A Victorian Ode to May: Phebe Holder’s Botanical Poetry

Phebe A. Holder

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 1, 1890 On this day in horticultural history, the enchanting poem “A Song of May” by the esteemed New England poet and gardener Phebe Holder graced the pages of newspapers, captivating readers…

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The Royal Blossom of May: Lily of the Valley and the Fabergé Egg

Lilies of the Valley Faberge egg

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 5, 1898 Dearest reader, On this day, the exquisite Lilies of the Valley Fabergé egg was presented to none other than Tsar Nicholas II of Russia as an affectionate gift for his…

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Fern Unfurling: Ted Hughes on Silence and Renewal

Fronds of a fern, specifically appearing to be the New Zealand silver fern, also known as Cyathea dealbata or ponga.

by Ted Hughes Here is the fern’s frond, unfurling a gesture, Like a conductor whose music will now be pause And the one note of silence To which the whole earth dances gravely – A dancer, leftover, among crumbs and remains Of God’s drunken supper, Dancing to start things up again. And they do start…

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Flowers in Winter: John Greenleaf Whittier’s Frost and Bloom

Flower in Winter

by John Greenleaf Whittier How strange to greet, this frosty morn, In graceful counterfeit of flowers,         These children of the meadows, born Of sunshine and of showers!         A wizard of the Merrimac,         So old ancestral legends say,         Could call green leaf and blossom back         To frosted stem and spray.    The settler saw his oaken…

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Woodland Whispers: The Mayflower’s Tale from Nova Scotia

A trailing arbutus or mayflower Epigaea repens grows on a mountainside in Maine United States.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 4, 1901 On this day, dear aficionados of flora and fauna, Nova Scotia embraced its wild heart with the passage of The Floral Emblem Act. This momentous occasion saw the mayflower, also…

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