The Daily Gardener

Garden journal - two columns Failures and Successes we learn equally from both Brevities #OTD NATIONAL CORN ON THE COB DAY – June 11

• Corn is called maize by most countries, this comes from the Spanish word 'maiz'.
• Corn is a cereal crop that is part of the grass family.
• An ear or cob of corn is actually part of the flower and an individual kernel is a seed.
• On average an ear of corn has 800 kernels in 16 rows.
• Corn will always have an even number of rows on each cob.
• A bushel is a unit of measure for volumes of dry commodities such as shelled corn kernels. 1 Bushel of corn is equal to 8 gallons.
• With the exception of Antarctica, corn is produced on every continent in the world.
• There are over 3,500 different uses for corn products.
• As well as being eaten by the cob, corn is also processed and used as a major component in many food items like cereals, peanut butter, potato chips, soups, marshmallows, ice cream, baby food, cooking oil, margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and chewing gum.
• Juices and soft drinks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi contain corn sweeteners. A bushel of corn can sweeten 400 cans of soft drink.
• Corn and its by products are also found in many non-food items such as fireworks, rust preventatives, glue, paint, dyes, laundry detergent, soap, aspirin, antibiotics, paint, shoe polish, ink, cosmetics, the manufacturing of photographic film, and in the production of plastics.
• Corn is also used as feeding fodder for livestock and poultry and found in domestic pet food.
• As of 2012, the United States produces 40% of the worlds total harvest making it the biggest maize producer in the world (273,832,130 tonnes produced in 2012).
• An area termed the "Corn Belt" in the US where growing conditions are ideal includes the states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky.
• In the days of the early settlers to North America corn was so valuable that it was used as money and traded for other products such as meat and furs.
• Corn is now a completely domesticated plant so you're unlikely to find it growing in the wild.
• Corn can be produced in various colors including blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and the most common yellow.

#OTD John Constable, RA(/ˈkʌnstəbəl, ˈkɒn-/;[1]11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the naturalistic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintingsof Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country" – which he invested with an intensity of affection. "I should paint my own places best", he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, "painting is but another word for feeling".[2 I see the elder is coming into flower. Reminds me of John Constable's oil sketch at Hampstead. c.1821-2 Private collection. Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree - by John Constable (RA), c1821 Golding Constable's Kitchen Garden, 1815 Golding Constable's Flower Garden, 1815 He considered spring and midsummer as the stirring times for the landscape painter, and not autumn. In his opinion an old tree, half decayed and almost leafless, presented no fitter subject to the painter than an emaciated old man.. .Constable was the first, I believe, in this country who ceased to paint grass yellow ocher, although it appears to me that we are now [1850-60's] in the other extreme. For by the non-employment of yellow, green pictures show a want of sunlight, and allowance is not made for the yellow of the frame, especially at the edge of the picture; still Constable is entitled to great praise for having brought the art back to a truer standard. Green is the colour for trees, and the midsummer shoot gives the green in its greatest variety.

• pp. 80-81

Nature is the fountain's head, the source from whence all originality must spring. Landscape is my mistress - 'tis to her I look for fame. I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. When I sit down to make a sketch from nature, the first thing I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen a picture.

• As quoted in Richard Friedenthal, Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock (Thames and Hudson, London, 1963), p. 40

But the sound of water escaping from mill-dams, &c., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things. Shakespeare could make everything poetical; he tells us of poor Tom's haunts among "sheep cotes and mills." As long as I do paint, I shall never cease to paint such places. They have always been my delight.

• Quote from John Constable's letter to Rev. John Fisher (23 October 1821), from John Constable's Correspondence, part 6, pp. 76-78

The world is wide; no two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world.

• Quoted in C.R. Leslie, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Composed Chiefly of His Letters(1843) (Phaidon, London, 1951) p. 273

England, with her climate of more than vernal freshness, and in whose summer skies, and rich autumnal clouds, the observer of Nature may daily watch her endless varieties of effect.. ..to one brief moment caught [by the artist] from fleeting time..

