Margaret Hensel's guest appearances

Margaret Hensel

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

Agnes Arber

Marion Delf-Smith

Today we celebrate a woman known as the Lady of Botany, yet today few people know her life story, and fewer still appreciate her difficult professional journey. We'll also learn about another female botanist who started one of the first degreed botany programs for women in England. We hear a story about a mink who set up residence in a winter garden from an avid gardener and writer. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a delightful book about Cottage Gardening. What could be more charming? And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of a dried flower expert who created everlastings for celebrities and he also shares some of his favorite flowers to preserve for long-term joy and delight.   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 Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853-1922) – An Appreciation | RBGE.org |  Leonie Paterson   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 February 23, 1879 Today is the birthday of the British plant morphologist and anatomist, botanical historian, and philosopher of biology Agnes Arber. Since her father was the artist Henry Robertson, Agnes learned to draw as a child, and throughout her life, she illustrated all of her own botanical work. Agnes’ mom, also an Agnes, fostered her love of plants. Mentored and befriended by the botanist Ethel Sargent, Agnes mastered the microscope. Ethel was a profound role model in Agnes’ life. She not only taught Agnes her earliest lessons in botany, but she also modeled a unique approach to her work because Agnes watched Ethel successfully conduct her work in a small laboratory she had built in her home. Later, when Anges wrote her first book on her dear monocots (which are grass or grass-like flowering plants), she dedicated her work to the woman who was godmother to her only child Muriel Agnes Arber and the brightest beacon in her botanical career and: Ethel Sargent. In 1909, Agnes married a paleobotanist, Edward Alexander Newell Arber, of Trinity College at Cambridge. And it was thanks in part to Edward that Agnes moved to Cambridge from London and made a life there. Edward promised Agnes that “life in Cambridge offered unique opportunities for the observation of river and fenland plants.” Despite Edward’s appeal, for Agnes, Cambridge was tough. Cambridge was a much harder place for a female botanist than London - where Agnes would have had more opportunities, connections, and acceptance. Sadly, Agnes and Edward would be married for only nine years as Edward died in 1918. And so, before her 40th birthday, Agnes found herself both a widow and a single mother to six-year-old Muriel. After securing help with childcare and household duties, Agnes carried on with her botanical work -  she wrote constantly, she was poorly compensated for her work, and she never re-married. A few years after Agnes arrived in Cambridge, she started working at the Balfour Laboratory, which was owned by Newnham College and was a place for teaching women. Now, the creation of this laboratory was a direct result of allowing women admittance into Cambridge. And although women could attend Cambridge, they could not go to labs or classes, and so the Balfour Lab became their only option for conducting experiments. Over the 19 years that Agnes worked at Balfour, the female students gradually disappeared as classes and lab opportunities opened up for them in botany, chemistry, geography, etc. By 1925, Newnham College was ready to sell the lab to Cambridge; they needed the cash, and it seems only Agnes needed the lab. Yet when Agnes reached out to Cambridge, both the University and the head of botany, Albert Seward, rejected her - suggesting she might seek out a space to work at the botanic garden.  And so, an accomplished botanist and the widow of a Cambridge professor no less was left with nowhere to work. And so, seven years after her husband’s death, Agnes, like her mentor and friend Ethel Sargent, set up a home laboratory in the back of her house over the kitchen. Agnes worked from home for the rest of her life. A lover of researching whatever captured her curiosity, Agnes allowed her intellect to veer into areas seldom explored by her botanist peers, such as history, philosophy, poetry, and art. Yet, each of these disciplines molded and refined Agnes’s perspective on plant morphology, and they put her in a unique position to write her most impactful philosophical works in the twilight of her life. When it came time for Agnes to publish her final work, Cambridge snubbed her again when they declined to publish it. As per usual, Agnes persevered without the University’s help. Agnes became interested in botanical history after reading the old herbals. In 1912, Agnes released a book called Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution. Agnes's work reviewed the primary herbals written for a 200 year time period between 1470 and 1670. These beautiful books formed the basis for early botanical education, and, luckily for Agnes, many were housed at Cambridge. In her book, Agnes examined how the plant descriptions and illustrations evolved over time. An instant classic, Agnes forever changed the way herbals were reviewed and written. In her philosophical work, The Mind and the Eye, Agnes argued that there was a blurred line between the science and art of botany. Botanists cannot fully capture a flower through data alone, just as the painter cannot paint all that a flower contributes to nature. Any gardener who sees their garden with their head and their heart can relate to Agnes’ philosophy. When she was 67 years old, Agnes became the first female botanist to be elected as a Royal Society Fellow. Two years later, she became the first woman to receive the Linnean Society’s Gold Medal for her botanical work. Known by many in her circle as the “Lady of Botany,” Agnes wrote, “A record of research should not resemble a casual pile of quarried stone; it should seem "not built, but born,” as Vasari said in praise of a building.” Today, you can toast Agnes with a gin made in the UK. The gin is made in her honor and it's called Agnes Arber gin. And it's made with nine botanicals, including angelica, cassia, coriander, grapefruit, iris, juniper, lemon, licorice, and orange. And I think Agnes would be especially touched by the beautiful hand-drawn botanical illustrations on the label of every bottle. If ever there was a female botanist that deserved to be toasted, I believe Agnes Arber fits the bill.   