February 2, 2021 Ideas For Your Garden, The Nature Principle at Home, How to Propagate 375 Plants by Richard Rosenfeld, and February’s Snowdrop Fairy

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Today we celebrate a star from the silent film age, whose best movie featured a blind woman selling flowers. We’ll also learn about Candlemas – the ancient celebration of the quickening of the year. Candlemas is associated with the snowdrop, candles, and predicting just how much longer winter will last…. We hear a passage about…

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Deep Sleeps the Winter

Deep Sleeps the Winter

by Cicely Mary Barker Deep sleeps the winter, Cold, wet, and grey; Surely all the world is dead; Spring is far away. Wait! the world shall waken; It is not dead, for lo, The Fair Maids of February Stand in the snow! As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the…

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I Have Never Seen a Fairy

Cicily Mary Barker

by Cicily Mary Barker I have drawn all the plants and flowers carefully, from real ones, but I have never seen a fairy…       Note: Barker loved wildflowers, but she didn’t believe in fairies. Barker wrote the quote above in the foreword to Flower Fairies of the Wayside. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast:…

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White Clover Fairy

White Clover Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker I’m little White Clover, kind and clean; Look at my threefold leaves so green; Hark to the buzzing of hungry bees: “Give us your honey, Clover, please!” Yes, little bees, and welcome, too! My honey is good, and meant for you!     Note: Barker loved wildflowers, but she didn’t believe…

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Forget-Me-Not Fairy

Forget-Me-Not Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker So small, so blue, in grassy places My flowers raise Their tiny faces. By streams, my bigger sisters grow, And smile in gardens, In a row. I’ve never seen a garden plot; But though I’m small Forget me not!         Note: Barker loved wildflowers, but she didn’t believe in…

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June 28, 2019 Giant Flowers for Paul Bunyan Day, Harry V. Harlan, Importing Seeds, Henry Nehrling, Cicely Mary Barker, Plant Families by Ross Bayton, Pruning Spring-Flowering Shrubs, and the Effects of Culture

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Today is National Paul Bunyan Day. In Minnesota, most folks fondly remember the tales of Paul and Babe – his big blue ox. Speaking of big, Many gardeners have a fondness for giant plants. They are perfect if you have lots of space, or if you just prefer the look of tall or giant plants.…

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The Lilac Fairy

The Lilac Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker White May is flowering, Red May beside Laburnum is showering Gold far and wide; But I sing of Lilac, The dearly-loved Lilac, Lilac, in Maytime A joy and a pride! I love her so much That I never can tell If she’s sweeter to look at, Or sweeter to smell. As…

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