• Quote from Constable's Introduction of the 1833 edition of English landscape scenery, as cited in Constable's English Landscape Scenery, Andrew Wilton, British Museum Prints and Drawings Series, 1979; as quoted in: 'A brief history of weather in European landscape art', John E. Thornes, in Weather Volume 55, Issue 10 Oct. 2000, p. 368

A self-taught painter is one taught by a very ignorant person.

• Quoted in The Quarterly Review vol. 119 (1866), p. 292.

#OTD Julia Margaret Cameron, the mother of photography, was born on this day in Calcutta in 1815. In 1863, Cameron was given a camera by her daughter and son-in-law and made her first photograph at the age of 49. Her niece, Virginia Woolf wrote, that the camera was, "at last, an outlet for the energies that she had dissipated in poetry and fiction, in doing up houses, in concocting curries, and entertaining her friends." At the time, Cameron had moved to the Isle of Wight; an island off the southern coast of England. On the Isle of Wight, Julia Margaret Cameron converted henhouse in her garden into her darkroom and another building into her studio. One of her most famous photos is called The Rosebud Garden of Girls, a title taken from Tennyson's Come Into the Garden, Maude. The photo wastaken in June, 1868. It shows four beautiful young Victorian women wearing the white robes you'd find on a Greek goddess. The setting is a lush garden. Their hair flows freely down past their shoulders, they each hold blossom, as they each cast their gaze far off in slightly different directions. It's a very dreamy, almost trance-like, innocent image; The Rosebud Garden of Girls. Unearthed Words "So sweet, so sweet the roses in their blowing, So sweet the daffodils, so fair to see; So blithe and gay the humming-bird a going From flower to flower, a-hunting with the bee." - Nora Perry, In June "It is dry, hazy June weather. We are more of the earth, farther from heaven these days." - Henry David Thoreau "In a bowl to sea went wise men three, On a brilliant night of June: They carried a net, and their hearts were set On fishing up the moon." - Thomas Love Peacock The AHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants by Christopher Brickell As chamomile is one of my favorite aromatic plants to have in my garden every year i save all the flowers from the last flowering plant to store and replant next growing season.Saving my herb seeds is one of the most rewarding gardening tasks Chamomile grows in the form of small shrub that usually reaches 8 to 12 inches in height. German chamomile grows to the height of 3 feet. Chamomile has green, feathery leaves that are alternately arranged on the stem. Flower consists of large number of individual flowers called florets. Outer part of the flower consists of 18 white ray florets. Yellow disk, located in the center of the flower, consists of miniature florets that have tubular shape. Chamomile blooms from June to July. Flies are main pollinator of chamomile flowers. Name "chamomile" originates from Greek words "chamos", which means "ground" and "milos" which means "apple". Chamomile is named that way because it grows close to the ground and smells like apple. Chamomile was used for the process of mummification in the ancient Egypt. Chemical compounds and oils that are used in medical and cosmetic industry are extracted from the flower. Even though beneficial effects of chamomile are not scientifically proven, chamomile is used in treatment of more than 100 different disorders. Chamomile can be used in the form of tea, tincture, lotion, capsules or various drops. Chamomile possesses anti-inflammatory properties, can be used for disinfection and to relieve the pain. It is mainly used for the treatment of urinary and ocular infections, skin rash, toothache, respiratory pain, premenstrual pain, migraine, insomnia, anxiety… Chamomile can induce side effects when it is consumed in combination with other medications. Also, chamomile may induce premature birth because it stimulates contraction of the uterus. People that are allergic to ragweed will probably exhibit allergy to the chamomile. Allergy can be triggered after application of cream containing chamomile or after consumption of tea. Homemade chamomile tea can be used for lighting of the blond hair. Besides its decorative morphology, chamomile can be very useful in the garden. It facilitates growth of the surrounding plants and even heals nearby sick plants. Lifespan of chamomile depends on the species. Roman chamomile is annual plant which lives only one year. German chamomile is perennial plant that lives more than two years. Chamomile is a flower in the aster and daisy family. It is the national flower of Russia. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day in 1982, a little movie about a botanist was released. It was about a group of alien botanists secretly visit Earth under cover of night to gather plant specimens in a California forest. When government agents appear on the scene, the aliens flee in their spaceship, but in their haste, one of them is left behind. In a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, a ten-year-old boy named Elliott discovers something is hiding in their tool shed. Elliott leaves Reese's Pieces candy to lure the alien to his house. Later, Elliott's siblings - Michael and five-year-old sister, Gertie - meet it. They decide to keep ET hidden from their mom. ET demonstrates its powers by reviving dead chrysanthemums. In the end, E.T. says goodbye to Michael and Gertie, as she presents him with the chrysanthemum that he had revived. Before boarding the spaceship, he embraces Elliott and tells him "I'll be right here", pointing his glowing finger to Elliott's forehead. He then picks up the chrysanthemum, boards the spaceship, and it takes off, leaving a rainbow in the sky as everyone watches it leave.

