William Curtis Archives

William Curtis: Founder of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine and the London Botanic Garden

William Curtis (1746-1799), an English botanist and entomologist. He is most famous for founding Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1787, which is still published today and is the longest-running botanical magazine.

Flora Londiniensis January 11, 1746 (see comment below) Today is the birthday of the botanist, entomologist, and founder of the influential Curtis Botanical Magazine, William Curtis. William had started life as an apothecary, but in short order, he discovered that it could not hold his interest. Sir James Edward Smith recalled that William loved being…

January 11, 2021 Regenerative Grower New Year’s Resolutions, William Curtis, Plough Monday, Rosemary Verey’s Wintersweet, A Place to Call Home by James Farmer, and the Persistent Peter Forsskål

The Daily Gardener Podcast Album Cover with a pot of rosemary - the herb for remembrance - beckoning gardeners to remember to listen to the show. Updated September 2025.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Curated News New Year’s Resolutions for the Regenerative Grower | Modern Farmer | Lindsay Campbell Botanical History On This Day 1746 Birthday of William Curtis, English botanist, entomologist,…

David Hosack: The Physician-Botanist Who Created America’s First Public Garden

Dr. David Hosack (1769-1835), a prominent American physician, botanist, and educator.

American Eden December 22, 1835 Today is the anniversary of the death of the doctor and botanist David Hosack. He was 65. In 2018, David Hosack’s story was brilliantly told in the biography by Victoria Johnson called American Eden. David was a New Yorker and he was a leading doctor in America during the early days…

December 22, 2020 Tree Ferns, David Hosack, George Eliot, William B. Arnett, David Mas Masumoto, The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman and Lady Bird Johnson

Edward August Von Regel: The Visionary Behind Russia’s Imperial Botanical Garden

Garten Flora Today is the birthday of the Russian botanist Edward August Von Regal. Edward was born in Switzerland – but he lived most of his life in Russia. Edward worked in a number of botanical gardens, including gardens in Germany and Switzerland. In 1852, Edward founded a magazine called Garten Flora, where he described…

William Curtis and the Legacy of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine

Pudding and Praise Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and entomologist William Curtis, the creator, and publisher of the influential Curtis Botanical Magazine. William founded the magazine in 1787. Curtis Botanical Magazine made him wealthy, and he often remarked that it had brought him “pudding and praise”. William had started out…

July 7, 2020 Rhodds Farm, Creeping Avens, Henry Compton, Frances Stackhouse Acton, William Curtis, Sir Walter Scott, The Dormouse and the Doctor by AA Milne, The Himalayan Garden by Jim Jermyn, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Today we celebrate a bishop botanist whose love of plants was second only to his love of God. We’ll also learn about the botanist daughter of a key botanist in England. We celebrate the botanical entrepreneur and the creator of the influential Curtis Botanical Magazine. We also celebrate the writer who lived and worked in…