Nov 20, 2019
Today we celebrate the botanist who started the BotanicalGazette back in 1875 and the incredibly down-to-earth yet inspiringgarden designer and writer who turns 90 years old today. We'll learn about the naming error based on the name of an earlyGovernor of Florida and the almost 500 watercolors by a St. Louisbotanist that languished undiscovered until the late '80s. We'll hear some relatable thoughts about the garden in prose aboutNovember. WeGrow That Garden Librarywith a book that teaches usto turn our carrot stumps, cilantro sprigs, and avocado pits intoplants. I'll talk about adding natural elements to your holiday planters,and then we'll wrap things up with a sweet story about the world'ssmallest rose garden.
But first, let's catch up on a few recentevents.
How to protect your cropsfrom winter cold the sustainable way | TheTelegraph
Here's a helpful post from @jackwallington
“Horticultural fleece is a veg plot wonder.” Yes, it is!
Gardeners should look to move away from plastic cloches to moreSustainable options like glass and fabric. Stay Warm and KeepGardening!
Horticulture Club budsinto Staples – Inklings News
@InklingsNews Great Post!
Students must deal with increasing amounts of stress. Greenhousesin Schools are seldom used. Put the two together & you have arecipe for success. Bring horticulture into schools - 30 min ofgardening = happier people at any age!
Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles foryourself, you're in luck- because I share all of itwith the Listener Community inthe FreeFacebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.
So there’s no need to take notes or track down links - the nexttime you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Communityand request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
Brevities
#OTD Today is the birthday ofJohn Merle Coulter, who was born on this day in 1851.
In November 1875, Coulter founded the Botanical Gazette, and ayear-long subscription cost $1. The first issue was called theBotanical Bulletin. However, out of respect for the similarly namedTorrey Botanical Club Bulletin, Coulter changed the name to theBotanical Gazette for the second issue, and the name stuck.
At first, Coulter edited the Botanical Gazette alongside hisbrother, Stanley, who was also a botanist. He had a number ofco-editors throughout the years.
After twenty years of publication, the University of Chicago Presstook control of the Botanical Gazette. Coulter remained an editorof the paper for half a century.
Coulter was a lifelong friend of Asa Gray, who he also consideredhis most influential mentor. Coulter was a prolific writer on thesubject of botany, and he collaborated on a large number ofscientific books. His Handbook of Plant Dissection was oftenreferred to as the ABC botany book in honor of the last names ofthe authors: Joseph Arthur, Charles Barnes, and JohnCoulter.
Coulter led the Botany department at the University of Chicago,where he was especially impactful and beloved. A few days after hisdeath, his widow received a volume containing testimonials frombotanists around the country along with a silver tea set inrecognition of her husband's work. Also, his students and peers hadestablished a fellowship in his name in 1928 and had managed toraise over $25,000 to support future botany students. Coulter wasalive to learn of these honors, but sadly, he died just days beforethe scheduled event, which was held in his honor.
#OTD Today is the 90th birthday of the garden writerand designer Penelope Hobhouse who was born on this day in1929.
When Penelope visited Tuscany, she was captivated by the villagardens, and she began teaching herself garden design. In a 2016article in the New York Times, Penelope was praised for her work asa designer, saying Hobhouse is "a fixture in the minds of gardenerswho love rooms and bones – the paths and walls and satisfyingverticals that form the skeleton of a garden."
Penelope has designed gardens all over the world; including agarden for Elizabeth the Queen Mother, at Walmer Castle in Kent, anherb garden for the New York Botanical Garden, and an Englishcottage garden for Steve Jobs' Woodside home.
Gardens Illustrated recently shared a post featuring six of hergarden design principles:
"Think about backgrounds
Large trees can be used to frame the sky; hedges providevertical and horizontal lines as well as a background for planting,while small trees with broad, globular, or pyramidal heads act as‘ceilings.’ Low continuous hedging can be used to framepathways.
Create a strongframework
I tend to create a strong structure or framework for mygardens, with looser planting within. The architecture can besupplied by buildings, walls, steps, and pergolas, but also byplants.
Don’t overuse colors
The cardinal rule for planting is to use bright colorssparingly. Form is much more important than color, and flowers arefleeting, so start instead with the shapes and hues of trees,hedges and shrubs, and the leaf form and color of herbaceousplants, the shape they make, and the height they growto.
Mix plants up
Choose plants that will not only do well in any particular spotbut will also associate happily with any neighboring indigenousplants.
Repeat, repeat,repeat
To help unite the house and garden and create flow, repeat hardor soft features.
Don’t forget it’s foryou
Gardens should also provide shade and shelter, seats forcontemplation, scents, and solitude, and require just the amount ofmaintenance to encourage relaxation, because, above all, they areplaces to be enjoyed."
Despite all of her achievements, gardeners find Penelope relatableand personable. In a recent video, she said, "I'm still finding myway."
#OTD On this day in 1933, the Knoxville Journalshared a story called "Department Botanists Agree Too Late toChange - Lespedeza was named in Error."
Lespedeza (pronounced "Les-pah-dee-zah") isa genus of around 40 species of flowering plants in the pea family,commonly known as bush clovers.
The article pointed out that the mistaken identity,
"...dates back to 1803 when [the] French botanist, Michaux,...bestowed the name to honor the governor of Florida, Lespedez whoallowed [the botanist André] Michaux to explore Florida as part ofhis botanizing efforts for France.
