December 9, 2020 Kenya’s Giant Fig Tree, Henry David Thoreau, Lorraine Collett, Peter Smithers, John Milton, The History of Landscape Design in 100 Gardens by Linda Chisholm and Peyton Zieger’s Sweet Potato Party

20200101 The Daily Gardener Album Cover

Today we celebrate the first snow of 1855 on Walden Pond. We’ll also learn about the young woman who became an emblem for a raisin company. We’ll remember the gardener spy who discovered photographer in the last decades of his life. We hear a verse of flowers for a poet’s dead friend. We Grow That…

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Celebrating Lorraine Collett: the Face of the Sun-Maid Raisin Company

Lorraine Collett Portrait

“That afternoon, Lorraine had swapped out her blue bonnet for her mother’s red one. The combination of her silky black curls and the red bonnet in the sunshine apparently made an arresting sight.” December 9, 1892 On this day, American model Lorraine Collett was born in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of 23, Lorraine…

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From Vine to Snack Time: The Sweet Journey of Raisins

National Raisin Day

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 30, 2019 On this day, dear readers, we celebrate a humble yet mighty fruit that has graced our tables and tantalized our taste buds for centuries. Yes, it’s National Raisin Day! So…

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