Jun 2, 2021
Today we celebrate an English novelist and poet who started out
as an architecture student, and one of his first jobs was moving a
graveyard.
We'll also learn about a writer of charming garden verses.
And we’ll hear an excerpt about lilacs.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a look at some of the most
exclusive private gardens in Paris.
And then we’ll wrap things up with the birthday of a New York
architect and children's book writer who wrote about a spelling bee
- a bee that would come in handy when it comes to writing Botanical
Latin.
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Important Events
June 2, 1840
Today is the birthday of the English novelist and poet Thomas
Hardy.
A Victorian realist like George Eliot, Thomas Hardy was a product
of provincial England. A fan of John Milton, the Romanticism of
William Wordsworth influenced his writing. He’s most remembered for
his novels set in rural Wessex, Far From the Madding Crowd
(1874) and Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891).
In Shaun Bythell’s book, The Diary of a Bookseller, he shares a
common mispronunciation of Thomas’s first literary success,
“A customer at 11.15 a.m. asked for a copy of Far from the
Maddening Crowd. In spite of several attempts to explain that the
book's title is actually Far from the Madding Crowd, he resolutely
refused to accept that this was the case, even when the
overwhelming evidence of a copy of it was placed on the counter
under this nose: 'Well, the printers have got that wrong.' Despite
the infuriating nature of this exchange, I ought to be grateful: he
has given me an idea for the title of my autobiography should I
ever be fortunate enough to retire.”
In Tess the D’Urbervilles, Thomas gives us a charming description
of summer. He wrote,
“The season developed and matured. Another year's instalment of
flowers, leaves, nightingales, thrushes, finches, and such
ephemeral creatures, took up their positions where only a year ago
others had stood in their place when these were nothing more than
germs and inorganic particles. Rays from the sunrise drew forth the
buds and stretched them into long stalks, lifted up sap in
noiseless streams, opened petals, and sucked out scents in
invisible jets and breathings.”
And here’s an excerpt where Tess compares the stars to apples.
“Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?"
"Yes."
"All like ours?"
"I don't know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like
the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound -
a few blighted."
"Which do we live on - a splendid one or a blighted
one?"
"A blighted one.”
Today, the National Trust takes care of Thomas Hardy’s charming
thatch cottage and garden near Dorchester. Thomas’s
great-grandfather built the cottage.
In 1891, workers were digging on Thomas Hardy’s property called Max
Gate. They were installing a drain in the driveway when they
discovered a large druid stone that thrilled Thomas, and he set it
in his garden.
Nearly a century later, it was discovered that Hardy's house was
situated on top of a large Neolithic enclosure - an ancient stone
circle - and burial site.
Here’s an excerpt poem by Thomas Hardy, which began writing in
1913, called “The Shadow on the Stone.” It took him three years to
complete the poem, and the shadow of the gardener that he sees is
that of his wife Emma, who had passed away.
I went by the Druid stone
That broods in the garden white and lone,
And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows
That at some moments fall thereon
From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,
And they shaped in my imagining
To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders
Threw there when she was gardening.
During the 1860s, as a young man - before he became known as a poet
and writer - Thomas Hardy took a job as a trainee architect while
he was going to school in London for architecture. One of his first
jobs was to move remains and grave markers at St Pancras to make
way for the Midland Railway line. Charles Dickens referred to the
St Pancras churchyard in his Tale of Two
Cities as the place where Jerry Cruncher used to fish -
meaning he robbed graves.
Despite his unhappy task, Thomas had a burst of inspiration, and he
decided to place hundreds of the headstones on their sides and
nestle them around an ash tree. The effect was that of a sunburst
radiating out from the trunk. Over time, the Ash tree became known
as the Hardy Tree at St Pancras Old Churchyard in London. As the
tree’s roots intertwined with the headstones, the Hardy Tree
developed a bit of a reputation and fascinated generations of
future writers. Today, the Hardy Tree, still surrounded by grave
markers, is an obscure stop for tourists.
June 2, 1865
Today is the birthday of the artist, costume designer, poet, and
writer Minnie Aumônier ("o·mo·nyé").
Over the years, Minnie’s life story has passed into obscurity,
although we know she was born into an artistic family. In 1876, her
father, William, founded an architectural sculpture firm in London
known as Aumonier Studios. Her Uncle James was a painter.
