Posts Tagged ‘strawberry cultivation’
Antoine Duchesne: The Botanical Genius Behind Your Strawberry Shortcake
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. October 7, 1747 On this day, dear readers and fellow cultivators of nature’s sweetest treasures, we celebrate the birth of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne, a French botanist, gardener, and professor whose work at Versailles…
Read MoreThomas Tusser: Peas, Beans, and the Poetry of Husbandry
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 3, 1580 On this day, dear readers, we bid farewell to a most curious figure in the annals of horticultural history: Thomas Tusser, English poet and farmer extraordinaire. Though he has shuffled…
Read MoreAntoine Nicolas Duchesne: The Botanical Pioneer Behind the Modern Strawberry
The Modern Strawberry February 18, 1827 Today is the anniversary of the death of the French botanist, gardener, and professor at Versailles, Antoine Nicolas Duchesne (“do-Shane”). A specialist in strawberries and gourds, Antoine was a student of Bernard de Jussieu at the Royal Garden in Paris. A plant pioneer, Antoine, recognized that mutation was a…
Read MoreMichael Keens and the Birth of the Modern Strawberry
The Complete Strawberry On this day, Michael Keens, a market gardener from Isleworth, exhibited the first large-scale cultivated strawberry at the Royal Horticultural Society. Now when it came to strawberries, Michael combined two important variables: flavor and appearance. It’s hard to imagine, but large garden strawberries as we know them today didn’t exist before the…
Read MoreThe Spy Who Loved Strawberries: Michael Keens’s Revolutionary Berry
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. July 3, 1859 On this day in horticultural history, The Preston Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser bestowed upon eager gardeners a morsel of wisdom regarding the cultivation of what was then the most coveted…
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