Podcast appearances and mentions of Chelsea Physic Garden

As temperatures drop, David Maxwell is joined in studio by Ann FitzSimons to consider how to deal with snow and ice in the garden. He also heads to the National Trust's Mount Stewart where despite the freezing weather work is continuing to reclaim areas of the garden lost to invasive bamboo. At the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, Emily Hazell explains how they protect tender species which already benefit from the urban heat island effect. She also explains her very precise rules for what stays and what gets cut down in the borders so they are tidy through the winter months. Also on the programme, Gardeners' World presenter Adam Frost begins his Shrub of the Month series with his must-have shrub for January. Email the programme at gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

With Christmas just around the corner, David heads to a Christmas tree farm on the outskirts of Belfast where Tony Johnston is planning for the Christmas rush in 10 year's time, as he plants trees for Christmas future. At the Chelsea Physic Garden, new head of plant collections Emily Hazell offers a look at the newly restored Pelargonium House. Oliver Schurmann chooses a grass as his final perennial of the month and gardener Claire Woods and wildlife expert Katie Bell join David in studio. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She's a rare example of someone who straddles the world of academic science and indigenous teaching; by crossing the gulf between the two, she's transformed how people understand the outside world. Her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, is a remarkable example of wisdom that thrives on being passed on: it took seven years to land in the New York Times' bestseller list, then stayed there for months. Robin lives in Upstate New York, but when she was in the UK earlier this summer I had the privilege of spending some time with her. Taking her to one of the oldest medicinal gardens in the world, the Chelsea Physic Garden, to record this conversation, was one of the highlights of my career.  This podcast is inspired by my book,⁠ Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival⁠, which is available from all good book shops.   The Why Women Grow podcast is produced by Holly Fisher, and theme music is by Maria Chiara Argiro. We've also been photographing our guests and their gardens and you can see the beautiful images captured by Siobhan Watts on my instagram account @⁠alicevincentwrites⁠. The Why Women Grow podcast is produced by Holly Fisher, and theme music is by Maria Chiara Argiro.  

Amanda Edmiston joins Shannon and Laura in this episode. Through her stories She takes people through her stories, into other worlds with layers of history, lore, and the often forgotten wisdom of the natural environment. Her work weaves together plants, herbs, and flowers with traditional tales, facts, and her own stories. Inspired by oral traditions, history, food, smells, places and objects. She has created bespoke pieces for The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow, The National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, Chelsea Physic Garden in London, and The Singapore International Storytelling Festival, amongst others. This episode delves into her brand new book, ‘The Time Travellers Herbal', her school of herbal storytelling and learning platform, Botanica Fabula, as well as some very interesting and verbose segue ways about finding, and building a connection to plants.   Instagram@ amanda.edmiston Website botanicafabula Support Turns Out She's a Witch- over on Patreon, click below I want in!- The Patreon Coven! Visit ⁠⁠AshaMoon⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ShannonCotterill ⁠⁠ Get in touch, we would love to hear questions and stories Email infobloom@bigpond.com Follow us, and DM on Instagram ⁠⁠@turnsout_shesawitch⁠⁠ Produced & Presented by Shannon Cotterill & Laura Turner. Post Production & original music by Matt Turner ⁠⁠@turnzout_media⁠⁠ 

Helen Anahita Wilson trained as a pianist and spent years performing contemporary compositions in the UK. She then became immersed in the complex rhythmical structures of Indian music. In 2019 she was about to travel to India at the start of her PhD when she was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. She underwent surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy during the Covid pandemic. She used these experiences to develop new musical forms, drawing on sonic expressions of biological processes in humans and plants. Her latest work linea naturalis is based on plants in the Chelsea Physic Garden. https://www.helenanahitawilson.com  

In August 2023, seven young people took part in Chelsea Physic Garden's third and final Plants Have Secrets digital youth project. The group made a podcast episode to feature on Chelsea Physic Garden's main podcast. The participants learned about plants that are featured in our historic glasshouses, following their restoration in 2023. Some participants were inspired by plants elsewhere in the Garden. The young people worked in small teams to produce podcast segments that were put together by Ned Sedgwick, the producer and one of the hosts of Chelsea Physic Garden's podcast. They were passionate about their chosen subjects. They created insightful and engaging content to listen to. After hearing the podcast episode, you may see the featured plants in a completely different light. Subjects covered were plants from the Andes, the Opium Wars, privilege and gardening, chocolate and the symbology of plants.

