The Daily Gardener

Today we celebrate fall through the eyes of a writer and naturalist from the year 1855 and the botanist honored with building on the University of Glasgow. We'll learn about the Indian botanist who bred a new species of sugar cane and the Arizona Palm - yes, it does exist! We'll hear some November Poems. We Grow That Garden Library with a book that helps us savor the garden through our five senses. I'll talk about the task some gardeners regret forgetting and then share a little story about the botanist who ended up becoming one of the most prolific orchid hunters. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Saturday morning, I woke up to a snow-covered garden. Winter is gaining on us... but don't despair. I found a lovely video clip from Katie Rushworth @queenofspades00 over at Silverline Tools, who shares that there are plenty of ways to add color to your winter garden. You can watch along in her video as she plants a colorful border and uses evergreens and semi-evergreens. She adds a lovely heuchera and huecherella. Next, she uses a beautiful false bamboo or Nandina and pittosporum for interest and texture. Then, she incorporates a Pyrrhus into the back of the border as well as a Sibirica dogwood. Katie points out that the more exciting foliage you can source, the more dynamic your border will become. Next up, Mary Ellen Ellis @gardenknowhow shared a great post over the weekend called How Many Kinds Of Ginkgo Are There? Well, the answer is lots! I love the Fairmount, the Majestic Butterfly, and the Lacy Ginkgo. "Fairmount. This is a columnar ginkgo, meaning its growth habit is narrow and upright. This is a good choice for narrow spaces with plenty of vertical room. Majestic Butterfly. This type has variegated leaves, green streaked with yellow. It is also a smaller tree at just 10 feet (3 meters) high at maturity. Lacy Ginkgo. The lacy cultivar is so-called for its leaves, which have a textured edge that gives the appearance of lace." Finally, as trends go, Houseplants are Hot! I found a great post that was reshared from last Dec by @batesbn and featured in the blog Greenhouse Management called Houseplant Comeback.The subtitle was: Tech-savvy Millennials are reviving the houseplant market. How will the latest indoor foliage trends affect growers and retailers in 2019 and beyond? The article featured @gardenmedia Katie Dubow: "Whether we're doing it consciously or subconsciously, we're putting more greenery in our homes because we're spending more time inside." "[Last year], the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) developed a series of infographics to promote the proven health and wellness benefits of houseplants. The #PlantsDoThat campaign illustrated how indoor plants can improve test scores in classrooms, lower blood pressure in hospitals and increase productivity in the workplace. "We started the #PlantsDoThat campaign to show people what houseplants actually do in their everyday lives," says Day, who is also the chair of the commercial council for NICH. "These benefits resonate with Millennials because they want something that does more than just look pretty." Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because 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 track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1855, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal: "The winter is approaching. The birds are almost all gone. The note of the 'dee de de' sounds now more distinct, prophetic of winter, as I go amid the wild apples on Nawshawtuct. The autumnal dandelion sheltered by this apple-tree trunk is drooping and half-closed and shows but half its yellow, this dark, late, wet day in the fall... Larches are now quite yellow, — in the midst of their fall... When I look away to the woods, the oaks have a dull, dark red now, without brightness. The willow-tops on causeways have a pale, bleached, silvery, or wool-grass-like look." #OTD On the same day Thoreau was recording his autumnal observations, the English botanist Frederick Orpen Bower was born (in 1855). Bower became the Regius chair of botany at the University of Glasgow, "Glass-go." When he arrived, the department consisted of two rooms and a small attic space for the herbarium. When Bower lectured, he had to vie for a lecture hall with other departments and faculty. In 1901, the University completed a new botany building, which was technically Britain's first botanical institute. As part of the University's 450th-anniversary celebration, Sir Joseph Hooker opened the building. It was renamed in the 1990s to honor Bower and became known as the Bower Building. On October 24, 2001, the Bower building was significantly damaged by a fire. The losses included first editions of Darwin's Origin of the species, as well as works from both Hooker and Bower. Many of the oldest botanical manuscripts and books were impacted because they were stored on the third floor under the roof space. After almost four years of continuous work, the building reopened in November 2005. #OTD Today is the birthday of the Indian botanist EK Janaki Ammal who was born on this day in 1897. She was born in Kerala and studied in numerous colleges in India and received her masters and doctorate at the Unversity of Michigan. Before Ammal's work, the sugar cane grown in India didn't grow well and wasn't sweet. After her schooling, Ammal worked at a sugar cane breeding station, and she began experimenting with varieties of sugar cane. Although she faced significant jealousy and discrimination from her male counterparts, Ammal managed to create a variety of sugar cane that grew well in the climate of India and it was sweet. It made India a significant grower of sugar cane. #OTD On this day in 1984, the Arizona Republic newspaper shared an article by Vic Miller, a professor of agriculture at Arizona Stale University, about the history of the native palm of Arizona. The article starts this way: "Yes, we do have a native palm. Seeds of it were collected in Arizona; taken to Belgium and grown in a nursery; [observed] and named by a German botanist, but it is called the California fan palm." The mystery about the California Fan Palm was not whether it existed but where it came from - California or Arizona. The article continued: "In 1976, ... researchers published an article ... stating that there was [an area where] native palms [grew naturally] in Arizona... on Castle Creek, about a mile north and west of Castle Hot Springs. This discovery helped solve a 100-year-old mystery. [Here's the backstory:] In 1879, a German botanist, Herman von Wendland, named our [Arizona] palm Washingtonia filifera in memory of George Washington. He had seen the plants growing in a nursery in Belgium. Seeds from which these were grown had been collected in America. But from which state had the seeds been collected? Three years earlier, in 1876, the German botanist Georg Drude wrote that the seed was collected in Arizona, along the Colorado River. Then, the [Italian botanist, Dr. Francesco Franceschi, also said that the seed was] from Arizona. But the Stanford botanist and herbarium curator, Samuel Parish, disagreed because the area where the seeds were collected was supposedly near Prescott. According to Parish, this was "a region of pines rather than of palms." Thus he insisted that the seeds had to come from California. Now, what Parish didn't realize, was that there actually were groves of Arizona palms - only 38 miles from Prescott - at Castle Creek. So how did the Arizona Palm seeds end up in Belgium? Well, it turns out, the 1870's stagecoach line went right along Castle Creek to Prescott Arizona and then onto Santa Fe New Mexico. In September 1872, the Czech botanist and Extreme Orchid Hunter Benedict Roezl was in that part of the Southwest on his way to Mexico. He likely bought some of the ripe purple fruit of those Castle Creek Arizona Palms when fellow travelers were selling them. Then, he sent the fruit on to Germany with his other specimens. Unearthed Words "November's sky is chill and drear, November's leaf is red and sear." - Sir Walter Scott "Listen ... With faint dry sound, Like steps of passing ghosts, The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break free from the trees And fall." - Adelaide Crapsey, 1878-1914, November Night Today's book recommendation: The Garden in Every Sense and Season by Tovah Martin I am a huge Tovah Martin fan, and this book does not disappoint. First, I have to share what Michelle Slatalla of Gardenista wrote about this book (it's so good - it's printed right on the cover!) "Reminds us that the best way to get to know a garden is through our senses. Don't expect to make it through many pages before you feel an urge to run outdoors to reintroduce yourself to your own landscape." This book is one of my favorites, and I'm thrilled to share it with you today - at the start of November - a month where we count our blessings and are thankful. Martin's book is about that - being present and aware - as well as so genuinely grateful for our gardens. Gardens are so much work. But don't forget they are the muse to so many of our dreams. We get so much joy from them and, if your in a Northern Garden like I am, the time we get to spend in them is so minimal. In Tovah's book, she shares 100 essays that are divided into the four seasons; but then each season is divided into the five senses - sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. Let me share a few excerpts from her section on autumn: Sight "Gone to Seed" "Look closely, and you'll realize that seed heads are fascinating. Also, they aren't usually as glam as flowers. They're intricate little packets carefully designed to ensure tomorrow for whatever sedum, mountain mint, aster, marigold or echinacea they plan to disperse." Sound "Crunch Time" "You might say my affinity for rakes is just the sour grapes of a 90-pound weakling unable to pull a ripcord effectively. And you might be right. But there is something infinitely fulfilling about unearthing the herbaceous peony with its tawny blush leaves still intact and rejoicing because I will be enjoying its color for another few weeks." Touch "Get a Grip" "Some women have an arsenal of shoes at their beck and call. A stack of gloves placed by the door is more my speed. The collection includes mud gloves, leather gloves, lined gloves, driving gloves, gauntlets, and wool gloves... Wear the wrong gloves in autumn, and your hands are going to suffer. " Touch "Underground Assets" "I have a conspiracy theory linking chiropractors to the autumn planting bulbs trend." Tovah Martin is such an excellent writer - conversational and witty - and the photography in this book is beautiful. Today's Garden Chore Don't forget to shut the water off to your spigots; you don't want frozen water to burst your pipes.

Disconnect the garden hoses from the spigots and bring the spray nozzles into a warm space so that they can be used next year. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart You might be wondering what happened to Benedict Roezl, the botanist who sent the Arizona Palm seeds back to Germany and then Belgium. Here's the rest of his story: Once he got to Mexico, Roezl started a business out of growing a nettle called the Boehmeria nivea, which produces a fiber that can be harvested. He had built a machine to extract the fiber from the Boehmeria and brought it to an exhibition. When someone asked if his machine could to extract fiber from an agave, Roezl attempted to try it. Tragically, his hand got caught in the machine and was crushed. The accident changed his life. Roezl left his business and began collecting plants full-time. Roezl collected over 800 orchids from Mexico and South America, along with thousands of other plants like agaves and cacti. In Columbia, he discovered the Zambia Roezlii; the tallest and oldest orchid of all. Even though Roezl was 6'2" tall, and used an imposing iron hook for a hand, during his collecting days, Roezl was robbed 17 times and, once, even attacked by a jaguar. Roezl collected for a nurseryman named Sander for 40 years. At the end of his life, Roezl returned to Czechoslovakia. His country welcomed him home with open arms, and the Russian czar honored him. After he died at home in his bed, his funeral was attended by the Austrian emperor. Today, there is a handsome statue of Roezl in Prague. It's located on the southern end of Charles Square. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the botanist who is considered the Father of Taxonomy and the young Landscape Architect who learned by taking weekly walking tours of gardens.

We'll learn about the botanist who saved Kew Garden and the most famous garden designer you've never heard of.

We'll listen to a little garden folklore for November and an amusing poem about daylight savings.

We Grow That Garden Library with today's book which features the gardens of Russell Page, and you can get it on Amazon for under $4, which is highway robbery - or Landscape robbery in this case.

I'll talk about digging up those dahlias and then share the super cute story about a young botanist and the housekeeper who was sure he was up to no good.

But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. National Fig Week It's the start of National Fig Week which runs through the 7th of November. All of the figs that are growing in the United States are growing in the Central Valley of California where 28 million pounds of figs are harvested every year. It was Captain Bligh, who is honored as the planter of the very first fig in Tasmania back in 1792. The Greek word for fig is syco. It's why one species of the fig tree is called the sycamore. Fig trees are in the ficus genus and the Mulberry family. The popular house plant, the rubber plant, is also a species of ficus. And, figs are the sweetest of all fruits. They are made up of 55% sugar. Today Fine Gardening shared a great post called Treasures in the November Garden, and it featured posts from a gardener named Carla Zambelli Mudry Carla shared beautiful images from her November garden, where she commented that the fall witch hazel had started blooming, and her Sochi tea plant is still producing lovely white flowers. The post features pictures of her witch hazel in bloom. Gardeners have soft spots for the delicate yellow spidery flowers of the witch hazel. The common Witch Hazel virginiana can grow in zones 3 - 8. Sochi tea Camellia sinensis is hearty in zones 7 to 10. Now, to make the tea, the leaves are harvested. But again, as with the witch hazel, it's the beautiful blooms of this camellia that will steal your heart. This post was part of Fine Gardening's garden photo of the day. If you'd like to share your garden with Fine Gardening, you can send them 5 to 10 images of your garden to GPOD (which is short for a Garden picture of the day) at Fine Gardening.com ([email protected]) along with a few comments about the plants in the photos. You can share anything your successes and failures funny stories or favorite plants.

Finally, my good friend, Kathy Jentz, over at Washington Gardener Magazine, shared 10 Things To Do With a Pumpkin After Halloween. Her list is so great I wanted to share with you here: 1. Compost it. 2. Puree and cook it. 3. Make it into a birdfeeder. 4. Turn it into a planter. 5. Use it as a serving bowl for soup. 6. Pickle the peel. 7. Apply a face mask. 8. Make doggie treats. 9. Wash and roast the seeds. 10. Save a few seeds to grow another pumpkin next year!

Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because 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 track down links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group. Brevities #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Carl Linnaeus, who died on this day 1783. Thirty years earlier, on May 1st, 1753, the publication of his masterpiece Species Plantarum changed plant taxonomy forever. It gave Linnaeus the moniker Father of Taxonomy; his naming system is called binomial nomenclature. And, it was Linnaeus himself who said: "God created, Linnaeus ordered." One side note worth mentioning is how Linnaeus' collection ended up leaving Sweden and finding a home in London: When Linnaeus died in 1778, his belongings were sold. Joseph Banks, the president of the Linnean Society, acted quickly, buying everything of horticultural value on behalf of the society. Linnaeus' notebooks and specimens were on a ship bound for England by the time the king of Sweden realized Linnaeus' legacy was no longer in Sweden. He sent a fast navy ship in pursuit of Banks' precious cargo, but it was too late. And so, Linnaeus's collection is in London at the Linnaeus Society's Burlington House.

