Feb 18, 2021
Today we celebrate the French botanist who created the modern
strawberry.
We'll also learn about the sweet little orchid known as the
moccasin flower.
We hear words that offer perspective on our loss of wildlife and
habitat.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about one of the world’s
best botanical illustrators - and here’s a hint: she was a dear
friend of Alice Lounsberry.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of the new rare-plant
house at the Fairchild Tropical Garden rebuilt after Hurricane
Katrina.
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Important Events
February 18, 1827
Today is the anniversary of the death of the French botanist,
gardener, and professor at Versailles, Antoine Nicolas Duchesne
(“do-Shane”).
A specialist in strawberries and gourds, Antoine was a student of
Bernard de Jussieu at the Royal Garden in Paris. A plant pioneer,
Antoine, recognized that mutation was a natural occurrence and that
plants could be altered through mutation at any time.
As a young botanist, Antoine began experimenting with strawberries.
Ever since the 1300s, wild strawberries had been incorporated into
gardens. But on July 6, 1764, Antoine created the modern strawberry
- the strawberry we know today.
Strawberries are members of the rose family, and they are unique in
that their seeds are on the outside of the fruit.
Just how many seeds are on a single strawberry? The average
strawberry has around 200 seeds.
To get your strawberry plant to produce more fruit, plant in full
sun, in well-drained soil, and trim the runners.
February 18, 1902
Today the Showy Lady’s-Slipper became the State Flower of
Minnesota.
The Lady Slipper orchid was discovered in 1789 by William Aiton.
The Lady Slipper’s common name is inspired by the unusual form of
the third petal, and it’s what makes the bloom look like a little
shoe.
During his lifetime, Darwin repeatedly tried to propagate the
Lady’s-Slipper Orchid. He never succeeded. The Lady Slipper’s
growing conditions are quite particular - which is why they are
almost impossible to keep in a traditional garden. It’s also
illegal to pick, uproot or unearth the flowers - which was a
problem in the 1800s when people collected them almost to
extinction. Since 1925, the Lady’s-Slipper has been protected by
Minnesota state law.
In the wild, Lady’s-Slippers grow in swamps, bogs, and damp woods.
They take forever to grow, and they can grow for almost a decade
before producing their first flower, which can last for two months
in cooler weather. As long-lived plants, Lady’s-Slippers can grow
as old as 100 years and grow up to 4 feet tall.
To Native Americans, the Lady’s-Slipper was known as the moccasin
flower. An old Ojibwe legend told of a plague that had occurred
during a harsh winter. Many people died - including the tribal
healer. Desperate for help, a young girl was sent to find medicine.
But, the snow was deep, and in her haste, she lost her boots and
left a trail of bloody footprints in the snow. The legend was that
her footprints were marked with the beautiful moccasin flower every
spring.
One summer, when Henry David Thoreau came upon a red variety of
Lady’s-Slipper in the woods, he wrote about it, saying:
“Everywhere now in dry pitch pine woods stand the red lady’s
slipper over the red pine leaves on the forest floor rejoicing in
June. Behold their rich striped red, their drooping sack.”
Unearthed Words
I remembered reading that during the great flight year of 1926-27,
over 2,300 snowy owls were shot and kept his trophies in the United
States alone. One of the greatest difficulties for modern
conservationists, I think, is to rightly conceive how much we have
lost. We trudge so far today to see so little that the result is
often a strangely pathetic elation.
— Robert Finch, Nature writer, Common
Ground, Snowy
Grow That Garden Library
Ellis Rowan, 1848-1922 by Kate Collins
This book came out in 1989, and it’s part of the Australian book
series that featured its most outstanding artists.
My copy arrived last week, and it features incredible full-page
color plates of Australian native flowers, birds, and insects.
Born in Melbourne, Ellis married Frederic Rowan in 1873. Ellis
discovered painting after her botanist husband, Frederick,
encouraged her to develop talent, and it was a passion that she
pursued until her death.
Ellis’s life was full of adventure. She traveled and painted
abroad. Three of her paintings were presented to Queen Victoria. My
favorite stories about Ellis concern her wonderful friendship with
the botanist and writer Alice Lounsberry, and they created three
beautiful books about the flowers of North America.
During the First World War, Ellis was living in New Guinea. At one
point, she painted 45 of the 62 known species of birds of
paradise.
As a woman living during the mid-1800s, Ellis followed the dress
code of her era. Wherever she went, whether on an expedition or at
home, Ellis was always impeccably dressed. Ellis’s daily attire
included heavy ankle-length dresses, high collars with full
sleeves, crinolines, corsets, whalebone stays, and a hat.
Just before Ellis died, the federal parliament in Australia debated
whether to buy 1,000 of Ellis' paintings. The Australian artist and
novelist Norman Lindsay called Ellis' work vulgar - believing
wildflowers were unworthy subjects for art. But ultimately, Ellis'
paintings were purchased for $5,000, and they are now a treasured
part of Australia's National Library.
This book is 52 pages of the beautiful work of Ellis Rowan.
You can get a copy of Ellis Rowan, 1848-1922 by Kate
Collins and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's
Show Notes for around $9
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
February 18, 1996
On this day, The Miami Herald shared a story
about rebuilding the rare plant house at the Fairchild Botanical
Garden.
“The born-again rare-plant house at the Fairchild Tropical
Garden called Windows on the Tropics has a new roof and new walls -
and a whole collection of staghorn ferns mounted like prize stag
heads overlooking the inner courtyard.
The new $1 million conservatory at the Fairchild Tropical
Garden that is being built on the footprint of the
hurricane-demolished rare plant house is nearing its opening
day.
It will be the last piece of the Hurricane Andrew puzzle to be
put back into place in the garden. More than 2,000 plants will be
on display in the conservatory showing about 1,000 species grouped
in themes or windows onto the natural tropical world.
One window into plant and animal interactions will feature
everything from ant plants to carnivorous plants.
Recently a buttonwood tree was bolted to a wall for the display
beneath which visitors will walk and come eyeball-to-eyeball with
insect-dissolving pitcher plants.
The window featuring epiphytic or air plants will open into the
old orchid display room [which] will include orchids, bromeliads,
and climbing philodendrons.
The new conservatory path will lead through the most modern of
greenhouse spaces [and will] house Economic plants — those used by
man — [like] coffee, pepper, vanilla, and other tropical food and
medicine plants.
Three new waterfalls are being built in the lower level of the
conservatory where ferns, tree ferns, and palms will reside ...and
here, the conservatory becomes a sensual experience.
The building is the largest aluminum structure in Florida [that
also meets] the 120-mile-an-hour wind code.
Soaring 12 feet taller than the old Rare Plant House, the
plastic roof has clerestory windows that open for ventilation and
come with built-in storm shutters.
And, plants no longer will be subjected to chemicals in city
water but to rainwater collected in two cisterns that will hold
45,000 gallons.
The conservatory will be opened on March 23rd (1996)… Instead
of having a guest speaker, the garden is letting Windows on the
Tropics do all the talking, says Barbara Schuler, director of
development.
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."