Posts Tagged ‘Arnold Arboretum’
Charles Eliot: Boston’s Emerging Landscape Architect and Arboretum Visionary
A Boston Son November 1, 1859Â Today is the birthday of the Boston Landscape Architect Charles Eliot. Charles was the son of a prominent Boston family. In 1869, the year his mother died, his father Charles Sr. became the president of Harvard University. In 1882 Charles graduated from Harvard with a degree in botany. A…
Read MoreThe Philadelphia Botanical Club’s First Pilgrimage to Bartram’s Garden
A Horticultural Landmark Today the Philadelphia Botanical Club took their very first field trip to Bartram’s Garden. In 1850, Andrew McCalla Eastwick (1806-1879), an engineer and the inventor of the steam shovel, bought the 46-acre Bartram estate from John Bartram’s granddaughter, Ann Bartram Carr. Eastwick had banked a personal mint after building railroads for Czar…
Read MoreThe Founding of the New England Botanical Club and the Birth of Rhodora
New England and Alpine Flora  Today the New England Botanical Club was founded by seven Professional and ten amateur botanists. The club was established to study New England and Alpine Flora. Dues were set at $2/year.  The late 1800s ushered in several scientific organizations – like the American Philosophical Society, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the…
Read MoreJoseph Rock: Renowned Austrian-American Botanist and Explorer
Lived Life to the Fullest Today is the birthday of the renowned Austrian-American botanist and explorer Joseph Rock. Joseph was born in Austria but ended up immigrating to the United States and eventually settled in Hawaii, where he was beloved. Joseph became Hawaii’s first official botanist. He started teaching as a professor of Botany at…
Read MoreCharles Eliot: The Visionary Landscape Architect Who Shaped New England’s Natural Beauty
The Boston Botanist Today is the birthday of Charles Eliot, who was born on this day in 1859. Eliot was the son of a prominent Boston family. In 1869, the year his mother died, his father Charles William Eliot became the president of Harvard University. In 1882 Charles went to Harvard to study botany. A…
Read MoreThe Arnold Arboretum Begins to Flourish: Charles Sprague Sargent’s 1883 Update
Arnold Arboretum On this day in 1883, Charles Sprague Sargent wrote to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker with an update on the Arnold Arboretum: “The Arboretum is getting on at last. ..Roads, belts, grades, etc. are making grand progress & I really begin to see daylight ahead. We have in the nurseries an immense stock of…
Read MoreJames Arnold: The Quaker Benefactor Behind Harvard’s First Arboretum
The Arnold Arboretum  Today is the birthday of James Arnold, who was born on this day in 1781 and who was the namesake for Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum. The Arnold Arboretum was the very first arboretum in the United States. Arnold was born to a Quaker family in Providence, Rhode, Island. In 1807, Arnold married Sarah…
Read MoreAlfred Rehder: The Dendrologist Who Shaped the USDA Hardiness Zones
The Arnold Arboretum Taxonomist Today is the birthday of the Arnold Arboretum taxonomist and dendrologist Alfred Rehder, who was born on this day in 1863. A dendrologist studies trees, and Rehder was the top dendrologist of his generation. Rehder learned about horticulture from his father, who was an amateur gardener. He worked at several botanical…
Read MoreCharles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum by Stephanne Barry Sutton
As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Charles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum by Stephanne Barry Sutton This book came out in 1970, and I picked this book for today’s show in honor of Charles Sprague Sargent’s birthday (He was born on this day in 1841). This book, commissioned by the Arboretum to celebrate its…
Read MoreThe Botanical Survivalist: Thomas Grant Harbison’s Extraordinary Legacy
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 23, 1862 On this day, dear readers, the botanical world was graced with the arrival of one Thomas Grant Harbison—a man whose peculiar dedication to flora would eventually lead him to subsist…
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