December 10, 2019 Wild about Weeds, Botany at the Bar, Sweet Potatoes, Emily Dickinson, Howard Scott Gentry, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Carl English, A Year in Our Gardens by Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy, Herb Drier, and The Ungrateful Garden
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Curated News
Alison Levey's Book Review: Wild about Weeds, Garden Design with Rebel Plants by Jack Wallington
The book is one of my favorites for 2019. I especially enjoy the designer profiles and Jack's ability to defend the plants many of us secretly love but might not admit in certain circles.
Three scientists discuss the plant science and history of bitters—and share a Thanksgiving cocktail | Scientific American@sciam
Take 3 researchers, add plant science, & a deep dive into the world of bitters & you have this phenomenal book of 75 botanically inspired craft cocktails! #BotanyattheBar #science #technology
This is a great post to help you discover the fascinating and ancient #botanicalhistory behind bitters, plus a fun cocktail recipe - and, these scientists really know how to make a good cocktail!
Folks on Social Media provided many ringing endorsements saying they had tried a number of their bitters, etc, at conferences and were definite fans.
Who Doesn't Like Sweet Potatoes? This Kenyan Researcher, For One | @npr @estherngumbi
Can you have too much of a good thing? Yes. Yes, you can.
Here’s a very relatable post from Researcher Esther Ngumbi, who grew up eating sweet potatoes for nearly every meal. Part of our desire for certain foods is their seasonality. Monotony is the death of pleasure.
Now, many of her family members are just done with these foods. "No one — and I mean no one — had any more appetite for these root vegetables."
"True confession," she writes, "I will not eat sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving. Or any other time of the year. It all has to do with my Kenyan childhood."
"I know it is many people's favorite food, especially during Thanksgiving, but as for me, I still say NO to sweet potatoes. They remind me of what it's like to grow up ... without being able to choose what kind of food you'd like to eat each day."
Botanical History On This Day
1830 Emily Dickinson, who in her own lifetime was known more as a gardener than as a poet and tended a beloved cottage-style flower garden at Amherst, was born.
1903 Howard Scott Gentry, the charming USDA plant explorer who came to know more about agaves “than any other human being” and roamed the wilds of Sonora and Chihuahua by mule, was born.
1911 Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, Victorian botanist, explorer, director of Kew, and Charles Darwin’s closest botanical confidant and champion, died at the age of 94.
1974 The Carl S. English Jr. Gardens in Seattle were formally named to honor the botanist who transformed idle parade grounds by the locks into a seven-acre arboretum with some 1,500 plant varieties.
Unearthed Words
A wintry garden vignette from Edgar Albert Guest, “the People’s Poet,” who paints cedars, snow, and a tyrant season ruling the beds until spring returns. “Winter in the Garden” by Edgar Albert Guest
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of A Year in Our Gardens by Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy
Buy the book on Amazon: A Year in Our Gardens by Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy
Great Gifts for Gardeners
Esschert Design C3000 Hanging Herb Drier
Today's Botanic Spark
Carolyn Kizer’s “The Ungrateful Garden” is a sharp, witty retelling of King Midas, cursed with golden roses that cut his feet and bled his fingers, reminding us that even in myth, the garden can bite back as well as bless.
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