My neighbor, up at our cabin, has this amazing copse of lilacs. We've become good friends and he invited me to take some cuttings of his lilac as a gesture of goodwill. (He also give me all of his jack-in-the-pulpit - but that's another story.) Over time, lilacs have met different things to different people. The Celtic's thought the sweet scent of lilacs made them magical. During the Victorian age, widows wore lilacs because they were a symbol of old love. In Russia, in order to bless an infant with intelligence, they placed a little sprig of lilac over a baby's crib. Brevities #OTD Today is National Herbs and Spices Day. It is the season for growing fresh herbs. I just helped a friend put together a sweet little kitchen Garden right outside her front door. Herbs are so wonderful to grow because as aromatics they generally don't have any pest issues and they offer tremendous texture and interest. If you're new to gardening and looking for something maintenance to grow, it won't get any easier than growing herbs. #OTD On this day in 1793, the botanical garden, Jardin des Plantes, opened in Paris. The very next year, it becomes the first public zoo. #OTD It's the anniversary of the death of Scottish botanist Robert Brown, who died on this day in 1858. Brown is best known for being the first to notice natural continuous movement of minute particles. It's known as the Brownian movement. Brown had experimented with all kinds of materials - including plants- and he saw the same jittery behavior. He wrote, "These motions were such as to satisfy me … that they arose neither from currents in the fluid, nor from its gradual evaporation, but belonged to the particle itself" Brown was unable to explain why the particles moved, but 50 years later Einstein was able to fully understand Brownian motion. Today, Brownian Motion helping to explain "spin" from black holes. Brown also named the nucleus in living cells. Nucleus in Latin means "little nut". Brown published the remarkable survey on Australian flora which he called The Prodromus. The Prodromus opened doors for Brown when it attracted the attention of Joseph Banks. Brown was asked to serve as Banks' botanist librarian. They became great friends. So much so, that when Banks died in 1820, his left his home, his collections, and his library to Brown; and he also endowed him with a large yearly allowance. #OTD On June 10, 1922, Frances Ethel Gumm — aka Judy Garland — was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (about 165 miles north of lovely, Maple Grove.) When the famous professional wrestler George Raymond Wagner known as "Gorgeous George" retired, he quipped, "No more wrestlin' .. I'm takin up gardening." When Garland heard this comment, she sent him a couple pots of her hibiscus. Unearthed Words It's the anniversary of the death of Frances Theodora Parsons who died on this day in 1952. She was an American naturalist and author, remembered most for her book on American wildflowers. Frances or "Fanny" Smith was born in 1861 in New York City. She developed a lifelong love of nature and especially wildflowers during summers spent with her maternal grandparents near the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains. When she was 23, Fanny happily married William Starr Dana who was 16 years older than her and a Commander in the U.S. Navy. After they married, they lost their first baby and five years later, William died in a flu epidemic in Paris. Following the Victorian widows custom, Fanny wore black and isolated herself. A few years later, her friend Marion Satterlee managed to get her to take nature walks which rekindled her love for wildflowers. In 1893, Fanny published her popular book, How to Know the Wildflowers,under her husband's name "Mrs. William Starr Dana." It sold out in five days and was a favorite of Theodore Roosevelt and Rudyard Kipling. Three years later, in 1896, Fanny married a childhood friend; professor, politician, and diplomat James Russell Parsons. The following year, Fanny gave birth to their son. Parsons was not well off, so Fanny wrote "How to Know the Ferns"; this time, using her own name Frances Theodora Parsons. A year after Ferns, Fanny gave birth to their only daughter, Dorothea who tragically died at two