Thomas Jefferson Archives

April 25, 2023 John Mulso, Thomas Jefferson, George Herbert Engleheart, David Fairchild, Harry Radlund, Leslie Young Carrethers, The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants by Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox, and Maurice Baring

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History On This Day 1766 John Mulso writes to his friend English naturalist, Gilbert White, in Selborne 1809 A retired Thomas Jefferson enjoyed spending most of…

From Statesman to Seedsman: Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Bliss

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 25, 1809 On this day, dear garden enthusiasts, we find ourselves transported to the verdant slopes of Monticello, where a most remarkable transformation was taking place. Thomas Jefferson, the venerable statesman and…

May 26, 2022 Sébastien Vaillant, Horace Walpole, Thomas Jefferson, Kate Lancaster Brewster, The Thoughtful Gardener by Jinny Blom, and Edgar Fawcett

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History On This Day 1669 Birth of Sébastien Vaillant (“Vy-yaw”), French botanist. 1742 On this day, Horace Walpole wrote to Horace Mann, in part describing his…

Thomas Jefferson’s Floral Ballet: A Letter from Monticello

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 26, 1811 On this day, dear readers and fellow gardeners, we find ourselves privy to a most charming correspondence between the esteemed Thomas Jefferson and his granddaughter, Anne. As we delve into…

April 13, 2022 John Mitchell, Thomas Jefferson, Helen Maria Winslow, Eudora Alice Welty, The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans, and HLV Fletcher

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History 1711 Birth of John Mitchell (books about this person), American physician, botanist, and polymath. John was educated in Edinburgh. As a young…

February 8, 2022 Thomas Jefferson, John Galvin, Del Monte, Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich, and John Ruskin

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Botanical History 1809 On this day, Thomas Jefferson (books about this person) wrote to his friend and favorite nurseryman, Bernhard McMahon. At the time,…

January 28, 2021 New Year Plant Hunt 2021, Peter Collinson, Paul Ecke, Thoughts on Spleenwort by Susan Wittig Albert, Botanical Style by Selina Lake, and the Best Job Ever: Creating Herb Gardens

Today we celebrate a colonial botanist who introduced nearly 200 plants to British horticulture after sourcing them from his good friend John Bartram in America. We’ll also learn about the man who mastered growing the Poinsettia and established it as the official plant of Christmas. We’ll hear some wonderful thoughts on the Common Daisy (Bellis…

Thomas Jefferson

Letter to the Monticello Naturalist On this day Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the painter and naturalist Charles Willson Peale about his farming and gardening at Monticello (“MontiCHELLo”). Here’s an excerpt: “I have heard that you have retired from the city to a farm, and that you give your whole time to that. Does…

August 20, 2020 Maximize Your Potting Soil, Sharing Your Garden, the Patron Saint of Beekeepers, Thomas Jefferson, Carlos Thays, Elizabeth Lawrence, World Mosquito Day, French Country Cottage Inspired Gatherings by Courtney Allison, and Edgar Guest

Today we celebrate the Patron Saint of Beekeepers We’ll also revisit the letter Jefferson wrote about gardening – it contains one of his most-quoted lines. We remember the French Landscape Architect who designed ninety percent of the public spaces in Argentina. We’ll eavesdrop on another letter from Elizabeth Lawrence – the garden writer – who…

August 13, 2020 The 10 Berries Birds Love, Peter Kalm, the Snowberry, Edward von Regal, Benedict Roezl, John Gould Vietch, Richard Willstätter, August by Maggie Grant, Not Your Mama’s Canning Book by Rebecca Lindamood, and Albert Ruth’s Twinflower

Today we celebrate an early Swedish explorer of Niagara Falls. We’ll also learn about a plant that Thomas Jefferson loved. We salute the Russian botanist who arranged plants by geography. We also recognize the Czech, who became the most famous collector of orchids in the world. And, we’ll remember the lives of a British plant…

A Review of Hamilton for Gardeners

Like the rest of the world, the kids and I watched Hamilton on July 3rd. And, yes, it blew us all away. We loved it. And, if YOU watch it, your gardener ears will delight to hear that Hamilton liked to garden. There’s so much about the musical still swirling in my head… and…

February 7, 2020 Australian Plants, NYBG’s Poetic Botany, Cadwallader Colden, Jane Colden, John Deere, Charles Dickens, A Rich Spot of Earth by Peter Hatch, and Dr. Jan Salick

Today we celebrate the botanist who served as Lieutenant Governor of New York and the first American female botanist in America. We’ll learn about the man who changed agriculture forever with his invention. Today’s Unearthed Words feature the English Victorian author born today. He loved geraniums. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that…

September 10, 2019 Time to Power Wash, David Hosack, Richard Spruce, George Bentham, Beverley Nichols, Oak by William Bryant Logan, Addressing Rot ASAP, and Plants on the Pill

Right about now is the perfect time to get out the power washer. Clean your water features, edging, rocks, fountains, and your outdoor entertaining spaces. The reality is that once you start up that power washer, the list of things that you can clean with it goes on and on. As you’re working, you invariably…

A Peachy Affair: Celebrating Nature’s Blushing Orb

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. August 22, 2019 On this day, dear garden enthusiasts, we find ourselves in the midst of a most delectable celebration: National Eat a Peach Day. Oh, what a marvelous excuse to indulge in…