Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1788 On this day, Horace Walpole wrote about the powerful impact of rain on the garden. He wrote, My verdure begins to recover its bloom.. in this country, nobody pays his debts like rain. It may destroy your flowers, but you cannot complain of want of fruit; cherries, apples, walnuts, are more exuberant than their leaves.   1893 Birth of Dorothy Thompson, American journalist and radio broadcaster. She is remembered as the First Lady of American Journalism. In 1934, Dorothy was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany. In her final book, The Courage to Be Happy (1957), she wrote: I am inclined to think that the flowers we must love are those we knew when we were very young, when our senses were most acute to color into smell, and our natures most lyrical.   1933 Birth of Oliver Sacks, British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. I once watched a video featuring Dr. Oliver Sacks, who practiced medicine in NYC across from the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). In the video, Oliver reflected on the garden and its meaning. I've cobbled together a few of his inspiring thoughts. Here's what he said: I think of this garden as a treasure. First, it's a haven. In a noisy, crowded New York, we need a haven; we wander around, and time doesn't matter too much. When I worked at the hospital opposite the garden, I used to come in every day. Specifically, I would come in after seeing my patients but before writing up my notes. And, I would walk around the garden and put everything out of consciousness except the plants and the air. But, by the time I got back, the patient's story would have crystallized in my mind [and then] I could then write it straight away. But I needed this sort of incubation in the garden, and to go for a walk in the garden; that sort of thing is an essential thing for me in writing. I think nature has a healing effect; the garden the closest one can come to nature. The garden has affected me and does affect me in various ways; it's not just the pleasure of walking around but [also] the very special virtues of the library and the museum and the fact that, in some ways, this is a university as well as a garden. I just feel very comfortable in the garden, and whenever people come to New York from out of town or out of the country, I say let's go to the garden. I would like to quote a couple of lines from a TS Eliot poem: Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit.   In his book, The River of Consciousness, Oliver wrote, While most of the flowers in the garden had rich scents and colors, we also had two magnolia trees, with huge but pale and scentless flowers. The magnolia flowers, when ripe, would be crawling with tiny insects, little beetles. Magnolias, my mother explained, were among the most ancient of flowering plants and had appeared nearly a hundred million years ago, at a time when “modern” insects like bees had not yet evolved, so they had to rely on a more ancient insect, a beetle, for pollination. Bees and butterflies, flowers with colors and scents, were not preordained, waiting in the wings—and they might never have appeared. They would develop together, in infinitesimal stages, over millions of years. The idea of a world without bees or butterflies, without scent or color, affected me with a sense of awe.   2021 On this day, India's first cryptogamic garden, with nearly fifty different species, is opened.  Cryptogams are non-seed-bearing plants. These primitive plants do not reproduce through seeds, for example, algae, bryophytes (moss, liverworts), lichens, ferns, fungi, etc. The garden is located in the Deoban area of Dehradun in Uttarakhand and is situated at 9000 feet and spread over three acres.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Botany for the Artist by Sarah Simblet ("Sim-blit") This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants. In this book, Sarah Simblet takes you on an inspirational journey of creativity and botanical art as she demonstrates how to draw virtually every type of plant. As Sarah writes in the forward, This book was inspired by my love of gardening, a desire to know more about the structures, forms, and lives of plants, and an opportunity to spend a whole year exploring wild landscapes and the fabulous collections of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Oxford University Herbaria. These collections generously gave or lent me hundreds of pieces of plants to draw or have photographed for this book. Botany for the Artist features around 550 species, chosen to represent almost every kind of plant and habitat on Earth. Gorgeous, unfamiliar exotics are celebrated alongside more common plants, to show the beauty and wonder of the bird-of-paradise flower and the pavement milk thistle, tropical forest fruits and the orchard apple, giant pine cones, and tufts of city moss. Fungi, and some species of algae, are not scientifically classified as plants, but are featured here because they are fabulous to draw and fascinating in themselves.   Then Sarah points out the exponential understanding of a plant that occurs when you draw it. She wrote, Drawing is a... direct and universal language, as old as humankind.  If you spend just one hour drawing a plant, you will understand it far better than if you spent the same hour only looking at it. There is something in the physical act of drawing, the coordination of the hand and eye, and the translation of sensory experience into marks and lines that reveals an entirely new way of seeing.  Artists know this, but it is something we can all experience if we draw. And time spent drawing is a revelation, regardless of the results.   Finally, Sarah's book is written in a very friendly tone. She encourages artists to just get started and to use live specimens. She wrote, Books of advice, classes, and looking at the works of other artists will help you greatly, but you can also learn how to draw simply by doing it. The first step is to simply have a go. I always draw from real plants-never photographs -- because plants are three dimensional and were once alive, even if they are no longer. They are physically present, and can move, change, and challenge the person drawing them. An artist's relationship with their subject is always innately expressed in their work... Throughout this book, Sam Scott-Hunter's photographs reveal subtle insights that could not be captured in drawing. They also magnify many details so we can look very closely Into them. I have drawn most plants life-size, for comparison, and also to convey the excitement of giant-sized objects. This diversity is just one characteristic of the vast kingdom of plants that surrounds us all, and it is always there, just outside our door, waiting to be explored.   This book is 256 pages of botanical drawings - from exotics to mosses to towering trees. Join Sarah on an illustrated tour of the plant kingdom and deepen your powers of botanical observation, understanding, and appreciation.  You can get a copy of Botany for the Artist by Sarah Simblet and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $18.   Botanic Spark 1824 Mary Russell Mitford writes to Benjamin Robert Haydon to describe her garden: My little garden is a perfect rosary - the greenest and most blossomy nook that ever the sun shone upon. It is almost shut in by buildings; one a long open shed, very pretty, a sort of rural arcade where we sit. All and every part is untrimmed, antique, weatherstained, and homely as can be imagined - gratifying the eye by its exceeding picturesqueness, and the mind by the certainty that no pictorial effect was intended - that it owes all its charms to "rare accident."   The previous day, Mary wrote to her dear friend, Emily Jephson (July 10, 1824), and shared her thoughts on the garden as a form of power and fulfillment for women. She wrote,  I am so glad you have a little demesne (dih-MAYN) of your own too;  It is a pretty thing to be queen over roses and lilies, is it not?   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1726 Birth of John Berkenhout, English physician, naturalist, and writer. While studying at Edinburgh, John published a botanical lexicon reference. In it, he wrote, Those who wish to remain ignorant of the Latin language have no business with the study of Botany.   1822 On this day, Caroline Herschel wrote in her diary about her brother, William Herschel, the German-English astronomer and composer. Caroline Herschel assisted her brother in his astronomical work, and she became an accomplished astronomer and comet discoverer in her own right. She's remembered as a comet hunter. Two centuries ago, on this day, Caroline wrote, I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain once more a little strength; for I have a [note] in my almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual -- above three or four times the distance from the... house to his library in his garden, for the purpose [of gathering and eating] Raspberries with me; but I never saw the like again.   William Herschel died about six weeks later, at the age of eighty-four. This year is the 200th anniversary of his death. Forty-one years earlier, on the night of 13 March 1781, William, with his homemade 6.2-inch reflecting telescope, discovered a new planet: Uranus. He initially thought it was "either a Nebulous star or perhaps a comet," and he named it George - Georgium Sidus (the Georgian Planet) - in honor of his patron, King George III. But surprisingly, the name did not stick, and George was renamed Uranus after the Greek god of the sky. Uranus is the first and only planet (thus far) discovered from a backyard garden. Today William and Caroline's Georgian townhouse and garden at 19 New King Street in Bath is the home of the lovely Herschel Museum. You can stand in the beautiful garden where William and Caroline spent so much time together gazing at the stars. William's son, John, became an accomplished astronomer and a polymath. He was involved in many other sciences, including botany.    1912 On this day, Mrs. F. E. Griggs of Raymond, Nebraska, began selling her surplus tomatoes. She shared the story of her garden with nurseryman Henry Field for publication in his book, The Book of a Thousand Gardens. Mrs. Griggs, who sold over $50 worth of tomatoes from 135 plants, wrote,  I had worked very hard for four months, and my garden was a very nice one and I couldn't see it die, so I started in to carry water (a long distance up a 30-foot creek bank). But it did not rain until fall. ...[and] the fall rains washed the fertilier down and they again set the largest crop I ever saw.  I pruned my vines severely and also pinched off all tomatoes that would be gnarled or poor shape, as soon as could see them, and it paid well in the nice crop of smooth ones I got.  The first were ripe July 4th, and on July 8th we were already oversupplied and began selling the surplus to people who had no gardens at all this year. They were 15c per lb. at first, and people said, "Too dear to eat", so my first ones went at 3c.  