April 25, 2023 John Mulso, Thomas Jefferson, George Herbert Engleheart, David Fairchild, Harry Radlund, Leslie Young Carrethers, The Gardener's Guide to Prairie Plants by Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox, and Maurice Baring
04/25/23 • 36 min
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Historical Events1766 John Mulso writes to his friend English naturalist, Gilbert White, in Selborne
Gilbert White was born in 1720, So he was 46 when he received this letter from John.
At the time. Gilbert had been keeping a journal about the goings on in his garden. Gilbert kept a journal for about three decades, and it was eventually published to the delight of readers everywhere. Today people still love reading through Gilbert White's notations, drawings, and comments.
Gilbert had a knack for observing the natural world and describing in a relatable way all the goings on outdoors. Gilbert was very curious. He was also really personable.
When John Mulso begins his letter with a comment on the garden, he finds a point of agreement.
Vegetation thrives apace now, and I suppose you are quite intent on your new study.
You will not perhaps relish a Prospect the worse when we force you to look up, as presume you will go with your eyes fixed on the ground most part of the summer.
You will pass with country folks as a man always making sermons, while you are only considering a Weed.
John makes a very astute observation - Gilbert liked gardening more than anything else on Earth. Gilbert was like many pastors or reverends of his time who also pursued their hobbies as naturalists or gardeners. During the growing season, it was coming for a naturalist parson to get distracted by their gardens.
1809 A retired Thomas Jefferson enjoyed spending most of his time in his garden. (Finally!)
In the spring of this year. Thomas was no longer consumed with the duties of being president. We know that in the last year of his presidency, he spent many hours pining for his garden and accumulating plants from his friend Bernard McMann and other plantsmen.
So in April of 1809, Thomas Jefferson was living his dream and his best life as a gardener. He wrote to his friend, Etienne Lemaire, on this day,
I am constantly in my garden or farms. And am exclusively employed out of doors as I was within doors when I was at Washington.
I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.
Isn't that an interesting observation? Comments like that may pass unnoticed, but this change in seasons, the warmer weather, and getting outdoors is powerful medicine. Spending time outdoors plays a role in our attitudes and our moods. We get more vitamin D we feel more energy.
This time of year, we eat the fresh green offerings from our gardens, whether microgreens or asparagus. The rhubarb is popping. You can even eat some hosta leaves, little tiny rolled-up cigars, as they emerge from the Earth. You can cut and fry them up in a pan the same way you would asparagus. (If they're good enough for the deer, they're good enough for us.) They're pretty tasty. The key is to harvest them early - just like you would the fiddleheads. The joys of spring...
1851 George Herbert Engleheart, English pastor and plant breeder, was born.
Like Gilbert White, George Herbert Engleheart was a gardener and a pastor.
In 1889, George began breeding daffodils - some 700 varieties in his lifetime. Sadly many of them have been lost to time, but we know that some survived.
Fans of 'Beersheba,' 'Lucifer,' or 'White Lady' owe a debt of gratitude to Reverend Engleheart. Engleheart spent every spare minute breeding, and his parishioners would often find a note tacked to the church door saying, "No service today, working with daffodils."
Engleheart's charming note reminds me of the little notes that gardeners hang on their porches or somewhere on their front door saying something sweet, like, " in the garden." And if you don't have one of those signs, you can grab a little chalkboard and a little twine And make your own.
1905 On this day, David Fairchild, the great botanist, married Marian Graham Bell, the dau...
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Historical Events1766 John Mulso writes to his friend English naturalist, Gilbert White, in Selborne
Gilbert White was born in 1720, So he was 46 when he received this letter from John.
At the time. Gilbert had been keeping a journal about the goings on in his garden. Gilbert kept a journal for about three decades, and it was eventually published to the delight of readers everywhere. Today people still love reading through Gilbert White's notations, drawings, and comments.
Gilbert had a knack for observing the natural world and describing in a relatable way all the goings on outdoors. Gilbert was very curious. He was also really personable.
When John Mulso begins his letter with a comment on the garden, he finds a point of agreement.
Vegetation thrives apace now, and I suppose you are quite intent on your new study.
You will not perhaps relish a Prospect the worse when we force you to look up, as presume you will go with your eyes fixed on the ground most part of the summer.
You will pass with country folks as a man always making sermons, while you are only considering a Weed.
John makes a very astute observation - Gilbert liked gardening more than anything else on Earth. Gilbert was like many pastors or reverends of his time who also pursued their hobbies as naturalists or gardeners. During the growing season, it was coming for a naturalist parson to get distracted by their gardens.
