July 9, 2020 Magnolia Gardens White Bridge, Cottage Garden Style, Sowing Biennial Flower Seeds, Henry Wallace Johnston, Nikolay Vavilov, George Shull, Tomato Poetry, The Backyard Parables by Margaret Roach, and Samual Smithers aka Plantman
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Magnolia Gardens White Bridge Damaged by Tree
"At approximately 7:00 PM last night a large tree fell in our garden. It landed on our historic and iconic White Bridge taking out most of the railing and posts on the left side ramp."
What is Cottage Garden Style? And How to Achieve It... | The Middle-Sized Garden
"In theory, cottage garden style started when low paid farm workers filled their gardens with vegetables, herbs and fruit trees for their own use."
The Middle-Sized Garden: if your garden is bigger than a courtyard but smaller than an acre.
Sowing Biennial Flower Seeds In June And July | Higgledy Garden
"The biennials in the Higgledy Seed Emporium have all be chosen to be admirable in the vase. We also have a strong leaning to the old fashioned.
*Honesty (Common name) or Lunaria (so named because it's pale seed pod discs resemble the moon).
*Sweet William. Sweet Williams just rock! That's all there is to it. They smell amazing…look amazing and are all-round good eggs. Like all biennials, they are a piece of cake to grow from seed.
*Foxgloves. Once again, a white foxglove 'Alba 'is a pretty essential bit of kit for the home florist... Don't be without it.
*Hesperis. I love this flower…one of my favorites of all the flowers I have ever grown. Simple…pretty…easy to grow…"
Botanical History On This Day
1926 Colonel Henry Wallace Johnston, the flamboyant founder of Palm Lodge Tropical Grove, dazzled the world with 8,000 tropical specimens—including the “ice cream vine,” Monstera deliciosa.
1941 Nikolay Vavilov Sentenced, as the visionary Russian botanist and seed-bank pioneer was condemned to death, later dying of starvation—ironically while trying to end world hunger.
1942 George Shull Retires, the Ohio-born botanist whose hybrid corn revolutionized American agriculture, increasing yields by up to 40%, yet he earned nothing for his innovation.
Unearthed Words
An ode to summer’s jewel: the tomato—from Batali’s kitchen joy to Denver’s homegrown anthem and a playful parody of William Carlos Williams. Check out these Poems for Tomato Season
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of The Backyard Parables by Margaret Roach
Buy the book on Amazon: The Backyard Parables
Today’s Botanic Spark
1963 Marvel’s Plantman, when botanist Samuel Smithers became Plantman—able to animate all plant life—after lightning struck his plant raygun, leading to memorable battles and one very green supervillain origin story.
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