and a half years old 5 days before Thanksgiving in 1902. Three years later, James was killed when his carriage collided with a trolley car. A widow once again, Fanny published this poem in Scribner's Magazine in 1911: When Laughter is Sadder than Tears. The marshes stretch to the dunes and the dunes sweep down to the sea, And the sea is wooing the meadow which waits with an open door; Then a melody sweet to the hearer floats up from the murmuring lea Till the sea slips seaward again and the land is athirst as before. And athirst is the heart whose worship is not the worship of yore, Whose visions no magic can conjure, whose plenty is suddenly dearth; And parched as the desert the soul whose tears no grief can restore, Whose laughter is sadder than tears and whose grief is as barren as mirth. The days are alive with music, the nights their pleasures decree; The vision the morning fulfills is the dream that the evening wore, And life is as sweet to the living as the flower is sweet to the bee, As the breath of the woods is sweet to the mariner far from shore. But singing and sweetness and laughter must vanish forevermore, As the petals fall from the flower, as the waters recede from the firth, When hopes no longer spring upward as larks in the morning soar, Then laughter is sadder than tears and grief is as barren as mirth. Friend, if shaken and shattered the shrine in the heart that is fain to adore, Then forsake the false gods that have held you and lay your pale lips to the Earth, That in her great arms she may take you and croon you her melodies o'er, When laughter is sadder than tears and grief is as barren as mirth. Today's book recommendation: Natural Selection: A Year in the Garden by Dan Pearson Dan wrote, "When it sings, a garden will have the power to transport and to lead you to a place that is magical. It is an oasis for creation, available to anyone with a little space and the compunction to get their hands dirty." In this book Dan compiled 10 years of his columns in The Observer,sharing all the year-round pleasures of the garden. During that decade he tended his own urban garden in Peckham, south London and then moved on to 20 acres of undulating Somerset countryside where he has set about creating a very different sort of garden, that sits cheek by jowl with the wilder landscape beyond. Ordered by month, and drawing together Pearson's evocative musings on his favorite plants, his design processes, and his evolution from childhood enthusiast to seasoned professional, Pearson's writings give us the chance to dip into Pearson's gardens as well as his design practice garden just south of the Thames in London and his many private commissions, too. Today's Garden Chore Order some box cutters for your garden toolkit. I ordered this really nice five-pack on Amazon. This week, I was reminded how useful a box cutter is when it comes to cutting sod along the edges of your garden or removing things like grass from the edges of your beds. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart When I was researching Francis Parsons, I discovered that her childhood neighbor was John Burroughs. Burroughs actually gave her the inspiration to write her wildflower book. Burroughs had been featured in a magazine article and he'd said, "One of these days, someone that will give us a handbook of our flowers." He even laid out how to organize the book. He said, "We shall have a list of all our flowers - arranged according to color, with the place of growth, and the time of blooming." Fanny was off to the races; she wrote her wildflower book which is been a model for all other gardening books that have come after hers. Here are a few excerpts: Of the Columbine, she wrote: "There is a daring loveliness which stamps it on the memories of even those who are not ordinarily minute observers." Of wildflowers... "Their lovely constellations make a little heaven on earth of the grassy places that have been brown and bare for months. They touch the heartstrings in much the same way as the early notes of the robin." and "The pleasure of a walk in the woods and the fields is enhanced a hundredfold by some little knowledge of the flowers which we meet at every turn." Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

