October Archives

Annie Lorrain Smith

A Leading Expert in Lichen Taxonomy Today is the birthday of the lichenologist Annie Lorrain Smith who was born on this day in 1854. Smith was a British fungal biologist specializing in lichens. Her siblings all went by the last name, “Lorrain Smith,” but Annie published under the name “A L Smith.” – – -…

Can Words Describe the Fragrance

by Neltje Blanchan Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring – that delicious commingling of the perfume of arbutus, the odor of pines, and the snow – soaked soil just warming into life. Note: Today is the birthday of the nature writer and poet Neltje Blanchan, who was born…

Long After Their Associates Have Gone Southward

by Neltje Blanchan Long after their associates have gone southward, they linger like the last leaves on the tree. It is indeed “good-bye to summer” when the bluebirds withdraw their touch of brightness from the dreary November landscape at the north to whirl through the southern woods and feed on the waxy berries of the…

4th Grade Botanists: A Modern Approach to Teaching Botany

“At the end of the class, the children stood up and sang to the tune of Head Shoulders Knees and Toes: Stigma, petal, stem, and roots … stem and roots” October 22, 2003 On this day, The Courier-Journal out of Louisville, Kentucky, featured an article about a 4th-grade classroom that had turned into a laboratory of botanists.…

Edwin Way Teale

The Thrill of Travel On this day in 1942, the Freeport Journal published a delightful story about the naturalist Edwin Way Teale. Here’s what it said, “To most of his neighbors Edwin Way Teale Is known as the man who can spend a solid day In a two-acre field without 1) being on a picnic,…

David Douglas

Doctor’s Pit On this day in 2014, the botanist David Douglas was memorialized with a plaque at his death site. The occasion marked the 100th anniversary of Douglas’s death. The Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission created the plaque because Douglas was the first scientist to visit the Oregon territory. Douglas scientifically identified hundreds of plants during…

The Scarlet of Maples

by Bliss Carman The scarlet of maples can shake me like a cry Of bugles going by. And my lonely spirit thrills to see the frosty asters like smoke upon the hills. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Bliss Carman

Remembering The Flower Girl: Jan Rose Kasmir, a Chrysanthemum, and the Vietnam War

“A 17-year-old high school girl named Jan Rose Kasmir walked up to a row of soldiers holding rifles with bayonets… She held a single chrysanthemum bloom in her hands.” October 21, 1967 On this day, 100,000 demonstrators attended the March on the Pentagon – one of the most massive demonstrations of the Vietnam War. …

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Youth and Age Today is the birthday of the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was born on this day in 1772. Along with his friend, William Wordsworth, Coleridge started the Romantic Movement and was a member of the Lake Poets, a group of English poets who lived in the Lake District of England during…

Alfred Nobel

The Nobel Prize Today is the birthday of the Swede Alfred Nobel, who was born on this day in 1833. Gardeners are often surprised to learn that Nobel was a descendant of the botanist Olof Rudbeck. Nobel believed in peace and the goodness of humanity. At the same time, he recognized the destructive power of…

Victor Lemoine

Lemoine and the Lilac Today is the birthday of the French flower breeder Victor Lemoine, who was born on this day in 1823. We owe a debt of gratitude to Lemoine for enhancing the beauty of so many flowers in our gardens: lilacs, mock-oranges, phlox, peonies, gladiolus, tuberous begonias, geraniums, and deutzias. Around the year…

The Summer was Very Big

by Rainer Maria Rilke Lord, it is time. The summer was very big. Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose. Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into…

Jimsonweed or Jamestown Weed: A Plant of Peril Through the Ages

“The frantic parents summoned psychiatrists, but it was a botanist, Dr. Otto Emery Jennings of the University of Pittsburgh, who finally solved the mystery.” October 9, 1947 On this day, The Times of Streator, Illinois, shared a story called Ailment of 2 Boys Solved by Botanist. Two eight-year-old boys gave their parents a bad time when…

François-Andre Michaux

Son of Andrea Michaux On this day in 1801, the botanist François-Andre Michaux returned to Charleston. François-Andre was the son of the botanist, Andrea Michaux. His father named an oak in his honor. Michaux’s mom died just a few short weeks after he was born. His father was so despondent that he turned to botany…