In the final chapter of our mini-series celebrating 350 years of Chelsea Physic Garden, hosts Jessica and Ned gaze into the future! Explore with them how a quirk of history safeguards Chelsea Physic Garden in an ever-changing world, and witness how the Garden protects nature from some of its greatest scourges—from climate change to goats! Presented by London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea Physic Garden, Jessica Regan and Ned Sedgwick, guide you through three episodes about the captivating world of plants and their profound impact on the past, present and future.

Delve deeper into the green wonders of Chelsea Physic Garden in 'Unlocking our collections', the second episode of our three-part series marking 350 years of plant science. Join hosts Ned Sedgwick and Jessica Regan as they seek to discover some of the secrets of the Garden's history. From its origins in 1673, to the recent reopening of  our historic Glasshouses, no fern will be left unturned!  Presented by London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea Physic Garden, Ned and Jessica will guide you through three episodes about the captivating world of plants and their profound impact on the past, present and future.

Welcome to 'Horticulture for humankind', the first instalment of a three-part mini-series celebrating 350 years of Chelsea Physic Garden. Join hosts Jessica Regan and Ned Sedgwick as they embark on a journey into the some of the epoch-changing plants that have shaped our world which can be found in the Garden. From the ancient papyrus to the history of tea, this episode delves into famous and lesser-known plants that have become integral to our lives.  Presented by London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea Physic Garden, your hosts Ned and Jessica explore the fascinating world of plants and their importance to humankind. 

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2022 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the first digital benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcastCompetition ends July 31st 2023. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://twitter.com/ChelsPhysicGdnhttps://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/https://twitter.com/FSampershttps://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-sampayo-6a4939100/ Frances Sampayo is the Deputy Director of Chelsea Physic Garden. In her day to day role she leads visitor experience, learning & public engagement, volunteering and interpretation. Ensuring that these areas are central to the organisations strategic vision.  Frances has worked for galleries, museums, heritage attractions, palaces, and now a botanic garden. She brings to life completely unique events at each site, ensuring they are rooted in people. This includes visitors, staff and collaborators. For Frances, the places she works often have many barriers for visitors, and programming offers the chance to break these down. You may not feel a botanic garden is for you, but why not start with a music night instead? The more complicated and creative the event, the better.  Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip The Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode I speak with Frances Sampayo, Deputy Director (Visitor Experience) at the Chelsea Physic Garden.We discuss the transformative journey the garden has been on with it's public programming calendar, and the exciting and unexpected outcomes that's brought the organisation.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on itunes, Spotify and all the usual channels by searching Skip The Queue.Kelly Molson: Frances, it's so lovely to have you on the podcast. Thank you for coming to join me. Frances Sampayo: Oh, thank you so much. A longtime listener. So thrilled to be here. Kelly Molson: Always lovely to hear. Well, will you be thrilled after the icebreaker questions? Who knows? Let's go. Right, I want to know, when you go out for dinner, are you a starter and a main kind of gal or main and a pudding, or all three? I mean, you can have all three. Frances Sampayo: I think it's pudding, especially if it's Tiramisu. That's it. Decision made. Kelly Molson: Okay, so Tiramisu is on the menu. That's the one you're going for. That's it. That's the focus.Frances Sampayo: Yeah, I'd probably just have that over the main, to be honest. Kelly Molson: Do you know what? There is a pudding. Yeah. So there are pudding restaurants, though, aren't there, where you can go and yeah, there's one in Cambridge. I walked past it last week while were in town and it's basically just puddings. Frances Sampayo: Oh, great. Kelly Molson: You can have a main pudding, a starter pudding and a pudding. Frances Sampayo: I will never go there. That's too dangerous for me. But, yeah. Kelly Molson: Open invite to come and join me. I would go crumble all the way. Frances Sampayo: Oh, nice. Kelly Molson: Okay, good. If you had to pick one item to win a lifetime supply of, what would you pick? Frances Sampayo: Probably something really boring like sunblock, because I am so pale to that. That would be really handy for me. Kelly Molson: Well, we should all wear sunscreen. Very important. Doesn't matter about being pale. More important to not have skin cancer. Frances Sampayo: Very true. Very true. Kelly Molson: Okay, good. Final one. If you could be any fictional character, who would you like to be and why? Frances Sampayo: That is a great question. I would love to probably go into, like, a Regency novel, but I wouldn't want to be a main character. I'd probably just want to be someone on the sidelines who gets to see everything and just kind of fly on the wall and kind of see everything that's happening in these amazing worlds.  