February 23, 1980 Today is the anniversary of the death of the British botanist and botanical pioneer Marion Delf-Smith. A botanical trailblazer, Marion started the botany program at London's Westfield (a women’s college preparatory school) in 1906. To make the program a reality, Marion fundraised relentlessly, and then she bought everything the program needed to teach botany, mount specimens, store collections, and conduct fieldwork. Ultimately Westfield became one of the only places in the world where women could learn how to study botany. And in 1915, almost a decade after starting her degree program, Marion was finally able to award Bachelor’s degrees in botany to her students. Sixty-Seven years after starting her botany program, Marion was honored by her students on the occasion of her 90th birthday. Marion died seven years later, on this day in 1980. She was 97 years old. And there’s a lovely side note about Marion’s botanical career. At one point, Marion served as an editor for a botanical comedy magazine called "The Sportophyte." Marion’s poem,  "A Botanical Dream," was featured in a volume of The Sportophyte, and I thought I would share some quick definitions to help you appreciate her verse. Gymnosperms produce seed cones like conifers and the Ginko.  The Medullosae and Pteridosperms are extinct plants in the seed-fern group.  Calamites are extinct swamp plants related to horsetails - except that they could grow as tall as a ten-story building.  Cryptogams are plants that reproduce by spores (not flowers or seeds).   Sphenophyllum cones would refer to the spore-filled cone of an extinct group of plants that are a sister group to modern horsetails.  Finally, Palaeozoic is a reference to a long-ago era. The end of the Paleozoic period marked the most extraordinary extinction event on earth. A Botanical Dream Last night as I lay dreaming There came a dream so fair I stood mid ancient Gymnosperms Beside the Ginkgo rare. I saw the Medullosae With multipartite fronds, And watched the sunset rosy Through Calamites wands. Oh Cryptograms, Pteridosperms And Sphenophyllum cones, Why did ye ever fossilise To Palaeozoic stones?   Unearthed Words The most predaceous winter visitor we have had was a mink that took up residence under the woodpile one winter. The end of the pile was only 20 feet or so from the place where the drain pipe struck out of the pond, which tends to be open even when other areas of the pond are frozen. The Mink had found the perfect carryout restaurant right across from his winter Abode. We timed him: 20 seconds from leaving the woodpile to returning with a crayfish. We never saw him return empty-handed. — Jo Busha, Time and the Garden, February   Grow That Garden Library  English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel This book came out in 2000, and the subtitle is For American Gardeners, Revised Edition. In this book, Margaret shares everything she knows about English Cottage Gardening; and she’s as charming as her topic. Margaret breaks down ten cottage gardens owned by everyday gardeners in England and America. By deliberately not focusing on estate gardens, Margaret shows Daily Gardeners how anyone can cultivate the charm of a cottage garden. With inspiring photographs, Margaret focuses on plants that are easy to grow and give the look cottage gardeners love - enchanted shapes and natural forms, gentle colors, and endearing varieties. The last section of the book shares a glossary of 76 plant recommendations, including the Latin and common names, how to use them in the garden, as well as a list of places to find old rose varieties. This book is 256 pages of an English Cottage Garden masterclass taught by a garden designer who loves to teach the most novice gardener to create enchanting gardens and vistas right outside their windows.  You can get a copy of English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $10    Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart February 23, 1991 On this day, the Hartford Courant shared an article written by Anne Farrow called Garden of Everlasting Delights. This fantastic article features Gregg Fisk of Gregg Fisk Designs and his incredible dried arrangements and flower drying skills. Gregg’s creations are truly a cut above the rest, and his celebrity clients have included Barbara Streisand and Lady Bird Johnson. And a photo of one of his swags highlights outstanding features like small flower pots, hydrangea, globe amaranth, and love-in-a-mist. Now as for Gregg’s favorite plants to grow for drying, here’s what Gregg suggests: “Some of the basics are globe amaranth, the everlasting signifying immortality; American statice, a ruffle-edged annual that's durable and can be grown in a variety of colors; strawflowers; asters; zinnias; heather' in several different colors; and nigella, a flower with a delicate mauve seed head and a beautiful name: love-in-a-mist.  The current crop of books on growing flowers for drying also recommends hosta, the ubiquitous of shade-garden perennials; poppies, which have a globe-shaped seed case that dries easily, astilbe, ivy, baby's breath and the evocatively named money plant, which has a silvery, translucent seed case.  Another must-have for the home gardener is the rose. [Gregg] recommends planting a climbing rose, sometimes called the faerie rose… [which adds] a finished, old-fashioned appearance to dried arrangements.  From the herb family, [Gregg] chooses rosemary, which has a dark, blue-green needle and a wonderfully piney perfume; bay, for its fragrance; and both Silver King and Silver Queen artemisia. The artemisias, which really are silver-colored, look handsome and puffy in the garden and in dried arrangements.  The bright golden florets of yarrow, a perennial grown in the earliest New World gardens, is another of the herbs he always chooses, as are the low-growing lamb's ear, which has a velvety, gray-green leaf that is soft even when dried. Often shown in herb kits for children because it is so touchable, lamb's ears are particularly pretty in wreaths with a lot of pink flowers or placed in a bowl of homemade potpourri.  