Later, as they acquired a taste for them, I got 5c, then 7½c and 10c [per pound], but always 3c to 5c under the town retail price, although I had to deliver them. On Aug. 26th they dropped to 5c, as people were just getting a few scattered ones of their own, and up to that date I had sold $50.00 worth. They were then coming so fast that I had to go on the jump almost to dispose of them, and in my haste one foot slipped from the buggy step and I fell, breaking and badly crushing [my leg] just above the ankle.  So that ended my garden. Not entirely [though], for my heart was [in the garden] and the following week with this fractured limb in plaster cast, I crawled down to [the garden] and gathered [tomatoes] ... I am still unable to walk much.  I then had to give the patch away, and there have been fully 40 bushels eaten, given away and wasted besides my $50.00 worth sold; and the frost has just caught the vines uncovered with an enormous crop of ripe ones and green ones in all stages, just bushels of them.  I hope some day to see just what an acre of these Field's Early June tomatoes will do.   1955 Birth of Monty Don, English horticulturist and writer. He once wrote, I always see gardening as escape, as peace really. If you are angry or troubled, nothing provides the same solace as nurturing the soil.     Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Peonies by Jane Eastoe This book came out in 2018, and the subtitle is Beautiful Varieties for Home & Garden. And I should mention that the magnificent romantic photographs are by Georgianna Lane. The publisher wrote this about Jane's book. From Shawnee Chief to Top Brass, this guide to over 60 varieties of peonies presents an eclectic selection of specimens—from those with the best visual appearance and the most fragrant perfume, to those that are easiest to grow and produce the best cutting flowers. With commentary on each bloom, easy-to-follow growing advice, and glorious photography, Peonies will appeal to anyone who appreciates the romance of the majestic peony.   As a garden plant, peonies are so long-lived. As a result, they are often heirloom flowers. They are a favorite bridal flower. Their color, fragrance, and large blossoms elevate the peony as a worthy rival of the queen of flowers - the rose. Jane begins with a solid peony introduction. She wrote, To aid identification, the American Peony Society has classified Six types of flowers: the single, the Japanese, the anemone, the semi-double, the double, and the bomb. Rather than providing wordy descriptions, these are illustrated opposite, where it is easy to see how one type of bloom differs from the other. Jane covers the history of the peony and then divides peonies into categories: pure, dramatic, romantic, and fragrant. Then she wraps up her book with tips on peony growing and care. Jane wrote, This book is designed to inspire you to grow your own peonies. There are thousands of varieties to choose from, with more being released every year. Here we present a selection of personal favorites, a mix of the old, the new, and the cutting edge. As these stunning pictures by photographer Georgianna Lane illustrate, there are peony varieties to suit every taste and every garden color scheme. Garden centers tend to offer just a few limited varieties, so if you want a particular specimen it is best to seek out a specialist peony nursery on the Internet. One plant will give you, and generations to come great pleasure. In our fast-paced world, there is nothing more therapeutic than a little peony gazing.   I love that Jane points out that you may need to reach out to specialty growers if you want a particular variety. There's no way a garden center could offer every kind of peony.  You can get a copy of Peonies by Jane Eastoe and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $13.   Botanic Spark 1953 Birth of Anna Quindlen, American author,  journalist, and gardener. In October 1988, Anna wrote an article I love called, Pardon the Garden, Pass the Pumpkin. Here's an excerpt: I planted a vegetable garden. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The time was early May, and I hadn't had a really good vegetable in months. I got carried away. Vegetables look pathetic when they are small, just like children. Four tomato plants, one pumpkin vine, single spray of zucchini or basil just don't seem like enough. Then they grow. (This is why some people have several children. When they are small they don't seem like so many. Then they grow, and pretty soon they are six feet tall and snacking on four fried eggs and a loaf of toast just before bed, and you know you overestimated the demand.) One morning you go into the garden and the zucchini are the size of clubs. There's nothing you can do with zucchini like that except keep them next to the bed in case you hear noises downstairs in the middle of the night. You can creep down the steps with one of those things and the right sort of burglar, the kind who knows his greens, will take one look at it, yell, "No! Not the zucchini!" and take off. This was my first year with pumpkins. I thought it would be fun to have a few in October, when the zucchini plants would be yellowed, the tomatoes past their prime. I never really thought about how large they would become, and how dumb a person would look bringing one to a dinner party in lieu of a chardonnay, while friends peeked from behind the blinds and whispered, "They've brought pumpkins again, Judith." Of course the denouement was predictable. Everything ripened at the same time. In one week, 1,212 tomatoes turned red, all the pumpkins turned orange and the zucchini disappeared. Oh, they didn't die; left them in mailboxes up and down the road. Naturally, I tried to give away some of the tomatoes, too, but it didn't work; everyone else has the same problem. At the end of one driveway is a sign that says "Don't even THINK of leaving produce here." It occurs to me that as a child I was lied to when all the grown-ups told that grand story about how the Pilgrims invented Thanksgiving to share the largesse of their harvest with the Indians. The Pilgrims invented Thanksgiving to give away pumpkins, and probably green tomatoes and enormous zucchini, too.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1713 Death of Henry Compton, Bishop of London from 1675 to 1713. Although Henry played an important role in English political and religious circles, his main passion was plants — especially scarce and exotic plants. It was said that Henry relished staying on the fringes of Charles II's court because it gave him more time to devote to his plants and gardens. One of his closest friends was one of the earliest English parson-naturalists, John Ray, who published the first account of North American flora in his Historia Plantarum (1688). Since Henry's role overseeing the Church extended to the American Colonies, Henry was able to get his hands on all the new plant discoveries from the new world. Henry even personally sent a man named John Banister to collect plants for him in Virginia. John is most remembered for sending Henry the Magnolia virginiana and Dodecatheon media. Tragically, John died at 38 after falling from a cliff while exploring the area above James River.  Between his involvement with the top plant explorers and nurseries of his day and his special relationship with the Tradescant family, Henry was able to fully stock his garden at Fulham Palace. This Tudor country house was home to England's clergy for over a millennium. When he was alive, Henry's garden was reputed to have a greater variety of plants than any other garden in England. It featured over 1,000 exotic plants and tropicals, making it one of his time's most popular, envied, and essential gardens. Henry's kitchen garden always grew a great crop of his favorite vegetable: kidney beans. In 1686, even William Penn's Pennsylvania gardener was keen to swap seeds and plants with Henry Compton. History records that Henry felt guilt about the amount of church money he had invested in plants. His collection of trees was also particularly exciting. Henry grew the first Liriodendron tulipifera (the tulip tree), Liquidambar (American Sweetgum) used as a veneer or satinwood in furniture, Acacia, Mahogany, and Maple trees in England. The garden designer Capability Brown found a special inspiration after touring Fulham, and it was there that he first saw the cluster-pin, the ash-maple, the cork oak, the black Virginian walnut, and the honey locust. Henry also grew the first American azalea grown in England, Rhododendron viscosum. Henry even managed to grow the first coffee tree in England with the help of his heated "stove.". In 1698, the Governor of Virginia personally sent Henry a Magnolia virginiana for "his paradise at Fulham." Three hundred years after Henry planted the first Magnolia virginiana grown in Europe at St. Anne's Church, a new tree was planted in the exact same spot to honor the botanical work of Bishop Henry Compton. The Arnold Arboretum at Harvard propagated the Magnolia sapling, and it was hand-delivered by Vi Lort Phillips, a member of the International Dendrology Society. The tree was planted on the 19th of May in 1992 and is already forty years old this year (2022).  St. Anne's Church was special to Henry. He consecrated the grounds in honor of Queen Anne because he had tutored both Princesses Mary and Anne when they were young.   1893 Birth of Miroslav Krleža, Yugoslav and Croatian writer, poet, and cultural influencer. Miroslav's nickname was Fritz, and he is often credited as the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. Miroslav believed that Serbs and Croats were one people suffering from two national consciences, which inevitably pitted them against each other. Today three hours west of his hometown of Zagreb, a celebrated statue of Miroslav stands in Opatija above the city's famous Slatina Beach. During WWI, Miroslav wrote in his diary at the Croatian Botanical Garden in Zagreb. The relaxing gardens edge the city railroad tracks before blending into the native grass and forestlands that feather the countryside. Although Miroslav found the garden suitable for writing, he dismissed its beauty and criticized it as a "boring second-rate cemetery."  Miroslav served in the same regiment as Yugoslavian communist dictator Tito during the war, but the two men didn't become lifelong friends until 1937. Tito protected Krleža from pressures in his party. Tito once told him, I know you're an old liberal and that you disagree with me on many things, but I wouldn't want to lose you.   In 1938, Miroslav wrote On the Edge of Reason - an instant classic about human nature, hypocrisy, conformism, and stupidity. Miroslav once wrote, There is no justice even among flowers.   1908 Birth of Herbert Rappaport, Austrian-Soviet screenwriter, and film director. Born in Vienna, Herbert first studied law before finding work in the movie business. In 1936, he was invited to help internationalize Soviet Cinema, and he spent the next four decades working as a filmmaker in Russia. Herbert once wrote, I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some.   1944 Birth of Manny Steward, American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was known as The Godfather of Detroit Boxing and trained 41 world champion fighters during his long career, including Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis, and Wladimir Klitschko. He once wrote, My favorite hobby is being alone. I like to be alone. I also like dancing, fishing, playing poker sometimes and vegetable gardening – corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, I have a big garden every year.