Posts Tagged ‘Dutch East India Company’
Van Riebeeck’s Hedge: A living boundary of Cape Town’s colonial past
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 21, 1619 Dearest reader, On this day, Jan van Riebeeck was born. His voyage and vision left an indelible mark on the Cape of Good Hope, present-day South Africa. In 1660, seeking…
Read MoreGeorge Clifford Ill: The Dutch Banker Who Shaped Linnaeus’s Botanical Masterpiece
Director of Dutch East India Trading Company Today is the birthday of the wealthy Dutch banker and a director of the Dutch East India Company George Clifford III. Clifford loved gardens and had a passion for plants and plant collecting. His work with the Dutch East India Company had made him quite wealthy, and he…
Read MoreCarl Peter Thunberg: The Swedish Botanist Who Unlocked Japan’s Secret Flora
The Father of South African Botany Today is the anniversary of the death of the father of South African botany, the botanist Carl Peter Thunberg, who died on this day in 1828. As fellow Swedes, Carl Linnaeus had taught Thunberg, and Linnaeus encouraged him to continue his work by visiting other parts of Europe. Eventually,…
Read MoreCarl Peter Thunberg: The Botanical Spy Who Loved Plants
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. August 8, 1828 My darling green-thumbed companions, today marks the anniversary of when the esteemed botanist Carl Peter Thunberg departed this mortal garden in 1828, leaving behind a legacy as verdant and sprawling…
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