February 24, 2021 The World’s Largest Honey Bee, Steve Jobs, the Indiana State Flower, February Chores, English Gardens by Kathryn Bradley-Hole, and an Appeal to Plant More Dogwood in Virginia from 1957
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Botanical History On This Day
1955 Birthday of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, and an admirer of garden design and aesthetics. He famously praised the gardens of Kyoto, especially the moss-rich Saiho-ji Temple, a 14th-century Zen garden. Jobs commissioned renowned English garden designer Penelope Hobhouse to create an English cottage garden at his Palo Alto home, reflecting his love for blending simplicity and elegance in design.
2001 An attempt is made to change the Indiana State Flower from the Peony to the Fire Pink. Although the effort failed, the article in The Daily Journal, based in Franklin, Indiana, highlighted the debate over nativeness versus the beauty and accessibility of the flowers. The Peony remains Indiana’s State Flower, admired for its lush blooms, symbolism of wealth and happy marriage, and longevity—some plants living over 100 years and valued in traditional medicine for alleviating pain.
Unearthed Words
An excerpt from the Gardener’s Almanac (1997) offers practical February chores: visiting greenhouses for early spring plants, browsing new gardening books, preparing and replacing tools, and pruning summer-blooming shrubs, fruit trees, and berries while plants remain dormant—key early-season tasks for garden success.
Grow That Garden Library™
Read my review of English Gardens by Kathryn Bradley-Hole, a 2019 comprehensive exploration of over seventy classic English gardens, spanning from medieval to modern times, accompanied by rich photography and insightful commentary. This 492-page book reveals what makes the English garden style so beloved worldwide, perfect for armchair garden travelers and serious garden enthusiasts alike.
Buy the book on Amazon: English Gardens by Kathryn Bradley-Hole
Today’s Botanic Spark
1957 In Richmond, Virginia, an appeal was made to plant more Dogwood (Cornus florida), Virginia’s State Flower, and also the state tree of Missouri and North Carolina. Colonists and Native Americans historically valued dogwoods for their beauty and the medicinal properties of their bark. The dogwood’s hard wood earned it names like “dagwood” and “skewer-wood.” Pruning dogwoods is best after bloom time, to encourage flower development without cutting off the spring blooms. Dogwood blooms symbolize rebirth in the flower language of floriography.
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