White lilacs can [hang-dry] easily and turn a pearlescent cream color.  Hydrangeas, too, can be hang-dried and then dyed in a variety of shades. Asters, a garden classic, dry beautifully in beach sand. Experimentation teaches you a lot, [and Gregg] has found an ally in… the microwave oven.  Though the procedure for drying flowers in the "mike" is more complicated than simple hang-drying methods, the results, particularly with… peonies, daffodils, marigolds, and roses, justify the effort required. The special advantage of microwave flower drying is that the delicate natural color of the bloom is preserved because the drying time is a fraction of traditional methods.”   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Today we celebrate a woman known as the Lady of Botany, yet today few people know her life story, and fewer still appreciate her difficult professional journey. We'll also learn about another female botanist who started one of the first degreed botany programs for women in England. We hear a story about a mink who set up residence in a winter garden from an avid gardener and writer. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a delightful book about Cottage Gardening. What could be more charming? And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of a dried flower expert who created everlastings for celebrities and he also shares some of his favorite flowers to preserve for long-term joy and delight.   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 the <a href="https://thedailygardener.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1f92c654190e77439b2813550&amp;id=5f0634e0cd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">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://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/34254" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853-1922) – An Appreciation | RBGE.org |  Leonie Paterson</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 February 23, 1879 Today is the birthday of the British plant morphologist and anatomist, botanical historian, and philosopher of biology Agnes Arber. Since her father was the artist Henry Robertson, Agnes learned to draw as a child, and throughout her life, she illustrated all of her own botanical work. Agnes’ mom, also an Agnes, fostered her love of plants. Mentored and befriended by the botanist Ethel Sargent, Agnes mastered the microscope. Ethel was a profound role model in Agnes’ life. She not only taught Agnes her earliest lessons in botany, but she also modeled a unique approach to her work because Agnes watched Ethel successfully conduct her work in a small laboratory she had built in her home. Later, when Anges wrote her first book on her dear monocots (which are grass or grass-like flowering plants), she dedicated her work to the woman who was godmother to her only child Muriel Agnes Arber and the brightest beacon in her botanical career and: Ethel Sargent. In 1909, Agnes married a paleobotanist, Edward Alexander Newell Arber, of Trinity College at Cambridge. And it was thanks in part to Edward that Agnes moved to Cambridge from London and made a life there. Edward promised Agnes that “life in Cambridge offered unique opportunities for the observation of river and fenland plants.” Despite Edward’s appeal, for Agnes, Cambridge was tough. Cambridge was a much harder place for a female botanist than London - where Agnes would have had more opportunities, connections, and acceptance. Sadly, Agnes and Edward would be married for only nine years as Edward died in 1918. And so, before her 40th birthday, Agnes found herself both a widow and a single mother to six-year-old Muriel. After securing help with childcare and household duties, Agnes carried on with her botanical work -  she wrote constantly, she was poorly compensated for her work, and she never re-married. A few years after Agnes arrived in Cambridge, she started working at the Balfour Laboratory, which was owned by Newnham College and was a place for teaching women. Now, the creation of this laboratory was a direct result of allowing women admittance into Cambridge. And although women could attend Cambridge, they could not go to labs or classes, and so the Balfour Lab became their only option for conducting experiments. Over the 19 years that Agnes worked at Balfour, the female students gradually disappeared as classes and lab opportunities opened up for them in botany, chemistry, geography, etc. By 1925, Newnham College was ready to sell the lab to Cambridge; they needed the cash, and it seems only Agnes needed the lab. Yet when Agnes reached out to Cambridge, both the University and the head of botany, Albert Seward, rejected her - suggesting she might seek out a space to work at the botanic garden.  And so, an accomplished botanist and the widow of a Cambridge professor no less was left with nowhere to work. And so, seven years after her husband’s death, Agnes, like her mentor and friend Ethel Sargent, set up a home laboratory in the back of her house over the kitchen. Agnes worked from home for the rest of her life. A lover of researching whatever captured her curiosity, Agnes allowed her intellect to veer into areas seldom explored by her botanist peers, such as history, philosophy, poetry, and art. Yet, each of these disciplines molded and refined Agnes’s perspective on plant morphology, and they put her in a unique position to write her most impactful philosophical works in the twilight of her life. When it came time for Agnes to publish her final work, Cambridge snubbed her again when they declined to publish it. As per usual, Agnes persevered without the University’s help. Agnes became interested in botanical history after reading the old herbals. In 1912, Agnes released a book called Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution. Agnes's work reviewed the primary herbals written for a 200 year time period between 1470 and 1670. These beautiful books formed the basis for early botanical education, and, luckily for Agnes, many were housed at Cambridge. In her book, Agnes examined how the plant descriptions and illustrations evolved over time. An instant classic, Agnes forever changed the way herbals were reviewed and written. In her philosophical work, The Mind and the Eye, Agnes argued that there was a blurred line between the science and art of botany. Botanists cannot fully capture a flower