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Gardener's Palette by Jo Thompson This book came out in 2022, and the subtitle is Creating Colour Harmony in the garden. Jo Thompson is one of Britain's leading garden designers, and this is her second book, which was written in conjunction with the Royal Horticultural Society. Well, the title of this book says it all - palettes - masterfully proven gorgeous color combinations for your garden. I've found that the most challenging job about palettes is not picking them but sticking to them. And it's usually when we get into times of color droughts in our garden or hit an excellent garden sale that we break with our palette, and then the garden can slowly devolve into something a little wild and wooly.  That said, if you feel you're ready to make a change and take a more disciplined approach to what you plant in your flower garden, then Jo's book will be a fantastic resource. Jo is a color master - a purveyor of color palettes. She serves up 100 palette options and then identifies the plants you should be scouting to make your palette a reality. The photos in this book are incredibly inspiring and beautifully illustrate why the colors work so well together in a garden. Garden's Illustrated recently shared Jo's top five favorite color combos. Her picks included the following: Tutti Fruitti is bright magentas, and fizzing oranges delight as they catch the eye. Sherberts offers mouthwatering sherbet colors work softly with each other to create a feel that at the same time both look backward and forwards, bringing with their soft tones both familiarity and excitement. Wine, peach, and coral is a combination of colors that work together and create surprising harmony due to the surprising tones that they share deep within their petals. Pink is a garden classic. This shade resonates in the memory. Soft and pretty, elegant, a color that stops us in our tracks. Green & White: Green and white is the freshness of morning light, the elegance of midday light, and the serenity of the light in the evening. A gentle palette that is timeless in its appeal.   This book is 388-pages of 100 different palette options for your garden, along with beautifully inspiring images, plant selections, and Jo's personal design preferences and tips. You can get a copy of The Gardener's Palette by Jo Thompson and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $40.   Botanic Spark 1907 Birth of Robert Heinlein, American science-fiction writer. Robert is remembered for his classic book, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961). Robert wrote many wonderful euphemisms, like this humorous quote, Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.   But Robert also appreciated the power and beauty of nature. In Time Enough for Love (1979), Robert wrote, Money is a powerful aphrodisiac. But flowers work almost as well.   In The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1988), Robert wrote, “Butterflies are not insects," Captain John Sterling said soberly. "They are self-propelled flowers."   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

  Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events   1686  Birth of Antoine de Jussieu ("Ann-twan do Jyou-sue"), French naturalist, botanist, and physician. Born in Lyon, Antoine was the son of an apothecary.  After touring Spain, Portugal, and southern France with his brother Bernard, he went to Paris and ultimately succeeded Joseph Pitton de Tournefort as director of the royal gardens.  In 1713, Antoine shared the first scientific reference to coffee with the Royal Academy of Sciences of France. He called it Jasminum arabicanum, but Carl Linneaus gave the official botanical classification forty years later in 1753. Antoine once wrote about finding plant fossils in a quarry. I observed on most collected stones the imprints of innumerable plant fragments which were so different from those which are growing in the Lyonnais, in the nearby provinces, and even in the rest of France, that I felt like collecting plants in a new world...  The number of these leaves, the way they separated easily, and the great variety of plants whose imprints I saw, appeared to me... as many volumes of botany... [in] the oldest library of the world.   1865 On this day, members of the John Wesley Powell expedition raided a garden on an island in the Green just above the mouth of the White River. The expedition had just thrown out more spoiled food, and the group faced the constant fear of hunger. In Powell of the Colorado (2015), William Culp Darrah wrote, Fresh fruit had been mighty scarce and the temptation to steal some greens was irresistible. The Major, Andy, and Bill Dunn filled their arms with young beets, turnips, carrots, and potatoes. The men rowed a few miles down the river and paused to enjoy the stolen fruit. Of course the season was not advanced enough to yield sizable vegetables, so Andy cooked up the whole mess as greens. It was a not-quite-unpleasant stew. After eating their fill and disposing of the remainder, the men resumed the journey. They had not gone a mile before all hands except Bradley and Howland were violently nauseated. Bradley explained that the potato tops were so bitter he had not eaten any. The Major said their illness was caused by a narcotic in the potato leaves, but Hall swore that it was all his fault; in their haste he had only half-cooked the stuff. Sumner wrote in his diary, "We all learned one lesson--never to rob gardens."   1887 Birth of Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal)(books about this person), Russian-French artist of Belarus. He was an early modernist and created in various formats, including paintings, drawings, stained glass, ceramics, and tapestries, among many others. The art critic Robert Hughes called Chagall "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."  And Pablo Picasso once said, When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is.   It was Marc Chagall himself who once wrote, Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers – and never succeeding.   1907 Birth of Frida Kahlo (books about this person), Mexican painter. Frida is remembered for her portraits, self-portraits, and work inspired by Mexican nature and artifacts. She once wrote, I paint flowers so they will not die.   She also wrote, I wish I could do whatever I liked behind the curtain of “madness”.  Then I’d arrange flowers, all day long.  I’d paint pain, love and tenderness.  I would laugh as much as I feel like at the stupidity of others, and they would all say: “Poor thing, she’s crazy!   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Ultimate Flower Gardener's Guide by Jenny Rose Carey  This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Simple Ideas For Small Outdoor Spaces. In this book, Jenny Rose Carey is essentially teaching a master class on ornamental gardening. If you are looking for ways to add interest, color combinations that are guaranteed to work instead of clash, and how to incorporate favorite blossoms or aspects of flowers, you'll find everything you're looking for in this very inspiring and jam-packed book on all kinds of beautiful flowers. Most flower experts teach color first. Jenny brings new dimensions into play - namely shape and texture. But Jenny's focus on texture and shape works surprisingly well - especially if you are someone who struggles with color in the garden. Shape and texture are two often overlooked floral elements, but they are equally important as color in garden design. Without shape and texture, gardens would lack that sense of excitement, mystery, and magnetism that exist in our most beloved gardens. Jenny also does a great job of keeping today's gardener in mind. She selected the annuals and perennials that she recommends in her book based on their ease of care, appeal to pollinators, and wildlife friendliness.  This book is 364 pages of beautiful flower gardening all season long - no matter how big or small your space - giving you the confidence you need to make flowers the focus of your dream garden. You can get a copy of The Ultimate Flower Gardener's Guide by Jenny Rose Carey and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $27.   Botanic Spark 1932 Death of Kenneth Grahame, Edwardian British writer, and conservationist. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Kenneth is most famous for The Wind in the Willows (1908), one of the classics of children's literature. The book celebrates nature, friendship, loyalty, and adventure among four anthropomorphizing animals: Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger. Kenneth had a lifelong appreciation of nature and landscapes.  Throughout Kenneth's life, the beauty of nature was a balm to his many sorrows, including the death of his mom and alcoholic father. When he was five, after his mom died, Kenneth and his siblings went to live with their grandmother, who lived in an old, dilapidated house with a huge attic to explore and an entire garden to play in. The garden backed up to willows that framed the shores of the Thames river and would later serve as the inspiration for the setting of The Wind in the Willows. During his miserable married life, Kenneth once confided in his wife that he felt a better understanding of nature and wildlife than of his own species, writing, I like most of my friends among the animals more than I like most of my friends among mankind. As a father, Kenneth began telling the story of The Wind in the Willows in installments at bedtime and in letters to his only son, Alastair, who Kenneth nicknamed "Mouse."    In the story, Kenneth wrote of 'the pageant of the river bank,' referring to the array of wildflowers in bloom: purple- and white-flowered comfrey, willow-herb, purple loosestrife, dog roses, and meadowsweet. Throughout his life, Kenneth's favorite indulgence was reading books in his garden. Sadly, Mouse's life story was tragic. He grew up battling chronic illness and blindness in one eye. He had challenging behaviors and was bullied in school. After his struggles grew worse in college, Alastair committed suicide at 19. At his funeral, Kenneth scattered lilies of the valley over his coffin. For twelve long years, Kenneth lived out the rest of his days with his wife. Kenneth never got over the loss of his darling Mouse, and he stopped writing altogether. Aside from lengthy trips to Italy to avoid friends and family,  Kenneth and his wife lived reclusively in their house along a riverbank until Kenneth's death from a stroke on this day in 1932. At Kenneth's funeral, the church was decorated with gifts of willow branches and flowers from children across England. Kenneth was buried next to his beloved Mouse in the cemetery at St. Cross Church.