Therese of Bavaria: The Princess Who Found Freedom in Flowers

Princess Therese of Bavaria sketch c. 1810 (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. November 12, 1850 On this day, Princess Therese of Bavaria (teh-RAY-zuh of buh-VAIR-ee-uh), was born.  This remarkable woman found her true calling not in the gilded halls of Bavaria’s royal palaces but in…

Read More

A Flora of Concord from Thoreau’s Time to the Present Day

A Flora of Concord by Richard Jefferson Eaton

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 29, 1972 On this day, The Berkshire Eagle published a revealing article about Henry David Thoreau [pronounced: THOR-oh] titled “Thoreau: The Amateur Botanist.” The piece, penned by Wayne Hanley, drew heavily from…

Read More

October 28, 2024 The Garden’s October Lullaby, Hippolyte François Jaubert, Harold Basil Christian, Growing Your Own Tea Garden by Jodi Helmer, and Sarah Sophia Banks

The Daily Gardener Podcast Album Cover with a pot of rosemary - the herb for remembrance - beckoning gardeners to remember to listen to the show. Updated September 2025.

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 1798 Count Hippolyte François Jaubert, a fascinating figure who bridged the worlds of politics and botany in 19th century France, is born.…

Read More

The Flower Presser: Luca Ghini’s Botanical Revolution

Luca Ghini

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 4, 1556 On this day, dear cultivators of knowledge and nurturers of nature, we mark the passing of a true titan in the realm of botany: Luca Ghini. Though his name may…

Read More

A Garden with a Soul: The Life, Legacy, and Literary Blooms of Jean Galbraith

Jean Galbraith, 1990 (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. March 28, 1906 Dearest reader, On this day, we celebrate the birth of Jean Galbraith, a beloved Australian botanist, gardener, writer, and poet whose life was intimately entwined with the wildflowers and native…

Read More

Theodore Vogel, the Niger Expedition, and the Trials of a Botanist at Sea

The image shows either Elmina Castle or Cape Coast Castle in Ghana. Both are former slave trading forts and UNESCO World Heritage sites.

A Peaceful Passing December 4, 1841  On this day, the German botanist Theodore Vogel was laid low with dysentery. After joining the Niger (“nee-ZHER”) expedition, Theodore recorded in his journal the difficulties of traveling without the benefit of a Wardian Case on board a naval warship called the Wilberforce: “As soon as I got on…

Read More

Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton: Pioneer Bryologist and Conservation Champion

Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton thumbnail image

The Famous Bryologist  Today is the birthday of the famous bryologist Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton. Elizabeth married the botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton. She was a teacher, and he was a professor of botany at Columbia University. Together, they helped create the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.  Their primary source of Inspirationtion was Kew…

Read More

Alice Eastwood: The Self-Taught Botanist Who Saved Plants From the Flames

Alice Eastwood thumbnail image

A Curator of Botany Today is the anniversary of the death of the Canadian American self-taught botanist Alice Eastwood who died on this day in 1953.  Eastwood is remembered for saving almost 1500 specimens from a burning building following the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. Afterward, she wrote about the specimens that didn’t make it:…

Read More

The Man Who Made Roses Weep: Graham Stuart Thomas Remembered

Graham Stuart Thomas thumbnail image

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 17, 2003 On this day, the gardening world lost one of its most illustrious luminaries when Graham Stuart Thomas departed this mortal coil at the venerable age of 94. A man who…

Read More