cooperation and wealth to the vineyardist. The original Sun-Maid [Raisin Girl] Miss Lorraine Collett was on this float.

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

Today we celebrate a British garden designer, prolific Edwardian Landscape Architect, and town planner. We'll also remember a British garden designer and architect known for his innovative gardens in Tuscany. We hear an excerpt about a fantastical garden. We Grow That Garden Library™ with one of the top books on Flower Gardening by a modern garden master. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of the Iowa State Flower. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News Two Secrets to Great Garden Design | Fine Gardening | Ann Stratton 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. Important Events May 5, 1861 Today is the birthday of British garden designer, prolific Edwardian Landscape Architect, and town planner Thomas Hayton Mawson who was born in Lancashire. When Thomas was a teenager, his dad started a nursery and fruit farm in Yorkshire. Thomas loved the orchard, but his happiness came to an abrupt end when his father died, and his mother was forced to sell the property. But the nursery experience had left an impression on Thomas and his siblings, and at one point, they all pursued work in horticulture. After the family moved to London, Thomas and his two brothers set up a nursery called Lakeland Nurseries. The business was a success, and it allowed Thomas to begin to focus on designing gardens - his zone of genius. In 1900, Thomas wrote his classic work, The Art and Craft of Garden Making, which is now considered foundational to modern Landscape Architecture. The book brought Thomas influence and authority - and to give an idea of its popularity, consider that it was reprinted five times. In short order, Thomas's firm Thomas H. Mawson & Sons became THE firm for Landscape Architecture in England. Thomas's most famous client was William Hesketh Lever, an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Thomas eventually designed many of William's properties: Thornton Manor, Lever's Cheshire home, Rivington Pike, and Lever's London home, The Hill, Hampstead. Thomas is also remembered for designing England's first purpose-built mosque, The Fazl Mosque in Wandsworth. As his reputation grew, Thomas's work on public spaces expanded. He was even commissioned to develop the Smokey Mountains National Park in the United States. Thomas's most notable public work was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie: the gardens of the Peace Palace in The Hague in 1908. May 5, 1884 Today is the birthday of the British garden designer and architect known for his innovative gardens in Tuscany, Cecil Ross Pinsent. Cecil worked with the American art historian Bernard Berenson on his iconic estate known as the Villa I Tatti. This relationship opened doors for Cecil, and soon he was soon designing gardens for the wealthy in Tuscany. In the 1930s, Cecil designed his masterpiece: the gardens at La Foce ("FOE-che") in Italy, midway between Florence and Rome. Tucked in 3,500 acres of farmland with scenes of the Tuscan landscape as a backdrop, La Foce was commissioned by the writer Marchesa Iris Origo ("O-ree-go"). In 1924, Iris and her husband, Antonio, purchased the villa, an old, rundown place. Iris reached out to Cecil, a family friend, and tasked him with creating a glorious garden. Knowing how Iris adored the gardens of Florence, Cecil set about creating the iconic structure of the garden - a series of intimate spaces lined with double box hedging, cypress, lawns, and meadows. The lush green garden is even more striking against the background of the barren Tuscan topography. Unearthed Words When spring came, I dug up the garden and planted it, and weeded it, and prayed over it, and fidgeted; and almost three years of lying fallow had agreed with it because it produced radishes the size of onions, potatoes the size of melons, and melons the size of small sheep. The herb border ran wild, and the air smelled wonderful. ― Robin McKinley, American author of fantasy and children's books, Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast Grow That Garden Library Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening by Matt Mattus This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is A Gardener's guide to growing flowers from today's favorites to unusual varieties. Well, I remember when this book came out because I already had a copy. And of course, at the time it was published (on March 10th), many of us were in the middle of beginning our lockdowns for the pandemic. I remember thinking what a shame it was because this book is not only beautiful - and man, I mean, it is absolutely gorgeous - but it's also so helpful. It's really a wonderful reference. Another reason I knew this book would be so good is that Matt is such a true professional. He has decades of experience with his own garden and his greenhouse, and you can read all about both of them over on his blog called Gardening With Plants. It really is a wonderful online resource. So, if you haven't checked that out, make sure that you devote a little bit of time to that. Now, if you are someone who starts annuals from seed, you will really enjoy Matt's book. He talks about how to start over a hundred different annuals from seed. He also talks about things like summer bulbs and vines, which is a favorite topic of mine. I not only love to use vines as a vertical element in the garden, but also I think they're wonderful just ambling through the garden as a horizontal element, almost like a ground cover. So that's fantastic. And then Matt talks about things like blooming shrubs - one of my favorite topics. You get so much bang for your buck with blooming shrubs. They give your garden structure, and they're just so low maintenance. They're wonderful. So blooming shrubs are one of my go-to's in the garden. Now here's a little bit about what the publisher says about this book. You will learn little details and cultural facts about these flowers that will help you grow them. You'll find helpful tips for things like growing annual poppies and biennials, which can be a little bit challenging. You'll learn about forcing flowers for winter blooms, which is an enjoyable activity. In fact, one of the things that Matt talks about is how to force Lily of the Valley. That is a fantastic topic. And I'm sure now that I've mentioned it, it's making you very curious. If that doesn't do the trick, just trust me; this is a book that you're going to want to have in your botanical library. This book is 240 pages of a master class on flower gardening from a true master: Matt Mattus. I love the name and really loved the book. You can get a copy of Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening by Matt Mattus 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 May 5, 1897 Today the Iowa State Flower was officially selected, and the winner was the wild rose. In the early days of the state, Iowa pioneers often came across the wild rose as they settled on the Iowa prairie. Although the Iowa legislature designated the wild rose as their flower, they failed to specify which wild rose was official. In Iowa, there are three native wild roses: Rosa arkansana, Rosa blanda, and Rosa Carolina. Of the three, Rosa blanda (meadow rose) is most often regarded as the State Flower. In 2006, a fifth-grade student Maranda Olson drew the wild rose with oil pastels and won Maranda a trip to Washington, D.C., where her artwork was displayed at the new National Garden when it opened in the fall.

The Des Moines Register reported that,

"More than 5,000 students nationwide submitted artwork for the state flower contest. One student from each state was selected by a panel of art specialists and botanists. Art teacher Karen Skophammer… had a gut feeling Maranda might win and took a photo of the drawing before sending it to the contest. "In my heart, I knew that it was outstanding," Skophammer said. "Maranda is quite talented." Maranda guessed why she won and acknowledged that she barely looked at the technical photo of the wild rose. "I off-centered the flowers. Most other people put it right in the middle," she said. "I looked at a picture in the beginning, but not while I was drawing or coloring it." Scotts Miracle-Gro sponsored the contest, and company officials said they were pleased with the turnout."

And there's just one more story that I wanted to share with you. About the Iowa state flower, the wild rose.

In 1897, Major Samuel H. M. Byers from Oskaloosa, Iowa, had worked behind the scenes with Senator Mitchell to make sure the legislation for the Wild Rose was passed.

