August 8, 2019 Hummingbirds, Carl Peter Thunberg, Julia Wilmotte Henshaw, John Henry Twachtman, Raymond A. Foss, Herbs by Judith Hann, Peonies, and Lace Cap Hydrangea

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Monologue

John Tabb wrote:

"A flash of harmless lightning,
A mist of rainbow dyes,
The burnished sunbeams brightening
From flower to flower he flies."

He’s talking, of course, about the hummingbird.

Hummingbirds enthrall gardeners and will do almost anything to attract them to their garden.

One of my happiest memories is being in my garden, working away, when I suddenly felt a little displacement of air on my cheek, and I turned and found myself staring right at a hummingbird — pure magic.

Hummingbirds find food entirely by sight. If they see red, they zoom in for a closer look. This is why all the hummingbird feeders have that "McDonald’s cherry red" as a prominent feature of the feeder.

On the other hand, the liquid does not need to be red. And whatever you do, don't add anything else to your syrup. Do not add red dye or honey; both are harmful to hummingbirds. Remember that.

You can make your own simple nectar by combining one part sugar with four parts water in a saucepan, then boiling it for 2 minutes to make simple syrup. Allow the mixture to cool before you fill your feeders and replace it every couple of days.

And yes, you may not see them. Hummingbirds are notoriously sneaky. They can feed every 15 minutes without you even knowing, unless you’re sitting right there or you happen to have your nest cam trained on your feeder.

Finally, hummingbirds love some plants more than others. They are especially fond of honeysuckle. Their favorite flowers have to meet their color criteria – red, red-orange, or pink blossoms.

John Audubon called them "glittering fragments of the rainbow."

Botanical History On This Day

1828 Carl Peter Thunberg, the Swedish botanist known as the father of South African botany, died on this day. A student of Carl Linnaeus, Thunberg traveled widely with the Dutch East India Company, collecting in South Africa and Japan.

Thunberg entered Japan disguised as a Dutch physician during a period when the country was closed to all Europeans except the Dutch. His landmark work, Flora Japonica (1784), introduced Western botanists to Japan’s flora, including the Easter lily and several lacecap hydrangeas.

1869 Julia Wilmotte Henshaw was born. One of British Columbia’s leading botanists, Henshaw authored influential wildflower guides and wrote a beloved weekly column, The Note Book, for the Vancouver Sun, blending botany with advocacy and wit.

1902 John Henry Twachtman, American Impressionist painter and member of “The Ten,” died on this day. Twachtman’s gardens in Greenwich, Connecticut, frequently appeared in his paintings, reflecting the close relationship between gardening and plein-air painting at the turn of the century.

Unearthed Words

“Summer Rain” by Raymond A. Foss — a quiet meditation on rain-soaked earth, thirsty plants, and the unmistakable scent of August.

Grow That Garden Library™

Read The Daily Gardener review of Herbs: Delicious Recipes and Growing Tips to Transform Your Food by Judith Hann

Buy the book on Amazon: Herbs by Judith Hann

Today's Garden Chore

Put peonies on your calendar.
Late summer through early fall is the ideal time to divide or transplant peonies. Plant them high—no more than an inch below the soil surface—and remember that modern peonies now offer an astonishing range of colors and forms beyond the classics.

Today's Botanic Spark

A goat, five hydrangeas, and a clever botanist.
While confined to an artificial island in Nagasaki Harbor, Thunberg used a goat as botanical cover—asking assistants to gather plants for feed. From those collections came five hydrangea species previously unknown in the West.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener

And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

 

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Botanical History On This Day

#OTD Today is the day that the botanist Carl Peter Thunberg died in 1828.

Thunberg has been called by many names – the father of South African botany

Carl Linnaeus had actually taught Thunberg, and Linnaeus encouraged him to continue his work in Paris and Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, Thunberg met the Burmans, a father and a son, and both botanical experts.