Yeah, that would be great. I like it. Yeah. Kelly Molson: What's the draw to that kind of era? Is it the architecture? Is it the clothing? Frances Sampayo: Can I give a real kind of sector answer? Kelly Molson: Absolutely.Frances Sampayo: Part one would be we so often use as filming locations, so there's a lot of Regency dramas. That would be great to see something like this happening in one of these spaces. And the second is, I once duty managed a kind of 18th century themed party at a site I worked where everyone was in fancy dress from the era. And it was amazing sharing people were just sheivelling as the evening went on, stockings were falling down, men had rouge on, all of those amazing things. And just seeing that come to life was amazing. So I'd love to kind of get to see it kind of happening in actual Regency time period, as opposed to just kind of as an event in the 21st century. Kelly Molson: I love that. Really kind of sets the tone for what we're going to talk about today as well, the events. All right, that was an excellent answer. Thank you. Right, Frances, what is your unpopular opinion? Frances Sampayo: So I'm not a fan of false Jeopardy, which is a big component of reality TV, particularly cooking shows, where someone will take a bite of food and then just the camera pauses for what feels like five minutes and they do all the close up shots of everyone looking really tense, and I just, "Oh, I hate it". So I know it's something very popular, it's in all the reality TV shows, but I always skip that bit, look at my phone or do something else. Kelly Molson: Just get on with it. Just get on with it. Frances Sampayo: Get on with it. Kelly Molson: Or you don't we don't need the drama or the tense. Frances Sampayo: Just put this poor person out of their misery. And you think it's better than anything, like, I could have ever even imagined I cooked. And you just dragging this poor person's emotional journey out. So, yeah, just think just get over it. Just do it. Tell them whether it's good or not. Kelly Molson: I like it. Yeah, I would like that. I'd just like to know yes or no. Don't keep me hanging around. It's like it causes more anxiety than you need it to be. Kelly Molson: I'm definitely one of those people. If someone says, can we have a chat on Monday? I'm like, can we just do it now? Do we need to wait over the weekend? Is it good or is it bad? Because I will just think about this continuously now for the week. So let's just get it out of the way. Frances Sampayo: Let's do it now. Yeah. My team liked me to do if I book in a catch up. We had to catch up, good thing. Catch up, constructive thing, just to help.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's really useful.Frances Sampayo: Because, again, it is that forced Jeopardy thing of, "Yeah, oh, no, I've got to wait the whole weekend and I don't know what this meeting is about". “It's a good thing. Ten minutes. It's fine, don't worry.”Kelly Molson: That's a really good positive tip, isn't it? Yes, but what if it's not a good day?Frances Sampayo: Then I'll call it something else. Kelly Molson: Okay. Catch up. Not okay. Frances Sampayo: Yes, catch up. It's all gone wrong. Kelly Molson: Okay, that is an excellent tip, I can say that. Share that with the team after our call. Thank you. We've got so much to talk about today. I'm really excited about this chat. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what they can expect at the Chelsea Physic Garden and then just a little bit about what your role is as well? Frances Sampayo: So Chelsea Physic Garden is a four acre garden. We're in Chelsea, as the name suggests, and we've got over four and a half thousand plants that you can come and see. So we've got a living collection. Most collections in museums are behind glass, but us is living, we have to take care of it and we've got an amazing team of gardeners that do that. So we call ourselves London's oldest outdoor classroom because we've always been a place for people to come and learn about plants. So we've got a really fantastic learning team, but we've also got a really dynamic engagement programme, which helps people connect in different ways to plants, because it can be quite intimidating, I think, particularly if you grew up in a city you don't know much about nature, you might not have had a garden. Frances Sampayo: So we've got a really dynamic programme, giving people lots of different entry points. This year, we turned 350. So in September, we're opening glass houses that have all been restored with support of the National Heritage Fund. So if you're going to come and visit and you've got a restoration project coming