Major Byers was remembered for his Civil War service. While he was held prisoner in Columbia, South Carolina, he wrote the words to the famous song Sherman's March to the Sea. But in better times, Byers also wrote a poem called "Song of Iowa" that became the lyrics to the Iowa State Song, The Rose of Iowa.

Hast thou seen the wild rose of the West, Thou sweetest child of morn? Its feet the dewy fields have pressed, Its breath is on the corn.

The gladsome prairie rolls and sweeps, Like billows to the sea, While on its breast, the red rose keeps The white rose company.

The wild, wild rose, whose fragrance dear To every breeze is hung, Tho same wild rose that blossomed here When Iowa was young.

Oh, sons of heroes, ever wear The wild rose on your shield; No other flower is half so fair In love's immortal field.

Let others sing of mountain snows, Or palms beside the sea, The State whose emblem is the rose Is the fairest far to me.

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

Today we celebrate the first woman to receive a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. We'll also remember the Academy Award-winning actress who narrated a 1990's PBS series called Gardens of the World. We hear a sweet little garden poem that celebrates spring. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a fantastic book about gardening in the shade and the best plants for shade. And then we'll wrap things up with an excerpt about this day 142 years ago - from the garden writer Henry Arthur Bright. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News How to Grow Crown Imperial Plants | The Spruce | Sienna Heath 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. Important Events May 4, 1893 Today is the birthday of New Zealand forester and botanist Mary Sutherland. In 1916, Mary graduated from Bangor University in Wales with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. She was the first female to become a degreed forestry professional in the world. Mary also became known in New Zealand as the first female forester when she was hired in 1923. It was a position she held for twelve years. Today, in one of the forests, she called her office, there is a memorial redwood designated with a plaque to honor Mary Sutherland. By the 1930s, Mary was working as a botanist for the forest service - and she was a pretty talented artist as well. Her drawing of a sprig from the rimu ("ree-moo") tree bearing ripe fruit became the official seal of the forestry service. Today more women than ever are entering the world of forestry, and the Mary Sutherland Award is given to the top female forestry student in their final year of schooling. May 4, 1929 Today is the birthday of Academy Award-winning actress and gardener Audrey Hepburn. The Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) star appeared with Penelope Hobhouse and Graham Stuart Thomas on the 1991 PBS special "Gardens of the World." The series featured sixty gardens over eight episodes. They included Monet's garden at Giverny, the Villa Gamberaia ("Vee-la Gahm-bur-eye-ah") in Florence, the old rose garden at Graham Stuart Thomas' garden at Mottisfont Abbey, the Roseraie de L'Haÿ ("rose-uh-ray du lay-ee") south of Paris, Saiho-ji ("Sy-ho-jee") - the famed "Moss Temple" garden - in Kyoto, and Hidcote Manor ("hid-cut") in Gloucestershire, England. Additionally, Audrey wrote the forward to a companion coffee table book also called Gardens of the World by Penelope Hobhouse and Elvin McDonald,, the volunteer director of special projects for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In the forward, Audrey wrote, "We all have within us a need to create beauty. And we all can - in a garden, however small. Perhaps - if we now take a closer look at our gardens, we will, at last, awaken to the fragility of our beautiful planet and better understand our lovely earth." In 1991, the Spring Hill nursery in Peoria, Illinois, created a rose variety named for Audrey Hepburn. The Audrey Hepburn rose was marketed as an exceptionally vigorous rose, with highly fragrant 4-inch apple-blossom pink flowers. It was featured on display at the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Botanical Gardens and was available for mail-order purchase exclusively through Spring Hill Nurseries. And here's a little-known fact about Audrey Hepburn: one of the most beloved quotes about gardening is attributed to Audrey Hepburn, whose 92nd birthday would have been today. She wrote, "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." Unearthed Words A poor old Widow in her weeds Sowed her garden with wild-flower seeds; Not too shallow, and not too deep, And down came April -- drip -- drip -- drip. Up shone May, like gold, and soon Green as an arbour grew leafy June. And now all summer she sits and sews Where willow herb, comfrey, bugloss ("byew-gloss") blows, Teasle and pansy, meadowsweet, Campion, toadflax, and rough hawksbit; Brown bee orchis, and Peals of Bells; Clover, burnet, and thyme she smells; Like Oberon's meadows her garden is Drowsy from dawn to dusk with bees. Weeps she never, but sometimes sighs, And peeps at her garden with bright brown eyes; And all she has is all she needs -- A poor Old Widow in her weeds. ― Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist, Peacock Pie Grow That Garden Library Making the Most of Shade by Larry Hodgson This book came out in 2005, and the subtitle is How to Plan, Plant, and Grow a Fabulous Garden that Lightens up the Shadows. In this book, Larry features nearly 300 perennials, annuals, bulbs, ferns, ornamental grasses, and climbing plants that thrive in the shade. Shaded gardens are cool places that offer tranquility and a space for contemplation—Larry shares how to create a sense of lushness and vibrancy in areas with little or no sun. The first half of the book covers how to plan, plant, and grow in the shade. The back half of the book offers an encyclopedia of the best plants to grow in the shade. This book is 416 pages of shade garden mastery - from design and care to top plant profiles. You can get a copy of Making the Most of Shade by Larry Hodgson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $11 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart May 4, 1879 On this day Henry Arthur Bright recorded inA Year in a Lancashire Garden: "May set in this year with (as Horace Walpole somewhere says) 'its usual severity.' We felt it all the more after the soft, warm summer weather we had experienced in April. The Lilac, which is only due with us on the 1st of May, was this year in flower on the 28th of April. Green Gooseberry tarts, which farther south are considered a May-day dish, we hardly hope to see in this colder latitude for ten days later, and now these cold east winds will throw back everything. No season is like "Lilac-tide," as it has been quaintly called, in this respect. Besides the Lilac itself, there are the long plumes of the white Broom, the brilliant scarlet of the hybrid Rhododendrons, the delicious blossoms, both pink and yellow, of the Azaleas, the golden showers of the Laburnum, and others too numerous to mention. A Judas-tree at an angle of the house is in bud. The Général Jacqueminot between the vineries has given us a Rose already. The foliage of the large forest trees is particularly fine this year. The Horse Chestnuts were the first in leaf, and each branch is now holding up its light of waxen blossom. The Elms came next, the Limes, the Beeches, and then the Oaks. Yet still 'the tender Ash delays To clothe herself when all the woods are green,' and is all bare as in mid-winter. This, however, if the adage about the Oak and the Ash be true, should be prophetic of a fine hot summer." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a Canadian conservationist and author. We'll also learn about a pioneering Belgian-American gardener, poet, and novelist. We hear an excerpt about how poets find inspiration in nature. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a cookbook that shows how to prepare beautiful meals with fewer ingredients and offers foolproof meal-prepping and effortless entertaining. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of a brand new gazebo in a community garden. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News 5 Agritourism Destinations for Modern Farmers Once it's Safe Again | Modern Farmer | Shelby Vittek 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. Important Events May 3, 1904 Today is the birthday of the naturalist and conservationist Charles Joseph Sauriol. An esteemed son of Toronto, Charles worked to preserve natural areas in Canada. He was primarily devoted to the forests and waterways of Ontario, including his beloved Don River Valley - where his family had a cottage. Even as a teenager, Charles loved the Don, writing in an unpublished manuscript: "The perfume I liked was the smell of a wood fire.... The dance floor I knew best was a long carpet of Pine needles." In 1927 Charles purchased the 40-hectare property at the Forks of the Don, which would become his second home. The Sauriol family cottage became the place that Charles and his wife and their four children would stay over the long months of the summer. Life at the cottage was elemental and straightforward. Charles tapped the maple trees for syrup and kept beehives near his cottage. The family also had ducks, a goat, and a pet raccoon named Davy, who followed Charles around like a dog. Charles wrote: "In the '20s and 30s, entire slopes of the East Don Valley...were carpeted with flowering trilliums in the spring. It was an unforgettable sight… A woodland without wildflowers is as empty and desolate in some respects as a community without children." During 2018 the Toronto Archives shared many of Charles's charming diary entries on their Twitter feed. The Toronto Archives is the repository for the Charles Sauriol record and it consists of diaries, manuscripts, subject files, and over 3,000 photos. Charles kept a lifelong diary. At the Don cottage, Charles created a little woodland garden. Many of his diary entries share his gardening adventures and philosophies on plants, like this one from 1938: "I find it hard to come in from the flower borders. My Pansies are a garden of enchantment in themselves. People who love Pansies should grow them from seed. I took the advice, and I have never had such a profusion of bloom and of so many colors." and "One particular toad has taken quite a fancy to the Wild Flower garden. His den is alongside the Hepatica plant. There he sits, half-buried, and blinks up at me while I shower water on him." At the end of his first summer at the cottage in Don Valley, Charles wrote about leaving the place he loved so much: With summer's heat, the weeks sped by, And springtime streams did all but dry. But days grew short and followed on, Oh, blissful memory of the Don. Of you, we think with saddened heart, Our time is up, and we must part. Today the annual Charles Sauriol Leadership Award recognizes people who make lasting contributions to conservation. May 3, 1912 Today is the birthday of the prolific writer and poet May Sarton. She came out in 1965 after her parents died. The decision impacted her career. May's writing centers on our humanity, our relationships with ourselves and others, our values, and mindfulness. In a 1983 profile in The New York Times, May said, "I make people think, 'I have flowers in my house, why don't I look at them?' The thing that is peaceful for me is that I feel I have helped people. I'm constantly told, 'You've said the things I've wanted to say.'" Margaret Roach writes about discovering May Sarton this way: "She actually came to my attention thanks to two men, at different times in my life. I might have missed her altogether if not for a one-two punch by Sydney Schanberg, an ex-New York Times colleague who, thirty-odd years ago, offhandedly said, "You would like May Sarton," and then years later my therapist gave me "Journal of a Solitude"... They knew that the natural world, and specifically the garden, called to me, as it did Sarton." May wrote : "A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself." May's tiny home in Nelson, New Hampshire, was her happy place. She had a garden which she loved, and she cared for many houseplants. She once wrote these relatable garden witticisms: "I am not a greedy person except about flowers and plants, and then I become fanatically greedy." "True gardeners cannot bear a glove Between the sure touch and the tender root." And some of her thoughts on gardening are prayerlike: "Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers." "Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace." Unearthed Words The seasonal urge is strong in poets. Milton wrote chiefly in winter. Keats looked for spring to wake him up (as it did in the miraculous months of April and May 1819). Burns chose autumn. Longfellow liked the month of September. Shelley flourished in the hot months. Some poets, like Wordsworth, have gone outdoors to work. Others, like Auden, keep to the curtained room. Schiller needed the smell of rotten apples about him to make a poem. Tennyson and Walter de la Mare had to smoke. Auden drinks lots of tea, Spender coffee; Hart Crane drank alcohol. Pope, Byron, and William Morris were creative late at night. And so it goes. ― Helen Bevington, American poet, prose author, and educator, When Found, Make a Verse of Grow That Garden Library Half Baked Harvest Super Simple by Tieghan Gerard This book came out in October of 2019, and the subtitle is More Than 125 Recipes for Instant, Overnight, Meal-Prepped, and Easy Comfort Foods: A Cookbook. In this New York Times Best-Selling cookbook, Tieghan delights and tempts us with comfort food - much of it made with ingredients fresh from the garden - in her Half Baked Harvest Super Simple. Tieghan is known for her blog, where she effortlessly shows how to make beautiful food for your family. Her Super Simple versions of her famous recipes are distilled into quicker, more manageable dishes. Tieghan includes one-pot meals, night-before meal prep, and even some Instant Pot® or slow cooker recipes. Highlights for family meals include everyday dishes like Spinach and Artichoke Mac and Cheese and Lobster Tacos. And Tieghan's stress-free dinner party recipes include Slow Roasted Moroccan Salmon and Fresh Corn and Zucchini Summer Lasagna. Tieghan's cookbook was named one of the best cookbooks of the year by Buzzfeed and Food Network. This book is 288 pages of the 125 easy, show-stopping recipes - each with fewer ingredients, foolproof meal-prepping, and effortless entertaining. You can get a copy of Half Baked Harvest Super Simple by Tieghan Gerard and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $15 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today at the Grow Regina Yara community garden, a gazebo, designed by Victor Cicansky, will be installed. Two years ago, the Regina community garden received a $90,000 grant from Federated Co-op. Grow Regina wanted to add a gazebo to the community garden for many years. The garden is a unique space in that it offered the community a place to grow and a place to admire art. The garden features a variety of art pieces, including two massive sculptures installed in August of 2010 that frame the entrance to the garden by local artist Victor Cicansky. Gardens have been a consistent theme in Victor's life. His 2019 memoir, Up From Garlic Flats, is set in the east end of the community in Regina, Saskatchewan. Victor's father came from Romania, and his Romanian ancestors were gardeners. To Victor, the garden is a place of endless inspiration. Much of Victor's work features garden tools like shovels and spades, along with aspects of nature like roots and trees. Victor even incorporates garden imagery from fruit, vegetables, and canning jars in his creations. An article featured in the Regina Post from June 2019 said one of Victor's pieces called "Compost Shovel" featured, "A gigantic blue ceramic shovel covered in vegetables, eggshells, and soil." Today, the installation of the gazebo today marks the beginning of a new chapter for the garden. Once the install is completed later this week, the gazebo will host numerous functions. And to give you an idea of how beautiful Victor's artistic gazebo is: Imagine a gazebo that has sculpted trees with branches for support beams and a canopy of leaves for a roof. And then the railing of the gazebo features the garden harvest - all kinds of vegetables. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the woman who was the life partner of American writer Gertrude Stein - and we'll hear all about their wonderful garden at Bilignin. We'll also learn about the French modernist painter known for his peonies and peony art. We'll hear an excerpt about a perfect spring day. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that is pure gold - it's all about an honest journey to beekeeping between two unlikely friends. And then we'll wrap things up with the ten-year Anniversary of a botanical society located in Northern New York, about 4 hours north of Manhattan and two hours south of Montreal. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News Goodbye April....Hello May, Already! | Shoestring Elegance | Theresa Begin 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. Important Events April 30, 1877 Today is the birthday of the American-born member of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century and the life partner of American writer Gertrude Stein - Alice B. Toklas ("Toe-kliss"). In 1954, Alice's cookbook, simply called the Alice B Toklas Cook Book, was published. It became one of the best-selling cookbooks of all time, thanks to Alice's recipe for hashish fudge made with nuts, spices, fruit, and cannabis. Calling it the food of paradise, Alice recommended serving her special fudge at gatherings to liven things up but advised limiting one's self to no more than two pieces. She also casually mentioned that it was quote "easy to whip up on a rainy day." Now the last chapter of the cookbook offers a delightful glimpse at Alice and Gertrude's vegetable garden at Bilignin "Bill-in-ya" in southeastern France. And I thought I'd share a few lovely excerpts with you today in honor of Alice's birthday. "For fourteen successive years, the Gardens at Bilignin were my joy, working in them during the summers and planning and dreaming of them during the winters. The summers frequently commenced early in April with the planting and ended late in October with the last gathering of the winter vegetables. Bilignin, surrounded by mountains and not far from the French Alps… made early planting uncertain. One year we lost the first planting of string beans. Another year, the green peas were caught by a late frost. It took me several years to know the climate and quite as many more to know the weather. Experience is never at a bargain price. Then too, I obstinately refused to accept the lore of the farmers, judging it, with the prejudice of a townswoman to be nothing but superstition. They told me never to transplant parsley and not to plant it on Good Friday. We did it in California, was my weak reply. In the spring of 1929, we became tenants of what had become the manor of Bilignin. We were enchanted with everything. But after careful examination of the two large vegetable gardens... it was to my horror that I discovered the state they were in. Nothing but potatoes have been planted the year before. Poking about with a heavy stick, there seemed to be some resistance in a corner followed by a rippling movement. The rubbish and weeds would have to be cleared out at once. In six days, the seven men we mobilized in the village had accomplished this. In the corner where I had poked, a snake's nest and several snakes have been found. But so were raspberries and strawberries. The work in the vegetables …. was a full-time job and more. Later it became a joke. Gertrude Stein asking me what I saw when I closed my eyes, and I answered, "Weeds." That, she said, was not the answer, and so weeds were changed to strawberries. It took me an hour to gather a small basket for Gertrude Stein's breakfast, and later when there was a plantation of them in the upper garden, our young guests were told that if they care to eat them, they should do the picking themselves. The first gathering of the garden in May of salads, radishes, and herbs made me feel like a mother about her baby — how could anything so beautiful be mine. And this emotion of wonder filled me for each vegetable as it was gathered every year. There is nothing that is comparable to it, as satisfactory or ss thrilling, as gathering the vegetables one has grown." April 30, 1883 Today is the anniversary of the death of the French modernist painter Édouard Manet ("Mah-nay"). His painting, 'Music in the Tuileries Gardens' ("TWEE-luh-Reehs"), was his first significant work depicting modern city life. Sensitive to criticism, Manet once wrote, "The attacks of which I have been the object have broken the spring of life in me... People don't realize what it feels like to be constantly insulted. " When it came to the complexity of still life painting, Manet wrote, "Bring a brioche. I want to see you paint one. Still life is the touchstone of painting." Manet grew peonies in his garden at Gennevilliers ("Jen-vill-EE-aye"); they were reportedly his favorite flower. Manet's paintings of peonies were the perfect blend of skill and subject. Manet's blousy technique was perfect for the petals and leaves. Today in many of Manet's paintings, the pink peonies have turned white due to the deterioration of the pigments in the paint. Regarding Manet's peony art, his Peonies in a Vase on a Stand is considered one of his best pieces. A 1983 exhibition catalog by the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in Paris, wrote: "Van Gogh was much struck by this painting.. and [asked,] 'Do you remember that one day we saw a very extraordinary Manet at the Hôtel Drouot, some huge pink peonies with their green leaves against a light background? As free in the open air and as much a flower as anything could be, and yet painted in a perfectly solid impasto.'" In China, the peony is known as the sho-yu, which means "most beautiful." When the explorer Marco Polo saw peonies in China for the first time, he misidentified them - calling them "Roses as big as cabbages." Traditionally, peonies are used to celebrate the 12th wedding anniversary. If you planted one on your first Anniversary, the peony could easily outlast your marriage; peonies can live for over 100 years. Unearthed Words It was a perfect spring day. The air was sweet and gentle, and the sky stretched high, an intense blue. Harold was certain that the last time he had peered through the net drapes of Fossebridge Road (his home), the trees and hedges were dark bones and spindles against the skyline; yet now that he was out, and on his feet, it was as if everywhere he looked, the fields, gardens, trees, and hedgerows and exploded with growth. A canopy of sticky young leaves clung to the branches above him. There were startling yellow clouds of forsythia, trails of purple aubrieta; a young willow shook in a fountain of silver. The first of the potato shoots fingered through the soil, and already tiny buds hung from the gooseberry and currant shrubs like the earrings Maureen used to wear. The abundance of new life was enough to make him giddy. ― Rachel Joyce, British author, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Grow That Garden Library Liquid Gold by Roger Morgan-Grenville This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Bees and the Pursuit of Midlife Honey. Thor Hanson, the author of Buzz, said this about Roger's book: "Beekeeping builds from lark to revelation in this carefully observed story of midlife friendship. Filled with humor and surprising insight, Liquid Gold is as richly rewarding as its namesake. Highly recommended." Roger writes about meeting his friend Duncan in a pub. And on a chance decision, they resolve to become beekeepers. Ignorant but eager, the two learn, through their mistakes and their friendship, how to care for bees and become master beekeepers. After two years, they have more honey than they can personally use. The experience teaches them resilience, along with a newfound appreciation for nature and a desire to protect the honeybee from increased threats and extinction. Humorous and informative, Liquid Gold is an uplifting and educational story about humans and bees, making it pure gold for your summer reading. This book is 272 pages of an honest journey to beekeeping between two unlikely friends. You can get a copy of Liquid Gold by Roger Morgan-Grenville and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $15 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 30, 2011 Today is the tenth anniversary of the Adirondack Botanical Society. ABS is "an organization dedicated to the study, preservation, and enjoyment of the plants of the Adirondack Mountain Region. Members may live in, visit, or care about the region and strive to educate others about the importance of its plant life and the environment that supports it." The group has an active Facebook page. If you have been on a hike or paddle lately and have a few pics you would like to share; you can do so on the Facebook page for the group. Recent posts include: "Ray and I visited Elder's Grove today. I used the "measure" app on my iPhone to measure the trunk of a large eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). I attach a photo that the app generates with the total length printed on the screen. The trunk lying on the ground was 159'10". Add the 16' of still standing stump, and the total height of the tree before it fell was approximately 176'. I neglected to bring my D-tape, but the dbh was well over 50". An amazing tree, even dead and turning to humus (HYew-mis")!" In any case, happy tenth anniversary to the Adirondack Botanical Society. Here's to many more! Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the botanical pastimes of two young women in Oklahoma back in 1850. We'll also learn about a female botanical pioneer who specialized in grasses. We'll hear some thoughts on spring from a beloved American author. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book featuring the letters from a Texas pioneer botanist. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of an elite wedding and last-minute flower arranging. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News Spring's Splendor: Forsythia | The Flower Infused Cocktail Blog | Alyson Brown 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. Important Events April 29, 1850 Here's a post for this day from Hunter's Home - the only remaining pre–Civil War plantation home in Oklahoma. "Emily and Amanda stayed at Araminta's for much of the day. They had a sweet potato roasting and then gathered flowers for pressing. Emily kept an herbarium into which she pressed a variety of flowers from her travels. Botany was considered a suitable science for women to learn in the 19th-century and women were expected to understand the nature of the plant as well as classification, etc. Women published botanical textbooks and used their knowledge to improve their herbal remedies. Like Emily, women also carried their herbaria with them while traveling to better collect new species." April 29, 1869 Today is the birthday of a botanist who was a petite, fearless, and indefatigable person: Agnes Chase. Agnes was an agrostologist—a studier of grass. A self-taught botanist, her first position was as an illustrator at the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C. In this position, Agnes worked as an assistant to the botanist Albert Spear Hitchcock. When it came time to apply for funding for expeditions, only Albert received approval - not Agnes. The justification was always that the job belonged to "real research men." Undeterred, Agnes raised her own funding to go on the expeditions. She cleverly partnered with missionaries in Latin America and arranged for accommodations with host families. She shrewdly observed, "The missionaries travel everywhere, and like botanists do it on as little money as possible. They gave me information that saved me much time and trouble." During a climb of one of the highest Mountains in Brazil, Agnes returned to camp with a "skirt filled with plant specimens." One of her major works, the First Book of Grasses, was translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Her book taught generations of Latin American botanists who recognized Agnes's contributions long before their American counterparts. After Albert retired, Agnes became his backfill. When Agnes reached retirement age, she ignored the rite of passage altogether and refused to be put out to pasture. She kept going to work - six days a week - overseeing the largest collection of grasses in the world from her office under the red towers at her beloved Smithsonian Institution. When Agnes was 89, she became the eighth person to become an honorary fellow of the Smithsonian. A reporter covering the event said, "Dr. Chase looked impatient, as if she were muttering to her self, "This may be well and good, but it isn't getting any grass classified, sonny." While I was researching Agnes Chase, I came across this little article in The St. Louis Star and Times. Agnes gave one of her books on grass a biblical title, The Meek That Inherit the Earth. The article pointed out that, "Mrs. Chase began her study of grass by reading about it in the Bible. In the very first chapter of Genesis, ...the first living thing the Creator made was grass. ...In order to understand grass one needs an outlook as broad as all creation, for grass is fundamental to life, from Abraham, the herdsman, to the Western cattleman; from drought in Egypt to the dust bowl of Colorado; from corn, a grass given to Hiawatha..., to the tall corn of Iowa." [Agnes] said, "Grass is what holds the earth together. Grass made it possible for the human race to abandon his cave life and follow herds. Civilization was based on grass, everywhere in the world." Unearthed Words What can beat bricks warming up to the sun? The return of awnings. The removal of blankets from horses' backs. Tar softens under the heel, and the darkness under bridges changes from gloom to cooling shade. After a light rain, when the leaves have come, tree limbs are like wet fingers playing in woolly green hair. ― Toni Morrison, American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor, Jazz Grow That Garden Library Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne This book came out in 1991, and the subtitle is Ferdinand Lindheimer's Letters to George Engelmann. In this book, Minetta shares the treasure of these letters between two marvelous 19th-century botanists. In 1979, Minetta was asked to translate 32 letters between Ferdinand Lindheimer, the father of Texas botany, and George Engelmann - the man who helped establish the Missouri Botanical Garden and specialized in the Flora of the western half of the United States. The task of deciphering, organizing, and analyzing the Lindheimer Englemann correspondence took Minetta over a decade. This book is 236 pages of a fascinating look at Texas frontier life and botany through the eyes of the German-American botanist Ferdinand Lindheimer. You can get a copy of Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $18. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 29, 1924 Today is the wedding day of Cornelia Vanderbilt. This year (2021) marks her 95th wedding anniversary. When the Vanderbilt heiress married British nobility, the diplomat John Cecil, the wedding flowers had been ordered from a florist in New York. However, the train carrying the flowers to Asheville, North Carolina, had been delayed and would not arrive in time. Biltmore's Floral Displays Manager Lizzie Borchers said that, "Biltmore's gardeners came to the rescue, clipping forsythia, tulips, dogwood, quince, and other flowers and wiring them together. They were quite large compositions, twiggy, open, and very beautiful." If you look up this lavish, classic roaring 20's wedding on social media, the pictures show that the bouquets held by the wedding party were indeed very large - they look to be about two feet in diameter! I'll share the images in our Facebook Group, The Daily Gardener Community. In 2001, the Biltmore commemorated the 75th anniversary of the wedding with a month-long celebration among 2,500 blooming roses during the month of June. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a Quaker son of Pennsylvania who accomplished so much during his lifetime and left a legacy of botanical information for future generations. We'll also learn about a woman who, together with her husband, created an impressive arboretum in the middle of Iowa. We'll hear some thoughts about spring from a Contemporary Turkish playwright, novelist, and thinker. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a fun fiction book about an adventurous young woman who joins an expedition in Yellowstone National Park at the end of the nineteenth century. And then we'll wrap things up with the fascinating story of the Alaska State Flower - the Forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris). Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News 12 Gorgeous Plants That Will Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden | Bob Vila | Michelle Ullman 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. Important Events April 28, 1782 Today is the birthday of the botanist, physician, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, William Darlington. Like his fellow eminent botanists John Bartram, Humphry Marshall, and William Baldwin, William was born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania. A native of West Chester, William received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. When William was a student, Benjamin Barton, the botanist and author of the first American botany textbook was an early mentor. After signing on as a surgeon for an East India merchant, William traveled to Calcutta. A year later, William returned to England and married Catharine Lacey, the daughter of a distinguished Revolutionary War General. Lacey supported William's work. The Darlingtons were married for forty years and had four sons and four daughters. Two of their sons were named in honor of fellow botanists: their oldest son was Benjamin Smith Barton Darlington and their youngest son William Baldwin Darlington. The year 1826 was a big year for William Darlington. He organized and presided over the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Sciences, and he published his first edition of "Florula Cestrica," his summary of plants in West Chester, Pennsylvania. William was a saver and an archivist. Today, William's work to preserve his letters with Humphry Marshall and John Bartram are much appreciated. In terms of legacy, one of William's most valuable contributions to botanical history is his masterpiece called Memorials of Bartram and Marshall. In 1853, the