Posts Tagged ‘plant hunting’
October 25, 2024 Patrick Neill, Joseph Hetherington McDaniels, Tyge Wittrock Bocher, The Healing Garden by Juliet Blankespoor, and A Tale of Two Postmen Turned Accidental Alpine Plant Merchants
Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History On This Day 1776 Patrick Neill, British printer and horticulturalist, is born. 1840 Joseph Hetherington McDaniels, Classical Scholar, is born. 1909 Tyge Wittrock Böcher [TEE-guh VIT-rock…
Read MoreA Simpling We Shall Go: Elias Ashmole’s Botanical Adventure
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 6, 1648 On this day, dear readers, we find ourselves transported to a time when the pursuit of botanical knowledge was as thrilling as any modern-day adventure. Picture, if you will, the…
Read MoreThe Countess and Her Secret Garden: Mary Eleanor Bowes, Botanist, Survivor, Scandal
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. February 24, 1749 Dearest Gardeners, On this day, we celebrate the birthday of one of Georgian England’s most extraordinary—and most whispered-about—women of the soil: Lady Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore (books about…
Read MoreFirst Lady of Mount Kinabalu: The Remarkable Legacy of Lilian Gibbs
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. September 10, 1870 On this day in horticultural history, we find ourselves transported to an era when botanical discovery required more than merely consulting The Garden magazine or ordering from the latest nursery…
Read MoreSaving the Sakura: Cherry Ingram’s Journey to Preserve Japan’s Blossoms
by Naoko Abe There, in a garden of a house near the Osakabe Hotel (“sah-KAH-bay”), towering above a tall wooden fence, stood a tree with narrow leaves and bunched clusters of double mauve-pink blossoms with close to 100 petals. Ingram’s immediate reaction was to work out how to spirit cuttings of the tree to England.…
Read MoreSurviving the Desert: The 1874 Expedition of Botanist WEP Giles in Central Australia
by Anita Silvey In 1874, the English botanist WEP Giles (William Ernest Powell) explored the vast deserts of central Australia. Setting out with his hunting partner from a base camp at Fort McKellar, he discovered a leak in one of his large water bags. The two men decided to continue, even though the temperature had…
Read MoreBenedict Roezl: The Orchid Hunter with an Iron Hand
Orchid Master Hunter August 13, 1823 Today is the birthday of Benedict Roezl, who was born on this day in Czechoslovakia. Benedict was probably the most famous collector of orchids during his lifetime. Benedict had an interesting life. As a gardener, he traveled all over Europe. He was also the founder of a Czech…
Read MoreJohn Redfield: Asa Gray’s Friend and the Guardian of Philadelphia’s Botanical Legacy
Orchid Master Hunter August 13, 1823 Today is the birthday of Benedict Roezl, who was born on this day in Czechoslovakia. Benedict was probably the most famous collector of orchids during his lifetime. Benedict had an interesting life. As a gardener, he traveled all over Europe. He was also the founder of a Czech…
Read MoreThe Egg-straordinary Survival of a 79-Year-Old Botanist in Alaska
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. July 10, 1949 Oh, my dear garden enthusiasts, what a tale of botanical adventure I have for you today! In this year of 1949, a most remarkable rescue has occurred that would make…
Read MoreThe African Adventure Botanical Indiana Jones: Harry Harlan’s North
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 28, 1924 On this day, the intrepid botanist Harry V. Harlan regaled the Science Club at Kansas State University with tales of his botanical conquests across the scorching deserts of North Africa.…
Read MoreTwelve Miles in a Botanist’s Wake: The Legacy of Edwin Hunt
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 17, 1869 It was on this day in 1869 that the botanist Edwin Hunt, with the stealth of a fox and the determination of a particularly obstinate weed, collected the last known…
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