Frances Theodora Parsons Archives

How to Know the Ferns by Frances Theodora Parsons

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: How to Know the Ferns by Frances Theodora Parsons Frances Parsons was an American naturalist and author. She is best remembered for her book on American Wildflowers, but this book is a favorite of mine. One of the reasons I’m a huge Parsons fan is because of her…

November 8, 2019 Dividing Perennials, Kew’s Agius Garden, Medieval Herb Gardens, Tree Intelligence, Victoria Cruziana, Kate Sessions, Vavilov Seed Bank, Bluethenthal Wildflower Preserve, Covent Gardens, How to Know the Ferns by Frances Theodora Parsons, Bar Carts, and Botanical Stamps

Today we celebrate the plant named in honor of Queen Victoria and the President of Peru and Bolivia. We’ll learn about the Mother of Balboa Park and how the world seed bank was saved during WWII. We’ll hear the Garden Poem that celebrates the end of the apple- picking season. We Grow That Garden Library with a…

When Laughter is Sadder than Tears

by Frances Theodora Parsons The marshes stretch to the dunes and the dunes sweep down to the sea, And the sea is wooing the meadow which waits with an open door; Then a melody sweet to the hearer floats up from the murmuring lea Till the sea slips seaward again and the land is athirst…

June 10, 2019 The Significance of Lilacs, National Herbs and Spices Day, Jardin des Plantes, Robert Brown, Gorgeous George and Judy Garland’s Hibiscus, Frances Theodora Parsons, Natural Selection, Dan Pearson, Box Cutters, and Inspiration from John Burroughs

My neighbor, up at our cabin, has this amazing copse of lilacs. We’ve become good friends, and he invited me to take some cuttings of his lilac as a gesture of goodwill. (He also gives me all of his jack-in-the-pulpits – but that’s another story.) Over time, lilacs have met different things to different people.…

How Naturalist John Burroughs Inspired His Neighbor Frances Parsons to Write “How to Know the Wildflowers”

“The pleasure of a walk in the woods and the fields is enhanced a hundredfold by some little knowledge of the flowers we meet at every turn.” June 10, 1952 On this day, gardener and nature writer Frances Parsons died. When researching Frances Parsons, I discovered that her childhood neighbor was John Burroughs. John…