The Daily Gardener Jennifer Ebeling

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Historical Events
1801 William Henry Seward "Sue-erd", an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, is born.
He was also featured in the book by Doris Kearns Goodwin called Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, in which she wrote about William as a naturalist. He loved his garden.
This little passage offers so many insights into William as a nature lover. As a gardener and just to set this up, this is taking place during the civil war when there's a little break in the action for Seward, and he accompanies his wife Frances and their daughter, back to Auburn, New York, where they were planning to spend the summer. 
Seward accompanied Frances and Fanny back to Auburn, where they planned to spend the summer. For a few precious days, he entertained old friends, caught up on his reading, and tended his garden.
The sole trying event was the decision to fell a favorite old poplar tree that had grown unsound. Frances could not bear to be present as it was cut, certain that she "should feel every stroke of the axe." Once it was over, however, she could relax in the beautiful garden she had sorely missed during her prolonged stay in Washington.
Nearly sixty years old, with the vitality and appearance of a man half his age, Seward typically rose at 6 a.m. when first light slanted into the bedroom window of his twenty-room country home. Rising early allowed him time to complete his morning constitutional through his beloved garden before the breakfast bell was rung. Situated on better than five acres of land, the Seward mansion was surrounded by manicured lawns, elaborate gardens, and walking paths that wound beneath elms, mountain ash, evergreens, and fruit trees. 
Decades earlier, Seward had supervised the planting of every one of these trees, which now numbered in the hundreds. He had spent thousands of hours fertilizing and cultivating his flowering shrubs. With what he called 'a lover's interest," he inspected them daily. 
 
Then I love what Doris writes next because she's contrasting Seward with Abraham Lincoln in terms of their love of working outside.
[Seward's] horticultural passion was in sharp contrast to Lincoln's lack of interest in planting trees or growing flowers at his Springfield home. Having spent his childhood laboring long hours on his father's struggling farm, Lincoln found little that was romantic or recreational about tilling the soil.
When Seward "came into the table," his son Frederick recalled, "he would announce that the hyacinths were in bloom, or that the bluebirds had come, or whatever other change the morning had brought."
 

1809 Martha Ballard recorded her work as an herbalist and midwife.
For 27 years, Martha kept a journal of her work as the town healer and midwife for Hallowell, Maine. Today Martha's marvelous journal gives us a glimpse into the plants that she regularly used and how she applied them medicinally.
And as for how Martha sourced her plants, she raised them in her garden or foraged for them in the wild. As the village apothecary, Martha found her own ingredients and personally made all of her herbal remedies.
Here's what the writer, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Wrote about Martha's work back in May of 1809. 
Martha's far more expansive record focused on the mundane work of gardening, the daily, incremental tasks that each season exacted. 
In May of 1809, she "sowed," "sett," "planted,' and "transplanted" in at least half dozen places, digging ground "west of the hous" on May 15 and starting squash, cucumbers, muskmelons and watermelons on "East side house" the same day. 
She planted "by the hogg pen" on May 16 and 18 on May 23 sowed string peas "in the end of my gardin," and on May 26, planted "south of

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Historical Events
1497 John Cabot, the Canadian Explorer, set sail from Bristol, England, on his ship, Matthew.
He was looking for a route to the west, and he found it. He discovered parts of North America on behalf of Henry VII of England.
And in case you're wondering why we're talking about John Cabot today, it's because of the climbing rose named in his honor. And it's also the rose that got me good. I got a thorn from a John Cabot rose in my knuckle and ended up having surgery to clean out the infection about three days later. It was quite an ordeal. I think my recovery took about eight months. So the John Cabot Rose - any rose - is not to be trifled with.
 
1519 Leonardo da Vinci, the mathematician, scientist, painter, and botanist, died.
Leonardo once said,
We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.
 
He also wrote,
The wisest and noblest teacher is nature itself.
 
And if you're spending any time outdoors, we are learning new lessons in spring. Isn't that the truth? There's always some new development we've never encountered - and, of course, a few delights.
Leonardo continued to study the flower of life, the Fibonacci sequence, which has fascinated them for centuries. You can see it in flowers. You can also see it in cell division.
And if you've never seen Leonardo's drawings and sketches of flowers, you are missing a real treat, and I think they would make for an awesome wallpaper.
Leonardo once wrote about how to make your own perfume.
He wrote,
To make a perfume, take some rose water and wash your hands in it, then take a lavender flower and rub it with your palms, and you will
achieve the desired effect.
That timeless rose-lavender combination is still a good one.
 
I think about Leonardo every spring when I turn on my sprinkler system because of consistent watering. Gives such a massive boost to the garden. All of a sudden, it just comes alive. Leonardo said,
Water is the driving force in nature.
 
