Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward Archives

Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward

The Wardian Case November 23, 1833 On this day, the ship Captain Charles Mallard wrote a letter to Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. Four years earlier, in 1829, Nathaniel developed the first terrarium when he accidentally grew a fern in an insect jar. A fern spore had gotten into a jar Nathaniel was using to observe insect…

Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward

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…

January 24, 2020 Ruskin Elwood by Fieldwork, Feeding the Birds in Winter, Peter Collinson, Ferdinand Cohn, Wardian Cases, Edith Wharton, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, Wireless Earbuds, and Ben Lampman’s Ode to Skunk Cabbage

Today we celebrate a man who was an avid gardener and a friend of John Bartram’s, and we learn about the founder of bacteriology and modern microbiology. We’ll learn about The impact of Wardian Cases on plant exploration and the American playwright who designed her own garden on her estate. Today’s Unearthed Words feature winter…

January 22, 2020 The Wardian Case, Winter Garden Design Tips, Francis Bacon, Heinrich Muhlenberg, Caspar Wistar, The 1985 Cold Snap, Lessons From Winter In Poetry And Prose, By Pen & By Spade By David Wheeler, Esschert Garden Tool Belt, and Ellsworth Jerome Hill

Today we celebrate the birthday of the English Statesman who created “Garden walks” and the birthday of a man who is remembered by Muhly grass. We’ll learn about the man memorialized by a plant name that misspells his last name, and we’ll also learn about the disastrous freeze for Florida growers that happened in the…

Southwood Smith’s 1851 letter to Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward

Southwood Smith In 1851, a note was written to Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (of Wardian case fame). The message was from Southwood Smith, an eminent English doctor, minister, and father of sanitary reform (public health) in England. During his time, Southwood Smith was recognized as the originator of preventive medicine, and he was constantly writing…

April 1, 2019 A Brand New Gardening Podcast, Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, Southwood Smith, Louis MacNeice, Peter Cundall, and Tovah Martin

Today is April 1st. It’s the perfect day to start a brand new gardening podcast.

April is derived from the word aperit- which means to open.

Yet, every Prince fan, or northern gardener, knows that, sometimes it snows in April.

So, April flowers should take heed; open at your own risk.