My Favorite Plant by Jamaica Kincaid

My Favorite Plant by Jamaica Kincaid

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. My Favorite Plant by Jamaica Kincaid This book came out in 1998, and the subtitle is Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love. In this…

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John Joly: The Poet-Scientist Who Understood Plant Magic

John Joly (enhanced & colorized)

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 1, 1857 John Joly (pronounced “JOLLY”) was born on this day in Hollywood House near the village of Bracknagh (pronounced “BRACK-nuh”) in County Offaly, Ireland. Joly was an Irish polymath whose profound…

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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 Poetry of Pollinators: Neltje Blanchan’s Garden Revolution

Neltje Blanchan

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 23, 1865 Today we also remember the birth of Neltje Blanchan, and oh my dears, if Annie Lorrain Smith taught us to see the microscopic world of lichens, Blanchan taught an entire…

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A Garden in the Hills: Katharine Stewart’s Diary Entry for October 23rd

Katharine Stewart, A Garden in the Hills

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. Here’s an excerpt for today from Katharine Stewart’s diary-turned-book A Garden in the Hills.  October 23rd Waking to find a scattering of snow above the tree line on the hill, I think ‘time…

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The Gardener’s Pen: H. E. Bates and His Literary Landscape

Herbert Ernest Bates

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 26, 1905 On this day, the literary world welcomed Herbert Ernest Bates, a wordsmith destined to paint verdant landscapes with his pen. Known to readers as H. E. Bates, this English author…

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The Patience of Spring: Lessons from Emerson’s May Day

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 1, 1867 On this day, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the sage of Concord, inscribed a copy of his book, May Day, to Sophie Thoreau, the devoted sister of Henry David Thoreau. This gesture,…

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Leslie Young Correthers: The Forgotten Poet of the Garden

Leslie Young Correthers

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 25, 1948 On this day, the garden of earthly delights lost one of its most enchanting cultivators. Leslie Young Correthers, an American poet and artist of remarkable charm, breathed his last, leaving…

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Margaret Atwood: The Poet Laureate of Earth and Leaf

Margaret Atwood

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 18, 1939 On this day, the literary world welcomed a true force of nature – Margaret Atwood, a woman whose words would bloom as profusely and provocatively as the most audacious of…

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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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Waldo in Bloom: The Botanical Journey of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 25, 1803 On this day, dear readers, we celebrate the birth of a man whose words have blossomed through the ages, much like the flowers he so adored – Ralph Waldo Emerson.…

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Crooked Peas and Straight Truths: Emerson’s Garden Reflections

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 18, 1926 On this day, dear readers, we find ourselves privy to the private musings of that great American thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson (books by this author). In his journal, he penned…

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