The Daily Gardener

Today we look back at the story that inspired the book The Orchid Thief. We'll also learn about the incredible true story of a Madagascar explorer. We hear words about the incredible Algerian Iris. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a memoir from a garden who pulls back the row cover on the remarkable story of her magnificent garden - a place she called Duck Hill. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of an incredible naturalist and botanist who had some very eclectic habits concerning preserving and utilizing specimens. 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 Wild-Style Spring Plant Display For The Container Garden | Gardens Illustrated 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 February 19, 1962 Today is the birthday of the American horticulturist John Laroche ("La Rōsh"). Before John was arrested for poaching wild ghost orchids, he was a typical horticulturist. In the late 1980s, John was active in the Bromeliad ("brow·mee·lee·ad) Society of Broward County, and he was giving lectures on topics like "Growing Bromeliads from Seeds" and "New Techniques in Bromeliad Culture." By the early 1990s, John's attention turned to orchids, and this passion would end up becoming a story fit for a book. One of the first newspapers to share the story was the Indiana Gazette on June 14, 1993: "Susan Orlean's… "The Orchid Thief" tells the tale of John Laroche... When a fascination with orchids overtook him, he... conceived a scheme that would benefit the Seminoles, the world, and himself. Using the Seminoles' exemption from laws against picking orchids in the wild, he helped himself to rare specimens growing in a Florida swamp called the Fakahatchee ("Fack-ah-HATCH-ee") Strand State Preserve. His plan was to clone them by the millions, make them available to fanciers everywhere and thus save them in their wild state by obviating the need to pick them. Not incidentally, he would make a fortune for the Seminoles and himself. But the law did not agree, and Laroche was arrested and convicted for poaching. Attracted by an article on Laroche's arrest, Susan Orlean, a reporter for The New Yorker, traveled to Florida, befriended Laroche, and got him to introduce her to his world. Near the opening of The Orchid Thief, Susan describes how she approaches her subjects, "I read lots of local newspapers and particularly the shortest articles in them, and most particularly any articles that are full of words in combinations that are arresting. In the case of the orchid story, I was interested to see the words 'swamp' and 'orchids' and 'Seminoles' and 'cloning' and 'criminal' together in one short piece." Today it's estimated that only around 2,000 ghost orchids remain in Florida. February 19, 1932 On this day, The Shreveport Journal shared a story about the botanist Charles Swingle and his quest to find the Euphorbia Intisy ("in-tah-ZEE"). "Charles Swingle was the first American botanist to set foot on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. He was on the trail of a peculiar rubber plant called "Intisy," which government scientists thought might be grown In our own Southwest. When this young American arrived in Madagascar, he found he was just 15 minutes too late to catch a little coastwise boat heading to the south. The natives simply couldn't understand his disappointment. "Oh sir," they said, "another boat will arrive in six weeks. In the meantime, there is rice for all —so there is nothing to worry about, good sir" In the native Malagash language, there is no word for "time." They spend a few days a year planting, transplanting, and harvesting rice—and there's enough food for all. "Don't the natives ever get tired of rice?" I asked Dr. Swingle. "Not at all" be explained, "If they get tired of white rice they change to red rice or blue rice or brown As many as 64 varieties grow in Madagascar And then there are special delicacies to go with it—delicacies that are for those who like dried grasshoppers and locusts." Dr. Swingle made daily trips to the village markets to get peanuts, bananas, pineapples, guavas, mangoes, or papayas to add to the hotel diet of rice. On the sixteenth day of his march into the southern brush, Dr. Swingle sighted the first of his long-sought for plants—the Intisy plants. The curious bulbous roots were filled with water—the best they had had for many a day. And the milky latex which oozed from its trunk was found to be pure rubber." The Euphorbia Intisy is a large, succulent tree growing up to almost 25 feet tall. Thanks to Charles Swingle, the plant was experimentally cultivated in the American Southwest. Unearthed Words Kindliness, so far as the Algerian Iris is concerned, consists in starving it. Rich cultivation makes it run to leaf rather than to flower. What it really enjoys is being grown in a miserably poor soil, mostly composed of old lime and mortar rubble and even gravel: a gritty mixture at the foot of a sunny wall, the grittier and the sunnier, the better. Sun and poverty are the two things it likes. You should search your clumps of the grass-like leaves every day for possible buds, and pull the promising Bud while it still looks like a tiny, tightly rolled umbrella, and then bring it indoors and watch it open up under a lamp. If you have the patience to watch for long enough, you will see this miracle happen. If you have not yet got this Iris in your garden and want to acquire it, you can plant it in March or April; but September is the best time for transplanting. It does not much like being split up and moved, so whenever you require it, do make sure that it does not get too dry until it has had time to establish itself. After that, it will give you no trouble. — Vita Sackville West, English author and garden designer, In Your Garden, Algerian Iris Grow That Garden Library Embroidered Ground by Page Dickey This book came out in 2012, and the subtitle is Revisiting the Garden. In this book, Page recounts her journey as she created her magnificent garden, Duck Hill, in upstate New York. Gardeners will relate to the challenges and the pleasures that Page encountered creating her masterpiece. Best of all, we get a chance to learn directly from Page as she shares her unique perspective on making a garden shine - from textures and structure to fragrance and color. Page shares her garden's story and her garden wisdom like she's writing a story for a dear garden friend. Unpretentious and insightful, Page takes us on a delightful garden stroll through the evolution of her garden. This book is 272 pages of a garden by a garden writer who shares the tender story of how they both grew old together. You can get a copy of Embroidered Ground by Page Dickey 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 February 19, 1974 On this day, The Journal Herald out of Dayton, Ohio, published a little snippet about the naturalist Eliza Brightwen and her unusual needlepoint methods: "If you are tired of the same crewel and needlepoint your friends are making, you might try a different type of embroidered picture. About 1880, Mrs. Brightwen, a famous botanist, began making embroidery pictures using the bones from the heads of fish such as haddock, whiting, or cod. The bones were cleaned, boiled, and dried. They were used as the wings for embroidered insects or leaves for flowers. The design was usually embroidered on black velvet. The tiny fish bones were sewn into place in a pattern that was embellished with original embroidery. This is not as odd as it might seem if you look today at the modern collages made with large animal bones, nuts, bolts, prune pits, and other ordinary materials." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the French botanist who created the modern strawberry. We'll also learn about the sweet little orchid known as the moccasin flower. We hear words that offer perspective on our loss of wildlife and habitat. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about one of the world's best botanical illustrators - and here's a hint: she was a dear friend of Alice Lounsberry. And then we'll wrap things up with the story of the new rare-plant house at the Fairchild Tropical Garden rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina. 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 Little Fern That Could | Earth Island Journal | Anna Gibbs 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 February 18, 1827 Today is the anniversary of the death of the French botanist, gardener, and professor at Versailles, Antoine Nicolas Duchesne ("do-Shane"). A specialist in strawberries and gourds, Antoine was a student of Bernard de Jussieu at the Royal Garden in Paris. A plant pioneer, Antoine, recognized that mutation was a natural occurrence and that plants could be altered through mutation at any time. As a young botanist, Antoine began experimenting with strawberries. Ever since the 1300s, wild strawberries had been incorporated into gardens. But on July 6, 1764, Antoine created the modern strawberry - the strawberry we know today. Strawberries are members of the rose family, and they are unique in that their seeds are on the outside of the fruit. Just how many seeds are on a single strawberry? The average strawberry has around 200 seeds. To get your strawberry plant to produce more fruit, plant in full sun, in well-drained soil, and trim the runners. February 18, 1902 Today the Showy Lady's-Slipper became the State Flower of Minnesota. The Lady Slipper orchid was discovered in 1789 by William Aiton. The Lady Slipper's common name is inspired by the unusual form of the third petal, and it's what makes the bloom look like a little shoe. During his lifetime, Darwin repeatedly tried to propagate the Lady's-Slipper Orchid. He never succeeded. The Lady Slipper's growing conditions are quite particular - which is why they are almost impossible to keep in a traditional garden. It's also illegal to pick, uproot or unearth the flowers - which was a problem in the 1800s when people collected them almost to extinction. Since 1925, the Lady's-Slipper has been protected by Minnesota state law. In the wild, Lady's-Slippers grow in swamps, bogs, and damp woods. They take forever to grow, and they can grow for almost a decade before producing their first flower, which can last for two months in cooler weather. As long-lived plants, Lady's-Slippers can grow as old as 100 years and grow up to 4 feet tall. To Native Americans, the Lady's-Slipper was known as the moccasin flower. An old Ojibwe legend told of a plague that had occurred during a harsh winter. Many people died - including the tribal healer. Desperate for help, a young girl was sent to find medicine. But, the snow was deep, and in her haste, she lost her boots and left a trail of bloody footprints in the snow. The legend was that her footprints were marked with the beautiful moccasin flower every spring. One summer, when Henry David Thoreau came upon a red variety of Lady's-Slipper in the woods, he wrote about it, saying: "Everywhere now in dry pitch pine woods stand the red lady's slipper over the red pine leaves on the forest floor rejoicing in June. Behold their rich striped red, their drooping sack." Unearthed Words I remembered reading that during the great flight year of 1926-27, over 2,300 snowy owls were shot and kept his trophies in the United States alone. One of the greatest difficulties for modern conservationists, I think, is to rightly conceive how much we have lost. We trudge so far today to see so little that the result is often a strangely pathetic elation. — Robert Finch, Nature writer, Common Ground, Snowy Grow That Garden Library Ellis Rowan, 1848-1922 by Kate Collins This book came out in 1989, and it's part of the Australian book series that featured its most outstanding artists. My copy arrived last week, and it features incredible full-page color plates of Australian native flowers, birds, and insects. Born in Melbourne, Ellis married Frederic Rowan in 1873. Ellis discovered painting after her botanist husband, Frederick, encouraged her to develop talent, and it was a passion that she pursued until her death. Ellis's life was full of adventure. She traveled and painted abroad. Three of her paintings were presented to Queen Victoria. My favorite stories about Ellis concern her wonderful friendship with the