Rachel Peden Archives

December 18, 2020 The Best Stunning Winter Bark, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Lady Cromer, David Austin, a 700-year-old Christmas tree, Rachel Peden, Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist by Michael Judd, and the story of the Tom Cox Arboretum

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.

Geese, Peace, and the Farmstead: Rachel Peden’s Winter Meditation

by Rachel Peden Under the big Swamp Maple in the east lot, the gray geese and the white Pilgrim ganders gather silently. During winter nights, they sleep in the open face tool shed, and often in the night, they think of new expressions of scorn and at once utter them. (“We are the watchdogs, we…

Rachel Peden: The Hoosier Farmwife Who Spoke to the Earth

Garden Therapy December 17, 1901 Today is the birthday of the Indiana environmentalist, newspaper columnist, and author Rachel Peden. Rachel was the wife of an Owen county cattle farmer named Dick. Her father, Benjamin Franklin Mason, was a fruit farmer, growing peaches, apples, and strawberries. Ben developed a reputation as a breeder when he created…

December 17, 2020 Five Low-Maintenance Annuals, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Charles Morren, Rachel Peden, Jean Hersey, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and Shooting Down Mistletoe

Queen of July: Poets and Writers in Praise of the Rose

Today’s Garden Words were featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. A pink rose in fully bloom in July. July 5, 2020 Today’s garden is ruled by the undisputed queen of July—the…

July 16, 2019 Tarragon, Camille Corot, Orville Redenbacher, Rachel Peden, Good Planting by Rosemary Verey, Blueberries, and Charles Clemon Deam

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Monologue Did you know Tarragon is an Artemisia? Like all plants in the Artemisia genus, Tarragon is gray and silvery. Artemisia was sacred to Artemis, and there…

Rachel Peden on the Pink Rose: The Serene Philosophy of Summer

A close-up of a pink Floribunda rose. These roses are known for their abundant clusters of blooms, a result of being a hybrid between Hybrid Tea and Polyantha roses.

by Rachel Peden The serene philosophy of the pink rose is steadying. Its fragrant, delicate petals open fully and are ready to fall, without regret or disillusion, after only a day in the sun. It is so every summer. One can almost hear their pink, fragrant murmur as they settle down upon the grass: ‘Summer,…