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
May 2, 2019 Plant Sales, May Fools Day, Rivdan, The White House Gardens Symposium, Jimi Hendrix, Stonewall Jackson, Didier Decoin, Dividing Iris, and The Enid A. Haupt Garden
Ah May... the Month of Plant Sales. When I started gardening, I would Plant Sale away my Saturdays in May with my dear friend Judy. We would plan our way to a successful sale day, waking up while…
May 1, 2019 Lily of the Valley, Aimee Camus, Chicago Worlds Fair 1893, Arthur Galston, Wolcott Andrews, Phoebe Hinsdale Brown, The Orchard Thief, Susan Orlean, Bare Root Roses, Chris Van Cleve, and the State Flowers
Happy May Day! Today, the tradition in France is to give a sprig of Lily of the Valley to loved ones. Originally from Japan, Lily of the Valley has long been considered lucky. It's sweet scent, bel…
April 30, 2019 Raisin Day, George Washington, William Starling Sullivant, Bertha Stoneman, Samuel Mills Tracy, David Douglas, Matt Mattus, Tulip Turkestanica, and Washington's Botanical Garden
I realize you are very excited to get going in your own garden. But don't forget to schedule some time this spring to visit other gardens. The gardens of friends, neighbors, or public gardens can p…
April 29, 2019 Perennial Defined, Agnes Chase, Cornelia Vanderbilt's Wedding, Alfred Hitchcock, Ron McBain, #AmericanSpringLive, Botany Bay, Mary Gilmore, Garden-Pedia, Composting, and the Significance of Grass
Merriam-Webster gives the following synonyms for the word perennial: abiding, enduring, perpetual, undying Those terms can give gardeners unrealistic expectations for their perennials. They're …
April 26, 2019 Early Spring Blooms, Eugene Delacroix, Charles Townes, Irma Franzen-Heinrichsdorff, John J. Audobon, Frederick Law Olmsted, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Justin Martin, Photo Friday, Anna Eliza Reed Woodcock, and the Michigan State Flower
How close are your earliest bloomers to your front door? Your crocus, snowdrops, iris, daffodils, tulips, forsythia, daphnes, and magnolias. When I redid my front garden last year, the designer h…
April 25, 2019 A Botanist's Hello, Zucchini Bread Day, President Truman, NPSOT, Gustavus Adolphus College, Marcus E. Jones, Julia Morton, Alice Tangerini, Windflowers, Agnes Falconer, Roger L. Williams, Garden Markers, and George H. Engleheart's Daffodils
Today I learned how botanists used to say "hello" to each other. In the 1800's and 1900's, a common way for botanists to introduce themselves, often from the other side of the world, was to send ea…
April 24, 2019 Chives, Botany Day, Tomitaro Makino, Lucien Plantefol, Vancouver's Botanist Restaurant, Paul George Russell, Henry Van Dyke, Charles Sprague Sargent , Stephanne Barry Sutton, Window Cleaning, and a Story from John Muir
I recently had a gardener ask me about the first herb I'd ever grown. That would be chives. Chives, like many herbs, are so easy to grow. Plus, you get the cute purple puffball blossoms. I had …
April 23, 2019 Nighttime Temperatures, Lisa Mason Ziegler, William Darlington, Thomas Grant Harbison, William Shakespeare, Elizabeth Cameron, Spring Rain for Houseplants, Barbara Pleasant, and Summer Parties at Biltmore
There's a soldier's prayer that goes, "Stay with me, God. The night is dark, The night is cold: my little spark Of courage dies. The night is long; Be with me, God, and make me strong. Dark. Cold…
April 22, 2019 Perennials, Tasha Tudor, Earth Day, August Wilhelm Eichler, Gloria Galeano, William Bartram Journal, Kew's Gardener's Guide to House Plants, Planting Trees and Shrubs, the Eichler Treasure Trove, and Peter Hirsch
Children's book writer and illustrator Tasha Tudor (Books by this author) once said, It's exciting to see things coming up again, plants that you've had for 20 or 30 years. It's like seeing an old …
April 19, 2019 Signature Plant, National Garlic Day, Gilroy Garlic Festival, E. Lucy Braun, Gilbert White, Primrose Day, Nancy Cardozo, Fiona Davison, Photo Friday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