up, September is a great time to come to the garden. But we always say, whatever day you come, that's the best day to come, because you're going to see something no one else gets to see, because flowers can change one day to the next 1 hour to the next. So it's a really special place to come and just connect with nature, really. So that's a bit about the garden now, a bit about my role. I've got quite a broad role. So we're a small site, we're a small team. Frances Sampayo: And I think when you have a small site and a small team, you get jobs that actually have quite a lot within their remit. So I, as Deputy Director of the organisation, was brought in to bring a cohesive visitor experience across the site. And that meant I lead different teams that look after all of our people touch points. So visitors learning, public engagement volunteers and then everything that sits behind that holistically to give people a great visit or to support them in a different way. So safety, security facilities interpretation, that comes under my remit as well, because it's supporting that visitor experience ultimately. So it's quite a kind of unique role. It's really dynamic. Every single day is different. Can go from planning our ten year strategy to what's going to happen in the next ten minutes because the toilets have all overflown. Frances Sampayo: So it's really dynamic role and just like the garden. So it's great fun here. Kelly Molson: Yeah, it sounds it as well. So I think that when we spoke a few weeks ago, I came away from the call just thinking, wow, the remit of what you have there is quite phenomenal, the different things that you can be doing all the time. But I also thought, what a privilege it must be to be there, because, like you say, it is a living museum and it just must be incredible to see it change, literally on a daily basis. Frances Sampayo: Yeah, it's amazing. So we're recording this just after our Easter weekend, and I had a great time on Sunday, were out in the garden helping people do their Planet Hero trail to learn about how to be more sustainable. And the tulips just got a little bit of sun and suddenly they all opened up and they were just really expressive, dancing kind of around, and then a cloud came over and they all closed up again and you just think, I don't have a garden, I didn't grow up with a garden, grew up in a flat. And so you just get to see things that you never get to see before. Frances Sampayo: And it's been a real privilege to get to learn how the garden operates over the year and to see there are plants now that I think I can't wait until May, because I'll get to see that in flower and it's really amazing. Kelly Molson: Wow. Well, that's kind of what we're going to talk about today, because as an organisation, you've been on a bit of a transformative journey with your public programming, and a lot of that is about kind of education and getting people to kind of understand what you have there and how things grow and how that all works together. But I kind of want to just go back and talk about, what the starting point for this journey? How did that come about, where did that start? Frances Sampayo: Yeah, and it really has been a journey. So I joined the garden back in 2018 and we had a really established programme of walks, talks and workshops. So quite a formal learning programme. And it was really great, really established, always sold well. And I went on a conference with LEAF, which is the London Environmental Education Forum, and as I was talking to people, they heard I was from Chelsea Physic Garden, and they go, “Oh, I love that workshop you do. We do one similar.” And I started to understand that actually, our programme had been an inspiration point for a lot of people, which is great, we love a bit of professional learning, but of course, that's our competitors. Frances Sampayo: So that was a starting point for me to think, we need to think about something new and then we have the kind of emergence of the experience economy. And we had retailers on the King's road, like Anthropology, running wreath making sessions, floristry sessions. And it really alerted me to the fact that, actually, if we didn't diversify our programme, if we didn't start thinking a bit differently, not only were our competitors going to catch up, but actually other sites that we would never have thought of as competitors because of the new kind of economic model. So, yeah, it was a really important moment for us to start thinking differently. Kelly Molson: That's crazy, isn't it? Because that's the comparison that was made quite a lot, I think, during and after the pandemic, is that attractions, you're now competing with things like Netflix, and you would never have considered that before. So that's really interesting to hear you make that kind of comparison to retail. And that's not something that I would have considered before either. Frances Sampayo: No, it was amazing. I wanted to sign up for a lot of these in person classes. I'm the kind of heritage person and I'm being taken by the retail model, so I've got to try and bring it back. So, yeah, that was a big starting point. And, yeah, as you say, kind of Netflix. You can sit and