Helene Cramer's guest appearances

Helene Cramer

The Daily Gardener

Robert Brown

David Allen

Michelle Obama

Peter Rabbit

Candace Bushnell

Alana Chernila

Emily Dickinson

James Logan

Margaret Roach

William Morris

Alfred Hitchcock

John Muir

David Burke

Amy Stewart

Henry David Thoreau

OwlTail

Laura Martin

Harry Saier

Jim Zampini

Kathleen Drew-Baker

Subscribe  Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart    Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE!  The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1844 Birth of Helene Cramer, German landscape and flower painter.  Helen and her sister Molly were both painters in Hamburg, Germany. Their father, Cesar, disapproved of them as painters, so the two women didn’t start painting until middle age. (Helen was 38 when she first picked up a brush.)  Helen and Molly exhibited their art throughout Germany and at the 1883 World's Fair in Chicago. Most folks say that their favorite Helene Cramer painting is her work called "Marsh Marigolds and Crown Imperials." In 1916, Helen died at 72. She and Molly are buried in Plot 27 of the "Garten der Frauen," or the Garden of Women at the Hamburg Ohlsdorf cemetery.   1888 Birth of Harry Saier, American nurseryman, printer, and garden writer. In 1911, Harry started his seed company in Lansing, Michigan. A 1916 newspaper ad encouraged women to "help beautify Lansing by a pretty home garden." Harry pledged,  We supply everything necessary for making your home and lawn a beauty spot. We have assembled a rare collection of beautiful shrubs, trees, flowers and seeds. Lovers of horticulture will find much to interest them here. By the fall of that same year, Harry posted an ad for: [A] lady to canvass city for shrubs, seeds and garden supplies. Harry acquired a new building at 3 West Michigan Avenue for his florist shop three years later. Newspapers reported that, A resplendent posy shop [was] to open. One of the features of the... shop will be an icebox, which will be the largest in the state of Michigan for its purpose. It will measure twelve [by six and made] entirely of glass and... decorated with German silver trimmings.  ...The new marble tables... will be arranged about a large fountain which will occupy the center of the building.  In 1926, Harry moved his operation to the century farm he bought on highway 99 in Dimondale. Harry was known for producing his exceptional and exhaustive garden catalog. He included a pronunciation list, plant descriptions, and miscellaneous advice.  Throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, if someone were looking for a plant or seeds, they would usually find their way to Harry as their last best hope. Katherine White wrote about Harry's work in her book Onward and Upward in the Garden: Consider the case of Harry E. Saier, who issues three or four catalogues a year, each of them listing as many as eighteen hundred genera and eighteen thousand kinds of seed.  Mr. Saier is not a grower but a collector and distributor of seeds... [he] primarily depends on his two hundred seed collectors, who are stationed all over the world, and on commercial growers from many countries. There is nothing beautiful about his latest catalogue and its hundred and seventy-six pages of small-print lists, interspersed with occasional dim photographs, but it is fascinating to browse in, translating, if you can, the abbreviations made necessary by lack of space.  ...His global lists of clients include nurseries, greenhouses, seedsmen, universities, botanical gardens, and drug manufacturers, but a third of them, he tells me, are amateurs like you and me.  And just to spark your nostalgia for simpler times, listen to Elizabeth Lawrence describe ordering from Harry. I find most plantsmen send their wares without cash, even when they have never heard of you, but I certainly would never ask them to. I am always in debt to Mr. Saier because he sends things at odd times, and I wake up in the night and remember that I have owed him a quarter for three years. After Harry died in 1976, JL Hudson inherited Harry's seed collection. Harry's Dimondale property is now a cemetery.   2017 On this day, the Beijing Crabapple Conference began. Conference-goers toured the Crabapple Garden, which featured many American cultivars like Brandywine, Cinderella, Molten Lava, Lollipop, and Madonna - all varieties created by Jim Zampini, a beloved nurseryman from Lake County, Ohio. During the conference, attendees learned that Jim had passed away at 85. Today, Jim’s legacy lives on in his fantastic crabapple varieties like Centurion, Harvest Gold, Lancelot Dwarf, Sugar Tyme, and the Weeping Candied Apple. Generally speaking, a crabapple tree takes two to five years to bear fruit. Crabapples differ from standard apple trees in that they offer smaller fruit. Apples that are less than 2 inches in diameter are considered crabapples. And, Crabapples rarely grow taller than 25 feet high. If you want to plant a mini-orchard of Crabapple trees, space the saplings six to fifteen feet apart depending on the variety - plant tighter if you are planting dwarf or more upright varieties. Right now, crabapple trees are just starting to bloom in our 2022 gardens. Most gardeners agree that few flowering trees can rival the charm of a crabapple tree in flower. In Polish folklore, apple trees were considered dream trees. Sleeping under an apple tree was sure to cause a dream-filled sleep. And, placing an apple under a maiden’s pillow could induce a dream of her future husband. In English folklore, crabapple seeds (called pips) were thrown into the fire on Valentine’s Eve while chanting your true love's name. If the pips explode, your love will be true and will last forever.