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Curated News

Garden Short Cuts? No thanks | The Guardian | James Wong

Botanical History On This Day

1882 Today is the birthday of Alan Alexander Milne, the English author best known for his stories about Winnie-the-Pooh. Milne's second home, Cotchford Farm, was surrounded by fields and Ashdown Forest, which became the backdrop for Christopher Robin's adventures with Pooh and his friends.

The trees in Ashdown Forest were immortalized in the stories, including Piglet's Beech tree and Pooh's "Bee Tree." A fun fact: the illustrator, Ernest Shepard, drew the trees first to create a sense of the forest's grandeur.

1936 Today marks the anniversary of the death of Rudyard Kipling, the English poet and author of *The Jungle Book*. Kipling's home, Bateman's in East Sussex, was surrounded by a stunning garden that he spent his Nobel Prize money to develop.

The garden at Bateman's included a lily pond, rose garden, and pergola, and is still preserved by the National Trust today. Kipling’s poem *The Glory of the Garden* pays tribute to the beauty and hard work found in gardens, emphasizing the joy of tending to plants and the connection between the garden and the gardener.

Unearthed Words

Today’s excerpt features thoughts on the thistle by gardener and garden writer, Mandy Kirby.

Mandy’s insightful definition is from her book, A Victorian Flower Dictionary. Here’s a snippet:

“The Order of the Thistle, a chivalric order founded by King James VII, has a famous motto: Nemo me impune lacessit or ‘No one harms me without punishment’—evoking the prickly aggressiveness of the plant.”

Grow That Garden Library™

Read my review of A Year at Kew by Rupert Smith, a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Kew Gardens, one of the world's most famous botanical gardens. This book provides a month-by-month exploration of the plants, curators, and events that make Kew a special place.

Buy the book on Amazon: A Year at Kew by Rupert Smith

Today's Botanic Spark

2013 On this day, Reuters published an article about a mistake made on the new Canadian dollar bill. The Bank of Canada had mistakenly used a Norway Maple leaf instead of the country's national tree, the Sugar Maple. While the Norway Maple is common in Canada, it isn’t native, and the mistake sparked controversy among botanists, including Sean Blaney, who pointed out the differences between the two species. Despite the controversy, the bank claimed the leaf was a stylized design.

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