watch, you could sit on YouTube and just watch a plant grow and on a time lapse for 20 minutes and you say, “Oh, no, actually, you want to get out into nature. So how are we going to get those people here?”Kelly Molson:  Yeah. So what kind of objectives did you set for the programme? Frances Sampayo: So I've got to be honest, I'm not the best at kind of setting formal objectives, particularly, I think, because this programme was really around culture change and I think whenever you bring people into doing a cultural shift within an organisation, they're going to bring new ideas. So I didn't set kind of formal objectives and say, we're going to achieve 20% increase in this or that. I've done that in other areas, but it didn't feel right to do that with our public programme. So what we did instead was talk about giving people more kind of creativity to create new programmes. So kind of, what can we do that's new that we haven't done before? What have you always really wanted to try but haven't been able to? Because this is the time for us to try and fail and learn and adapt. Frances Sampayo: And actually, what sits behind that the kind of team don't always pick up on, is you're introducing a feedback cycle and you're saying, actually, we're going to evaluate everything. And we haven't necessarily had that culture where we listen to what people responded to within our sessions that they liked, that they didn't like. So we wanted to start that feedback loop and then ultimately, we wanted to future proof our programme. So we need new audiences, we've got to diversify our model, become financially sustainable. So those are the kind of key areas I really wanted to push, but I didn't kind of set them as specific objectives. They all kind of developed naturally as more people get involved, we're able to expand the ambition. Frances Sampayo: And now, five years on, we've got our own public programme manager, so it's really become embedded and they're going to again challenge us and push us up a whole other level. So it's been really brilliant to let it grow, but set a kind, of course, I guess, for how we want to deliver it and how we want to change. Kelly Molson: I'm really interested to know what's changed. So what was a kind of typical programme previously and what does your programme look like now? Like, how brave have people been? Frances Sampayo: Yeah, we've been pretty brave. It's been a big change. So I think the first area where there's really been a shift is moving away from an academic forum. So being a learning space for 350 years, that really carried into our learning programme and all of our public programmes. So even sessions where were getting people to do botanical soap making, that started with a formal lecture, really, about what the botanicals were you were going to use, why they were so brilliant. So we've really shifted away from that and we put that same information into our sessions, but not in a formal way. It's much more informal, much more exciting, and people learn through connecting with the plant itself, as opposed to being told with a presentation and some slides, this is how brilliant lemon is, or things like that. Frances Sampayo: So that shift away from the academic has been really fundamental, but you might not necessarily notice that kind of straight away with the session that's more in terms of the content. We've also looked at our accessibility, so we've got a broader range of price points now, a broader range of length of sessions. So we used to have sessions that were a full day or a half day and that was it. Now people are a lot more time poor, so we've got some sessions that are an hour, some that are 2 hours, a full day or even multiple days, but people can select now what they want and there's a much better variety. So we're seeing we get a lot more visitors come onto a kind of two hour session instead of a four hour half day. Frances Sampayo: And our youth panel also talked to us about the different price points and making the journey a lot easier to buying a ticket. So we've got lower price points now. And also you don't have to buy a ticket to the garden on top of buying a ticket to an event, which has been a big shift. So those are kind of some behind the scenes things, which are pretty bold, but not the kind of glamorous thing. But in terms of that kind of more dynamic programming, we did a lot during the pandemic because of being an outdoor attraction, so we had some ideas that were kind of on the back burner that were able to bring forward. So were able to launch Plant Fair when outdoor retail returned, which was brilliant. Frances Sampayo: We were able to introduce a series of concerts on the lawn called The Lawn Session, so those music nights have stayed, and also Family Theatre, which we hadn't done before in the garden, so we now do that every year. So were able to bring in some really new programming, which was really bold for us as a site, because we hadn't really connected with those audiences or felt like audiences that would go to a music night would come to the garden. So that was really great fun. But the most bold programme we launched was our Dash of Lavender programme, so that's LGBTQ plus