Jan 27, 2020
Today we celebrate the King whose dream castle incorporated
1,200 varieties of tulips and the man who is regarded as the
greatest channeler of the English rural landscape.
We'll learn about the mathematician who wrote a book inspired by
the Oxford Botanic Garden and the relatively young Botanic Garden
that was started in the 90s for the Northern California region.
Today’s Unearthed Words feature a beloved American poet who wrote a
poem about Flowers in Winter.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that dives deep into the
behind-the-scenes of Sissinghurst - sharing all of Vita’s plant
choices and how she created her masterpiece.
I'll talk about a garden item that can help you keep your phone
clean and useable during the garden season - no more dirty or
smudged screens!
And then we’ll wrap things up with the anniversary of an important
antibiotic discovery from a soil sample taken in the great state of
Indiana.
But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.
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Curated Articles
Moths And Butterflies
Shift Their Symmetry To Improve Camouflage - Discover
Wildlife
Using predation experiments and image analysis, this new study
provides insights into how camouflaged prey have evolved.
A symmetrical midline makes the animal more noticeable to predators
who can compare closer symmetrical patterns more easily.
For The Love Of Peat - By John Walker
Peat-free compost for carnivorous plants..."David Morris now grows
his cobra lilies and sarracenias successfully in a basic mix of
equal parts of Melcourt Growbark Pine, perlite and lime-free grit."
(from John's article).
Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles 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
1679 Today is the birthday of German King
Karl Wilhelm von Baden-Durlach.
In 1715, Karl founded the city Karl’s Ruhe or Charles’ Repose after
he actually had a dream about building the city. At Karl’s castle
in Durlach, there was a large flower garden with nearly 1,200
varieties of tulips. He also had over 7,000 orange trees.
In 1738, Karl died while he was working in his tulip bed.
After his death, The Karlsruhe Pyramid was installed between
1823–1825 over his grave.
1805 Today is the birthday of the English
painter, etcher, and printmaker Samuel Palmer.
Samuel Palmer is regarded as the greatest artist of the English
rural landscape. Palmer’s landscapes exude a strong connection with
the land and nature. Samuel was one of the lead members of an
artist group called The Ancients who followed the visionary artist
William Blake in the final years before his death in 1827. The
Ancients often expressed their work with a mystical view of nature.
For instance, Palmer painted trees with as if they had individual
personalities.
It was Samuel Palmer who said,
“The visions of the soul, being perfect, are the only true standard
by which nature must be tried.”
With regard to the garden, Palmer built a studio in for himself in
his garden. He would access it by exiting the house through a
secret door that looked like a bookcase.
1832 Today is the birthday of the English
mathematician and writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson also known as
Lewis Carroll.
Lewis had worked as a librarian at Christ Church College in Oxford.
His office window had a view of the Dean's Garden. Lewis wrote in
his diary on the 25th of April in 1856 that he had visited the
Deanery Garden, where he was planning to take pictures of the
cathedral. Instead, he ended up taking pictures of children in the
garden. The children were allowed in the Deanery Garden But not in
the Cathedral Garden, which was connected to the Deanery Garden by
a door.
The Oxford Botanic Garden inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice in
Wonderland.
The same garden also inspired the authors JRR Tolkien and Philip
Pullman.
In Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking-Glass is this favorite
passage among gardeners:
“In most gardens," the Tiger-lily said, "they make the beds too
soft-so that the flowers are always asleep.”
1888 Today the National Geographic Society
was officially incorporated.
The National Geographic Society was founded by a group of elite
scholars, explorers, and scientists. National Geographic celebrates
the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling. It
was founded to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while
promoting the conservation of the world's cultural, historical, and
natural resources."
“Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we
help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.” –Jane Goodall
1992 The Humboldt Botanical Garden was
incorporated in the State of California. Organized by a small group
of volunteers, the goal was to create an educational botanical
garden for the Northern California region. The Gardens are
constructed on a 44.5 -acre site south of Eureka near the Humboldt
Bay adjacent to the College of the Redwoods.
Unearthed Words
Here’s a poem from the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier called
Flowers in Winter. Whittier was a Quaker. He was a staunch
abolitionist and a great lover of nature.
