California Archives

February 26, 2021 How to use More Foliage in the Garden, Anna Eliza Reed Woodcock, Alfred D. Robinson, The Tussie-Mussie, Fantastic Fungi by Paul Stamets, and a Botanical Dream for Balboa Park

Today we celebrate a charming woman who became known as the Apple Blossom Lady. We’ll also learn about the man who raised the best begonias in the world back in the early 1900s. We hear some thoughts on tussie-mussies. We Grow That Garden Library™ with an informative and delightful book about Fungi (“funj-eye”) – and…

February 16, 2021 Plant Selfishness, Townshend Stithe Brandegee, the New Jersey State Flower, Duck Hill Journal by Page Dickey, and the Remarkable Josephine S. Margetts

Today we celebrate a botanist of the American West and the husband of Kate Brandegee. We’ll also learn about the woman who created the legislation for the New Jersey State Flower, the Violet. We hear some words about the role of the botanist from one of our horticultural greats. We Grow That Garden Library™ with…

January 8, 2021 The Three Friends of Winter, Eliza Ridgely, Walter Tennyson Swingle, Dig For Victory January Advice, A Place For Us by Harriet Evans, and Herb Wagner of Wagner Tree Fame

Today we celebrate the avid gardener who transformed the gardens at what was once the largest private residence in the United States. We’ll also learn about the man who created many new citruses through hybridizing. We’ll hear some January advice from a Dig For Victory brochure from WWII. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a…

July 31, 2020 How To Grow A Mood-boosting Garden, Daniel Defoe, Mary Vaux Walcott, Richard Morris Hunt, Francis Ledwidge, Sydney Dylan Ripley, Outstanding American Gardens by Page Dickey, and National Avocado Day

Today we remember the beloved English writer who was punished for treason but adored with flowers. We’ll also learn about the female botanical illustrator, who is known as the “Audubon of botany.” We celebrate the Dean of American Architecture. We also salute the “poet of the blackbirds.” We honor the establishment of the horticulture program…

Emilia Hazelip

Synergistic Gardening Today is the birthday of the Spanish woman who pioneered a system of organic gardening known as synergistic gardening – Emilia Hazelip. Emilia was born in Barcelona. As a young adult, she embraced communal living and was part of the hippie movement. She managed to make her way to California, where she worked…

July 18, 2020 A Daily Practice to Improve Garden Skills, Gilbert White, Jane Austen, Frederick Law Olmsted, Emilia Hazelip, The Gardener Poem, The Solitary Bees by Bryan N. Danforth, Robert L. Minckley, John L. Neff, and Frances Fawcett, and The Botanist by Maxfield Parrish

Today we celebrate the English naturalist who kept a journal for almost three decades. We’ll also learn about the famous English novelist who loved to garden. We salute the father of American landscape architecture and his trip to Gettysburg on this day in 1863. We also recognize the Spanish woman who pioneered a system of…

Charles Theodore Mohr

‘Bama Botanist Today is the anniversary of the death of botanist Charles Theodore Mohr. Although he was born in Germany and educated in Stuttgart, Charles became one of Alabama’s first botanists. He emigrated to the United States in 1848. A trained pharmacist, Charles traveled the world before settling in Alabama, and he especially enjoyed collecting…

July 17, 2020 A Hot Tip for Hydrangeas, the B-Line Network for Pollinators, Charles Theodore Mohr, George William Russell, Arthur Koehler, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, Dog Days Poetry, How to Make a Plant Love You by Summer Rayne Oakes, and Poppy Art at the Tower of London

Today we celebrate one of Alabama’s first botanists and the poet who went by the pseudonym AE. We’ll also learn about Wood Expert and xylotomist (“xy·lot·o·mist”) who solved the crime of the century. We celebrate one of the 20th century’s leading landscape architects. We also celebrate the Dog Days of summer through poetry. We Grow…

July 12, 2020 A Garden at Maturity, the Water Lily, Henry David Thoreau, David Douglas, Charles Darwin, Ynes Mexia, Fern Poem, The Gardener & the Grill by Karen Adler and Judith Fertig, and Yerba Buena

Today we celebrate the man who inspired National Simplicity Day (It’s dedicated every July 12th). We’ll also learn about the tragic death of a Scottish botanist and prolific plant collector. We celebrate the friendship between Charles Darwin and his mentor. And, we also celebrate a woman who started botanizing late in life, yet made a…

Kathryn at Home by Kathryn M Ireland

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Kathryn at Home by Kathryn M Ireland This book came out in 2016, and the subtitle is A Guide to Simple Entertaining. I ordered a copy of this book at the start of the pandemic. What I thought would be a simple book of eye candy, became an inspiration:…

July 11, 2020 Drying Flowers & Herbs, National Rainier Cherry Day, David Prain, Charles Joseph Sauriol, Charles Sumner Lambie, Hamilton Traub, Linden Tree Poetry, Kathryn at Home by Kathryn M Ireland and Clarence Henry Dennesen

Today we celebrate National Rainier Cherry Day. We’ll also learn about the Scottish Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Calcutta and Kew. We celebrate a journal entry from this day in 1938 by one of Canada’s most-beloved naturalists. We also celebrate a rare orchid breeder from Denver. We honor the discovery of a very…

Colonel Henry Wallace Johnston

The Wizard of Palm Lodge The Green Bay Press-Gazette posted an article titled, “Ice Cream Grown on Vine in the yard of Former Kentuckian.” The article was about the fabulous Colonel Henry Wallace Johnston, who, until the age of 50, had operated a hardware store in Lebanon, Kentucky. At midlife, he moved to Homestead, Florida.…

July 9, 2020 Magnolia Gardens White Bridge, Cottage Garden Style, Sowing Biennial Flower Seeds, Henry Wallace Johnston, Nikolay Vavilov, George Shull, Tomato Poetry, The Backyard Parables by Margaret Roach, and Samual Smithers aka Plantman

Today we celebrate the man who named the lipstick tree and was known as Florida’s Burbank. We’ll also learn about the incredible work of an extraordinary Russian botanist who was tragically sentenced to death on this day in 1941. And we honor the life of the “Father of Hybrid Corn.” Today’s poetry is all about…

Mary Dedecker

Golden Bunches of Shrubs On the 4th of July in 1976, a very hot day to go hiking, botanist Mary Dedecker made her way back to a spot in the desert of California where she had discovered a new plant earlier in June of that same year. When DeDecker reached the shrub, she was stunned.…