Aug 2, 2020
Today we remember the master landscape and portrait painter who
grew up with a magnificent mulberry tree.
We learn about the planting of the first potato in Hawaii, and the
discovery of a tree named for Benjamin Franklin.
We also remember the poet who was inspired not by his day job at an
insurance company, but by a beautiful park that was across the
street from his house.
We review some August Weather Folklore - and all I have to say is
you might want to grab your coat.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that lets us drop in on
some of the most beautiful spaces on the planet.
And then we'll wrap things up with a little post about a gorgeous
garden at Longwood.
But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around
the world, and today's curated news.
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Gardener Greetings
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pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to
Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org
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Curated News
Cheery Hollyhocks Brighten Up the Garden | Southern
Living
These vibrant blooming stalks can reach heights of 8 feet.
Here's an excerpt:
"In summer, we can't get enough of hollyhocks.
These plants are long-blooming summer flowers that appear in spikes
of bright blossoms. Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) are cottage
garden favorites because of their appearance and extended bloom
time. The warm-weather bloomers are low-maintenance plantings and
make great additions to cut flower gardens. They're also known to
attract birds to the garden."
These perennials and biennials thrive in the sun and in the right
conditions will grow to heights of 3 to 8 feet and widths of 1 to 3
feet. Their dramatic heights make an impact in mass plantings and
can create magical effects in the garden. They're also capable of
acting as privacy plantings. Hollyhocks are beautiful when planted
in en masse in one color or in a variety of colors. They're vibrant
and welcoming and can add a cheery note to backyard gardens and
front-yard designs. (Hello, curb appeal!)
The foliage of hollyhocks is bright green, sometimes in shades of
blue-green, and the flowers appear in a rainbow of colors including
red, white, pink, purple, yellow, and blue. Foliage surrounds the
base of the plant and appears on stems higher up the center stalk.
When it's time to bloom, the flowering stalks are covered in buds,
and the blooms begin to unfurl, opening from the bottom and
emerging gradually up the stalk.
In regard to care, usually, you'll have to wait a year after first
planting to enjoy hollyhock blooms. Be patient: Once the hollyhocks
have spent a year growing, they'll put on a vibrant show. In
addition to full sun and regular water, they also appreciate having
a support system nearby. The tallest varieties like to be planted
against a wall or a fence to keep them growing upright. Some
popular selections to plant include 'Chater's Double,' which has
peachy-pink, yellow, and white blooms, 'Peaches 'n Dreams,' which
has double apricot-hued blooms, and 'Creme de Cassis,' which has
vibrant magenta flowers.
Did you have hollyhocks in your family garden growing up? Do you
want to plant some of these summer blooms in your garden this
year?"
Link to Pinterest Page on Hollyhock Dolls
Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.
Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles
and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because
I share all of it with the Listener Community in the
Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener
Community.
There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time
you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request
to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.
Important Events
1788 Today is the anniversary of the
death of the landscape and portrait painter, known for his painting
of the Blue Boy, Thomas Gainsborough.
Gainsborough is regarded as one of the master Landscape painters.
But, he is also remembered for his portraits, which made his
subjects look relaxed, natural, and beautiful. Thomas's portraits
were a direct result of customer preference, and Thomas's customers
were the elite. In fact, his commissioned paintings of King George
III and Queen Charlotte made him a favorite with royals. So much
so, that after Thomas died at age 61, he was buried in the royal
church.
Today, you can visit Thomas's house in Sudbury. It has been turned
into a charming art center,... and there's also the garden - the
garden Thomas grew up in. And, it has a spectacular mulberry tree
with falling down branches dating to the early 1600s during the
reign of James I, who encouraged the planting of mulberry trees so
that he could establish a silk industry. Although England never
successfully became known for silkworms, the craft of silk weaving
became firmly rooted. The Gainsborough families were weavers. In
fact, over 95% of the woven silk in England comes from Sudbury.
Now, back when James I and his advisers were trying to get into
silk making, they lacked the knowledge about Mulberry trees. There
are actually two kinds of Mulberries.
The white mulberry tree feeds silkworms, and the black tree
supplies the fruit.