And, it was Joseph Banks who secured the legacy of Linnaeus. Banks spread Linnaeus's ideas across the globe, which was easier for him to accomplish since he was based in London, the hub for the science of botany.

#OTD Today is the birthday of Charles Eliot, who was born on this day in 1859. Eliot was the son of a prominent Boston family. In 1869, the year his mother died, his father Charles William Eliot became the president of Harvard University. In 1882 Charles went to Harvard to study botany. A year later, he began apprenticing with the landscape firm of Frederick Law Olmsted. As a young landscape architect, Eliot enjoyed visiting different natural areas, and he conducted regular walking tours of different nature areas around Boston. In his diary for 1878, Eliot did something kind of neat; he made a list. It was basically what we call a listicle nowadays. He titled it "A Partial List of Saturday Walks before 1878". Isn't that fabulous? As a young architect, Eliot spent 13 months touring England and Europe between 1885 and 1886. The trip was actually Olmsted's idea, and it no doubt added to Eliot's appreciation of various landscape concepts. During this trip, Eliot kept a journal where he wrote down his thoughts and made sketches of the places he was visiting. Eliot's benchmark was always Boston, and throughout his memoirs, he was continually comparing new landscapes to the beauty of his native landscape in New England. Eliot's story ended too soon. He died at 37 from spinal meningitis. Since Eliot had been working on plans for The Arnold Arboretum, he'd gotten to know Charles Sprague Sargent. So, it was Sargent who wrote a tribute to Eliot and featured it in his weekly journal called Garden and Forest. Eliot's death had a significant impact on his father. At times, the two had struggled to connect. Charles didn't like it when his dad got remarried. And, their personalities were very different, and Charles could be a little melancholy. When Charles died, his dad, Charles Sr., began to cull through his work and he was shocked to discover all that he had done. In April 1897, Charles Sr. confided to a friend, "I am examining his letters and papers and I am filled with wonder at what he accomplished in the 10 years of professional life. I should've died without ever having appreciated his influence. His death has shown it to me." Despite his heavy workload as the president of Harvard, Charles Sr. immediately set about compiling all of his son's work and used it to write a book called Charles Eliot Landscape Architect. The book came out in 1902, and today it is considered a classic work in the field of landscape architecture. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist John Lindley who died on this day in 1865. Lindley was a British gardener, a botanist, and an orchidologist. He also served as secretary to the Royal Horticultural Society for 43 years. This is why the Lindley Library at the RHS is named in honor of John Lindley. Lindley's dad owned a nursery and an orchard. And Lindley grew up helping with the family business. In 1815, he went to London. He became friends with William Jackson Hooker, who, in turn, introduced Lindley to Sir Joseph Banks, who hired Lindley to work in his herbarium. When Banks died, the fate of the Royal Botanic Gardens was put in jeopardy. Banks' death corresponded with the death of King George III, who was the patron of the garden. These deaths created an opening for the British government to question whether the garden should remain open. To explore their options, the Government asked Lindley, as well as Joseph Paxton and John Wilson, to put together a recommendation. Ultimately, Lindley felt the institution should be the people's garden and the headquarters for botany in England. The government rejected the proposal and decided to close the garden. On February 11, 1840, Lindley ingeniously demanded that the issue be put before the Parliament. His advocacy brought the matter to the publics' attention; the garden-loving British public was not about to lose the Royal Botanic. And, so, Lindley saved Kew Gardens, and William Hooker was chosen as the new director. Lindley shortened the genus Orchidaceae to orchid – which is much more friendly to pronounce - and when he died, Lindley's massive orchid collection was moved to a new home at Kew. As for Lindley, there are over 200 plant species named for him. There is "lindleyi", "lindleyana", "lindleyanum", "lindleya" and "lindleyoides". And here's a little-remembered factoid about Lindley - he was blind in one eye. #OTD Today is the birthday of the British gardener, garden designer, and landscape architect Russell Page who was born on this day in 1906. His full name was Montague Russell Page. Page's is known for his book called The Education of a Gardener. The book is a classic in garden literature. In it, Page shares his vast knowledge of plants and trees and design. The book ends with a description of his dream garden. In the book, there are many wonderful quotes by Page. Page wrote: "I know nothing whatever of many aspects of gardening and very little of a great many more. But I never saw a garden from which I did not learn something and seldom met a gardener who did not, in some way or another, help me." First published in 1962, Page's book shares his charming anecdotes and timeless gardening advice. He wrote: "I like gardens with good bones and an affirmed underlying structure. I like well-made and well-marked paths, well-built walls, well-defined changes in level. I like pools and canals, paved sitting places and a good garden in which to picnic or take a nap." and "If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. 'Green fingers' are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpracticed. But green fingers are the extensions of a verdant heart." Page is considered the first modern garden designer. Like Piet Oudolf, Page used flowers to create living, natural paintings. And although he designed Gardens for the Duke of Windsor and Oscar de la Renta, it was Russell Page who said: "I am the most famous garden designer you've never heard of." Page designed the Gardens at the Frick Collection in New York City in 1977 In 2014 when the Frick was making plans to expand, they initially considered demolishing the Page garden. After a year of facing public backlash in support of the garden - which was something the museum never anticipated - in May 2015, the Frick decided to keep the garden. During the year of debating the fate of the garden, the Frick indicated that they believed the garden was never meant to be a permanent part of the museum. But, all that changed when Charles Birnbaum, the founder of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, decided to do his homework. Birnbaum discovered an old Frick press release from 1977, where they proudly introduced the Page landscape as a permanent garden. Birnbaum shared his discovery on the Huffington Post, and thanks to him, the 3700 square-foot Page garden lives on for all of us to enjoy. Unearthed Words If there's ice in November that will bear a duck, There'll be nothing after but sludge and muck. ~English folk-lore rhyme, first printed c.1876 "In spring when maple buds are red, We turn the clock an hour ahead; Which means each April that arrives, We lose an hour out of our lives. Who cares? When autumn birds in flocks Fly southward, back we turn the clocks, And so regain a lovely thing That missing hour we lost in spring." - Phyllis McGinley, Daylight Savings Time Today's Grow That Garden Library book recommendation: The Gardens of Russell Page by Gabrielle Zuylen and Marina Schinz Schinz and van Zuylen researched and photographed all of Page's best work, both early and late, and some now no longer extant. They share some of his private files and unpublished writing and help us get to know Page and his work more keenly. The book shares over 250 photographs that capture the exceptional beauty of Page creations in England, America, and throughout continental Europe. I love the tidbit about Page that is shared in the introduction: "In his youth, he had wanted to be a painter, but acquaintances in Paris intent on making gardens helped change his direction. In later years, when he was asked whether he was more of a plantsman or a designer, his answer was understated: "I know more about plants than most designers and more about design than most plantsmen." In fact, he had an exceptional understanding, knowledge, and feel for, plants allied to a strong sense of architecture." This book came out in 2008. You can get used copies using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $4. Today's Garden Chore If you've had your first frost, that's the signal to gardeners to dig up their dahlia and canna tubers and get them stored for next spring. Once they are out of the ground, I brush them off; removing any extra soil, and then I put them in a basket or a container with plenty of perlite and keep them on a nice cool, dark shelf in the basement storage room. The perlite keeps the tubers dry and allows them to breathe. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart When I was researching John Lindley, I stumbled on an adorable story about him. Lindley arrived in England when he was a teenager. Naturally, he needed a place to stay, so Hooker graciously took him in and gave him a room at his home called Halesworth. The story goes that, over the course of a few weeks, the Halesworth housekeeper had observed that Lindley's bed was always neat as a pin. It was clear he never slept in it. The housekeeper immediately began to wonder what Lindley was doing and where was he sleeping. She began to worry that he might not be the kind of person they wanted living at Halesworth. When her worry got the best of her, she brought the matter to Hooker's attention. Anxiety is contagious, and the housekeeper's concern made Hooker worry. So, he confronted Lindley and asked him to account for his unused bed. Lindley calmly explained that he was hoping to go to Sumatra to collect plants. In anticipation of the physical difficulties of plant exploration, Lindley had been spending every night sleeping on the boards of the hardwood floor in his room. Lindley got to keep living at Halesworth. He wrote his first book there called Observations on the Structure of Fruits. He never made it to Sumatra. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the gardener who had his home and garden trashed by the Russian Czar and the poet who wrote one of his most famous poems under the plum tree in his garden. We'll learn about the American Landscape Architect who never lived to see the big park he dreamed of, and we'll learn about the horticulturist who created the first International Flower show in NYC. We'll hear the October Poem about woodbines (or honeysuckle). We Grow That Garden Library with an herb-based cookbook. I'll talk about late-season cover crops (and no, it's not too late), and then we'll have a witty article about shortening tall sunflowers. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.

The midwife and physician Tieraona Low Dog over at Medicine Lodge Ranch recently wrote a post called 4 Important Herbs for Women and Their Health. The list may surprise you: raspberries, nettles, ladies mantle, and sage. With regard to raspberry and nettles, Dr. Low Dog recommends using the leaves to make a tea. With the nettles, in particular, Dr. Low Dog cooks them just like she would spinach. She steams the nettles for 15 minutes and then sautés them in a little olive oil with garlic and salt. Dr. Low Dog reminds us that the Latin word for lady's mantle Alchemillastems from the Arabic word for alchemy. Historically people believed lady's mantle leaves were a fantastic source of water. Like the raspberry and nettles, this herb can be used as an herbal tea. Last but not least, sage should be used by women who are making the transition into their sage years. Sage can ease the symptoms of menopause like hot flashes and night sweats. And a cup of sage tea can help you sleep at night. So, bottom's up. In honor of Halloween, I wanted to share this fun post from Art's Nursery Garden & Homethat was shared back in 2014 the title of the post was 10 excellent plants with black foliage Here's the list:

• Black Lace Elderberry
• Sambucus 'Black Tower'
• Black Mondo Grass
• Black Scallop Ajuga
• Dark Horse Weigela
• Fine Wine Weigela
• Brunette Snakeroot
• Ninebark
• Platt's Black New Zealand Flax
• Purple Copper Beech

Rebecca van der Zalmdid an excellent job describing all of these plants in this post. If you'd like to check out her detailed descriptions of each of these plants, just head on over to the Facebook group for the show - The Daily Gardener Community- and search for the words "black foliage." On this day in 2011, the United Nations reported that the world population had reached 7,000,000,000. Twelve years earlier, on this day in 1999, the newspaper out of Appleton Wisconsin reported that the population had reached the 6,000,000,000 mile mark - so we gained 1 billion In a dozen years. In that newspaper article, a botanist from the University of Wisconsin shared the state of botany. About Wisconsin, in particular, the botanist warned that in 20 or 30 years and will have the climate of Iowa much drier and warmer. According to current projections, the global population will hit 8 billion in 2024. And it will reach 9 billion by 2042. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because 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 track down links - just head on over to the group the next time you're on Facebook - just search for The Daily Gardener Community- and request to join. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the English Gardner and writer John Evelyn who was born on this day in 1620. Evelyn kept a detailed diary for 66 years, and hehad an excellent understanding of trees. In 1664, Evelyn wrote a treaty called A Discourse of Forest Trees. It was basically an appeal to his fellow countrymen to plant trees. The English Navy was growing, and they desperately needed timber to build more ships. Over his lifetime, Evelyn updated his Discourse of Forest Trees a total of three more times; the final edition was released immediately after his death. In honor of Thanksgiving, which is now less than a month away, let me share this excellent quote by Evelyn about the benefits of chestnuts: "Chestnuts are delicacies for princes and a lusty and masculine food for rustics, and able to make women well-complexioned." Evelyn had a devoted passion for gardening. And, here's a little known fact: Evelyn was the first garden author to publish a book about salads (or Sallets). Listen to the benefits of salad as described by Evelyn: "By reason of its soporiferous quality, lettuce ... still continues the principal foundation of the universal tribe of Sallets, which is to cool and refresh, besides its other properties... including beneficial influences on morals, temperance, and chastity." (FYI: Soporiferous means Inducing or tending to induce sleep. Some lettuce secretes lactucarium - a milky fluid found in the base of the lettuce stems. It is known as lettuceopium because of its sedativeand pain-relieving properties. It has also been reported to promote a mild sensation of euphoria.) It was John Evelyn who wrote: "The gardener's work is never at end, it begins with the year and continues to the next. He prepares the ground, and then he plants, and then he gathers the fruits." "Gardening is a labour full of tranquility and satisfaction; natural and instructive, and as such contributes to the most serious contemplation, experience, health and longevity." Bear in mind Evelyn's appreciation for the amount of work a garden requires as I tell you this little story about him. In 1698, John Evelyn had owned his estate for 40 years. Everyone who knew it said it was magnificent - both inside and out. It was decorated to the nines. Of all that he owned, Evelyn's garden was his pride and joy. That year, the Russian Czar, Peter the Great, brought an entourage of 200 people to England to visit William III. In a gesture of hospitality, William volunteered John Evelyn's home to host the Czar and his people during their visit. Evelyn and his wife graciously moved out to give the Czar his privacy. Well, it wasn't long before Evelyn's servants began sending him urgent messages begging him to return. When Evelyn came home, he walked into a nightmare. The whole estate had been trashed. Priceless paintings had served as dartboards. His floors were ruined, windows were smashed; even the garden was destroyed. The servants told how the 6'8 Czar had played a game with his friends where they put him in one of Evelyn's wheel barrels and then raced him through the garden beds; crashing into walls, trees, and hedges. It was a complete disregard for the sanctity of Evelyn's garden. For twenty years, Evelyn had nursed along a hedge of holly that had turned into a glorious living wall. It was ruined. The party even managed to knock down part of the stone wall that surrounded the garden. It must have been a scene akin to the movie Animal House. Evelyn immediately sent word to the king about what had happened and arrangements were made straight away to move the czar to other lodgings. King William settled with Evelyn to have his property restored - his home needed to be gutted and rebuilt from the floors up. John Evelyn was 78 years old when this happened to him. I'm sure there was no amount of restitution that could restore the years of love he had spent in his garden. He lived for another 8 years before dying in 1706. #OTD Today is the birthday of the English romantic lyric poet John Keats who was born in 1795. During his short life, (Keats died from tuberculosis at the age of 25), his poems didn't make much of a mark. But after his death, Keat's reputation grew and today he is considered one of the world's most beloved poets. Keats wrote his famous Ode to a Nightingale after hearing a nightingale singing in his garden. History records that Keats was sitting under a plum tree and he scribbled the lines to the poem in a notebook. Then, he tore the pages out and they are now preserved in a museum. Another famous poem by Keats is Ode to Autumn. Keats came up with this poem 200 years ago while walking to the hospital of St. Cross. The most famous verse is: "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun." My personal favorite verse is: "Later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease." Keats reflected on his Ode to Autumn in a letter to his friend, John Reynolds, saying: "How beautiful the season is now — How fine the air. A temperate sharpness about it. Really, without joking, chaste weather — Dian skies — I never liked stubble-fields so much as now — Aye better than the chilly green of the Spring. Somehow, a stubble-field looks warm — in the same way that some pictures look warm. This struck me so much in my Sunday's walk that I composed upon it." Today, you can visit the John Keats home. It's an impeccable white, Georgian villa and it is the place where Keats wrote many of his best-loved poems. If you're ever in London, just search for Keats House and gardens. It has awesome reviews on Trip Advisor. #OTD Today is the birthday of Andrew Jackson Downing who was born on this day in 1815.

