November 1, 2019 National Fig Week, November Garden Treasures, What to do with your Pumpkins, Carl Linnaeus, Charles Eliot, John Lindley, Russell Page, The Gardens of Russell Page by Gabrielle Zulen, Dahlias, and a Story from Halesworth
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
Support The Daily Gardener
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community
Curated News
National Fig Week
It’s the start of National Fig Week, which runs through the 7th of November.
All of the figs that are growing in the United States are growing in the Central Valley of California, where 28 million pounds of figs are harvested every year.
It was Captain Bligh, who is honored as the planter of the very first fig in Tasmania back in 1792.
The Greek word for fig is syco. It’s why one species of the fig tree is called the sycamore.
Fig trees are in the Ficus genus and the Mulberry family. The popular house plant, the rubber plant, is also a species of ficus.
And, figs are the sweetest of all fruits. They are made up of 55% sugar.
Carla shared beautiful images from her November garden, noting that the fall witch hazel had begun blooming and that her Sochi tea plant is still producing lovely white flowers.
The post features pictures of her witch hazel in bloom. Gardeners have soft spots for the delicate, yellow, spidery flowers of the witch hazel.
The common Witch Hazel virginiana can grow in zones 3 - 8.
Sochi tea, Camellia sinensis, is hearty in zones 7 to 10. Now, to make the tea, the leaves are harvested. But again, as with the witch hazel, it’s the beautiful blooms of this camellia that will steal your heart.
This post was part of Fine Gardening’s garden photo of the day. If you’d like to share your garden with Fine Gardening, you can send them 5 to 10 images of your garden to GPOD (which is short for Garden Picture of the Day) at Fine Gardening.com (GPOD@FineGardening.com) along with a few comments about the plants in the photos. You can share anything: your successes and failures, funny stories, or favorite plants.
Her list is so great, I wanted to share it with you here:
1. Compost it.
2. Puree and cook it.
3. Make it into a birdfeeder.
4. Turn it into a planter.
5. Use it as a serving bowl for soup.
6. Pickle the peel.
7. Apply a face mask.
8. Make doggie treats.
9. Wash and roast the seeds.
10. Save a few seeds to grow another pumpkin next year!
Botanical History On This Day
1783 Carl Linnaeus, the Father of Taxonomy, whose Species Plantarum and binomial naming system ordered the plant kingdom, and whose collections ultimately found a permanent home with the Linnean Society in London.
1859 Charles Eliot, Boston-born landscape architect, Arnold Arboretum collaborator, and tireless walker of New England’s wild places, whose early death moved his father to compile the classic volume Charles Eliot: Landscape Architect.
1865 John Lindley, British gardener, Orchidologist, RHS secretary, savior of Kew Gardens, and namesake of the Lindley Library, who shortened Orchidaceae to “orchid” and inspired hundreds of plant epithets bearing his name.
1906 Russell Page, British gardener, designer, and author of The Education of a Gardener, was the quietly famous modernist who loved “good bones,” strong structure, and gardens fit for picnics and naps.
Unearthed Words
November ice & the lost hour of daylight — an old English rhyme and Phyllis McGinley’s playful “Daylight Savings Time,” musing on ducks, clocks, and that elusive spring hour we steal and reclaim.
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of The Gardens of Russell Page by Gabrielle van Zuylen & Marina Schinz
Buy the book on Amazon: The Gardens of Russell Page
Today's Garden Chore
After your first frost, lift and store dahlia and canna tubers for next spring.
Brush off excess soil and tuck them into perlite in a cool, dark spot so they’re ready to dazzle again next season.
Today's Botanic Spark
1860s John Lindley’s Sumatra training regimen — as a young man, Lindley so hoped to become a plant explorer that he secretly slept on bare floorboards instead of his bed to toughen himself for Sumatra, a journey he never took, though his botanical legacy flourished all the same.
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Featured Book
