September 18, 2019 The Secret Garden, Bernard McMahon, John M. Darby, Abel Aken Hunter, Prose on Autumn Denis Mackail, Straw Bale Gardens Complete by Joel Karsten, Winterizing Strawberry Beds, and the Mary Statue in South Natick
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Monologue
Last night, I shared the trailer for the remake of The Secret Garden, which just dropped.
It is a visual feast for garden lovers everywhere.
The new adaptation of the children's classic stars Colin Firth and Julie Walters and is set for release in April 2020. It looks fantastic.
The Secret Garden is a children's novel written by American author and gardener Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was first released in the early 1900s as a serial in The American Magazine.
The story is about a young girl, Mary Lennox, who was living in India with her wealthy British family. She is a spoiled, neglected little 10-year-old girl. When cholera kills her parents, she is sent to England to live with a widowed uncle, Archibald Craven, at his vast Yorkshire estate.
Mary learns that her dead aunt had a walled garden that had been locked away for ten years, ever since her death. Determined to find it, Mary finds the key to open the garden, and she discovers a lost paradise. Spending time in the garden is transformational for her; she becomes softer, kinder, and more optimistic.
That's why the trailer ends with this quote,
"This garden; it's capable of extraordinary things. Now will you believe in the magic?"
Botanical History On This Day
1816 Bernard McMahon, Irish-born Philadelphia nurseryman and botanical steward of the Lewis and Clark collections, was born. He was the author of American Gardener’s Calendar and the namesake of Mahonia, that glossy evergreen with yellow flowers and bird-beloved berries.
1877 John M. Darby, botanist and chemist of the American Southeast, died. He was a rigorous regional botanizer whose practical flora deserved far better than Asa Gray’s hasty dismissal.
1877 Abel Aken Hunter, Nebraska-born orchid hunter of the Panama Canal Zone, was born. He was a postal worker by day and plant collector by destiny, whose “boat-load of orchids” helped make Balboa a tropical jewel for the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Unearthed Words
With a sigh of relief that summer has finally loosened its grip, Denis Mackail conjures the particular seduction of autumn — lamplight, early frosts, and the books we swear we’ll truly read this time.
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of
Straw Bale Gardens Complete by Joel Karsten
Buy the book on Amazon:
Straw Bale Gardens Complete by Joel Karsten
Today's Garden Chore
Before the cold settles in, winterize strawberry beds — tame runners, pot a few for future swaps, tidy the patch, fertilize once more, and tuck everything in with a protective mulch.
Today's Botanic Spark
2005 The Boston Globe traced a mysterious riverside statue to the Hunnewell orbit — and to a Latin wish engraved at its base: “May flowers bloom on this earth.”
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And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
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