From there, Thunberg joined the Dutch East India Company, and he botanized in South Africa for three years. After South Africa, he traveled to Japan, where he stayed for a little over a year.

Before he went to Japan, Thunberg needed to learn Dutch. The Japanese were not about to convert to Christianity, and so they had closed the country off to all European nations except for Holland to learn more about medicinal plants.

When Thunberg went to Japan, he was posing as a Dutchman instead of a Swede.

In fact, during the 18th century, Thunberg was Japan's only European visitor, and his Flora japonica published in 1784 was a revelation to botanists around the world.

During his time in Japan, Thunberg discovered the Easter Lily growing near the city of Nagasaki. He also found Forsythia in Japan, and he named it to honor William Forsyth.

 

 

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#OTD Today is the birthday of the Canadian botanist Julia Wilmotte Henshaw who was born on this day in 1869.

Remembered as one of British Columbia‘s leading botanists, Henshaw studied for a bit with the botanist Charles Schaefer and his wife, Mary Schaefer Warren. The two were surprised when Henshaw published Mountain Flowers of America in 1906. Rumor had it that the Schaefers may have felt Henshaw had co-opted their work, but another perspective would be that Henshaw was more driven, and she was definitely an experienced author. In either case, the work needed to be published, and by that time, Henshaw had already written a few books, so she was not slow to publish. In any case, she went on to publish two additional volumes on Canadian wildflowers.

Henshaw was a founding member of the Canadian Alpine Club.

Henshaw had a regular column called The Note Book that was featured in the Vancouver Sun newspaper, where she was known as gentle Julia by her fellow journalists.

Her weekly column is a delight to read even today.

In April of 1937, she wrote:

"If one were to tabulate all the proposals put forward as to what is to be done with that monstrosity called a fountain, in the center of Lost Lagoon, I think it would occupy a whole column in the newspaper! Some want it to continue to work as a fountain, illuminated or not; others propose to turn it into a rockery."

The last one she wrote talked about was a continuation of the previous week’s discussion of the destruction of forest areas. Henshaw always wrote with conviction, and in that last column, she aimed to rouse awareness:

"I refer to the practice which has increased with each passing year of shipping enormous quantities of young Douglas firs by the carload to the United States for use as Christmas Trees. Surely this is a matter which should be promptly and peremptorily stopped."

And here’s a lovely excerpt from her post for this day August 8, 1935

"When one stops for an instant in the whirligig of daily life to think of "All things bright and beautiful," three words spring into prominence, namely music, children and gardens, each bringing a separate form of loveliness before our eyes, yet all three correlated in color, fragrance and form."

 

 

 

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#OTD It’s the anniversary of the death of the landscape painter John Henry Twachtman who died on this day in 1902.

Twachtman was an impressionist painter known as one of "The Ten," a group of American Impressionists. It was said they were gardening with a paintbrush.

By the middle of the 1880s, American impressionists were returning home from France, where they had learned to paint out-of-doors. At home in America, the gardening movement was well underway. So, when they were looking for things to paint, outside gardens became one of the foremost subjects.

Following in the footsteps of Monet, the painters would gather their things and go out in search of flowers. This period clearly drew the two great arts of painting and horticulture together.

During this period, the painters or their spouses or their families often started gardens of their own. In the case of Twachtman, he lived in Greenwich, Connecticut, and he turned his suburban yard into a place of beauty. Twachtman is known for featuring flowers from his own garden as well as painting his family casually living their life and enjoying the outdoors.

Twachtman's painting called, In the Greenhouse, was exhibited by the National Gallery in 1902.

And here’s a funny story about John Twachtman that was shared in the El Paso Herald in 1902:

A man who had once bought one of his landscape paintings, wanted Twachtman to weigh in on the hanging of the picture. Twachtman expressed his approval of the background, the height at which the canvas was hung, and the light.

He said, "Indeed, there is only one change to make."

"What is that?" inquired his host, solicitously.

Twachtman replied, "You should hang it the other side up. I always have."

 

 

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Unearthed Words