The Daily Gardener
The Daily Gardener is a podcast about Garden History and Literature.
The podcast celebrates the garden in an "on this day" format and every episode features a Garden Book.
Episodes are released M-F.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 20 minutes
- Episodes
- 545
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2024
February 19, 2021 A Wild Spring Plant Display, The Orchid Thief, Charles Swingle, Growing Algerian Iris, Embroidered Ground by Page Dickey, and Strange Embroidery with Botanist Eliza Brightwen
Today we look back at the story that inspired the book The Orchid Thief. We'll also learn about the incredible true story of a Madagascar explorer. We hear words about the incredible Algerian Iris. W…
February 18, 2021 The Little Fern That Could, Antoine Nicolas Duchesne, Snowy Owls, Showy Lady's-Slipper, Ellis Rowan by Kate Collins, and the New Rare-Plant House at the Fairchild Tropical Garden
Today we celebrate the French botanist who created the modern strawberry. We'll also learn about the sweet little orchid known as the moccasin flower. We hear words that offer perspective on our loss…
February 17, 2021 Stickiness as a Plant Weapon, Rudolph Jacob Camerarius, Reginald Farrer, The Over-Nurturer Gardening Style, Earth Moved by Amy Stewart, and the Birth Flowers of February
Today we celebrate one of the earliest botanists and his essential discoveries about plant physiology. We'll also learn about a man known as the 'Prince of Alpine gardeners.’ We hear the story of a w…
February 16, 2021 Plant Selfishness, Townshend Stithe Brandegee, the New Jersey State Flower, Duck Hill Journal by Page Dickey, and the Remarkable Josephine S. Margetts
Today we celebrate a botanist of the American West and the husband of Kate Brandegee. We'll also learn about the woman who created the legislation for the New Jersey State Flower, the Violet. We hear…
February 15, 2021 Pioneer Trees for the Forest Garden, Archibald Menzies, Ernest Henry Wilson, The Gardener-Botanists of the 1927 South Africa Expedition, Dried Flowers by Morgane Illes, and Garden Design Tips from David Stevens
Today we celebrate the man who introduced the Monkey Puzzle tree to England. We'll also learn about the prolific plant explorer who was disabled after searching for the regal lily - but he never had …
February 12, 2021 Organizing the Garden Shed, Jan Swammerdam, George Jackman, Walking Through the Garden at Night, Desert Gardens of Steve Martino by Caren Yglesias, and Celebrating William Mason
Today we celebrate the man who discovered the queen bee had ovaries, and he also said the head of the colony was not a king - but a queen. We'll also learn about the family behind the ubiquitous Jack…
February 11, 2021 Gardening for Health, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Should Botany Be Taught In Schools, Saving the Sakura, Darwin's Most Wonderful Plants by Ken Thompson, and Garden-Inspired Verses About Love
Today we celebrate a woman who was insatiable when it came to plants, and she is remembered forever with the Portland Rose. We'll also learn about a famous speech given at a Vermont botanical club ab…
February 10, 2021 New Owners at Barton Springs Nursery, Benjamin Smith Barton, Winifred Mary Letts, A Sense of the Soil, Cottage Gardens by Claire Masset, and Remembering Laura Ingalls Wilder the Naturalist
Today we celebrate a botanist who gave Meriwether Lewis a crash course in botany. We'll also learn about a poet who wrote some touching poems that incorporated the natural world. We hear some words a…
February 9, 2021 The Dependable Jade Plant, Henry Arthur Bright, William Griffith, Bark and pH, Cooking with Flowers by Miche Bacher, and Winter Garden Chores from 1889
Today we celebrate a man who published his garden journal in a book - and inspired countless gardeners and gardener writers with his resonant words. We'll also learn about a young botanist with drive…
February 8, 2021 The Gardening Doctor, John Ruskin, Henry Walter Bates, Winter Gardening Attire, Concrete Garden Projects by Camilla Arvidsson and Malin Nilsson and Jane Austen's 1807 Letter to Her Sister Cassandra