through data alone, just as the painter cannot paint all that a flower contributes to nature. Any gardener who sees their garden with their head and their heart can relate to Agnes’ philosophy. When she was 67 years old, Agnes became the first female botanist to be elected as a Royal Society Fellow. Two years later, she became the first woman to receive the Linnean Society’s Gold Medal for her botanical work. Known by many in her circle as the “Lady of Botany,” Agnes wrote, “A record of research should not resemble a casual pile of quarried stone; it should seem "not built, but born,” as Vasari said in praise of a building.” Today, you can toast Agnes with a gin made in the UK. The gin is made in her honor and it's called Agnes Arber gin. And it's made with nine botanicals, including angelica, cassia, coriander, grapefruit, iris, juniper, lemon, licorice, and orange. And I think Agnes would be especially touched by the beautiful hand-drawn botanical illustrations on the label of every bottle. If ever there was a female botanist that deserved to be toasted, I believe Agnes Arber fits the bill.   February 23, 1980 Today is the anniversary of the death of the British botanist and botanical pioneer Marion Delf-Smith. A botanical trailblazer, Marion started the botany program at London's Westfield (a women’s college preparatory school) in 1906. To make the program a reality, Marion fundraised relentlessly, and then she bought everything the program needed to teach botany, mount specimens, store collections, and conduct fieldwork. Ultimately Westfield became one of the only places in the world where women could learn how to study botany. And in 1915, almost a decade after starting her degree program, Marion was finally able to award Bachelor’s degrees in botany to her students. Sixty-Seven years after starting her botany program, Marion was honored by her students on the occasion of her 90th birthday. Marion died seven years later, on this day in 1980. She was 97 years old. And there’s a lovely side note about Marion’s botanical career. At one point, Marion served as an editor for a botanical comedy magazine called "The Sportophyte." Marion’s poem,  "A Botanical Dream," was featured in a volume of The Sportophyte, and I thought I would share some quick definitions to help you appreciate her verse. Gymnosperms produce seed cones like conifers and the Ginko.  The Medullosae and Pteridosperms are extinct plants in the seed-fern group.  Calamites are extinct swamp plants related to horsetails - except that they could grow as tall as a ten-story building.  Cryptogams are plants that reproduce by spores (not flowers or seeds).   Sphenophyllum cones would refer to the spore-filled cone of an extinct group of plants that are a sister group to modern horsetails.  Finally, Palaeozoic is a reference to a long-ago era. The end of the Paleozoic period marked the most extraordinary extinction event on earth. A Botanical Dream Last night as I lay dreaming There came a dream so fair I stood mid ancient Gymnosperms Beside the Ginkgo rare. I saw the Medullosae With multipartite fronds, And watched the sunset rosy Through Calamites wands. Oh Cryptograms, Pteridosperms And Sphenophyllum cones, Why did ye ever fossilise To Palaeozoic stones?   Unearthed Words The most predaceous winter visitor we have had was a mink that took up residence under the woodpile one winter. The end of the pile was only 20 feet or so from the place where the drain pipe struck out of the pond, which tends to be open even when other areas of the pond are frozen. The Mink had found the perfect carryout restaurant right across from his winter Abode. We timed him: 20 seconds from leaving the woodpile to returning with a crayfish. We never saw him return empty-handed. — Jo Busha, Time and the Garden, February   Grow That Garden Library <a href="https://www.amazon.com/English-Cottage-Gardening-American-Gardeners/dp/039304789X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?dchild=1&amp;keywords=English+Cottage+Gardening+by+Margaret+Hensel&amp;qid=1593638327&amp;sr=8-2&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=gardenradione-20&amp;linkId=28935804a877af47d69979a1d331f0fa" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel</a> This book came out in 2000, and the subtitle is For American Gardeners, Revised Edition. In this book, Margaret shares everything she knows about English Cottage Gardening; and she’s as charming as her topic. Margaret breaks down ten cottage gardens owned by everyday gardeners in England and America. By deliberately not focusing on estate gardens, Margaret shows Daily Gardeners how anyone can cultivate the charm of a cottage garden. With inspiring photographs, Margaret focuses on plants that are easy to grow and give the look cottage gardeners love - enchanted shapes and natural forms, gentle colors, and endearing varieties. The last section of the book shares a glossary of 76 plant recommendations, including the Latin and common names, how to use them in the garden, as well as a list of places to find old rose varieties. This book is 256 pages of an English Cottage Garden masterclass taught by a garden designer who loves to teach the most novice gardener to create enchanting gardens and vistas right outside their windows. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/English-Cottage-Gardening-American-Gardeners/dp/039304789X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?dchild=1&amp;keywords=English+Cottage+Gardening+by+Margaret+Hensel&amp;qid=1593638327&amp;sr=8-2&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=gardenradione-20&amp;linkId=28935804a877af47d69979a1d331f0fa" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> You can get a copy of English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $10 </a>   Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart February 23, 1991 On this day, the Hartford Courant shared an article written by Anne Farrow called Garden of Everlasting Delights. This fantastic article features Gregg Fisk of Gregg Fisk Designs and his incredible dried arrangements and flower drying skills. Gregg’s creations are truly a cut above the rest, and his celebrity clients have included Barbara Streisand and Lady Bird Johnson. And a photo of one of his swags highlights outstanding features like small flower pots, hydrangea, globe amaranth, and love-in-a-mist. Now as for Gregg’s favorite plants to grow for drying, here’s what Gregg suggests: “Some of the basics are globe amaranth, the everlasting signifying immortality; American statice, a ruffle-edged annual that's durable and can be grown in a variety of colors; strawflowers; asters; zinnias; heather' in several different colors; and nigella, a flower with a delicate mauve seed head and a beautiful name: love-in-a-mist.  