May 2, 2019 Plant Sales, May Fools Day, Rivdan, The White House Gardens Symposium, Jimi Hendrix, Stonewall Jackson, Didier Decoin, Dividing Iris, and The Enid A. Haupt Garden

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Monologue

Ah May... the Month of Plant Sales.

When I started gardening, I would plant-sale away my Saturdays in May with my dear friend Judy.

We would plan for a successful sale day, waking up while it was still dark.

We'd arrive at the church or the building where the sale was to be held, we'd set up our lawn chairs at the door, and we'd pat ourselves on the back for being first and second in line. Then, we'd wait another hour or two for the doors to open.

All the while, sharing our dreams for our gardens, checking our wishlists for the unusual plants we might find at the sale, and figuring out which plants we'd discovered the previous year that we wanted more of and which we deemed not worthy of getting again.

Botanical History On This Day

1393 Chaucer’s “foolish day” may well belong to May 2, thanks to a sly bit of calendar mischief in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, leaving us to wonder whether April Fools is simply history’s most successful misunderstanding.

2019 Ridván reaches its final day, commemorating twelve days in a garden near Baghdad and celebrating renewal, peace, and the Baha’i call to cease warfare.

2019 The White House Gardens Symposium takes place today, an all-day deep dive into presidential garden history with special attention to Beatrix Farrand, Bunny Mellon, and the gardens as they are tended now.

1969 Jimi Hendrix and Dudleya hendrixii share an unexpected botanical connection, after a Baja succulent discovered while “Voodoo Child” played in the background was later formally named in his honor.

Unearthed Words

1863 Stonewall Jackson’s garden letters reveal a man who found solace in watering flowers, hoeing turnips, and sending apricots to his “little Dove,” before the brutal irony of friendly fire ended his life and left one quiet grave behind an herb garden.

Grow That Garden Library™

Read The Daily Gardener’s review of The Office of Gardens and Ponds by Didier Decoin

Buy the book on Amazon:
The Office of Gardens and Ponds by Didier Decoin

Today's Botanic Spark

1987 The Enid A. Haupt Garden was formally dedicated, and its patron famously insisted on walking the dusty site in patent-leather shoes, proof that true devotion to gardens rarely comes in sensible footwear.

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