gardening literature Archives

William Cobbett: The Gardener’s Voice for Rural England and Agrarian Reform

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. March 9, 1763 Dearest reader, On this day, we celebrate the birth of William Cobbett, an English writer, member of Parliament, and devoted farmer whose passion for the countryside shaped both his politics…

Samuel Graveson: Quaker Printer, Publisher, and Gardener’s Author

Portrait of Samuel Graveson (colorized and enhanced)

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: February 14, 1869 Dearest reader, On this day, Hertford, England, welcomed into its heart Samuel Graveson—a man born with a tranquil resolve and many hats: Quaker printer, steadfast publisher, passionate philatelist, and, for our purposes, an author with dirt beneath his nails and wit…

A patchwork of gardens: Amy Stewart on carrying plants through a lifetime

by Amy Stewart Like a chain letter, I will take a plant from this garden to the next and from the next garden to the one after that, and so on, until someday I am an old woman nurturing along with a patchwork quilt of a garden, with cuttings and scraps from every garden I…

Edwin Jellett: Germantown’s Historian of Nature and Beauty

The Germantown Botanist Today is the birthday of the Germantown historian, botanist, and writer Edwin Jellett who was born on this day in 1860. The town of Germantown owes such a debt of gratitude to Edwin Jellett, who devoted himself to capturing the history and the flora of the area now part of Northwest Philadelphia.…

The Pragmatic Pen: Leonard Mascall’s Horticultural Legacy

Frontispiece from The Government of Cattle c. 1662 by Leonard Mascall.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 10, 2024 On this day, the earth embraced one of horticulture’s most pragmatic scribes. Leonard Mascall, that indefatigable author, translator, and Clerk to the Kitchen of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was laid…