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1848 Birth of Paul Gauguin (books about this person), one of the leading French painters of the Postimpression- ist period. Born in Paris, Paul Gauguin was a self-taught painter. He was also a rugged individualist, and his incredible talent helped introduce Primitivism to the art world. His best primitive work was created on his 1895 trip to Tahiti - a place he would spend the rest of his life. Flora and fauna of the landscape feature prominently in most of his Tahitian art. Paul was obsessed with art, and he once wrote, Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.   After Van Gogh rented a yellow house in Arles, he invited Gauguin to visit. In preparation for his stay, Van Gogh painted 'Poet's Garden' in the bedroom Gauguin was to stay in. The painting depicts the public garden across from the Yellow House.  Van Gogh filled the rest of the house with paintings of sunflowers. When Gauguin arrived, he painted his friend, Van Gogh, painting sunflowers.  For nine weeks, the two men painted, and when they weren't painting, they fought. In fact, during one of their final arguments, Gauguin was supposedly sliced off Van Gogh's ear with a sword. Paul was more diverse in terms of his subjects. He didn't exclusively paint florals. Once when he was in a creative lull, he wrote, When I am able to paint again, if I have no imagination, I shall do some studies of flowers . . . . It is a great pleasure for me.   1878 On this day, Fisk Bangs wrote about his blooming White Mustard in the American Bee Journal Volume 14. It began to bloom about June 7th and lasted nearly eight months. The bees commenced work on the 11th. On the 19th, the bees were so thick that their hum sounded something like Prof. Cook's buzz-saw, lacking the screech. This is one of the best honey plants, and I think its bloom call be easily regulated... to have it come after Basswood.   1935 Death of Ivan Michurin (books about this person), Russian botanist and plant breeder. A Russian horticulturist and a Master of selection, Ivan was an Honorable Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Throughout his life, Ivan created all sorts of fruit plants. He introduced over 300 new varieties and was often called the Russian Luther Burbank.  Ivan started out working on the railroad. His job riding the rails allowed him to visit many famous gardens and nurseries across Russia. His informal nursery tour inspired Ivan to start a fruit tree nursery in 1888. Ivan was maniacally focused on improving fruit, and by doing so, he selected the best examples and used them to improve the next generation. And although Russian would not support his work, they made sure that Ivan could never leave the country. The last thing Russia wanted was for Ivan to bring his work to the United States, where many scientists recognized the value of Ivan's work early on. Although the 1917 October Revolution hurt many land owners and farmers forced to give up their land to Mother Russia, Lenin liked Ivan. With Nikolai Vavilov's encouragement, Ivan's work was protected as intellectual property of the Russian government. Today, Ivan's most famous creation is the Antonovka or 'The People's Apple.' It was Ivan Michurin who said, We cannot wait for gifts from Nature. To take them from her – that is our task. (Translation my own.)   2013 On this day, Jane Green planted zucchini in her garden. Then, she wrote about her zucchini in a lovely little article called Conquering the Zucchini Beast.  Here's an excerpt: Something's always happening in a garden Upon entering the garden {on the morning of the 4th of July], [my dog] Tootie and I found that our four zucchini plants were in full bloom, and lo and behold, one plant had already popped out a nice-sized fruit. What a stupendous treat! And to think that had planted my garden on the 7th of June, and that I already had a zucchini fruit to enjoy on the 4th of July. What a cause for a celebration! Of course, 1 did cheat just a teensy little bit because I planted zucchini plants and not zucchini seeds this year. But, hey, it was still an awesome experience for me. With the glorious discovery of a zucchini fruit just waiting to be harvested, my saliva juices kicked into full capacity mode and my brain cells started conjuring up all sorts of yummy zucchini dishes to prepare. For instance: making zucchini bread or zucchini relish or zucchini cake or zucchini brownies or preparing a wonderful zucchini hot dish! Yum! I call this zucchini mania time because there are so many foods you can make with zucchini that you don't know which one to make first.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Darling Dahlias and the Red Hot Poker by Susan Wittig Albert This book is a brand new release today, June 7th, 2022, and this is a fiction book. Here's what the publisher wrote about Susan's book: It’s Labor Day weekend, 1935, and members of the Darling Dahlias―the garden club in little Darling, Alabama―are trying to keep their cool at the end of a sizzling summer. This isn’t easy, though, since there’s a firebug on the loose in Darling. He―or she!―strikes without apparent rhyme or reason, and things have gotten to the point where nobody feels safe. What’s more, a dangerous hurricane is poised to hurl itself in Darling’s direction, while a hurricane of a different sort is making a whirlwind campaign stop: the much-loved-much-hated senator from Louisiana, Huey P. Long, whom President Roosevelt calls the “most dangerous man in America.” Add Ophelia Snow’s secret heartthrob, Liz Lacy’s Yankee lover, and the Magnolia Ladies’ garden of red hot pokers, fire-red salvia, and hot pink cosmos, and you have a volatile mix that might just burst into flames at any moment. Author Susan Wittig Albert has brought us another delightful assortment of richly human characters who face the challenges of the Great Depression with courage and grace. Her books remind us that friends offer the best of themselves to each other, community is what holds us together, and even when life seems too hot to handle, there’s always hope. This book is 280 pages of some fun Southern garden fiction, And it's the perfect book to read after a long day in the garden. P.S. I have to point out that one of my favorite books is by Susan, and it's called the China Bayles' Book of Daysbecause it's a day-by-day book and has tons of garden information in it. My copy is positively dogeared, almost every single page. So, Susan, I'm a huge fan. You can get a copy of The Darling Dahlias and the Red Hot Poker by Susan Wittig Albert and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $18.   Botanic Spark 1954 Birth of Louise Erdich (books about this person), American author and gardener. A Minnesota-born native American, Louise has written many wonderful books that generally include a snippet or two about the garden.  From The Beet Queen: I love plants. For the longest time I thought that they died without pain. But of course after I had argued with Mary she showed me clippings on how plants went into shock when pulled up by their roots, and even uttered something indescribable, like panic, a drawn-out vowel only registered on special instruments. Still, I love their habit of constant return. I don't like cut flowers. Only the ones that grow in the ground. From Makoons: The family took all the seeds from the garden and then they buried Nokomis there, deeply, wrapped in her blanket with gifts and tobacco for the spirit world. They buried her simply. There was no stone, no grave house, nothing to mark where she lay except the exuberant and drying growth of her garden. Nokomis had said: I do not need a marker of my passage, for my creator knows where I am. I do not want anyone to cry. I lived a good life, my hair turned to snow, I saw my great-grandchildren, I grew my garden. That is all.   From The Blue Jay's Dance: Full of the usual blights, mistakes, ruinous beetles and parasites, glorious for one week, bedraggled the next, my actual garden is always a mixed bag. As usual, it will fall far short of the imagined perfection. It is a chore. Hard work. I'll by turns aggressively weed and ignore it. The ground I tend sustains me in early summer, but the garden of the spirit is the place I go when the wind howls. This lush and fragrant expectation has a longer growing season than the plot of earth I'll hoe for the rest of the year. Raised in the mind's eye, nurtured by the faithful composting of orange rinds and tea leaves and ideas, it is finally the wintergarden that produces the true flowering, the saving vision.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1648 On this day, Elias Ashmole (books about this person), the English antiquary, politician, astrologer, and alchemist, wrote in his diary, Having entered upon a study this day about three o'clock was the first time I went a simpling; Dr: Carter of Reding and Mr. Watling an Apothecary there, accompanying me. To go "a simpling" was an early term for botanizing. People would gather "simples" or medicinal plants, so Elias went out with a Dr. Carter and an Apothecary. They were no doubt looking for herbal remedies.   1816 During June, in New England, six inches of snow fell. The entire year of 1816 was freezing. Every month of the year 1816 had a hard frost. Temperatures dropped to 40 degrees in July and August as far south as Connecticut. This is known as 'The Year Without a Summer' in New England. The weather anomalies originated from the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora the previous year. The enormous volcanic explosion in recorded history spewed small particles that were light enough to spread over the atmosphere the following year. The impact on the world's climate was profound. The earth's temperature dropped an average of three degrees Celsius across the globe. On the bright side, the terrible summer of 1816 served as an inspiration to many writers. In Lake Geneva, Switzerland, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein while on vacation with her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and the poet Lord Byron. Thanks to nonstop rain and gray skies, the three writers had been stuck inside for days. On the same trip, Lord Byron wrote Darkness, his poem that begins, I had a dream, which was not all a dream.  The bright sun was extinguished.   1864 On this day, the famous American writer and political reporter, John Beauchamp Jones ("Bo-shamp"), wrote in his journal: Clear and hot, but with a fine breeze-southwest. Yesterday, I learn, both sides buried the dead...  What a war, and for what?   And then, after giving some updates from the battlefield, John wrote: Small heads of early York cabbage sold in market to-day at $3, or $5 for two. At that rate, I got about $10 worth out of my garden.  Mine are excellent, and so far abundant, as well as the lettuce, which we have every day.  My snap beans and beets will soon come on.  The little garden is a little treasure.   