Hi there, and welcome to The Daily Gardener, and thank you for listening. I'm your host, Jennifer Eveling. It's January 22nd. Today we celebrate the birthday of the English statesman who created garden walks, and the birthday of a man who's remembered by muley grass.
We'll learn about the man memorialized by a plant name that misspells his last name, and we'll also learn about the disastrous freeze for Florida growers that happened in the mid-1980s. Today's unearthed words feature poetry and quotes that teach lessons we can learn from winter. And we grow that garden library with a book that shares terrific essays on the benefits of gardening. I'll talk about a garden item that can definitely come in handy for gardeners, and then we'll wrap things up with the story of a botanist who recognized that new species can always be discovered, even in areas previously explored.
But first, let's catch up on a few recent events. Here's today's curated articles. First up was an article from Kew Gardens called The Wardian Case, a Botany Game Changer. It's incredible to think that The Wardian Case was invented by the British doctor and amateur naturalist Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in 1829 by complete accident.
Ward placed a moss cocoon that he collected into a sealed glass bottle with fern leaves and moist soil. And after a while, condensation formed on the inside walls of the glass and dripped down again to the soil, and sunlight was able to shine through the glass. What do you know? The plant sprouted and thrived in the microenvironment, and it was untouched for three years.
And that's how Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward inadvertently discovered that plants growing within an enclosed, airtight case could survive without being watered for a long period of time. This is a fascinating article from Kew Gardens. If you'd like to see old pictures of the first Wardian Cases and read more about this mini traveling greenhouse and how it transformed plant exploration, just search for Case in the Facebook group for listeners of the show, and this post will pop right up. Then next up was a post that was written by Jane Perrone for The Guardian, and it was called Winning Ways for Winter, and it shares oodles of great tips for designing a winter garden from Angsley's assistant head gardener, David Jordan.
One of Jordan's favorite combinations is the shaky-marked paper-bark maple teamed with variegated evergreen shrubs, like the Euonymus Fortunii Emerald Gaiety in the pink-scented blossoms of Viburnum X Bonintensi Dawn. Jordan said the Euonymus is cloud-pruned in the summer to create a sinuous shape, and he also recommends the Crab Apple Tree Everest as the centerpiece to a winter border. Jordan said you get long, persistent fruit, and you can underplant with dogwood in red or orange that works with the color of the fruit. Then if you underplant with snowdrops or daffodils, that'll take you through May, and that entire combination gives you a very long window of interest.
In general, Jordan's winter garden recipe goes something like this, a tree with colorful or tactile bark, like a Tibetan cherry or a paper-bark maple, and then that tree acts as an anchor for the rest of the planting. Throw in mid-level shrubs that have scented flowers or colored stems or attractive leaves like dogwoods or euonymus or viburnums, and then the final layer is a low-growing ground cover, think snowdrops or foliage like burginias or pulmonarias. Now, as I mentioned, this post has oodles of great design tips if you're looking to make your winter garden more extraordinary. So if you want to check out this post in the free Facebook group for listeners of the show, just search for winter, and this post will pop up.
Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself and you're not in the group, you're in luck, because all you have to do is go to the search bar. The next time you're in Facebook, just type in the Daily Gardener community, and then the group will pop up. It's 100% free to join and be in this group. Just request to join.
I'll see the post pop up on my phone that you'd like to join, and then I'll click to admit you into the group, and I will see you in there. And what you will get is access to all of the wonderful garden articles that I curate for you and for other listeners of the show all week long. They'll pop up in your Facebook feed, they'll be mixed in with pictures and updates from your friends and family, and if you want to go into the group, you can just search through and scroll through all of the different articles, click through the links, and read to your heart's content. And of course, I'd love to meet you in the group.
Here's today's brevities. Today is the birthday of the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon, who was born on this day in 1561. Francis wrote a splendid essay called Of Gardens. The essay contains many quotable thoughts on gardening, although the opening line is the most quoted.
It says, God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks. I do hold it that there ought to be gardens for all the months in the year in which several things of beauty may be in season. In 1606, Francis introduced garden walks as a concept at Gray's Inn Field.
Bacon lived at Gray's Inn, and during that time, the inns were putting gates and fencing around their land to provide greater privacy and security. It was in the gated field at Gray's Inn, where Bacon created his garden walk. People were enthralled with the idea. Along the walk, Bacon added flowers and trees, like violets and primroses, cherry trees and birch.
