literary gardens Archives

Danske Dandridge: The Gardener-Poet of Rose Brake

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 19, 1854 On this day, Danske [“DAN-sker”] Dandridge, poet, historian, and garden writer, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her story begins with a diplomatic posting—her father, Henry Bedinger, served as President James…

William Wordsworth Landscape Designer: A Winter Garden Made with Poetry

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 15, 1806 On this day, William Wordsworth received a life-changing invitation from Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont to design and build a winter garden at her estate in an old gravel quarry. This…

A Gentle Voice from the Garden: 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…

Remembering Margaret Mitchell and the Botanical Aspects of Gone With the Wind

Margaret Mitchell arrives at the film premiere of Gone With The Wind in Atlanta, December 1939.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 8, 1900 Margaret Mitchell, the American southern writer of Gone with the Wind, is born. Her friends and family called her Peggy. Margaret grew up in Georgia, surrounded by relatives who had…

Ruth Pitter: The Gardener-Poet of Hainault Forest

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…

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

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…

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

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…

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…

The Pink Lady of Woodhills: Cora Older’s Legacy

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…

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

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…

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…

Anne of Green Gables and the Author’s Green Haven

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…

Potatoes and Prose: The Wit and Wisdom of 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…

Seeds of Change: Amos Bronson Alcott’s Perennial Legacy

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.…