botanist and writer Alice Lounsberry, and they created three beautiful books about the flowers of North America. During the First World War, Ellis was living in New Guinea. At one point, she painted 45 of the 62 known species of birds of paradise. As a woman living during the mid-1800s, Ellis followed the dress code of her era. Wherever she went, whether on an expedition or at home, Ellis was always impeccably dressed. Ellis's daily attire included heavy ankle-length dresses, high collars with full sleeves, crinolines, corsets, whalebone stays, and a hat. Just before Ellis died, the federal parliament in Australia debated whether to buy 1,000 of Ellis' paintings. The Australian artist and novelist Norman Lindsay called Ellis' work vulgar - believing wildflowers were unworthy subjects for art. But ultimately, Ellis' paintings were purchased for $5,000, and they are now a treasured part of Australia's National Library. This book is 52 pages of the beautiful work of Ellis Rowan. You can get a copy of Ellis Rowan, 1848-1922 by Kate Collins 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 February 18, 1996 On this day, The Miami Herald shared a story about rebuilding the rare plant house at the Fairchild Botanical Garden. "The born-again rare-plant house at the Fairchild Tropical Garden called Windows on the Tropics has a new roof and new walls - and a whole collection of staghorn ferns mounted like prize stag heads overlooking the inner courtyard. The new $1 million conservatory at the Fairchild Tropical Garden that is being built on the footprint of the hurricane-demolished rare plant house is nearing its opening day. It will be the last piece of the Hurricane Andrew puzzle to be put back into place in the garden. More than 2,000 plants will be on display in the conservatory showing about 1,000 species grouped in themes or windows onto the natural tropical world. One window into plant and animal interactions will feature everything from ant plants to carnivorous plants. Recently a buttonwood tree was bolted to a wall for the display beneath which visitors will walk and come eyeball-to-eyeball with insect-dissolving pitcher plants. The window featuring epiphytic or air plants will open into the old orchid display room [which] will include orchids, bromeliads, and climbing philodendrons. The new conservatory path will lead through the most modern of greenhouse spaces [and will] house Economic plants — those used by man — [like] coffee, pepper, vanilla, and other tropical food and medicine plants. Three new waterfalls are being built in the lower level of the conservatory where ferns, tree ferns, and palms will reside ...and here, the conservatory becomes a sensual experience. The building is the largest aluminum structure in Florida [that also meets] the 120-mile-an-hour wind code. Soaring 12 feet taller than the old Rare Plant House, the plastic roof has clerestory windows that open for ventilation and come with built-in storm shutters. And, plants no longer will be subjected to chemicals in city water but to rainwater collected in two cisterns that will hold 45,000 gallons. The conservatory will be opened on March 23rd (1996)… Instead of having a guest speaker, the garden is letting Windows on the Tropics do all the talking, says Barbara Schuler, director of development. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate one of the earliest botanists and his essential discoveries about plant physiology. We'll also learn about a man known as the 'Prince of Alpine gardeners.' We hear the story of a woman who over-nurturers her houseplants. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about worms from one of the best garden writers alive today. And then we'll wrap things up with the fascinating birth flowers for the month of February. 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 Stickiness Is A Weapon Some Plants Use To Fend Off Hungry Insects | Phys Org | Eric Lopresti 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 February 17, 1721 Today is the anniversary of the death of Rudolph Jacob Camerarius, the botanist who demonstrated the existence of sexes in plants. Rudolph was born in Germany. He was a professor of natural philosophy. Rudolph identified and defined the flower's male parts as the anther, and he did the same for the female part; the pistol. And Rudolph figured out that pollen made production possible. Rudolph's work was recorded for the ages in a letter he wrote to a peer in 1694 called On the Sex of Plants. February 17, 1880 Today is the birthday of the legendary rock and alpine gardener, plant explorer, nurseryman, writer, and painter Reginald Farrer. A son of the Yorkshire Dales, Reginald was raised in upper-middle-class circumstances on the Farrer family estate called Ingleborough Hall in Clapham. And although Reginald was a world traveler, his heart belonged to Yorkshire, and he repeatedly referenced Yorkshire in his writing. Given Reginald's influence on rock gardening, I always find it rather fitting that Reginald's Ingleton home place was itself a large natural rock garden. Reginald was born with many physical challenges. He had a cleft palate, speech difficulties, and what Reginald called a "pygmy body. " Growing up, Reginald endured many surgeries to correct his mouth, which resulted in him being homeschooled. The silver lining to his solitary childhood was that Reginald learned to find happiness looking at the flora and fauna as he scoured the rocks, ravines, and hills around Ingleborough. By the time Reginald was 14 years old, he had created his first Rock Garden in an old kitchen garden at his family home. This little magical space would eventually transform into a nursery Reginald called Craven, and it naturally specialized in Asian mountain plants. And every time Reginald went on an expedition, he would send back new alpine plants and seed from Craven. When it was time, Reginald attended St. John's College at the University of Oxford. It brings a smile to know that before Reginald graduated in 1902, he had left the school with his signature gift: a rock garden. Once he finished school, Reginald began botanizing in high places from the Alps to Ceylon and China. His first trip was to Tokyo, and Reginald found a little house to rent that had, of course, a real Japanese rock garden. This living and botanizing experience in Japan became the basis for his first book called The Garden of Asia (1904). During his twenties, Reginald liked to say that he found "joy in high places," and the European Alps became a yearly touchstone. And although he saw some of the most incredible mountains in the world - they held no sway with Reginald. For Reginald - it was always about the plants. Reginald wrote, "It may come as a shock and a heresy to my fellow Ramblers when I make the confession that, to me, the mountains… exist simply as homes and backgrounds to their population of infinitesimal plants. My enthusiasm halts... with my feet, at the precise point where the climber's energies are first called upon." Reginald's book, The Garden of Asia, launched his writing career, and Reginald's writing changed the way garden writers wrote about plants. The botanist Clarence Elliot observed, "As a writer of garden books [Reginald] stood alone. He wrote… from a peculiar angle of his own, giving queer human attributes to his plants, which somehow exactly described them." As an example, here's a journal entry from Reginal from June 2nd, 1919: "I sat down to paint it (the most marvelous and impressive Rhododendron I've ever seen - a gigantic, excellent, with corrugated leaves and great white trumpets stained with yellow inside - a thing alone, by itself WELL worth all the journey up here… And oddly enough, I did not enjoy doing so at first... a first false start - a second, better, splashed and spoilt, then a mizzle, so that umbrella had to be screamed for and held up with one hand while I worked with the other. Then flies and torment and finally a wild dust storm with rain and thunder came raging over so that everything had feverishly to be hauled indoors and the Rhododendron fell over… But one moral is - only paint when fresh or before the day's toils; The rhododendron gave me such a bad night... I… satisfactorily finished it - though it took till after 12." Many people have tried to puzzle out the personality of Reginald. While it's unanimously agreed that he could be eccentric, I'm not a fan of his harsher critics. I say, to discover Reginald's heart, learn how much he loved Jane Austen. In fact, his 1917 essay on Jane was judged the "best single introduction to her fiction." When he traveled, Reginald always brought Jane's books along. Reginald once wrote that, when traveling, he really only needed his clothing and Jane's books - and if he had to choose between the two, he'd keep the books. And there's a well-told story about Reginald that speaks to his ingenuity and uniqueness. Reginald was always searching for alpine plants that would grow in the British climate. One time, after an inspiring visit to Ceylon, Reginald got the idea to create a cliff garden with the seeds from his trip. So, when he returned home, he rowed a boat to the middle of the lake at Ingleborough and used a shotgun to blast the seeds into the face of a cliff. You can imagine his delight when his idea worked and the cliff was alive with plants. Today, although the cliff garden is no longer, there are many Himalayan plants - like bamboo and rhododendron - that remain around his home place, still thriving among the rocks in Ingleborough. In addition to having an impact on the field of garden writing, Reginald helped to change the course of British gardening. Reginald's influence happened to be timed perfectly - as millions of eager British gardeners wrenched the hobby of gardening away from the elite. By this time, Reginald had earned the moniker The Prince of Alpine Gardeners. Reginald had mastered rock gardens - the trick was to make them look as natural as possible - and Reginald's passion for rock gardens came through in his famous 1907 book My Rock Garden. Reginald's book and exploits made rock gardens trendy, and suddenly everyone wanted a rockery in their backyard. The rock garden craze made it all seem so simple, but Reginald knew full well the lengths he had to go to in order to source new alpine plants. During his two years in China, Reginald wrote, "You're on an uncharted mountainside, and you have to, first of all, find the Plant in the summer on the way up the mountain. Then in the autumn, you have to find the same plant – if it hasn't been eaten or trodden on – hope it's set seed and that the seeds haven't fallen yet – and this is just the start." After China, Reginald pivoted and became a war journalist during WWI - even embedding for a time along the Western Front. And, of course, it was botany that helped Reginald carry out this work. While he wrote stories along the Italian frontlines, he collected plants - once while taking fire from Austrian troops. Reginald knew this was insane and wrote: "What Englishman ever before has collected cyclamen on Monte Santo among the shell-fire?" After the war, in 1919, Reginald took a trip to the mountains of Myanmar in Upper Burma. He would never see his beloved Yorkshire again. He was just 40 years old. Somehow, Reginald met his end alone on a remote Burmese mountain, and his body was buried in Konglu in Burma. Most reports say he died of Diptheria, but the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock said he was told Reginald - who had become a devout Buddhist after college - had drank himself to death on the night of October 17th, 1920. And I thought of Reginald up on that mountain alone when I researched the etymology of the name of his nursery, Craven, which means defeated, crushed, or overwhelmed. Today Reginald is remembered in the names of many plants like the beautiful blue Gentiana farreri ("jen-tee-AYE-na FAR-ur-eye"). And the Alpine Garden Society's most highly-prized show medal is the Farrer Medal, which honors the best plant in the show. Unearthed Words When I first began growing houseplants, my mother sent me a cactus garden of native plants from her home in Phoenix, Arizona. My Gardening Style: I nurture plants to death. I check them daily, pluck off alien leaves, and water them every time I notice dryness. Now my mother