The power of water is incredible, and of course, we know that life on Earth is inextricably bound to water. Nothing grows; nothing lives without water.
Leonardo was also a cat fan. He wrote,
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
 
In 1517 Leonardo made a mechanical lion for the King of France. This lion was designed to walk toward the king and then drop flowers at his feet.
Today you can grow a rose named after Leonardo da Vinci in your garden. It's a beautiful pink rose, very lush, very pleasing, with lots of lovely big green leaves to go with those gorgeous blooms.
It was Leonardo da Vinci who wrote,
Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple, or more direct than does nature because in her inventions, nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.
 
1803 On this day, Napoleon and the United States inked a deal for the Louisiana Purchase and added 828,000 square miles of French territory to the United States for $27 million.
This purchase impacted the Louis and Clark Expedition because they had to explore the area that was bought in addition to the entire Pacific Northwest.
To get ready for this trip, Meriwether Lewis was sent to Philadelphia. While there, he worked with a botanist, a naturalist, and a physician named Benjamin Smith Barton.
He was the expert in Philadelphia, so he tutored Meriwether Lewis to get him ready because Lewis did not know natural history or plants. So he needed to cram all this information to maximize what he saw and collected.
Now, in addition to all of this homework, all of this studying about horticulture and botany and the natural world, Meriwether made one other purchase for $20. He bought himself a big, beautiful Newfoundland dog, and he named him Seaman. It's always nic

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Historical Events 1772 Karl Friedrich von Gaertner, German botanist, is born.
Karl Friedrich von Gaertner had a fantastic last name; Gaertner translates to mean gardener.
Karl was a second-generation gardener. His dad was Joseph Gaertner, the great German botanist and horticulturist, so Karl essentially stepped in his father's footsteps.
Karl's claim to fame was his work with hybrids with hybridizing plants. Along with other botanists, he laid the foundation for Gregor Mendel, who discovered the basic principles of heredity through his experiments with peas in his garden at the Augustinian monastery he lived in at Brno ("BURR-no") in the Czech Republic.
 
1890 Phebe Holder's poem, A Song of May, appeared in newspapers this month.
In addition to her religious poems, Phebe wrote about the natural world.
Gardeners delight in her poems for spring and fall.
Phebe is a fabulous New England Victorian poet and gardener I love and admire.
She loved the delicate plants of springtime and wrote a poem called A Song of May.
What song hast thou, sweet May, for me,
My listening ear what song for thee?
A song of life from growing things,
The life thy gentle presence brings;
The tender light of budding spray.
The blooming down on willow grey,
The living green that earth overspreads,
The creamy flowers on mossy beds.
From blossoms pure with petals white
As pressed from out the moonbeam's light.
The fragrant lily of the vale,
The violet's breath on passing gale:
Anemones mid last year's*leaves,
Arbutus sweet in trailing wreaths,
From waving lights of forest glade
The light ferns hiding neath the shade.
A song of joy from wood and plain,
From birds in old-time haunts again;
The silvery laugh of tuneful rill
O'er rocky bed, down craggy hill;
Soft coming of warm dropping showers,
The sighing wind in piney bowers;
The music breathed by low-voiced waves,
For listening, from ocean caves,
A plaintive strain doth memory sing,
A breathing of departed Spring:
An unseen Presence in the home,
A spirit voice-"The Master's come!".
While hearts in tender sorrow wept
O'er one beloved who silent slept,
Who in the May-time long ago
Passed the pearl gates of glory through.
A grateful song, our God, to Thee
For treasures of the earth and sea;
For all the beauty Thou hast given;
A dream to loving hearts, of heaven;
A song of life, of joy, of love,
Of trust, of faith in light adore
This offering on thy shrine I lay;
This song hast thou for me, sweet May.
 
Phebe's A Song of May recalls the flowers of spring. In the second verse, she's touching on many great spring beauties: the Lily of the Valley, violets, anemones, The Mayflower (also known as the trailing arbutus), and then, of course, ferns. In May, fern fronds cover the woodlands and understories. All of these spring plants emerge very quickly once they get growing. The ground transforms from leaf-littered - brown, drab, and dreary - to excellent with beautiful little blossoms.
 