This whole notion of strolling through a pleasure garden was the 16th century equivalent of the modern-day habit of walking in a shopping mall for exercise. In 1594, Francis Bacon said a learned man needs a garden, library, laboratory, and a goodly huge cabinet of curiosities. And Bacon said, as is the garden, such is the gardener. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds.
And today is the day that the American Lutheran pastor and botanist, Heinrich Muhlenberg, was made a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1785. He always was referred to by his second name, Heinrich. His first name was Gotthilf. The Muhlenberg family was a founding family of the United States, and Heinrich came from a long line of pastors.
His father, Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, was known as the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. His brother was a major in the Revolutionary War, and his other brother was a congressman. Muhlenberg's personal journals are a treasure trove of his thoughts on botanical self-improvement. He would write, How may I best advance myself in the knowledge of plants?
And Muhlenberg would set goals and reminders to challenge himself, writing, It is winter, and there is little to do. Toward spring, I should go out and put together a chronology of trees. How they come out, the flowers, how they appear. I should especially take note of the flowers and fruit.
The grass at Muhlenbergia was named for Heinrich Muhlenberg. Muhly grasses, as they are called, are beautiful native grasses. They offer two incredible strengths in their plant profile, drought tolerance, and visual punch. Muhly grasses are easygoing, and they grow equally well in harsh conditions and in perfectly manicured gardens.
The Muhly cultivar White Cloud offers gorgeous white plumes, and when the coveted pink mule blooms, people often stop to inquire as to the name of the beautiful pink grass. Then Lindheimer's Muhly makes a fantastic screen, and Bamboo Muhly commands the attention of everyone when it's featured in a container. All muley grasses like well-drained soil and full sun. If you plant them in the fall, be sure to get them situated and in the ground at least a month before the first frost.
And here's an interesting side note on Heinrich Muhlenberg. He also discovered the bog turtle. In 1801, the turtle was named Clemmies Muhlenbergii in his honor. And today is the anniversary of the death of the American physician Caspar Wistar the Younger, who died on this day in 1818.
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. In 1777, Caspar Wistar treated the wounded during the Battle of Germantown, and he decided right then and there he would pursue medical training. Wistar had some pretty impressive friends.
His best friend was probably Thomas Jefferson, and his most famous botany friend was probably Alexander von Humboldt. During his life, every Sunday night, Wistar would hold a salon, an open house at his home on the corner of 4th 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.
The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in Caspar Wistar's honor. Some people say Wisteria to reflect the proper spelling of Wistar's last name. However you pronounce it, the misspelling is preserved for all time under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. It's like one of my kid's birth certificates.
It can be amended, but the original is wrong and will be until the end of time. Wistar died of a heart ailment unexpectedly on January 18, 1818. His final utterance was, I wish well to all mankind. After Wistar died, his friends continued holding Wistar parties for a core group of 50 members.
They would each take turns hosting, and they kept the tradition going for another 40 years. Today, Wistar is the name of the Wistar Institute, the nation's first independent biomedical research center. Today, they focus on cancer, infectious disease, and vaccine research to benefit human health. And it was on this day in 1985 that record-breaking cold temperatures damaged 90% of Florida's orange and grapefruit crop.
Newspaper accounts sounded grim, saying a nightmare for citrus growers. The fourth killer cold wave in five growing seasons seized Florida's 760,000-acre citrus belt on Monday with an icy grip that growers said froze millions of oranges and could destroy thousands of acres of trees already weakened by the disastrous Christmas 1983 freeze. Between last night and tonight, I don't think there'll be a tree alive in Hernando County. When this is over, Dr.
William Croom said, after surveying his 104-year-old 110-acre grove on Powell Road, he said, I'm not going to replant. I'll be 65 in March. That's just too late in life to start over. As the temperature fell to 15 degrees, Croom's grove foreman, Barney Perrault, and three other workers lighted 300 oil-fueled stack heaters among trees in an 8-acre section in an effort to salvage the healthiest portion of his grove.
He said, we'll be back out tonight, although I don't know if it'll do any good. In Unearthed Words, today's Unearthed Words are about the lessons we can learn from winter. This first one's from Yoko Ono, the Japanese multimedia artist and widow of John Lennon. Spring passes, and one remembers one's innocence.
