July 10, 2019 Parsley, Asa Gray, Melville T. Cook, Elvin McDonald, Spiranthes parksii, Roy Lancaster, Theodore Roethke, Perennial Garden Plants by Graham Stuart Thomas, Planting Shade Trees, and Bewitched

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Monologue

Are you growing parsley?

I am.

But I generally only plant the flat-leaf variety, since the curly leaf parsley is used mainly as a garnish.

Parsley is a member of the Umbelliferae family, which also includes celery, carrots, dill, cilantro, caraway, cumin, and the poisonous hemlock.

Botanical History On This Day

1838 Asa Gray resigned from the Wilkes Expedition.
Unwilling to compromise scientific rigor or exclude European herbaria, Gray charted a different course, soon shaping American botany at Harvard and guiding it onto the international stage.

1949 Melville Thurston Cook, age seventy-nine, was rescued in Alaska after a forced landing.
Surviving a week on 1,080 eggs, Cook collected specimens between meals—proof that a botanist’s instincts persist under any conditions.

1977 Elvin McDonald of House Beautiful presented “Decorating with Plants.”
Decades before social media, McDonald advocated greenery as an antidote to stress. “Take a plant,” he said, “not a pill.”

1983 Spiranthes parksii halted a Texas highway project.
Known as Navasota ladies’ tresses, the tiny orchid became the 54th U.S. plant listed as endangered—an elegant interruption in the rush of progress.

1988 Roy Lancaster warned of a black market threatening rare Chinese orchids.
Plants like Paphiopedilum armeniacum vanished from the wild within years of discovery, a cautionary tale of beauty pursued without restraint.

Unearthed Words

Theodore Roethke offers “Transplanting,”  a beautiful poem written from the inward gaze of childhood.

With hands, loam, and tender stems, Roethke reminds us that growth begins in care and attention.

Grow That Garden Library™

Read The Daily Gardener review of Perennial Garden Plants by Graham Stuart Thomas

Buy the book on Amazon: Perennial Garden Plants by Graham Stuart Thomas

Today's Botanic Spark

1966 The New York Daily News listed a rerun of Bewitched.
In the episode, rare black Peruvian roses briefly robbed Samantha of her powers. Mercifully, it was a condition one could suffer only once.

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