Beverley Nichols Archives

Magnolia

by Beverley Nichols I must confess that, for me, the flower of the magnolia is most beautiful when life has almost ebbed from it. These are the twilit hours when the petals flag and falter, when their immaculate ivory texture dims, when they glow with a ghostly radiance that seems to come from another world.…

Summer Hyacinth

by Beverley Nichols On an August night, when the moon is full, there is an almost ectoplasmic radiance around its petals. Note: All week long, The Daily Gardener has been sharing quotes from the author Beverley Nichols, who was born on Monday of this week in 1898. A prolific writer, Nichols is…

September 12, 2019 Charmed by Yellow Wax-Bells, Daniel Cady Eaton, Arthur Shurcliff, Chinese Wilson, Agatha Christie, Beverley Nichols, Lemon Herbs by Ellen Spector Platt, Hanging Basket Tidy Up , and a Record-Setting Apple from 1843

How’s your garden doing? Is there something blooming that is stealing your heart? In my garden, I’m especially enjoying the Yellow wax-bells or Kirengeshoma palmata (“kih-ren-gesh-OH-mah palm-AY-tah”). Heidi Heiland installed these for me last summer during my garden renovation. They are right up by my front door in a North-facing garden – and I see…

The Design a Gardener Imposes

by Beverley Nichols The design [a gardener] imposes must be constantly modified and sometimes totally transformed by a hand stronger than his own— the hand of Nature. Maybe the art of gardening is simply the knowledge of how to hold that hand, and how to clasp it in friendship. Note: All week long, The…

September 11, 2019 Roadside Chicory, Rudolph Jacob Camerarius, José Mutis, Lyman Bradford Smith, Beverley Nichols, Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening by Matt Mattus, Cold Frame Prep, and September Asters

If, throughout the summer, you found yourself driving down the road and spying a little electric blue blossom by the side of the road, chances are, you are looking at chicory. Listener Danny Perkins shared a post at the end of August sharing beautiful photos of chicory. A few years ago, I used to drive…

People Who do Not Like Geraniums

by Beverley Nichols Long experience has taught me that people who do not like geraniums have something morally unsound about them. Sooner or later, you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats. Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted…

A Small, Sad, Neglected-Looking Pink or Peony

by Beverley Nichols If you are picking a bunch of mixed flowers, and if you happen to see, over in a corner, a small, sad, neglected-looking pink or peony that is all by itself and has obviously never had a chance in life, you have not the heart to pass it by, to leave it…

September 10, 2019 Time to Power Wash, David Hosack, Richard Spruce, George Bentham, Beverley Nichols, Oak by William Bryant Logan, Addressing Rot ASAP, and Plants on the Pill

Right about now is the perfect time to get out the power washer. Clean your water features, edging, rocks, fountains, and your outdoor entertaining spaces. The reality is that once you start up that power washer, the list of things that you can clean with it goes on and on. As you’re working, you invariably…

If All Men Were Gardeners

by Beverley Nichols We both know, you and I, that if all men were gardeners, the world, at last, would be at peace. Note: All week long, The Daily Gardener is sharing excerpts from the author Beverley Nichols, who was born on this day in 1898. Nichols is remembered for his writing and…

September 9, 2019 The Miracle Tomato, Flowers of the Forest, Georg Ehret, James Arnold, Beverley Nichols, The Proven Winners Garden Book by Ruth Rogers Clausen and Thomas Christopher, Plants for Next Year, and Red Carnation Day

I thought I’d start today’s show off with a quote by Beverley Nichols from his book, Sunlight on the Lawn: “Why do insurance companies, when they want to describe an act of God, invariably pick on something which sounds much more like an act of the Devil? One would think that God was exclusively concerned…

A Cyclamen Bloom

by Beverley Nichols A cyclamen [bloom] looks like a flight of butterflies, frozen for a single, exquisite moment in the white heart of time… Note: This week I’m going to do a special tribute to the author Beverley Nichols, who was born on this day in 1898. Nichols is remembered for his…

It Was Not Till I Experimented With Seeds

by Beverley Nichols It was not till I experimented with seeds plucked straight from a growing plant that I had my first success… the first thrill of creation… the first taste of blood. This, surely, must be akin to the pride of paternity… indeed, many soured bachelors would wager that it must be almost as…

I Had Never Taken a Cutting Before

by Beverley Nichols I had never ‘taken a cutting’ before… Do you not realize that the whole thing is miraculous? It is exactly as though you were to cut off your wife’s leg, stick it in the lawn, and be greeted on the following day by an entirely new woman, sprung from the leg, advancing…