Summer passes, and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes, and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes, and one remembers one's perseverance. And here's a quote from Anton Chekhov, the Russian playwright and writer.
People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy. And here's a Japanese proverb, one kind word can warm three winter months. Here's a quote from John Steinbeck, the American author and Nobel Prize winner. What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?
W.J. Vogel gave us this gem, to shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring. Here's a quote from a former bishop of Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom.
If there were no tribulation, there would be no rest. If there were no winter, there would be no summer. And here's some insight from the horticulturist Vinny Simeone. Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art of winter gardening, and even the most experienced gardener can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them.
It's time to grow that garden library with today's book, By Penn and By Spade, by David Wheeler. This book features 33 essays from David Wheeler's passion project, known as Hortus Magazine, which I just subscribed to. Hortus provides expert information on plants and gardening. with articles focusing on gardens around the world.
The essays explore the various benefits of gardening, and they're written by multiple authors who share personal stories and lessons from the garden. This book features essays from Robert Dash, who examines the overlap between gardening and poetry, and Rosemary Veery, who shares thoughts on the courtyard gardens of Charleston. And Hermia Oliver does the same with Flaubert's gardens, and Dennis Wood reveals the joy of gardening after retirement. These essays are an excellent source of good gardening advice.
How to plant a scent garden, stick to a sunny, sheltered spot, advises Stephen Lacey, and how to grow blue-hued gentians. Seek Out an Acid Soil, counsels Stephen G. Haw. This book came out in 1991.
You can get a used copy of By Pen and By Spade by David Wheeler and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for under $1. And today's great gift for gardeners is the heavy-duty Eschert Design Garden Tool Belt in gray and green. This tool apron comes with deep pockets, an adjustable belt, and compartments for markers and other items. And it makes this apron a must for every busy gardener.
You can get the Eschert Design Garden Tool Belt and support the show by using the Amazon link in today's show notes for $13.18. Finally, here's something sweet to revive the little botanic spark in your heart. Today is the anniversary of the death of the Presbyterian minister, writer, and American botanist Ellsworth Jerome Hill, who died on this day in 1917. Ellsworth was born in Leroy, New York.
When he was only 20 years old, one of his knees stopped working, and doctors suggested he study botany. Ellsworth would crawl from the house to the orchard, where he would pick a few flowers and then crawl back to the house to identify them. The following year, Ellsworth moved to Mississippi, where it was warmer, and then he used canes to assist with walking. By middle age, Ellsworth met and married a young woman named Melancy Leach, who would become his indispensable helpmate.
When he was lame, or when he didn't have the strength to complete all of his tasks as he collected specimens, Melancy would step in and finish the work for him. By the time he was 40, Ellsworth had put his lameness behind him. In the back half of his life, he seemed to be able to manage his physical challenges, and with Melancy's help, had learned how to cope with the symptoms. In a touching tribute to Ellsworth after his death, the botanist Agnes Chase wrote, Most of these collections were made while he walked on crutches or with two canes.
He told me that he carried his vasculum over his shoulder in a campstool with his crutch or cane in one hand. To secure a plant, he would drop the campstool, which opened of itself, and then he would lower himself to the stool and dig the plant. He recovered from his lameness, but often suffered acute pain from cold or wet or overexertion. But this did not deter him from making botanical trips that would have taxed a more robust man.
In the dunes, I have seen him tire out more than one able-bodied man. And it was Ellsworth Jerome Hill who said, In the study of flora of a restricted region, no matter how carefully it seems to have been explored, one is frequently surprised by new things. No region can be regarded as thoroughly explored until every acre of its wild areas at least has been examined. Some plants are so rare or local or grow under such peculiar conditions that a few square rods or even feet may comprise their range.
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener and remember, for a happy, healthy life, garden every day. The Daily Gardener is produced weekdays in lovely Maple Grove, Minnesota. You can find complete show notes over at thedailygardener.org and be sure to share the show with your garden friends. You can find The Daily Gardener on all your favorite social media, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, and of course Facebook.
While you're over at Facebook, don't forget to join The Daily Gardener community. Just search for these three words, Daily Gardener community. The group will pop right up and then request to join. Finally, I want to thank my team at Podfly Productions where my fabulous editor is Eric Begay.
Have a great day in the garden and we'll see you tomorrow.