told me to watch the news and only water my cacti when it rained in Phoenix, I could not help primping my plants. They died within weeks by turning into a brown, mushy mess. My gardening style is an overly involved one, and once I choose plants that craved that kind of style; they flourished more than anything else I grew. Some of my most successful - and needy - plants have been an Umbrella Plant, an African Violet, and [a Tradescantia pallida]. I also find that my kitchen windowsill herb garden thrives when I constantly rotate the plants in the sun and prune them for dinner recipes. — Angela Williams Duea ("Do-ee")and Donna Murphy, The Complete Guide to Growing Windowsill Plants, What is Your Gardening Style, The Over-Nurturer Grow That Garden Library The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart This book came out in 2012, and the subtitle is On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. In this book, Amy introduces us to earthworms, and it turns out there's a ton to learn. Amy's book helps us understand more about these blind creatures and the vital work they do on our planet - from moving soil, suppressing pests, and cleaning up pollution - earthworms regenerate the soil. If you've ever wanted to know more about worms, you're in good company. Charles Darwin was endlessly intrigued by earthworms, too. This book is 256 pages of life underground with the magnificent earthworm and Amy Stewart as your enlightening and entertaining guide. You can get a copy of The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $3 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Even though roses are often associated with February thanks to Valentine's Day, February's birth flower is not the rose. Instead, February has two birth flowers. In England, February's birth flower is the Violet, and in the United States, February is honored with the primrose. Concerning the violet, the plantsman Derek Jarman once wrote: "Violet has the shortest wavelength of the spectrum. Behind it, the invisible ultraviolet. 'Roses are Red, Violets are Blue.' Poor Violet violated for a rhyme." The adorable little violet signifies many virtues; truth and loyalty, watchfulness, and faithfulness. Gifting a violet lets the recipient know you'll always be true. Like the theme song from Friends promises, you'll always be there for them. The ancient Greeks placed a high value on the violet. When it came time to pick a blossom as a symbol for Athens, the violet made the cut. The Greeks used Violet to make medicine. They also used violets in the kitchen to make wine and to eat the edible blossoms. Today, Violets are used to decorate salads, and they can even be sprinkled over fish or poultry. Violets are beautiful when candied in sugar or used to decorate pastries. Violets can even be distilled into a syrup for a Violet liqueur. Finally, Violets were Napoleon Bonaparte's signature flower. When his wife, Josephine, died in 1814, Napoleon covered her grave with violets. His friends even referred to Napoleon as Corporal Violet; after he was exiled to Elba, Napoleon vowed to return before the Violet season. Napoleon's followers used the violet to weed out his detractors. They would ask strangers if they liked violets; a positive response was a sign of loyalty. The other official February flower is the primrose, which originated from the Latin word "primus," meaning "first" or "early." The name is in reference to the fact that the primrose is one of the first plants that bloom in the spring. As with the violet, the leaves and flowers of primrose are edible and often tossed into a salad. The leaves are said to taste like lettuce. Gifting a primrose has a more urgent - stalkerish- meaning than the violet; a primrose tells a person that you can't live without them. In Germany, people believed that the first girl to find a primrose on Easter would marry that same year. And, the saying about leading someone down the primrose path refers to enticing someone to do something terrible by laying out irresistible traps. The phrase originated in William Shakespeare's Hamlet as Ophelia begs her brother: Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; While like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads. And the man known as "The Daffodil King, Peter Barr, bred over 2 million daffodils at his home in Surrey, and he's credited with popularizing the daffodil. Yet, when Barr retired, he went to Scotland and grew - not daffodils, but primroses. Two years before he died, Peter Barr, the Daffodil King, mused, "I wonder who will plant my grave with primroses?" Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a botanist of the American West and the husband of Kate Brandegee. We'll also learn about the woman who created the legislation for the New Jersey State Flower, the Violet. We hear some words about the role of the botanist from one of our horticultural greats. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about transitioning from a beloved garden to something new… this story is special. And then we'll wrap things up with a touching tribute to a gardener, a public servant, and a nursery owner. 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 Selfish Are Plants? Let's Do Some Root Analysis | The New York Times | Cara Giaimo 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 February 16, 1843 Today is the birthday of the American botanist Townshend Stith Brandegee. Townshend was born into one of America's oldest and prominent families, and he was the oldest of twelve children. Townshend's middle name, Stith, was his mother's maiden name. Townshend was descended from three generations of men named Elishama. Townshend's great grandfather, Elishama Brandegee I, had fought in the Revolutionary War. By 1778, Elishama bought a pretty piece of land in Berlin, Connecticut, known as the mulberry orchard. The History of Berlin tells a charming story of how Townshend's great grandmother, Lucy, made a red silk gown with the silk from her silkworms. Apparently, she intended to give the dress to Martha Washington, but somehow she ended up wearing it and keeping it for herself. The Brandegee family continued to grow Mulberry (Morus) trees on the property. In fact, Townshend's grandfather, Elishama Jr., founded the very first silk and cotton-thread company in Berlin. A successful entrepreneur, Elishama Jr, owned a mercantile store, which was the largest store between Hartford and New Haven, and people came from miles around to do their trading. His grandmother, Lucy, was a teacher and founded a private all-girls seminary, now a private prep school for girls known as the Emma Willard School. Townshend's father, Dr. Elishama Brandegee, became the town physician, and by all reports, he was beloved by all who knew him. Townshend and his dad shared a love of nature, and as a young boy, Townshend created his very own fern collection. Townshend came of age during the Civil War, and somehow he managed to live through two years of service in the union army. After his military service, like his father before him, Townshend attended Yale and graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School. He forged his own path as a young civil engineer, and he ended up working on much-needed railroad surveys in the American West. In his spare time, both as a student at Yale and as a young engineer, Townshend botanized, and he even made some discoveries and sent specimens to Harvard's Asa Gray. Townshend's unique combination of surveying experience and botanical work proved invaluable as he began creating maps of the western forests. In fact, it was his love of forests that brought him to the greatest love of his life: Katherine Layne Curran. When his father died in 1884, Townshend's inheritance allowed him to pursue his interests without any financial worries. And in the late 1800s, if you were a young botanist with means and interested in West-coast botany, all roads lead to the California Academy of Sciences. In her early forties, Katharine Layne Curran was the curator of the Academy. She had been married to an alcoholic and then widowed in her twenties. She'd survived medical school when females were just breaking into the field of medicine, and she'd given up her career as a physician when it proved too difficult to set up a practice as a woman. By the time she met Townshend, the last thing Katharine had expected to find was love. And yet, these two middle-aged botanical experts did fall in love - "Insanely in love" to use Katharine's words - and to the surprise of their friends, they married. Kate always referred to Townshend as "Townie." Equally yoked, Townie and Kate's happy honeymoon was a 500-mile nature walk - collecting plant specimens from San Diego to San Francisco. After their honeymoon, Townie and Kate moved to San Diego, where they created a herbarium, library, and garden praised as a botanical paradise. In 1899, the jeweler Frederick Arthur Walton, who was reported to have the largest private cactus collection in England, visited Kate and Townie in San Diego. Frederick shared a review of the Brandegee's spectacular garden in his magazine called The Cactus Journal: "The garden of Mr. and Mrs. Brandegee… [is] a wild garden, being situated upon the mesa, or high land overlooking the sea. Mr. and Mrs. Brandegee are enthusiastic botanists, and have built a magnificent herbarium, where they spend most of their time. The wild land round the herbarium is full of interesting plants that are growing in a state of nature, while being studied and described in all their various conditions. Mrs. Brandegee has preserved specimens of all the kinds she can get. In some cases where the plants are very rare, I asked how she could so destroy such beauties. She replied that her specimens would be there to refer to at any time, with all its descriptions and particulars, whereas if the plant had been left growing, or sent to some botanical gardens, it would probably have died some time, and all trace have been lost." Townie and Kate continued botanizing - individually and together. During their lifetime, botanists could travel for free by train, and the Brandegees used these free passes regularly in their travels throughout California, Arizona, and Mexico. On one trip to Mexico, Kate left early, and she managed to survive a shipwreck. The story goes that Townsend asked about the fate of the specimens before asking about Kate. Yet, this anecdote shouldn't discount their very loving marriage; they were both just maniacally focused on their botanical work. In 1906, when an earthquake destroyed the Berkeley herbarium, the Brandegees single-handedly restored it by donating their entire San Diego botanical library (including many rare volumes) and herbarium of over 80,000 plants. Keeping in mind that Townshend's substantial inheritance had funded all of their botanical efforts, Townie and Kate requested a modest stipend of $100 per month in exchange for their life's work. Despite years of haggling, Berkeley never agreed to pay the Brandegees a cent for what was the richest private plant collection in the United States. Incredibly, the Brandegees continued to be selfless when it came to Berkely. They followed their plants and books to campus, where Townsend and Kate worked the rest of their lives pro bono. And while Townshend was honored with the title of curator of the herbarium, Kate was not given a title. In the early spring of 1920, a 75-year-old Kate was walking at Berkeley when she fell and broke her shoulder. Three weeks later, she died. On April 7, 1925, five years later - almost to the day - Townshend joined Kate on his final journey. February 16, 1971 On this day, the New Jersey State Flower, the Violet, was officially adopted by the legislature after a proposal from Josephine S. Margetts. In 1967, when Josephine Margetts was elected to the New Jersey State Assembly in 1967, she became the first woman to represent Morris County, New Jersey, since 1938. Politics was in Josephine's blood. Her grandfather, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice, ran for Governor of Pennsylvania. And Josephine's late husband, Walter T. Margetts Jr., served as New Jersey's state treasurer. A nursery and orchard owner, Josephine was environmentally conscious, and she introduced legislation to protect the land and waterways of New Jersey - even helping to ban the use of DDT. Long before Josephine was born, the violet was unofficially selected as the State Flower of New Jersey. By the late 1960s, New Jersey was the only state without legislation supporting an official state flower. And so, with the urging of local garden clubs, Josephine introduced legislation in February of 1971 to make the violet official State Flower of New Jersey. When it came time for Josephine's bill to be debated in the legislature, Josephine's peer Sen. Joseph J. Maraziti, R-Morris, read this poem: "Roses are red, Violets are blue If you vote for this bill Mrs. Margetts will love you." Josephine's legislation was passed 30-1. The sole dissenting vote was Sen. Frank J. Guarini, D-Hudson. He told the press, "I'm a marigold man." Two years later, in 1973, a newspaper called The Record out of Hackensack New Jersey, shared an Op-Ed titled, Consider the Lilies of the Field. "Conventional, chauvinist wisdom would have it that Mrs. Margetts introduced the bill because she's a woman and women are well, you know interested in growing things, flowers and plants and trees, the fruit of the earth. But Mrs. Margetts is not one of your everyday garden club ladies. She studied at the Ambler School of Horticulture, she operates a commercial apple and peach orchard in Pennsylvania, and she has a holly nursery on the grounds of her home in New Vernon. The house on the property is rather substantial for a Jersey farmhouse if memory serves, it has 14 bathrooms, but no matter." As Josephine no doubt knew, Violets are spring flowers, and they've been around for a long time. The ancient Greeks enjoyed violets. If you enjoy floriography ("FLOOR-EE-ah-grah-FEE") or the symbolic meaning of plants, the heart-shaped leaves offer a clue to their meaning: affection, love, faith, and dignity. The color of violets can add another layer of meaning. Blue violets especially symbolize love and devotion. White violets symbolize purity and yellow violets symbolize goodness and high esteem. Unearthed Words The chief work of the botanist of yesterday was the study and classification of dried, shriveled up mummy's whose souls had fled. They thought their classified species were more fixed and unchangeable than anything in heaven or earth that we can now imagine. We have learned that they are as plastic in our hands as clay in the hands of the potter or color on the artist canvas and can readily be molded into more beautiful forms and colors than any painter or sculptor can ever hope to bring forth. — Luther Burbank, Address to the Pacific States Floral Congress, 1901 Grow That Garden Library Uprooted by Page Dickey This book came out in 2020 (I bought my copy in November), and the subtitle is A Gardener Reflects on Beginning Again. When Margaret Roach reviewed this book, she wrote, "An intimate, lesson-filled story of what happens when one of America's best-known garden writers transplants herself, rooting into a deeper partnership with nature than ever before." If you've ever moved away from a beloved garden, or there is a move in your future, you'll find Page's book to be especially appealing. Uprooted is Page's story about leaving her beloved iconic garden at Duck Hill - a landscape she molded and refined for thirty-four years. Set on 17 acres of rolling fields and woodland, Page's new property is in northwestern Connecticut, and it surrounds a Methodist Church, which is how Page came to call her new space, Church House. What does it mean to be a seasoned gardener (at the age of 74) and to have to start again? How does a gardener handle the transition from a beloved home to the excitement of new possibilities? Uprooted gives us the chance to follow Page through all the major milestones as she finds her new homeplace. We get to hear about her search for a new place, how she establishes her new garden spaces, and her revelations as she learns to evolve as a gardener. If you've ever wondered how on earth you'll ever leave your garden, Page will give you hope. And, if you're thinking about revamping an old garden space or starting a new garden, you can learn from Page how to create a garden that will bring you joy. As an accomplished garden writer, Page's book is a fabulous read, and the photography is top-notch. And although the move from Duck Hill marked a horticultural turning point in her life, Page found herself excited and reenergized by her brand new space at Church House. This book is 244 pages of the evolution of a gardener as she transitions from Duck Hill to Church House with a lifelong love of nature, gardens, and landscape possibilities. You can get a copy of Duck Hill Journal by Page Dickey 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 In researching Josephine Margetts — the woman who created the bill for the State Flower of New Jersey (the Violet), I came across her obituary. When Josephine Margetts died in March of 1989, Fran Wood wrote a touching tribute to her that was featured in The Daily Record out of Morristown, New Jersey: "Snow was falling on the day they remembered Josephine Margetts last week. It was gathering in little drifts on the trees outside her back door, collecting on the glossy leaves of some 15 varieties of holly… The fresh flakes formed in little peaks on the bird feeders just inches away from her breakfast table, covered the glass roof of the greenhouse where lantana, gardenias and scented geraniums had flowered for more winters than anyone could remember and accumulated along the fence rails next to the vegetable garden where she used to raise more produce than her family could eat in a summer. If the loving cultivation of these grounds, the perennials, the flowering shrubs and trees and all those hollies she planted and nurtured had been Mrs. Margetts' only accomplishment, it would have been worth remarking on. For gardening was a successful business as well as a private pleasure for her. Besides operating a licensed holly nursery on her home grounds, she and her family turned out some 10,000 bushels of peaches and apples each year at their Pennsylvania farm. Like all true gardeners, Mrs. Margetts got tremendous satisfaction from planting a seed and watching it grow. She considered herself no less rewarded by those things that grew on their own accord like the tiny white pine seedling that appeared in the middle of a flagstone path one spring. She hadn't the heart to pull it up, she said, and so it grew and grew until it rivaled the height of the tallest hollies and its expanding girth forced strollers to detour around it. Gardening was far from Mrs. Margetts' sole accomplishment, of course, but her inherent appreciation for the beauty of the land and the miracles of nature were at the root of her environmental legacies to New Jersey. As a state assemblywoman, she sponsored New Jersey's first "wetlands" legislation, the Wetlands Act of 1970, aimed at protecting some of our most vulnerable saltwater areas. She also sponsored the Pesticides Control Act, the Municipal Conservation Act, the National Lands Trust and the Appalachian Trail Easement all bills whose goals were the preservation of natural resources. The Environmental Quality Act, which she also sponsored, made it a law for state agencies seeking construction funds to first submit detailed project studies to the state Department of Environmental Protection for approval. She also supported equal opportunity for women long before the word "feminist" was coined. But it was the environment, the beauty of nature, that stirred this farm girl most deeply, and her passion for it didn't lessen even in her last year or so, when the plants nearest to her were Boston ferns, a Christmas cactus and pots of ivy, and the closest she got to the outdoors were the vistas of lawns and gardens and trees seen through the windows of her room. During those months, she kept a small library of books within arm's reach among them Gov. Tom Kean's The Politics of Inclusion, James Herriot's Dog Stories, The Fine Art of Political Wit and several volumes detailing the laws of New Jersey. And, in their midst, were Cam Cavanaugh's Saving the Great Swamp, the Directory of Certified N.J. Nurseries and Plant Dealers, New Jersey: A Photographic Journey, by John Cunningham and Walter Choroszewski and several well-worn (and, no doubt, well-loved) garden books. There was something symbolic about the snow that fell as Josephine Margetts was laid to rest last week. For as it covered the lawns and shrubs and gardens she knew and loved, it also blanketed every square inch of the state she knew and loved and whose natural beauty and precious resources she worked so devotedly to preserve." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the man who introduced the Monkey Puzzle tree to England. We'll also learn about the prolific plant explorer who was disabled after searching for the regal lily - but he never had any regrets. We hear some words about the 1927 expedition to South Africa. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a beautiful book about dried flowers - something anyone can do. And then we'll wrap things up with garden design tips from the award-winning designer David Stevens. 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 Importance of Pioneer Trees for Forest Gardens and Other Purposes | Treehugger | Elizabeth Waddington 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 February 15, 1842 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish surgeon, botanist, and naturalist Archibald Menzies. The famous story about Archibald goes something like this: Once, Joseph Banks sent Archibald on an expedition. At some point, Archibald ended up warmly received in Chile, where he dined with the country's leadership. During the meal, Archibald was served nuts from the Chile Pinetree to eat as part of the dessert. Archibald ate a few of the nuts, but then he managed to put a handful in his pocket after he recognized that the nuts were actually large seeds. On the trip back to England, Archibald could not wait and he started growing the five precious Chilean pinetree seeds and he managed to get them to grow successfully. Back in England, the evergreen Chili Pine Trees were blessed with a new common name - the Monkey Puzzle tree - after someone remarked that even a monkey would not be able to climb the tree. And Archibald's unique introduction earned him the moniker "Monkey Puzzle Man." Sadly, Monkey Puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana "arr-oh-KAR-ee-ah arr-oh-KAN-ah") are considered endangered today. But, like Archibald, gardeners still attempt to grow these curious trees from seed. February 15, 1876 Today is the birthday of the prolific English plant collector, gardener, botanist, and explorer Ernest Henry Wilson. When the botanist Augustine Henry met with a 22-year-old Ernest Henry Wilson, he wrote to his friend, Evelyn Gleesen, to share his impressions of Ernest after their first visit together: "He is a self-made man, knows botany thoroughly, is young, and will get on." Henry also shared with Evelyn that he, "would be glad if [Wilson] will continue to carry on the work in China which has been on my shoulders for some years. There is so much of interest and novelty." Later the same day, Henry also reported back to Kew about helping Ernest with his quest: ".... [I wrote] on a half-page of a notebook ... a sketch of a tract of country about the size of New York State [on which I marked the place where I had found the single tree of Davidia involucrata (the Dove Tree or Handkerchief Tree) in 1888. I also provided Wilson with useful information and hints.]" Henry and Ernest stayed close and corresponded for the rest of their lives. Henry returned to his native Ireland, and Ernest went on to find the Dove tree. Also known as the Handkerchief Tree, Ernest brought the Dove tree to England in 1899, and it would become his most famous tree introduction. Without a doubt, Ernest's first trip to China was a resounding success. Ernest returned to England and provided his sponsor, the nurseryman Harry James Veitch, with seeds for over 300 species in addition to 35 very full Wardian cases. Before he left for his second trip to China, Ernest married Hellen Ganderton. And within six months, Ernest was headed back to China with another singular mission: the yellow Chinese poppy (Meconopsis integrifolia) and