Today we celebrate an English critic who wrote some of our most beautiful quotes about gardens, nature, and flowers. We'll also learn about a dedicated English naturalist who lived in the Rainforest …
February 5, 2021 Carnation History, John Lindley, Karl Theodor Hartweg, Botanists Getting Home Alive, Cadwallader Colden by Seymour Schwartz, and Celebrating Friedrich Welwitsch
Today we celebrate a botanist and orchidologist who saved Kew, We'll also learn about an orchid hunter who collected plants on behalf of the London Horticultural Society. We hear some words about the…
February 4, 2021 Starting Seeds for the First Time, Henri Dutrochet, Ruth Havey, A Winter Larder, Bunny Mellon Garden Journal by Linda Holden, and the Secret Value of Weedy Plants
Today we celebrate a botanist who helped us understand why plants are green: chlorophyll. We'll also learn about the dedicated Landscape Architect who was a protégé of Beatrix Farrand. We hear some t…
February 3, 2021 Jellicoe's Shute House Masterpiece, Carl Ludwig Blume, the Huckleberry, White Snakeroot, Both by Douglas Crase, and Celebrating Sidney Lanier
Today we celebrate a man with, perhaps, the perfect last name for a botanist: Blume. We'll also learn about a wild berry that is a sister to the blueberry and the cranberry. We hear some words about …
February 2, 2021 Ideas For Your Garden, The Nature Principle at Home, How to Propagate 375 Plants by Richard Rosenfeld, and February's Snowdrop Fairy
Today we celebrate a star from the silent film age, whose best movie featured a blind woman selling flowers. We'll also learn about Candlemas - the ancient celebration of the quickening of the year. …
February 1, 2021 Why Deadwood Should Be Removed, Langston Hughes, Ben Hur Lampman, How to Start a Garden, Botanicum by Kathy Willis, and the Language of Trees
Today we celebrate a Harlem poet who loved children and flowers. We'll also learn about a newspaperman who wrote a fantastic essay about a harbinger of spring: the skunk cabbage. We’ll hear some thou…
January 29, 2021 Eight Steps to Create a Stunning Winter Garden, Olga Owens Huckins, Larry McGraw, How Often Should You Prune Your Willows, Botanicals: 100 Postcards, and a Winter Joy: Scented Houseplants
Today we celebrate a woman who helped change the way pesticides were used in the United States. We'll also learn about the man who taught thousands of people how to prune and graft fruit trees and al…
January 28, 2021 New Year Plant Hunt 2021, Peter Collinson, Paul Ecke, Thoughts on Spleenwort by Susan Wittig Albert, Botanical Style by Selina Lake, and the Best Job Ever: Creating Herb Gardens
Today we celebrate a colonial botanist who introduced nearly 200 plants to British horticulture after sourcing them from his good friend John Bartram in America. We'll also learn about the man who ma…
January 27, 2021 Predicting the New Year's 2021 Garden Trends, Lewis Carroll, Terramycin, Skunk Cabbage, Botanical Baking by Juliet Sear, and the Surprise in a Botanist’s Garden: Running Buffalo Clover
Today we celebrate the writer inspired by the Oxford Botanic Garden - a place he saw every day. We'll also learn about medicine with roots in the soil in Indiana. We’ll hear a lovely excerpt about a …
January 26, 2021 Five Secrets of Front-Yard Landscaping, Nikolai Vavilov, Eloise Ray, Katharine White on Bulbs in Pots, The Joy of Botanical Drawing by Wendy Hollender, and National Seed Swap Day the Pandemic Way
Today we celebrate the Russian botanist who sought to end world hunger and created a seed bank. We'll also learn about a Landscape Architect known for her delicate illustrations and her love of reali…
January 25, 2021 How to Grow Chillies, Robert Burns, the Star of Bethlehem Orchid, the Vegetable History of Neeps and Tatties, Botanica Magnifica by Jonathan Singer, and the Garden’s Three R’s of Renovation
Today we celebrate a poet who loved flowers and became the beloved poet-son of a country that celebrates him still today. We'll also learn about an orchid that inspired a fabled true story about Char…