The current crop of books on growing flowers for drying also recommends hosta, the ubiquitous of shade-garden perennials; poppies, which have a globe-shaped seed case that dries easily, astilbe, ivy, baby's breath and the evocatively named money plant, which has a silvery, translucent seed case.  Another must-have for the home gardener is the rose. [Gregg] recommends planting a climbing rose, sometimes called the faerie rose… [which adds] a finished, old-fashioned appearance to dried arrangements.  From the herb family, [Gregg] chooses rosemary, which has a dark, blue-green needle and a wonderfully piney perfume; bay, for its fragrance; and both Silver King and Silver Queen artemisia. The artemisias, which really are silver-colored, look handsome and puffy in the garden and in dried arrangements.  The bright golden florets of yarrow, a perennial grown in the earliest New World gardens, is another of the herbs he always chooses, as are the low-growing lamb's ear, which has a velvety, gray-green leaf that is soft even when dried. Often shown in herb kits for children because it is so touchable, lamb's ears are particularly pretty in wreaths with a lot of pink flowers or placed in a bowl of homemade potpourri.  White lilacs can [hang-dry] easily and turn a pearlescent cream color.  Hydrangeas, too, can be hang-dried and then dyed in a variety of shades. Asters, a garden classic, dry beautifully in beach sand. Experimentation teaches you a lot, [and Gregg] has found an ally in… the microwave oven.  Though the procedure for drying flowers in the "mike" is more complicated than simple hang-drying methods, the results, particularly with… peonies, daffodils, marigolds, and roses, justify the effort required. The special advantage of microwave flower drying is that the delicate natural color of the bloom is preserved because the drying time is a fraction of traditional methods.”   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

February 23, 2021 The Father of the RBGE Archives, Agnes Arber, Marion Delf-Smith, English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel, and the Very Best Flowers for Drying

Roald Dahl

Beverley Nichols

Caspar Wistar

What's the secret to beautiful begonias?  I asked this to a friend recently who has the most gorgeous begonias every single year. Her answer: fish emulsion.  This means you should feed your begonias with fertilizer. Since we love that begonias flower and they do flower their hearts out, that makes begonias are heavy feeders.  Since fish emulsion (5-1-1) is a low-intensity total fertilizer it's perfect for promoting large, healthy, beautiful begonias. Just feed every 3-4 weeks and follow the label directions.  And remember, most begonias do best with plenty of filtered light but little or no direct hot sun. So don't fry them.  At the same time, water and begonias don't play nice together in the sense that begonias can rot pretty quickly. They need a soil that's going to drain quick. They need to be in pots - like terra cotta- that breathe.  Add perlite or leaf mold to your soil mix to make a very coarse, quick-draining potting mix to add more air pockets to the soil.  Then, don't forget that those air pockets mean you need to water more frequently - especially during warm weather. One thing you can also do is mist begonias. They like humidity - but too much of that can invite fungus or powdery mildew, so keep an eye on them.       Brevities  #OTD  Today is the birthday of Caspar Wistar the Younger who was born on this day in 1761.  His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania.  The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in his honor (some people say Wistaria to reflect the proper spelling of Wistar's last name. Either is fine because guess what - the misspelling is preserved for all time under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature). It's like one of my kid's birth certificate - it can be amended but the original is wrong and will be until the end of time. Wistar had some pretty impressive friends: his best friend was probably Thomas Jefferson and his most famous botany friend was probably Alexander von Humboldt.  Wistar died of a heart ailment unexpectedly on January 18, 1818.  His final utterance was: "I wish well to all mankind."  During his life, every Sunday Night, Wistar would hold a salon - an open house - at his home on the corner of Fourth and Locust Street. His friends would stop by - along with any members of academia, or the elite or high society, along with other accomplished people who happened to be in Philadelphia that evening. They all knew that Wistar's house was the place to go to meet up with the best minds of the day.  When Wistar died, his friends continued holding Wistar parties for a core group of 50 members. They would each take turns hosting and the kept the tradition going for another forty years.       #OTD   Today is the birthday of the British author, Roald Dahl who was born on this day in 1916. Today, his birthday, is celebrated all over the world as Roald Dahl Day.  Dahl was an avid gardener. In fact, his garden shed doubled as his writing nook where he wrote many books, including Charlie and the Chocolate factory. As romantic a notion as this sounds to a gardener's ears, it was also a pragmatic decision on the part of Dahl's wife. Dahl chain-smoked as he wrote and the garden shed kept the smoke out of the house. For Dahl's part, he loved the idea of using the garden shed as a place to write, especially after seeing the little writing hut used by the author Dylan Thomas.  Gardeners with a passion for roses will no doubt praise the Roald Dahl Rose which honored Dahl's love of gardening. It's an absolutely stunning English shrub rose bred by David Austin. It's got a very blousy habit and scrumptious peach blooms that just go non-stop. They have a lovely fragrance as well - and not many thorns, so that's a bonus.  