[But,] in studying the early history of the plant recently. P.L. Ricker, of the United States Department of Agriculture, ...[couldn't find] a governor by that name in Florida Statehistory.
By checking [the] old histories, records revealed that thegovernor in 1788 was actually named Cespedes, making it clear thatthe name as given by Michaux was either an error or a misprint.Botanists of the department agree that it would be a mistake to tryto correct the mistake now if for no other reason [than] it wouldlead to confusion with a family of tropical trees, Cespedesia namedin honor of an early professor of botany also namedCespedes."
#OTD On this day in 1989, the St. Louis Post-Dispatchshared an incredible story called Buried Blossoms by Patricia Rice,which shared the story of the long lost work of the botanist AugustHenry Kramer.
"After 40 years in basem*nts, [Kramer's] collection of493 botanical watercolors was scrutinized by two local artappraisers.
You might Imagine that art appraisers become blase about seeinganother beautiful painting. But not Barbara Messing. "They took mybreath away," she said.
Flowering mint, California poppies, hummingbird sage, wildparsnips, whispering bells, rare alpine flowers seemed almost freshon the paper.
Each had been meticulously painted from live botanicalspecimens by August Henry Kramer in his spare time as a firelookout In California and Oregon.
Kramer was born ... in south St. Louis but spent his adult lifein the Western forests. ...Shortly before his death in the late1940s, he brought his paintings to his sister in St. Louis, withcareful notes detailing the care of the delicatewatercolors.
Kramer's great-nephew, [Art] Haack, does not know preciselywhen his great-uncle died or where he was buried. He packed "UncleGus' box [of watercolors]" each time he and his ... familymoved.
"Every once in a while, I would take them out, and we wouldlook at them."
A few years ago, Jeanne Haack, (Art's wife) and a volunteerguide at the Missouri Botanical Garden, took her husband to an artexhibit of botanical drawings at the Garden. They immediatelyreminded [Art] of his uncle's work.
He wrote about the paintings to the Garden's [Director] PeterRaven, who sent two staff members to look at Kramer'swork.
When [the appraiser Barbara] Messing pulled the paintings fromtheir brown paper wrappings, it was the first time they all hadbeen seen outside the family In 40 years.
After a couple of hours of looking at them, she felt hot tearsflowing down her face.
She said, "Each drawing was so beautiful. It madecry."
Unearthed Words
"I prefer winter and fall when you feel thebone structure of the
landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn'tshow."
- Andrew Wyeth, artist
"In the evenings
I scrape my fingernails clean,
hunt through old catalogues for new seed,
oil work boots and shears.
This garden is no metaphor --
more a task that swallows you into itself,
earth using, as always, everything it can."
- Jan Hirshfield, November, RememberingVoltaire
Today's book recommendation: No-Waste Kitchen Gardening by KatieElzer-Peters
The subtitle to this book is RegrowYour Leftover Greens, Stalks, Seeds, and More.
Katie's book is an excellent reminder to old and young gardenersalike that much of our food is part of a cycle of growth, andthanks to Katie, we can easily tap into that cycle withconfidence.
It's time to stop tossing your carrot stumps, cilantro sprigs,lettuce and cabbage stalks, apple cores, and avocado pits in thetrash.
Katie gives you everything you need to know to grow successfullyand re-propagate produce from your kitchen scraps. With this book,you can enjoy fresh greens and herbs anytime you want. Best of all,you'll reduce food waste and save time and money.
Katie's book is chock full of step-by-step photos and instruction.And, the little gardeners in your home will marvel at the newplants that are created right before their eyes.
Today's Garden Chore
Add natural elements to yourholiday planters to create layers of interest andtexture.
Today I was out chiseling holes into myplanters with a long screwdriver so that I could incorporate somepermanent stems and seasonal items into my planters.
I was reminded of the importance of adding natural elements liketwigs, nests, sticks, and even feathers to my holiday planters togive them a little more pizzaz. Bundling sticks with twine and thentucking them in among the branches looks very homey.
If you can't afford to buy birch cuttings, you can alwaysspraypaint a few larger sticks with some white paint (a little goesa long way). I stumbled on this a few years ago when I decided togive it a shot, and I have to say that from the street, thecuttings definitely pass for birch.
Something Sweet
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
Today is the anniversary of the death of the Oregon Journalcolumnist and gardener Richard William fa*gan, who died on this dayin 1969.
As gardeners, we celebrate fa*gan forinstalling the world's smallest rose park - Mill Ends Park - inPortland on February 23, 1954. The installation coincided with"Rose Planting Week."
The park is 18 inches in diameter and was named after Dick'scolumn, which was also called Mill Ends. The name of the columnMill Ends came from Dick's passion for collecting little brevitiesand news items about the Pacific Northwest sawmills - thus, MillEnds.
In fact, the mayor of Portland once commented, "I don't know whyyou invited me to talk on city affairs. Dick fa*gan can tell youmore."
Mill Ends Park is really just a small plot in the middle of anempty lamppost-hole on a cement divider on the street at theintersection of SW 1st and Taylor St.
That year, in 1954, the city of Columbus, Ohio, was claiming thetitle of "The Rose City" - an honor held by Portland for over 50years. Portland gardeners were incensed and began planting rosesall around the city.
Dick got the idea for the park after spying the empty spot in theroad divider from his window at the Newspaper building. Itconsisted of a single rose bush, a little wire fence, and a smallwooden marker that said: "Mill Ends Park."
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