Downing was an American horticulturist and the author of The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America which came out in 1845. He also served as the editor of a magazine called The Horticulturist. Regarded as one of the founders of American Landscape Architecture, Downing used his work in The Horticulturist magazine as a platform for advancing his pet causes. It was Downing who first came up with the idea for a New York park. His dream became the park we know today: Central Park. Downing also advocated for individual states to create schools devoted to agriculture - that hope became a reality as well. In 1846, when the National Mall in Washington DC was run down and neglected, it was Downing who came up with plans to revive the space. Downing's plans were in vivid contrast to the original plans for the mall. When the Frenchman Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the mall in 1791, he had envisioned a grand avenue. Downing's vision was simpler. He was not a fan of the rigidity or formality found in European gardens. Downin g wanted to create a public museum of living trees and shrubs or at least that's what he called it. Instead of a grand avenue, Downing designed four separate parks that were connected by curving walkways and featuring many different trees. Sadly, Downing's plans were never fully funded or carried out. In the summer of 1852, Downing boarded a steamship called The Henry Clay. At some point, the steamship got into a race with another boat called The Armenia. When the steamship began to overheat, a fire broke out in the engine room. Onboard The Henry Clay happened to be a woman Downing had dated before his marriage. When he jumped in the water to save this woman, she panicked and couldn't stop flailing around and they both drowned. Before Downing had attempted to save the woman, he had thrown deck chairs off of the top of the boat. Downing thought the chairs could be used by people as flotation devices. He was right. As fate would have it, Downing's wife Carolyn survived the disaster by holding on to one of those deck chairs. It was a small consolation to her for the loss of her husband. Downing was just 36 years old when he died. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Richard Morris Hunt who was an American architect during the gilded age. Gardeners know Hunt for his collaborations with the Frederick Law Olmsted. They worked together on the Vanderbilt mausoleum and the Chicago world's fair. Their ultimate collaboration occurred in Asheville, North Carolina, where they worked together to design the gardens, house, and manor village for the Biltmore Estate. When he was alive, Hunt wanted to elevate public taste in design and the arts, but he was also flexible enough to meet them where they were. It was Richard Morris Hunt who said, "The first thing you've got to remember is that it's your clients' money you're spending. Your goal is to achieve the best results by following their wishes. If they want you to build a house upside down standing on its chimney, it's up to you to do it." #OTD On this day in 1913, the horticulturist Charles Totty received a medal from the New York Horticultural Society for developing a new rose called "Shell Pink Shawyer." Totty immigrated to the United States from England. He was known as CH to his friends Totty was a shrewd businessman. On April Fools' Day 1903 he bought a greenhouse business in Madison New Jersey. Then he opened up a florist shop Called Totty's flowers on Fifth Avenue in New York. Totty was responsible for establishing the First International Flower Show in New York City. Totty himself won thousands of awards at American flower shows and he was credited with introducing the chrysanthemum to America. Totty's success was owed in part to the support of his wife and their daughter Helen. In 1930, at the beginning of the great depression, Totty spoke to a group of New England flower growers. He encouraged growers to "pull up your belts and go to it," continuing to grow their businesses during the depression. Totty said that,

"it was up to the growers to open up new avenues for their products and that publicity stunts that gave away flowers cheapened [the industry]. He cautioned that no other trade gave away anything of value so why should florists?" In 2017, the century-old Shakespeare-themed garden at the College of Saint Elizabeth was in desperate need of a makeover. In researching the history of the garden, the school discovered that it had been visited by Charles Totty, who heaped praise on the garden's design saying: "No Shakespeare garden in the world, not even the one at Avon, the birthplace of the poet, quite reaches the beauty and perfection of ... St. Elizabeth's."

Unearthed Words "Corn and grain, corn and grain, All that falls shall rise again." - Wiccan Harvest Chant Woodbines in October As dyed in blood, the streaming vines appear, While long and low the wind about them grieves; The heart of autumn must have broken here And poured Its treasure out upon the leaves. ~ By Charlotte Fiske Bates Today's Grow That Garden Library book recommendation: The Best of Thymes by Marge Clark

This book is part of my Marge Clark cookbook collection. Her recipes are wonderful and her cookbooks are beautiful. The 410 pages in this cookbook incorporate herbs from the garden. Clark was a gardener, so her cookbooks include all kinds of growing information and plant history. Clark's recipes are organized by the main herb used. Her Lemon Verbena pound cake and her Roasted Marinated Pepper Salad are personal favorites of mine. This book came out in 1997. You can get used hardcover copies using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $4. Today's Garden Chore

Plant Late-Season, Cold Hardy Cover Crops in your kitchen or herb garden.

If you've never tried a cover crop, you're in for a treat. Cover crops keep the soil aerated and they add a layer of protection to your beds in freezing weather. Best of all, cover crops add nutrients and nitrogen back into the soil. They're one of the best shoulder season activities you can do in your garden. Even when you have a cold fall like we do this year. You can still plant cover crops late - even after the first frost. Thankfully, cover crops germinate quickly - think 7-10 days. So amp up your soil health with cover crops now - your kitchen garden will thank you in the spring. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

On this day in 1986, The Tribune out of Seymour Indiana shared a post about making sunflowers shorter:

"A North Dakota botanist has discovered that a herbicide can retard the height of sunflowers. Being easier to harvest can make the crop more profitable. [He] should write a book: "How to Make Money in a Declining Stalk Market." Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the impressionist Landscape painter who included kitchen gardens as a subject and the botanist who gave a speech in 1916 about his four rules of home landscaping. We'll learn about the English botanist who saved many varieties of Japanese cherry from extinction and the botanist who braved the destruction of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to save plant specimens. We'll hear the Poem called "A Song of October" that debuted in 1890. We Grow That Garden Library with THE book on She Sheds. I'll talk about making a simple leaf compost bin, and then we'll wrap things up with a poignant diary entry by the quintessential southern gardener Elizabeth Lawrence. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Mother Earth News recently shared a post called When Age and Illness Invade the Homestead. The article asks this question: "How do you cope when long-term illness or a chronic health condition, even just aging, becomes a factor?" Gardeners need to consider:

1. Reassessing and prioritizing their space. Maybe you don't need such a big garden space at this point in your life. Is it time to consider going small?
2. Adapt and compensate with new ideas like elevated beds.
3. Take more breaks when you are working.
4. Farm it out - get help, so you don't overdo it.

The Guardian just shared the results of research that shows that a healthy diet means a healthy planet. The research showed that, "fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains were best for both avoiding disease and protecting the climate and water resources." Michael Clark at the University of Oxford, who led the study, said: "Choosing better, more sustainable diets is one of the main ways people can improve their health and help protect the environment." So there you go: growing your own food, gardening, is not only good for you - it's better for the planet. Finally, Gardenista just shared an excellent article called 10 Perennial Gardens Inspired by Piet Oudolf. Oudolf's signature look includes soft drifts of grasses combined with striking perennials that look good even in winter. Oudolf's goal is getting all of it to work together to create dream landscapes that evoke a natural look. Gardenista did a great job of sharing ten images of different gardens that understand the Oudolf formula, and they created installations inspired by his work. When it comes to picking which perennials to include in the garden, Oudolf sees perennials through a lens that is focused on architectural elements. He's looking at the shape and the lines of the plant - but he's also incorporating the full life cycle of the plant. He wants to incorporate the way perennials look not only in early spring and summer but also in the fall and even in the winter. Seed heads, pods, dried blossoms, and stems; these are all embraced and part of the plan. So don't be too quick to tidy everything up in the garden. Especially when it comes to winter gardens, you've got to leave enough standing so that you have something to look at. If you'd like to learn more about Oudolf, I shared a great video in the Facebook Group from PBS that was featured in April of this year. The reporter, Jeffrey Brown, met with Oudolf at his home in the Netherlands to discuss his work. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because 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 track down links - just head on over to the group the next time you're on Facebook, just search for: The Daily Gardener Community and request to join. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Alfred Sisley, who was born on this day in 1839. Sisley was an impressionist landscape painter. He painted landscapes almost exclusively, and he especially loved natural, untouched scenes. Gardeners enjoy his paintings called A Garden Path and The Kitchen Garden. #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist George Plummer Burns who was born on this day in 1871. Burns was the chairman of the UVM botany department. He also had served as the superintendent of the park department for Burlington, Vermont. When I was researching Burns, I stumbled on a newspaper clipping from 1916, which shared a speech he gave to the Rutland Woman's Club called Landscape Gardening for the Home. He gave four rules for landscaping: "1.Avoid straight lines; 2. Keep open spaces; 3. Plant in mass; 4. Use common sense. Burns gave this advice about shrubs: Do not use a shrub simply because a man wants to sell it to you. Do not use a shrub or tree simply because your neighbor has one, and if you do, do not use it in the same way. After the house is built shrubs should be planted around the base to soften the lines. Next, a hedge should be placed around the' lot so that the owner, in looking from his place, can see the skyline and have the immediate surroundings hidden. In that way, a person owns as far as he can see. And, we get a little glimpse into Burns' personal preferences when he said: Never spoil a lawn by cutting a circular bed and filling it in with cannas. Such art is like putting a da ub of paint on a beautiful picture. Cannas are all right in their place but not in beds on a lawn. Shrubs should always be planted in mass and never should a single root be set; not one rosebush but 20 should be set out." #OTD Today is the birthday of the British botanist Collingwood "Cherry" Ingram, who was born on this day in 1880. Since he was a child, Ingram was obsessed with cherry blossoms. He spent most of his adult life devoted to their cultivation and preservation. In 1926, Ingram traveled to Japan, hoping to find new varieties of cherry trees. Instead, Ingram witnessed a sharp decline in cherry diversity. The usual suspects played a role: loss of habitat and a lack of attention. But there was also a more significant danger posed by a new, pervasive ideology. As it turned out, the Imperial stance had changed, and the emperor wanted his people to grow just one variety of cherry ina symbolic way to unite the nation of Japan. At the time, the preferred cherry blossom was the pink Somei-yoshino. The emperor had outlawed all white-blossomed cherry trees. The new law was especially tragic to Ingram, who was partial to the white-blossomed cherry tree. In response to Japan's declining cherry diversity, Ingram personally cultivated and grew 50 varieties of cherry that were slowly phasing out on the Island of Japan. Wisely, Ingram brought specimens home with him to the island of England, where Ingram's work with cherries made him a world expert. Thanks to Ingram's foresight and preservation efforts, he was able to reintroduce the Great White Cherry Tree to Japan. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the Canadian American self-taught botanist Alice Eastwood who died on this day in 1953. Eastwood is remembered for saving almost 1500 specimens from a burning building following the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. Afterward, she wrote about the specimens that didn't make it: "I do not feel the loss to be mine, but it is a great loss to the scientific world and an irreparable loss to California. My own destroyed work I do not lament, for it was a joy to me while I did it, and I can still have the same joy in starting it again." An account of Eastwood's heroics was recorded by Carola DeRooy, who wrote : "On the day of the 1906 earthquake, Alice Eastwood, curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences, rushed straight into the ruins of downtown San Francisco as a firestorm swept toward her beloved Academy building. Arriving to find the stone steps dangerously crumbled, she and a friend nevertheless climbed the metal spiral staircase to the 6th floor with a single-minded mission: to rescue what she could of the largest botanical collection in the Western United States, her life's work. Eastwood saved 1,497 plant type specimens from the Academy but lost the remainder of the collections to the all-consuming fire. Just three days later, she joined Geologist GK Gilbert to inspect a fault trace resulting from the earthquake, north of Olema, within what is now the Point Reyes National Seashore." That moment with Gilbert at the fault line was memorialized forever in a captivating photo featuring Alice standing next to the surface ruption of the fault line. Eastwood was 47 years old when the quake hit in 1906. After the fire, Eastwood set her mind to rebuilding the herbarium, and over the next four decades, she collected 300,000 specimens. She retired as the curator at the age of 90. Eastwood was the protégée of the botanist Kate Brandegee. Unearthed Words The alder wears its scarlet beads, The clematis its downy seeds, The sumach's deepening ruby gleams, The birch in hues of topaz beams; In golden bars through leafy doors The sunshine falls on forest floors, While the warm air with balsam breathes A spicy odor from the trees. The softened light, the veiling haze, The calm repose of autumn days, Steal gently o'er the troubled breast, Soothing life's weary cares to rest ~Phebe A. Holder, "A Song of October," in The Queries Magazine, October 1890 It's time to Grow That Garden Library with today's book recommendation: She Sheds Style by Erika Kotite The subtitle of this book is Make Your Space Your Own, and it came out a year ago on October 2nd. Erika's book is eye-candy and ideas and inspiration for anyone who has ever wanted their own little place in the garden. You could say, Erika shed's light on the topic of She Sheds. :) Whether you already have a shed or are still dreaming of one, this book is a total charmer. It's filled with incredible photos of outbuildings that women have turned into the ultimate garden space, a She Shed. The decorating ideas are perfect for those gardeners looking to brighten up their workspace or increase the functionality of their She Shed. Erika shares how to incorporate architectural details and style. She shares ideas for color palettes. There are dozens of projects in this book as well - from repurposing old furniture to installing personalized art for your shed. Another fantastic feature of the book is that Ericka has gathered hundreds of tips from She Shed owners from around the country. Best of all, Erika is a former editor for Romantic Homes/Victorian Homes. So, her photos have that floral, romantic quality to them. She Sheds are notoriously creative and intelligent spaces - often serving multiple purposes - and always evolving. How lovely it is, to have a book like this, that shares some of the best ideas and She Shed spaces from around the country. Today's Garden Chore If you have extra leaves, make a simple leaf compost bin. Leaf mold is an excellent way to improve your soil. It is also an excellent weed suppressant and mulch. To make your bin, simply place four tall garden stakes in the ground and then use netting or burlap to wrap around the outside of the stakes. As you add leaves into the bin, make sure to layer in some moisture by watering the leaves. Watering the leaves helps stimulate decomposition. You can also add some coffee grounds while you're at it - if you feel so inclined. Then, in the spring, you'll have wonderful compost for your garden. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Bonaro Overstreet once wrote, "Autumn asks that we prepare for the future —that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping. But it also asks that we learn to let go—to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness." This little saying had me thinking of the gardener Elizabeth Lawrence. In late October of 1935, Elizabeth was visiting her father in the hospital. She wrote the following poem in her notebook during her visit: My father lies dying, And all that he has said Begins to sprout, Begins to grow. Is branching overhead. My father lies dying, And all that he has said Will bud and blossom and bear fruit Long after he is dead. Samuel Lawrence lived another nine months after Elizabeth wrote these words. He passed away on July 16, 1936. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the botanist who was allowed to tend a garden while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London.

