April Archives

Édouard Manet

The Peony Painter April 30, 1883 Today is the anniversary of the death of the French modernist painter Édouard Manet (“Mah-nay”). His painting, ‘Music in the Tuileries Gardens’ (“TWEE-luh-Reehs”), was his first significant work depicting modern city life. Sensitive to criticism, Manet once wrote, “The attacks of which I have been the object have broken…

Alice B. Toklas

“The Food of Paradise” April 30, 1877 Today is the birthday of the American-born member of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century and the life partner of American writer Gertrude Stein – Alice B. Toklas (“Toe-kliss”). In 1954, Alice’s cookbook, simply called the Alice B Toklas Cook Book, was published. It became one of the…

Agnes Chase

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…

Hunter’s Home

Botany: A Women’s Science? April 29, 1850 Here’s a post for this day from Hunter’s Home – the only remaining pre–Civil War plantation home in Oklahoma. “Emily and Amanda stayed at Araminta’s for much of the day. They had a sweet potato roasting and then gathered flowers for pressing. Emily kept an herbarium into which…

Frances Bickelhaupt

The Bickelhaupt Arboretum April 28, 1916 Today is the birthday of the arboretum-maker Frances Bickelhaupt. Frances is remembered for the arboretum that she and her husband Robert created around their family home in Clinton, Iowa. During the 1960s and 1970s, Robert and Frances watched in dismay as Dutch Elm disease claimed the beautiful Elm-lined streets…

William Darlington

The Chester County Botanist April 28, 1782 Today is the birthday of the botanist, physician, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, William Darlington. Like his fellow eminent botanists John Bartram, Humphry Marshall, and William Baldwin, William was born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania. A native of West Chester, William received his medical…

Peppermint Tulip

Tulip clusiana April 27, 1952 On this day, The Knoxville News-Sentinel published a little article about a short, six-petaled, cherry-red, and white species tulip, known as Tulip clusiana – commonly called the Persian Tulip or the Peppermint Tulip. “Pretty and charming is Tulip clusiana, named for the great botanist Clusius, who is said to have grown it in his…

Thomas Church

Dean of Western Landscape Architects April 27, 1902 Today is the birthday of the renowned and innovative 20th-Century landscape architect Thomas Church. Known as the “Dean of Western Landscape Architects” and the “Father of the California Garden,” Thomas – or Tommy as he was known to his clients and friends – is remembered for personalized…

Norah Lindsay

Her Magical Garden at the Manor House, Sutton Courtenay April 26, 1873 Today is the birthday of the British socialite and garden designer Norah Lindsay. After marrying Sir Harry Lindsay, Norah began gardening at their Manor home and garden in Oxfordshire, Sutton Courtenay, which was given to them as a wedding present from Harry’s cousin.…

John James Audubon

“The Birds of America” April 26, 1785 Today is the birthday of the ornithologist, artist, and naturalist, John James Audubon, who was born in Santo Domingo, Haiti. John’s folio series called “The Birds of America” featured 435 life-size color prints of American birds. And John’s favorite state for birding was Louisiana. Honored as the namesake…

William Wordsworth

A Founder of English Romanticism April 23, 1770 Today is the anniversary of the death of one of the founders of English Romanticism, the poet William Wordsworth. A lover of nature, William wrote about our relationship with the natural world. Although William is best known for his poem about Daffodils that starts, “I wandered lonely as…

William Shakespeare

The Master of Metaphor April 23, 1564 Today is the birthday of the English author, poet, and playwright William Shakespeare. A lover of gardens and the science of botany, William Shakespeare included hundreds of references to flora and fauna in his plays and sonnets. And each flower would have conveyed symbolic meaning to his audiences.…

August Wilhelm Eichler

Flora Brasiliensis April 22, 1839 Today is the birthday of the German botanist August Wilhelm Eichler. Wilhelm developed one of the first widely used natural systems of plant classification. Most importantly, it was the first classification system based on evolution. In addition, Wilhelm divided the plant kingdom into non-floral plants and floral plants. Wilhelm spent…

Julius Sterling Morton

The Father of Arbor Day April 22, 1832 Today is the birthday of a Nebraska newspaper editor, Secretary of Agriculture, and father of Arbor Day, Julius Sterling Morton. In 1867, after moving west to Nebraska from Detroit, J. Sterling and his wife Caroline were shocked by the treeless landscape. Together, they conceived of a day…