Caspar Wistar Archives

Caspar Wistar

The Younger Today is the anniversary of the death of the American physician Caspar Wistar (“Wiss-Star”), the Younger. His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1777, Caspar Wistar treated the wounded during the battle of…

January 22, 2020 The Wardian Case, Winter Garden Design Tips, Francis Bacon, Heinrich Muhlenberg, Caspar Wistar, The 1985 Cold Snap, Lessons From Winter In Poetry And Prose, By Pen & By Spade By David Wheeler, Esschert Garden Tool Belt, and Ellsworth Jerome Hill

Today we celebrate the birthday of the English Statesman who created “Garden walks” and the birthday of a man who is remembered by Muhly grass. We’ll learn about the man memorialized by a plant name that misspells his last name, and we’ll also learn about the disastrous freeze for Florida growers that happened in the…

Caspar Wistar

The Wistar Institute On this day in 1777, Caspar Wistar treated the wounded during the battle of Germantown and decided he would pursue medical training. Wistar (“Wiss-Star”)is the names of The Wistar Institute, the nation’s first independent biomedical research center. Today, they focus on cancer, infectious disease & vaccine research to benefit human health. The…

October 4, 2019 The Restorative Power of Leaves, William Gilpin, Caspar Wistar, John Hendley Barnhart, The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, Bringing Houseplants Back Indoors, and a 1927 Advertisement for Rakes

Every autumn, we owe a debt of gratitude to our trees. They give our gardens the best gift: leaves. Over the past decade, there’s been a resurgence of interest in the restorative power of leaves in the garden. For some gardeners, this is new news. Yet, we’ve known about the beautiful contributions of leaves in…

Caspar Wistar

The Younger Wistar Today is the birthday of Caspar Wistar, the Younger who was born on this day in 1761. His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in…

September 13, 2019 The secret to beautiful begonias, Caspar Wistar, Roald Dahl, Beverley Nichols, English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel, Dividing Bearded Irises, and for the Love of Toads

What’s the secret to beautiful begonias? I asked this to a friend recently who has gorgeous begonias every single year. Her answer was simple: fish emulsion. This means you should feed your begonias with fertilizer. Since we love that begonias flower and they do flower their hearts out, that makes begonias are heavy feeders. Since…

Six Popular Plants Named for Famous People and Botanists

“Leonard Fuchs, a German botanist, discovered the plant known as fuchsia, while William Forsyth, a Scotch botanist, is responsible for the name forsythia.” August 1, 1950 On this day, The Ithaca Journal, out of Ithaca, New York, published a question from a reader. The reader wanted an answer to this question: Please list a few…