it's commonly known as the Lampshade Poppy. Not only did Ernest find the yellow Chinese poppy, but he also found the Regal lily, rhododendrons, roses, and primulas. During that second trip, Ernest's leg was crushed in a landslide. As incredible as it sounds, Ernest's leg was splinted with the legs of his camera tripod - but the story doesn't end there. The place where the rockslide occurred was on a very narrow trail - they had been walking single file along the mountainside. Before Ernest could be moved, a mule caravan came upon Ernest and his party. So, Ernest did the only thing he could - he laid down on the trail and let the 40-50 mules step over him on their way across the mountain. I always imagine the surreal experience Ernest had there - laying there in great pain and watching the bellies and hooves and whatever else of the mules passing over him for what must have seemed an eternity. Ernest himself marveled at this experience, and he later said, "The sure-footedness of the mule is well-known, and I realized it with gratitude as these animals one by one passed over me - and not even one frayed my clothing." After this trauma, it took Ernest a full year to walk without crutches. And forever after, Ernest walked with what he called his "lily limp." Incredibly, when Ernest was asked about the damage to his leg, he simply said, "The price I paid has been stated… The regal lily was worth it and more." After all of his daring experiences and bravery, it was a car crash that ultimately claimed the life of Ernest and his wife. They were driving their roadster on wet roads when their car swerved on a "carpet of leaves" and went over an embankment before plunging 40 feet onto a field - landing on the back bumper with the front wheels in the air. Ernest and Helen died within an hour of the accident. Their little Boston terrier, however, somehow managed to survive. At the time of the accident, Ernest had been working stateside as the Arnold Arboretum's keeper in Boston. The death of Ernest and Ellen shocked the botanical community and the country. Ernest and Ellen were survived by their daughter — a girl they had adopted and named Muriel Primrose. She was honored with the naming of a bamboo - Fargesia murielae ("Farj-eez-ee-ah Muriel-ee") commonly known as Umbrella Bamboo. Unearthed Words Information is so tantalizingly scanty about the expedition in 1927 for gardener-botanists so distinguished that one expects all the flowers of South Africa to have bowed down to them as they passed. Three of the four appear elsewhere in this book - Collingwood Ingram, George Taylor, and Lawrence Johnstone of Hidcote. The 4th, Reginald Cory, how to find Garden at Dyffryn near Cardiff, and is gratefully remembered for the bequest of his considerable Fortune to Cambridge University for the benefit of the botanic garden, and up his magnificent Botanical and Horticultural library to The Royal Horticultural Society. — Alice Coats, English gardener and author, The Plant Hunters, Africa Grow That Garden Library Dried Flowers by Morgane Illes This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Techniques and Ideas for the Modern Home. In this book, Morgane updates our preconceived notions regarding dried flowers. If dried flowers aren't intriguing to you or if you feel that they belong in your 3rd-great grandmother's steamer trunk along with vintage lace - get ready to be inspired. Morgane brings preserved florals out of the past and into the modern home. Selected for their color, texture, and architectural interest, Morgane's top 30 picks for blooms continue to look incredible after being preserved through drying or pressing. In addition, Morgane showcases fifteen projects that feature dried flowers — from wreaths and wall art, to terrariums and flower crowns. This book is 144 pages of preserved blooms that will enhance your home with everlasting beauty. You can get a copy of Dried Flowers by Morgane Illes and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $10 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day, February 15, 1992, The Vancouver Sun shared a story by Steve Whysall called "Break Outdoor Spaces into Series of Small Rooms." The article features David Stevens, one of England's leading garden designers and the winner of eight gold medals at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show. David shared his advice at the 1992 Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle. "In many instances, the city yard can be used as an outside room. You can extend the space inside the house out into the garden and make the two work as a single unit. It is important, especially for North Americans with large, open backyards, to break down the garden space into a series of smaller rooms. One of the great tricks of landscape design is to create a sense of mystery and surprise as you move from one space into another. If you see everything at once, it becomes uninteresting. But if you break the space down into individual rooms, it becomes inherently more interesting. [England has] some remarkable gardens, but the average backyard is a lot more mundane than most people imagine. We're a nation of plant-lovers, but we're certainly not a nation of garden designers. A lot of our gardens are too busy and overcomplicated." Next, David offered the following tips for people thinking of making a garden: "Don't let your garden end up a muddle of hard and soft landscaping. Take time to draw up a plan. "Most people tend to rush off to the garden center the first fine day, stick everything in the trunk, and then wonder where to plant it all." Before planting anything, put in all the hard landscaping, all the decking, walling, paving, the bones, and composition of the gardening. Plants will bring the garden to life, softening the hard surfaces. Keep the design and planting simple. Many gardens suffer from over-complication and gimmicks. Be careful not to use conflicting materials that can be "restless on the eye and hard on the pocket." Resist the temptation to plant too many different things. The well-planted border has a limited number of species that relate well to one another. "There are many foliage textures, colors, and shapes that give you interest throughout the year." You have to think about foliage and texture as well as flower." Remember what Gertrude Jekyll, the famous Edwardian garden designer, taught: hot colors (reds, yellows) foreshorten the space through their vibrancy. "If you put a pot of bright red flowers at the bottom of the garden, your eye will go straight to it. Use hot colors close to the viewpoint and cooler colors farther away. It gives a nice feeling of space, and small gardens can be made to feel larger." Do your homework before planting. Find out if a plant likes sun or shade and how big it will grow. "I'm a great believer in growing what does well in my climate. I won't plant things that are going to look unhappy. I'd much sooner have something that thrives than something that's good for a couple of seasons and then gets knocked off by bad weather." Don't bite off more than you can chew in one season. Take a few years to build your garden." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the man who discovered the queen bee had ovaries, and he also said the head of the colony was not a king - but a queen. We'll also learn about the family behind the ubiquitous Jackman Clematis - it's the one with the large dark purple flowers with yellow centers. We hear words from Florida's pioneer naturalist: Charles Torrey Simpson. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a magnificent book about Desert Gardens - this is one of the best. And then we'll wrap things up with the sweet story of a gardener poet who made one of the first romantic gardens. 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 Organization Challenge — Small Steps Bring Big Rewards | Hartley Magazine | Mary-Kate Mackey 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 February 12, 1637 Today is the birthday of the Dutch biologist and entomologist Jan Swammerdam (Yahn SWAH-MER-dam). Before Jan's work, people believed that insects were created spontaneously. Jan proved that insects were born from eggs laid by the female species and that the larva, pupa, and adult, were just different forms of the same species. After Jan dissected a female bee and discovered it had ovaries, he pronounced the head of the colony to be a queen bee "hitherto looked upon like a king." And here was Jan's description of the male bees: "[The hive] tolerates, during summer days of abundance, the embarrassing presence... of three or four hundred males, from whose ranks the queen about to be born shall select her lover; Three or four hundred foolish, clumsy, useless, noisy creatures, who are pretentious, gluttonous, dirty, course, totally and scandalously idle, insatiable, and enormous." And, Jan's description of the hive's survival abilities is still as vibrant and relevant today as it was when he wrote: "Should disaster befall the little Republic; Should the hive or the comb collapse; Should man prove ignorant or brutal; Should they suffer from famine, from cold or disease, and perish by thousands, it will still be almost invariably found that the queen will be safe and alive beneath the corpses of her faithful daughters. For they will protect her and help her escape; their bodies will provide both rampart and shelter; for her will be the last drop of honey, the wholesomest food. Break their comb twenty times in succession, take twenty times from them their young and their food, you still shall never succeed in making them doubt of the future." February 12, 1869 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English nurseryman, pomologist, florist, and Clematis hybridizer George Jackman. George died at the age of 68. Now today, I thought you'd enjoy learning about the Jackman family because that really is the story behind George Jackman and the multigenerational family behind the ubiquitous Jackman Clematis - it's the one with the large dark purple flowers with yellow centers. And, just an FYI, you can prune the Jackman back in the fall without hurting next year's bloom - so don't sweat it; you can't hurt it with an end of the season cleanup. Now, with multiple George's in the family, this George Jackman was always referred to as George I. Now, George I, and his brother Henry, were born into a nurseryman's family. In 1810, their father, William, founded Jackman Nursery on 150 acres in Woking ("Woe-king"), Surrey. George I and Henry grew up learning the business alongside their dad. And by 1830, Willliam had turned the business over to his sons. After a few years, Henry decided he wasn't interested in running the struggling nursery, and he left it for George I. In the fall of 1834, George married Mary Ann Freemont. He was 33 years old. In a little over three years, George II was born. The beginning of the year 1840 was a terrible time for George I. He lost his wife Mary in January and his father, William, in February. In the span of twenty-five days, George I and his 3-year-old son, George II, were alone. Needless to say, the nursery became the center of their world. Now, the start of Clematis hybridizing began in 1835, about 35 miles from the Jackman nursery. The site was London's Pineapple Nursery, run by John Andrew Henderson, and he was the very first person to create a Clematis hybrid. John called his creation the Clematis Hendersonii, and there's no doubt that George I took notice. When George II was 13 years old, the great plant explorer, Robert Fortune, brought Clematis lanuginosa ("LAN-you-jee-NO-sah") to England. Native to China, the blooms on this Clematis were larger than any ever seen before. If Clematis blossoms were going to get bigger, the lanuginosa was the linchpin. By this point, George I was employing 35 men and six boys at the Jackman Nursery. George II shadowed every aspect of the business, and he grew to be a shrewd owner/operator. As a young man, George II was energized at the thought of clematis hybridizing. And when he was just 21 years old, George II crossed Fortune's lanuginosa with Hendersonii along with the climber atrorubens. In less than six months, they had 300 seedlings, and George Jackman II had an instant hit on his hands. The plant was hardy, it quickly produced long-lasting