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation  A Naturalist's Book of Wildflowers by Laura Martin  This book came out in 2021, and the subtitle is Celebrating 85 Native Plants in North America. Great topic. Before I tell you about this book, I want to point out Laura's incredible talent. She got her degree in botany from the University of Georgia, and she has worked as a naturalist at Georgia's Callaway Gardens. She even has a certificate in botanical art and illustration from the New York Botanical Gardens. And get this — she's published 25 books. When you see the cover of Laura's book, it's all the more special when you realize that she did all of the illustrations herself. Laura dedicated this book to her grandchildren, and I wanted to share with you what she wrote in the introduction because it gives us a little insight into Laura as a person. She writes. I have spent my entire life loving wildflowers. I grew up in the woods on the outskirts of the city and because my mother was a wildflower enthusiast, I became one too. So we have another great example of the love of flowers, the love of gardening, being passed down from one generation to the next.   And then Laura continues. I eventually acquired a bachelor's degree in botany and then a certification in botanical illustration. And the result is a naturalist book of wildflowers, celebrating 85 native plants of North America. And the celebration features scientific text, interesting folklore, detailed botanical drawings and whimsical sketches I have learned to look at plants from many different angles. And I'm happy to share this perspective with you.   As a gardener, I know you are going to love Laura's book, but even if you aren't all that much into gardening, don't be bashful about cracking open this book. Laura introduces us to these plants in a very, very friendly fashion. She's got one little paragraph called just a little botany, and she writes, Although it's not essential to know botany to appreciate wildflowers, it might make it a little more fun and interesting. And botany is just the study of plants.   It's that gentle, conversational tone that I think you're really going to like in Laura's book. There's one other aspect that I want to share with you about this book. Laura adds all these little images - these little doodles - in the margins. Laura also includes these incredible drawings of her subjects. She has the plant's name, and then underneath, in a script font, she has the Latin name for the plant. While the drawing of the plant is beautiful, of course, it is the text that she puts around the plant and the way that she places this information that I think makes these drawings extra unique. For instance, when she's talking about the Bellwort at the very top, she says it's 12 to 20 inches high in a script font, making you feel like you're looking at somebody's scrapbook. These little snippets are just marvelous and full of information and Laura's gentle perspective that you won't find in many other books. The publisher writes, A charmingly illustrated, keepsake and guide to native wild plants of North America.   This book is truly a delight. It's 288 pages of North American wildflowers in their myriad colors. By the way, Laura organized this book by plant color, which is so helpful. So if you have a blue garden or a pink garden, you'll be able to find the wildflowers of that color and then look up the ones you want to grow in your garden.  You can get a copy of A Naturalist's Book of Wildflowers by Laura Martin and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $8.   Botanic Spark 1963 Every year on this day, April 14th, Japan celebrates Drew Day in honor of Kathleen Drew-Baker, a British phycologist. Phycology is the study of algae, and Kathleen was the first president of the British Phycological Society.  She was utterly devoted to learning everything about these often dismissed sea plants. Although she was forced to give up lecturing at the University of Manchester after getting married (the college did not allow married women to work), Kathleen continued as an unpaid researcher. Two decades later, in 1949, Kathleen figured out the mysterious life cycle of a red algae known as Welsh Porphyra ("POR-fer-ah") - commonly called laver ("LAY-vur"). Kathleen had tried repeatedly to grow laver in the lab to no avail. In a stroke of luck, she decided to toss some oyster shells in the bottom of the tank with the laver spores. Soon the oyster shells were covered in pink sludge. Unsure what to make of it, Kathleen feared she had contaminated her work. But she soon realized that the sludge was simply the juvenile part of the laver life cycle. The shells provided shelter for the seeds. When Kathleen's discovery was published in Nature magazine, a Japanese biologist named Sokichi Segawa realized that she had probably just cracked the