A Gentle Voice from the Garden: Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald

Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 8, 1922 On this day, as the last mountain ash berries gleam against pewter skies, we remember Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald, whose poetic voice still echoes through the gardens of Maritime Canada. Today…

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Ruth Pitter: The Gardener-Poet of Hainault Forest

Ruth Pitter

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 7, 1897 Today in botanical history, we celebrate Ruth Pitter [PIT-er] (1897-1992), a remarkable British poet whose deep connection to nature, primarily through her beloved Hainault Forest, shaped her literary legacy. Pitter’s…

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Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux: The Critic’s Garden at Auteuil

Boileau by Jean-Baptiste Santerre, 1678

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 1, 1636 Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (pronounced “nee-koh-LAH bwah-LOH day-pray-OH”) was born on this day in Paris. Boileau was a French poet and critic whose garden became a sanctuary for some of the greatest…

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A Poet’s Garden: Celebrating John Keats’ Natural World Legacy

John Keats by William Hilton

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 31, 1795 On this day, John Keats was born into a world he would later capture through some of the most vivid botanical imagery in English poetry. Though his life was tragically…

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The Gardener’s Pen: Remembering Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Mary E. Wilkins at her home (colorized and enhanced) from the inside cover of The people of our neighborhood (1898)

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 31, 1852 On this day, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, one of America’s most remarkable chroniclers of New England garden life, was born in Randolph, Massachusetts. ]Though primarily known for her fiction, Freeman’s…

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The Pink Lady of Woodhills: Cora Older’s Legacy

Cora Baggerly Older as a young woman

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 24, 1875 And it was on this day in 1875, my dear friend, that a remarkable woman who would come to be known as “The Pink Lady” was born in Clyde, New…

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The Blue Flower of Novalis: A Romantic’s Garden Dream

Novalis

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 2, 1772 On this day, the literary world welcomed Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, better known by his pen name, Novalis. This 18th-century German poet, writer, mystic, and philosopher of early…

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Pansies for Thoughts: Vassar College’s Floral Tribute to Shakespeare

The Violets Will Come, in Their Own Time

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 24, 1916 On this day, dear garden enthusiasts and lovers of literature alike, Vassar College paid a most charming tribute to the immortal Bard of Avon. On the 300th anniversary of William…

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Anne of Green Gables and the Author’s Green Haven

Lucy Maud Montgomery, 1930

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 30, 1874 On this day in literary and horticultural history, Lucy Maud Montgomery, the beloved Canadian author of the Anne of Green Gables series, entered the world on Prince Edward Island. Her…

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Potatoes and Prose: The Wit and Wisdom of Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 29, 1832 On this day, a literary blossom unfurled in the gardens of New England – Louisa May Alcott, destined to become one of America’s most beloved writers and poets, drew her…

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Seeds of Change: Amos Bronson Alcott’s Perennial Legacy

Amos Bronson Alcott

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 29, 1799 On this day in horticultural history, the world welcomed Amos Bronson Alcott, a man whose life would bloom with ideas as varied and vibrant as the most eclectic of gardens.…

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From Pippi to Pine Trees: Astrid Lindgren’s Natural Legacy

Astrid Lindgren, 1953

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 14, 1907 On this day, dear readers and fellow admirers of literary landscapes, we celebrate the birth of a true enchantress of words: Astrid Lindgren, the Swedish writer whose tales have blossomed…

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Lin Yutang’s Autumnal Wisdom: A Seasonal Reflection on Life and Nature

Lin photographed in 1939 (enhanced and colorized)

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: November 14, 1895 On this day, dear readers and fellow admirers of nature’s ever-changing tapestry, we celebrate the birth of a most remarkable individual: Lin Yutang, the Chinese inventor, writer, and translator whose words would bridge the gap between East and West, much like…

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