We'll learn about the Pioneer botanist of Tennessee and the botanist who used his love of trees to shape an optimistic view of humanity. We'll also celebrate Jamie Taggert, the young Scottish botanist, who set out on this day in 2013 for Vietnam but sadly never returned to his beloved home at the Linn Botanical Garden. We'll hear the Carl Sandburg poem with the famous line, "no beautiful thing lasts"

We Grow That Garden Library with today's book which is all about mixing up a special batch of seeds for a natural garden that doesn't require buying any small plants.

We'll talk about some ideas for a Garden-Themed Thanksgiving and then we'll close the show with some Autumn-inspired Ayurvedic principals for the Gardener.

But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. The blog of the award-winning Landscape team of Warnes McGarr @warnesmcgarr recently shared a very beneficial post called "Five things to consider before redesigning your garden." As a northern gardener, I love what they say right at the beginning of their post, which is that the coming colder months should be used to make plans for the garden. The design team encourages us to ask this question: "Do you use your garden enough, or is it an afterthought?" With this question in mind, they share some considerations for any garden redesign project: reducing the size of your lawn, adding a garden room, investing in a wood-fired oven, and keeping wildlife in mind when you select plants for your garden. Meanwhile, Gardens Illustrated reported on How to Prepare the Garden for Winter, and they shared a few useful tasks to tackle right now. In addition to general tidy up, suggestions like using a power washer to clean your stonework, setting up your bird feeders (something we discussed yesterday) as well as cleaning and culling through your pot collection are excellent activities to accomplish as we transition into winter. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because 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 track down links - just head on over to the group - and join. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was executed. On the orders of King James, Raleigh had been a special prisoner at the Tower of London for thirteen years. During his time in the tower, Raleigh was allowed to tend a small apothecary garden in the courtyard below. Raleigh used his garden to grow exotic plants and plants from the new world. He also used the herbs to experiment with medicines. Last year marked the 400th anniversary of Raleigh's death. In celebration, Raleigh's "Lost Garden" was installed at the Tower of London. The garden is planted with herbs, flowers, and fruits that are historically appropriate for the time Raleigh was at the Tower. Historical records show that Raleigh created numerous cordials and herbal remedies. He once incorporated borage, rosemary, marigold, saffron, juniper berries, lemons, red roses, and red gilly to create a cordial for new mothers. #OTD On this day in 1908, The Tennessean newspaper reported that the botanist Thomas G. Harbison was in Nashville to collect a specimen of the clematis gattingeri for Harvard. The gattingeri clematis was regarded as a very rare plant that had been discovered by Augustin Gattinger. Gattinger was known as the "Pioneer Botanist of Tennesee". He had been born in Munich, Germany in 1825, but had immigrated to the united states in his twenties after being kicked out of the University of Munich for seeking more liberty for Germans and for celebrating George Washington's birthday. Gattinger served in the Union Army during the civil war, and he became a country doctor. He also started studying botany, and Gattinger counted many prominent botanists as friends. Gattinger is remembered for his published works, which include The Flora of Tennessee and Medicinal Plants of Tennessee.

Gattinger's entire 50,000 specimen herbarium was donated to the University of Tennessee in 1890. Sadly, in 1934, the collection was destroyed in a fire. In the preface to his Flora of Tennessee, Gattinger wrote: "While the pursuit of botany never brought me any financial advantages, I acknowledge that it was a mighty protector in keeping me out of the way of social corruption, and it gave me many hours of the purest enjoyment of life and brought me into friendly relations with many excellent men and women." #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist William Henry Chapman who died on this day in 1970. Chapman was an American botanist, and his area of specialty was pomology or fruit. As a professor, Chapman taught at Cornell and later at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, where he was the Dean of Agriculture. A Biographical Memoir of Chandler, written by Jacob Biale, includes an excerpt from a 1941 speech given by Chandler, where he reflected on the merits of studying plants. He said, "The material we work with has character," "[Chandler believed that] trees and plants... exerted an influence on the behavior of the people who tended them." Chandler wrote that, "The emblem of my faith is the tree and its system of dormant buds. ... Because of this reserve of dormant buds, a tree is ... dependable in a destructive world. It can be broken into pieces... and will grow new parts to replace the lost ones. "...The tree symbolizes my faith in humanity ... For I know, there are many dormant buds in human society also." #OTD On this day in 2013, Jamie Taggert, the young Scottish botanist, set out on a solo Plant Expedition to Vietnam. Jamie grew up with his botanist father, Jim, and tended the garden his dad founded - the Linn Botanic Gardens that overlooks Loch Long on Cove Bay in Scottland. The ancestors of Hugh Grant once owned the estate. The Linn Botanic Garden is home to almost 4,000 plant species. Back in 2013, Jamie was beginning his third plant-hunting expedition. It was his first solo trip, and he was planning to explore the mountains of Northern Vietnam - a place he had botanized on an earlier trip. When he arrived in Vietnam, he sent his dad a text to let him know he had arrived. On the morning of Halloween, he checked into a guest house and then took a taxi to the National Park of Fansipan - the tallest mountain in Vietnam. A tea seller at the base of the mountain watched Jamie walk toward the mountain. She would be the last person to see Jamie alive. Over two years later, a Vietnamese farmer found Jamie's body at the bottom of a waterfall. Jamie apparently died attempting to scale the slippery rocks. Rob Curran wrote an excellent article about Jamie's story in Believer Magazine. He writes that many people have asked: "What was he thinking?" Why did Jamie take such a risk for plants? Curran concludes his article this way: "What was he thinking? He was thinking of Menzies and the great Scots explorers. He was thinking of Mother Nature on the run from climate change and high-capacity cable cars. He was thinking of the beauty of the flower he had just discovered, and whether anyone else would ever see it. For what is the act of discovery if not leaving the safe foothold of the known to reach into the abyss?" Unearthed Words Autumn Movement by Carl Sandburg I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts. The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds. The northwest wind comes, and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go, not one lasts. It's time to Grow That Garden Library with today's book: Sowing Beauty by James Hitchmough The subtitle for today's book is Designing Flowering Meadows from Seed, and that is indeed what makes Hitchmough's approach unique and different. James has come up with his way of combining seeds to significant effect. The result is a beautiful garden; grown entirely from seed. There's no need to purchase starter plants from nurseries and no need to scour plant sales. James is a professor of horticultural ecology at the University of Sheffield his work centers around developing novel approaches to planting design. As a researcher and a practitioner, James prioritizes both aesthetics and function. His ecological plantings strive to accomplish both; his plants are beautiful, layered and naturalistic. Hitchmough has worked to find mixes that can hold their own and exist for years in the garden - and also resist weeds. Best of all, Hitchmough shares his seed mix recipes in the book, and they are shared for a variety of growing zones. Today's Garden Chore Start thinking about ways to have a Garden-themed Thanksgiving. After Halloween, the little pumpkins, squashes, and gourds begin to go on sale. But they will last for months if they are kept in a cool, dry, space. Your Thanksgiving tablescape can feature these classic elements, but you can also incorporate other garden-inspired items into your tablescape. This year, consider adding a yule-log - an actual log that you can decorate with mosses, air plants, and succulents. Crotons offer beautiful autumnal colors. Jade plants provide architecture and plumpness, a perfect accent for your Thanksgiving table. Another wonder item that I stumbled on a few years ago - and managed to find for you online today - is a cast iron mini tree stand. This is such a fun way to bring nature indoors. In this case, you can take a nature walk and look for a beautiful tree branch that you can display using the cast iron mini tree stand. You could even turn the tree into a centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table or a thankful tree for your Thanksgiving tradition. You can decorate it with ribbons or with little notes that count your blessings. I searched and searched online to find the little tree stand, and I found it on the website Antique Farm House. They sell the cast iron mini tree stand as a set of four. So, go ahead and buy the set for $24, and then you have three extra lovely little stands that you can use as gifts over the holidays. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Mother Nature has blessed us yet again with a change of seasons. The fall season is a season of movement and transition. We are transitioning from hot to cold and wet to dry. Ayurvedic health and wellness experts tell us that this is the time of year when, like the garden, we also need to change to achieve balance. So, here are some other activities that can benefit gardeners as we transition out of our gardens and into our homes. Take time to ground yourself by increasing the amount of stillness in your day. Our gardens are a natural place of stillness and silence for us. Even when we are weeding, we are grounded and quiet. And we are focused on a single point of connection with the earth. The work in the garden is not like other work we perform. To make up for this loss of grounding and stilling work, adding in more opportunities for stillness can bring calm and a sense of balance. Curl up in your favorite chair. Fill a corner of a room with houseplants and sit beside them. Imitate your plants and add stillness to your day. Add warmth to counter the cold, dry air; eat warm foods. Dig out your crockpot so you can have a warm, cooked meal every day. Enjoy warm drinks like coffee and herbal teas. Enjoy spices and herbs that are warming like cinnamon and ginger. Microgreens of basil and mustards are very warming as well and happily grow on the kitchen counter. At bedtime, a little cup of warmed milk with a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon and sugar is a lovely way to end the day. Finish some of your remaining garden tasks indoors. If you have items you need to go through, bring them indoors where it's warm and where you have a sink you can fill with warm soapy water. Clean off the cobwebs and the grime. Go through your aprons and your gloves. Tidy up the bins that have been catchalls in the potting shed or garage - where you hang your hat in the garden. I recently washed up some pots and baskets along with some miscellaneous junk I had on my garden shelf outside the front door. Somehow, it was easier to address the clutter by evaluating the items inside a warm house than standing or sitting out in the wind and cold. So there you go; three tips to aid our transition into Fall - as we walk out of our gardens and into the shelter of a warm home. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the Swiss botanist known as the father of geographical botany and the American botanist who went on a 500-mile nature walk for her honeymoon.

And, just in time for Halloween, we'll learn about the botanist who followed in her father's footsteps to study slime mold.

And, we're coming up on the 200th anniversary of the botanist who climbed Pike's Peak and discovered the Blue Columbine, also known as the State Flower of Colorado. We'll hear one of my favorite poems about Octob er with the line, "The leaves by hundreds came." We Grow That Garden Library with a beautiful book from one of the country's top gardens: Philadelphia's Chanticleer.

I'll give you some helpful tips to attract birds to your garden over the winter, and then we'll wrap things up with a Scottish garden that is also a living work of art. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch shared last week that the Missouri Botanical Garden is gearing up to break ground this January on a $92 million brand new visitor center.