impressive flowers, and the rootstock lasted for many years. The year was 1858, and Clematis jackmanii (ii = "ee-eye") was born. And from George II's notebook, we see that he wrote: "Seedlings about 300 — results of hybrids: very robust growers, abundant in flower of rich deep purple and maroon." Clematis jackmanii went on to receive the Award of Garden Merit from The Royal Horticultural Society. And George II co-authored a book with Thomas Moore, the Secretary of The Royal Horticultural Society, and the the book was called Clematis as a Garden Flower. George II and Thomas Moore dedicated the book to HRH Princess Mary, the Duchess of Teck. The Clematis was one of her favorite flowers. When George I died on this day in 1869, he had raised his son and had turned his nursery into a success. He had served as chapelwarden for his church - the church of St. John - for over two decades. He had started serving a few years after losing his wife, Mary, Mrs. George Jackman. The Gardener's chronicle said he died after a gout attack and was by all accounts a "beloved… kind-hearted, genial Christian." It went on to say that his "workmen (several of whom had been [with him] for 20, 30, or 40 years)," followed his coffin to the churchyard for burial. In 1967, the Jackman Nursery was sold by a Jackman descendant, Roland Jackman. Unearthed Words Simpson, a light sleeper, often dosed during the day and was too alert for sleep at bedtime. On these occasions, when the balmy, humid air equaled body temperature, he would give his household fair warning and stroll nude in his garden. He relished the moonlight glimpsed through a vista to the bay or brushing with silver the feathery leaves of Bamboos and Palms. To walk in one garden at night is to discover a new world; the trees are larger, their forms have changed, and their well-known branches are shapeless blots against the sky. Unexpected noises startle and almost terrify one. The day birds have gone to rest, and a new and different set has taken their place, as if Nature were working her employees in shifts. — Elizabeth Ogren Rothra, Florida's Pioneer Naturalist: The Life of Charles Torrey Simpson Grow That Garden Library Desert Gardens of Steve Martino by Caren Yglesias This book came out in 2018. In this book, we get a tour of twenty-one gardens by Steve Martino. Martino's gardens are works of art that incorporate color, native plants, plants with dramatic shapes, and man-made elements in contrast with the backdrop of the desert. Martino has evolved his signature garden design style to include native plants, and he's allowed his love of the desert to guide his approach. Over and over again, Martino contrasts man-made pieces with the untamed desert. Martino explains, "Gardens consist of two worlds, the man-made and the natural one. I've described my design style as 'Weeds and Walls' — nature and man. I use native plants to make the transition from a building to the adjacent natural desert." The New York Times Book Review of this book said, "Part of Martino's trick is setting plants that have few flowers but fabulous shapes against geometric slabs of deeply colored walls. The crimson hues in a Phoenix garden must be as much of a draw for the hummingbirds as the mirrored surface of the water trough. Blue concrete pyramids, magenta poles, yellow awnings, and fiberglass panels — these are all elements in Martino's playful, imaginative designs." This book is 240 pages of Steve Martino's inspiring work - a treasure of vivid color, plants, design, and custom structures. You can get a copy of Desert Gardens of Steve Martino by Caren Yglesias and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $68 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart February 12, 1724 Today is the birthday of the poet and gardener William Mason. The Reverend William Mason was also a writer, artist, and garden designer. Mason is remembered for creating the romance of the country house garden. Here's how he did it: In 1775 at Nuneham ("NEW-Num"), near Oxford, England, Mason designed a flower garden for his friend Lord Harcourt. This garden was a turning point to many and marked the beginning of what came to be known as romantic flower gardening. What Mason accomplished was a radical change; straight lines in borders and beds were out. Circular beds were in. With new elements in gardens like island beds, the plants were located away from the house. Instead, plantings and beds were situated near outdoor garden buildings like temples, orangeries, or a seating area. The garden at Nuneham became a model for others. Mason's creation set the trend for English gardening, and Mason broadcast his ideas about romantic gardening in a very, very, very long poem called "The English Garden." It was released in chunks over the span of a decade, between 1772 and 1781. Mason's target audience was the wealthy garden owners of his time. He was speaking directly to them when he wrote: "Waste is not grandeur," and "A garden is the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirit of man." Mason made many appeals to country estate owners, but his overall message was to throw out formal gardens in favor of romantic landscapes. Now, the word romantic simply means a landscape that is wild or natural. During this time, people referred to these romantic, natural, or wild landscapes as the picturesque garden. Today, gardeners delight in this little verse from Mason's poem. It offers simple, resonate advice from William Mason to you: Take thy plastic spade, It is thy pencil. Take thy seeds, thy plants, They are thy colors. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a woman who was insatiable when it came to plants, and she is remembered forever with the Portland Rose. We'll also learn about a famous speech given at a Vermont botanical club about why botany wasn't taught in schools - and the reasons were pretty spot on. We hear a story about a beautiful cherry tree found near the Osakabe ("sah-KAH-bay") Hotel. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about Darwin's plants - in addition to his theory of evolution, Darwin experimented and observed plants extensively at his home in Kent. And then we'll wrap things up by getting you ready for Valentine's Day with a few of my favorite garden-inspired verses about love. 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 Gardening As A Salve For Stress And Anxiety: A Gardener's Personal Story | House & Garden | Charlie Harpur 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 February 11, 1715 Today is the birthday of the British aristocrat, naturalist, plant lover, and botanist Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland. Her family and friends called her Maria. Maria married when she was 19 years old. Together, she and William Bentinck had five children; one of their sons became prime minister twice. When William died after their 27th anniversary, Maria threw herself into her many passions. As the wealthiest woman in England, Maria could acquire virtually any treasure from the natural world - and she did. She cultivated an enormous collection of natural history, which was tended by two experts she hired to personally attend each item: the naturalist Reverend John Lightfoot and the Swedish botanist Daniel Solander. Maria's home in Buckinghamshire was referred to by society as the hive - it was a reference to the hub of activity for Solander and Lightfoot and the other people who helped process her acquisitions. At one point, Maria had reached out to Captain James Cook. James gave Maria some shells from his second expedition to Australia. Meanwhile, Daniel Solander was in charge cataloging Maria's massive shell collection, but, sadly, he left the work unfinished when he died in 1782. Maria had an enormous appetite for curation and collecting. In addition to her Botanic Garden on her property, Maria opened a zoo, kept rabbits, and had an aviary. A constant stream of scientists, explorers, socialites, and artists visited Maria to exchange ideas and inspect her collections. And, think about the limitless ambition she must have had as Lightfoot wrote that Maria wanted, "...every unknown species in the three kingdoms of nature described and published to the world." Now, Maria had a special love for collecting plants and flowers from far-off places worldwide. She retained the botanist and the incomparable botanical illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret as a drawing instructor. Struck by the luminescence of his work, Maria bought over 300 of Ehret's paintings. Maria also became friends with the botanical artist Mary Delany. Mary made botanical paper mosaics, as she called them. Mary was essentially creating flower specimens out of tissue paper. And Mary was exacting - dissecting real flowers and then replicating what she saw with tissue paper. To gather more material for her work, Maria and Mary loved to go out into the fields and collect specimens together. As the Duchess of Portland, Maria shared her specimens with the public, and she displayed her various collections from around the globe in what she called her Portland Museum. Once, in 1800, Maria received a rose from Italy, which became known as the Portland Rose in her honor. The rose was a beautiful crimson scarlet with round petals - and it was a repeat bloomer. And, here's a fun fact: all Portland Roses were developed from that very first Portland Rose - the sweet gift to Margaret Cavendish Bentinck - Maria - the Duchess of Portland. February 11, 1896 It was on this day that the Burlington Free Press shared a story called Vermont's Flora: Winter Meeting of the State Botanical Club. Generally speaking, these early botanical meetings can err on the side of rules and regulation, and they can be a little boring to read. However, the account of this meeting caught my eye. The meeting started as per usual with a discussion of nomenclature. Here the club decided to follow the lead of Harvard and the way they pronounced botanical names. But, then, things got interesting because the topic changed to "How Should Botany be Taught In Schools?" after an address given by Reverend JA Bates. Bates began his popular presentation by saying that he could begin his speech like the boy who wrote a paper about "The Snakes of Ireland." The paper began, "There are no snakes in Ireland." Reverend Bates found himself in the same situation for his speech, "How Should Botany be Taught in Schools?" Well, as Reverend Bates began to speak, he bluntly pointed out there is no botany taught in schools. Bear in mind this speech was made in 1896 when Reverend Bates said that, "only one in forty students has studied botany." And I don't think we've moved the dial that much on that statistic. Then Bates attempts to explain why botany is not taught - and this is what caught my attention. He said, "The chief reasons for [botany not being taught in schools] are twofold. First, most of the teachers are poorly prepared for teaching botany. And second, botanists are conservative and conceal the charms of their study behind the long Latin names." Unearthed Words There, in a garden of a house near the Osakabe Hotel ("sah-KAH-bay"), towering above a tall wooden fence, stood a tree with narrow leaves and bunched clusters of double mauve-pink blossoms with close to 100 petals. Ingram's immediate reaction was to work out how to spirit cuttings of the tree to England. Fate was on his side. Nineteen years earlier, on his honeymoon, he had visited this very village while hunting birds, and he remembered meeting there, a one-legged war hero whose parents ran the Osakabe Hotel. That man, who had lost a limb during the Russo-Japanese war, was still alive, a villager told Ingram. Indeed he was now running the hotel. And his hobby was gardening! In typical Ingram fashion, he convinced the Innkeeper to send him scions from the tree in exchange for one yen to cover the postage. By 1929, a couple of sturdy offspring were growing in Benenden. — Naoko Abe, Japanese Journalist, author, and a 2016 Nihon Essayist Club Award winner, Cherry Ingram: The Englishman Who Saved Japan's Blossoms, Saving the Sakura Grow That Garden Library Darwin's Most Wonderful Plants by Ken Thompson This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is Darwin's Botany Today. In this book, Ken helps us understand Darwin as a botanist. After