The Gainsborough Mulberry (as well as every other Mulberry
cultivated in England) was the black Mulberry. And this tree, the
Gainsborough Mulberry, would have been over a hundred years old
when Thomas was born.
In addition to the ancient Gainsborough Mulberry, which is regarded
as a sentinel tree or a tree that has kept watch for a great many
years, the Gainsborough garden includes two beds for Herbs and
another that has plants used for dying fabric. There are also
beautiful trees such as the medlar, quince, and Witch Hazel
(Hamamelis Mollis), which gives some beautiful color and scent to
the garden early in the year. The rest of the garden is made up of
plants that were available during Thomas's lifetime in the 18th
Century.
And, Thomas once said,
"Nature is my teacher and the woods of Suffolk, my
academy."
1820 The first potatoes were planted
in Hawaii.
It turns out, the American brig, the Thaddeus, brought more than
the first missionaries to the island.
Four years later, the mango tree would be introduced. By 1828, the
first coffee plant would be grown in Kona. It marked the beginning
of the Kona Coffee Industry.
1938 The Belvedere Daily Republican,
out of Belvedere Illinois, published a small article about a tree
named for Benjamin Franklin.
Here's what it said:
"About 200 years ago, John Bartram, an eminent botanist,
discovered a strange flowering tree in a Georgia forest and named
it "Franklinia" in honor of his fellow Philadelphian, Benjamin
Franklin."
The discovery of the Franklinia made John Bartram famous.
The Franklinia is in the tea family, and it has blossoms similar to
the Camellia.
Thirty years after Bartram's discovery, the Franklinia went extinct
in the wild - the last one was seen in 1803 - and the only
surviving Franklinias are descended from the original seed and the
work of Bartram's Garden, North America's oldest botanic garden,
who worked to preserve the species. Bartram himself lovingly
cultivated the Franklinia.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said,
"I have thought that wildflowers might be the alphabet of
angels."
1955 Today is the anniversary of the
death of poet Wallace Stevens
Stevens said,
"Death is the mother of beauty.
Only the perishable can be beautiful,
which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers."
Stevens was one of the most skilled poets of the 20th Century.
He lived his entire adult life near Elizabeth Park in
Hartford, Connecticut.
By day, Stevens worked at Hartford insurance company where he
became a Vice President, and by night, he was a poet; it was in an
unusual combination.
Stevens lived two miles from his work, and he walked to work
every day, undoubtedly using the time to find inspiration and to
write poems.
The park across from his house was one of his favorite places.
Elizabeth Park is huge, covering over 100 acres with formal
gardens, meadows, lawns, greenhouses, and a pond. Stevens wrote the
following poems About Elizabeth Park:
By 1950, Stevens was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National
Book Award for his poetry.
And, here's a little known fact about Wallace Stevens: He once
started a fist-fight with Ernest Hemingway in Key West.
Unearthed Words
August Weather Folklore. It's surprising how many August sayings
mention winter.
Here's some August Weather Folklore:
As August, so February.
If the first week in August is unusually warm,
The winter will be white and long.
So many August fogs, so many winter mists
For every fog in August,
There will be a snowfall in winter.
Observe on what day in August the first heavy fog occurs, and
expect a hard frost on the same day in
October.
If a cold August follows a hot July,
It foretells a winter hard and dry.
In August, thunderstorms after St. Bartholomew (August 24th)
are mostly violent.
When it rains in August, it rains honey and
wine.
August is that last flicker of fun and heat before everything fades
and dies. The final moments of fun before the freeze. In the
winter, everything changes.
— Rasmenia Massoud, author and short story writer, August
Weather
Grow That Garden Library
How They Decorated by P. Gaye Tapp and Charlotte
Moss
This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle
is Inspiration from Great Women of the Twentieth
Century.
"Interior designer and blogger P. Gaye Tapp recollects the lives
and impeccably decorated homes of 16 iconic women in her upcoming
book, How They Decorated: Inspiration From Great Women of the
Twentieth Century."
