Agnes Chase Archives

April 29, 2026 George Don, Mary Agnes Chase, Constantine Cavafy, The Gardener’s Mindset by Stephen Orr, and Ron MacBain

The Daily Gardener Podcast Album Cover with a pot of rosemary - the herb for remembrance - beckoning gardeners to remember to listen to the show. Updated September 2025.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Patreon Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Today’s Show Notes April is nearly over. And before it slips away, here are words from Sara Teasdale, from her collection Flame and Shadow: How many…

Blooming Against the Odds: Ellsworth Jerome Hill’s Botanical Triumph

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. December 1, 1833 On this day, dear friends of the garden and admirers of human perseverance, a most remarkable individual drew his first breath. Ellsworth Jerome Hill, destined to become a Presbyterian minister,…

April 29, 2022 St. Robert’s Day, Henri Frederic Amiel, Agnes Chase, Jerry Seinfeld, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Language of Butterflies by Wendy Williams, and Karel Ćapek

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History On This Day St. Robert’s Day — Saint Robert of Molesme, 11th-century abbot and herbalist, whose name may live on in the little Wild Geranium,…

Agnes Chase: The Fearless Botanist Who Mastered the World of Grasses

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 29, 1869 On this day, the remarkable Agnes Chase was born—an American botanist who would devote her life to grasses. Petite and self-taught, she began as an illustrator at the USDA’s Bureau…

Agnes Chase: The Fearless Grass Botanist Who Held the Earth Together

Mary Agnes Chase (1869-1963), a prominent American botanist and suffragist.

The Grass Studier April 29, 1869 Today is the birthday of a botanist who was a petite, fearless, and indefatigable person: Agnes Chase. Agnes was an agrostologist—a studier of grass. A self-taught botanist, her first position was as an illustrator at the USDA’s Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C. In this position, Agnes…

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

January 22, 2021 Lessons from Festival Beach Food Forest, Ellsworth Jerome Hill, the Douglas-Fir, Boris Levinson on Turning to Nature, Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens by Mary Mason Campbell, and Rudyard Kipling’s Letters About His Street Trees

The Grass Man of Botany: Albert Spear Hitchcock and the Frailejones

Albert Spear Hitchcock, a prominent American botanist and agrostologist (a specialist in grasses).

The Manuel of Grasses December 16, 1935 Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and agrostologist Albert Spear Hitchcock. During a trip to Ecuador, Albert took a marvelous photo of an Espeletia with the common name Frailejones (“Fray-lay-HOE-ness”) or Big Monks. These large plants are in the sunflower family, and they are…

December 16, 2020 Madagascar Vanilla, Marshall Pinckney Wilder, Albert Spear Hitchcock, David Hall, Hal Borland, The Catskills Farm to Table Cookbook by Courtney Wade and a Plant Called Higgenses

Remembering the Extraordinary Botanist Ellsworth Jerome Hill and His Incredible Perseverence

“When Ellsworth was only twenty years old, one of his knees stopped working, and the doctor suggested he study botany. Ellsworth would crawl from the house to the orchard, where he would pick a few flowers and then crawl back to the house to identify them.” January 22, 1917 On this day, the Presbyterian minister,…

April 29, 2019 Perennial Defined, Agnes Chase, Cornelia Vanderbilt’s Wedding, Alfred Hitchcock, Ron McBain, #AmericanSpringLive, Botany Bay, Mary Gilmore, Garden-Pedia, Composting, and the Significance of Grass

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Monologue Merriam-Webster gives the following synonyms for the word perennial: abiding, enduring, perpetual, undying Those terms can give gardeners unrealistic expectations for their perennials. They’re not eternal.…

The Botanist Agnes Chase: “Grass is What Holds the Earth Together.”

“Grass is what holds the earth together. Grass made it possible for the human race to abandon his cave life and follow herds. Civilization was based on grass, everywhere in the world.” April 29, 1869 On this day, the botanist Agnes Chase, was born. Agnes was an agrostologist; a studier of grass. A self-taught botanist,…

Agnes Chase: The Grass Ceiling Breaker

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 29, 1869 On this day, dear readers and fellow admirers of botanical trailblazers, we celebrate the birth of Agnes Chase, a petite powerhouse who would go on to become one of the…