Dahl's diaries have marvelous entries about his garden, and he was often inspired by his garden which you can ascertain when you read in his work. H ere are some examples:    From Matilda: "I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery."   From My Year: "There is just one small bright spark shining through the gloom in my January garden. The first snowdrops are in flower."   From James and the Giant Peach: "And now suddenly, the whole place, the whole garden seemed to be alive with magic...”  From The BFG: “But Mr Tibbs didn’t hesitate for long. ‘Tell the head gardener,’ he whispered, ‘that I require immediately a brand new unused garden fork and also a spade. And for a knife we shall use the great sword hanging on the wall in the morning-room. But clean the sword well first. It was last used to cut off the head of King Charles the First and there may still be a little dried blood on the blade.”  From Roald Dahl: "Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does yr garden grow? 'I live with my brat in a high-rise flat, So how in the world would I know.'       Unearthed Words  All week long The Daily Gardener has been sharing quotes from the author Beverley Nichols, who was born on Monday of this week in 1898.  A prolific writer, Nichols is best remembered for his gardening books. Today I'm featuring excerpts from his book called Forty Favourite Flowers. It is exactly as described, Nichols sharing his top selections; the flowers he loved most in his garden; which he described this way:    “A great deal of weeping goes on in my garden, but it is a happy sort of weeping, for all this bending of branches and bowing of heads is simply due to the fact that so much beauty is displayed on so small a stage.”    Nichols arranged this book simply; using alphabetical order. Then he just shares some of his favorites. Here are some excerpts for you:   Algerian Iris: One of my grandfathers died of a clump of Iris stylosa; it enticed him from a sick bed on an angry evening in January, luring him through the snow-drifts with its blue and silver flames; he died of double pneumonia a few days later. It was probably worth it.   Magnolia: "I must confess that, for me, the flower of the magnolia is most beautiful when life has almost ebbed from it. These are the twilit hours when the petals flag and falter, when their immaculate ivory texture dims, when they glow with a ghostly radiance that seems to come from another world"    Regal Lily: "The regal lilies do indeed praise the Lord. Some of my own, last summer were so exultant that they praised Him through no less than thirty snow-white trumpets on a single stem, and even the most accomplished angel could not do much better than that."    Iris Siberica: How can one ignore...  that singular infinitely sinister blossom Iris siberica? This latter flower can certainly claim to be exclusively dressed; for the petals of no other blossom has Nature designed so curious of fabric, vein with slate and violet and purple.     Fritillairies: Each Stage of our lives has its "signature" flower and those of us who keep diaries would have a little difficulty in assigning to each year those flowers which are especially evocative...  Fritillairies are linked with my years as an undergraduate... Year after year, for generation after generation, these flowers have danced in the background through the lives of England’s youth.     Mesembryanthemum: The flower is a startling proof of the fact that when nature decides to be vulgar - really vulgar - she can achieve affects of almost blinding beauty. For nothing could be more opulent, more blatant, more shamelessly exhibitionist than a bed of the Mesembryanthemum in full bloom. Magenta jostling scarlet, screaming at cinnamon, fighting with shocking pink, yelling against a dozen shades of orange and vermilion.      Caryopteris: Paradoxically, blue is the color that makes many people see red; by which I mean that fears arguments are constantly developing as to which flower is the bluest... The Caryopteris is a radiant in any weather...  The blue of its petals seems to have the quality of caring for great distances, as though it were some sort of floral evangelist with a message of good tidings for all the world.     Summer Hyacinth: On an August night, when the moon is full, there is an almost ectoplasmic radiance around its petals.     Golden-bell clematis: If I had to confine my choice of creepers to a single family – what a hideous thought! – I should probably choose the family of clematis. And if I were limited to a single member of the family, I should probably choose Clematis tangutica. I said "probably" because these hypothetical decisions are so very painful.     Finally, in FFF, Nichols offered some sweeping thoughts that will undoubtedly strike a chord:   “One of the many reasons why gardens are increasingly precious to us in this day and age is that they help us to escape from the tyranny of speed. Our skies are streaked with jets, our roads have turned to race-tracks, and in the cities the crowds rush to and fro as though the devil were at their heels. But as soon as we open the garden gate, Time seems almost to stand still, slowing down to the gentle ticking of the Clock of the Universe.”        Today's book recommendation: English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel   This book is a wonder for anyone who loves the intimacy of the English cottage garden and who endeavors to capture the feel of that  for their own space.  Hensel has come up with core elements from ten cottage gardens―eight in England and two in the United States. Once you master those elements, you are well on your way to having a cottage garden of your own. Hensel explains each element and how to achieve it, and she shares the stories of beginners that are sure to inspire new gardeners.  The last part of this book is especially helpful; It reviews 76 selected cottage-style plants and how to use them to create the cottage garden. Hensel wants her readers, "[to] feel moved, even inspired, to imagine what magical things might happen in their own front and backyards". The books is chockfull of information and photos. Hensel is an exceptional photographer in her own right which makes her photographs of the gardens and plants extra meaningful. So overall, there's tons of information and Inspiration for gardeners looking to create their own cozy cottage garden.      