code on cultivating seaweed. For centuries, Japan had harvested a sister variety of laver to make sushi. But the Japanese seaweed variety was getting harder and harder to source in the wild. It had all but disappeared after WWII. What the Japanese didn't realize was how important shells on the seafloor were to the seaweed lifecycle. American underwater mines from WWII, typhoons, and pollution meant that bivalves like oysters, scallops, and mussels were in scarce supply. Without the shells, the Japanese red seaweed called nori couldn't reproduce. Kathleen's understanding of the seaweed lifecycle meant that the Japanese now knew how successfully farm nori seaweed, creating a stable supply for sushi. It also meant that Japanese fisherman could feed their hungry, recovering nation and make a living. Her discovery also led to the commercial practice of collecting oyster shells for seeding seaweed. After Kathleen's work proved successful, Japanese nori fishermen took up a collection for a statue to honor Kathleen. But before she could sit for the artist, Kathleen died of cancer at 55. On April 14, 1963, the Japanese unveiled a memorial to Kathleen - a slab of granite inset with a metal plaque with Kathleen's likeness that overlooks the Ariake Sea. Kathleen's scientific papers and graduation garb were buried on site. To this day, the Japanese lay an offering of seaweed at Kathleen's shrine every April 14th.  While the rest of the world is largely unaware of Kathleen Drew-Baker, in Japan, Kathleen is remembered as the Mother of the Sea.    Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Subscribe <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily-gardener/id1458062597" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Apple</a> |<a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;apn=com.google.android.music&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Im4i25xyanawqu5fin7oy6smrnm?t%3DThe_Daily_Gardener%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Google</a> |<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5ODID572hLPggNp9WZBnzC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Spotify</a> |<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=387618" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a> |<a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-daily-gardener-51539428/?cmp=web_share" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> iHeart</a>   Support The Daily Gardener <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DailyGardener" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Buy Me A Coffee</a>    Connect for FREE! <a href="https://thedailygardener.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1f92c654190e77439b2813550&amp;id=5f0634e0cd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> The Friday Newsletter</a> |  <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedailygardener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Daily Gardener Community</a>   Historical Events 1844 Birth of Helene Cramer, German landscape and flower painter.  Helen and her sister Molly were both painters in Hamburg, Germany. Their father, Cesar, disapproved of them as painters, so the two women didn’t start painting until middle age. (Helen was 38 when she first picked up a brush.)  Helen and Molly exhibited their art throughout Germany and at the 1883 World's Fair in Chicago. Most folks say that their favorite Helene Cramer painting is her work called "Marsh Marigolds and Crown Imperials." In 1916, Helen died at 72. She and Molly are buried in Plot 27 of the "Garten der Frauen," or the Garden of Women at the Hamburg Ohlsdorf cemetery.   1888 Birth of Harry Saier, American nurseryman, printer, and garden writer. In 1911, Harry started his seed company in Lansing, Michigan. A 1916 newspaper ad encouraged women to "help beautify Lansing by a pretty home garden." Harry pledged,  We supply everything necessary for making your home and lawn a beauty spot. We have assembled a rare collection of beautiful shrubs, trees, flowers and seeds. Lovers of horticulture will find much to interest them here. By the fall of that same year, Harry posted an ad for: [A] lady to canvass city for shrubs, seeds and garden supplies. Harry acquired a new building at 3 West Michigan Avenue for his florist shop three years later. Newspapers reported that, A resplendent posy shop [was] to open. One of the features of the... shop will be an icebox, which will be the largest in the state of Michigan for its purpose. It will measure twelve [by six and made] entirely of glass and... decorated with German silver trimmings.  ...The new marble tables... will be arranged about a large fountain which will occupy the center of the building.  In 1926, Harry moved his operation to the century farm he bought on highway 99 in Dimondale. Harry was known for producing his exceptional and exhaustive garden catalog. He included a pronunciation list, plant descriptions, and miscellaneous advice.  Throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, if someone were looking for a plant or seeds, they would usually find their way to Harry as their last best hope. Katherine White wrote about Harry's work in her book Onward and Upward in the Garden: Consider the case of Harry E. Saier, who issues three or four catalogues a year, each of them listing as many as eighteen hundred genera and eighteen thousand kinds of seed.  