Posts Tagged ‘Victorian literature’
“No” to November, “Yes” to Poetry: The Wit and Wisdom of Thomas Hood
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 23, 1799 On this day, dear readers, we celebrate the birth of a man whose words have danced through the ages, painting pictures of both joy and melancholy – Thomas Hood, the…
Read MoreLimericks in the Garden: Edward Lear’s Horticultural Humor
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 12, 1812 On this day, dear readers, we celebrate the birth of a most delightful and peculiar character – Edward Lear, the English artist, musician, and writer who would go on to…
Read MoreFrom Kensington to Neverland: The Botanical Inspirations of J.M. Barrie
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 9, 1860 On this day, dear readers, we celebrate the birth of James Matthew Barrie (books by this author), a Scottish novelist and playwright whose words have blossomed in the hearts of…
Read MoreThe Poet’s Plot: Thomas Edward Brown and the Divine Garden
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 5, 1830 On this day, dear readers, a most verdant soul sprouted forth on the Isle of Man. Thomas Edward Brown, destined to become a late-Victorian scholar, schoolmaster, poet, and theologian, drew…
Read MoreRichard Watson Dixon: The Poetic Gardener of Seasonal Verse
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 5, 1833 On this day, dear admirers of verse and verdure alike, we celebrate the birth of Richard Watson Dixon, an English poet and clergyman whose words painted the changing seasons with…
Read MoreSimple pleasures in flowers: Mary Russell Mitford’s heartfelt garden reflections
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 22, 1812 Dearest reader, On this day, Mary Russell Mitford—a distinguished English novelist, poet, and playwright known for her vivid sketches of rural life—wrote to Sir William Elford, revealing her heartfelt appreciation…
Read MoreCharlotte Brontë and the Brontë Sisters: Literary Legends with a Modest Garden
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 21, 1816 Dearest reader, On this day, the eldest of the remarkable Brontë sisters, Charlotte, was born—a woman whose pen painted some of English literature’s most enduring and poignant portraits. Though not…
Read MoreNovels and Nature: Elizabeth Gaskell’s Flowering World
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. September 29, 1810 Today we celebrate that most earnest observer of gardens and humanity, Elizabeth Gaskell, whose pen moved as deftly between social commentary and nature’s beauty as she moved between her writing…
Read MoreThomas Hardy’s Garden of Words: Literature, Landscapes, and Legacy
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 2, 1840: the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy was born. Thomas Hardy, the Victorian realist whose novels and poems continue to captivate readers, was a product of provincial England, his imagination…
Read MoreFrom Bluebells to Winter Roses: The Life of Anne Brontë
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 28, 1849 Dear reader, on this day in history, we bid farewell to a literary gem, the English novelist and poet Anne Brontë. While we now celebrate the Brontë sisters for their…
Read MoreGeorge Eliot: The Victorian Author Who Dreamed of Roses
Mary Ann Evans December 22, 1880 Today is the 140th anniversary of the death of the English Victorian author George Eliot. George Eliot was the pen name for a woman named Mary Ann Evans, and her many works like Silas Marner and Middlemarch are packed with images from the garden. To Mary Ann, plants were the perfect…
Read MoreFrances Hodgson Burnett: The Garden of Eden Behind Beloved Stories
The Whole World is a Garden November 24, 1849 Today is the birthday of the British-American writer and playwright Frances Hodgson Burnett. Frances was born in Britain. As a small girl, her family home backed up to property owned by the Earl of Derby. Frances remembered it as the “garden of Eden.” Frances’s father…
Read MoreLetitia Elizabeth Landon: The Romantic Poet Known as L.E.L.
The Mysterious L.E.L Today is the birthday of the English poet and novelist Letitia Elizabeth Landon – and when she first started out, she signed her poems with her initials – L.E.L. Letitia wrote, “I will look on the stars and look on thee, and read the page of thy destiny.” Letitia’s destiny was set…
Read MoreGad’s Hill Gardens and Literary Blooms: Charles Dickens’ Botanical Inspirations
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. Charles Dickens with his favorite flower – geraniums. February 7, 1812 On this day, Charles Dickens, the towering English Victorian author…
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