April 30, 2019 Raisin Day, George Washington, William Starling Sullivant, Bertha Stoneman, Samuel Mills Tracy, David Douglas, Matt Mattus, Tulip Turkestanica, and Washington’s Botanical Garden
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The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community
Curated News
I realize you are very excited to get going in your own garden.
But don't forget to schedule some time this spring to visit other gardens.
The gardens of friends, neighbors, or public gardens can inspire you and teach you something new - even when you didn't think you'd learn anything.
#BTW This entire week, April 27-May 4, is Historic Garden Week at Monticello ("MontiCHELLo”) in Virginia.
If you visit today, April 30, you can learn more about their flower and vegetable gardens.
Botanical History On This Day
2019 National Raisin Day celebrates California’s sun-dried grapes, the ingenious cooperative model behind Sun-Maid, and a reminder that what nourishes us may be perilous to our dogs.
1789 George Washington was sworn in as the first U.S. President, a gardener at heart who reshaped Mount Vernon with a naturalistic vision inspired by Batty Langley and his beloved “little garden.”
1873 William Starling Sullivant, America’s pre-eminent bryologist, died. He left behind 18,000 moss specimens and a legacy that forever elevated the study of mosses.
1943 Bertha Stoneman, botanist, educator, and president of Huguenot College in South Africa, passed away after a life devoted to scholarship, teaching, and the flora of a new continent.
1847 Samuel Mills Tracy, botanist and USDA agronomist, was born. He shaped American botany through his floras and the Tracy Herbarium.
Unearthed Words
1827 David Douglas ascends Mount Brown, paused his plant collecting to climb into ice and silence, naming peaks for Robert Brown and William Hooker, and returning with over 200 new plants.
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener’s review of Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening by Matt Mattus
Buy the book on Amazon: Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening by Matt Mattus
Today’s Garden Chore
Diversify your tulip plantings by tucking species tulips like Tulipa turkestanica into grass, borders, and containers for early spring charm and long-lived blooms.
Today’s Botanic Spark
George Washington’s “little garden” at Mount Vernon reminds us that curiosity, patience, and trial plantings can quietly change the future of a landscape.
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
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