July 12, 2019 Giant Water Lily, Captain Cook, Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, Gardens Are for People by Thomas Church, Propagating Pelargoniums, and Yerba Buena
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Curated News
In China, July is the month of the lotus.
Recently, I shared a video in the Facebook Group for the Show from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, which shows Senior Horticulturist Pat Clifford teaching their intern, Hazel, how to remove the older leaves of the Giant Water Lily so the pond does not get overcrowded.
Using a pitchfork, Pat carefully folds the giant lily pad first in half, then quarters, and then once more.
Then he stabs the large folded pad with the pitchfork, hoists it in the air to let the water drain out, and then flops the beast down on the edge of the pond.
The camera zooms in to reveal the most savage thorns that grow on the underside of the lily pad and all down the stem of the plant. It was so surprising to see how viscous the thorns are - rivaling the thorniest rose.
Botanical History On This Day
1771 James Cook returned to England after his first great voyage to Australia.
Though unaware that the quartz reef where the British flag was planted concealed gold, Cook brought home something rarer still—botanical treasure—thanks to Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, who survived illness in Batavia and continued collecting even while gravely unwell.
1835 Charles Darwin wrote to his friend and mentor John Stevens Henslow before sailing to the Galápagos aboard HMS Beagle.
Their lifelong correspondence shaped Darwin’s thinking, beginning with countryside walks in Cambridgeshire and sealed by Henslow’s inscribed gift of Humboldt’s Narrative, now preserved at Cambridge.
Unearthed Words
1817 Henry David Thoreau was born.
Honored today on National Simplicity Day, Thoreau urged us to look closely at the ordinary miracles of nature, trusting seeds, forests, and gardens to teach what haste and noise cannot.
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of Gardens Are for People by Thomas Church
Buy the book on Amazon: Gardens Are for People by Thomas Church
Today's Botanic Spark
1969 Newspapers across the country reminded readers that San Francisco was once called Yerba Buena—“good herb.”
Writers and artists from Rudyard Kipling to William Saroyan agreed: if any city could revive the human spirit, it was this one, scented with mint and possibility.
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And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
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