1822 Thomas Hoy, English gardener, horticulturist, and botanist, died.
Thomas was a dedicated gardener and head gardener for the Duke of Northumberland for over four decades - so he worked with plants his entire life.
Thomas was a fellow of the Linnaean Society and liked to show his work at various plant societies And outings. 
Thomas is remembered as an experienced botanist and a capable cultivator. He was very good at his job. In fact, he was so good that the botanist Robert Brown named a popular plant genus for Thomas Hoy. Can you guess what it is?
Well, if you were thinking Hoya, you are correct.
The Hoya is a beautiful way to be remembered and honored.
I love Hoyas. I picked up a couple of variegated Hoyas over the winter, and I'm so excited to see what the flower looks like. 
Overal

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Historical Events 1766 John Mulso writes to his friend English naturalist, Gilbert White, in Selborne
Gilbert White was born in 1720, So he was 46 when he received this letter from John.
At the time. Gilbert had been keeping a journal about the goings on in his garden. Gilbert kept a journal for about three decades, and it was eventually published to the delight of readers everywhere. Today people still love reading through Gilbert White's notations, drawings,  and comments.
Gilbert had a knack for observing the natural world and describing in a relatable way all the goings on outdoors. Gilbert was very curious. He was also really personable.
When John Mulso begins his letter with a comment on the garden, he finds a point of agreement. 
Vegetation thrives apace now, and I suppose you are quite intent on your new study.
You will not perhaps relish a Prospect the worse when we force you to look up, as presume you will go with your eyes fixed on the ground most part of the summer.
You will pass with country folks as a man always making sermons, while you are only considering a Weed.
 
John makes a very astute observation - Gilbert liked gardening more than anything else on Earth. Gilbert was like many pastors or reverends of his time who also pursued their hobbies as naturalists or gardeners. During the growing season, it was coming for a naturalist parson to get distracted by their gardens.
 
1809 A retired Thomas Jefferson enjoyed spending most of his time in his garden. (Finally!)
In the spring of this year. Thomas was no longer consumed with the duties of being president. We know that in the last year of his presidency, he spent many hours pining for his garden and accumulating plants from his friend Bernard McMann and other plantsmen.
So in April of 1809, Thomas Jefferson was living his dream and his best life as a gardener. He wrote to his friend, Etienne Lemaire, on this day,
I am constantly in my garden or farms. And am exclusively employed out of doors as I was within doors when I was at Washington.
I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.
 
Isn't that an interesting observation? Comments like that may pass unnoticed, but this change in seasons, the warmer weather, and getting outdoors is powerful medicine. Spending time outdoors plays a role in our attitudes and our moods. We get more vitamin D we feel more energy.
This time of year, we eat the fresh green offerings from our gardens, whether microgreens or asparagus. The rhubarb is popping. You can even eat some hosta leaves, little tiny rolled-up cigars, as they emerge from the Earth. You can cut and fry them up in a pan the same way you would asparagus. (If they're good enough for the deer, they're good enough for us.) They're pretty tasty. The key is to harvest them early - just like you would the fiddleheads. The joys of spring...
 
1851 George Herbert Engleheart, English pastor and plant breeder, was born.
Like Gilbert White, George Herbert Engleheart was a gardener and a pastor. 
In 1889, George began breeding daffodils - some 700 varieties in his lifetime. Sadly many of them have been lost to time, but we know that some survived.
Fans of 'Beersheba,' 'Lucifer,' or 'White Lady' owe a debt of gratitude to Reverend Engleheart. Engleheart spent every spare minute breeding, and his parishioners would often find a note tacked to the church door saying,
"No service today, working with daffodils."
Engleheart's charming note reminds me of the little notes that gardeners hang on their porches or somewhere on their front door saying something sweet, like, " in the garden." And if you don't have one of those signs, you can grab a little chalkboard and a little twine And make your own.
 
1905 On this day,  David Fairchild, the great bota

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Historical Events 1575 Birth of Jakob Böhme, German original thinker.
Jakob Böhme did a great deal of thinking and writing, not only about theology and Christianity but also about the natural world.
 
Here's what Mary Oliver wrote about Böhme.
I read Jacob Boehme and am caught in his shining web.
Here are Desire and Will that should be (he says) as two arms at one task; in my life they are less cooperative.
Will keeps sliding away down the hill to play when work is called for and Desire piously wants to labor when the best season of merriment is around me.
Troublemakers both of them them.
 
And another writer I admire and enjoy is Elizabeth Gilbert.
Elizabeth wrote about Jakob Böhme in her book, The Signature of All Things. The title of her book is from something that Jakob Böhme had written. 
Jacob Boehme was a sixteenth-century cobbler from Germany who had mystical visions about plants.
Many people considered him an early botanist. Alma's mother, on the other hand, had considered him a cesspool of residual medieval superstition. So there was considerable conflict of opinion surrounding Jacob Boehme.
The old cobbler had believed in something he called the signature of all things"- namely, that God had hidden clues for humanity's betterment inside the design of every flower, leaf, fruit, and tree on earth.
All the natural world was a divine code, Boehme claimed, containing proof of our Creator's love.
 
1766 Robert Bailey Thomas, founder, editor, and publisher of The Old Farmer's Almanac, is born.
Robert made his first edition - his very first copy of The Old Farmer's Almanac -back in 1792. 
 
