Arizona Archives

November 4, 2020 Frederick Orpen Bower, the California Fan Palm, November Folklore, Dorothy Parker, Private Gardens of the Bay Area by Susan Lowry and Nancy Berner, and Henry David Thoreau

Today we celebrate the man who is remembered in the botany building at the University of Glasgow. We’ll also learn about the mystery behind the California Fan Palm. We’ll salute the Folklore of November, along with a witty poem about November by an American poet and satirist. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book…

July 14, 2020 Ideas for a Summer Garden Party, Edwin James, Bastille Day, Rudolph Boysen, John T. White, Rachel Carson, The Butterfly’s Ball and The Grasshopper’s Feast, A Tapestry Garden By Marietta and Ernie O’Bryne, And William Vyvyan’s Night-Blooming Cereus

Today we celebrate the man who established the science of botany in America. We’ll also learn about the botanist who survived a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness – an incredible story. We celebrate a presentation from 1977 that encouraged, “Take a pill if you will; I say take a plant to cope with everyday…

Forrest Shreve

Shreve’s Desert Laboratory Today is the birthday of the American botanist Forrest Shreve. We owe such a debt of gratitude to Shreve. Shreve was THE preeminent botanist of North American deserts during the first half of the twentieth century. Shreve worked out of a laboratory in Tucson, Arizona and the lab was perfectly situated for…

July 8, 2020 American Garden Stamps, Herb Paris, Forrest Shreve, Eva Reed, Tom Thomson, Leonard Cockayne, Summer Poetry, Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier, and Milk Sickness

Today we celebrate the preeminent botanist of North American deserts. We’ll also learn about a beloved botanist and librarian with the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We celebrate the Canadian Landscape artist, who was a member of Canada’s treasured Group of Seven. We also celebrate a genuinely great English-Kiwi botanist. We honor summer gardening and garden life…

April 3, 2020 Gardening for Resilience, Magnifying Glass for the Garden Tote, Nikolay Rumyantsev, John Burroughs, Kate Brandegee, Graham Stuart Thomas, The Overstory by Richard Powers, and The Wake-Robin by Rebecca Salsbury Palfrey Utter

Today we celebrate the birthday of a Russian Count who funded an expedition that led to the discovery of the California poppy. We’ll also learn about one of the country’s most beloved naturalists. We celebrate the life of the second woman to be professionally employed as a botanist in the United States. She died 100…

George Engelmann

The Savior of French Wine January 29, 1879 On this day, the physician and botanist George Engelmann lost his wife, Dorothea. Dorothea was also his cousin, and the couple married in their native Germany before immigrating to the United States. Engelmann had settled in St Louis, Missouri. George and Dorothea had one son, George Jr -…

January 29, 2020 Seeds and Berries, Ghost Orchid Pollinators, George Engelmann, Sir Michael Foster, Olga Owen Huckins, Otto Emery Jennings, Sara Teasdale, Robert Frost, Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman, Garden Bunting, Marcus Whitman, and Larry McGraw

Today we celebrate the German-American botanist who saved the French wine industry and the very first Iris-breeder who urged other hybridizers to “be bold.” We’ll learn about the woman who sparked significant legislative change after birds and insects were killed in her garden and the man who fought to protect habitat for the Blazing Star.…

Robert John Thornton

Temple of Flora Today is the anniversary of the death of the English physician and botanical writer Robert John Thornton. Robert adored Carl Linnaeus. He was a huge fan. When Robert wrote his book called “The Temple of Flora,” he dedicated it to Linnaeus. Robert wanted his book to be the very best illustrated botanical…

January 21, 2020 The Winter Greenhouse, Ten Unusual Veggies to Grow, John Frémont, Robert Thornton, Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, National Squirrel Appreciation Day, Snow Riddle, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Plastic Saucers, and Erwin Frink Smith

Today we celebrate a man known as “The Pathfinder” and the birthday of a man who impoverished himself writing a book in tribute to Carl Linnaeus. We’ll learn about the woman who was as passionate about botany as she was assisting with the war effort and today’s National Day that celebrates a garden creature. (Hint:…

Sara Plummer Lemmon

The Golden Poppy Today is the anniversary of the death of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Lemmon is remembered for her successful 1903 piece of legislation that nominated the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) as the state flower of California. Asa Gray named the genus Plummera in honor of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Plummera is yellow wildflowers in the…

January 15, 2020 Scent in the Winter Garden, Top British Garden Shows, William Starling Sullivant, Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Sarah Plummer lemon, Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman, Buffalo Plaid Garden Apron, and The British Museum

Today we celebrate a bryologist who Asa Gray called, “a noble fellow” and the botanist who, along with his wife, helped found the New York Botanic Garden in the Bronx. We’ll learn about one of the first and most prolific professional female garden photographers and the female botanist with a mountain named in her honor.…

January 8, 2020 Dogwood Days, 5 Flower Trends for 2020, Coffee House Ban, Alfred Wallace, Jac P. Thijsse, Harold Hillier, January One-Liners, Houseplants by Lisa Steinkopf, Coloring Fibonacci, and Walter Tennyson Swingle

Today we celebrate the ending of the 1675 coffee shop ban in England and the birthday of a man who devised his own theory of evolution independently of Charles Darwin. We’ll learn about one of the fiercest Dutch conservationists and the nurseryman who created the world’s most excellent arboretum. Today’s Unearthed Words feature fabulous one-liners…

John Gill (“J.G.”) Lemmon

Lemmon and Wife Today is the birthday of the botanist John Gill (“J.G.”) Lemmon. Lemmon and his wife, Sara Plummer Lemmon, were both botanists. Although Sara partnered equally with her husband on their botanical work, their papers were always published with the credentials “J.G. Lemmon & Wife.” The Lemmons had found each other late in…

January 2, 2020 Amy Martin Woodland Garden Design, Louis Benech Normandy Retreat, Saint Adelard, Carl Linnaeus, Franscisco Marin, JG Lemmon, Rhodora, Minnie Aumonier, Leaf Supply by Lauren Camilleri & Sophia Kaplan, Tin Organizer, and the Discovery of the Winter Home of the Monarch

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of a gardener Abbott and an important day in the life of the Father of Taxonomy. We’ll learn about the man who planted the first pineapple in Hawaii on this day in 1813 and the botanist who shared a train with a President during his honeymoon to the Santa…