The Daily Gardener is a weekday show.
It will air every day Monday - Friday
(I’m taking weekends off for rest, family, fun, & gardening!)
The show will debut April 1, 2019. The tagline for the show is thoughts & brevities to inspire growth.
Shows are between 5 - 10 minutes in length.
The format for the show begins with a brief monologue followed by brevities.
The Brevities segment is made up of 5 main topic areas.
1. Commemoration: Here, I dig up fascinating people, places, and events in horticulture and share them with you. This is the “On This Day” #OTD portion of the show helping you feel more grounded and versed o n the most enchanting stories from the history of gardening.
2. Unearthing Written Work: This is made up of poems, quotes, journal entries, and other inspiring works pertaining to gardening
3. Book Recommendations: These are the literary treasures that will help you build a garden library, strengthen your gardening know-how and inspire you.
4. Garden Chores: A Daily Garden To-Do; improve your garden one actionable tip at a time
5. Something Sweet: This segment is dedicated to “reviving the little botanic spark” in your heart - to paraphrase botanist Alexander Garden; to add more joy to the pursuit of gardening.
The show sign-off is: "For a happy, healthy life: garden every day"
There are a few easter eggs in the show for Still Growing listeners. I still start the show with - "Hi there, everyone" and I end the show by saying the show is "produced in lovely, Maple Grove, Minnesota”.
The music for the show is called “The Daily Gardener Theme Song” originally dubbed “Bach’s Garden". I wrote it on Garageband. It will be available as a ringtone for your smartphone through the show’s Patreon page.
If you enjoy the show, please share it with your garden friends. I would so appreciate that.
Jul 25, 2019
Are you growing Cleome?
My daughter just had her senior pictures taken and I took some
cuttings from the garden for her to hold during her photo shoot.
For one of the pictures, I had her hold just one large white
blossom in her hands. It looked like a giant puffball and it had a
very etherial quality about it
Cleome is beautiful - but it is also sticky - so keep that in mind
if you handle it.
I know some gardeners have no trouble sowing cleome directly into
their gardens, but some gardeners complain that it can be an
inconsistent germinater.
I like to sow cleome right now since the seeds like strong light to
get going. Sometimes cleome can benefit from staking - so keep that
in mind as well.
And, if you are planning a cutting garden, it is hard to beat
cleome. The blooms are a show-stealer in any arrangement.
Brevities
#OTD The Botanic garden at Oxford, also known as the Physic
Garden, was founded on this day in 1632.
The garden is the oldest in England. When the garden was
founded,the ground where the garden stands had been raised to
protect it from floods.
During the founding ceremony, dignitaries of the University walked
in a procession from St. Mary's church to the garden. Mr. Edward
Dawson, a physician, and Dr. Clayton, the Regius Professor of
Medicine, each gave a speech and a stone was placed in the garden
gateway by the Vice-Chancellor himself.
#OTD Today is the birthday of William Forsyth
who was born on this day in 1804.
Forsyth was a Scottish botanist. He trained as a gardener at the
Physic Garden and was an apprentice to Philip Miller, the chief
gardener. In 1771, Forsyth himself took over the chief gardening
position.
Three years later, he built one of the very first rock gardens with
over 40 tons of stone collected from the land around the Tower of
London and even some pieces of lava imported from Iceland. The
effort was noted for posterity, the garden was a bust.
Forsyth was also the founding member of the Royal Horticultural
Society. The genus, Forsythia, is named in his honor.
#OTD The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge died on
this day in 1834.
Along with his friend, William Wordsworth, he helped found the
Romantic Movement in England and was a member of a group called the
Lake Poets.
In his poem called Youth and Age, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
wrote,
"Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like;
Friendship is a sheltering tree;"
#OTD On this day in 1938, Canadian Naturalist Charles
Joseph Sauriol (“Sar-ee-all”) wrote about sharing his garden with a
toad.
He wrote,
"One particular toad has taken quite a fancy to the Wild Flower
garden. His den is alongside the Hepatica plant. There he sits half
buried, and blinks up at me while I shower water on him."
Unearthed Words
Here are a few English proverbs about July:
"If the first of July be rainy weather,
It will rain, more of less, for four weeks together."
"The glowing Ruby should adorn
Those who in warm July are born,
Then will they be exempt and free
From love's doubt and anxiety."
Today's book
recommendation: The Fragrant Path by Louise Beebe
Wilder
This is a wonderful guide to the cultivation of scented flowers.
The newly revised edition includes modern varieties as well.
The late Louise Beebe Wilder is that rare figure, a garden writer
from another era (she was born in 1878). Her books continue to be
published because they are so charming and contain a wealth of
horticultural knowledge.
Today's Garden Chore
Go to a local farmers market - not for the produce - for
the knowledge.
The growers at the farmer's market have an expertise about growing
that is often an untapped resource. Plus, the growers are so
generous with Information.
It's always a pleasure to talk to someone who has first-hand
knowledge about growing plants.
Something Sweet
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
Today in 1874, the The Opelousas Courier shared a wonderful
story called "A Case of Floral Offerings."
The story was from Berlin, it told of an actress who was playing
the role of a female Hamlet.
She wanted to have bouquets and wreaths thrown to her at the end of
her performance.
When a man told her that the flowers would cost $20, the actress
said that it was too much for one night.
But, the gentleman had an idea. He said, twenty dollars would be
sufficient for two nights.
And he explained how it would work. He said,
"Today, I and my men, will throw the bouquets to you from the first
tier. After the performance is over, I shall take the flowers home
with me in a basket [and] put them in water... Tomorrow night [we
will toss them at your feet again]. No one in the audience will
know that the bouquets have been used before."
The actress liked to the man's ingenious plan and paid the sum he
had demanded.
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."