1889 Paul George Russell, American botanist, is born.
Paul George Russell was born in Liverpool, New York. He worked as a botanist for the United States government for over five decades.
Paul George Russell went on collecting trips in Northern Mexico. He's remembered in the names of several different plants, including the Verbena russellii, a woody flowering plant that is very pretty.
And he's also remembered in the naming of the Opuntia russellii, which is a type of prickly pear cactus.
Now during his career, Paul George Russell could identify plants based on what their seeds looked like. One of the ways that he developed this skill is he compiled a seed bank of over 40,000 different types of sources.
Today Paul George is most remembered for his work with cherry trees. He was a vital part of the team that was created to install the living architecture of Japanese cherry trees around the Washington Tidal Basin. Paul George Russell put together a little bulletin, a little USDA circular called Oriental Flowering Cherries, in March 1934. It was his most impressive work. His guide provided all kinds of facts and detailed information about the trees just when it was needed most. People were curious about the cherry trees and fell utterly in love with them once they saw them blooming in springtime.
Paul George Russell passed away at the age of 73 after having a heart attack. On a poignant note, he was supposed to see his beloved cherry trees in bloom with his daughter. They had planned a trip to go to the tidal basin together. But unfortunately, that last visit never happened.
So this year, when you see the cherry trees bloom, raise a trowel to Paul, George Russell, and remember him and his fine work. And if you can get your hands on a copy of that 72-page circular he created in 1934, that's a find. It's all still good information.
 
1841 Charles Sprague Sargent, American botanist, is born.
He was the first director of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum. 
Charles was known for being a little curmudgeonly. He was pretty stoic.
One of my favorite stories about Charles was the day he went on an exploration of mou

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1597 On this day, The Herbal, by the English herbalist John Gerard, was first published.
Today the book is considered a plagiarization of Rembert Dodoens's herbal published over forty years earlier.
In his book, John shared over 800 species of plants and gorgeous woodcut illustrations. His descriptions were simple and informative.
For instance, in his description of Self-heal or Brownwort (Prunella Vulgaris), he wrote,
There is not a better wound herb to be found.
 
In other instances, his descriptions gave us a glimpse into life in the 17th century. Regarding Borage blossoms, which he called Boragewort, he wrote,
Those of our time use the flowers in salads to exhilerate and make the mind glad.
 
During his life, John was allowed to garden on land at Somerset House, and for a time, he served as the herbalist to King James. In 1578, John was the first person to record and describe the Snakeshead fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris "mel-ee-aye-gris") thought to be native to parts of Britain but not Scotland. 
Today John is remembered in the botanical genus Gerardia.
Today, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust sells Christmas cards featuring John Gerard's woodcuts of Holly, Pears, and Mistletoe. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust cares for Shakespeare's family homes and shares the love of Shakespeare from his hometown of
Stratford-upon-Avon.
Anyway, if you'd like to support a great organization and enjoy the John Gerard Christmas cards and gift wrap, head on over to https://shop.shakespeare.org.uk/.
 
1826 Birth of Sereno Watson, American botanist & curator of the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University in Boston.
He's remembered for succeeding Asa Gray at the herbarium and continuing much of his work from 1873 until his death. A great master of botany in the American west, he also wrote Botany of California. Modern botany students easily identify Sereno for his extremely impressive beard.
Sereno was admired and respected by his peers for his great attention to detail. For instance, in 1871, Sereno named a new plant genus Hesperochiron for two little wildflowers only found in the western part of the United States. Hespero means west, and Chiron is a nod to the Centaur and the first herbalist who taught humanity about the healing powers of plants. When Sereno named this genus, he rejected the classification of these plants as members of the snapdragon family. But, after dissecting them, Sereno was convinced they belonged with the gentians. This type of due diligence and careful study made Sereno Watson a great botanist.
Today, Sereno is remembered with a very cool plant: the saw palmetto or the Serenoa repens palm. This small palm which only grows to 8-10 feet tall, is the only species in the genus Serenoa.
 
1833 Birth of Ellsworth Jerome Hill, Presbyterian minister, writer, and American botanist.

When Ellsworth was only 20 years old, one of his knees stopped working. A doctor attempted to help him figure out a way to make a living and suggested he study botany. Ellsworth pursued the suggestion and crawled from his house to the orchard, where he would pick a few flowers and then crawl back to the house to identify them.
The following year, Ellsworth was using canes to walk, and he moved to Mississippi, where the climate was warmer.
After Ellsworth met and married a young woman named Milancy Leach, she became his daily helpmate. When Ellsworth felt especially lame or lacked strength, Milancy would step in and finish the work for him.
When Ellsworth was 40, he somehow put his lameness behind him. In the back half of his life, he seemed to be better able to manage his physical challenges and cope with the symptoms.
In a touching tribute to Ellsworth after his death, the great botanist and