taking his famous voyage on The Beagle, Darwin experimented with and observed growing plants at his home in Kent. Carnivorous and climbing plants were a favorite of Darwin's; he was fascinated by their pollination and flower evolution. Thanks to Ken, we get to know Darwin as a pioneering botanist who was way ahead of his time. Darwin's work seems totally in step with plant science today: plant movement, hunting, and intelligence. This book is 256 pages of a side of Darwin that most folks have never known: Darwin as a curious and intelligent botanist. You can get a copy of Darwin's Most Wonderful Plants by Ken Thompson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $14 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today I thought I'd close the show by getting you ready for Valentine's Day with a few of my favorite garden-inspired verses about love. Violet has the shortest wavelength of the spectrum. Behind it, the invisible ultraviolet. Roses are Red, Violets are Blue. Poor violet, violated for a rhyme. — Derek Jarman, gardener and poet If apples were pears And peaches were plums And the rose had a different name. If tigers were bears And fingers were thumbs I'd love you just the same. — Anonymous "So, timely you came, and well you chose, You came when most needed, my winter rose. From the snow I pluck you, and fondly press Your leaves 'twixt the leaves of my leaflessness." — Alfred Austin, English poet Poet Laureate "Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart." — Russell Page, British gardener, garden designer, and architect Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a botanist who gave Meriwether Lewis a crash course in botany. We'll also learn about a poet who wrote some touching poems that incorporated the natural world. We hear some words about getting the garden ready for growing - straightforward advice on getting started. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about a garden style that's never gone out of style: cottage gardening. And then we'll wrap things up with a pioneer naturalist who wrote books that became a beloved part of many modern childhoods. 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 New Owners Of Barton Springs Nursery Plan To Add Learning, Community Spaces And Inspire Local Gardeners | Digging | Pam Penick 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 February 10, 1766 Today is the birthday of the American botanist, naturalist, and physician Benjamin Smith Barton. Benjamin worked as a Professor of Natural History and Botany at the University of Pennsylvania, where he authored the very first textbook on American Botany. In 1803, at Thomas Jefferson's request, Benjamin was tutoring Meriwether Lewis to get him ready for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Now Meriwether had many strengths, but he had little knowledge of natural history or plants. Thanks to Benjamin's tutelage, Meriwether was an awesome specimen collector on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After the Expedition, Benjamin was supposed to create a book describing all of the plant specimens found on their great voyage. But, for some reason, he never began writing. Instead, the job ultimately fell to Benjamin's assistant, Frederick Pursh. And when Frederick ended up having a falling out with Benjamin, he secretly took the specimens and fled to England. Once there, Frederick found a patron and published his Flora of North America in two years' time — much to the embarrassment of Benjamin Smith Barton and all American botanists. And, there's an incredible story that came out two years ago, in February, regarding Benjamin. The story featured a little yellow butterfly that was found pressed between the pages of one of Benjamin's manuscripts from 1812 - his Flora Virginica. And it turns out that a delicate, tiny, yellow-winged butterfly was discovered by a library fellow named E. Bennett Jones at the American Philosophical Society as he was looking through the book. Well, naturally, this caused a stir, and butterfly experts were called in to examine the specimen, and they believed that it was placed deliberately since the butterfly was found on the pages listed "Plants beloved by Pollinators - such as Monarda." After this incredible discovery, the Barton Butterfly, as it came to be called, was carefully removed and preserved in a suspended container. And there was a final touching detail to this story: the butterfly left an indelible mark on the manuscript. Even with the specimen now safely preserved in a glass box, the pages bear a little mark of a golden butterfly-shaped stain in the spot where it lay pressed for over 200 years before it was discovered. February 10, 1882 Today is the birthday of the English writer Winifred Mary Letts. Gardeners love her quote on spring: That God once loved a garden, we learn in Holy writ. And seeing gardens in the Spring, I well can credit it. Winifred also wrote a poem about spring called "Spring the Cheat." This is one of many poems Winifred wrote about the Great War - WWI. Winifred wrote "Spring the Cheat" to remind people that they were not alone in their suffering. And her poem illustrates how pointless existence seems during wartime. And Winifred contrasts the season of rebirth - spring (which is cyclical), with a war-induced season of loss (which usually spreads across many seasons and is wildly at odds during spring). Luminous evenings when the blackbird sways Upon the rose and tunes his flageolet, A sea of bluebells down the woodland ways, — O exquisite spring, all this — and yet — and yet — Kinder to me the bleak face of December Who gives no cheating hopes, but says — "Remember." Another poem that will thrill gardeners is Winifred's delightful verse that was written to honor the birth of a dear friend's baby (Peter John Dobbs). Winifred's poem is called To a May Baby, and I've often thought it would be perfect for a spring baby shower invitation. To come at Tulip Time how wise! Perhaps you will not now regret The shining gardens, jewel set, Of your first home in Paradise Nor fret Because you might not quite forget. To come at Swallow Time how wise! When every bird has built a nest; Now you may fold your wings and rest And watch this new world with surprise; A guest For whom the earth has donned her best. To come when life is gay how wise! With lambs and every happy thing That frisks on foot or sports on wing, With daisies and with butterflies, But Spring Had nought so sweet as you to bring. Unearthed Words When one is first beginning to garden or gardening in a place one does not yet know, soil can seem dumb and unhelpful, just dirt. It is gray and empty, or yellow, clammy, and stony, or perhaps it is black and full of worms. Little pebbles might be interspersed all through it, or big ones, or maybe there is a rock ledge a spades-depth away. The plants thrive or languish in mysterious ways. As one begins to work in it, a sense of the soil sharpens. One gets to know it's grit or muddiness, it's smell and warmth or chill, how it holds or drains water, what creatures inhabit it. One might notice how these qualities connect with each other, how they show themselves in the ways the plants grow. Most of all one discovers that the soil does not stay the same, but, like anything alive, it is always changing and telling its own story. — Carol Williams, American gardener and author, Bringing a Garden to Life, Preparing the Ground Grow That Garden Library Cottage Gardens by Claire Masset This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is A Celebration of Britain's Most Beautiful Cottage Gardens, with Advice on Making Your Own. In this book, Claire shares every possible type of cottage garden. Famous profiles include writer Thomas Hardy's cottage in Dorset; the glorious cottage garden at Sissinghurst by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson; Beatrix Potter's cottage garden property known as Hill Top, and many more. Best of all, Claire thoughtfully offers down-to-earth advice to gardeners who wish to learn how to create their own cottage garden. This book is 176 pages of cottage garden inspiration: winding garden paths lined with hollyhocks, climbing roses and honeysuckle, orchards, and wildflowers. You can get a copy of Cottage Gardens by Claire Masset 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 February 10, 1957 Today is the anniversary of the death of Laura Ingalls Wilder. One of the reasons so many of us have a soft spot in our hearts for the Little House books is because Laura was so descriptive; she was a natural storyteller. In retrospect, I think you may be surprised by the amount of material in Laura's books that was devoted to the natural world - ma's gardens, the landscapes Laura and her family experienced, and the reverence for life - plants, animals, and human - all of it is so cherished by Laura and her loved ones. In 2017, the author Marta McDowell wrote a book called The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and in it, she highlights the frontier landscapes that inspired the Little House books. And Marta's book sheds new light on Laura as a naturalist. In a blog post, Marta challenged us by writing: "I'd like to suggest a thought experiment. Instead of categorizing Laura Ingalls Wilder as an American children's author, think of her as a nature writer as well… Long before she was a writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder was a gardener and farmer, growing food for the table and raising crops for sale. Nature was her home, as well as little houses. Through her life and work, Wilder sowed a deep appreciation for the world outside one's own door. Her books still inspire budding naturalists to plant, preserve and appreciate their own wilder gardens." Well, Marta and I had a lovely chat featured in Episode 585 of the Still Growing podcast if you'd like to check it out. And one time, we even had a nice little lunch together as she was passing through the Twin Cities. Marta is one of my favorite modern garden authors, and I loved her idea of writing about Laura as a naturalist. In researching Laura, I discovered many wonderful things she had written about the natural world outside of her wonderful Little House books. In the Missouri Ruralist, Laura wrote, "The voices of nature do not speak so plainly to us as we grow older, but I think it is because, in our busy lives, we neglect her until we grow out of sympathy. Our ears and eyes grow doll and Beauties are lost to us that we should still enjoy. Life was not intended to be simply a round of work, no matter how interesting and important that work may be. A moment's pause to watch the glory of a sunrise or a sunset is so satisfying, while a bird song will set the steps to music all day long." In early February 1918, over a hundred years ago this month, Laura wrote: "Now is the time to make a garden! Anyone can be a successful gardener at this time of year and I know of no pleasanter occupation these cold, snowy days, then to sit warm and snug by the fire making a garden with a pencil, and a seed catalog. What perfect vegetables do we raise in that way and so many of them! Our radishes are crisp and sweet,our lettuce tender and our tomatoes smooth and beautifully colored. Best of all, there is not a bug or worm in the whole garden and the work is so easily done. In imagination we see the plants in our spring garden, all in straight, thrifty rows with the fruit of each plant and vine numerous and beautiful as the pictures before us. How near the real garden of next summer approaches the ideal garden of our winter fancies depends upon how practically we dream and how hard we work." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a man who published his garden journal in a book - and inspired countless gardeners and gardener writers with his resonant words. We'll also learn about a young botanist with drive and good intentions, as well as a personal beef with another botanist - both of these men had a dramatic impact on the Calcutta Botanical Garden. We hear some fascinating words about tree bark and pH - it's a little-discussed topic, but it's a good one. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us cook with flowers. And then we'll wrap things up with a look at winter chores for this week from 1889. 