Christmas Archives

January 28, 2021 New Year Plant Hunt 2021, Peter Collinson, Paul Ecke, Thoughts on Spleenwort by Susan Wittig Albert, Botanical Style by Selina Lake, and the Best Job Ever: Creating Herb Gardens

Today we celebrate a colonial botanist who introduced nearly 200 plants to British horticulture after sourcing them from his good friend John Bartram in America. We’ll also learn about the man who mastered growing the Poinsettia and established it as the official plant of Christmas. We’ll hear some wonderful thoughts on the Common Daisy (Bellis…

Holly and Ivy

by Beth Chatto Holly and ivy are the primary images of many Christmas cards, symbols of life carrying on when much else appears dead or has vanished beneath the frozen surface. I would almost go so far as to say they should be in every garden, but perhaps I should substitute “something evergreen” instead of…

Wintersweet

by Rosemary Verey One day 27 years ago, long before I became an enthusiastic gardener, my husband came home with a bush of wintersweet, given to him by an old lady from her garden. [The woman] said it would not flower for seven years and then forever after would do so generously. She was right.…

How to Wassail Apple Trees on the 12th Night of Christmas

“Wassail means “good health,” by wassailing the apple trees, you wish for good tree health, fertility, and productivity.” In England, tonight, there’s an ancient custom – an old pagan ritual – that involves waking up the apple cider trees with wassailing on the 12th night of Christmas. The written folklore around wassailing says that if…

January 5, 2021 How to Make a White Berry Wreath, the Glastonbury Thorn, Robert More, Henry Arthur Bright, Hyacinth Vases, A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year by Jane Hunter, and How to Wassail Apple Trees

Today we celebrate an iconic tree of England – a holy tree with biblical and cultural significance. We’ll also learn about a botanist whose last name is similar to the surname of Carl Linnaeus’s in-laws – and that has caused some confusion over the years. We’ll take a look back at some unflattering words about…

Celebrating the Nurseryman Who Popularized the Poinsettia: Paul Ecke

“Gardeners will be fascinated to learn that the Ecke family was able to distinguish themselves as a superior grower of poinsettias by using a secret technique to keep their plants compact and hardy. Their solution was simple. They grafted two varieties of poinsettias together, causing every seedling to branch and become bushy.” January 28, 1895…