Posts Tagged ‘USDA’
October 29, 2024 A Gardener’s Late October Checklist, Charles Wright, Thoreau the Botanist, A Home in Bloom by Christie Purifoy, and USDA Pioneer Effie Southworth
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 1811 Texas botanist Charles Wright is born on this day in Wethersfield, Connecticut. 1972 The Berkshire Eagle published a revealing article about Henry David…
Read MoreBlooming Brilliance: How Paul George Russell Helped to Transform Washington’s Spring
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 24, 1889 On this day, the botanical world welcomed a new blossom in the form of Paul George Russell, an American botanist whose life would become as intricately woven into the fabric…
Read MoreFrom Meyer Lemons to Asian Treasures: The Extraordinary Life of Frank Nicholas Meyer
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 30, 1875 On this day in horticultural history, Frank Nicholas Meyer, the intrepid Dutch-American plant explorer, entered the world. His birth heralded the arrival of a man whose passion for plants would…
Read MoreFrom Yangtze to Your Garden: The Extraordinary Life of Frank Nicholas Meyer
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 28, 1918 On this day, the intrepid Dutch-American botanist and USDA Plant Explorer, Frank Nicholas Meyer, embarked upon his final journey. With a heavy heart and weary bones, Frank boarded a steamer…
Read MoreThe First-Ever Richard Evans Schultes Award Went to Ethnobotanist Calvin R. Sperling
“As Schultes once said, ‘Ethnobotany simply means someone who is investigating plants used by primitive societies in various parts of the world.'” July 3, 1993 On this day, The Press Democrat out of Santa Rosa, California, reported on the first Richard Evans Schultes Award recipient. The honor went to a preeminent botanist and plant explorer…
Read MoreThe African Adventure Botanical Indiana Jones: Harry Harlan’s North
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 28, 1924 On this day, the intrepid botanist Harry V. Harlan regaled the Science Club at Kansas State University with tales of his botanical conquests across the scorching deserts of North Africa.…
Read MoreWild Relations: Jack Harlan and the True Origins of Agriculture
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 7, 1917 On this day, dear readers, we welcome into our world one Jack Harlan, a botanist whose passion for plants would rival even the most devoted of garden enthusiasts. Like a…
Read MoreThe Adventurous Career Path of Plant Exploration: A 1934 Male Perspective from Knowles A. Ryerson
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 17, 1934 On this day, dear garden enthusiasts, we find ourselves whisked away to the year 1934, where The Times Herald of Port Huron, Michigan, tantalized its readers with a most captivating…
Read MorePresident Abraham Lincoln created the U.S. Department of Agriculture
The First Commissioner of the USDA President Abraham Lincoln created the U.S. Department of Agriculture today in 1862. When Lincoln signed the bill, he was bombarded with advice about who should be the first Commissioner of Agriculture. Perhaps he should choose the editor of a Farm magazine? Perhaps a scientist would be best? Maybe a…
Read MoreAgnes Chase: The Indomitable Woman Who Made Us See Grass Differently
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 29, 1869 On this day, dear readers, we celebrate the birth of Agnes Chase – a woman of diminutive stature yet possessed of such formidable determination that she quite literally changed how…
Read MoreAgnes Chase: The Grass Ceiling Breaker
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 29, 1869 On this day, dear readers and fellow admirers of botanical trailblazers, we celebrate the birth of Agnes Chase, a petite powerhouse who would go on to become one of the…
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