botanist John Torrey named a new variety of California pitcher-plant for Darlington. He called it Darlingtonia Californica. As for William, his large herbarium and works were bequeathed to his beloved Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science. William was buried in Oaklands Cemetery, near West Chester. Twenty years earlier, William wrote his own epitaph in Latin - it is inscribed on his monument: "Plantae Cestrienses, quas dilexit atque illustravit, super tumulum ejus semper floreant" or May the plants of Chester, which he loved and documented, forever blossom over his grave. William's tombstone is crowned with a relief of Darlingtonia californica. April 28, 1916 Today is the birthday of the arboretum-maker Frances Bickelhaupt. Frances is remembered for the arboretum that she and her husband Robert created around their family home in Clinton, Iowa. During the 1960s and 1970s, Robert and Frances watched in dismay as Dutch Elm disease claimed the beautiful Elm-lined streets of their hometown. In response, Frances and Robert began planting a diverse range of trees on their 10-acre property. Now, Frances and Robert were exceptionally disciplined when it came to planting trees - they committed to grouping all the trees by species. Today, the Bickelhaupt Arboretum has a lovely collection of trees - including ash, beech, birch, crabapple, elm, hickory, honeylocust, linden, magnolia, and oak. Bickelhaupt also has a gorgeous conifer collection, regarded as the Arboretum's crown jewel, and features many rare and dwarf conifers. In total, the Bickelhaupt Arboretum boasts over 2,000 different species of plants. In 2020, the Bickelhaupt Arboretum was damaged by the derecho ("duh-RAY-cho") - a widespread and severe windstorm that blew through the midwest on August 10, 2020. As a result of the derecho, Bickelhaupt lost 28 trees, and many more were damaged in the hurricane-force winds. The first course of action is clean up following by tree removal - for the trees were so damaged they could not be saved. Today, if you happen to visit the Bickelhaupt Arboretum, there is a poignant sculpture of Frances and Robert near the entrance. They are standing side by side, and Frances has one foot resting on the top of a shovel she holds against the earth. Unearthed Words In the winter, you may want the summer; in the summer, you may want the autumn; in the autumn, you may want the winter; but only in the spring you dream and want no other season but the spring! ― Mehmet Murat ildan ("MAY-met Moor-rat ILL-don," Contemporary Turkish playwright, novelist, and thinker Grow That Garden Library Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith This fiction book came out in 2000, and it won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award for Fiction. In this book, Diane Smith tells the story of a young woman named A. E. (Alexandria) Bartram. A lively young woman and amateur botanist, Alexandria is invited on an expedition of Yellowstone in the spring of 1898. The leader of the expedition is a Montana professor who initially thought AE Bartram was a man. He was shocked to learn the truth when Alexandra joins the team. Still, it's full steam ahead 4 the group of scientists, and they embark on a summer of fascinating Adventures and a web of entangled relationships. The backdrop is, of course, the beauty of Yellowstone and 19th-century concerns about science, economics, and nature. This book offers a little bit of everything - botany, humor, adventure - and even romance. This book is 226 pages of fiction based on true American history, nature, science, and culture. You can get a copy of Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $1 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 28, 1917 On this day, the State Flower of Alaska was adopted: the Wild Native Forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris "my-oh-SO-tiss al-pes-tris"). The Forget-me-not was part of the Alaskan culture long before it became the official state flower. During the Alaskan gold rush, the men formed lodges. A lodge called the Grand Igloo selected the Forget-me-not as the lodge emblem. Later on, women got involved with the lodge through auxiliaries. One pioneering Alaskan woman was Esther Birdsall Darling. Esther lived in Alaska from 1907 to 1918. She created a dog kennel in Nome and later started the first sled dog race. Esther became known worldwide when she began writing about her life in the north and her Alaskan sled dogs. Inspired by the "Forget-me-not" legislation, Esther wrote a poem dedicated to the State's pioneers called "Forget-me-not." It was included in the bill put before the legislature: So in thinking for an emblem For this Empire of the North We will choose this azure flower That the golden days bring forth, For we want men to remember That Alaska came to stay Though she slept unknown for ages And awakened in a day. So although they say we're living In the land that God forgot, We'll recall Alaska to them With our blue Forget-me-not. In the bill's margins, there were two handwritten verses (likely written by Esther) and often used as the first two verses to her original poem. A little flower blossoms forth On every hill and dale, The emblem of the Pioneers Upon the rugged trail; The Pioneers have asked it And we could deny them not; So the emblem of Alaska Is the blue Forget-me-not. The Forget-me-not is a member of the Borage family (Boraginaceae). In Floriography ("FLOOR-EE-ah-grah-FEE") or the language of flowers, the Forget-me-not flower represents true faithful love, fond memories, hope, and remembrance. In the middle ages, Forget-me-not was believed to be an effective treatment for scorpion bites. The buds of the flower curl like a scorpion's tail, which was believed to be a sign from nature. This is how Forget-me-not earned the common name Scorpion Grass. Celebrated in folklore, there are many stories about Forget-me-nots. The popular tale of how the Forget-me-not was named tells of a German knight walking by a river with his lady. When he stooped to pick a tiny flower, he lost his balance as he straightened to give the blossom to his beloved. He fell into the river and said, " Vergiss mein nicht." before being swept away. After the battle of Waterloo, the battlefield was covered with Forget-me-nots. The dainty flowers sprung up to mark the spots of fallen soldiers. When King Richard III banished Henry of Lancaster, he chose the Forget-me-not as a rallying symbol. The flower became an emblem for his followers. During the 20th-century, Germans planted Forget-me-nots to honor the fallen and were a special remembrance after WWI. In modern gardens, Forget-me-nots are especially beautiful in rock gardens and along water features like streams. On April 26, 1951, the Vermont Standard shared an adorable story about the Forget-me-not. "Professor Leon Dean of the English Department of UVM (The University of Vermont) spoke on the subject of "Vermont Folklore." He began by explaining that history is all about us… and that the learned historian no longer looks down upon the contributions of the local historian. Folklore, he said, can be adapted to [the] classroom… and the student can go from folklore to local, and national history. ...Even more important are people whose memories reach back in a chain - from generation to generation. Professor Dean gave the illustration of a country doctor who in the spring, would carry Forget-me-not seeds which he sprinkled on the waters of the streams he passed. In time these streams were lined with Forget-me-nots, a memorial when he was gone." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a 20th-Century Landscape Architect who focused on his client's desires and needs. This effort to personalize his work made him incredibly successful. We'll also learn about a species Tulip praised for its hardiness and peppermint candy appearance. We'll hear some thoughts about the first fine spring days. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that will help you finally replace your high-maintenance lawn with something Sustainable, inviting, and low maintenance. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of Flora- the Roman goddess of spring. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News The 15 Best Groundcover Plants for Your Garden | Pure Wow | Arricca Elin SanSone 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. Important Events April 27, 1902 Today is the birthday of the renowned and innovative 20th-Century landscape architect Thomas Church. Known as the "Dean of Western Landscape Architects" and the "Father of the California Garden," Thomas - or Tommy as he was known to his clients and friends - is remembered for personalized landscape design. His 1955 book aptly titled Gardens are for Peopledrew on Tommy's belief that gardens are personal and needed to meet his clients' needs. Tommy wrote, "We're all different - and our gardens and what we expect our land to do for us will vary as much as our demands and our personalities. No one can design intelligently for you unless he knows what you need, what you want, and what you are like." Tommy also wrote, "The only limit to your garden is at the boundaries of your imagination." A pioneer of Modernism in the garden, Tommy's approach to design came to be known as the "California Style." Tommy's California Style included elements that seem pretty standard today: raised beds, low-maintenance, lots of groundcovers, timber decking, kidney-shaped pools, places to sit, clean lines, and asymmetry. Tommy once wrote, "Style is a matter of taste. Design is a matter of principles." Tommy's portfolio was comprised of over 2,000 private gardens, but he did some work for Berkely and Stanford and the University of California, Santa Cruz, where Tommy famously said, "Gentle be the hand that lays upon the land." In addition to his private and university work, Tommy designed the gardens for Sunset Magazine after the headquarters moved to Menlo Park in 1952. Tommy designed the Sunset Garden to encircle an acre of lawn. The trees and plants represent the 17-State circulation area of Sunset Magazine and are grown in four distinct gardens. For instance, there was a dry Arizona desert garden and a wet garden representing the Northwest. Today at Sunset, the redwood trees that were planted from five-gallon cans are now 100 feet tall. In all, there are over 300 varieties of trees, shrubs, and perennials in the Sunset gardens. The annual flower beds are replanted three times a year. Now two aspects of gardening - the amount of expertise the owner had and the amount of free time available by the owner - were both taken into account by Thomas Church. His obituary said, "[Tommy] thought it preposterous to create a garden with exotic fragile plants that need tending for busy people who just like to relax in a garden. He wanted these people to have a tranquil place they could use and enjoy without its upkeep being an albatross around their necks Thus because each garden came from his understanding of its owners - none of them look the same though they have common elements." Thomas Church wrote, "When your garden is finished I hope it will be more beautiful than you anticipated, require less care than you expected, and have cost only a little more than you had planned." April 27, 1952 On this day, The Knoxville News-Sentinel published a little article about a short, six-petaled, cherry-red, and white species tulip, known as Tulip clusiana - commonly called the Persian Tulip or the Peppermint Tulip. "Pretty and charming is Tulip clusiana, named for the great botanist Clusius, who is said to have grown it in his garden in Flanders. It is known to have been cultivated for more than 300 years. Louise Beebe Wilder says of it, "Clusius reported that it was sent to Florence in 1606 with the statement that it had come from Persia. Parkinson knew it as the early Persian tulip. Sir Daniel Hall says it is now apparently wild from Chitral ("Ch-eh-trull") (in Pakistan) to Spain... Reginald Farrer says it is frequently found in old olive orchards about Cannes ("Can")" [Now the] buds are long, slender, and pointed with broad streaks of rose-red up the backs of the white petals. Because of this effect, it is sometimes called the radish tulip. Other names are candy tulip and lady tulip." Clusiana tulips open with the sun and close at night. Unearthed Words When the first fine spring days come, and the earth awakes and assumes its garment of verdure, when the perfumed warmth of the air blows on our faces and fills our lungs, and even appears to penetrate to our heart, we feel vague longings for undefined happiness, a wish to run, to walk at random, to inhale the spring. ― Guy de Maupassant, ("Ghee-du-mo-pah-sawnt") The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant, Part One Grow That Garden Library Lawn Gone! by Pam Penick This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard. In this book, Pam Penick - one of my favorite garden bloggers - shares practical and down-to-earth advice for replacing a traditional, high-maintenance lawn with something endlessly more manageable and inviting. Pam's book is an inspiring look at the countless options for transforming residential landscapes with low-work flowers, shrubs, ground covers, and native plants mixed with paved or mulched areas. If you've been hesitant to take the plunge and downsize or eliminate the lawn altogether, Pam offers inspiration, reassurance, helpful ideas, how-to's, and tips. This book is 192 pages of beautiful, low-maintenance, and inviting lawn alternatives from an intelligent and practical garden blogger. You can get a copy of Lawn Gone! by Pam Penick and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $9 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day, April 27, the Romans honored Flora - the goddess of flowers and spring. One of the goddesses of fertility and a goddess of eternal youth. Flora was married to the west wind god, Zephyr, and she was the mother of Carpus - a beautiful boy whose name means "fruit." Today, carpology is the study of fruits and seeds, and a carp is the fruiting body of a fungus. The Latin term "Carpe diem" or seize the day could also be thought of as "Make the day fruitful." Today, the word flora is a general name for the plants of a region. Now, while the growing season starts with Flora, the goddess of spring, it ends with Pomona, the goddess of the Harvest. And so, the two goddesses - Flora and Pomona - were respectively celebrated at the beginning and end of the growing season. In 1884, the British artist and designer Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones created two beautiful tapestries that depicted life-sized figures of Flora and Pomona. Each Tapestry was nearly 10- feet long, and a backdrop of foliage and flowers surrounds both goddesses. To the Romans, Flora and Pomona were deemed important enough to have their own dedicated priests, temples, and festivals. Flora's priest was called the Floralis, and her festival was called the Floralia. Established in 240 BCE, the Floralia was a week-long festival loaded with symbolism around renewal and rebirth and celebrated with drinking and flowers. During the festivities, even men wore flowers, and women were allowed to wear bright-colored clothing - something considered taboo otherwise. One of the most beautiful and beloved frescos from this time depicts Flora. Beloved by many, this masterpiece highlights Flora against a green background. She's wearing a yellow dress, and she's walking barefoot with her back to us. Her left arm holds a cornucopia basket filled with delicate spring flowers, and her right hand is reaching to pluck a white flower from a shrub. The Flora fresco is housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy (cat. no. 8834). Finding representations of Flora in art is easy - if you know what to look for. Flora is often shown holding a small bouquet and crowned with a halo of blossoms. And, can you guess what Flora's special gift was? (Here's a hint: it was made (naturally) from flowers and was highly valued by the Romans for its medicinal and culinary uses.) The answer is honey. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a man who is remembered for his contributions to art and ornithology. We'll also learn about a socialite, gardener, and garden designer whose story has been largely unappreciated. We'll hear some thoughts on gardening in the Carolinas. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about resilient homesteading that incorporates an innovative approach to permaculture. And then we'll wrap things up with the incredible behind-the-scenes story of the funeral of one of the world's greatest scientific minds: Charles Darwin. Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to "Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast." And she will. It's just that easy. 