Ellis Rowan Archives

Garden Writer Alice Lounsberry: A Life Devoted to Flowers and Friendship

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 6, 1868 On this day, the botanist and garden writer Alice Lounsberry was born in New York City. From a young age, Alice developed a deep love for the natural world, exploring…

Ellis Rowan by Kate Collins

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Ellis Rowan, 1848-1922 by Kate Collins This book, published in 1989, is part of the Australian book series that featured the country’s most outstanding artists. My copy arrived last week. It features incredible full-page color plates of Australian native flowers, birds, and insects. Born in Melbourne, Ellis married…

February 18, 2021 The Little Fern That Could, Antoine Nicolas Duchesne, Snowy Owls, Showy Lady’s-Slipper, Ellis Rowan by Kate Collins, and the New Rare-Plant House at the Fairchild Tropical Garden

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.

Alice Lounsberry: A Life in Wildflowers and Friendship

The Writing Half of the Alice-Ellis Team November 6, 1868 Today is the birthday of the botanist and garden writer Alice Lounsberry. (Note: Online databases report the date of birth as 1873 – which is incorrect as Alice was already two years old on an 1870 census with her brother and parents.) Alice was a…

November 6, 2020 Bernard de Jussieu, Alice Lounsberry, Alfred Austin, American Gardens by Monty Don and Derry Moore, and Frank Kingdon Ward

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 1777 Bernard Jussieu, the French naturalist who created the first natural classification system for flowering plants and tended a cherished Cedar of…

Ellis Rowan: Australian Artist and Botanical Illustrator

Ellis the Explorer Today is the birthday of the Australian artist and botanical illustrator Ellis Rowan. In a 1994 newspaper article, Sarah Guest described Ellis this way: “She was an explorer. She set off alone at 68, for Papua New Guinea – and died in 1922. She dyed her hair red; had a face-lift; left…

July 30, 2020 A Call to Decolonise Botanical Collections, Castor Bean, Emily Brontë, Ellis Rowan, the Arkansas State Flower, Alfred Joyce Kilmer, Natural Living Style by Selina Lake and Disney’s Flowers and Trees

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Curated News Director of science at Kew: it’s time to decolonize botanical collections Professor Alexandre Antonelli is the director of Kew Gardens, responsible for the world’s largest…

Ellis Rowan: Australia’s Brilliant Botanical Rebel

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. July 30, 1922 On this day, we honor Ellis Rowan, that most remarkable Australian artist and botanical illustrator, born in 1848, whose life blazed across the canvas of botanical art like a brilliant,…

July 30, 2019 Growing Castor Bean, Emily Brontë, Ellis Rowan, the Arkansas Apple Blossom, Russell Baker, Bev Adams, Gertrude Jekyll at Munstead by Martin Wood and Judith Tankard, Pruning Blackberries or Boysenberries, and Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Monologue Have you tried growing Castor Bean? It’s one of Michael Pollan’s favorite plants. Check out the way he starts his article on the plant called “Consider…