Charles Sprague Sargent Archives

April 24, 2023 Jakob Böhme, Robert Bailey Thomas, Paul George Russell, Charles Sprague Sargent, Purple Mustard, Pansies, Kurume Azaleas, Tiny and Wild by Graham Laird Gardner, and Solar System Garden

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Historical Events 1575 Birth of Jakob Böhme, German original thinker. Jakob Böhme did a great deal of thinking and writing, not only about theology…

November 1, 2020 Carl Linnaeus, Charles Eliot, John Lindley, Russell Page, Maggie Dietz, The Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook by Andrea Chesman, and John Lindley’s Unmade Bed

Today we celebrate the man who wrote Species Plantarum and gave us binomial nomenclature. We’ll also learn about the Boston Landscape Architect, who kept a journal of his favorite walks. We salute the British orchidologist who saved Kew Gardens. We also recognize the man who designed the garden at the Frick Museum in New York…

February 5, 2020 Growing Turnips, Piet Blanckaert Terrace Garden, John Lindley, Meriwether Lewis, Friedrich Welwitsch, the New England Botanical Club, James Van Sweden, February Poems, Winter World by Bernd Heinrich, Okatsune Hedge Shears and the Happy Huntsman’s Tree

Today we celebrate the savior of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, and the fir tree described by Meriwether Lewis as “Fir No. 5.” We’ll learn about the man who discovered a plant that was called “the ugliest yet most botanically magnificent plant in the world” by Joseph Dalton Hooker. And, we celebrate the 124th birthday…

January 29, 2020 Seeds and Berries, Ghost Orchid Pollinators, George Engelmann, Sir Michael Foster, Olga Owen Huckins, Otto Emery Jennings, Sara Teasdale, Robert Frost, Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman, Garden Bunting, Marcus Whitman, and Larry McGraw

Today we celebrate the German-American botanist who saved the French wine industry and the very first Iris-breeder who urged other hybridizers to “be bold.” We’ll learn about the woman who sparked significant legislative change after birds and insects were killed in her garden and the man who fought to protect habitat for the Blazing Star.…

Charles Sprague Sargent

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…

October 3, 2019 Pumpkin Allergy, Luis Née, Frederick Lueders, Frederick Pursch, David Hosack, John Torrey, Charles Sprague Sargent, Meta Orred, Sergei Yesenin, Philippa Foot, Montrose by Nancy Goodwin, Christmas Cactus, and George Dexter Butler

I always write down little things the kids say that strike me as funny or sweet. Here’s a little blast from my past on this day in 2010: At bedtime tonight, PJ told me he wanted to bring cold lunch to school. I told him no because we have paid for hot lunch. (Apparently many…

May 15, 2019 Plant Height, Isaac Newton, President Lincoln, the USDA, Charles Sprague Sargent, the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve, Ettie C. Alexander, the NOLA Museum of Art, Emily Dickinson, Ina Coolbrith, Top-dressing, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Plant height is one of the factors often indicated on plant tags. But mature height often takes ten years – especially if you’re talking about trees and shrubs. Most plants benefit from some amount of pruning – in which case their height can be controlled. BTW, Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on the planet.…

Charles 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…

April 24, 2019 Chives, Botany Day, Tomitaro Makino, Lucien Plantefol, Vancouver’s Botanist Restaurant, Paul George Russell, Henry Van Dyke, Charles Sprague Sargent , Stephanne Barry Sutton, Window Cleaning, and a Story from John Muir

I recently had a gardener ask me about the first herb I’d ever grown. That would be chives. Chives, like many herbs, are so easy to grow. Plus, you get the cute little puffball blossom. I had a chef friend show me how she liked to cut off the flower. Then, she snipped a little…

What Happens When Two Ol’ Botanists Hike to the Top of Grandfather Mountain

“Then I happened to look round and catch sight of [Sargent] standing there as cool as a rock, with a half-amused look on his face at me, but never saying a word.” April 24, 2019 On this day, while researching Charles Sprague Sargent for today’s book recommendation, I stumbled upon a fantastic article from 1915…