Hal Borland Archives

December is a Blizzard in Wyoming

by Hal Borland December is a blizzard in Wyoming and a gale on the lakes, and the Berkshires frosted like a plate of cupcakes. It is bare trees and evergreens. It is wrestling weed stems and a gleam of partridgeberry on the hillside, a cluster of checkerberries, and winter greens in the thin woodland. It…

December 16, 2020 Madagascar Vanilla, Marshall Pinckney Wilder, Albert Spear Hitchcock, David Hall, Hal Borland, The Catskills Farm to Table Cookbook by Courtney Wade and a Plant Called Higgenses

Today we celebrate a botanist remembered for his work with Pears and Camellias. We’ll also learn about a botanist who specialized in grasses and traveled extensively to collect them. We’ll learn about the work of a forensic botanist back in the early 1980s. We take a moment to savor December – courtesy of a verse…

No Winter Lasts Forever

by Hal Borland No winter lasts forever; No spring skips its turn. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all.

There are Two Seasonal Diversions

by Hal Borland There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter. One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogs. Note: Today’s Unearthed Words are all about seed catalogs. If you are a new gardener, welcome to the joy of curling up on the couch…

November 12, 2019 Gardening Zodiac Signs, Stolen Compost, Australia’s Most Popular Indoor Plant, The Savill Garden Sculptures, Bougainville, Eschscholtz, Arthur Shurcliff, Orchids, Pedro Dot, Herbal Tea Gardens by Marietta Marshall Marcin, Forcing Bulbs, and Mavis Batey

Today we celebrate the French admiral and explorer who had a female botanist posing as a male valet on his voyage. We’ll learn about the botanist who is remembered by the State Flower of California and the Landscape Architect, who restored the entire Landscape of Colonial Williamsburg. We’ll learn about the Spanish rose breeder who…

Two Sounds of Autumn

by Hal Borland Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable: The hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street or road by a gusty wind, And the gabble of a flock of migrating geese. Both are warnings of chill days ahead, fireside, and topcoat weather. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the…

The Golden Circle by Hal Borland

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Today’s book recommendation: “The Golden Circle” (1977) by Hal Borland This is a book of writings for children, arranged by months of the year. Mr. Borland won the John Burroughs Medal, considered the country’s highest award for nature writing, in 1968. Two of his books, “Sundial of the Seasons”…

May 17, 2019 Ready to Garden, Botticelli, George Glenny, Requirements for Plant Explorers, Bernadette Cozart, Rocky Mountain Field Botany Course, Market Garden Workshop at Green Cauldron Farm, James Hunt, The Golden Circle, Hal Borland, and another Photo Friday in the Garden

Are you feeling it yet? The urge to get going in the garden? I was reading a book from 1915 about spring, it started this way, “If you are not dead, you will feel the sap start within you…” Everyone comes to the garden in their own time. If you’re not yet ready to put…

No Winter Lasts Forever

by Hal Borland No winter lasts forever; No spring skips its turn. Notes: Today is the birthday of Harold Glenn Borland, Born today In 1900. Borland was known as the chronicler of the seasons. He went by Hal, and he was a naturalist as well as the writer. Borland wrote an…

April is a Promise

by Hal Borland April is a promise that May is bound to keep. Notes: Today is the birthday of Harold Glenn Borland, Born today In 1900. Borland was known as the chronicler of the seasons. He went by Hal, and he was a naturalist as well as the writer. Borland wrote an…

If You Would Know Strength and Patience

by Hal Borland If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees. Notes: Today is the birthday of Harold Glenn Borland, Born today In 1900. Borland was known as the chronicler of the seasons. He went by Hal, and he was a naturalist as well as the…

Knowing Trees

by Hal Borland Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence. Notes: Today is the birthday of Harold Glenn Borland, Born today In 1900. Borland was known as the chronicler of the seasons. He went by Hal, and he was a naturalist as well as…

You Fight Dandelions All Weekend

by Hal Borland You fight dandelions all weekend, and late Monday afternoon, there they are, pert as all get out, in full and gorgeous bloom, pretty as can be, thriving as only dandelions can in the face of adversity. Notes: Today is the birthday of Harold Glenn Borland, Born today In 1900.…

The Violets Will Come, in Their Own Time

by Hal Borland The violets will come, in their own time. That is all that was written in the sky by Friday’s equinox. The sun’s summons will not be answered overnight, but the answer is inevitable. The first hungry bee at the first crocus hums of June, and the first green leaf forecast cool summer…