Mr. Saier is not a grower but a collector and distributor of seeds... [he] primarily depends on his two hundred seed collectors, who are stationed all over the world, and on commercial growers from many countries. There is nothing beautiful about his latest catalogue and its hundred and seventy-six pages of small-print lists, interspersed with occasional dim photographs, but it is fascinating to browse in, translating, if you can, the abbreviations made necessary by lack of space.  ...His global lists of clients include nurseries, greenhouses, seedsmen, universities, botanical gardens, and drug manufacturers, but a third of them, he tells me, are amateurs like you and me.  And just to spark your nostalgia for simpler times, listen to Elizabeth Lawrence describe ordering from Harry. I find most plantsmen send their wares without cash, even when they have never heard of you, but I certainly would never ask them to. I am always in debt to Mr. Saier because he sends things at odd times, and I wake up in the night and remember that I have owed him a quarter for three years. After Harry died in 1976, JL Hudson inherited Harry's seed collection. Harry's Dimondale property is now a cemetery.   2017 On this day, the Beijing Crabapple Conference began. Conference-goers toured the Crabapple Garden, which featured many American cultivars like Brandywine, Cinderella, Molten Lava, Lollipop, and Madonna - all varieties created by Jim Zampini, a beloved nurseryman from Lake County, Ohio. During the conference, attendees learned that Jim had passed away at 85. Today, Jim’s legacy lives on in his fantastic crabapple varieties like Centurion, Harvest Gold, Lancelot Dwarf, Sugar Tyme, and the Weeping Candied Apple. Generally speaking, a crabapple tree takes two to five years to bear fruit. Crabapples differ from standard apple trees in that they offer smaller fruit. Apples that are less than 2 inches in diameter are considered crabapples. And, Crabapples rarely grow taller than 25 feet high. If you want to plant a mini-orchard of Crabapple trees, space the saplings six to fifteen feet apart depending on the variety - plant tighter if you are planting dwarf or more upright varieties. Right now, crabapple trees are just starting to bloom in our 2022 gardens. Most gardeners agree that few flowering trees can rival the charm of a crabapple tree in flower. In Polish folklore, apple trees were considered dream trees. Sleeping under an apple tree was sure to cause a dream-filled sleep. And, placing an apple under a maiden’s pillow could induce a dream of her future husband. In English folklore, crabapple seeds (called pips) were thrown into the fire on Valentine’s Eve while chanting your true love's name. If the pips explode, your love will be true and will last forever.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Naturalists-Book-Wildflowers-Celebrating-America/dp/1682685969?crid=3TFX4Z1AKNTET&amp;keywords=A+Naturalist%27s+Book+of+Wildflowers%3A+Celebrating+85+Native+Plants+in+North+America+Laura+C.+Martin&amp;qid=1643853029&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=a+naturalist%27s+book+of+wildflowers+celebrating+85+native+plants+in+north+america+laura+c.+martin%2Cstripbooks%2C83&amp;sr=1-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=gardenradione-20&amp;linkId=f292c3abe06ec899ac5bc5d4b02e0e36&amp;language=en_US&amp;ref_=as_li_ss_tl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> A Naturalist's Book of Wildflowers by Laura Martin </a> This book came out in 2021, and the subtitle is Celebrating 85 Native Plants in North America. Great topic. Before I tell you about this book, I want to point out Laura's incredible talent. She got her degree in botany from the University of Georgia, and she has worked as a naturalist at Georgia's Callaway Gardens. She even has a certificate in botanical art and illustration from the New York Botanical Gardens. And get this — she's published 25 books. When you see the cover of Laura's book, it's all the more special when you realize that she did all of the illustrations herself. Laura dedicated this book to her grandchildren, and I wanted to share with you what she wrote in the introduction because it gives us a little insight into Laura as a person. She writes. I have spent my entire life loving wildflowers. I grew up in the woods on the outskirts of the city and because my mother was a wildflower enthusiast, I became one too. So we have another great example of the love of flowers, the love of gardening, being passed down from one generation to the next.   And then Laura continues. I eventually acquired a bachelor's degree in botany and then a certification in botanical illustration. And the result is a naturalist book of wildflowers, celebrating 85 native plants of North America. And the celebration features scientific text, interesting folklore, detailed botanical drawings and whimsical sketches I have learned to look at plants from many different angles. And I'm happy to share this perspective with you.   