Adelbert von Chamisso Archives

Adelbert von Chamisso

A Romantic Poet Today is the birthday of French-German poet, naturalist, and botanist Adelbert von Chamisso (“Sha-ME-So”). Born into a French Noble family, Chamisso’s family fled to Germany after the French Revolution. Chamisso is remembered for a number of different accomplishments. His creativity was captured in a novella called Peter Schlemihl’s Wonderful History, published in…

January 30, 2020 Good Garden Decisions, African Violets, George Ehret, Adelbert von Chamisso, Yerba Buena, Louise Beebe Wilder, Asa Gray, Ann Taylor, The Seed Underground by Janisse Ray, Garden Cloche, and Elizabeth Wirt

Today we celebrate the botanical illustrator who was wrongfully fired from his first job and the French botanist who spent a month in California with a boatful of Russians. We’ll learn about the botanical name of the city where people leave their hearts, and we’ll fall in love with a classic garden writer from Bronxville,…

Golden Legacy: Honoring the Botanical Friendship Behind the Naming of California’s State Flower

Adelbert von Chamisso, German poet, writer and botanist, named the California Poppy for his friend, Friedrich Von Eschscholz

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 1, 1916 On this day, dear gardeners, we commemorate a most delightful anniversary in the annals of California’s horticultural history. It was on this very date that the State Flower of California…