Does your garden have a signature plant? If you can't decide, maybe it's time to let your garden do the talking. Complete the following sentence: My garden has the perfect spot to grow....(fill …
April 18, 2019 Plant Pet Names, Paul de Longpré, Elsa Beata Bunge, Maryland State Flower, Black-Eyed Susan, John Gay, Studio Oh, and Planning for Arbor Day
Do you have pet names for your plants? Amy the Amaryllis. Jerry the geranium. Once I bought some dahlias at a private plant sale. Before I drove away, I rolled down the window to ask for the …
April 17, 2019 William Cullen Bryant, Double Take Plants, John Tradescant the Elder, Graham Stuart Thomas, James McBride, Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer, Gilbert White, Mignonette, Sam Postlethwait, and the Celery Bog Nature Area
William Cullen Bryant wrote, “There is no glory in star or blossom till looked upon by a loving eye; There is no fragrance in April breezes till breathed with joy as they wander by.” That pre…
April 16, 2019 Truly Lovely Aprils, Robert Frost, Sir Hans Sloane, William Stearn, Ellen Nellie Thayer Fisher, Mary Gibson Henry, Sir Edward Salisbury, Aphra Behn, Penny Colman, and William Austin Dickinson
“The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.” ~ Robert Frost April can be a challenging time in the garden. How many truly lovely Aprils does one get in a lif…
April 15, 2019 The Garden as a World Unto Itself, William Kent, Allan Cunningham, George Harrison Shull, Francis Hallé, Alexander Garden, Francis Quarles, The Atlas of Poetic Botany, The Garden Budget, and Sphagnum Moss
William Kent wrote: "A garden is to be a world unto itself, it had better make room for the darker shades of feeling as well as the sunny ones.” I’ve usually think about my garden as my happy …
April 12, 2019 Plant Tags, Licorice, Zina Pitcher, John J. Audobon, Thomas Nuttal, William Kent, Dr. Edward G. Voss, and Peter White
I was looking at the cute brass plant labels on the Target website the other day - I was trying to find the link to that adorable garden tote I was telling you about and I thought about the evolution…
April 11, 2019 Yearlong Care of the Garden, Luther Burbank, Yogi Yogananda, Elsie Elizabeth Esterhuysen, John Paulus Lotsy, Ogden Nash, Barbara Kingsolver, Mary Treat, A New Garden Tote, and the Clark Botanic Garden
How much do you care for your garden? Does your time and attention stay pretty constant throughout the season? If not, why not? What would your garden look like in August if you loved it then a…
April 10, 2018 Mary Hiester Reid, George Reid, Onteora, Duncan Sutherland Macorquodale, Mary Reynolds, Pruning Grapevines, and the First Arbor Day
Just when you thought you had winter beat… You thought wrong. Surprise. Unpredictable weather. Dicey temperatures. Gardeners need resilience. If Spring’s arrival is dashing your hope, sta…
April 9, 2019 Phebe Lankester, James Sowerby, Joseph Trimble Rothrock, Asa Gray, Louis Agassiz, Gardeners Question Time, Charles Baudelaire, Katie Daisy, the Toronto Archives, and Joseph Sauriol
Today’s thought is exactly that: How we think when we garden. Emerson wrote: Blame me not, laborious band, For the idle flowers I brought; Every aster in my hand Comes back laden with a thought. How …
April 8, 2019 John Claudius Loudon, Mary Pickford, Katie Melua, Hugo von Mohl, William Watson, Jackie Bennett, and the Duke of Wellington
Have you given much thought to the layout or shape of your garden beds? Do they follow the natural lines and slopes of the landscape? Are they geometric? Long beds with corners? Maybe you’ve tried …
April 5, 2019 Garden Dreams, Birkenhead Park, Lord Viscount Morpeth, Matthias Schleiden, Algernon Swinburne, Joseph Paxton, Garden Picture Day, Edward Kemp
It’s decision time in the garden.
What will your projects be this year?
Often, we have no idea if our dreams for our gardens will come true. Gardeners may dream bigger dreams than emperors, but we c…