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The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community

Curated News

The Scent Of Fear – The Aphid Alarm Pheromone

Great Post on The Scent of Fear – the aphid alarm pheromone via @Entoprof

"Aphids, when perceiving a threat to their neighbors by a predator or parasite, flee the scene rapidly, by flight, if winged, on foot if not, or even by leaping from their host-plant to the ground below."

A Growing Concern: Is It Ever OK To Steal Plant Cuttings? | Life And Style | The Guardian

A growing concern: Is it ever OK to steal plant cuttings?

"At Potted Elephant, the thief cut tendrils of Philodendron, Variegated Monstera and Scindapsus from live plants in his greenhouse – some from Jarrell's personal collection of rare plants."

Botanical History On This Day

1617 Prospero Alpini, the Italian botanist who introduced coffee and bananas to Europe and first described sexual differences in plants by hand-pollinating date palms, died on this day. The fragrant ginger lily genus Alpinia still carries his name.

1822 Joseph Sabine presented new Chinese chrysanthemums to the London Horticultural Society, including the exciting Quilled Pink, at a time when mums were arriving in English gardens. Sabine later sent David Douglas to North America, and Douglas named the Digger Pine, Pinus sabiniana, in his honor.

1783 Lancelot “Capability” Brown, the beloved English landscape gardener and King’s Master Gardener, died on this day. Famous for seeing the “capabilities” in an estate and restoring natural beauty with lakes, sweeping lawns, and temples, Brown created the quintessential English landscape that visitors still enjoy at National Trust properties today.

1946 Edgar Anderson, the botanist known for his work on irises and sunflowers, wrote a wry letter to his student Charles Heiser lamenting “stamp collecting” taxonomy and praising good students as “an incredible gift.” Their long correspondence later inspired Heiser’s tribute, “Student Days with Edgar Anderson or How I Came to Study Sunflowers.”

Unearthed Words

Today’s Unearthed Words explore winter’s moods — from potato-gratin comfort and winter blues to literature’s “bone and sinew” season.

Victor Hugo reminds us that “laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face” and that “winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart,” while John Burroughs (in “The Snow-Walkers”) muses that winter gives literature its structure and strength. Richard Adams, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, Reverend Roy Rolfe Gilson, and Burroughs again round out this wintry mix, showing how cold weather can mean struggle, travel, or deep rest — for humans and insects alike.

Read today’s full Unearthed Words collection.

Grow That Garden Library™

Read The Daily Gardener review of Wildlife Gardening by Kate Bradbury

Buy the book on Amazon: Wildlife Gardening by Kate Bradbury

Great Gifts for Gardeners

Ladbrooke Genuine Mini 4 Hand-held Soil Blocker – $33.99

• Most popular Ladbrooke size worldwide – makes four 2" soil blocks at a time
• Essential, reusable tool for organic gardeners – no more plastic pots
• Zinc-coated steel for years of use; part of the Micro/Mini/Maxi nesting system
• Designed to create firm, uniform blocks that promote strong root systems

Today's Botanic Spark

Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

Loganberries, Spam, and a Beloved Botanist

While remembering his mentor Edgar Anderson, sunflower expert Charles Heiser ended his tribute with a very human, very funny story. Anderson, who played the recorder, loved square dances and cooked for his students. Once, proudly serving a dish Heiser called “one of the worst” he’d ever eaten: Spam covered with bread crumbs soaked in loganberry juice.

Loganberries (Rubus loganobaccus) are a blackberry–raspberry cross created in California by James Harvey Logan. They’re wonderfully fragrant, tart, and sweet — but very perishable — which is why most of us never see them in grocery stores. Gardeners who grow them keep the berries on the vine as long as possible for maximum flavor.

It’s a sweet reminder that even the most brilliant botanists can have… let’s say “adventurous” taste in the kitchen — and that plants like the humble loganberry weave their way into the stories we tell about the people who taught us to love botany.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener

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