April 29, 2021 Forsythia, Hunter’s Home Diary, Agnes Chase, Toni Morrison on spring, Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne, and Cornelia Vanderbilt
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Curated News
Spring's Splendor: Forsythia | The Flower Infused Cocktail Blog | Alyson Brown
Botanical History On This Day
1850 An entry from the Hunter’s Home Diary, the only surviving pre–Civil War plantation home in Oklahoma, provides a glimpse into 19th-century plant life.
1869 Birth of Agnes Chase, petite agrostologist and Smithsonian fellow. Self-taught and intrepid, Agnes began as a USDA illustrator but defied norms to become the world’s leading grass expert. She self-funded fieldwork and found clever botanical allies in missionaries, often returning from expeditions with plant-laden skirts. Into her 90s, she managed the most extensive grass collection in the world, famously remarking,
"Grass is what holds the earth together.
Civilization was based on grass, everywhere in the world."
Unearthed Words
In Jazz, Toni Morrison, writes about the signs of spring in the neighborhood.
Grow That Garden Library™
Check out my review of Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne, a tapestry of letters between botanical trailblazers Ferdinand Lindheimer and George Engelmann. This 236-page collection uncovers Texas’s 19th-century wild plant world—painstakingly translated and analyzed—offering a rare look at both nature and frontier survival. A treasure for plant lovers and historians alike.
Buy the book on Amazon: Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne
Today's Botanic Spark
1924 On this day, Cornelia Vanderbilt wed John Cecil, with her Biltmore wedding rescued from a flower-less disaster after a train delay. Gardeners created lavish, two-foot-wide bouquets from estate blooms—forsythia, tulips, dogwood, and quince. Their spontaneous arrangements became a Roaring Twenties legend, still celebrated today as a triumph of garden ingenuity and Southern style.
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