John Beauchamp Jones was born in Maryland and served as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War.   2022 National Garden Exercise Day Gardening is a workout. Gardening is therapeutic on so many levels. The physical aspect of gardening is quite demanding and is an excellent way to build muscle and burn calories. And for many garden podcast listeners, the brain is engaged as well - learning about new plants, techniques, or general garden info. Today and every day in your garden, make sure to stay hydrated and make a point of gardening that promotes good health - take breaks, stretch, use garden chairs, add elevated beds, etc. Be careful living heavy items and tuck some bandaids, bee sting relief (like an epi-pen or Benedryl), and betadine in your garden tote. You never know when you might need a little first aid in the garden. Happy gardening!! It's National Garden Exercise day!   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Sibley Guide to Trees by David Allen Sibley  This book came out in 2009, but this is one of the best when it comes to tree-reference books. This book has over 500 five-star reviews on Amazon, and it's easy to see why — this book is laid out in such an accessible way. It's effortless to use. I keep one tucked in my garden bench in the garage because I love keeping this guide handy. And I should mention that the reason it's called the Sibley Guide to Trees is that it's written by David Alan Sibley. If that name's familiar, it's because he is the bird guide, author, and illustrator. So you have those side-by-side skills of bird identification and tree identification — and they just go together. David Sibley applies the same approach that he used with birds for the equally complex subject of tree identification. And if trees are a challenge for you, you will definitely appreciate the over 4,000 illustrations in this guide. And I had to chuckle just a little bit after reading an Amazon Q&A with David Alan Sibley about this book. They asked him, Were there significant differences in writing this book vs. the Guide to Birds? I got a kick out of David's answer: The obvious difference is that trees are much easier to find. When I needed to study a particular species of tree I could just walk right up to it and spend as much time investigating it as I needed. Birds are more elusive. I had to spend years in the field in order to build up enough observation time to draw them well.   I thought David's response was such a clue to the rest of us regarding tree identification because David spends time with trees. I can't tell you how many people I've helped identify a tree over the years after they spent a mere one or two seconds looking at a single leaf. Trees can offer us many more clues than just their leaf for identification. And this leads to another question that Amazon asked David: What would you say to someone who is a beginner at tree identification?  David said, The first thing I suggest is to spend some time with the guide. Try to become familiar with the characteristics of certain trees. Then go through the book and mark all the species that occur in your area. This will help you become familiar with the range of species that could be present so when you see an odd leaf shape, fruit, flower, bark pattern, etc.--even if you can’t remember the name--you can remember seeing it in the guide. Since trees are so easy to approach, you can simply take a photo of the key parts of any tree, or pick up a leaf or other part that has fallen on the ground, and identify it at your leisure. They key identifiers will always be the shape, color and size of leaves; the color and shape of twigs; the color and texture of bark; and the tree’s overall size and shape as well as habitat, any fruit or flowers, and the timing of seasonal changes. For example, in late May in the northeast, if you see a pale-barked tree with small silvery leaves just emerging (while other trees have well-developed green leaves) you can be virtually certain that is a Bigtooth Aspen. A multi-trunked, spreading tree in wetter soils, with clusters of straw-colored fruit hanging from the twigs all winter, is almost certainly a female Boxelder.   So a couple of great examples from David on tree identification and some great tips to keep in mind. Tree ID is often way more than just looking at a single leaf. Take your time. Look at all the different aspects of the tree and take tons of pictures. And now, with the iPhone, you can take a picture of any plant or any part of a plant, any leaf, and then press a little info icon, and then it will ask you right there if you want help with plant identification. That particular part of the photos app for me has been beneficial — and, I have to say, surprisingly accurate. So be sure to give that a try if you haven't yet. This book is 426 pages of tree identification highlighting over 600 tree species. And it's one of my favorite guides. You can get a copy of The Sibley Guide to Trees by David Allen Sibley and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $17.   Botanic Spark 1925 Birth of Maxine Kumin ("Cue-men") (books by this author), America Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, novelist, children's author, and gardener. Maxine often incorporated garden themes into her work. She once wrote these words in her poems History Lesson,  That a man may be free of his ghosts he must return to them like a garden. He must put his hands in the sweet rot uprooting the turnips, washing them tying them into bundles and shouldering the whole load to market.   Any gardener who has battled a woodchuck will appreciate Maxine's poem, Woodchucks. This poem was written after Maxine had to battle a family of woodchucks that had invaded her vegetable garden. In the poem, Maxine examines how everyday people can find themselves in a murderous mindset. Gassing the woodchucks didn't turn out right. The knockout bomb from the Feed and Grain Exchange was featured as merciful, quick at the bone and the case we had against them was airtight, both exits shoehorned shut with puddingstone, but they had a sub-sub-basement out of range. Next morning they turned up again, no worse for the cyanide than we for our cigarettes and state-store Scotch, all of us up to scratch. They brought down the marigolds as a matter of course and then took over the vegetable patch nipping the broccoli shoots, beheading the carrots. The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling to the feel of the .22, the bullets' neat noses. I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace puffed with Darwinian pieties for killing, now drew a bead on the little woodchuck's face. He died down in the everbearing roses.   In July 1998, Maxine was gravely injured when her horse bolted at a carriage-driving clinic. To the surprise of her doctors, Maxine managed to survive the ordeal and wrote a book about the time she spent "inside the halo," which kept her head immobilized as she endured weeks of recovery and rehab. In her 2001 book called, Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery, Maxine wrote, Keeping the garden going becomes for the family a way of keeping me going.  Every morning Judith climbs the hill above the farmhouse to where my fenced garden is situated, just below the pond. Everything here is grown organically. The plants thrive in a soil heavily amended with rotted horse manure and are mulched with spoiled hay. The walkways are papered with old grain bags and then covered with pine needles. It has taken years to achieve this orderly oasis, which somehow compensates for my disorderly desk drawers and the chaos of my closet. In my suburban past, I had only a few self-seeding petunias and cosmos to deal with. The yard was shady; dandelions dotted the grass. To my indifferent eye, it looked adequately tidy. But when we acquired the farm, I gradually began to see another landscape entirely. Wild asparagus appeared, waving their ferny fronds in unexpected places. In a small sunny clearing, rhubarb emerged. Garlic chives sent up little white blossoms along the house foundation and great unkillable clumps of chives with fat purple blooms ran rampant around them. Clusters of what resembled sunflowers proved to be edible Jerusalem artichokes. The first time Victor mowed the area we were slowly restoring to lawn, the wonderful pungency of fresh thyme arose from the nubbly "grass." This season, it is Judith who daily inspects my seven thirty-foot-long raised beds for insect depredation.  Whatever needs picking - broccoli, cauliflower, early green beans, lettuce, radishes, the last of the peas - she takes down to the house to be dealt with. The surplus is blanched and frozen for the winter ahead. The tomatoes are not quite ready; the corn, cucumbers, and summer squashes are still ripening, but soon there will be that gratifying mountain of veggies, the benevolent tyranny I always strive to stay abreast of, pickling, canning, and freezing. A poem of mine in praise of gardens ends [with these words]: O children, my wayward jungly dears you are all to be celebrated plucked, transplanted, tilled under, resurrected here even the lowly despised purslane, chickweed, burdock, poke, wild poppies. For all of you, whether eaten or extirpated I plan to spend the rest of my life on my knees.   Maxine died in February of 2014 at the age of 88.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1731 Birth of Martha Washington (books about this person), the inaugural first lady of the United States. At Mount Vernon, Martha was in charge of the kitchen garden. As mistress of the plantation, she was in charge of entertaining guests and planning the evening meal. This meant that a robust kitchen garden was an absolute necessity. Thus, the kitchen garden is the oldest garden at Mount Vernon. It was installed in 1760, and the grounds have produced edibles now for over 250 years. So while other areas of Mount Vernon have gone through some changes, the kitchen garden or the lower garden remains primarily unchanged from how it was initially used back when the Washingtons lived there. Now George and Martha spent a great deal of time away from the estate. And whenever George Washington would send letters back to Mount Vernon, the last paragraph was reserved for instructions from Martha to the gardener about the kitchen garden. Martha would ask about different crops and suggest planting or collecting seeds. Martha really was a knowledgeable plantswoman, and when it came to the kitchen garden, she was not afraid to make suggestions or changes. Martha knew that the kitchen garden was a reflection of her As George's wife and as the president's wife. And when George and Martha were at Mount Vernon, they hosted an average of 600 guests every single year. And most of those people enjoyed supper at the plantation, and the meal No Doubt featured produce from the kitchen garden. William Spence was the gardener at Mount Vernon. He continued working at Mount Vernon after George Washington's death. In addition, William was s a witness to Martha Washington's will, which he signed on September 22, 1800.   