It will be called the Jack C Taylor Visitor Center in honor of the Taylor family, who donated the lead gift for the project. Jack Crawford Taylor founded the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company. Taylor left a legacy of philanthropy. Taylor gave a $30 million gift to the Missouri Botanical Garden to fund global plant research - which is the most significant gift ever given to a U.S. botanical garden. The new Jack C Taylor Visitor Center is slated to open in the Spring of 2022. California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) has a fantastic tradition of environmental stewardship.

Last week they put together a great video with tips on how to get started with composting.

Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because 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 track down links - just head on over to the group - and join. Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, who was born on this day in 1806 the year Linnaeus died. He was the son of the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. Candolle's ground-breaking book, Origin for Cultivated Plants begins, "It is a common saying, that the plants with which man has most to do, and which rendered him the greatest service, are those which botanists know the least [about]." Candolle set about correcting that gap in understanding, which had persisted for 50 years. In 1885, The Glasgow Herald reminded readers, "At the commencement of the present century but little was known respecting the origin of our cultivated plants.... Alexander von Humboldt in 1807 said : 'The origin, the first home of the plants most useful to man, and which have accompanied him from the remotest epochs, is a secret as impenetrable as the dwelling of all our domestic animals. We do not know what region produced spontaneously wheat, barley, oats, and rye. The plants which constitute the natural riches of all the inhabitants of the tropics the banana, the papaw, the manioc, and maize have never been found in a wild state. The potato presents the same phenomenon.'" Candolle named growing regions and came up with climate classifications. Gardeners use them today when we refer to growing zones. Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle is known as the father of geographical botany, and Harvard botanist Asa Gray remarked, "De Candolle's great work closed one epoch in the history of the subject and [Sir Joseph] Hooker's name is the first that appears in the ensuing one." Alphonse devised the first code of botanical nomenclature - the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature is its descendant. These laws ensure that no two species of plants have the same name. The botanical name is always in Latin. #OTD Today is the 175th birthday of the botanist Katherine Brandagee who was born on this day in 1844. Brandagee was the third woman to enroll at Berkeley's medical school and the second woman to be professionally employed as a botanist in the US. While getting her MD at Berkeley, Kate had learned that plants were the primary sources of medicine. Botany intrigued her, so she dropped the mantle of physician to pursue botany. Five years later, she was the curator of the San Francisco Academy of Sciences herbarium. There, Kate personally trained Alice Eastwood. When Kate moved on, Alice was ready to take her place; Kate was a phenomenal mentor. During her time at the academy, in surprise development at the age of 40, Kate had "fallen insanely in love" with plantsman Townshend Brandegee. Equally yoked, their honeymoon was a 500-mile nature walk - collecting plant specimens from San Diego to San Francisco. The couple moved to San Diego, where they created a herbarium praised as a botanical paradise. In 1906, when an earthquake destroyed the Berkley herbarium, the Brandegees single-handedly restored it by giving the school their entire botanical library (including many rare volumes) and their plant collection, which numbered some 80,000 plants. Thanks to Townshend's inheritance, the couple was financially independent, but they were also exceptionally selfless. The Brandegee's followed their plants and books to Berkley, where Townshend and Kate worked the rest of their lives pro bono. Botanist Marcus Jones said of Kate, "She was the one botanist competent to publish a real [book about the native plants of California]." But Kate had delayed writing this work. Kate was 75 when she fell on the University grounds at Berkley - she broke her shoulder. Three weeks later, she died. #OTD Today is the birthday of the original Queen of Slime Molds, Gulielma Lister, who was born on this day in 1860. Gulielma was born into a Quaker family in England, and her family and friends called her Gulie. Her mom and dad were a classic match of opposites. Her mother was a right-brained creative - an artist - and her father was a left-brained scientist who was the world authority on slime mold. Gulie studied at home and learned from both her parents. The Lister family home was called Sycamore House, and it was located on Leytonstone High Road. She spent her summers at the family summer house in Lyme Regis. Both houses just happened to be near nature areas rich with slime mold. Slime molds are pulsing giant amebas that slowly move through soil or along the tree trunks hunting for their food. Gulie called them "[her] creepies"! Gulie ended up shadowing her father, and she became very involved with his work. Together, Gulie and her father prepared the world's primary study on Slime Mold. Drawing from skills she learned from her mom, Gulie painted many gorgeous watercolors of her slime mold specimens. When her father died in 1908, Gulie was ready to fill his shoes as the world authority on slime mold. Over her lifetime, Gulie helped found the British Mycological Society and served as it's president twice in 1912 and 1932. Gulie was among the first women fellows of the Linnean Society. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Edwin James who died on this day in 1861 As a young man, James compiled the very first Flora of Vermont plants. James went on one of the first expeditions of the American West from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains. He discovered the mountain Columbine, Aquilegia caerulea, which ultimately became known as the Colorado Blue Columbine and the State Flower of Colorado. An account of James' climb of Pikes Peak on July 13, 1820, stated: "A little above the point where the timber disappears entirely, commences a region of astonishing beauty . . . covered with a carpet of low but brilliantly flowering alpine plants. . ." James' words, "a region of astonishing beauty," became the title of a 2003 book on the botanical history of the Rocky Mountains by Roger Lawrence Williams. After the expedition, James married and settled in Burlington, Iowa. His home was part of the Underground Railroad. James died in 1861 after an accident. There is a monument to James on Pike's Peak, and the Des Moines County Medical Society planted Rocky Mountain Blue Columbine on his grave in the Rock Springs Cemetery. Newspaper accounts said the location of Edwin James' grave was in the most picturesque part of southeastern Iowa. Unearthed Words October's Party "October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came- The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand, Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind the band." - George Cooper, American Poet George Cooper remembered for his happy song lyrics, which were often set to music written by Stephen Foster. Today's book recommendation: The Art of Gardening by R.William Thomas & The Chanticleer Gardeners This lovely book came out in 2015, and the subtitle is Design Inspiration and Innovative Planting Techniques from Chanticleer. Chanticleer is a 35-acre public garden outside of Philadelphia, and it is regarded as one of America's top gardens. Chanticleer has a staff of six gardeners, and each gardener is responsible for the design, planting, and maintenance of a section of the garden. Thus, this book was written by all of the different gardeners. As the garden's Executive Director likes to say, "Chanticleer is essentially a large demonstration garden. Our guests take away ideas on how to garden in their own home spaces." This is the perfect book for the off-season. It's a book that is loaded with beautiful photos and fantastic ideas that are great for planning next year's new landscaping projects. This is a beautiful book for browsing and dreaming - and would make a lovely gift for the holidays. I love what the Executive Director R William Thomas says in the introduction about the value of walking through the garden. He wrote: "[The son of the garden's founder, Adolf Rosengarten Junior, began each day with a walk around the garden accompanied by his corgi. He greeted the staff, encouraged them to work hard, grabbed a snack at the Apple house, and reviewed the property. I, too, begin each day with a walk around the garden with my corgi. It's much more than a lovely stroll. It's an inspection tour, a remembrance of what the property was, and most important, a meditation on what it can be. I stop frequently looking both up close and into the distance. What does this part of the garden look like to a first-time guest? Is it as good as it can be? How will the area look in a month? In three months? A year? In a decade? Could this bed be better? Is it time to try something new? Should this path be moved? Is that tree going to block the view in 20 years? Would a tower draw guests up the Bulb Meadow, the hill above the Asian Woods? Can we illuminate steps to improve accessibility? Do all the garden areas hold together as one garden? I also pull a few weeds clear the spillways, prune an occasional branch, pick up the litter, and check the restrooms." Great questions and a great practice to follow in our own gardens. Today's Garden Chore It's time to start planning food and feeders for winter birds. This is a great week to get your feeders ready to go before the holidays set in. One of the best tips I ever received from a fellow birder was to invest in a variety of feeders and foods; the diversity will draw a community of birds to your garden in the winter. Right as I'm putting away the Halloween decorations, I'll make a point to wash and set up my feeders. During the summer, I'm more focused on providing sources of water. But in the winter, I try to make sure my feeders are in spots that I can get to - especially if I need to make a path with the snowblower. A few other considerations would be to purchase a de-icer for your birdbath. I have a friend that likes to use a heated dog dish as a source of water instead of a birdbath. I've used both and either work great. And here's a final tip for you. My folks always save smaller dead trees, shrubs, or brush to position near their feeders so that the birds have a nearby place to take cover. Evergreens, branches, and twigs provide needed shelter and protection. Finally, pat yourself on the back if you've incorporated berry-producing trees and shrubs like serviceberry, dogwood, and viburnum. You'll be rewarded with even more birds over the years, like the Cedar Waxwing - one of my favorites. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today is the birthday of the Scottish poet, artist, and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay who was born on this day in 1925. Finlay created a one-of-a-kind garden that incorporated sculptures, words, architecture, and poetry. Finlay named his garden Little Sparta and the garden itself is considered a living piece of art. Finlay's poetry is incorporated into the art at Little Sparta. One especially poignant piece is a one-word poem with a long title - a form of poetry Finlay pioneered. In the garden, there is a small engraved plate that shares the long title, followed by a single word that makes up the poem. Here it is: "One orange arm of the world's oldest windmill Autumn" Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the Frenchman who designed the very first secateurs or pruners and the Italian orphan who grew up to discover the corpse flower.

We'll learn about the Dutch botanist who was trying to figure out what was going on with his tobacco plants and made a significant discovery for science.

We'll hear the Autumn Garden Poem that highlights the crimson of the sumac and the woodbine "For the pageant of passing days."

We Grow That Garden Library with a cookbook called Flowers in the Kitchen by Susan Belsinger.

I'll talk about gathering up your empty containers and pots as well as protecting any ironwork, and then we'll travel back in time to 1875 to hear some thoughts about Autumn Work in the garden. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.

Earlier this month, on October 10th, the world celebrated World Mental Health Day. There was a lovely article featured in Thrive - an organization using gardening to change lives. "As a charity focussed on promoting the health benefits of gardening, Thrive knows how time spent in gardens and nature can bring significant mental health benefits. [They] see and hear how it helps people cope when times are tough." "We see how gardening can reduce stress and anxiety, how the process of nurturing plants can give fragile people a sense of achievement which in turn builds confidence, self-esteem, quality of life and, ultimately, hope." Most gardeners often joke that gardening is cheaper than therapy. But the truth is that gardening is therapeutic. Connecting with nature is restoratives. Monty Don, Gardeners' World presenter, said this about gardening, "However you come at it, whoever prescribes it or gets you to do it, gardening heals." Thrive shared the comments of young people they had worked within the garden. The kids were 12-16 years old with severe psychological and psychiatric disorders like bulimia and anorexia. They worked in the garden and reported:

• 'Gardening takes my mind off things.'
• 'I feel happier and less anxious.'
• 'It has helped me be more sociable and to be able to distract myself when I feel bad.'

This is why, at The Daily Gardener, I make a point of giving you ideas and ways to keep connecting with nature all year long - even throughout the winter. It's why I end the show every day with: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day." So, there you go - the best reason to garden - staying physically healthy and mentally healthy. If you see or know of someone struggling, please tell them about the surprising benefits of gardening.

Here's a friendly reminder to keep visiting your farmer's markets and local farmers. They still have plenty of excellent produce to buy. Think pears, apples, winter squash, pumpkin, brussel sprouts, broccoli, parsnips, beets, and sweet potatoes. And, if you feel so inclined, bring along an extra hot chocolate or coffee for the sellers, I know they always appreciate that this time of year and who knows? You might just make a new friend. Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck- because 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 track down links - just head on over to the group - and join.

Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of Count Bertrand de Molleville, who was born on this day - 275 years ago - in 1744. During the French Revolution, Molleville escaped to England, where he developed the secateurs or the pruner. He created them to help with pruning grapevines - something he was all too familiar with back home in France. Before the secateurs, a knife or small machete was the primary tool used to prune grapes vines and fruit trees. That said, by 1840, there was actually a riot over the use of the secateurs in a small French town. When the town agricultural committee met to decide whether the secateurs should replace the pruning knife in the vineyards, over 300 farm workers showed up and marched in the streets to protest the decision. The workers felt that the humble secateurs would replace the need for so many vinedressers. Ah, technology. #OTD On this day in 1843 the New England Farmer shared a simple update to the nation: Wisconsin, it is said, will have for sale this year, 1,000,000 bushels of wheat. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of Odoardo Beccari, who died on this day in 1920. After growing up an orphan, Beccarri managed to get an education in his native Italy, and he eventually traveled to England to study at Kew. Beccarri was friends with Hooker and Darwin, but he also befriended James Brooke, which meant he was able to spend three years exploring Borneo. During his lifetime, Becarri traveled all over India, Malaysia, and New Zealand. But it was on a little voyage he took to central Sumatra (in Indonesia) in 1878 that Beccarri discovered the plant with which he will forever be associated: the Amorphophallus titanum - or the Titan arum- the largest flower in the world. Seven years later, in 1885, the first Titan arum specimen bloomed at Kew, and when it happened, it created a sensation. Today, the Titan arum bloom still draws thousands of visitors. People love to take a selfie in front of the giant blooming plant. The flower is commonly referred to as the corpse flower as it smells like rotting flesh. In a fascinating article, scent scientists recently identified the compounds that make up that terrible smell. The odor includes aspects of cheese sweat, rotting fish, decomposing meat, and garlic, among even worse items that I won't mention here. And, it takes the corpse flower a decade before it can bloom. The putrid smell is meant to attract beetles and other insects to move pollen between blooming plants so that it can reproduce. Incredibly, the plants only bloom for 24-36 hours before collapsing. Between that first bloom at Kew (back in 1885) and the year 2000, fewer than 50 Titan arum blooms had been recorded. But, in 2016, suddenly dozens of corpse flowers around the world bloomed within weeks of each other. Horticulturists are still attempting to discern the reason for the clustered bloom event. #OTD During this week in 1990, the Longview Newspaper shared a cautionary article about the upcoming flu season. Buried in the story was this reminder: "A hundred years ago, a Dutch botanist discovered a disease-carrying micro-organism smaller than bacteria and called it a virus, the Latin word for poison." The unnamed botanist was Martinus Beijerinck (pronounced "by-a-rink"), who was searching for the reason tobacco plants were dying. In his research, Beijerinck ground up some diseased tobacco leaves and then pressed the juices through a bacteria filter. He was utterly shocked when the filtered, bacteria-free liquid still spread the disease. After reviewing his experiment, Beijerinck concluded that a "contagious living fluid" was the culprit, and he called it a virus. Today, two of the most common viruses are the flu and the common cold. #OTD Today is the 8th anniversary of the death of the botanist Bernard Verdcourt or who died on this day in 2011. For over 60 years, Bernard Verdcourt was known as "BV" to his colleagues at Kew. Verdcourt specialized in East African flora, and he had an unrivaled knowledge of around 4,000 species. He was also an expert on snails and slugs. (Kind of a unique combination of interests). Verdcourt's passion for snails was a hobby he happily cultivated. Somehow he found time to publish work on mollusks in addition to the 1,000 articles he wrote about botany. He wrote all of his 1220 papers and books by hand. Rumor has it that the Kew typing pool felt BV had the second most terrible handwriting at Kew. BV didn't shy away from controversy. He enjoyed bringing adversaries together to watch them work through their issues. He couldn't abide fools or sports. He could be cantankerous, but he was also kind and helpful to young botanists. Unearthed Words Autumn Song Shall we not grow with the asters? - Never reluctant nor sad, Not counting the cost of being, Living to dare and be glad. Shall we not lift with the crickets A chorus of ready cheer, Braving the frost of oblivion, Quick to be happy here? The deep red cones of the sumach And the woodbine's crimson sprays Have bannered the common roadside For the pageant of passing days. These are the oracles Nature Fills with her holy breath, Giving them glory of color, Transcending the shadow of death. - Bliss Cameron, Canadian Poet Laureate Now it's time to Grow That Garden Library with today's book: Flowers in the Kitchen by Susan Belsinger. As Susan reminds us in the intro to her cookbook, "Petals or whole blossoms of many common garden flowers add color, flavor, and drama to simple recipes." Susan incorporates 50 different flowers into her recipes - from Borage and Fennel flowers to Marigolds and Pineapple Sage flowers. Each flower is introduced with a photo followed by growing hints and instructions for preparing them for the recipe that follows. This book came out in 1990. You can get used copies using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $2. This book intrigued me so much that I went back and looked at what newspapers were saying about it in 1990. When they featured Susan's book, newspapers shared some of her go-to recipes like: Golden Corn Muffin with Calendula Petals, Herbed Cucumber Dip with Borage Blossoms (the borage supposedly echos the taste of the cucumber), Berries with Sweet Woodruff, Dandelion Mushrooms, Nasturtiums Stuffed with Albacore Tuna, Nasturtiums with Guacamole, and my favorite, Marigold Rice - which I think sounds perfect for the holidays. Today's Garden Chore Todays a great day to gather up your collections in the garden; look for empty containers, pots, and garden ornaments. There are a few things I use outside to keep my extra pots and garden items looking great. First, I like to use ironwork like an old bakers rack or iron stand of some kind for stacking my clay pots. I line the inside of the pot with burlap before stacking the pots, so they don't stick together. Second, for my ironwork, all of that will get one last shot of clearcoat (ideally) before winter sets in. This year, it sounds like the cold is really coming early - just in time for Halloween. Lastly, consider bringing a few items indoors to enjoy during the winter. Some of my favorite pieces are things that weren't necessarily the star of the show outside - but they transform into something wonderfully grounding when you bring them indoors. Think of old cracked containers or items with patina. I love to pair an older, smaller container with one of the robin's nests that survived over the summer. They all come indoors and add a touch of something natural and rustic, which is quite lovely when layered in with the more refined decor of a home. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart We're going to travel back in time, about 144 years ago, and read William Taylor's thoughts on Autumn Work that he shared in The Nottinghamshire Guardian on this day in 1875. He wrote: WHAT a relief to the flower gardener to bid farewell to the summer of 1875! The work has been quite double that of ordinary seasons; weeds and grass have grown as they never grew before, while the more tender plants in beds have scarcely grown at all. Now and then, we had a gleam of sunshine to cheer and encourage us to make another effort, and again and again, as soon as we began to get a little tidy came a thunderstorm or a hurricane, thwarting all our attempts at neatness. Gardeners, however, never give up for [such] trifles, and it is not till October is here that we acknowledge ourselves beaten. The trees are now putting on their autumnal tints; Elms and Tulip Trees are being arrayed in the brightest of gold, [...] Leaves of every hue are playing about in the gentle breeze as they fall to rustle beneath our feet. What a mistake to run after every leaf with a barrow and a besom as it falls! What a waste of time and a want of taste! Gather them up certainly before they begin to decay on the walks and so discolor them. But, employers, please remember that October is a month in which trimness is impossible out-of-doors, and if it were not impossible, it would still be undesirable. And there is another reason for not insisting on too much trimness in October; it is a month in which the professional gardener has two seasons at once. In one respect, his new year begins somewhere about Michaelmas, the same time as the Russian Violet commences flowering. Forcing has to be prepared for in earnest, planting pushed forward with all possible speed—evergreens first, and fruit trees immediately afterwards. Pruning has also to be finished, with the modern gardener, before Christmas, and where there is much to do must be commenced with early. Currants are already fit for the secateurs; Gooseberries will shortly be, then Plums, Morellos, and Peaches. After the first leaves are ripe, the sooner such trees are pruned, the better. The secateurs, or French pruning-shears, is a very handy little instrument; its total length is about 9 inches, and its weight half a pound. It can be gripped with the whole hand, and consequently does not tire the operator like the ordinary shears; it cuts clean as a knife, and by its aid, the pruner can do his work much faster than with a knife. No one who has used it for one season will go without it till a better instrument is invented, which will probably be some time first. Digging, trenching, potting bedding plants, planting box-edging, laying turf, storing fruit and vegetables, sheltering tender plants, and a multiplicity of other things too numerous to write of, all want doing now, and it is altogether an exceedingly busy month. Gardeners generally have [less work] during August and September. They are enabled to look round themselves at home, and often to make a little tour and pick up useful hints from others of the fraternity; they then begin about October with renewed vigor to work for another year. This year, however, I know many have found it impossible to keep up with their work, and consequently, anything like relaxation has been out of the question. [...] The work is so exciting and so intensely satisfying that it is almost impossible for an enthusiast to think of his health while he is behind with his work, and consequently, many go on till nature can no longer stand it. I would ask employers, then, if they happen to possess an excellent and enthusiastic gardener whom they value, to be careful just now and not tax him too much, for there are some hundreds at this moment which if they had another straw placed on their backs would breakdown. But enough of this. Autumn is here. Bright and breezy autumn, I give you a hearty welcome; you shut out of sight forever our dismal wintry summer; you release me from floricultural millinery, and put an end for a time to my polychromatic disappointments. I go to enjoy my vacation with a spade and a pruning-hook, for the most perfect rest is a change of occupation.—William Taylor. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the scientist who set the stage for Plant Anatomy and the amazing botanical illustrator Marianne North who traveled the world, capturing exotic flowers with her magnificent oil paintings. We also celebrate Margaret Owen, the English galanthophile and gardener we lost five years ago today. We'll hear some thoughts from Emily Dickinson about Autumn - it's her Nature 27 poem - with the famous line "I'll put a trinket on." We'll Grow That Garden Library with today's book The Daylily by John P. Peat and Ted L. Petit I'll talk about the perennials you can cut back right now and then wrap things up with a sweet story about the rose poem that went viral in 1885. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Early this month, Hoodline published an article about Ink Dwell's latest installation as part of their Migrating Mural project. Ink Dwell selected a location at 455 Hyde Stin San Francisco as the site of their next Monarch Mural. The 44-unit, 11-story apartment building was due for a new paint job anyway, so it was the perfect canvas for the project. Imagine an 11-story mural dedicated to the monarch! Ink Dwell has installed similar murals at eight other locations across the country to raise awareness about the declining monarch butterfly population. The project on Hyde street will be the largest installation - covering three sides of the building, and Ink Dwell hopes the mural makes Monarchbutterflies "impossible to ignore." Ink Dwell and its conservation partner, the Xerces Society, work with communities to provide information and educational materials about the butterflies' migration, and the current population declines for pollinators. Gardenista recently shared an excellent article by Barbara Peck called 10 Things Your Landscape Architect Wishes You Knew (But Is Too Polite to Tell You). I'll share 3 of my favorites from this list right now: First, your children will quickly outgrow your space. In the piece, landscape architect Kate Stickle y says: "Your children will outgrow, out-throw, and out-kick your small lawn long before you finish creating your garden, so don't plan your space around them." She suggests that while your kids are young, let them blow off steam in the neighborhood park. Meanwhile, plan an outdoor space for your future teenagers and their friends—one that feels private (but is still within the property lines)." Second, gravel can't replace mulch. Some folks prefer gravel because it stays in place. But, gravel offers nothing nutrient-wise for the soil. Landscape Architects Gretchen Whittier and Kate Stickley suggest "planting ground cover near walkways and giving it time to spread out. You may still need mulch, but perhaps only for one season." Third, a specimen tree won't live forever. "Designing and building your new house around a beautiful specimen tree isn't always the best course of action. Before even starting the design process, consult an arborist to find out the tree's health and longevity." Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because 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 track down links - just head on over to the group - and join. Brevities #OTD Today in 1632, the "father of microbiology" Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born. Leeuwenhoek's interest in making lenses led to his discovery of microbial life. Leeuwenhoek's work set the stage for plant anatomy. #OTD Today is the birthday of the intrepid traveler and botanical artist Marianne North who was born on this day in 1830. Marianne's father was friends with Darwin and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who was the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. When she was 25 years old, Marianne's mother died, and she turned to flower painting as a way to cope with her grief. Fifteen years later, right before she became forty, Marianne's father died. By this point, Marianne was an experienced traveler and painter. She had means and autonomy. Marianne decided to spend the rest of her life traveling the globe to find and paint the exotic flowers of the world. Among her many excursions, Marianne spent a year living in a hut and painting the flowers of the Brazilian forest. She painted the giant redwood trees of California and was heartbroken at their destruction. It was Marianne North who said, "It broke one's heart to think of man, the civilizer, wasting treasures in a few years to which savages and animals had done no harm for centuries." In September 1880, based on the recommendation of her father's great friend Charles Darwin, Marianne visited Australia. As for Marianne, she referred to Darwin as "The greatest man living." Darwin specifically suggested Australia for Marianne because the flora and fauna down under were less known and more unique. Marianne traveled by coach between Brisbane and Sydney, painting at every stop when she lamented, "they never stop where the flowers are!" To make matters worse, the brevity of the overnight stops meant her oil paintings didn't have time to dry completely. During her visit, Marianne painted a tree that would become known as The Marianne North tree. It was a twisted Karri tree located near Pemberton. Marianne single-handedly created over 1,000 pieces of flower art. She became a renowned botanical illustrator with several plant species named in her honor; her body of work has been on permanent display at Kew Gardens since 1882. If you can imagine a gallery of rooms with walls plastered with pieces of art about the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, you can envision the impact of standing in the Marianne North Gallery. The 832 paintings represent 20 years of travel over five continents and 17 countries, capturing the scenery and flora in vibrant oil color. The North Gallery was paid for by an endowment from Marianne North. In 2016, the BBC aired a documentary about Marianne North called Kew's Forgotten Queen. #OTD Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of Margaret Owen, who died on this day in 2014. Owen was an English farmer and gardener. When she was twenty, Margaret married Godfrey Owen (he had proposed to her in a cattle shed). On their family farm, they raised four children together. They were together for 33 years. But, when Margaret was 53 years old, Godfrey died from a brain tumor. Margaret decided to move out of the farmhouse, and she gave the farm to their son. But she had the idea of keeping an acre of land for herself to create a garden she called "the Patch." With her focus on gardening, Margaret found herself drawn to snowdrops, and she became a galanthophile (an expert on snowdrops). Margaret herself discovered many stunning snowdrops. She named one of the most striking after her husband - calling it the 'Godfrey Owen.' The Godfrey Owen snowdrop is a stunner. It's a double-flowered snowdrop with six outer petals and six inner segments. (Most snowdrops have just three exterior and three inner petals). Margaret also named other plants in honor of her husband. She named an Iris, a Bergenia, and a Guernsey Lily species Godfrey Owen as well. As a plantswoman extraordinaire, Margaret is remembered by many for her "snowdrop parties" which took place on the last Saturday in February. Margaret happily hosted a who's who of English horticulture. The day after the party, Margaret would dig up her snowdrops in the Patch and sell them to her guests and visitors. Then, she donated all the proceeds to the Multiple Sclerosis Society in honor of her sister. Unearthed Words "The morns are meeker than they were, The nuts are getting brown; The berry's cheek is plumper, The rose is out of town. The maple wears a gayer scarf, The field a scarlet gown. Lest I should be old-fashioned, I'll put a trinket on." - Emily Dickinson, Nature 27 - Autumn Today's Grow That Garden Library book recommendation: The Daylily by John P. Peat and Ted L. Petit Daylilies are tough, carefree beauties. They can survive the tropical heat of a Florida garden and the bitter cold of a northern garden. And, daylilies are some of the easiest plants to hybridize. For close to 100 years, Gardeners have been hybridizing their most desirable features in an attempt to create new, more evolved daylilies. Peat and Petit were inspired by Bill Munson Jr.'s classic book on Hemerocallis or the daylily . They review the history of the daylily and share many of the hybrids along with excellent advice for growing, featuring chapters from some of the top daylily authorities from around the world. I love what they mentioned in the preface of their book about gardeners who join daylily clubs and societies. They said that gardeners "come for the flower but stay for the people." This book came out in 2004. You can get used copies using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $10. Today's Garden Chore Plants That Should Be Cut Back In The Fall: Hostas Yarrow Peonies Coreopsis Bee Balm Daylilies Iris Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart It was on this day in 1885 that a little poem about a rose by the English poet Henry Austin Dobson appeared in the Leicester Chronicle in England. It was an instant hit and picked up by newspapers around the world. I spent a bit of time piecing together various remnants about the poem online, and I cobbled together a little backstory along with my analysis about this charming piece to help you understand it. Dobson's poem is titled A Fancy from Fontenelle, and it has a long French subtitle, which means "as fas as any rose could remember, no gardener had ever died." The French philosopher and writer Diderot inspired Dobson. In 1769, Diderot wrote a story about something called the Fallacy of the Ephemeral. One of the main characters in the story is named Fontenelle. The Fallacy of the Ephemeral alludes to the false belief held by Fontenelle's garden roses that their gardener is immortal. The roses emerge in the spring, they thrive in the summer and go dormant as fall changes to winter. Through every season, the gardener is always there tending to them. In other words, no rose [has ever lived long enough] to remember the death of the gardener. Along those lines, Dobson's poem is also told from the perspective of the rose. In this case, the rose is vain and self-assured; she incorrectly assumes that she will outlive the old gardener that tends her. Dobson's message reinforces the Fallacy of the Ephemeral. The simple truth is revealed at the end of the poem: beauty fades and time marches on. THE ROSE in the garden slipped her bud, And she laughed in the pride of her youthful blood, As she thought of the Gardener standing by — "He is old — so old! And he soon must die!" The full Rose waxed in the warm June air, And she spread and spread till her heart lay bare; And she laughed once more as she heard his tread — "He is older now! He will soon be dead!" But the breeze of the morning blew and found That the leaves of the blown Rose strewed the ground; And he came at noon, that Gardener old, And he raked them gently under the mold. And I wove the thing to a random rhyme: For the Rose is Beauty; the Gardener, Time. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the young botanist who disappeared in Australia 171 years ago and the pioneering female lichenologist who worked for the British Museum but was never officially on the payroll. We'll learn about the French botanist who had a life-long love affair with the trees of North America and the Los Angeles woman who found a trailblazing career in botany after getting a job at an employment agency. We'll hear some beautiful prose about bluebirds in autumn, "they linger like the last leaves on the tree". And, we Grow That Garden Library with the book New Vegetable Garden Techniques by Joyce Russell. I'll talk about harvesting the black walnut and then wrap things up with a bittersweet story about the founder of the Boy Scouts. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Andrew van Egmond recently wrote a post on Landezine called Into the Forest. It's about a property in the Netherlands that backs up to a nature preserve and the images are inspiring. What I love about this post is that the owners have made the forest in their garden. There are floating runners that allow visitors to walk above the forest floor, and the long lines make the tall Larch trees seem even grander. There is a feeling of "being a guest in the landscape." "From the living room and the kitchen, you have a poetic view through the big windows into the forest. The play of vertical gestures is the basis for this design. The viewer's perspective is steered towards a group of long vertical trunks of Larches. A composition of horizontal lines and floating boardwalks create a frame which steers the view." Another great story in the world of horticulture recently ran in budburst.org, which is a project of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Budburst aims to understand how plants respond to changes in their environment. Their citizen science activity, Fall into Phenology, is a fun way for everyone to get outside and observe fall changes from around the country. They invite you to join them, watch a plant or tree near you, and then report all your phenology observations to your Budburst Account. They say: "[There's] no need to limit your Fall into Phenology observations to leaf color and drop. Watch for fall flowers, such as asters, and record first flower, or full flower. Seeds and fruiting abound in the fall months. All observation reports - whether life-cycle or one-time events - help understand how plants respond to changes in climate and atmosphere. The goal of this campaign is to collect at least 500 observations from around the country (that's only 10 per state!)." Brevities #OTD Today is the birthday of the Prussian botanist Ludwig Leichhardt who was born on this day in 1813. Leichhardt is remembered for his impressive and arduous collecting efforts in Australia. For his part, Leichhardt loved Australia. He wrote, "I would find it hard to remain in Germany, or even in Europe, now. I would have returned to the scene of my wanderings, to the clear, sunny skies of Australia." In October in 1845, Leichhardt wrote in his diary after losing his work to a fire: "... tears were in my eyes when I saw ...[the] results of my expedition vanish ... my collection had the great advantage of being almost complete in blossoms, fruit, and seed." A year later, in 1846, Leichhardt wrote a letter to his botanist contact and friend the Italian, Gaetano Durando, who was living in Paris. Leichhardt's message conveys the extreme difficulties and dangers faced by the early plant explorers. He wrote, "My dear friend, You have, no doubt, noticed and regretted my long silence...But you must bear this in mind, my good friend, ... it was not my lot to travel all at my ease... Gladly would I have made drawings of my plants, and noted fully all particulars of the different species which I saw; and how valuable would such memoranda have been... [as] four of my pack-horses having been drowned. Botanical and geological specimens thus abandoned—how disappointing! From four to five thousand plants were thus sacrificed..." In the spring of 1848, Ludwig Leichhardt and a small group of explorers began what was to be a two- to three-year expedition across Australia. Shortly after beginning the trek, the entire party vanished with barely a trace. Known as the 'Prince of Explorers,' Leichhardt was 35 when he was lost to time. #OTD Today is the birthday of the lichenologist Annie Lorrain Smith who was born on this day in 1854. Smith was a British fungal biologist specializing in lichens. Her siblings all went by the last name "Lorrain Smith", but Annie published under the name "A L Smith." - - - - - Let's pause for a minute to talk about Smith's favorite topic: lichens. Lichen grow on bark and rocks. They are not plants. When you look at them microscopically, you'll see they are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership between a fungus and an alga. The fungus calls the shots and they give the lichen its characteristics. Some lichens even have two fungus. Lichens fall into three primary growth forms: Fruticose or "shrubby", foliose or "leafy," and Crustose or "crusty." Shrubby lichen grows outward. Folios are flat - two dimensional - like a leaf. You can peel them off the tree or rock, and they have a top and bottom side. Crusty lichen grows directly onto the surface and it is so attached that you can't lift them off the rock or tree without destroying them. OK. Back to Smith... - - - - - As a young woman, Smith worked as a governess and science teacher. When she was 34, Smith found herself drawn to reading more about botany, and she went to Imperial College to study under the British Botanist Dr. Dukinfield Henry Scott. Scott recognized Smith's aptitude for the subject, and he made arrangments for her to work at the British Museum (Natural History). It would be her professional home for 46 years. During all of her time at the Museum, Smith worked as an 'unpaid' assistant. Her mentor, Dr. Scott, personally ensured that she was modestly compensated so that she could work without officially being on the museum's payroll. By 1900, Smith was one of the world's leading experts in lichen taxonomy. Smith worked to integrate lichens into mycology. She produced the first workable keys for identifying British lichens. Her 1921 book simply called Lichens was a revelation: "It is so full of matter that one marvels at the […] author in collecting and arranging the work on the various aspects of [lichens] into critical articles and then weaving these articles together … to form a connected whole, which may be read with pleasure and profit, not only by a lichenologist, but also by a general botanical reader." Smith helped found the British Mycological Society and she was also the first female president of that organization. #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of François-André Michaux, who died on this day in 1855. François-Andre was the son of the botanist, Andrea Michaux. His father named an oak in his honor. When François-Andre was 15 years old, he and his dad set sail for North America. The father and son team established botanical gardens in America and sent seeds and specimens back to France. When Michaux died on this day in 1855, back home in his native France, Asa Gray shared the news in the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. A friend of Michaux shared that he had died from a stroke - but had spent the whole day "planting American trees and directing his journeyman." #OTD Today is the birthday of the botanist Bonnie Templeton who was born on this day in 1906. In 2002, Templeton died at the age of 95. She was a trailblazing female in the field of botany. Her obituary noted her some of her botanical accomplishments which included, "discovering a rare plant on the El Segundo Sand dunes in the 1930s." And although she was born in Nebraska, at the age of 16, she made her way - all alone - to Los Angeles where fate brought her to botany. In the mid-1920s, after working as a waitress and a secretary, she found herself at an employment agency. They had a job working for a botanist who needed help with his extensive private herbarium. By 1929, Templeton was hired as the Curator of Botany at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. She was 23 years old; she would hold this position for over four decades from 1929 to 1970. Templeton also served as an on-call forensic botanist for the Los Angeles Police Department and the poison center. Templeton received her doctorate from Oregon State University. Templeton made three separate gifts to the program at Oregon State, and her endowment has resulted in a new conference room, a herbarium preparation room, an imaging room, and a lectureship. In researching Templeton, I discovered she was ahead of her time. In 1969, she was featured in a newspaper article advocating for the use of native plants in landscaping by California homeowners. And way back in 1943, she advocated what she called "Wild Victory Gardens,"; incorporating wild edibles into everyday cooking. Here's what was reported in The Signalout of Santa Clarita on April 23, 1943: "[The] botanist Bonnie Templeton... has published a list of over 20 common weeds which she says are good substitutes for the common, leafy vegetables ordinarily sold in markets. There are wild mustard and wild radish and wild lettuce and wild rhubarb and curly dock, and cheese plant and pigweed. The ice plant is delicious eaten raw, she says, and the bristle leaved nettle is a good substitute for asparagus. Now all of this is pretty blamed important for Newhall folks, because... wild victory gardens are about the only kind of victory garden possible here when the dry season sets in. Maybe we can induce Bonnie to come up here and [give] a class on wild victory gardeners... and point out all of the edible kinds of wild green sass. Or better still, figure out a way of making a salad bowl out of foxtail." Unearthed Words #OTD Today is the birthday of the nature writer and poet Neltje Blanchan, who was born on this day in 1865. Neltje married Frank Doubleday, and their grandson, Nelson, would go on to be the president of the Doubleday publishing company. Neltje wrote under the pen name Neltje Blanchon ("Nel-jah Blahnchon"), and she especially loved wildflowers and birds. In 1897, she wrote a book called Bird Neighbors. In 1907, Neltje Blanchan wrote that children should get to know birds. She also wrote a book called The American Flower Gardenand also one called Wild Flowers Worth Knowing. Neltje 's works gave us many beautiful nature quotes. Here's one about Spring: "Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring - that delicious commingling of the perfume of arbutus, the odor of pines, and the snow - soaked soil just warming into life. " Then she gave us this lovely quote about the Bluebird in Autumn: "Long after their associates have gone southward, they linger like the last leaves on the tree. It is indeed "good-bye to summer" when the bluebirds withdraw their touch of brightness from the dreary November landscape at the north to whirl through the southern woods and feed on the waxy berries of the mistletoe." Today's Grow That Garden Library Book Recommendation: New Vegetable Garden Techniques by Joyce Russell Joyce Russell has been gardening for forty years, and she's my favorite type of gardener - practical and generous with her knowledge. She has loads of experience growing fruit and vegetables, feeding her family with her garden harvest. Joyce and her photographer husband Ben have collaborated on a few garden books. Their first book, The Polytunnel Book: Fruit and Vegetable all Year Round, is a perennial best-seller. They also released, Build a Better Vegetable Garden in 2016. In NVGT, Joyce highlights 23 projects for gardeners to try on their own. I especially loved the plan of using a carrot clamp for preservation. Joyce shares that a carrot clamp preserves carrots outside for months. It also works for other root vegetables like potatoes, beetroot, and parsnips. Now, creating a clamp is pretty straight forward. You can follow along with the beautiful images in Joyce's book (thanks to Ben, no doubt). To create a clamp, you simply cut the tops of your carrots, leaving about 2.5 cm of the green stem. Lay the carrots in a circle with the tips of the carrot lying pointed to the middle of the ring. Insulate the pile of carrots with straw or rushes. Then cover with soil. Then, when you want a carrot, you make a door by pushing your hand through the layers of soil and insulation. Take out as many carrots as you need. The pile will slump down as you extract your produce. It's a simple, secure outdoor storage that works like a charm. Joyce also offers excellent step-by-step instructions for creating an onion string and garlic plait, how to trial different mulches, how to create simple and effective flappers to scare birds away, how to build a simple frame to protect fruit crops and she offers an excellent basic basil pesto recipe on page 172 - in addition to all of the wonder growing techniques that she shares throughout the book. Today's Garden Chore Celebrate the fall season by harvesting black walnuts. Although the English walnut - with it's more refined look and taste - is still preferred, the black walnut with worth harvesting. Don't forget that harvesting the black walnut is the best part of owning a Black Walnut tree. Just remember to wear gloves when you collect the black walnuts. They have that inky, sooty substance that you can get on your hands when you touch them, and it is hard to get off. Right now, September through October is the time to collect black walnuts. Just gather them as they fall off the tree. When the tree is done dropping black walnuts, then it is time to remove the husks for storing and curing. And, here are a few pointers to keep in mind: Cracking open the shell is not easy. You should know that black walnuts come out in pieces - so if you're expecting a beautiful, intact, brainy-looking walnut after cracking the husk on a black walnut, you'd better adjust your expectations. And, one last caution pertains to the husk of the walnut. Be care disposing of it. It is toxic to many plants. Remember, black walnut tea was a common pioneer herbicide. And, don't mix black walnut castings with your compost. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today is the anniversary of the death of the Englishman Ernest Thompson Seton, who died on this day in 1946. When he was six, Seton's family immigrated to Canada. He grew up in Toronto and found solace in the woods along the Don River. His father was abusive and cruel. When Seton turned 21, his dad presented him with a bill for $537.50. His dad had calculated every dime he had spent raising Ernest - including the fee from the delivery doctor for his birth in 1860. Seton paid his father and then never spoke to him again. To right the wrongs of his childhood, Ernest Thompson Seton founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910 - he even wrote the very first Boy Scout Handbook. In 1924, Seton starred in a newspaper article called "Face to Face with Ernest Thompson Seton." The reporter met with him in a wooded setting and wrote this about Seton: "Lithe as a cat, he jumped from limb to limb in the tree. Picking up a beetle by the roadside, he began commenting: 'A man who does not love Nature and cannot see in a bird, tree, flower, or insect some kinship, does not seem to me altogether human. [The naturalist] John Burroughs was [there collecting] some wildflowers.. and the woods rang with laughter like children as these two Nature lovers talked of plants, trees and animals as if it were all to them an open book." And, it was Ernest Thompson Seton who said, "The white spruce forest along the banks is most inspiring [and] magnificent here. Down the terraced slopes and right to the water's edge on the alluvial soil, it stands in ranks." Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate the daughter of a millionaire who found solace in nature and the refreshing approach of one of the country's top naturalists. We learn about the discovery of vanilla (complete with a ravishing recipe for vanilla coffee liqueur from 1974), and we'll commemorate the Doctor's Pit where the botanist David Douglas died. We'll hear the oft-quoted poem that begins, "The scarlet of maples can shake me like a cry of bugles going by," and we Grow That Garden Library with a new book for 2019 called The Sanctuary of My Garden: Poems by Fotoula Reynolds. I'll talk about the last call for bringing your houseplants back indoors and then wrap things up with the sweet story of a botany curriculum for 4th graders in Louisville, Kentucky. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. I ran across the most delightful wedding story the other day. It was shared in the blog Plans and Presents. It was a wedding that had a garden theme, and it took place at The Asylum Chapel in London. Helen Abraham Photography captured the gorgeous images of this wedding. I shared the post in the Free FB community for listeners of the show. You can check out the full post there. But, here's a quick overview of how the couple (who share a love for gardens and garden history) met from the Bride, Nancy: "As a life-long learner, an avid gardener and fan of early American history, I had embarked upon a trip to follow up the research I had done on the plant exchange between Philadelphia and London in the 18th century, and a botanist named Peter Collinson who had lived at that time in Peckham. Journeying to London, I made contact with people who suggested I get in touch with Derek, as he had written an article about Collinson. Eventually, Derek and I met up, talked endlessly about Collinson, research, and other things. Back in California, we exchanged many emails, and when I was next in London, we met up again, and as time transpired, we spent more and more time together. Derek and I are an older couple, he being in his late 80s and I am in my late 70s. Having been happily single for 40 years, I was never expecting a marriage proposal. But it did happen…" Now for the good part. Here's how Nancy decided to incorporate the garden into her beautiful wedding: "I wanted the flowers of the day to be a peach/pink/apricot color scheme, and I knew they would add a punch of color alongside the black outfit I planned to wear, also coordinating with the colors of the inside of the Chapel. Because of our background, I wanted the Chapel to look like a garden. Rather than have typical flower arrangements, Anya turned Asylum Chapel into an amazing and magical garden, with plots of the garden here and there and a path through the garden to the altar. Even the staff said they had never seen the Chapel look so wonderful." I reached out to Alison over at Plans and Presents to tell her how much I enjoyed her post, and she said: "That wedding was stunning, and it was my honor to feature it." Another great story in the world of horticulture recently ran in the Denver Post. It turns out, there's a fun new collaboration between the Denver Botanic Gardens and Mythology Distillery, a cocktail bar and distillery in the heart of the LoHi neighborhood in Denver. Blake Burger is a horticulturist at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and Scott Yeats is the founder of Mythology Distillery. And, they're also old college buddies from their days back at Colorado State. I love this story so much that I reached out to the Mythology Distillery to learn more. Btw, the bottle of Forager Gin is beautiful. And I love how Mythology tells the story of the gin on their website: "Two Friends, a Distiller, and a Horticulturist …. Forage for a missing ingredient in a garden one mile above the sea. Two pounds of chamomile and elderflower along with three pounds of lemon verbena were all it took to make3,000 bottles of Forager botanical gin. If you're in Denver, you can pick up a bottle of Forager Gin for yourself or as a gift for around $35 from Mythology. Brevities #OTD On this day in 1910, the news out of Pittsburgh announced the creation of a new chrysanthemum named in honor of Henry Clay Frick's only daughter Helen who was 22 years old. The public was invited to view the lovely blossom in Frick's million-dollar conservatory. The newspaper reported that it took Frick's "high-priced gardeners" four years to create the flower. A few years earlier, when Helen became a débutante, her father offered to give her a gift of whatever her heart desired. Helen asked for a park - but not just any park. Helen requested a wilderness park. She wanted a place where the land would remain in a natural state, and she hoped the children of Pittsburgh would use the park to connect with the natural world. Helen's birthday present became known as Frick Park, and today it remains the largest park in Pittsburgh with 561 acres of trails and wooded areas. Helen's request doesn't seem so peculiar once you learn that nature had been a refuge for Helen as a child. When Helen was three years old, her older sister Martha died. Her father called Martha his little "Rosebud," and she died when she was five years old. Martha's death was the result of swallowing a pin. The incident caused two years of painful complications that ultimately led to her death.

