August 19, 2020 Michael Drolet’s Paris Apartment Design, National Potato Day, Jane Loudon, Ellen Willmott, Elizabeth Lawrence, Potato Poetry, Dahlias by Naomi Slade, and Ogden Nash’s Victory Garden
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Curated News
Behind the Winning Design: Q&A with Michael Drolet | FlowerMag
Here's an excerpt:
“When Michael Drolet submitted his vibrant vision for a Paris apartment for the Virtual Design Challenge, “we were all immediately impressed and drawn to his colorful and technically accurate proposal,” said Cass Key, creative director at Woodbridge Furniture, one of the contest sponsors along with Taylor King and KingsHaven. “He set the stage beautifully and let the story unfold like a professional, and the true plot twist came when we realized that he was a student, looking to start his career in the fall.
He pushed the boundaries by using a Taylor King fabric as a wall covering and imagining the outdoor space, which is exactly the type of inventive creativity that should be rewarded today and always, said Key."
Wallcovering: Taylor King's 'Secret Garden Passion' floral textile
Today is National Potato Day.
Here are some fun Potato facts:
The average American eats approximately 126 pounds of spuds each year.
Until the 18th century, the French believed that potatoes caused leprosy. To combat the belief, the agronomist Antoine Auguste Parmentier single-handedly changed the French perception of the Potato.
How did Antoine get the French people to believe that the Potato was safe to eat? Good question.
Antoine cleverly posted guards around his potato fields during the day and put the word out that he didn't want people stealing them. Then, he purposefully left them unguarded at night. As he suspected, people did what he thought they would do; steal the potatoes by the sackful by the light of the moon. Soon, they started eating them.
And Marie Antoinette wore potato blossoms in her hair.
The Idaho Potato, or the Russet Burbank, was developed by none other than Luther Burbank in 1871.
Today is also World Photography Day!
So, head out to your garden and take some photos.
Botanical History On This Day
1807 Jane Webb Loudon, pioneering sci-fi author turned beloved Victorian garden writer and illustrator, whose partnership with J. C. Loudon shaped popular horticulture for amateurs.
1858 Ellen Ann Willmott, formidable plantswoman of Warley Place who financed expeditions, employed an army of gardeners, and left her prickly legend in “Miss Willmott’s Ghost.”
1934 Elizabeth Lawrence wrote her sister about zinnias, weeds, and the weary joy of returning to a rain-soaked garden—domestic proof that a gardener’s heart keeps meticulous notes.
Unearthed Words
It’s National Potato Day—poems that lift the humble tuber into memory and meaning. Potato poems by Joseph Stroud & Jane Kenyon
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of Dahlias by Naomi Slade
Buy the book on Amazon: Dahlias by Naomi Slade
Today's Botanic Spark
1902 Ogden Nash, the witty American poet, whose “Victory Garden” turns garden misadventures into cheerful rhyme.
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