1874 On this day, Ann Pamela Cunningham, founder of the MVLA, gave her farewell address MVLA stands for the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, which was founded in 1853. In 1858, less than five years later, this group of indomitable women purchased Mount Vernon from the George Washington family. By so doing, they saved George Washington's eighteenth-century plantation home from development or destruction. Together with encouragement from tourists, the MVLA worked to restore the home and grounds to their full glory.  Ann spoke of the need for continued work in her address: Ladies, the home of Washington is in your charge see to it that you keep It the home of Washington!  Let no irreverent hand change it; let no vandal hands desecrate it with the fingers of "progress"!  Let one spot, in this grand country of ours, be saved from change. Upon you rests this duty.   Today we can say definitively that Ann's advice was followed. Washington's home is in top condition along with the outbuildings and the grounds. The greenhouse, which was in a fire in 1835, was fully restored in 1952. To preserve Washington's view of the Potomac, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association purchased nearly 500 acres on the other side of the Potomac River, thanks to Mrs. Frances Payne Bolton. The latter ended up organizing one of the country's earliest land trusts. When it came to Mount Vernon, George Washington always dreamed of a fine landscape and beautiful gardens. Many enslaved people and trained gardeners made his dream a reality. George hired his first gardener in 1762. A decade later, he posted an ad that said, "a good Kitchen Gardener is what I want." After seeing the one that Margaret Tilghman Carroll installed at her home, Mount Clare, near Baltimore, George added a greenhouse. In turn, Margaret sent the plans and some plants to help the Washingtons christen their greenhouse. In 1799, one guest at Mount Vernon wrote, "[There] I saw ...English grapes, oranges, limes, and lemons... as well as a great variety of plants and flowers... exquisite in their perfume and delightful to the eye..."   1893 On this day, a witty, thoughtful, and upright citizen of South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, Stephen Sears wrote in his journal about his garden.  Stephen kept a journal for posterity, and nature entries are sprinkled throughout his writings in between notes on work, worship, and family.  Stephen was a Sunday School teacher, and he wrote that he thought it was "the best thing I can do for the coming generation." On this day in 1893, Stephen was 71 years old. He built a cage around a tree and burned caterpillars. He must have thought them destructive (maybe tent caterpillars?) That spring, he had "plowed [the] garden and planted peas."   On June 6, he noted that "summer is here, hot and dry," and then he "transplanted [his] tomato vines and hoed [his] watermelons." Almost every day, Stephen worked in his garden. He watered daily and occasionally added seaweed as a fertilizer. On June 17, after three weeks of no rain, Stephen wrote, "The ground is wet again, and vegetation smiles."  At the end of the month, he was clearly frustrated with one particular garden pest: potato bugs. Stephen wrote,  If I were to offer [a] sacrifice to the Devil it [w]ould be potato bugs in Lager Beer. .   2003 On this day, an Iraqi scientist named Mahdi Obeidi led US officials, including David Kay, out to his rose garden.  Over a decade earlier, in February of 1992, Uday Hussein had told Mahdi Obeidi to hide all the evidence of Iraq's efforts to pursue a nuclear program. So Mahdi gathered up his documents and prototypes and packed them in a fifty-gallon drum. Then Mahdi buried the drum beneath a lotus tree in his backyard. The entire stash remained there undisturbed until America declared war on Iraq. Mahdi's story became a book called, The Bomb in My Garden and tells how Saddam Hussein pursued nukes only to be thwarted by his invasion of Kuwait and honorable people in his own government. After the fall of Baghdad, Dr. Obeidi felt it was finally safe to reveal the secret he had buried in his garden, under a lotustree, no less. Lotus trees have a long history and are known scientifically as the Ziziphus lotus.  In Greek mythology, in the Odyssey, the Lotus tree fruit was eaten by the Lotus-Eaters to make them sleepy and to create a false sense of peace and apathy.  It was said Romulus planted a sacred Lotus near the temple of Vulcan and that it was still standing seven centuries later, in the time of Pliny the Elder. The English explorer Richard Francis Burton saw a lotus on his travels through the middle east. The Lotus leaves were used to wash the bodies of the dead, and the fruit was sold as a cash crop to travelers. Today the Lotus tree is used as fodder and for hedges. The thorny branches create an effective barrier. The flowers are a favorite of pollinators of all kinds.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Where We Bloom by Debra Prinzing This book came out in 2022, and the subtitle is Thirty-Seven Intimate, Inventive and Artistic Studio Spaces Where Floral Passions Find a Place to Blossom. The publisher writes, Step inside the places where flowers come to life. Slow Flowers Society founder Debra Prinzing's new book showcases the beautiful plant- and flower-filled settings of Slow Flowers designers, farmer-florists, and growers. Each environment reflects the personality and aesthetic style of its owner, offering great ideas to inspire the design, organization, and functionality of your creative studio. Visit their spaces and read about their floral passions.   Debra profiles thirty-seven studio spaces for floral aficionados of all kinds in this book. Here's how she introduces Lori Poliski's Woodinville, Washington, modern homestead - a former horse barn converted into a studio with function and beauty in mind: Lori Poliski was a gardener long before she formed Flori, her design studio based in a suburb of Seattle.  She has made posies and arrangements since she was five, drawing from roots that began on a family farm in New Jersey where her mother grew lilacs, peonies, and roses.  Lori worked for a flower shop in the Bay Area after college and later, during a technology career, she continued to design flowers for family and friends' weddings. In 2017, she formalized a business, naming the studio "Flori" ...and rhymes with her name.  Lori said, "My husband designed my first business card and it read: "Garden-style Bowers for small weddings and events." The frustration of producing wedding flowers in a garage filled with sports equipment and bicycles inspired dreams of having a dedicated design space. Lori's solution? A 12-by-24-foot covered storage area at one end of the horse barn where three animals also are stabled. The space now has two sets of white French dooms and windows, which look charming against the blue-gray shingle siding, complete with striped awning, I can only imagine how fun it was for Debra to roam the country scouting these 37 flower-filled locations for her book. All the stories and the people behind these magical spaces are a true joy to discover. If you are thinking about creating or redoing a floral space of your own - a simple she shed or a little corner in the garage or attic, well, then you'll find plenty of inspiration in the spaces profiled in Debra's book. This book is 127 pages of pure eye candy and dreams made real for modern floral artists and creatives. You can get a copy of Where We Bloom by Debra Prinzing and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $9.   Botanic Spark 1962 Death of Vita Sackville-West (books by this author) English author, and garden designer.  In 1960, Vita wrote of her marriage and death: ..now in our advancing age, we love each other more deeply than ever, and also more agonizingly, since we see the inevitable end. It is not nice to know that one of us must die before the other.   Vita died first. Three weeks later, Harold wrote, Oh Vita, I have wept buckets for you.   Vita Sackville-West was a talented and complex woman. An excellent writer, Vita found success as a poet, writer, and broadcaster. After she and Harold purchased Sissinghurst, Vita became one of the most influential gardeners of her time. For over twenty years, they worked together to create a garden where none ever grew before. And for over a decade, she wrote a weekly column about her life as a gardener at Sissinghurst for the Observer. Vita was at once relatable, admirable, witty, and removed.  Vita knew love and loss in her personal life and had relationships with both women and men, but through it, all Harold remained the true north of her heart.  Today the fruit of their labor and their shared dream, Sissinghurst, is beloved worldwide, and Vita's garden wisdom still holds sway.  In her book called The Garden, Vita wrote, I tried to hold the courage of my ways In that which might endure, Daring to find a world in a lost world, A little world, a little perfect world… And in her Poems of West & East, Vita wrote a loving tribute to their efforts at Sissinghurst in a poem called The Garden. We owned a garden on a hill, We planted rose and daffodil, Flowers that English poets sing, And hoped for glory in the Spring. We planted yellow hollyhocks, And humble sweetly-smelling stocks, And columbine for carnival, And dreamt of Summer's festival. And Autumn not to be outdone As heiress of the summer sun, Should doubly wreathe her tawny head With poppies and with creepers red. We waited then for all to grow, We planted wallflowers in a row. And lavender and borage blue, - Alas! we waited, I and you, But love was all that ever grew.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1785 It was on this day that Noah Webster (books about this person) (of Webster's dictionary fame) boarded a little ship named George in Baltimore. When the ship stopped in Norfolk, Virginia, Noah ate some cherries for the very first time. He must have liked them because he later added cherry trees to his orchard. Noah Webster was a fierce gardener. He enjoyed his time in the garden, and he planted all kinds of vegetables, like parsnips, carrots, cucumbers, beets, and potatoes. In fact, in his dictionary, Noah Webster defined potatoes as, one of the cheapest and most nourishing vegetables. And then he got a little spiritual about the potato. Noah wrote, In the British dominions and in the United States, the potato has proved to be one of the greatest blessings bestowed on man by the Creator.   Noah Webster was also a fan of farming. He called farming, the most necessary, the most healthy, the most innocent, and the most agreeable employment of men.   Noah Webster had a property in Amhurst, and over the years, he gradually acquired the land around his property until he had around ten acres. On this land. Noah built a barn. He had a chaise house, and he also planted a magnificent garden. Everyone in Amhurst knew that Noah Webster's orchard was the best in the town. Noah grew pears. He had apple trees and peach trees - and even grew sweet white grapes,   1859 From The Diary of Calvin Fletcher, American attorney who became a prominent banker, farmer, and state senator in Indianapolis, Indiana This a beautiful day.  My early corn one foot high.  Early potatoes set for blossom.  Early tomatoes six and eight inches high.  Grapes in full blossom. Strawberrys Ditto.  