—New York Magazine
"In How They Decorated: Inspiration from Great Women of the
Twentieth Century, blogger P. Gaye Tapp casts her eyes on the
decorating styles of iconic women like Babe Paley, Pauline de
Rothschild, Mona Von Bismarck, and Elsa Schiaparelli. Whether these
women employed top decorators or executed their homes on their own,
the book provides great insights into lives fabulously lived."
—Forbes.com
"Covering these sixteen elegant women, she shows how they (most, of
course, worked with decorators, architects, and designers)
orchestrated rooms of great charm, individuality, and style. Tables
are lavishly set, bedrooms invite lingering, fashions are paraded.
And then, just when the lavish interiors are feeling rather
intense, she introduces Georgia O'Keeffe (bold simplicity) and then
Lesley Blanche, the ultimate romantic. It's a book to treasure. I
love it."
—The Style Saloniste
Now, this is not a gardening book. But this book is 224 pages of
gorgeous decorating and many feature botanicals and indoor
gardening that add nature-inspired beauty to these incredible
spaces.
You can get a copy of How They Decorated by P. Gaye Tapp
and Charlotte Moss and support the show, using the Amazon Link in
today's Show Notes for around
$26.
Today'sBotanic Spark
A few days ago, Andrea Brunsendorf of Longwood gardens
wrote an
excellent post about the little Studio Garden and
the plants she used to create some of her gorgeous containers. I
thought you would love to hear about it. Be sure to read Andrea's
full post for more details on additional plants that she loves. If
you especially enjoy hearing about plant styling and putting
different combinations of plants together, you will particularly
enjoy listening to Andrea's post.
Here's an excerpt:
"As Longwood's Director of Outdoor Landscapes, I am very
fortunate that my office opens up to a little patio known as the
Studio Garden. This 35-[square]-foot space... centers around a
large elliptical concrete pad, surrounded by low stone walls to sit
for lunch or lean one's bicycle against before or after it gets you
around the gardens in the morning. This beautiful little space
serves as a constant reminder that the physical action of gardening
is good for us … not just for our bodies, but also for our mental
well-being, as it gives our minds a respite.
This morning…[as I wrote about my containers,] I was reminded
of the basic human need for nurturing something like plants … and
the simple pleasure that comes with it.
In early June, once all the seasonal change-outs from spring to
summer have taken place… you will find me squirreling around,
collecting left-over plants to switch out the Studio Garden's
seasonal containers from spring bulbs to summer annuals. This year…
sparked the idea of creating a calm... interesting space to rest my
eyes … and ... meet colleagues for a social-distancing
lunch.
The mantra I followed while gathering from the surplus plants
was looking for green—one of the most diverse, versatile, and
beautiful colors in the plant kingdom.
I pulled back from intense flower colors and focused on the
textures, structures, and foliage of plants by combining those
based on harmony and contrast. I looked at the plant's character
and habit, beyond their flower color, when assembling them in
pots.
I should mention that I tend to mass containers and pots
together of the same neutral material and similar style but vary
their sizes and shapes. For example, I utilize mass groupings of
aged concrete containers and groupings of smaller terracotta pots
to build my pot compositions in the Studio Garden.
In my larger container in the Studio Garden, I have the beloved
silver dollar gum (Eucalyptus cinereal) with a purple-leaved
shrubby spurge, Caribbean copper-plant (Euphorbia cotinifolia)...
[combined with} fine-textured pheasant tail grass (Anemanthele
lessoniana). [This is a] grass that I miss so much from my
gardening days in London, where of course, it is hardy; [but] here
in Pennsylvania, in Zone 6b, we just must enjoy it during the
warmer months before the extreme winter colds take it.
Honestly, I am not sure how … the pheasant tail grass from New
Zealand is going to weather the high humidity combined with
summer's heat on my patio, but as gardeners, we should not be
afraid to experiment. Trialing new plants, growing them in
different conditions, or creating 'unusual' compositions are all
worthy ventures. Sometimes a plant fails and doesn't thrive, or the
impact of the intended design is not what we hoped for, but in the
end, we have learned something, we have grown from that experience,
and we have become more knowledgeable and skilled in our art and
craft of gardening … all while enjoying that simple human pleasure
of caring for plants."