Joachim Patinir: The Maestro of Renaissance Landscapes

Joachim Patinir

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 5, 1524 On this day, dear readers, we bid farewell to a luminary of the artistic world, one Joachim Patinir. A name that may not roll off the tongue with ease, yet…

Read More

Beau-Pots to Wildflower Whimsy: Mary Mitford’s Floral Revolution

Mary Russell Mitford

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 13, 1815 On this day, dear readers, we find ourselves privy to a most charming correspondence between Mary Russell Mitford and Sir William Elford, an English banker, politician, and amateur artist. In…

Read More

Surreal Harvests: André Breton’s Galloping Imagination

Portrait of André Breton (colorized and enhanced)

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. February 18, 1896 Dearest reader, On this day, we mark the birth of André Robert Breton, a French writer and poet whose very name has become synonymous with the strange and sublime, the…

Read More

Joachim Patinir and the Birth of the World Landscape

Joachim Patinir

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 5, 1524 Dearest reader, On this day, Joachim Patinir was born—a visionary of the Flemish Renaissance who forever changed how we behold the natural world in art. Have you ever paused before…

Read More

Camille Corot’s Birthday: The Painter Who Saw Nature as Prayer

Camille Corot thumbnail image

Beauty is in Art It’s the birthday of the artist Camille Corot (“CAH-MEEL CAH-row”), born in Paris. Corot was a French painter, famous for his landscapes, and he inspired the landscape painting of the Impressionists. Corot’s quotes about painting are inspiring to gardeners. Here’s a little sample of his sensitive perspective on the natural world:…

Read More

Joan Miró: Surrealist Artist Inspired by Nature and Gardening

Joan Miró thumbnail image

A Gardener or a WInegrower Today is the birthday of the Spanish painter and artist Joan Miró Born in Barcelona, Miró’s surrealist art left a mark on the world. Gardeners will especially enjoy his 1918 work called The Vegetable Garden with Donkey and his 1919 work called “Vines and Olive Trees.” Miró’s biography was subtitled…

Read More

Albrecht Dürer and the Botanical Beauty of The Great Piece of Turf

Albrecht Dürer. thumbnail image

The Great Piece of Turf Today is the anniversary of the death of the German painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg, Albrecht Dürer. Dürer’s work was extraordinary, and by the time he was in his 20’s, he was already quite famous. While he was known for his calm demeanor and introversion, his work…

Read More