1809 A retired Thomas Jefferson enjoyed spending most of his time in his garden. (Finally!)
In the spring of this year. Thomas was no longer consumed with the duties of being president. We know that in the last year of his presidency, he spent many hours pining for his garden and accumulating plants from his friend Bernard McMann and other plantsmen.
So in April of 1809, Thomas Jefferson was living his dream and his best life as a gardener. He wrote to his friend, Etienne Lemaire, on this day,
I am constantly in my garden or farms. And am exclusively employed out of doors as I was within doors when I was at Washington.
I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.
Isn't that an interesting observation? Comments like that may pass unnoticed, but this change in seasons, the warmer weather, and getting outdoors is powerful medicine. Spending time outdoors plays a role in our attitudes and our moods. We get more vitamin D we feel more energy.
This time of year, we eat the fresh green offerings from our gardens, whether microgreens or asparagus. The rhubarb is popping. You can even eat some hosta leaves, little tiny rolled-up cigars, as they emerge from the Earth. You can cut and fry them up in a pan the same way you would asparagus. (If they're good enough for the deer, they're good enough for us.) They're pretty tasty. The key is to harvest them early - just like you would the fiddleheads. The joys of spring...
1851 George Herbert Engleheart, English pastor and plant breeder, was born.
Like Gilbert White, George Herbert Engleheart was a gardener and a pastor.
In 1889, George began breeding daffodils - some 700 varieties in his lifetime. Sadly many of them have been lost to time, but we know that some survived.
Fans of 'Beersheba,' 'Lucifer,' or 'White Lady' owe a debt of gratitude to Reverend Engleheart. Engleheart spent every spare minute breeding, and his parishioners would often find a note tacked to the church door saying, "No service today, working with daffodils."
Engleheart's charming note reminds me of the little notes that gardeners hang on their porches or somewhere on their front door saying something sweet, like, " in the garden." And if you don't have one of those signs, you can grab a little chalkboard and a little twine And make your own.
1905 On this day, David Fairchild, the great botanist, married Marian Graham Bell, the dau...
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April 24, 2023 Jakob Böhme, Robert Bailey Thomas, Paul George Russell, Charles Sprague Sargent, Purple Mustard, Pansies, Kurume Azaleas, Tiny and Wild by Graham Laird Gardner, and Solar System Garden
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Historical Events1575 Birth of Jakob Böhme, German original thinker.
Jakob Böhme did a great deal of thinking and writing, not only about theology and Christianity but also about the natural world.
Here's what Mary Oliver wrote about Böhme.
I read Jacob Boehme and am caught in his shining web.
Here are Desire and Will that should be (he says) as two arms at one task; in my life they are less cooperative.
Will keeps sliding away down the hill to play when work is called for and Desire piously wants to labor when the best season of merriment is around me.
Troublemakers both of them them.
And another writer I admire and enjoy is Elizabeth Gilbert.
Elizabeth wrote about Jakob Böhme in her book, The Signature of All Things. The title of her book is from something that Jakob Böhme had written.
Jacob Boehme was a sixteenth-century cobbler from Germany who had mystical visions about plants.
Many people considered him an early botanist. Alma's mother, on the other hand, had considered him a cesspool of residual medieval superstition. So there was considerable conflict of opinion surrounding Jacob Boehme.
The old cobbler had believed in something he called the signature of all things"- namely, that God had hidden clues for humanity's betterment inside the design of every flower, leaf, fruit, and tree on earth.
All the natural world was a divine code, Boehme claimed, containing proof of our Creator's love.
1766 Robert Bailey Thomas, founder, editor, and publisher of The Old Farmer's Almanac, is born.
Robert made his first edition - his very first copy of The Old Farmer's Almanac -back in 1792.
1889 Paul George Russell, American botanist, is born.
Paul George Russell was born in Liverpool, New York. He worked as a botanist for the United States government for over five decades.
Paul George Russell went on collecting trips in Northern Mexico. He's remembered in the names of several different plants, including the Verbena russellii, a woody flowering plant that is very pretty.
And he's also remembered in the naming of the Opuntia russellii, which is a type of prickly pear cactus.
Now during his career, Paul George Russell could identify plants based on what their seeds looked like. One of the ways that he developed this skill is he compiled a seed bank of over 40,000 different types of sources.