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 Jade Plants Are the Low-Maintenance Houseplants Everyone Should Know About | MarthaStewart.com 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 February 9, 1830 Today is the birthday of the English gardener and writer Henry Arthur Bright. As an adult, Henry began a diary, which would become a book called A Year in a Lancashire Garden. Henry's book is one of the most beloved garden biographies of the nineteenth century, and Henry's book inspired future garden writers like Henry Nicholson Ellacombe, Theresa Earle, and Elizabeth Lawrence. And for today, I thought I would share a February 1874 excerpt from Henry's journal. Although this was almost 150 years ago, Henry was doing what gardeners do this time of year: worrying about how the winter would affect the garden, noticing the progress of the earliest blooming trees and shrubs, cleaning up and editing the garden for the new season, looking through his garden magazines for new and old plants, experiencing some disappointment in the spring showing of some of his flowers (in this case, his Aconites), and mulling over why some spring-flowering bulbs go unappreciated - like the humble spring Crocus. "Since I wrote, we have had the sharpest and keenest frost — sharper than we have had all the winter... Now spring has come again, and (as Horace says) has "shivered" through the trees. The Elders are already unfolding their leaves, and a Lonicera ("lon-ISS-er-ah") or Honeysuckle is in the freshest bud. I remember when, a few years ago, Mr. Longfellow, the American poet, was in England, he told me that he was often reminded by the tender foliage of an English spring of that well-known line of Watts, where the fields of Paradise, "Stand dressed in living green;" and I thought of this today when I looked... at the fresh verdure of this very Lonicera. But all things are now telling of spring. We have finished our pruning of the wall-fruit; we have ...sown our earliest Peas. We have planted our Ranunculus bed and gone through the herbaceous borders, dividing and clearing away where the growth was too thick, and sending off hamperfuls of Peony, Iris, Oenothera ("ee-no-THAIR-ah"), Snowflake, Japanese Anemone ("ah-NIM-oh-nee), Day Lily, and many others. On the other hand, we have been looking over old volumes of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, and have been trying to get, not always successfully, a number of old forgotten plants of beauty, and now of rarity. We have found enough, however, to add a fresh charm to our borders for June, July, and August. On the lawn, we have some Aconites in flower… This year they are doing badly. I suspect they must have been mown away last spring before their tubers were thoroughly ripe, and they are punishing us now by flowering only here and there. Then, too, the Crocuses are bursting up from the soil... "all gleaming in purple and gold." Nothing is more stupid than the ordinary way of planting Crocuses — in a narrow line or border. Of course, you get a line of color, but that is all, and, for all the good it does, you might as well have a line of colored pottery or variegated gravel. They should be grown in thick masses, and in a place where the sun can shine upon them, and then they open out into wonderful depths of beauty. Besides the clusters along the shrubberies and the mixed borders, I have a number [of Crocus] on the lawn beneath a large weeping Ash; the grass was bare there, and… it was well to do something to veil its desolation in the spring. Nothing can be more successful than a mass of Crocus, yellow, white, and purple. I sometimes think that the Crocus is less cared for than it deserves. Our modern poets rarely mention it; but in Homer, when he would make a carpet for the gods, it is of Lotus, Hyacinth, and Crocus… February 9, 1845 Today is the anniversary of the early death of the promising English botanist and naturalist, William Griffith. William's peers in Madras, India, honored William with a plaque that says, "He had attained to the highest eminence in the scientific world; and was one of the most distinguished botanists of his age." William was exceptionally bright and fit. Confident and capable, William made one discovery after another on his expeditions across the globe. But in researching William, while I discovered a man who was unquestionably intelligent and driven, he was also embroiled in a personal battle against a fellow botanist - an older peer named Nathaniel Wallich. One of the great botanists of his age, Nathaniel, was in charge of the Botanical Garden in Calcutta, India. During his time in India, he wrote a Flora of Asia, and the palm Wallichia disticha ("wall-IK-ee-uh DIS-tik-uh") was named in Wallich's honor. In 1824, Nathaniel was the first person to describe the giant Himalayan Lily (Cardiocrinum giganteum) - the world's largest Lily species. If you decide you'd like to grow giant Himalayan Lilies (and who wouldn't?), expect blooms anytime after year four. Now, Richard Axelby wrote an excellent in-depth paper that shares the sad story of dislike and mistrust between William Griffith and Nathaniel Wallich. It's a fascinating read, and it underscores the damage that can be done when people don't get along. In a nutshell, when William arrived at the botanical garden in Calcutta, he essentially played the role of the new sheriff in town, and he didn't like the way Nathaniel had organized the garden. He didn't like Nathaniel's arrogance and adherence to the old ways. And for his part, Nathaniel hadn't anticipated this kind of challenge to his authority; He had hoped to finish out his final years respected and revered until he received his pension and returned to England. When Nathaniel's health deteriorated, he was forced to leave the Calcutta Botanical Garden, and he went to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to recover. During his absence, William went to work. After being put in charge of the garden, William set about executing a complete renovation. In hindsight, William's personal feelings likely got in the way of exercising a more thoughtful redesign. He essentially threw the baby out with the bathwater. For instance, there was an avenue of stately Cycas trees that was beloved by visitors to the garden; they were wiped out. William's total dedication to organizing the garden by classification meant that aesthetics and common sense were secondary, and that proved detrimental to the garden. Plants that had thrived under the canopy of established trees and shrubs were suddenly exposed to the harsh Indian sun, and they burned and perished out in the open. And even if he could be a difficult man to work with, it's hard not to imagine the shock Nathaniel experienced when he returned to the garden in the summer of 1844 and saw the complete devastation in every bed, every planting, and every corner of the garden. Nothing was untouched - it had all been changed. And as Nathaniel returned to the garden that summer, William was preparing to leave. In September, he married his brother's wife's sister - Emily Henderson - by the end of the year, on December 11th, and he quit and left the garden for good. Two months later, on February 8, 1845, Nathaniel poured out his pain in a letter to his old friend William Hooker: "Where is the stately, matchless garden that I left in 1842? Is this the same as that? Can it be? No–no–no! Day is not more different from night that the state of the garden as it was from its present utterly ruined condition. But no more on this. My heart bleeds at what I am impelled daily – hourly to witness. And yet I am chained to the spot, and the chain, in some respects, is of my own making. I will not be driven away. Lies, calumnies, every attempt... to ruin my character – publicly and privately... are still employed – they may make my life miserable and wretched, they may break my heart: but so so long as my conscience acquits me... so long will I not budge one inch from my post." Well, when Nathanial wrote this letter, William and Emily were back in Malacca in Southwestern Malaysia - but all was not well. William had gotten sick on the voyage to Malaysia. It was hepatitis, and he had languished for ten days. And the very day after Nathaniel sent his letter to William Hooker about his broken heart at seeing his dear Calcutta Botanical Garden, William Griffith died on this day in 1845 in Malaysia. He was just 34 years old. Unearthed Words Each tree's bark will have its own pH, and some are more acidic than others. Larches and Pines are notoriously acidic; Birch, Hawthorne and Oak are acidic too, but slightly less so. Rowan, Alder, Beech, Linden, and Ash are little less acidic again, and Willow, Holly and Elm are getting closer to neutral. Sycamore, Walnut, and Elder are alkaline. The less acidic the bark is, the more growth you are likely to see from colonizing plants and lichens. Pine bark is often bare, whereas Sycamore might have a glorious guest hanging off its bark. —Tristan Gooley, New York Times Bestselling author, The Lost Art of Reading Nature Signs, Bark Grow That Garden Library Cooking with Flowers by Miche Bacher This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is Sweet and Savory Recipes with Rose Petals, Lilacs, Lavender, and Other Edible Flowers. In this book, Miche put together more than 100 recipes to create beautiful flower-filled dishes for your table! This botanical cookbook features creations that will speak to any gardener: sweet violet cupcakes, savory sunflower chickpea salad, pansy petal pancakes, chive blossom vinaigrette, daylily cheesecake, rosemary flower margaritas, mango orchid sticky rice, and herb flower pesto. Miche is an herbalist, chef, and owner of a custom confectionary studio, so she's an expert in preparing and using botanicals in the kitchen. Miche shares how to find, clean, and prep edible blossoms. You'll also learn that the color and flavor of various blooms can infuse vinegars, vodkas, sugars, frostings, jellies and jams, and even ice creams. This book is 192 pages of edible flowers, visually stunning desserts, and one-of-a-kind creations. You can get a copy of Cooking with Flowers by Miche Bacher and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $6 Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart February 9, 1889 On this day, The Lancaster Gazette shared a little snippet about the garden chores that should be done this week. So let's see how our chores stack up against chores from the late 1800s. "Outdoor Work must have a full share of attention. Whatever... winter work remains must now be cleared up, or the consequences will be serious. Make quickly a thorough clearance of the vegetable quarters. Prepare all plots requiring manure at once, as it is much better to have the manure completely incorporated with the soil than to sow or plant immediately after manuring. The ground for Peas, Beans, Onions, Cauliflowers, and Broccolis must be liberally manured and deeply stirred. Mark out the quarters for Onions into four-foot beds and raise the bed six inches above the general level and leave the surface rough. At sowing time, the surface will be nicely pulverized through exposure to the air, and the seed can be set clean and rolled in firm... Choose for Potatoes ground on which Cabbage, or Broccoli, or Celery has been grown... last year. Make up sloping borders under warm walls and fences for early Lettuce and Radish. Prick out Broccoli and Cauliflower from seed. Plant." Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate an English critic who wrote some of our most beautiful quotes about gardens, nature, and flowers. We'll also learn about a dedicated English naturalist who lived in the Rainforest for eleven years and provided ample proof of Darwin's theory of evolution. We hear words from a gardener and nursery owner about gardening and garden attire in winter. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us make some great garden projects with concrete - prepare to be amazed. And then we'll wrap things up with a letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra written on this day 214 years ago. 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:

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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 Gardening Doctor | Words and Herbs 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.