Podcast

May 23, 2019 Growing as a Gardener, Carl Linnaeus, the Centigrade thermometer, Commelina genus, Sjupp the Raccoon, the Hamburg Hydra, Linnaea borealis or Twinflower, August Strindberg, Planting Cannas, Martin Hoffman, and Linnaeus’ Lapland Costume

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “But these young scholars… Love not the flower they pluck, and know it not, And all their botany is Latin names.” There is more to gardening than nomenclature, and more than nomenclature, there’s actually growing and knowing plants. Brevities #OTD It’s the birthday of Carl Linnaeus born on this day in 1707. It is said he liked flowers as a young child, and whenever he was upset, he was given a flower…

May 22, 2019 A Gardener’s Bedtime Ritual, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Florence Meier Chase, Victor Hugo, Gardentopia, Jan Johnsen, Living Mulch, and the death of Conan Doyle

Here’s a gardener’s bedtime ritual for this time of year: Take sandpaper or a nail file and nick those nasturtium seeds before you soak them overnight; then sow them outside. They grow well in poor soil. The leaves and flowers are edible and are great in salads. Brevities #OTD It’s the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – born in 1859. Ten years ago, in 2009, a violin made from a dying sycamore tree in Conan Doyle’s…

May 21, 2019 Bolting Rhubarb, Alexander Pope, Henri Rosseau, Pope’s Grotto at Twickenham, The Land of the Blue Poppies, Frank Kingdon Ward, Installing Garden Paths, and Richard Walter Pohl

Is your rhubarb bolting already? When your rhubarb seems to be bolting too early, ask yourself these questions… Is your rhubarb an heirloom or a new variety? Older varieties tend to bolt sooner. Try planting a newer variety. Is your rhubarb very established? The older your rhubarb, the quicker it bolts. If you divide your established rhubarb, it revitalizes your plant and can thwart flowering. Has it been super cold, hot, or is your rhubarb otherwise stressed? These threatening conditions…

May 20, 2019 Knives in the Garden, National Pick Strawberries Day, Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, Chelsea Flower Show, Paul Martin’s Lazy Salad Days, John Milton’s Song on a May Morning, Wild Fruits by Thoreau, Edge Gardening, and Ludwig Leichhardt

Have you ever used a knife as a garden tool? Serrated knives are my favorite to use in the garden. The word serrated has Latin origins meaning “saw shaped”; think of the serrated edges of Maple leaves. If you are a thrift shopper, at Goodwill, they keep most of the donated knives in a case at the front of the store. You can just ask to see if they have any serrated knives – they are so handy in the…

May 17, 2019 Ready to Garden, Botticelli, George Glenny, Requirements for Plant Explorers, Bernadette Cozart, Rocky Mountain Field Botany Course, Market Garden Workshop at Green Cauldron Farm, James Hunt, The Golden Circle, Hal Borland, and another Photo Friday in the Garden

Are you feeling it yet? The urge to get going in the garden? I was reading a book from 1915 about spring, it started this way, “If you are not dead, you will feel the sap start within you…” Everyone comes to the garden in their own time. If you’re not yet ready to put your pots together or take on gardening the way you did last year, that’s completely fine. Sometimes the seasons of our lives, don’t align with…