How strange to greet, this frosty morn,
In graceful counterfeit of
flowers,
These children of the meadows, born
Of sunshine and of
showers!
—
A wizard of the
Merrimac,
So old ancestral legends
say,
Could call green leaf and blossom
back
To frosted stem and spray.
—
The settler saw his oaken flail
Take bud, and bloom before his eyes;
From frozen pools, he saw the
pale,
Sweet summer lilies
rise.
The beechen platter sprouted
wild,
The pipkin wore its old-time
green
The cradle o’er the sleeping child
Became a leafy
screen.
—
And, while the dew on leaf and
flower
Glistened in moonlight clear and still,
Learned the dusk wizard’s spell of
power,
And caught his trick of skill.
—
The one, with bridal blush of
rose,
And sweetest breath of woodland
balm,
And one whose matron lips unclose
In smiles of saintly
calm.
Fill soft and deep, O winter
snow!
The sweet azalea’s oaken dells,
And hide the bank where roses blow,
And swing the azure bells!
Overlay the amber violet’s
leaves,
The purple aster’s brookside
home,
Guard all the flowers her pencil gives
A life beyond their
bloom.
And she, when spring comes round again
By greening slope and singing
flood
Shall wander, seeking, not in
vain,
Her darlings of the wood.
— John Greenleaf Whittier, Flowers in Winter
Grow That Garden Library
Sissinghurst by Vita Sackville-West and Sarah
Raven
The subtitle to this book is Vita Sackville-West and the Creation
of a Garden.
The British poet and writer Vita Sackville-West wrote a weekly
column in The Observer, where she shared her life at Sissinghurst.
Who better than Sarah Raven, who happens to be married to
Vita's grandson Adam Nicholson, to write this extraordinary
book and to share with us Vitas love of flowers and gardening.
Every year, gardeners and non-gardeners alike visit Sissinghurst
for inspiration and enjoyment. In fact, Sissinghurst remains one of
the most visited gardens in the world. Sarah's book is loaded with
beautiful photographs and drawings that help convey the triumph of
this special place for gardeners and lovers of beauty. Gardeners
will especially appreciate the level of detail regarding almost
every plant in the garden - why they were chosen and Vita’s
personal take on each plant. Vita’s plant lists are part of her
legacy and gift to gardeners who want to model her gorgeous plant
combinations.
You can get a used copy of Sissinghurst by Vita
Sackville-West and Sarah Raven and support the show, using the
Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $12
.
Great Gifts for Gardeners
LIBERRWAY Stylus Pen 10 Pack of Pink Purple Black Green
Silver Stylus Universal Touch Screen Capacitive Stylus for Kindle
Touch iPad iPhone 6/6s 6Plus 6s Plus Samsung S5 S6 S7 Edge S8 Plus
Note $6.98
Here’s a great little item for your garden tote - it’s a ten pack
of stylus pens. Slip them into your garden apron, put them in your
shed or garage. Keep one in your purse, pocket, or in your truck.
Now when you need to use your phone and your working in the garden,
you won’t need to remove your gloves to use your phone.
Today’s Botanic Spark
1950 Science magazine announced a brand new
antibiotic made by Charles Pfizer & Company, and it was called
Terramycin.
Pfizer & Co. Was a small chemical company that was based in
Brooklyn, New York. The company developed an expertise in
fermentation with citric acid. The method allowed them to
mass-produce drugs.
When Pfizer scientists discovered an antibiotic in a soil sample
from Indiana, their deep-tank fermentation method allowed them to
mass-produce Terramycin.
Pfizer had been searching through soil samples from around the
world - isolating bacteria-fighting organisms when they stumbled on
Terramycin - found to be effective against pneumonia, dysentery,
and other infections. Later in 1950, it was approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration. The name Terramycin is created from
the two Latin words: terra for earth and mycin, which means fungus.
- thus earth fungus.
Terramycin was the first mass-marketed product by a pharmaceutical
company. Pfizer spent twice as much marketing Terramycin as it did
on R&D for Terramycin. The gamble paid off; Terramycin, earth
fungus, made Pfizer a pharmaceutical powerhouse.