chrysanthemums Archives

How Nell Gwyn Won Bestwood Park: A Garden History Tale

An unknown woman thought to be Nell Gwynn by Peter Lely.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 14, 1687 Today in garden history, we remember Eleanor “Nell” Gwyn, who died at the age of 37 in her Pall Mall house in London. Known as “pretty, witty Nell” by diarist…

November 13, 2024 Gardens, Meteors, and Chrysanthemums, Joseph Paxton, Cherry Trees of 1909, The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Cacti and Succulents by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and Paul Rees and The Dangerous World of Rare Orchids

The Daily Gardener Podcast Album Cover with a pot of rosemary - the herb for remembrance - beckoning gardeners to remember to listen to the show. Updated September 2025.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History On This Day 1849 A most extraordinary presentation took place at Windsor Castle, when Joseph Paxton presented the Victoria Amazonica to Queen Victoria. 1909 James…

October 23, 2024 The Autumn Garden, William Casson, Annie Lorrain Smith, Neltje Blanchan, Katharine Stewart, Life in the Garden by Bunny Williams, and Ludwig Leichhardt

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History On This Day 1796 William Casson, English botanist, seed merchant, and local historian, was born. Casson dedicated his life to both plants and people, helping…

The Day lowa State’s Flower Gardens Were Devastated by a Frost Rumor

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 15, 1897 Dearest reader, On this day in Ames, Iowa, a tale of horticultural havoc unfolded at the respectable gardens of Iowa State College, courtesy of a rogue crowd, a cold snap…

Dean O’Banion: The Mobster Florist and His Fatal Chicago Handshake

Floral Cartoucherist November 10, 1924 Today is the anniversary of the death of the mobster florist and devout Catholic Dean O’Banion. Dean bootlegged beer during prohibition, and he led a group of mobsters in Chicago known as the North Side Gang. At one point, Dean was making almost a million dollars a year from selling his…

Beatrix Potter’s Charming Garden Letter to Dulcie

Letters to Dulcie Beatrix Potter writes to a little girl named Dulcie and describes her garden. She writes that her garden has: “… a box hedge around the flower bed, and moss roses and pansies and black currants and strawberries and peas —and big sage bushes for Jemima, but the onions always do badly. I…

The Dormouse’s Garden: A.A. Milne’s Delightful Ode to Delphiniums, Geraniums, and Chrysanthemums

A. A. Milne, the renowned English author and playwright, best known for his creation of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Today’s Garden Words were featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. A. A. Milne, the renowned English author and playwright, best known for his creation of Winnie-the-Pooh. July 7, 2020 Today we…

Henry Arthur Bright’s “A Year in a Lancashire Garden”: Embracing the Challenges and Delights of Gardening

A Year in a Lancashire Garden On this day in 1873, the gardener and writer Henry Arthur Bright began a diary, which would become known as the book “A Year in a Lancashire Garden” – one of the most beloved garden biographies of the nineteenth century. Bright’s book would inspire future garden writers like Eleanor…

Blooms and Bedlam: The 1916 Chrysanthemum Spectacle

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 13, 1916 On this day, dear garden enthusiasts, we find ourselves transported to the halls of Washington D.C., where the 16th annual chrysanthemum flower show had just unfurled its petals to the…

A Blossom for Helen: The Frick Heiress and Her Green Legacy

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 22, 1910 On this day, dear readers, a most enchanting revelation blossomed forth from the steel-clad city of Pittsburgh. A new chrysanthemum, as delicate as a whisper and as radiant as the…

Joseph Breck’s 1843 Chrysanthemum Offer: Twenty Stunning Varieties at Half a Dollar

Chrysanthemums for Joseph On this day in 1843, the New England Farmer ran an ad about Chrysanthemums for nurseryman Joseph Breck: “The subscribers offer for sale twenty varieties of new Chrysanthemums of the most superb and rare sorts, at 50 cents per pot.” This post was featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: helping gardeners find their…

John Updike’s “September”: The Tastes and Smells of Early Autumn

Purple Chrysanthemums, commonly known as "mums".

by John Updike The breezes taste Of apple peel. The air is full Of smells to feel- Ripe fruit, old footballs, Burning brush, New books, erasers, Chalk, and such. The bee, his hive, Well-honeyed hum, And Mother cuts Chrysanthemums. Like plates washed clean With suds, the days Are polished with A morning haze. Today’s Garden…