Father of the fuchsia: Charles Plumier’s Caribbean botanical discoveries

Charles Plumier (1646-1704) was a French botanist and a Minim friar.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 20, 1646 Dearest reader, On this day, in the wind-swept port of Marseille, a man was born whose curiosity would change the course of botanical history — Charles Plumier, priest, scholar, explorer,…

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Frances Bickelhaupt: The Arboretum Maker Who Restored Trees in lowa

Frances Bickelhaupt

The Bickelhaupt Arboretum April 28, 1916 Today is the birthday of the arboretum-maker Frances Bickelhaupt. Frances is remembered for the arboretum that she and her husband Robert created around their family home in Clinton, Iowa. During the 1960s and 1970s, Robert and Frances watched in dismay as Dutch Elm disease claimed the beautiful Elm-lined streets…

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April 20, 2020 The Best Indoor Herb Gardens, Kitchen Scrap Gardening, Charles Plumier, Agnes Block, William Bartram, Louise Beebe Wilder, Joan Miró, Gardening Your Front Yard by Tara Nolan, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day

The Daily Gardener Podcast Album Cover with a pot of rosemary - the herb for remembrance - beckoning gardeners to remember to listen to the show. Updated September 2025.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee  Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community Curated News The 7 Best Indoor Herb Gardens by Scarlett James | Bustle “Fresh herbs are an undeniable delight, even if you don’t channel Ina Garten on…

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Serpentine Paths and Magnolia Dreams: The Life of Alexander Garden

Georg Dionysius Ehret "Gardenia Florida" (1759) in Plantae et Papiliones Rariores p. 1748.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 15, 1791 On this day, the ever-so-clever Alexander Garden of Charleston, South Carolina, drew his final breath at the age of 61, succumbing to the ravages of tuberculosis. A man whose correspondence…

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