Feb 23, 2021
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.
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Curated News
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Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853-1922) – An Appreciation | RBGE.org |
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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."