Posts Tagged ‘seasonal change’
Everlasting Gardens: The Poet’s Song of Seasons – Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. February 17, 1864 Dearest Gardeners, On this day, we pause to honor the birth of Jane Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald, a Canadian poet whose voice still rings with gentle wisdom across the years. Hailing…
Read MoreVerses of Vernal Promise: Nora Perry’s Springtime Poetry
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 13, 1896 On this day, dear readers, we bid farewell to Nora Perry, an American poet, newspaper correspondent, and writer whose verses captured the essence of spring’s awakening. Though she has left…
Read MoreRobert Frost’s “Our Singing Strength”: A Poetic Reflection on Nature’s Resilience
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 2, 1923 In the spring of that year, Robert Frost gifted readers of The New Republic with Our Singing Strength, a poem where snowflakes drifted like ghosts upon warm earth, only to…
Read MoreHenry David Thoreau: On Maple Sap, Willows, and the Warm Places of Spring
Maple Trees and Warm Places March 22, 1856 Today Henry David Thoreau writes about spring and flowing sap in Maple trees in his journal. He also writes about microclimates – he calls them “warm places.” “Part of the White Maples now begin to flow, some perhaps two or three days. Probably in equally warm positions,…
Read MoreThe Magic of Light: Marjorie Harris Reflects on Winter’s Rare Sunlight
by Marjorie Harris In my climate, the hours of daylight are few, the number of sunny hours even fewer. We trudge through the gloom day after day, all through January and February. But when the sun does shine, it carries a magnificence, unlike any other time. Perhaps our gratitude for light makes it so, but…
Read MoreFrost’s Painted Garden: Helen Bayley Davis on Winter’s Vanishing Art
by Helen Bayley Davis Someone painted pictures on my Windowpane last night — Willow trees with trailing boughs And flowers, frosty white, And lovely crystal butterflies; But when the morning sun Touched them with its golden beams, They vanished one by one. Today’s Garden words were featured on the podcast: Words inspired by…
Read MoreChasing Seasons of Love: Ann Batten Cristall’s Garden of Enchantment
by Ann Batten Cristall, English poet and schoolteacher Through springtime walks, with flowers perfumed, I chased a wild, capricious, fair Where hyacinths and jonquils bloomed, Chanting gay sonnets through the air; Hid amid a briary dell Or ‘neath a Hawthorn-tree, Her sweet enchantments led me on And still deluded me. While summer’s ‘splendent glory smiles…
Read MoreHenry David Thoreau: The First Snowfall at Walden Pond
Walden Pond December 9, 1855 On this day, it was starting to snow on Walden Pond. The winter Landscape appeared before Henry David Thoreau’s eyes, and he captured the transformation in his journal: “At 8.30 a fine snow begins to fall, increasing very gradually, perfectly straight down, till in fifteen minutes, the ground is white,…
Read MoreFirst Snow and the Garden’s Song: Wonder, Renewal, and Nature’s Duet
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. The first snow in the garden. November 13, 2020 The first snow carries a particular kind of wonder—the kind that rewrites…
Read MoreHenry Van Dyke’s Garden Wisdom: Spring Days, Birdsongs, and Cities in Bloom
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. Henry van Dyke (1852-1933) was a prominent American author, educator, poet, playwright, and clergyman. November 10, 2020 Today marks the birthday…
Read MoreNovember’s Quiet Grip: Henry Rollins on Autumn’s Transition
by Henry Rollins I have come to regard November as the older, harder man’s October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer’s death as winter tightens its grip. Today’s Garden…
Read MoreNovember Folk Wisdom: Thunder, Snow, and Parker’s Autumn Valentine
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. Frost covers a November garden. November 4, 2020 As the year deepens into November, the air hums with old weather wisdom—those…
Read MoreAugust in Sawdust and Goldenrod: Maggie Grant’s Wit on Summer’s End
by Maggie Grant For which there is no possible rhyme other than sawdust. Now, the task of justifying that word is going to be immense If I want to make sense, But anyway, here goes: I once had a doll called Rose Whose body was encased in a species of strong white cotton. Well, I…
Read MoreSigns of the Season: August Weather Lore and Winter’s Shadow
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. August skies above a field of sunflowers. August 2, 2020 August weather has always carried a whisper of prophecy. It is…
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