Then, when Helen was four years old, her father was shot in an assassination attempt. Two days later, her newborn baby brother died. These early losses left Helen's parents grief-stricken and depressed. After her parents died, Helen used her immense fortune to create a 640-acre nature sanctuary in New York State. She also made a point of adding gardens to any of her developments. She also gave money for 1,000 azaleas to be planted in a garden across from the Phipps Conservatory in Schenley Park. A Frick descendant, Martha Frick Symington Sanger, wrote a book about Helen called Helen Clay Frick: Bittersweet Heiress. In the book, Sanger noted that her aunt lived in a moss-covered cottage and rather enjoyed gardening. Helen even performed everyday garden chores like weeding and planting fruit trees. She also had a good understanding of local birds and could identify their songs. #OTD On this day in 1942, the Freeport Journal published a delightful story about the naturalist Edwin Way Teale. Here's what it said, "To most of his neighbors Edwin Way Teale Is known as the man who can spend a solid day In a two-acre field without 1) being on a picnic, or (2) apparently doing a stroke of work. Scientists... assert that his collection of 15,000 photographs of insects—most of them taken in that same two-acre field—is an important contribution to entomology. Edwin Teale himself insists that he's just an amateur who managed to make a hobby pay. ... In college, he had majored in English; entomology was only a word to him. About six years ago," he recounts, "I was writing an article on fishing. I took some pictures of dry flies, and somehow that started me photographing live insects. Soon afterward, neighbors stared when they saw him crawling around his back yard with a magnifying glass. This led him to rent the "insect rights" to a nearby field that contains several apple trees, a patch of swamp, and other features attractive to winged and crawling life. He estimates there are 1,800 varieties of insects in the tract. "It is a universe," Teale says. "Exploring it provides the thrill of travel and adventure." ... Once, he made friends with a praying mantis. He named her "Dinah," and she shared his study for weeks. Finally, Dinah devoured her own arm. Teale had just time to get the picture. Earlier, he had taken her to New York City, where she escaped from his pocket on Broadway. Denizens of that cynical thoroughfare were surprised to see a well-dressed six-footer frantically pursuing a bug." A year after this article, Teale's book By-ways to Adventure: A Guide to Nature Hobbies won the John Burroughs Medal for distinguished natural history writing. Sadly, during World War II, Teale's son, David, was killed in Germany. Teale and his wife began traveling across the country by automobile. The trips help them cope with their grief and became an integral part of Teale's writing. Their 1947 journey, covering 17,000 miles in a black Buick and following the unfolding spring, led to Teale's book North with the Spring. Additional road trips lead to more books: Journey Into Summer, Autumn Across America, and Wandering Through Winter. Wandering Through Winter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1966. And, it was Teale who said: "For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad." " Any fine morning, a power saw can fell a tree that took a thousand years to grow." "Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight, and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn, and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among the trees." #OTD On this day in 1974, a newspaper clipping from the Star-Gazette out of Elmira New York shared a Recipe for Vanilla Coffee Liqueur. But, before the Recipe was shared, the author took a moment to explain how the signature ingredient, vanilla, was discovered: "In school, I learned that the explorer Hernan Cortes discovered vanilla during the 15th century when he quaffed a cup of hot chocolate at the court of Montezuma. The Aztec Indians made this pungent beverage from the beans of the cacao tree, combined with pods the Spaniards named vanilla. For three centuries, vanilla remained a luxury within reach of only affluent Europeans and Americans. People believed the orchid would only grow in Mexico. Then a French botanist discovered the bee that pollinated the orchid. Eventually, Madagascar became the primary grower of the vanilla orchid, which grows on a coarse vine that requires about three years of pampering before it bears fruit. Vanilla came into its own with the invention of ice cream in the 17th century. Today vanilla is three times as popular as any other flavor." Here is a liqueur sauce that, in my opinion, can transform a dish of ice cream or pudding into an epicurean treat. VANILLA COFFEE LIQUEUR I ½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed 1 cup granulated sugar 2 cups water ½ cup instant coffee powder 3 cups vodka 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract Combine sugars with water. Bring to boil and boil for 5 minutes. Slowly stir in coffee powder. Cool: Pour into jug or jar. Add vodka and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Cover and let stand at least 2 weeks. Serve over ice cream or pudding or as a flavoring for milk drinks. Yields about 5 cups. #OTD On this day in 2014, the botanist David Douglas was memorialized with a plaque at his death site. The occasion marked the 100th anniversary of Douglas's death. The Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission created the plaque because Douglas was the first scientist to visit the Oregon territory. Douglas scientifically identified hundreds of plants during his lifetime, including the Douglas fir, the state tree of Oregon. In addition to the Oregon contingent, botanists from Scotland, England, and Hawaii placed the plaque at the spot on the Mountain where Douglas died on the Big Island. The locals call it the "Doctor's Pit." Douglas died after falling into a pit designed to trap animals. Tragically, a bull was also in the pit and gored Douglas to death. The site hasn't changed much over the past 180 years. Today, a dirt road leads the occasional visitor near the site. Unearthed Words The scarlet of maples can shake me like a cry Of bugles going by. And my lonely spirit thrills to see the frosty asters like smoke upon the hills. ~ Bliss Carman, Canada's Poet Laureate Today's Grow That Garden Library book recommendation: The Sanctuary of My Garden: Poems by Fotoula Reynolds I love what CS Hughes wrote about Fotoula's book : "They say that poetry is a garden, sometimes wild and unhewn, sometimes carefully tended. Fotoula Reynolds' poems ably demonstrate that - there is always a new and carefully tended bloom, and sometimes something unexpected, that you might think a weed, but I would say, a wildflower gone perhaps just a little astray." Here's an excerpt from her signature poem: The Sanctuary of My Garden: "In the evening of a Mediterranean summer Where the stars wink their Little eyes and the moon Graces us with her Outstanding-ness I have traveled the world Fearlessly in my imagination For a time I am out of reach But you can always find me In the sanctuary of my garden." Fotoula's book is available using the Amazon link in today's Show Notes. It's a paperback and would make a lovely Christmas present. It sells for just $8. Today's Garden Chore It's the gardener's version of "Last Call for Alcohol," and it's "Last Call for Houseplants Ya'll." Seriously, if you are a northern gardener, bring your houseplants inside. The colder it gets, the greater the shock they will experience. When you bring your houseplants inside, spray them down with sharp streams of water, and I like to add a little dawn dish soap to give them a good cleaning. There's a large, old, antique table in the middle of my botanical Library where I place many of my houseplants. The houseplants form the centerpiece of the table. They are ringed by an old typewriter, stacks of garden books, baby pruners, a mister, and some extra pots. I have to say that I love how my houseplants have brought life and fragrance into that space. Then I added a little Alexa dot on the windowsill. I have her play sounds from Nature or the Rainforest. You'd never know it's cold and dreary outside. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day in 2003, the newspaper in Louisville Kentucky featured an article about a 4th-grade classroom that had turned into a laboratory of botanists. For three weeks, the kids - wearing lab coats - were led down a path of botanical discovery by their student-teacher named Bill Stangel. "In the first week, the children collected and studied leaves and looked at plant parts under a microscope. In week two, they dipped carnations into water [mixed] with food coloring to see the petals change colors. They made guesses about how long it would take for the color to reach the petals, and they discussed how water and nutrients move from the roots to the leaves. ... At the end of the class, the children stood up and sang [to the tune of "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes"] "Stigma, petal, stem, and roots … stem and roots" Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."