Posts Tagged ‘Donald Culross Peattie’
An Ode to Nature: The Legacy of Donald Culross Peattie
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 21, 1898: The American botanist, naturalist, and author Donald Culross Peattie. Donald would become one of America’s most beloved nature writers. With lyrical prose that captivated readers of all ages, Donald Peattie…
Read MoreJune 21, 2021 Jay Sifford’s Garden, Leonhard Rauwolf, Donald Culross Peattie, Susan Wiggs, Small Garden Design by Paul Bangay and Ian McEwan
Today we celebrate an old account of Tripoli gardens. We’ll remember a botanist, naturalist, and author who believed in the power of walking. We hear an excerpt from a book by author Susan Wiggs. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a wonderful book about small garden design. And then we’ll wrap things up with a…
Read MoreNature in Winter
by Donald Culross Peattie Nature in winter is like a great toy shop at night. The doors are locked, and only at the mysterious depths of the shop does some cold light burn. If we press our noses on the pane, we can just make out the forms of bigger objects. All the tenderer delights…
Read MoreDecember 15, 2020 How Front Gardens Boost Wellbeing, Margaret Cavendish, Joyce Winifred Vickery, The National Herb Garden, Donald Culross Peattie, Farming the Woods by Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel, and Fenway Park Boston Ivy
Today we celebrate the 17th-century philosopher and naturalist, who was the first woman to make a living from her writing. We’ll also learn about the forensic botanist who solved the crime of the decade in the 1960s in Australia. We’ll recognize the Herb Society’s project that now occupies two and a half acres at the…
Read MoreIf the Oak is King of Trees
by Donald Culross Peattie If the Oak is King of Trees, then the White Oak is King of Kings. — Donald Peattie, American botanist, naturalist, and author Notes: November 16, 1964 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Harvard botanist, Naturalist, Washington Post nature columnist, and author, Donald Culross Peattie,…
Read MoreWinter is a Study in Halftones
by Donald Culross Peattie Winter is a study in halftones, and one must have an eye for them or go lonely. — Donald Peattie, American botanist, naturalist, and author, An Almanac for Moderns, 1935 Notes: November 16, 1964 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Harvard botanist, Naturalist, Washington Post nature…
Read MoreLimber Pines
by Donald Culross Peattie Limber Pines have a way of growing in dramatic places, taking picturesque attitudes, and getting themselves photographed, written about, and cared for… — Donald Peattie, American botanist, naturalist, and author Notes: November 16, 1964 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Harvard botanist, Naturalist, Washington Post nature…
Read MoreA Hummingbird is a Feathered Prism
by Donald Culross Peattie A hummingbird is a feathered prism, a living rainbow; it captures the very sunlight. — Donald Peattie, American botanist, naturalist, and author Notes: November 16, 1964 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Harvard botanist, Naturalist, Washington Post nature columnist, and author, Donald Culross Peattie, who…
Read MoreWhat is a Weed?
by Donald Culross Peattie What is a weed? I’ve heard it said that there are 60 definitions. For me, a weed is a plant out of place. Notes: Donald Culross Peattie was born on this day in Chicago in 1898. Peattie was regarded as the most-read nature writer in America…
Read MoreMad-Mad
by Donald Culross Peattie I have often started off on a walk in the state called mad-mad in the sense of sore-headed, or mad with tedium or confusion; I have set forth dull, null, and even thoroughly discouraged. But I never came back in such a frame of mind, and I never met a human…
Read MoreAll the Great Naturalists
by Donald Culross Peattie All the great naturalists have been habitual walkers, for no laboratory, no book, car, train, or plane takes the place of honest footwork for this calling, be it amateurs or professionals. Notes: Donald Culross Peattie was born on this day in Chicago in 1898. Peattie was regarded…
Read MoreFlowering Earth by Donald Culross Peattie
As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Flowering Earth by Donald Culross Peattie This revised book came out in 1991. The Hartford Times said this about Peattie’s masterpiece: “Here is Mr. Peattie at his superb best…. [H]e makes the story of botany and its pursuit as fascinating to the reader as it is to him,…
Read MoreJune 21, 2019 The Best Time in the Garden, Abraham Mignon, Cyrus McCormick, Frederick Law Olmsted, Summer Solstice, Donald Culross Peattie, Flowering Earth, National Selfie Day, and Advice on Weeding from 1843
When is the best time to divide? To prune? To transplant? In general, the answer I most often give is that the best time to do anything is when you’re standing there with a shovel, or a knife, or a spade in your hand. We are all so busy. Our gardens can get away from…
Read More