Today's Garden Chore  Just because it's September, doesn't mean you can't divide bearded irises because you can - and I just recently did this myself.   If you have older clumps of irises or irises out of place, it's a great time to divide them and move them. Be sure to remove any bad parts of the rhizomes and then plant them high. I like to nestle mine on top of the soil and then stake them in instead of digging them or half-burying them. To each his own - but no matter what - do not bury them deep.       Something Sweet  Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart  On this day in 1843, the New England Farmer out of Boston, Massachusetts published this little article about toads.  "Never destroy the toad. In the season of bugs and flies, a toad will do more towards the preservation of a garden, than a man, and all that ho requires at your hands for this valuable assistance, is the freedom of your garden walks and beds, and the paltry shelter of a chip or turf. He meddles with no one's business but his own constantly avoiding company, and intent only on extirpating those voracious insects by whose jaws the beauty of the garden is so frequently laid low."     Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

What's the secret to beautiful begonias? I asked this to a friend recently who has the most gorgeous begonias every single year. Her answer: fish emulsion. This means you should feed your begonias with fertilizer. Since we love that begonias flower and they do flower their hearts out, that makes begonias are heavy feeders.  Since fish emulsion (5-1-1) is a low-intensity total fertilizer it's perfect for promoting large, healthy, beautiful begonias. Just feed every 3-4 weeks and follow the label directions. And remember, most begonias do best with plenty of filtered light but little or no direct hot sun. So don't fry them. At the same time, water and begonias don't play nice together in the sense that begonias can rot pretty quickly. They need a soil that's going to drain quick. They need to be in pots - like terra cotta- that breathe. Add perlite or leaf mold to your soil mix to make a very coarse, quick-draining potting mix to add more air pockets to the soil.  Then, don't forget that those air pockets mean you need to water more frequently - especially during warm weather. One thing you can also do is mist begonias. They like humidity - but too much of that can invite fungus or powdery mildew, so keep an eye on them.     Brevities #OTD  Today is the birthday of Caspar Wistar the Younger who was born on this day in 1761. His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in his honor (some people say Wistaria to reflect the proper spelling of Wistar's last name. Either is fine because guess what - the misspelling is preserved for all time under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature). It's like one of my kid's birth certificate - it can be amended but the original is wrong and will be until the end of time. Wistar had some pretty impressive friends: his best friend was probably Thomas Jefferson and his most famous botany friend was probably Alexander von Humboldt. Wistar died of a heart ailment unexpectedly on January 18, 1818.  His final utterance was: "I wish well to all mankind." During his life, every Sunday Night, Wistar would hold a salon - an open house - at his home on the corner of Fourth and Locust Street. His friends would stop by - along with any members of academia, or the elite or high society, along with other accomplished people who happened to be in Philadelphia that evening. They all knew that Wistar's house was the place to go to meet up with the best minds of the day. When Wistar died, his friends continued holding Wistar parties for a core group of 50 members. They would each take turns hosting and the kept the tradition going for another forty years.     #OTD   Today is the birthday of the British author, Roald Dahl who was born on this day in 1916. Today, his birthday, is celebrated all over the world as Roald Dahl Day. Dahl was an avid gardener. In fact, his garden shed doubled as his writing nook where he wrote many books, including Charlie and the Chocolate factory. As romantic a notion as this sounds to a gardener's ears, it was also a pragmatic decision on the part of Dahl's wife. Dahl chain-smoked as he wrote and the garden shed kept the smoke out of the house. For Dahl's part, he loved the idea of using the garden shed as a place to write, especially after seeing the little writing hut used by the author Dylan Thomas. Gardeners with a passion for roses will no doubt praise the Roald Dahl Rose which honored Dahl's love of gardening. It's an absolutely stunning English shrub rose bred by David Austin. It's got a very blousy habit and scrumptious peach blooms that just go non-stop. They have a lovely fragrance as well - and not many thorns, so that's a bonus. Dahl's diaries have marvelous entries about his garden, and he was often inspired by his garden which you can ascertain when you read in his work. H ere are some examples:   From Matilda: "I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery."   From My Year: "There is just one small bright spark shining through the gloom in my January garden. The first snowdrops are in flower."   From James and the Giant Peach: "And now suddenly, the whole place, the whole garden seemed to be alive with magic...” From The BFG: “But Mr Tibbs didn’t hesitate for long. ‘Tell the head gardener,’ he whispered, ‘that I require immediately a brand new unused garden fork and also a spade. And for a knife we shall use the great sword hanging on the wall in the morning-room. But clean the sword well first. It was last used to cut off the head of King Charles the First and there may still be a little dried blood on the blade.” From Roald Dahl: "Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does yr garden grow? 'I live with my brat in a high-rise flat, So how in the world would I know.'     Unearthed Words All week long The Daily Gardener has been sharing quotes from the author Beverley Nichols, who was born on Monday of this week in 1898. A prolific writer, Nichols is best remembered for his gardening books. Today I'm featuring excerpts from his book called Forty Favourite Flowers. It is exactly as described, Nichols sharing his top selections; the flowers he loved most in his garden; which he described this way:    “A great deal of weeping goes on in my garden, but it is a happy sort of weeping, for all this bending of branches and bowing of heads is simply due to the fact that so much beauty is displayed on so small a stage.”    