Oct 3, 2019
I always write down little things the kids say that
strike me as funny or sweet.
Here's a little blast from my past on this day in 2010:
At bedtime tonight, PJ told me he wanted to bring cold lunch to
school. I told him no because we have paid for hot lunch.
(Apparently many kids in his class bring cold lunch.) I
told him that they probably bring cold lunch because they have
allergies and their mommies don't want them to get sick.
So, then PJ told me he had allergies too... he said "I'm allergic
to pumpkins".
I said "really."
He said yes.
I said "Well then you won't have fun on Halloween because there are
pumpkins all over that night".
LONG PAUSE while his jaw drops. Heavy sigh.
"You caught me mom. I was just trying to trick you."
Pumpkin allergies... at the time I thought that was a made-up
thing.
While this story is super sweet, there are folks who are actually
allergic to pumpkin. Typically, they are allergic to the seeds.
That said, other parts of the pumpkin can negatively effect the
body. People with allergies who touch the pulp or the seeds can get
dermatitis or even hives.
If they smell pumpkin cooking, sensitive people can have an
allergic response from the vapors.
And, kids with pumpkin allergy can feel sick just from carving a
pumpkin. Uninformed parents can easily dismiss coughing and
wheezing during pumpkin carving time as signs of a cold.
Thanks to Starbucks and other retailers, our society goes a little
crazy for all things Pumpkin Spice this time of year - the Pumpkin
Spice Latte actually has a little pumpkin puree in it. But just
know, there is such a thing as pumpkin allergy and be sensitive to
folks have it.
Brevities
#OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the
botanist Luis Nee who died on this day in 1807.
Luis Née was a Frenchman living in Spain. He worked at the Madrid
botanic garden and he botanized in the mountain ranges of
Spain.
Nee went on an expedition to South America in 1789. When he
collected in Chile, he discovered the Lapageria rosea which is now
the national flower of Chile. Lapageria rosea plants, are also
known as Chilean bellflowers. They are named after the Empress
Josephine Lapagerie, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
#OTD Today is the birthday of the German
botanist, Frederick Lueders, who was born on this day in
1813.
On November 13, 1843 Lueders was botanizing along the Columbia
river in Oregon. He'd been collecting specimens for three years. He
had just encountered the explorer John Freemont, when all of his
work, which was secured in a canoe nearby, was drawn into the
rapids. Lueders plunged into the river and managed to retrieve only
a copy of the Flora by Torrey and Gray.
The devastating loss was recorded in Freemont's journal who
wrote:
"In the natural concern I felt for his misfortune, I gave to the
little cove the name of Lueders' Bay."
For Lueders part, the loss of his specimens was devastating.
However the loss of his instruments and his correspondence with Asa
Gray and Dr. Englemann was almost too great. Lueders
determined his best course of action was to return home. He
traveled south around the tip of Chile and then onto England. It
took him a year to return to Hamburg a year after his mishap on the
Columbia.
Lueders didn't stay in Germany long. In fact, he returned to
America within the next year. By 1851, he had made his way to
Wisconsin; he spent the rest of his life in Sauk City and he
dabbled in astronomy. A biographical sketch said that in his
old age, Lueders was devoted largely to his flowers.
#OTD On this day in 1807, the botanist Frederick
Pursch visited David Hosack.
Hosack was happy to have Pursch collect specimens from all around
the United States for him. He wrote,
"I shall have a very industrious and skillful botanist [begin]
to collect from different parts of the Union."
#OTD On this day in 1856 John Torrey's Office at the
Mint was described in the NY Daily Times.
When Torrey was 57, he made the decision to leave Princeton after
24 years of teaching botany and he went to work for the Mint; it
would be the last step in his long career.
The description of the room where the bullion was measured is quite
fascinating. It said:
"During the process of ... gold and silver are... weighed on ...
scales. Floors are covered with iron gratings which are removed at
stated periods, flooring beneath carefully swept and particles of
precious metal separated from the dust."
Torrey 's quality of life improved while he worked at the Mint; he
could leave work by 3pm and be home in time to work in his
herbarium a couple of hours before dinner.
#OTD On this day in 1883, Charles Sprague Sargent
wrote to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker with an update on the Arnold
Arboretum:
“The Arboretum is getting on at last. ..Roads, belts, grades, etc.
are making grand progress & I really begin to see daylight ahead.
We have in the nurseries an immense stock of plants &certainly
the largest number of living species ever collected togetheron this
side of the ocean.” ’
Unearthed Words
From the Poetical Birthday Book for October 3rd, from
1887:
"Her lips like foxgloves, pink and pale,
Went sighing like an autumn gale;
Yet, When the sunlight passed by,
They opened out with half a sigh.
Her smile, the last faint vesper light
As swoons the eve to sleep away,
Remaining through the summer night
A lamp of love by which to pray.
~ Meta Orred, English Author & Poet
All will pass like smoke of white apple trees
Seized by the gold of autumn.
I will no longer be young.
~ Sergei Yesenin, Russian lyric poet, born on this day in 1895
In moral philosophy, it is useful, I believe, to think about
plants."
~ Philippa Foot, philosopher, born (1920) and died (2010) on this
day.
Today's book recommendation: Montrose by Nancy
Goodwin
This book was the obvious selection for today because it was
published on this day back in 2005.
It's one of personal favorites. Montrose is Goodwin's personal
biography of her garden and I love everything about it. I love the
illustrations; beautiful line drawings with pastel coloring.
Absolutely gorgeous.
I love that Goodwin organizes her book by month. I thought I'd read
you an excerpt from her chapter on October...
You can get used copies using the Amazon link in todays Show Notes
for just $4.
Today's Garden Chore
It's time to stop watering your Christmas
Cactus.
Put your cactus through a mandatory dry spell for the next 30 days
for better bud set. So, don't water it until the first week in
November.
Here's a few other tips to help you with your Christmas
Cactus:
Something Sweet
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
#OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of George Dexter
Butler who died on this day in 1910.
Butler was born in 1850 in Grundy County, Illinois. He grew
up in Iowa. Like many, he ended up going West
California.
In 1896, he was admitted the bar in California and then he
began the practice of law. And, then, here's the part from the
Madrono Vol. 1, No. 13 from November, 1928, that got my
attention:
"George Butler's passion for botany had always been such that he
did not dare trust it. Therefore, on coming to California he
determined to let the science of botany entirely alone. If he gave
himself to it at all he feared that his proper profession as a
lawyer would be largely or too much neglected and that his
first obligation, the support and education of his family,
would suffer.
[When his old friend, Dr. Engelmann wrote him] he was
much puzzled in mind as to what he should do... The
letter, therefore, he deliberately ignored.
In 1906 he chanced to be in a bookshop in Oakland
where his eye caught sight of a second-hand copy of Jepson's
Flora."
The time for botany had come. He quickly made up for lost time and
he went collecting in every direction. He built a herbarium on his
property, he started buying floras, and he worked like crazy on
building his collections. What he was really hoping to do was to
build a county herbarium.
But, sadly, on this day in 1910, Butler had a stroke and passed
away.
After Butler died, his herbarium was given as a gift to the
University of California. At the time, it was regarded as the most
complete flora of Siskiyou County.
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."