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] Curated News Zen Garden Ideas: Create Your Own Backyard Zen Garden | Garden Design | Janet Loughrey 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. Important Events April 26, 1785 Today is the birthday of the ornithologist, artist, and naturalist, John James Audubon, who was born in Santo Domingo, Haiti. John's folio series called "The Birds of America" featured 435 life-size color prints of American birds. And John's favorite state for birding was Louisiana. Honored as the namesake of the National Audubon Society, his birthday, today (April 26th), was designated as National Audubon Day to commemorate his birth and work. In 2011, Google celebrated his birthday with a Google Doodle. It was John James Audobon who said, "In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests." He also said, "When the bird & the book disagree, believe the bird." April 26, 1873 Today is the birthday of the British socialite and garden designer Norah Lindsay. After marrying Sir Harry Lindsay, Norah began gardening at their Manor home and garden in Oxfordshire called Sutton Courtenay - which was given to them as a wedding present from Harry's cousin. Norah's gardens overflowed with flowers, and she hosted regular parties and even masked balls at her estate, which also allowed her to show off her gardens. Norah recognized the powerful draw of gardens. She once described Sutten Courtenay as having a "shining quality," writing, "some gardens, like some people, have a charm potent to enslave and yet as intangible as dew or vapour." Although she adored Italian gardens, Norah's gardens were not formal but rather romantic and wild, relaxed and gentle. She memorably told one gardener that she "loved lilies, lazily lolling." Norah was influenced by William Robinson, an advocate for wild gardening, and Gertrude Jekyll, the English gardener, and writer. Like Jekyll, Norah designed her gardens with drifts of color and soft transitions. And although her gardens seemed effortless, there was a method to Norah's approach to design. Norah had an intuitive sense of scale and impeccable taste in plants. Beautiful, charming, and witty, Norah was sadly not a writer. Her legacy lives on in many of the gardens she created and her only daughter Nancy - who also loved gardening and horticulture. The British gardener, garden designer, and landscape architect Russell Page referred to Norah in his book The Education of a Gardener, saying, "Norah Lindsay could by her plantings evoke all the pleasures of a flower garden. She captured the essence of midsummer... or gave the pith of autumn… She lifted herbaceous planting into a poetic category and gave it an air of rapture and spontaneity." By the time Norah turned 51, her marriage and her bank account had both fallen flat. In a letter to a friend, Norah summed it up simply: "No husband, no money, no home." To provide for herself, Norah began designing gardens for her royal and wealthy friends - a career that would last for two decades. Norah's friends and clients were writers, gardeners, old-Hollywood stars, and politicians - and included Edward, Prince of Wales, Waldorf and Nancy Astor, Charlie Chaplin, Marshall Field III, George Shaw, and Edith Wharton. And, thanks to her wealthy clients, Norah was able to garden all over Europe - which meant that she became adept at understanding different soils, growing zones, and spaces - modifying her designs to accommodate new challenges. One of Norah's friends and clients was the Duke of Windsor. He once remarked, "If you had the money, she was the one to spend it." Yet, surprisingly, Norah's biographer wrote that Norah lived two very different lives. By night, she often dined with the rich and powerful. By day - starting at 5 am - Norah was in the garden with her garden crew. And when her long day of garden work was done, Norah took a train back home; she didn't own a car. One particular friend of Norah's worth noting was the estate owner, gardener, and garden designer Lawrence Johnston who went by Johnny. Johnny owned Hidcote Manor, "HID-cut," and Norah helped him design the magnificent 10.5-acre garden there. Johnny was planning to leave Hidcote to Norah, but that plan was thwarted when Norah died unexpectedly at 75 - shortly after being diagnosed with kidney cancer. Once, when she was in the midst of her career, regularly buying plants for clients, Norah wrote to a friend, "When I die, Magnolia will be written on my heart." Today many regret that Norah did not write books to document her work. Little remains outside of her personal letters that capture Norah's charm, cleverness, and quick wit - and her fresh perspective on gardens and gardening. The American garden historian, Allyson Hayward, wrote an excellent biography of Norah in 2007 called Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer. Unearthed Words In the Carolinas, there are two growing seasons: warm and cool. The cool season runs from about October or November through April or May (depending on where you garden). The warm season runs from May or June through September or October. If you plan your Carolina garden around no other guiding principle than this, you will be well in front of people who don't. ― Katie Elzer-Peters, Carolinas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening: How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest the Best Edibles Grow That Garden Library The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach. In this book, Ben shares what he's learned gardening on a hill farm In Vermont Mad River Valley. Ben shares his incredible ingenuity and intelligent approach to working the land And restoring the biosphere. The author of A Sanctuary of Trees, Gene Logsdon, wrote this about Ben's book, "Grow rice in New England? Yes. Heat water to 155 degrees F on cold winter days at a rate of a gallon a minute by piping it through a compost pile? Yes. How about dinner tonight of your own rack of lamb garnished with homegrown mushrooms? Yes. Your choice of scores of different vegetables and fruits even in winter? Yes. Plus, your own dairy products from your own sheep. All the while, the soil producing this magic, on a site once thought little more than a wasteland, grows yearly more fertile and secure from natural calamity." An early adopter of permaculture principles, Ben is constantly testing ideas for better homesteading on his property in Vermont. Ben founded Whole Systems Design, LLC - a land-based response to biological and cultural extinction and the increasing separation between people and elemental things. So he's a practitioner expert when it comes to permaculture. This book is 320 pages of Inspiring and practical advice to create your edible sanctuary and resilient landscape. You can get a copy of The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $25 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 26, 1882 On this day, the funeral for Charles Darwin was held at noon sharp at Westminster Abbey. Thousands attended it. The deputy organist at Westminster Abbey, John Frederick Bridge, felt Darwin deserved to have an original funeral anthem and so, the day before the funeral he wrote original lyrics inspired by the Book of Proverbs and set them to music: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and getteth understanding. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand, riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Bridge also wrote original funeral hymns for Robert Browning and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Attendees needed tickets to get into the funeral. The ten pallbearers included Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (The son of the famous botanist William Jackson Hooker and Darwin's closest friend), Thomas Henry Huxley (English biologist and anthropologist), Alfred Russel Wallace (British naturalist and evolutionary theorist - and a surprising friend to Darwin), James Russell Lowell (U.S. Ambassador), and William Spottiswoode "Spots-Wood" (President of the Royal Society). Darwin was buried at the Abbey next to the eminent scientist Sir John Herschel and just a few feet away from Sir Isaac Newton. On the Sunday following the funeral, the Bishop of Carlisle, Harvey Goodwin, said in his sermon, there is no "necessary conflict between a knowledge of Nature and a belief in God." One of Darwin's pallbearers, William Spottiswoode, delivered a eulogy for Darwin at the Royal Academy a few days after the funeral, on April 29, 1882. William said: "If patience and perseverance in good work… if a continual overcoming of evil with good in any way constitute elements of greatness, then the man of whom I speak—Charles Darwin—was truly great." On his deathbed, at Down House, Charles Darwin told his wife, Emma, "I am not the least afraid of death—Remember what a good wife you have been to me—Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me." And he told repeatedly told his children, "It's almost worthwhile to be sick to be nursed by you." Darwin's beloved dog, Polly, died naturally, two days after her master. Today, gardeners can visit Down House and explore the home and gardens of Charles Darwin. And, if you would like to pay homage to Darwin in your own garden, you can purchase one of David Austin's favorite and best-selling roses: Charles Darwin. The Charles Darwin yellow rose is gorgeous and wonderfully fragrant - with notes of soft floral Tea and pure lemon. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."