Today Paul George is most remembered for his work with cherry trees. He was a vital part of the team that was created to install the living architecture of Japanese cherry trees around the Washington Tidal Basin. Paul George Russell put together a little bulletin, a little USDA circular called Oriental Flowering Cherries, in March 1934. It was his most impressive work. His guide provided all kinds of facts and detailed information about the trees just when it was needed most. People were curious about the cherry trees and fell utterly in love with them once they saw them blooming in springtime.
Paul George Russell passed away at the age of 73 after having a heart attack. On a poignant note, he was supposed to see his beloved cherry trees in bloom with his daughter. They had planned a trip to go to the tidal basin together. But unfortunately, that last visit never happened.
So this year, when you see the cherry trees bloom, raise a trowel to Paul, George Russell, and remember him and his fine work. And if you can get your hands on a copy of that 72-page circular he created in 1934, that's a find. It's all still good information.
1841 Charles Sprague Sargent, American botanist, is born.
He was the first director of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum.
Charles was known for being a little curmudgeonly. He was pretty stoic.
One of my favorite stories about Charles wa...
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May 1, 2023 May Day, Karl Friedrich von Gaertner, Phebe Holder, Thomas Hoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily's Fresh Kitchen by Emily Maxson, and Calvin Fletcher
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Historical Events1772 Karl Friedrich von Gaertner, German botanist, is born.
Karl Friedrich von Gaertner had a fantastic last name; Gaertner translates to mean gardener.
Karl was a second-generation gardener. His dad was Joseph Gaertner, the great German botanist and horticulturist, so Karl essentially stepped in his father's footsteps.
Karl's claim to fame was his work with hybrids with hybridizing plants. Along with other botanists, he laid the foundation for Gregor Mendel, who discovered the basic principles of heredity through his experiments with peas in his garden at the Augustinian monastery he lived in at Brno ("BURR-no") in the Czech Republic.
1890 Phebe Holder's poem, A Song of May, appeared in newspapers this month.
In addition to her religious poems, Phebe wrote about the natural world.
Gardeners delight in her poems for spring and fall.
Phebe is a fabulous New England Victorian poet and gardener I love and admire.
She loved the delicate plants of springtime and wrote a poem called A Song of May.
What song hast thou, sweet May, for me, My listening ear what song for thee? A song of life from growing things, The life thy gentle presence brings; The tender light of budding spray. The blooming down on willow grey, The living green that earth overspreads, The creamy flowers on mossy beds.
From blossoms pure with petals white As pressed from out the moonbeam's light. The fragrant lily of the vale, The violet's breath on passing gale: Anemones mid last year's*leaves, Arbutus sweet in trailing wreaths, From waving lights of forest glade The light ferns hiding neath the shade.
A song of joy from wood and plain, From birds in old-time haunts again; The silvery laugh of tuneful rill O'er rocky bed, down craggy hill; Soft coming of warm dropping showers, The sighing wind in piney bowers; The music breathed by low-voiced waves, For listening, from ocean caves,
A plaintive strain doth memory sing, A breathing of departed Spring: An unseen Presence in the home, A spirit voice-"The Master's come!". While hearts in tender sorrow wept O'er one beloved who silent slept, Who in the May-time long ago Passed the pearl gates of glory through.
A grateful song, our God, to Thee For treasures of the earth and sea; For all the beauty Thou hast given; A dream to loving hearts, of heaven; A song of life, of joy, of love, Of trust, of faith in light adore This offering on thy shrine I lay; This song hast thou for me, sweet May.
Phebe's A Song of May recalls the flowers of spring. In the second verse, she's touching on many great spring beauties: the Lily of the Valley, violets, anemones, The Mayflower (also known as the trailing arbutus), and then, of course, ferns. In May, fern fronds cover the woodlands and understories. All of these spring plants emerge very quickly once they get growing. The ground transforms from leaf-littered - brown, drab, and dreary - to excellent with beautiful little blossoms.
1822 Thomas Hoy, English gardener, horticulturist, and botanist, died.
Thomas was a dedicated gardener and head gardener for the Duke of Northumberland for over four decades - so he worked with plants his entire life.
Thomas was a fellow of the Linnaean Society and liked to show his work at various plant societies And outings.
Thomas is remembered as an experienced botanist and a capable cultivator. He was very good at his job. In fact, he was so good that the botanist Robert Brown named a popular plant genus for Thomas Hoy. Can you guess what it is?
Well, if you were thinking Hoya, you are correct.
The Hoya is a beautiful way to be remembered and honored.
I love Hoyas. I picked up a couple of variegated Hoyas over the winter, and I'm so excited to see what the flower looks like.
Overall the Hoya is a gorgeou...
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