From Grafts to Greatness: The Fruitful Legacy of Joseph Stayman

Joseph Stayman

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 7, 2024 On this day, we commemorate the birth of Joseph Stayman, a horticultural luminary who graced this earth on October 7, 1817. Dear readers, allow me to regale you with the…

Read More

The Founding Farmer: James Madison’s Post-Presidential Passion

James Madison

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 7, 1817 On this day, James Madison, America’s fourth President, was elected to serve as the President of his local Agricultural Society. James had just retired from his presidential duties and quickly…

Read More

From Railroad to Orchard: The Remarkable Journey of Ivan Michurin

Michurin walking in the garden, 1934

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 7, 1935 On this day, dear cultivators of curiosity and admirers of horticultural ingenuity, we bid farewell to a true titan of the botanical world. Ivan Michurin, the Russian botanist and plant…

Read More

Elvin Stakman: Guardian of the World’s Wheat

Elvin Charles Stakman, 1947

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 17, 1885 On this day, we celebrate the birth of Elvin Charles Stakman, an American plant pathologist whose work would go on to shape the future of global food security. Can you…

Read More

The Pineapple King: How James Dole Created a Tropical Empire

Dole inspecting a pineapple in the field (colorized)

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. September 27, 1877 Dearest admirers of horticultural enterprise, today we mark the birth of that most ingenious cultivator of tropical abundance, James Drummond Dole, whose vision would transform a humble bromeliad into an…

Read More

From Foreign Soils to American Gardens: The Legacy of Seed Importation

Seed Crate

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 28, 1939 On this day, dear readers, we find ourselves transported to a time when the very seeds of agricultural innovation were being sown across our fair nation. It was precisely a…

Read More