Two messes of green peas.  The grass in the yard cut one week ago.  Raspberrys nearly full grown. Currants ditto former good size latter small.     1888 Birth of Henry Beston (books by this author), American writer and naturalist. Last week I discovered Henry Beston when I researched his wife, the writer, and poet, Elizabeth Coatsworth (books by this author). I have to say it was a thrill getting to know both of them. Henry is best remembered for his book The Outermost House (1928). Henry wrote the book during the year spent on the Great Beach of Cape Cod. He isolated himself in a house on the beach and devoted himself to writing about life along the shore. Henry wrote his book in longhand at a kitchen table. During this year, when Henry was sequestered in this house, he actually met his future wife, Elizabeth, at a garden party. Later on, when he proposed marriage to Elizabeth, She told him, "No book. No marriage". So that was an extra incentive for Henry to finish his book. Now Henry and Elizabeth went on to have two little girls.  Their daughter, Kate Barnes (books by this author), became a respected author and poet in her own right. Here's a little excerpt from her poem called Old Roses, which is about how her parents met. Kate wrote, When my father met my mother at a dinner party in a garden of very old roses on Beacon Hill one hot evening in early June, he said to his friend, F. Morton Smith, that night, "Morton, I have met the girl I'm going to marry!" (We have Uncle Morton's testimony for that, the certified word of a Boston lawyer.) My mother said my father had looked handsome, yes, and talked delightfully, but what she remembered were the mosquitoes. "If you stopped slapping at them, even for a second, you were eaten up alive."   Henry wrote many different books. Of course, most of them are about nature, but there was one garden book that caught my attention, and it's called Herbs and the Earth. And in this book, Henry wrote. A garden of herbs, is a garden of things loved for themselves in their wholeness and integrity. It is not a garden of flowers, but a garden of plants which are sometimes very lovely flowers and are always more than flowers.   Isn't that a great quote about herbs? The more I read about Henry Beston, the more it became apparent that Henry was a profound thinker and thought about gardening on a much deeper level.  I think it's because Henry was so grounded in the tenants of nature.  Listen to how Henry describes watering plants. This is a perspective that I have not heard before. Henry wrote. If gardeners will forget a little the phrase, "watering the plants" and think of watering as a matter of "watering the earth" under the plants, keeping up its moisture content and gauging. its need, the garden will get on very well.    And isn't that the truth?  Here's a delightful little quote by Henry. It's about. Fall: The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.   1968 Death of Helen Keller (books about this person), American author, disability rights advocate, and lecture.  Helen lost both her sight and hearing when she was a little toddler at the age of 19 months. In the years before she met her excellent teacher, she would turn to nature whenever she was frustrated. She was like her father in that way; they both enjoyed being outdoors. And the Keller family garden was a place where Helen could go to find solace. Helen once wrote. People often have no idea how fair the flour is to the touch. Nor do they appreciate its fragrance, which is the soul of the flower.   And Helen also wrote, I feel the delightful velvety texture of a flower and discover its remarkable convolutions and something of the miracle of nature is revealed to me. Helen's favorite flower was the peony. If you think about holding a peony and the fragrance of the peony, it's no wonder why that flower had a special appeal to Helen. Helen once said, Since my childhood, I have adored them and have been glad each spring. When the miracle of their bloom.has been wrought again.   In 1961, Helen Keller retired from public life, and she spent the last seven years of her life walking in her garden and reading books. After Helen died of a heart attack on June 1st, 1968, her ashes were placed beside her dear friend and teacher, Annie Sullivan, at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Helen was once asked if she believed. In heaven. She replied, Most certainly.  It is no more than passing from one room into another.  But there's a difference for me.  Because in the other room, I will be able to see.      Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Pig by Robin Hutson This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden and Beyond. Tom Parker Bowles raved, The Pig revolutionised the country house hotel, creating a true rooms home away from hame. No pomp or pretence, just beautiful and magnificent food with produce from their own kitchen gardens. Where The Pig goes, the others follow. From the publisher: A stylish, practical guide to living the good life. Among the pages of The Pig, you will find an idiosyncratic, seasonal approach to the good life, with delicious recipes, how-to guides, lists, panels, and stories. Chapters include one called Out in the Garden - The benefits of growing 12 types of mint- An essay on "the sweetness of carrots"- How to make your own sack garden- Recipe for the Gardener's sandwich   Here's how Robin introduces his restaurant, The Pig, and the journey he's been on these past dozen years. We opened The Pig back in July 2011, although in some respects it feels like a whole lot longer ago than that.  One thing's for sure - we've learnt a lot along the way in those few years. For a start, we've become experts in growing our own and making the most of what we produce. We know how to seek out small artisan producers and work with them to bring some amazing ingredients to the table. We've discovered how to keep bees and make delicious honey. A nd we've even perfected the art of building smokehouses - now we smoke everything in sight, from salmon and salt to beetroot and beef. Beyond the kitchen and garden, we've worked out how to infuse just about anything into gin and vodka and have become past masters at upcycling junk-shop treasures.  The purpose of this book is to share with you some of these discoveries.   If you have visions of a working kitchen garden on a grand scale, listen as Robin tells us what it takes to make it all work at The Pig. We'd heard horrible stories of kitchen gardens at other hotels where the garden produce was left to perish in the soil because there was no shared vision between the chef and the gardener, so we knew this relationship was key. Happily, we've seen no such sorry sights in our gardens. In fact, the bond between garden and kitchen - headed up by Ollie (senior kitchen gardener) and James (chef director) is so strong, there now exists an almost obsessional culture for all things home-grown, homemade and local. Certainly on day one of The Pig, back in the summer of 2011, we didn't envisage the garden team we have today with around 20 kitchen gardeners working across several acres of productive gardens, and our own plant nursery for seedlings. The gardens didn't just play a major part in influencing the food style and the menus but many other aspects of the overall operation, too.   And here's just a random sampling of recipe titles from the index under the letter H: hazelnuts: - nettle salsa verde 143 - salt-baked celeriac salad 84-5 hens 128, 174-5 herbs: garden herb oil 98-9 - growing 114-15 - winter savory $1 herbal healing 255-6 - infusions 208-11, 260 - planters for 241 - in pots 229 - see also basil; lemon verbena; mint; rosemary herby popcorn 205 honey 130-1 - honey clotted cream 123 horseradish: cylindra beetroot & - horseradish toasts 68-9 - making horseradish sauce 68   Here's a glimpse of one of my favorite recipes from this book, Judy's Tomatoes on Toast. Robin writes,  You might think you know what tomatoes on toast tastes like... but believe me, once you've tried this version you'll never have it any other way - it's one of our all-time favourites at home. The tomatoes are so juicy and buttery, and the sourdough toast has just the right combination of crispness and chewiness. Of course the big thing here is the quality of the tomatoes, which can be a bit of a challenge in the UK, especially in the winter. I love Isle of Wight tomatoes, when I can get them. They come in different varieties from some of the best growers in the UK and are fairly local to us as well, which is a bonus. 2 big knobs of salted butter, plus extra for the toast 1kg (2lb 4oz) of the ripest, sweetest, medium-sized tomatoes you can get, roughly chopped A splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional: it's not part of Judy's version but I sometimes add some If I'm feeling a bit wild - woohoo!) 4 large slices of very holey sourdough bread salt and pepper Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and add the tomatoes (and a splash of Worcestershire sauce, if you like).  Cook them gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't boil them, just let them simmer, and then season to your taste. Meanwhile, toast the bread to a nice dark color and spread with a little more butter. By this time the mixture should be halfway between solid and soup, so pour it onto the toast and away you go.   This book is 304 pages of Robin Hutson's The Pig. You can get a copy of The Pig by Robin Hutson and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $8.   Botanic Spark 1917 On this day, a garden accident occurred in West Scranton, Pennsylvania. The story was reported in the 11th volume of the Coal Age magazine. Here's what it said. While Mrs. Theodore Barton was pulling weeds in her garden on June 1st, the ground suddenly gave way under her, and she landed in an old abandoned mine gangway that was 18 feet below. A mine gangway is the highway of the mind, and it's a permanent and often fortified part of the mine. It's heavily timbered on the sides and the roof. And so this event of Mrs. Barton falling through a gangway was actually quite unusual, although I'm sure it was terribly frightening. The article says that several neighbors heard Mrs. Barton screaming for help, and they ended up rescuing her after considerable effort. So all's well, that ends well. But I tell you what: the garden can still be a place where dangerous things can happen. Last fall, I had a terrible fall in my garden. I ended up face planting right into the hard ground. It was early November. And I remember lying there thinking, am I still alive? I'm not kidding. It was such an abrupt fall. I didn't even have time to brace myself. But it underscored something that I always tell my student gardeners and gardeners in general. And that is that it's always a good idea to have your phone on you. Not only for taking pictures of all the beautiful plants and flowers that you're working with but also for your personal safety when you're in the garden.    Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1819 Birth of Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, Walt is remembered as the father of free verse. When Whitman was 54 years old, he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed. He spent the next two years immersed in nature, and he believed that nature had helped to heal him. He wrote, How it all nourishes, lulls me, in the way most needed; the open air, the rye-fields, the apple orchards.   Walt also appreciated flowers. He wrote, A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.   In 1892, Walt wrote one of his most celebrated prose about Wild Flowers in a piece called Specimen Days. This has been and is yet a great season for wild flowers; oceans of them line the roads through the woods, border the edges of the water-runlets, grow all along the old fences, and are scatter'd in profusion over the fields.  An eight-petal'd blossom of gold-yellow clear and bright, with a brown tuft in the middle, nearly as large as a silver half-dollar, is very common; yesterday on a long drive I noticed it thickly lining the borders of the brooks everywhere.  Then there is a beautiful weed cover'd with blue flowers, (the blue of the old Chinese teacups treasur'd by our grand-aunts,) I am continually stopping to admire [it] - [it's] a little larger than a dime, and very plentiful.  White, however, is the prevailing color. The wild carrot I have spoken of; also the fragrant life-everlasting. But there are all hues and beauties, especially on the frequent tracts of half-open scrub-oak and dwarf-cedar hereabout - wild asters of all colors.  Notwithstanding the frost-touch the hardy little chaps maintain themselves in all their bloom.    1840 Birth of Charles McIlvaine, American author, and mycologist. Charles was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He served as a captain in the Pennsylvania Infantry. After the Civil War, he always went by "Captain." When he was 40, Charles moved to West Virginia, where he wrote articles for magazines like Century and Harpers. After the war, food was scarce, and Charles started hunting and eating mushrooms. Charles ate virtually every specimen he encountered and even dabbled in mushrooms said to be poisonous. If he suffered no ill effects, Charles deemed a specimen edible. Before Charles's work, the USDA issued a report in 1885 that claimed there were only twelve edible species of mushrooms in the United States.  Today Charles is best known for his 1896 book called 1,000 American Fungi. Charles was passionate about mycology, and he included his experiences with eating almost every species mentioned in his book. He wrote, I take no man's word for the qualities of a toadstool. I go for it myself. Charles claimed to have eaten over 1,000 mushrooms and toadstools, and he said he enjoyed the flavor of most of them.  His daring ingestion of so many species earned Charles the nickname Old Iron Guts. Charles lived to be 69 and defied the old saying,  There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old bold mushroom hunters. Charles was indeed an old, bold mycologist. Charles's experimentation is all the more impressive given the challenging nature of mushroom identification. If you find plant identification challenging, mushroom identification is much more involved and often requires chemical reagents and microscopic evaluation. In our modern times, DNA sequencing can also definitively establish species. Thanks to his excellent writing skills, Charles wrote about mushrooms in a friendly and conversational manner. Here's what Charles wrote about the Oyster Mushroom: The camel is gratefully called the ship of the desert. The oyster mushroom is the shellfish of the forest. When the tender parts are dipped in egg, rolled in bread crumbs, and fried as an oyster, they're not excelled buy any vegetable and are worth of place on the daintiest menu.   Here's how Charles described the Vomiting Russella: Most are sweet and nutty to the taste. Some are as hot as the fiercest cayenne, but this they lose upon cooking. Their caps make the most palatable dishes when stewed, baked, roasted or escalloped.   Finally, here's a little-known poem that Charles wrote called Our Church Fight. I'm that nigh near disgusted with the fight in our old church, Where one halfs 'g'in the t'other, an' the Lord's left in the lurch, That I went an' told the parson if he'd jine me in a prayer, We'd slip out 'mong the daisies and' put one up from there.   Charles is remembered in the name of the journal of the North American Mycological Association (NAMA), McIlvainea ("Mick-ill-vay-nee-ah").   1893 Birth of Elizabeth Coatsworth, American writer of fiction and poetry for children and adults. In 1931, She won the Newbery Medal for her children's book, The Cat Who Went to Heaven. Elizabeth's poems invoke sentiment and thoughts of home. Her poem November begins, November comes  And November goes,  With the last red berries  And the first white snows.   Her poem Nosegay is about a small bunch of flowers. Nosegays were typically sweet-scented and worn at the waist or bodice. Violets, daffodils, roses and thorn were all in the garden before you were born. Daffodils, violets, red and white roses your grandchildren's children will hold to their noses.   1920 On this day, a 37-year-old Virginia Woolf gardened with her husband, Leonard, at the new home they had bought the previous year. The garden covered three-quarters of a hectare and came with mature apple, plum, cherry, and pear trees. Of the two, Leonard was more the gardener, but Virginia was happy to assist whenever she got the chance. In her diary on this day, she wrote, The first pure joy of the garden… weeding all day to finish the beds in a queer sort of enthusiasm which made me say this is happiness.  Gladioli standing in troops; the mock orange out.  We were out till nine at night, though the evening was cold.  Both stiff and scratched all over today, with chocolate earth in our nails.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman This book came out in 2012. It's an oldie, but goodie. And the subtitle is From Apples to Zucchini, 150 Recipes for Pickles, Relishes, Chutneys & More. Well, this is one of my favorite books. I use this every single summer. And I love what the publisher says here about Andrea's book. They write Blending your grandmother’s pickling know-how with today’s Internet resources, Andrea Chesman shows you how easy it is to fill your pantry with tasty homemade sauerkraut, Salt-Cured Dilly Beans, and Rosemary Onion Confit. Explaining classic techniques in simple language, guiding you to helpful websites, and making you laugh with humorous stories, Chesman provides inspiration and encouragement for both first-time picklers and dedicated home canners. With tips on pickling everything from apples to zucchini, you’ll enjoy exploring the stunning variety of flavors that can fill a Mason jar.   And I can tell you from experience that when the pandemic hit, and we had that first year of everybody rushing to garden, Andrea's book was a go-to resource for so many people as they were dealing with their first garden harvest. Now I thought what I would do is walk you through the table of contents because that helps you understand Andrea's book's structure. This is really a book about pickling. There are other items and other recipes covered here, but this is primarily a pickle resource. So, what is covered here is: 1 All About Pickling page 10 2 Fermented Pickles page 34 3 Single Jar Pickles page 72 4 Big-Harvest Fresh-Pack Pickles page 122 5 Salsas, Relishes, Chutneys page 148 (This is one of my most dog-eared sections in this book.) 6 Refrigerator & Freezer Pickles page 202 7 Recipes for Enjoying Homemade Pickles page 236   I also wanted to share just a little bit about what Andrea wrote in the introduction to this book because you'll get a little glimpse of her marvelous sense of humor. She wrote this in the introduction. Naturally I wanted to pack all that freshly harvested goodness into jars to preserve it for the coming winter. I asked my grand- mother how she made her pickles. My grandmother was not a woman enthralled by the domestic arts, nor was she overly chatty. She told me to put cucumbers and dill in a crock, cover them with water, then add enough salt so "it's just before you gag.   Well, that sounds like my mom. That's exactly how my mom tells me about how to make our family recipes. So this one made me smile. Now the other story that I wanted to share with you is this fantastic idea that Andrea came up with for sharing your pickle bounty. If you're part of a garden club or a group of gardeners in your neighborhood, maybe you can pool your resources when it comes to canning time. I had the opportunity to collect pickle recipes and gather them together for a book. It began with a "pickle barter party." Because so many traditional recipes yielded seven or nine jars of pickles (a boiling-water-bath canner load), I thought it would be a great idea to swap jars of home-canned pickles the same way people swap cookies at Christmastime. My friends were all fellow back-to-the-landers, and preserving food by canning, pickling, and freezing was part of the lifestyle. Today's urban food swaps accomplish much the same thing.   Great idea. Isn't that? And such a fun thing to do this summer. You can do it outside. And not have to worry about catching COVID. And here's what Andrea says about pickle preferences - and this is so true - especially if you have kids. What I learned as I tasted my way through batch after batch of pickles is that preferences vary widely. For some people, no pickle is too sweet; others hate garlic. But inevitably, there is perfect pickle for every taste. It just requires collecting and inventing many, many recipes. Over the years, I've watched many trends and pickle making And in the 1970s, just like today, many people rediscovered, pickle making as they moved back to the land. And so what's old is new again. Well, I tell you what, you could do a lot worse than having Andrea Chessman be your guide for pickling. This is a hefty book. It is 304 pages of pickling everything - from cucumbers (so that you can make your dills, your half-sours, your bread-and-butters) to other vegetables (everything from carrots to rhubarb cabbage, to even pineapple.) The bottom line here is you can pickle it - and that's Andrea's favorite saying. Now, luckily Andrea's book is ubiquitous because this book has been around for a decade. You can get a copy of The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $8. And by the way, if you have a family reunion to go to, or you just want to have a little family picnic, this would be a lovely little hostess gift. It's so sweet and that cover is adorable.   Botanic Spark 1905 The Flower Garden Day by Day by Louisa Yeomans King MAY 31. Take a part of this month if possible, and visit the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, for lilacs, Asiatic cherries, crabs, and general beauty; and Highland Park, Rochester, N. Y., for the great lilac collection. The notebooks should go, too; and while it is difficult to leave one's own garden at SO interesting a time, a great enlarging of the gardening horizon is the result of such travels.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.