Robert Brown Archives

Robert Brown

Brownian Motion December 21, 1773 Today is the birthday of Scottish botanist Robert Brown. Robert made important contributions to botany and (science in general) through his pioneering use of the microscope. In particular, Robert is best known for being the first to notice the natural continuous movement of minute particles. Today we call that phenomenon…

December 21, 2020 Six Healthy Winter Vegetables to Grow, Robert Brown, Rosemary Verey, Mistletoe, Growing Winter Weeds with Susan Tyler Hitchcock, The Gardens of Luciano Giubbilei by Andrew Wilson, and Lucien Daniel’s 1917 Watering Tip

Today we celebrate the Scottish botanist who is remembered for the phenomenon known as Brownian Motion. We’ll also learn about the woman remembered as the Queen of the Traditional English Country Garden. We’ll have a little mini-class on Mistletoe and the etymology of its name. We’ll listen to a verse from a garden writer and…

Robert Brown

Librarian of the Linnean Society On this day in 1805, the botanist Robert Brown returned from a four-year expedition to Australia after having found thousands of new plant species. His work brought him fame and professional opportunities. Brown became the librarian of the Linnean Society. His knowledge of new plant species made it possible for…

October 7, 2019 Little Prince Nursery, John Clayton, Joseph Knight, Robert Brown, Ezra Cornell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Foliage First by Karen Chapman and Christina Salwitz, Potting up Bulbs, Plant Explorers and the Story of the Little Helper

Mark from Little Prince nursery, and I became friends on Facebook over the past month. I was immediately taken with the images on his feed, which is so full of the most beautiful blooms. His dahlias were to die for. Anyway, at some point, I gave him a call, and we were talking away, and…

Robert Brown

The Brownian Movement It’s the anniversary of the death of Scottish botanist Robert Brown, who died on this day in 1858. Brown is best known for being the first to notice the natural continuous movement of minute particles. It’s known as the Brownian movement. Brown had experimented with all kinds of materials -…

June 10, 2019 The Significance of Lilacs, National Herbs and Spices Day, Jardin des Plantes, Robert Brown, Gorgeous George and Judy Garland’s Hibiscus, Frances Theodora Parsons, Natural Selection, Dan Pearson, Box Cutters, and Inspiration from John Burroughs

My neighbor, up at our cabin, has this amazing copse of lilacs. We’ve become good friends, and he invited me to take some cuttings of his lilac as a gesture of goodwill. (He also gives me all of his jack-in-the-pulpits – but that’s another story.) Over time, lilacs have met different things to different people.…