I made another trip to the garden center today; that's my fourth of this week.

The reason I keep going back, is they're clearancing out the annuals already.

When it comes to my garden budget, I try to be as frugal as possible with my spending on annuals.

I'm not too picky when it comes to the types of annuals, I generally just try to find purples, pinks, and whites.

Today, I was getting annuals in the large pots for just $3 apiece. I was standing there filling up my cart while everyone around me was buying all of the full price annuals. Go figure.

 

 

 

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Brevities

#OTD Today, June 6th is National Gardening Exercise Day.

As I mentioned in a previous episode, many people think of calming, relaxation, beauty, and food as the reasons to garden; but don't forget - it's a workout.

So, go ahead and celebrate that workout on National Gardening Exercise Day today.

 

 

 

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#OTD It's the birthday of Andrea Cesalpino; the Italian physician, philosopher, and botanist, born on this day in 1519.

Cesalpino helped establish botany as a science, and he did great initial work classifying plants

Unlike many of his peers who were classifying plans based on their medical properties or even alphabetically, Cesalpino classified plants according to their fruit and seeds.

He also enjoyed the plant exploration. He loved to go out into the field, collecting specimens for his herbariums. One had over 700 specimens that he dedicated to the bishop. It survives still today at the University of Florence in Italy.

In 1583, Cesalpino wrote a book about plants, and it is considered to be the very first textbook of botany.

Unfortunately, Cesalpino included no illustrations in his book. He wrote that he didn't think they were necessary. One of the consequences of that decision is that today, Cesalpino is less well-known than many of his contemporaries.

 

 

 

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#OTD And it's the birthday of Cleo Virginia Andrews better known as VC Andrews born on this day in 1923.

Her most popular series of books all had a garden theme:

• Flowers in the Attic
• Petals on the Wind
• If There be Thorns
• Seeds of Yesterday
• Garden of Shadows

Out of that first series of books, Flowers in the Attic is the book that she will forever be known for. It is about four children locked in the attic of a very wealthy Virginia family, and it just gets worse from there.

 

 

 

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#OTD Tonight from 6:30 to 8 PM Gordon Hayward is going to be giving a talk at the Westminster Institute, and his lecture is called The Intimate Garden.

Hayward and his wife Mary have created a garden around their 220-year-old farmhouse. For the past 36 years, they've integrated its design with the house and the surrounding landscape.

Hayward's talk will be illustrated by slides, and it will follow the itinerary of their garden, and it's 14 rooms or spaces.

As Hayward said,

"It's a practical lecture. We both have our feet on the ground and a shovel in our hands."

Hayward was recently recognized by the Garden Club of America. Just this past May, he was named an honorary member. Hayward has designed gardens professionally for more than 30 years. He's written 11 books and authored over 70 articles on gardening.

Hayward grew up with his two brothers on his family's orchard in New Hartford, Connecticut. The orchard featured apples, peaches, and pears. Hayward said,

"We worked as a family in the orchard for nine months of the year," he said. "Then, for three months, from late summer into fall, people came to our barn to buy fruit. Our parents greeted everyone, engaged with everyone, and accepted everyone — there was no judgment of social class. I carry with me the openness and acceptance of their world, traits that had influenced how I interacted with students when I was teaching, and with clients when I became a garden designer."

 

 

 

 

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Unearthed Words

It's the anniversary of the death of the poet Hannah Rebecca Hudson who died on this day in 1920.

Hudson wrote a little book of homes in 1874. Here's a poem from Hudson's book called My Garden.

My Garden

It is set by fields of clover
And sentinelled with trees,
Hosts of sunbeams range it over
'T is owned by birds and bees.
Larkspurs, leaning out of places
Where bashful myrtles creep,
Peep at monk-flowers' hooded faces
And poppies gone to sleep.
There are wild and headstrong briers
And thistle knights and dames,
Bloomless weeds, like jovial friars,
Grasses with ancient names ;
I am queen and lady in it,
— Queen over leaf and flower;
Crowned with sprays of purple spinnet,
I own no higher power.

 

 

 

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Today's book recommendation: We Made a Garden by Marjorie Fish

In the 1960s, Marjorie and her husband Walter decided to transform an acre of the wilderness into a stunning cottage garden.

In the forward of her book, Marjorie says,

"You mustn't rely on your flowers to make your garden attractive. A good bone structure must come first - with an intelligent use of evergreen plants - so the garden is always clothed."

You can click on the link above to get this book on Amazon. Used copies are selling for a little over $3.

 

 

 

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Today's Garden Chore

Add asparagus to the back of your ornamental beds.

Asparagus is a plant that can just blend into the background. You won't even see it since you have to wait a couple of years before you harvest it. You can plant it in the back of your bed and forget about it until you can cut the spears sparingly in years two and three; then, you can go to town after that.

 

 

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Something Sweet

Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart

In 1923, the territorial legislature of Hawaii designated the Hibiscus as the floral emblem.

In 1973, Hawaiian Airlines introduced its new corporate image. It included the state flower, the hibiscus, and the profile of an island girl. The symbol was named "Pualani," meaning "Flower of the Sky."

 

 

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Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."