Posts Tagged ‘horticultural history’
Luther Burbank and Arbor Day: Honoring a Horticultural Pioneer with Living Legacy
Arbor Day Dedication March 4, 1949 On this day, the Santa Cruz Sentinel out of Santa Cruz, California, published a lovely story about the upcoming Arbor Day celebration. The story featured a wonderful photo of a tree being pruned with the caption, “Santa Rosa Citizens To Plant Trees In Commemoration Of Birth Of Famed Luther Burbank: Nurseryman Joe Badger,…
Read MoreGeorge Elwanger: The Nurseryman Who Made Rochester a “City in a Forest”
Flower City Co-Founder November 26, 1906 Today is the anniversary of the death of the German-American horticulturist and nurseryman George Ellwanger (“El-WANG-ur”). In the mid-1800s, George Ellwanger and his Irish business partner and experienced nurseryman, Patrick Barry, claimed their Rochester, New York nursery was the largest in the world. Built on 650 acres along Mount…
Read MoreBuy Hyacinths to Feed Thy Soul: Saadi’s Timeless Wisdom on Beauty and Loss
by Saadi If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft, And of thy meager store, Two loaves alone to thee are left, Sell one, and with the dole Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul. — Saadi, Persian Sufi poet, in Gulistan (The Rose Garden), 1258 Notes: If you plant spring bulbs, I…
Read MoreThe Man Who Gave Us Bosc and D’Anjou Pears: Jean-Baptiste Van Mons
The Pear King November 11, 1765 Today is the birthday of the Belgian physicist, chemist, botanist, horticulturist, and pomologist, Jean-Baptiste Van Mons. The name of the game for Jean-Baptiste was selective breeding for pears. Selective breeding happens when humans breed plants to develop particular characteristics by choosing the parent plants to make the offspring. Check…
Read MoreMeriwether Lewis and the Discovery of the Snowberry
Shoshone to Snowberries Today Meriwether Lewis discovered the Snowberry or Symphoricarpos albus. I love the story of how Lewis came across the Snowberry. Meriwether was really looking for the Shoshone Indians, but he found the Snowberry instead. Meriwether wrote in his journal that he discovered something like a small honeysuckle, except that it was bearing…
Read MoreVan Gogh’s Last Days Among the Sunflowers
Fifteen Sunflowers Today is the anniversary of the death of the artist Vincent Van Gogh. After shooting himself in the stomach, Vincent managed to get back to his home and live for two additional days before dying beside a stack of his sunflower canvases. In March of 1987, his painting titled Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers…
Read MoreFrom Xanadu to Your Backyard: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Horticultural Legacy
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. July 25, 1834 On this day, dear readers, we bid farewell to the illustrious English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a luminary of the Romantic Movement and a cherished member of the Lake Poets.…
Read MoreDavid Douglas: The Scottish Botanist’s Final Journey and the Mystery of the Hawaiian Pit
Gave His Life for Science On this day, about a month before his 35th birthday, the Scottish plant explorer David Douglas and his little Scottish terrier named Billy arrived at the northern tip of Hawaii. After landing, David met up with a man named Ned Gurney. And I know it’s hard to imagine, but Gurney…
Read MoreThe Rooftop Visionary: Ralph Hancock and the Garden of Nations at Rockefeller Center
Garden-maker Extraordinaire The Welsh landscape gardener, architect, and author, Ralph Hancock, was born. Hancock was a garden-maker extraordinaire, and he created several famous Gardens across Wales, England, and the United States. One of his most famous works was the rooftop garden at the Rockefeller Center in New York. Hancock designed his rooftop garden in 1934…
Read MoreWilliam Shenstone: Poet and Creator of the Ornamented Farm at Leasowes
Ornamented Farm Today is the anniversary of the death of poet and landscape gardener William Shenstone In the early 1740s, Shenstone inherited his family’s dairy farm, which he transformed into the Leasowes (pronounced ‘lezzoes’). The transfer of ownership lit a fire under Shenstone, and he immediately started changing the land into a wild landscape -…
Read MorePeter Collinson, John Bartram, and the curious beauty of Skunk Cabbage
Eastern Skunk Cabbage Today Peter Collinson wrote to John Bartram after receiving Skunk Weed (Symplocarpus foetidus). My good friend, John Bartram: I am very sensible of the great pains and many toilsome steps [you took] to collect so many rare plants scattered at a distance. I shall not soon forget it; …in some measure to…
Read MoreThe Forgotten Letter That Changed Plant Travel: John Smith and the Wardian Case
New Holland to the Cape of Good Hope Today the botanist John Smith wrote a letter to Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, January 24, 1842. Dear Sir, In reply to your inquiry [regarding] the … results obtained by [using] close-glazed cases for the transfer of living plants from one country to another, I…
Read MoreAlfred Russel Wallace: The Overlooked Father of Natural Selection
Another Theory of Natural Selection Today is the birthday of the British naturalist Alfred Wallace. Wallace developed his theory of natural selection quite independently of Charles Darwin – although he did send his theory to Darwin. Wallace’s work prompted Darwin to get serious about publishing his 20-year-old idea. In 1858, both Wallace and Darwin’s work…
Read MoreThomas Moore, ferns, and the Victorian fern craze at Chelsea Physic Garden
Thrive in the Garden Today is the anniversary of the death of the gardener, naturalist, and Chelsea Physic Garden curator Thomas Moore. Before Moore worked at Chelsea Physic Garden @ChelsPhysicGdn, he spent four years at Fraser’s Lea Bridge Nurseries, Leyton from 1839-1842. Moore wrote several books on horticulture – many reflected his lifelong passion for…
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