As a gardener, I know you are going to love Laura's book, but even if you aren't all that much into gardening, don't be bashful about cracking open this book. Laura introduces us to these plants in a very, very friendly fashion. She's got one little paragraph called just a little botany, and she writes, Although it's not essential to know botany to appreciate wildflowers, it might make it a little more fun and interesting. And botany is just the study of plants.   It's that gentle, conversational tone that I think you're really going to like in Laura's book. There's one other aspect that I want to share with you about this book. Laura adds all these little images - these little doodles - in the margins. Laura also includes these incredible drawings of her subjects. She has the plant's name, and then underneath, in a script font, she has the Latin name for the plant. While the drawing of the plant is beautiful, of course, it is the text that she puts around the plant and the way that she places this information that I think makes these drawings extra unique. For instance, when she's talking about the Bellwort at the very top, she says it's 12 to 20 inches high in a script font, making you feel like you're looking at somebody's scrapbook. These little snippets are just marvelous and full of information and Laura's gentle perspective that you won't find in many other books. The publisher writes, A charmingly illustrated, keepsake and guide to native wild plants of North America.   This book is truly a delight. It's 288 pages of North American wildflowers in their myriad colors. By the way, Laura organized this book by plant color, which is so helpful. So if you have a blue garden or a pink garden, you'll be able to find the wildflowers of that color and then look up the ones you want to grow in your garden. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Naturalists-Book-Wildflowers-Celebrating-America/dp/1682685969?crid=3TFX4Z1AKNTET&amp;keywords=A+Naturalist%27s+Book+of+Wildflowers%3A+Celebrating+85+Native+Plants+in+North+America+Laura+C.+Martin&amp;qid=1643853029&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=a+naturalist%27s+book+of+wildflowers+celebrating+85+native+plants+in+north+america+laura+c.+martin%2Cstripbooks%2C83&amp;sr=1-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=gardenradione-20&amp;linkId=f292c3abe06ec899ac5bc5d4b02e0e36&amp;language=en_US&amp;ref_=as_li_ss_tl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> You can get a copy of A Naturalist's Book of Wildflowers by Laura Martin and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $8.</a>   Botanic Spark 1963 Every year on this day, April 14th, Japan celebrates Drew Day in honor of Kathleen Drew-Baker, a British phycologist. Phycology is the study of algae, and Kathleen was the first president of the British Phycological Society.  She was utterly devoted to learning everything about these often dismissed sea plants. Although she was forced to give up lecturing at the University of Manchester after getting married (the college did not allow married women to work), Kathleen continued as an unpaid researcher. Two decades later, in 1949, Kathleen figured out the mysterious life cycle of a red algae known as Welsh Porphyra ("POR-fer-ah") - commonly called laver ("LAY-vur"). Kathleen had tried repeatedly to grow laver in the lab to no avail. In a stroke of luck, she decided to toss some oyster shells in the bottom of the tank with the laver spores. Soon the oyster shells were covered in pink sludge. Unsure what to make of it, Kathleen feared she had contaminated her work. But she soon realized that the sludge was simply the juvenile part of the laver life cycle. The shells provided shelter for the seeds. When Kathleen's discovery was published in Nature magazine, a Japanese biologist named Sokichi Segawa realized that she had probably just cracked the code on cultivating seaweed. For centuries, Japan had harvested a sister variety of laver to make sushi. But the Japanese seaweed variety was getting harder and harder to source in the wild. It had all but disappeared after WWII. What the Japanese didn't realize was how important shells on the seafloor were to the seaweed lifecycle. American underwater mines from WWII, typhoons, and pollution meant that bivalves like oysters, scallops, and mussels were in scarce supply. Without the shells, the Japanese red seaweed called nori couldn't reproduce. Kathleen's understanding of the seaweed lifecycle meant that the Japanese now knew how successfully farm nori seaweed, creating a stable supply for sushi. It also meant that Japanese fisherman could feed their hungry, recovering nation and make a living. Her discovery also led to the commercial practice of collecting oyster shells for seeding seaweed. After Kathleen's work proved successful, Japanese nori fishermen took up a collection for a statue to honor Kathleen. But before she could sit for the artist, Kathleen died of cancer at 55. On April 14, 1963, the Japanese unveiled a memorial to Kathleen - a slab of granite inset with a metal plaque with Kathleen's likeness that overlooks the Ariake Sea. Kathleen's scientific papers and graduation garb were buried on site. To this day, the Japanese lay an offering of seaweed at Kathleen's shrine every April 14th.  While the rest of the world is largely unaware of Kathleen Drew-Baker, in Japan, Kathleen is remembered as the Mother of the Sea.    Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

