Colorado Archives

Celebrating First Lady Betty Ford: Lifelong Gardener and Founder of the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, Colorado

“Just walking along these winding paths – with the abundance of beauty so close to the touch – brings an introspection and sense of calm too often missing in our lives.” April 8, 1918 Today is the birthday of the beloved First Lady Betty Ford. As a woman, Betty Ford consistently defied the odds.…

Edwin James

Pikes Peak Today the botanist Edwin James, along with two companions, made the first ascent of Pikes Peak, Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Interested in plants from a very young age, James botanized extensively in his home state of Vermont, and he compiled the very first Flora of Vermont plants. James left his mark on the botanical…

July 14, 2020 Ideas for a Summer Garden Party, Edwin James, Bastille Day, Rudolph Boysen, John T. White, Rachel Carson, The Butterfly’s Ball and The Grasshopper’s Feast, A Tapestry Garden By Marietta and Ernie O’Bryne, And William Vyvyan’s Night-Blooming Cereus

Today we celebrate the man who established the science of botany in America. We’ll also learn about the botanist who survived a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness – an incredible story. We celebrate a presentation from 1977 that encouraged, “Take a pill if you will; I say take a plant to cope with everyday…

On the Wild Side by Keith Wiley

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: On the Wild Side by Keith Wiley It’s hard to believe that this book was published on this day already sixteen years ago in 2004. The subtitle to this book is “Experiments in the New Naturalism.” Keith created his own wild garden in the early 2000s after…

April 1, 2020 The Daily Gardener Podcast Birthday, George Edward Post, Hugo Von Mohl, Peter cundall, Wangari Maathai, On the Wild Side by Keith Wiley, Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, and the Bernheim Arboretum

Today we celebrate the one year anniversary of the show and the man who wrote a flora of the Middle East. We’ll learn about the German botanist who discovered mitosis and chloroplasts. We celebrate the 93rd birthday of an English-Australian gardener who learned to garden and survived during World War II. We’ll honor the tremendous…

February 3, 2020 Yellow Milkweed, Carnivorous Plants From Columbus Ohio, Frederick Traugott Pursh, Carl Ludwig Blume, February Garden Poems & Prose, You Can Grow African Violets By Joyce Stark, And National Carrot Cake Day

Today we celebrate the man who wrote the Flora of North America from across the pond in London much to the chagrin of American botanists. We’ll learn about the Dutch botanist who discovered the phalaenopsis orchid and the coleus on the island of Java. Today’s Unearthed Words review some sayings about the month of February…

Hazel Schmoll

The Colorado State Botanist Today is the anniversary of the death of Colorado State botanist Hazel Schmoll. Hazel was born in a sod cabin in McAlester, Kansas, in 1890. Her family settled in Colorado when she was just two years old. Hazel was the first woman to earn a doctorate in botany from the University…

January 31, 2020 Calendula Tincture, Growing Artichokes, Melvin Bergeson, the American Iris Society, Isabella Preston, Hazel Schmoll, Horace Hagedorn, Bernard Barton, Life List by Olivia Gentile, Wooden Letters, Prospect Cottage and Derek Jarman

Today we celebrate the man who found a splendid crabapple growing in his nursery and the anniversary of a society that celebrates the flower of the rainbow, We’ll learn about the “Grand Lady of Canadian Horticulture” and a Colorado State botanist who fought to protect the Columbine. Today’s Unearthed Words, we hear simple poems from…

January 23, 2020 Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show, How To Grow Microgreens, John Drayton, Edouard Manet, Agoston Haraszthy, Pierre Joseph Lenne, Al Schneider, Peggy Lyon, January by John Updike, The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey, Owl Planters, and Elizabeth Lawrence

Today we celebrate the amateur botanist who was a two-time governor of South Carolina and the birthday of a French modernist painter who left peonies. We’ll learn about the man who brought European grapes to California and the most important Prussian garden-artist of the 19th century. Today’s Unearthed Words feature a poem about January. We…

Vic Miller

The Mystery of The California Fan Palm On this day in 1984, the Arizona Republic newspaper shared an article by Vic Miller, a professor of agriculture at Arizona Stale University, about the history of the native palm of Arizona. The article starts this way: “Yes, we do have a native palm. Seeds of it were…

November 4, 2019 Color for the Winter Garden, Favorite Ginkgo Varieties, Houseplant Trend, Thoreau on Autumn, Janaki Ammal, Arizona Palm, The Garden in Every Sense and Season by Tovah Martin, Spigots Off, and Benedict Roezl

Today we celebrate fall through the eyes of a writer and naturalist from the year 1855 and the botanist honored with building on the University of Glasgow. We’ll learn about the Indian botanist who bred a new species of sugar cane and the Arizona Palm – yes, it does exist! We’ll hear some November Poems.…

Edwin James

The Climb of Pikes Peak Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Edwin James who died on this day in 1861 As a young man, James compiled the very first Flora of Vermont plants. James went on one of the first expeditions of the American West from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains.…

October 28, 2019 Missouri Botanical Garden New Visitor Center, CalRecycle’s Get Started with Composting, Alphonse de Candolle, Kate Brandegee, Gulie Lister, Edwin James, October’s Party, The Art of Gardening by Chanticleer, Feeding Winter Birds, and Finlay’s Little Sparta

Today we celebrate the Swiss botanist known as the father of geographical botany and the American botanist who went on a 500-mile nature walk for her honeymoon. And, just in time for Halloween, we’ll learn about the botanist who followed in her father’s footsteps to study slime mold. And, we’re coming up on the 200th…

October 22, 2019 A Garden-Themed Wedding, Forager Gin, Helen Clay Frick, Edwin Way Teale, Discovering Vanilla, David Douglas, Bliss Carman, The Sanctuary of My Garden by Fotoula Reynolds, Last Call for Houseplants, and 4th-Grade Botany

Today we celebrate the daughter of a millionaire who found solace in nature and the refreshing approach of one of the country’s top naturalists. We learn about the discovery of vanilla (complete with a ravishing recipe for vanilla coffee liqueur from 1974), and we’ll commemorate the Doctor’s Pit where the botanist David Douglas died. We’ll…