Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted

The Father of American Landscape Architecture  It was on this day that the father of American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, walked the battlefield of Gettysburg – just 15 days after the battle. Olmsted was the General Secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) – overseeing the support of sick and wounded soldiers of…

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July 18, 2020 A Daily Practice to Improve Garden Skills, Gilbert White, Jane Austen, Frederick Law Olmsted, Emilia Hazelip, The Gardener Poem, The Solitary Bees by Bryan N. Danforth, Robert L. Minckley, John L. Neff, and Frances Fawcett, and The Botanist by Maxfield Parrish

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Today we celebrate the English naturalist who kept a journal for almost three decades. We’ll also learn about the famous English novelist who loved to garden. We salute the father of American landscape architecture and his trip to Gettysburg on this day in 1863. We also recognize the Spanish woman who pioneered a system of…

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July 15, 2020 Climate-Change-Ready Trees, St. Swithin’s Day, Inigo Jones, John Wilson, Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps, Niagra Falls, Insect Poetry, How to Cheat at Gardening and Yard Work by Jeff Bredenberg, and William Robinson

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Today we celebrate St. Swithin’s Day. We’ll also learn about the English architect who brought classical Roman architecture and the Italian Renaissance to gardens. We celebrate the botanist who attempted to sell his cow to buy a botany book by Robert Morison. We also celebrate the birthday of a botanist and a teacher of Emily…

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November 19, 2019 German Garden Ideas, Christmas Cactus Care, Grave Gardening, Nathan Franklin Barrett, Calvert Vaux, Tennyson, John Tabb, Adventures of a Gardener by Peter Smithers, Place Cards, and Botanical Brothers at Gettysburg

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Today we celebrate the co-founder of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a man who maximized his small space garden about 130 years before the rest of us. We’ll learn about the man who came to America to work with Andrew Jackson Downing, and then they both ended up dying by drowning 43 years…

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A Swiss Visionary’s American Gardens: Celebrating Jacob Weidenmann

Jacob Weidenmann

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. August 22, 1829 My verdant-souled companions, today marks the birth of a most illustrious figure in our horticultural pantheon – the botanist Jacob Weidenmann, who graced this earth on this day, emerging from…

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When Olmsted Walked Among the Fallen: A Landscape Architect at Gettysburg

Frederick Law Olmsted

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. July 18, 1863 It was on this day in 1863 that Frederick Law Olmsted, the illustrious father of American landscape architecture, trod upon the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg, a mere fortnight after that…

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July 18, 2019 Growing Chervil, Gilbert White, Jane Austen, Frederick Law Olmsted, Eleanor Sinclair-Rhode, A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence, Irrigation Check, Maxfield Parrish and The Botanist

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Have you tried growing the herb chervil? Chervil tastes similar to tarragon – it’s sometimes called gourmet parsley. It has a beautiful fern-like leaf, which turns red in the fall, which is another plus. August is a beautiful time to sow chervil – so keep that in mind. The 1884 Dictionary of English Names of…

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Two Words That Changed Gardens Forever: The Gilbert Laing Meason Story

Gilbert Laing Meason

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. July 3, 1828 On this day, dear readers, Gilbert Laing Meason came into this world with no inkling of the linguistic legacy he would bestow upon generations of garden enthusiasts to come. A…

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A City Cloaked in Leaves: Rochester’s Verdant Vision

Frederick Law Olmsted's Plan for Highland Park

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 7, 1888 On this day, dear garden enthusiasts, a momentous occasion unfolded in the fair city of Rochester, New York. The Rochester Parks Commission, a group of visionaries with an eye for…

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The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: When America Became a Garden

1893 Chicago World's Fair

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 1, 1893   On this day, dear garden enthusiasts and history buffs, the gates of the Chicago World’s Fair swung open, unveiling a horticultural spectacle that would captivate over 27 million visitors…

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