Nichols arranged this book simply; using alphabetical order. Then he just shares some of his favorites. Here are some excerpts for you:   Algerian Iris: One of my grandfathers died of a clump of Iris stylosa; it enticed him from a sick bed on an angry evening in January, luring him through the snow-drifts with its blue and silver flames; he died of double pneumonia a few days later. It was probably worth it.   Magnolia: "I must confess that, for me, the flower of the magnolia is most beautiful when life has almost ebbed from it. These are the twilit hours when the petals flag and falter, when their immaculate ivory texture dims, when they glow with a ghostly radiance that seems to come from another world"   Regal Lily: "The regal lilies do indeed praise the Lord. Some of my own, last summer were so exultant that they praised Him through no less than thirty snow-white trumpets on a single stem, and even the most accomplished angel could not do much better than that."    Iris Siberica: How can one ignore...  that singular infinitely sinister blossom Iris siberica? This latter flower can certainly claim to be exclusively dressed; for the petals of no other blossom has Nature designed so curious of fabric, vein with slate and violet and purple.     Fritillairies: Each Stage of our lives has its "signature" flower and those of us who keep diaries would have a little difficulty in assigning to each year those flowers which are especially evocative...  Fritillairies are linked with my years as an undergraduate... Year after year, for generation after generation, these flowers have danced in the background through the lives of England’s youth.     Mesembryanthemum: The flower is a startling proof of the fact that when nature decides to be vulgar - really vulgar - she can achieve affects of almost blinding beauty. For nothing could be more opulent, more blatant, more shamelessly exhibitionist than a bed of the Mesembryanthemum in full bloom. Magenta jostling scarlet, screaming at cinnamon, fighting with shocking pink, yelling against a dozen shades of orange and vermilion.      Caryopteris: Paradoxically, blue is the color that makes many people see red; by which I mean that fears arguments are constantly developing as to which flower is the bluest... The Caryopteris is a radiant in any weather...  The blue of its petals seems to have the quality of caring for great distances, as though it were some sort of floral evangelist with a message of good tidings for all the world.     Summer Hyacinth: On an August night, when the moon is full, there is an almost ectoplasmic radiance around its petals.     Golden-bell clematis: If I had to confine my choice of creepers to a single family – what a hideous thought! – I should probably choose the family of clematis. And if I were limited to a single member of the family, I should probably choose Clematis tangutica. I said "probably" because these hypothetical decisions are so very painful.     Finally, in FFF, Nichols offered some sweeping thoughts that will undoubtedly strike a chord:   “One of the many reasons why gardens are increasingly precious to us in this day and age is that they help us to escape from the tyranny of speed. Our skies are streaked with jets, our roads have turned to race-tracks, and in the cities the crowds rush to and fro as though the devil were at their heels. But as soon as we open the garden gate, Time seems almost to stand still, slowing down to the gentle ticking of the Clock of the Universe.”       <a href="https://amzn.to/2XXIJxC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Today's book recommendation: English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel </a> This book is a wonder for anyone who loves the intimacy of the English cottage garden and who endeavors to capture the feel of that  for their own space.  Hensel has come up with core elements from ten cottage gardens―eight in England and two in the United States. Once you master those elements, you are well on your way to having a cottage garden of your own. Hensel explains each element and how to achieve it, and she shares the stories of beginners that are sure to inspire new gardeners. The last part of this book is especially helpful; It reviews 76 selected cottage-style plants and how to use them to create the cottage garden. Hensel wants her readers, "[to] feel moved, even inspired, to imagine what magical things might happen in their own front and backyards". The books is chockfull of information and photos. Hensel is an exceptional photographer in her own right which makes her photographs of the gardens and plants extra meaningful. So overall, there's tons of information and Inspiration for gardeners looking to create their own cozy cottage garden.   Today's Garden Chore Just because it's September, doesn't mean you can't divide bearded irises because you can - and I just recently did this myself.  If you have older clumps of irises or irises out of place, it's a great time to divide them and move them. Be sure to remove any bad parts of the rhizomes and then plant them high. I like to nestle mine on top of the soil and then stake them in instead of digging them or half-burying them. To each his own - but no matter what - do not bury them deep.     Something Sweet  Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day in 1843, the New England Farmer out of Boston, Massachusetts published this little article about toads. "Never destroy the toad. In the season of bugs and flies, a toad will do more towards the preservation of a garden, than a man, and all that ho requires at your hands for this valuable assistance, is the freedom of your garden walks and beds, and the paltry shelter of a chip or turf. He meddles with no one's business but his own constantly avoiding company, and intent only on extirpating those voracious insects by whose jaws the beauty of the garden is so frequently laid low."     Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

September 13, 2019  The secret to beautiful begonias, Caspar Wistar, Roald Dahl, Beverley Nichols, English Cottage Gardening by Margaret Hensel, Dividing Bearded Irises, and for the Love of Toads