Minnie wrote some beautiful verses about the garden. One of her
verses says,
“There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our
hearts must be very quiet to hear it.”
Minnie was romantic and sentimental. Her poetry is sugar sweet and
winsome - the kind of verse that ends up on garden art - like this
verse:
“When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is
always the garden.”
Unearthed Words
Caroline wiped her cheek with the back of her gardening glove,
leaving a dark smudge below one eye, then pulled off her
gloves.
'But it's fitting in a way - Father loved the fact that a lilac
only blossoms after a harsh winter.'
Caroline reached over and smoothed the hair back from my brow with
a light touch. How many times had my mother done that? 'It's a
miracle all of this beauty emerges after such hardship, don't you
think?
― Martha Hall Kelly, author, and native New
Englander, Lilac
Girls (New York Times bestseller)
Grow That Garden Library
Secret Gardens of Paris by Alexandra D'Arnoux and Bruno De
Laubadere
This book came out in 2000.
In this book, Alexandra and Bruno offer us a sneak peek into some
of Paris's most exclusive private gardens; most are unavailable for
tours or visitors. Many of these hidden gems have been maintained
for centuries as secret gardens and retreats that have been passed
down through families and owners who relish their private slice of
heaven on earth. These gardens range from formal to eclectic. There
are Japanese-inspired gardens, tropical or exotic hideaways,
topiary gardens, and urban retreats, just to name a few.
This book is 176 pages of privileged access to 50 private Parisian
gardens
You can get a copy of Secret Gardens of Paris by Alexandra
D'Arnoux and Bruno De Laubadere and support the show using the
Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $3
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
June 2, 1929
Today is the birthday of the New York architect and children's book
writer Norton Juster.
In 1961, Norton wrote his most famous book, The
Phantom Tollbooth, which tells of a little boy named
Milo who receives a make-believe Tollbooth with the power to take
him to the Lands Beyond.
In this imaginary world, Milo meets many extraordinary characters,
including a Bee obsessed with spelling. Here’s a cute little
excerpt:
“Then just as time ran out he spelled as fast as he could -
“v-e-g-e-t-a-b-l-e”.
“Can you spell everything?" asked Milo admiringly.
"Just about," replied the bee with a hint of pride in his
voice. "You see, years ago I was just an ordinary bee minding my
own business, smelling flowers all day, and occasionally picking up
part-time work in people's bonnets. Then one day I realized that
I'd never amount to anything without an
education and, being naturally adept at spelling, I
decided that—”
At that moment, another far-fetched character enters the story.
Now the etymology of the curious blend “spelling bee” has never
been fully established - although it is a distinctly American term.
When the pioneers were settling this country, they held all kinds
of bees to help each other accomplish arduous tasks more quickly.
For instance, there were sewing bees and quilting bees, husking
bees, logging bees, spinning bees, and apple bees. There were also
fire brigades and barn-raisings - both clearly missed opportunities
for fire bees and barn bees. Perhaps that’s how we got the term
“spelling bee.” Maybe people just added the word bee to any novel
social gathering, and somehow, spell bee just seemed to be perfect
- a friendly term - describing a high-pressure competition intended
to motivate kids to learn to spell. The term first appeared in
print in the 1870s.
Recently, word experts have suggested that the word bee was rooted
in a Middle English word for favor or prayer - “bene,” which
is the root of the word beneficial. Over time, bene became the
English word “been” (or “bean”), which Websters defines
as "voluntary help given by neighbors toward the
accomplishment of a particular task." So the new theory
is that the word evolved over time from bene to been to bee.
Over on his blog, Scientist Sees Squirrel, Stephen
Heard shared a post called Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Latin Names in
which he included the very hard to spell:
Weberbauerocereus cephalomacrostibas (“Weberbauer-uh-SEER-ee-us
sef-ah-LO-mah-cros-tuh-bus”), which is a cactus and
Cryptodidymosphaerites princetonensis
(“krip-toe-did-uh-mus-fuh-rye-tees princeton-EN-sis"), which is a
fungus.
Stephen writes,
“These names mostly have one thing in common: they try to do
way, way too much. They try to mention a place, and the name
of a related taxon, and a descriptive trait, and another
descriptive trait, and then modify that … and then they keep on
going.”
Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener.
And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."