I ran across a fascinating old journal as I was researching this show - what I especially loved about it was the layout. If you want to copy it here's what you do:

• Dedicate a page of your journal to each type of plant in your garden.
• Make some notes about the characteristics of the plant. (Maybe what you like about it as well)
• Then leave room to chart the major events with the plant.

For instance, after describing Kalmia Angustifolia, it says this:

• June 7, 1908 First Flowers
• June 15th Generally comes into bloom
• July 13 Still in flower
• Rarely any flowers in the autumn.

Doesn't that make for a very handy and personal reference guide for your garden? Brevities #OTD It's the anniversary of the death of one of the most eminent botanists of his age: Louis Claude Richard who died on this day in 1821. His great grandfather had been in charge of the menagerie at Versailles. His grandfather had been charge of the botanic gardens at Trianon. Even his own father was placed in charge of the King's Garden. A biography of Richard was featured in international Gazette in 1831. It said: "Louis Claude Richard was therefore born in the midst of plants; he learnt to know them sooner than the letter of the alphabet; and before he he was able to write correctly, he could draw flowers, or plans of gardens... He did not recollect a moment of his life in which be had not been a botanist; and if he ever engaged in other studies, botany was always the object of them." In 1781, he was the naturalist to the king. Richard sailed from France to French Guyana. Eight years later, when he returned to France, he brought his herbarium; which contained over 1000 plants. #OTD It was on this day in 1769, that Daniel Boone first laid eyes on the forests of present-day Kentucky. Boone wrote in his journal: "Not a breeze shook the most tremulous leaf. I had gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and, looking round with astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains, the beauteous tracts below." 30 years later, Boone left Kentucky and followed his son to Missouri. He was often asked why he left Kentucky. He always answered the same way: "Too crowded! too crowded! I want elbow-room!" #OTD It's the birthday of Fletcher Steele; an American landscape architect who designed over 700 gardens. He was born on this day in 1885. His most iconic work was nestled into the Hillside in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. It's called The Blue Staircase at Naumkeag. Steele designed the staircase for Mable Choate in 1926. She would become his most important client. She was 56 and he was 41. Choate had a history of working with designers and she knew how to collaborate with them. Steele was one of the first landscape architects to speak of plant material as one of the elements in a composition. It was Fletcher Steele who said "Gardening seems to be the most ephemeral of the arts." #OTD It's the birthday of the botanist Jack Harlan, born on this day in 1917. Harlan followed in the footsteps of his botanists father Harry Harland. He loved going on plant collecting expeditions - mainly in search of new genetic material for the USDA's crop breeding programs. Harlan was worried about genetic vulnerability and genetic wipeout Harlan said: "We MUST collect and study wild and weedy relatives of our cultivated plants... we cannot afford to ignore any source of useable genes." Harlan wrote those words in 1970. And one of his final works contain these words: "We will not and cannot find a time or place where agriculture originated. We will not and cannot because it did not happen that way. Agriculture is not the result of a happening, an idea, an invention, discovery or instruction by a god or goddess. It emerged as a result of long periods of intimate coevolution between plants and man. Animals are not essential; plants supply over 90% of the food consumed by humans." Unearthed Words Here's a quote from poet, sculptor, and artist Jean Arp who died on this day in 1966. "Art is a fruit that grows in man, like a fruit on a plant, or a child in its mother's womb." Here's a quote from Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was born on this day in 1868. "Art is the flower - Life is the green leaf." Today's book recommendation: Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect: An Account of the Gardenmaker's Life, 1885-1971 by Robin S. Karson Karson wrote this book back in 2003. The cover shows Steele's signature work: The Blue Staircase. The beginning of Karson's book includes Steele's most famous quote. He said, "The chief vice in the garden is to be merely... pretty." Today's Garden Chore It's another Photo Friday in the Garden. Water your plants and then go take pictures. I did this with my student gardener today. Her images of blossoms with water droplets on the petals were absolutely incredible. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart The First-Ever Southeastern Plant Symposium is taking place in North Carolina. Mark Weathington and Tony Avent are launching this event in Raleigh. They will be talking about cutting edge plants, new trends in gardening, and new plants selections that reinvent how we think about gardening. Today the event runs from 9 AM to to 8:30 PM and then Saturday, tomorrow, it runs from 9 AM to 4:45. So, if you're in North Carolina be sure to check this out. Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

