Posts Tagged ‘Asa Gray’
July 10, 2020 The Berries Migratory Birds Prefer, Favorite Garden Blogs, Parsley & Shade Trees, Asa Gray, Melville Thurston Cook, Elvin McDonald, Spiranthes parksii, Roy Lancaster, Summer Poetry, The Flower-Powered Garden by Andy Vernon, and Peruvian Black Rose Sickness
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…
Read MoreJanuary 30, 2020 Good Garden Decisions, African Violets, George Ehret, Adelbert von Chamisso, Yerba Buena, Louise Beebe Wilder, Asa Gray, Ann Taylor, The Seed Underground by Janisse Ray, Garden Cloche, and Elizabeth Wirt
Today we celebrate the botanical illustrator who was wrongfully fired from his first job and the French botanist who spent a month in California with a boatful of Russians. We’ll learn about the botanical name of the city where people leave their hearts, and we’ll fall in love with a classic garden writer from Bronxville,…
Read MoreJanuary 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.…
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Letters to The Smithsonian On this day in 1852, the Harvard botanist Asa Gray wrote to Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Gray wrote the letter because he couldn’t lecture at the Smithsonian due to his demanding schedule. But he also sent his reassurance in that Smithsonian was establishing itself as the scientific…
Read MoreDecember 6, 2019 Dianthus Syrup, African Flora Threatened, The Potato Exhibit, Johann Zinn, a Smithsonian letter, J Bernard Brinton, Joyce Kilmer, Plants Are Terrible People by Luke Ruggenberg, Fiskars Snip, and the Cincinnati Herbarium
Today we celebrate the botanist who made his mark in human anatomy and the botanist who lost his civil war specimens to a confederate raider. We’ll hear the most popular poem about trees written by a poet who was killed in WWI. We Grow That Garden Library with a self-published humorous garden book by one…
Read MoreNovember 20 Horticultural Fleece, School Horticulture Clubs, John Merle Coulter, Penelope Hobhouse, Lespedeza, August Henry Kramer, No-Waste Kitchen Gardening by Katie Elzer-Peters, Holiday Planters, and the Smallest Rose Park
Today we celebrate the botanist who started the Botanical Gazette back in 1875 and the incredibly down-to-earth yet inspiring garden designer and writer who turns 90 years old today. We’ll learn about the naming error based on the name of an early Governor of Florida and the almost 500 watercolors by a St. Louis botanist…
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Flora of North America Today is the birthday of one of the leading American botanists of his time and a member of Team Darwin, Asa Gray, who was born on this day in 1810. In 1857, Asa Gray received a confidential letter from Charles Darwin. In the letter, Darwin confided: “I will enclose the briefest…
Read MoreNovember 18, 2019 The National Trust Cover Photo, The Feminine History of Botany, William Shenstone, Leo Lesquereux, Asa Gray, Kim Wilde, Margaret Atwood, Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life by Marta McDowell, Boot Tray reboot and Cranberry Frenzy in 1843
Today we celebrate the gardener who turned his farm into a picturesque wonder and the Swiss botanist who survived a fall from a mountaintop that foreshadowed a life of highs and lows. We’ll learn about the American botanist Darwin confided in two years before he shared his theory with the rest of the world and…
Read MoreSequoia National Park: Guardians of Ancient Arboreal Legacy
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. September 25, 2024 On this day, in the year of our Lord 1890, a momentous occasion unfolded in the annals of horticultural history. The Sequoia National Park, a verdant sanctuary for those arboreal…
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A Confidential Concept Today, in 1857, Harvard botanist Asa Gray received a confidential letter from Charles Darwin. In the letter, Darwin wrote: “I will enclose the briefest abstract of my notions on the means by which nature makes her species…I ask you not to mention my doctrine.” Two years later, Darwin revealed his concept of…
Read MoreSeptember 5, 2019 Growing Cucumbers, Michel Sarrazin, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Katherine Warington, Andrew Marvell, Tussie-Mussies by Geraldine Laufer, the Case for Coleus, and the Suffolk Tombstone of gardener Edward Ward
If you have struggled to grow tomatoes successfully, maybe it’s time to give cucumbers a try. They are much easier to grow than tomatoes. Just add some organic matter to the soil and mulch around the base of the plant. Cucumbers benefit from support, so install a trellis for the vines to climb. That’s it.…
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The Harvard Man On this day in 1842, Asa Gray arrived at Harvard. He didn’t have to start teaching until the following spring. Gray wasn’t a great speaker, but he was respected by his peers and his students for his knowledge. Â Â This post was featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: helping gardeners find their…
Read MoreJuly 22, 2019 Drying Flowers, Asa Gray, Hugh Algernon Weddell, Cornelius Herman (“Neil”) Muller, Louise Klein Miller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds by Victoria Summerley, Preparing a Spot for Flower Drying, and the San Jose scale
Have you ever tried drying flowers? Successfully drying one of your favorite flowers is such a joy. Some flowers look even better when they are dried. There are many options for drying flowers; air drying is the simplest. Then, of course, there’s pressing. If you’ve never tried sand drying a bloom, you should give it…
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The Harvard Botanist On this day in 1838, the botanist Asa Gray resigned from the Wilkes Expedition. Gray was frustrated by all of the delays. He also disagreed with Captain Charles Wilkes. Gray and Wilkes disagreed about the Latin descriptions of the new taxa. In addition, Wilkes wanted to work with Americans only. Gray recognized…
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