April 14, 2022 Helene Cramer, Harry Saier, Jim Zampini, A Naturalist's Book of Wildflowers by Laura Martin, and Kathleen Drew-Baker

Ernest Hemingway

James Sowerby

Paul Henderson

Walter Bates

Today we celebrate a German landscape and flower painter who was forbidden to paint by her father. We'll also learn about a self-taught botanist who spent nearly a dozen years in the Amazon rainforest. We hear an excerpt about spring from the man who wrote A Farewell to Arms. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about one of the 19th-century’s top botanical illustrators. And then we’ll wrap things up with a little story from the 2017 Beijing Crabapple Conference.   Subscribe  Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart  To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring:  A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show  Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Curated News  My Trees: Alive, Dead, or In-Between? Evaluating Plants 2 Months After Texas Freeze | Pam Penick   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events April 14, 1844 Today is the birthday of the German landscape and flower painter Helene Cramer who was born on this day in 1844. Helen and her sister Molly were both painters in Hamburg, Germany. Their father, Cesar, forbade his daughters to become painters. And so, the two sisters didn’t start painting until middle age. Helen was 38 when she first picked up a brush. Her primary subject with flowers. After studying with other artists and painters, Helen and Molly exhibited their art throughout Germany and at the 1883 World's Fair in Chicago. Most gardeners say that their favorite painting of Helene’s is her work called "Marsh Marigolds and Crown Imperials." When Helen died in 1916, she was 72 years old. Both she and her sister are buried in Plot 27 of the "Garten der Frauen," Or the garden of women at the Hamburg Ohlsdorf cemetery.   April 14, 2020 On this day the book, A Naturalist in the Amazon: The Journals &amp; Writings of Henry Walter Bates was published. Unlike many of his scientist friends and peers, Henry was entirely self-taught. Early in his career, Henry met the great English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. By 1848, Henry and Alfred left England to explore the Amazon Rainforest. While Henry stayed in the Rainforest for eleven years, Alfred returned to England after four years- though all of Alfred’s specimens and notes were lost at sea on his voyage home. After the ship he was on caught fire and sank, Alfred and the crew were rescued after ten days adrift in the Atlantic. During his eleven years in the Rainforest in Brazil, Henry collected butterflies, and he sent back a whopping 15,000 insect specimens - with over half of his collection listed as brand new discoveries. As Henry wrapped up his time in the Rainforest, he had survived both yellow fever and malaria in addition to many other uncomfortable maladies. Toward the end, it’s not surprising to read that Henry had grown weary of the enormous challenges of life as an explorer. He wrote, “I suffered most inconvenience from the difficulty of getting news from the civilized world down river, from the irregularity of receipt of letters, parcels of books and periodicals, and towards the latter part of my residence from ill-health arising from bad and insufficient food.” In the end - after a dozen years away from family, friends, and civilization - Henry Bates, the great Naturalist, could not ignore what had been building in his heart: he was lonely. He wrote, “I was obliged, at last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of nature alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind.” In 2014, Henry’s Amazon notebooks were digitized, and they are now online to view from the Natural History Museum Library. And in 2018, Henry’s remarkable story was shared in an IMAX film called Amazon Adventure.   Unearthed Words “With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees, and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason. In those days, though, the spring always came finally, but it was frightening that it had nearly failed.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast   Grow That Garden Library  James Sowerby by Paul Henderson This book came out in 2016, and the subtitle is The Enlightenment's Natural Historian. In this book, Paul Henderson introduces us to James Sowerby -  arguably one of the best botanical illustrators during the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries. One of the reasons James was such a successful artist, was no doubt due to his extremely high intellect. He was also one of the period's most knowledgeable natural historians. Paul introduces James this way: “This book is the story of a remarkable man. Unusual and his breath of scientific interest which he applied successfully; unusual in his desire to learn throughout his life and to impart his knowledge widely;  unusual and going against the current practices by being at one - at the same time his own researcher, writer, illustrator, teacher, publisher and bookseller; unusual in his considerable output of innovative, high-quality and influential works; and unusual in becoming the patriarch of a successful line of natural historians.” I've talked about James numerous times on the show. He teamed up with numerous botanists during his lifetime, and his illustrations Grace the pages of many of their books. As for James, his Masterpiece was called Sowerby's Botany -  a detailed 36-volume reference on the plants of England. Of course, the book also included over 2,500 hand-colored illustrations. This book is 336 pages of the first-time biography of an incredible artist and scientist: James Sowerby.  