I made another trip to the garden center today; that's my fourth of this week. The reason I keep going back, is they're clearancing out the annuals already. When it comes to my garden budget, I try to be as frugal as possible with my spending on annuals. I'm not too picky when it comes to the types of annuals,I generally just try to find purples, pinks and whites. Today, I was getting annuals in the large pots for just $3 apiece. I was standing there filling up my cart while everyone around me was buying all of the full price annuals. Go figure. Brevities #OTD Today, June 6th, is National Gardening Exercise Day. As I mentioned in a previous episode, many people think of calming, relaxation, beauty, and food as the reasons to garden; but don't forget - it's a workout. So, go ahead and celebrate that workout on National Gardening Exercise Day today. #OTD It's the birthday of Andrea Cesalpino; the Italian physician, philosopher, and botanist, born on this day in 1519. Cesalpino helped establish botany as a science and he did great initial work classifying plants Unlike many of his peers who were classifying plans based on their medical properties or even alphabetically, Cesalpino classified plants according to their fruit and seeds. He also enjoyed the plant exploration. He loved to go out into the field collecting specimens for his herbariums. One had over 700 specimens that he dedicated to the bishop. It survives still today at the University of Florence in Italy. In 1583, Cesalpino wrote a book about plants and it is considered to be the very first textbook of botany. Unfortunately, Cesalpino included no illustrations in his book. He wrote that he didn't think they were necessary. One of the consequences of that decision, is that today, Cesalpino is less well-known than many of his contemporaries. #OTD And it's the birthday of Cleo Virginia Andrews better known as VC Andrews born on this day in 1923. Her most popular series of books all had a garden theme:

• Flowers in the Attic
• Petals on the Wind
• If There be Thorns
• Seeds of Yesterday
• Garden of Shadows

