July 11, 2022 Horace Walpole, Dorothy Thompson, Oliver Sacks, India’s First Cryptogamic Garden, Botany for the Artist by Sarah Simblet, and Mary Russell Mitford
Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
Support The Daily Gardener
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community
Botanical History On This Day
1788 On this day, Horace Walpole wrote about the powerful impact of rain on the garden. Ever the sharp observer of English life and landscape, Walpole’s reflections reveal how weather could be both a blessing and a torment to gardeners. His words remind us that even the grandest gardens are ultimately humbled by the whims of the skies.
1893 Birth of Dorothy Thompson, American journalist and radio broadcaster. Though famed for her political reporting, Thompson also admired gardens as sanctuaries of reflection, where newsprint and deadlines gave way to the steadier rhythms of soil, seasons, and blooms.
1933 Birth of Oliver Sacks, British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Sacks often turned to plants in his essays, weaving the wonders of orchids, cycads, and ferns into his explorations of the human mind. For him, botany was not only a science, but poetry and memory entwined.
2021 On this day, India’s first cryptogamic garden was opened. With nearly fifty species of mosses, ferns, fungi, algae, and liverworts, this unique garden celebrates the ancient and often overlooked plant life that laid the foundation for all subsequent ecosystems.
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of Botany for the Artist by Sarah Simblet
Buy the book on Amazon: Botany for the Artist by Sarah Simblet
Today's Botanic Spark
1824 Mary Russell Mitford wrote to Benjamin Robert Haydon to describe her garden. Mitford, a poet and playwright, delighted in recounting the beauty of her borders, the fragrance of her roses, and the simple joy of tending plants. Her letters reveal a woman who found inspiration and solace in her garden, crafting prose as tender as the blossoms she cherished.
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener
And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.
Featured Book