You can get a copy of James Sowerby by Paul Henderson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $40   Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 14, 2017 On this day, the Beijing Crabapple Conference began. Visitors toured the Crabapple Garden during the conference, which featured many new American cultivars of crabapples like Brandywine, Cinderella, Molten Lava, Lollipop, and Madonna - all of which were created by the respected and admired nurseryman from Lake County, Ohio, Jim Zampini. During the conference, attendees were sad to learn that Jim had passed away at the age of 85. Today, Jim’s legacy lives on in his fantastic crabapple varieties like Centurion, Harvest Gold, Lancelot Dwarf, Sugar Tyme, and the Weeping Candied Apple. Crabapples are small, deciduous trees with densely woven branches that feature fragrant and beautiful white, pink, or red petals when they bloom in the spring. Self-sterile crabapples rely on bees and other insects for pollination. The trees rarely grow taller than 25 feet high. Generally speaking, it takes two to five years for a crabapple tree to bear fruit. Crabapples differ from standard apple trees in that they offer smaller fruit. Apples that are less than 2 inches in diameter are considered crabapples. If you want to plant a mini-orchard of Crabapple trees, space the saplings 6 to 15 feet apart. Group them on the closer end of the range if you are planting dwarf or more upright varieties. Crabapple trees are just beginning to come into bloom in our 2021 gardens. When they are in flower, few flowering trees can rival their charm. In Polish folklore, apple trees were considered dream trees. Sleeping under apple trees was thought to create a dream-filled sleep. And, placing an apple under a maiden’s pillow could induce a dream of her future husband. In English folklore, crabapple seeds or pips were thrown into the fire on Valentine’s Eve while chanting the name of your true love. If the pips explode, your love will be true and will last forever.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a German landscape and flower painter who was forbidden to paint by her father. We'll also learn about a self-taught botanist who spent nearly a dozen years in the Amazon rainforest. We hear an excerpt about spring from the man who wrote A Farewell to Arms. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about one of the 19th-century’s top botanical illustrators. And then we’ll wrap things up with a little story from the 2017 Beijing Crabapple Conference.   Subscribe <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily-gardener/id1458062597" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Apple</a> |<a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;apn=com.google.android.music&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Im4i25xyanawqu5fin7oy6smrnm?t%3DThe_Daily_Gardener%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Google</a> |<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5ODID572hLPggNp9WZBnzC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Spotify</a> |<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=387618" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a> |<a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-daily-gardener-51539428/?cmp=web_share" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> iHeart</a> To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for <a href="https://thedailygardener.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1f92c654190e77439b2813550&amp;id=5f0634e0cd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the FREE Friday Newsletter</a> featuring: <ul> <li>A personal update from me</li> <li>Garden-related items for your calendar</li> <li>The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week</li> <li>Gardener gift ideas</li> <li>Garden-inspired recipes</li> <li>Exclusive updates regarding the show</li> </ul> Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Curated News <a href="https://www.penick.net/digging/?p=74700&amp;fbclid=IwAR21k5qknKHGIBDfwRgQv-oHTpgJ-o8sNhvmKOHDHgk_7kQ_hJC1u1mdmps" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> My Trees: Alive, Dead, or In-Between? Evaluating Plants 2 Months After Texas Freeze | Pam Penick</a>   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedailygardener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.</a> So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedailygardener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Daily Gardener Community</a>, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events April 14, 1844 Today is the birthday of the German landscape and flower painter Helene Cramer who was born on this day in 1844. Helen and her sister Molly were both painters in Hamburg, Germany. Their father, Cesar, forbade his daughters to become painters. And so, the two sisters didn’t start painting until middle age. Helen was 38 when she first picked up a brush. Her primary subject with flowers. After studying with other artists and painters, Helen and Molly exhibited their art throughout Germany and at the 1883 World's Fair in Chicago. Most gardeners say that their favorite painting of Helene’s is her work called "Marsh Marigolds and Crown Imperials." When Helen died in 1916, she was 72 years old. Both she and her sister are buried in Plot 27 of the "Garten der Frauen," Or the garden of women at the Hamburg Ohlsdorf cemetery.   