Out of that first series of books, Flowers in the Atticis the book that she, will forever, be known for. It is about four children locked in the attic of a very wealthy Virginia family and it just gets worse from there. #OTD Tonight from 6:30 to 8 PM Gordon Hayward is going to be giving a talk at the Westminster Institute and his lecture is called The Intimate Garden. Hayward,and his wife Mary, have created a garden around their 220-year-old farmhouse. For the past 36 years, they've integrated its design with the house and the surrounding landscape. Hayward's talk will be illustrated by slides and it will follow the itinerary of their garden and it's 14 rooms or spaces. As Haywardsaid, "It's a practical lecture. We both have our feet on the ground and a shovel in our hands." Haywardwas recently recognized by the Garden Club of America. Just this past May, he was named an honorary member. Hayward has designed gardens professionally for more than 30 years. He's written 11 books and authored over 70 articles on gardening. Haywardgrew up with his two brothers on his family's orchard in New Hartford, Connecticut. The orchard featured apples, peaches, and pears. Haywardsaid, "We worked as a family in the orchard for nine months of the year," he said. "Then for three months, from late summer into fall, people came to our barn to buy fruit. Our parents greeted everyone, engaged with everyone, and accepted everyone — there was no judgment of social class. I carry with me the openness and acceptance of their world, traits that have influenced how I interacted with students when I was teaching, and with clients when I became a garden designer." Unearthed Words It's the anniversary of the death of the poet Hannah Rebecca Hudson who died on this day in 1920. Hudson wrote a little book of homes in 1874. Here's a poem from Hudson's book called My Garden. My Garden It is set by fields of clover And sentinelled with trees, Hosts of sunbeams range it over 'T is owned by birds and bees. Larkspurs, leaning out of places Where bashful myrtles creep, Peep at monk-flowers' hooded faces And poppies gone to sleep. There are wild and headstrong briers And thistle knights and dames, Bloomless weeds, like jovial friars, Grasses with ancient names ; I am queen and lady in it, — Queen over leaf and flower; Crowned with sprays of purple spinnet, I own no higher power. Today's book recommendation: We Made a Garden by Marjorie Fish In the 1960s, Marjorie and her husband Walter, decided to transform an acre of wilderness into a stunning cottage garden. In the forward of her book, Marjorie says, "You mustn't rely on your flowers to make your garden attractive. A good bone structure must come first - with an intelligent use of evergreen plants - so the garden is always clothed." You can click on the link above to get this book on Amazon. Used copies are selling for a little over $3. Today's Garden Chore Add asparagus to the back of your ornamental beds. Asparagus is a plant that can just blend into the background. You won't even see it since you have to wait a couple of years before you harvest it. You can plant it in the back of your bed and forget about it until you can cut the spears sparingly in years two and three; then you can go to town after that. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart In 1923, the territorial legislature of Hawaii designated the Hibiscus as the floral emblem. In 1973, Hawaiian Airlines introduced its new corporate image. It included the state flower, the hibiscus, and the profile of an island girl. The symbol was named "Pualani" meaning "Flower of the Sky." Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Is your garden new to you this year? Recently at a garden center, I ran into a woman who had just moved. She was tentatively buying just a few plants - curious to see what would work in her new space. One of the things we ended up talking about was the micro-climate she had enjoyed living in an inner-ring suburb of the twin cities - one with milder temperatures thanks to the heat island from the buildings but also helped greatly by the older, dense tree canopy. Even little moves can be big moves when it comes to a new garden space. Just as with the interior spaces, figuring out what you want to do with your exterior space - your garden - takes time. Remember - it's a garden. There's no rush. Brevities #OTD It's the anniversary of the death of the botanist and Scottish explorer Sir John Richardson who died on this day in 1865. Richardson explored with his friend, John Franklin. Their first expedition to Northern Coast of Canada was disastrous. After they were shipwrecked, the men split into groups, attempting to get back to civilization. Richardsons group were forced to survive by eating lichen from rocks and even the leather of their boots. After hearing a gun shot, Richardson and others found one of the men, named Terohaute, standing over the dead body of another group member. Terohaute claimed the other man had accidentally shot himself ... Richardson didn't buy it after examining the man. He'd been shot in the back of the head. Even worse, the men believed that Terohaute had resorted to cannibalization to help keep them alive. Convinced Terohaute was about to kill the rest of the group, Richardson shot Terohaute dead. Richardson is commemorated in the names of numerous plants, fish, birds, and mammals (including Richardson's ground squirrel and Richardson's owl). In his work as a naval physician, he collaborated with Florence Nightingale. As his biographer David A. Stewart said: "[Richardson] ....was perhaps a life of industry more than a life of genius, but it was a full, good life, and in many ways a great life. It is not every day that we meet in one person - surgeon, physician, sailor, soldier, administrator, explorer, naturalist, author, and scholar, who has been eminent in some roles and commendable in all." #OTD It's the birthday of British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume born on this day in 1829. Hume had worked in India for more than three decades. Hume said, "I look upon myself as a Native of India." Hume was a lifelong naturalist. In his late twenties, Hume began to accumulate materials for his dream: a masterwork on the bird of the Indian Empire. Hume's job with the Customs Department of India provided exceptional opportunities of collecting birds. called the 'Pope of Indian Ornithology'. Hume had set up enthusiastic ornithology assistants all over India. As his team of volunteers collected specimens, they were thoroughly debriefed. Hume recorded decades of data and interviews in notebooks and journals in his home, called Rothney Castle, at Shimla. When Hume was 55 years old, he experienced a devastating loss that would spell the immediate end of his work in ornithology. Over the winter, Hume had left Shimla only to return in the Spring to find Rothney Castle ransacked by a disaffected servant who stole and destroyed all of his written manuscripts. Just like that, his dream was gone. All of it. A Lifetime of work. It took the starch right out of him. There would be no master book by Hume on the birds of India. Thankfully, Hume's specimens were spared. But his passion for ornithology had vanished with his papers. Heartbroken, Hume offered his entire collection of over 82,000 birds and eggs to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. The Museum's curator Richard Bowdler Sharpe went to personally pack up the collection. He was blown away by Hume and his staggering collection. He wrote, "It did not take me many hours to find out that Mr. Hume was a naturalist of no ordinary calibre, and this great collection will remain a monument of the genius and energy of its founder long after he who formed it has passed away." Hume returned to England as well. He turned his sharp observation and exploration skills to the field of botany. For the remainder of his life, he found solace and purpose in the garden. He went on expeditions annually and created an impressive herbarium. He designed custom cabinets to store his specimens. He was especially interested in seeds and seedlings - showing the progression of early growth in plants. Hume was a fanatical collector. In the months before he died in 1910, Hume finalized plans to transfer his botanical library and his herbarium to his lasting legacy and gift to the world: The South London Botanical Institute. Btw - There is a lovely Gingko biloba tree standing tall in front of the Institute and it is also in their logo. #OTD Today, June 5th is World Environment Day. One of India's most famous living environmentalists is 107 years old this year. Her name is Saalumarada Thimmakka. When she was a young girl, she married a local herdsman. When, at the age of 40, she realized they would never have children, Thimmakka wanted to die. But then, she and her husband came up with their own way of adding life to the world; they began to plant banyan trees. Thimmakka reasoned, "Banyan trees offer shade and the fruit is food for several creatures." Thimmakka and her husband cared for the trees by carrying water to them after working in the fields; all 384 of them - planted along a 4 km stretch of highway. After Thimmakka's husband passed away in 1991, Thimmakka carried on with her work. It's estimated she and her husband planted over 8,000 trees during their lifetimes. In India, Thimmakka is known as theMother of Trees. Unearthed Words The poet Alice Mackenzie Swaim was born on today in 1911. Though she moved to America and settled in Pennsylvania, she was born and raised near Aberdeen Scotland, and of Scotland she wrote, "My soul still, returns like a bird to its nest To those distant islands Eternally blest, Where poet and seer and lover are one And life a new challenge Beneath an old sun." When her children were little, Swaim experienced periods of invalidism. Writing poetry became a balm for her. She is best known for this verse: "Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow." For My Remembering I need no rosemary nor rue for my remembering, No faded flower, no lock of hair, Not even spring. When all the wind is your sweet voice And all the rain, your tears, There's no way of forgetting Immortal, radiant years. Old garden chair sagging with the weight of a single leaf. (First Place: 1994 Henderson Memorial Haiku Award) Today's book recommendation: The Gardener's Bed-Book: Short and Long Pieces to Be Read in Bed by Richardson Wright First published in 1929, The Gardener's Bed-Book is a much beloved gardening classic by the renowned editor of House & Garden magazine in the 1920s and '30s. This book is a compilation of 365 little essays. One word to sum it up: charming. You can click on the link above to get a used copy on Amazon using the link above; they sell for as low as 99 cents. I kid you not. Today's Garden Chore Prune your Spring Flowering Shrubs like Forsythia and Lilac when they are done blooming. Remove a third of the branches to the base of the plant. Then prune to shape the rest. Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart When I was researching Sir John Richardson, I learned that on the last day of May in 1865, just days before he died, he and his family went to visit some old friends. There was a standing joke that Sir John, "never left their garden empty-handed, and that evening he carried off a plant of Forget me-not". He placed it in his favorite border when he returned to his home. Richardson is buried at Grasmere cemetery near William Wordsworth. One of the verses of Scripture inserted on his tombstone is from the twenty-seventh Psalm. During times of great duress on their expeditions with Franklin - times when they were starving, facing certain death, when they were too weak to hold a bible in their hands - Richardson and Franklin had repeated this psalm to each other - this was Richardson's favorite verse: "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."