April 14, 2020 On this day the book, A Naturalist in the Amazon: The Journals &amp; Writings of Henry Walter Bates was published. Unlike many of his scientist friends and peers, Henry was entirely self-taught. Early in his career, Henry met the great English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. By 1848, Henry and Alfred left England to explore the Amazon Rainforest. While Henry stayed in the Rainforest for eleven years, Alfred returned to England after four years- though all of Alfred’s specimens and notes were lost at sea on his voyage home. After the ship he was on caught fire and sank, Alfred and the crew were rescued after ten days adrift in the Atlantic. During his eleven years in the Rainforest in Brazil, Henry collected butterflies, and he sent back a whopping 15,000 insect specimens - with over half of his collection listed as brand new discoveries. As Henry wrapped up his time in the Rainforest, he had survived both yellow fever and malaria in addition to many other uncomfortable maladies. Toward the end, it’s not surprising to read that Henry had grown weary of the enormous challenges of life as an explorer. He wrote, “I suffered most inconvenience from the difficulty of getting news from the civilized world down river, from the irregularity of receipt of letters, parcels of books and periodicals, and towards the latter part of my residence from ill-health arising from bad and insufficient food.” In the end - after a dozen years away from family, friends, and civilization - Henry Bates, the great Naturalist, could not ignore what had been building in his heart: he was lonely. He wrote, “I was obliged, at last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of nature alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind.” In 2014, Henry’s Amazon notebooks were digitized, and they are now online to view from the Natural History Museum Library. And in 2018, Henry’s remarkable story was shared in an IMAX film called Amazon Adventure.   Unearthed Words “With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees, and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason. In those days, though, the spring always came finally, but it was frightening that it had nearly failed.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast   Grow That Garden Library <a href="https://www.amazon.com/James-Sowerby-Enlightenments-Natural-Historian/dp/1842465961/ref=as_li_ss_tl?dchild=1&amp;keywords=James+Sowerby+by+Paul+Henderson&amp;qid=1605222778&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=gardenradione-20&amp;linkId=9a3e5bc1ddc4f10fd81e9d61deed28d6&amp;language=en_US" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> James Sowerby by Paul Henderson</a> This book came out in 2016, and the subtitle is The Enlightenment's Natural Historian. In this book, Paul Henderson introduces us to James Sowerby -  arguably one of the best botanical illustrators during the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries. One of the reasons James was such a successful artist, was no doubt due to his extremely high intellect. He was also one of the period's most knowledgeable natural historians. Paul introduces James this way: “This book is the story of a remarkable man. Unusual and his breath of scientific interest which he applied successfully; unusual in his desire to learn throughout his life and to impart his knowledge widely;  unusual and going against the current practices by being at one - at the same time his own researcher, writer, illustrator, teacher, publisher and bookseller; unusual in his considerable output of innovative, high-quality and influential works; and unusual in becoming the patriarch of a successful line of natural historians.” I've talked about James numerous times on the show. He teamed up with numerous botanists during his lifetime, and his illustrations Grace the pages of many of their books. As for James, his Masterpiece was called Sowerby's Botany -  a detailed 36-volume reference on the plants of England. Of course, the book also included over 2,500 hand-colored illustrations. This book is 336 pages of the first-time biography of an incredible artist and scientist: James Sowerby. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/James-Sowerby-Enlightenments-Natural-Historian/dp/1842465961/ref=as_li_ss_tl?dchild=1&amp;keywords=James+Sowerby+by+Paul+Henderson&amp;qid=1605222778&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=gardenradione-20&amp;linkId=9a3e5bc1ddc4f10fd81e9d61deed28d6&amp;language=en_US" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> You can get a copy of James Sowerby by Paul Henderson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $40</a>   Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 14, 2017 On this day, the Beijing Crabapple Conference began. Visitors toured the Crabapple Garden during the conference, which featured many new American cultivars of crabapples like Brandywine, Cinderella, Molten Lava, Lollipop, and Madonna - all of which were created by the respected and admired nurseryman from Lake County, Ohio, Jim Zampini. During the conference, attendees were sad to learn that Jim had passed away at the age of 85. Today, Jim’s legacy lives on in his fantastic crabapple varieties like Centurion, Harvest Gold, Lancelot Dwarf, Sugar Tyme, and the Weeping Candied Apple. Crabapples are small, deciduous trees with densely woven branches that feature fragrant and beautiful white, pink, or red petals when they bloom in the spring. Self-sterile crabapples rely on bees and other insects for pollination. The trees rarely grow taller than 25 feet high. Generally speaking, it takes two to five years for a crabapple tree to bear fruit. Crabapples differ from standard apple trees in that they offer smaller fruit. Apples that are less than 2 inches in diameter are considered crabapples. If you want to plant a mini-orchard of Crabapple trees, space the saplings 6 to 15 feet apart. Group them on the closer end of the range if you are planting dwarf or more upright varieties. Crabapple trees are just beginning to come into bloom in our 2021 gardens. When they are in flower, few flowering trees can rival their charm. In Polish folklore, apple trees were considered dream trees. Sleeping under apple trees was thought to create a dream-filled sleep. And, placing an apple under a maiden’s pillow could induce a dream of her future husband. In English folklore, crabapple seeds or pips were thrown into the fire on Valentine’s Eve while chanting the name of your true love. If the pips explode, your love will be true and will last forever.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

April 14, 2021 Austin Trees After the Freeze, Helene Cramer, Henry Walter Bates, Ernest Hemingway, James Sowerby by Paul Henderson, and Jim Zampini