History Month celebration, and that happens in February. So we've got an exhibition in the garden and then lots of different events, from poetry nights to drawing workshops. Frances Sampayo: And this year, our volunteer guides also got involved and they launched tours around the garden to tell people more about LGBTQ history and horticulture, which was really fantastic, because that, again, is an example of growing support for the programme bit by bit, and people saying, “Okay, now I understand what this is. I want to get more involved.” And we've been supported through that by an amazing partner called Sixto, who runs Queer botany, who's just a great presence within the sector and doing amazing things. I'm sure everyone wants to work with them now, which is really frustrating for us. Frances Sampayo: We love Six, though, but, yeah, that's been the kind of most dynamic programme that we've introduced and has had the biggest impact, but because we'd done all of those smaller steps, that it felt like a really natural progression for the site to do this and it's been really accepted and understood. Whereas previously, if we'd said we're going to do a History Month celebrating LGBTQ plus individuals, people really wouldn't have understood it. So it's made a huge impact. Kelly Molson: That is phenomenal to hear. It's really interesting. As you were talking, we just go back to the start of this section where you were talking about the soap making, and I thought, “Oh, that sounds really interesting. I'd probably like to do that.” But I probably wouldn't have booked onto the previous incarnation of it because I would have thought, "Maybe this is just a bit not for me". I'm kind of doing it because I'm interested in the fragrances and how you make them and that kind of side of it. I'm not sure I want to be lectured about the botanicals themselves, so it might put me off, so I guess it might put a lot of other people off. So have your audiences changed since you introduced the new programme? Kelly Molson: And it would be interesting to know if you set out and defined what you wanted those new audiences to be and how if you've achieved that. Frances Sampayo: Oh, great question. So we did do some kind of planning of new audiences and who we wanted to engage, but we also wanted to make sure we brought our existing audience and our members kind of along with us and make sure that they felt really taken care of. So, in terms of our existing audience, particularly our members, they're 50% of our visitor profile post pandemic, and they're predominantly white, female, cisgendered, able bodied, or potentially have kind of corrected sight through using glasses. They're retired. So that's our kind of core audience, if you will. So we wanted to make sure that we really supported them as well, so they have had some new benefits introduced, like a quiet hour at the garden in the morning, so kind of private access before everyone else comes in. Frances Sampayo: We also started running coffee mornings for them, social isolation is a really big challenge within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. So we've got some older members of our membership community, so that helps them get involved. And they also get early access to a lot of our member events or a lot of our public programme events. So they feel like they're getting a lot of special treatment, but it's a lot of stuff that we would have been doing anyway. And I think that's helped them kind of come with us on the journey as we've brought in a lot of new audiences. So people under 40, families, people living within walking distance of the garden within a 30 minutes catchment, that's actually really quite a disruptive audience to bring in against that traditional model. Frances Sampayo: So we've got people who live in Wandsworth, Lambeth, Vauxhall, all really local to us, who wouldn't see the garden as a place for them. We've got people living in Battersea who are part of the new, amazing community in Battersea with all these developments, but they've got the park right next to them and we're on the other side of the Thames, so why do they want to come here? So it's really helped us establish we are here for local people. We've got things that interest under 40s, we've got things that interest families, but throughout all of that, we've really considered how we're going to bring our core audience on that journey with us. So, yeah, we've tried to balance it, but it has really changed. Kelly Molson: Were you worried about how, when you talked about what your existing kind of demographic was for your members and your audience, were you quite worried about how they might react to some of the new ideas that you were bringing in? Frances Sampayo: I wasn't really worried, if I'm completely honest. I think I knew that we were going to take care of them and I knew that some people would appreciate that and some people would really enjoy coming into the garden for a quiet hour in the morning or coming to a coffee morning. So I knew that some of the visitors that are part of that membership community would really enjoy that. And I thought, if they don't, that is kind of up to them to self select and not come to the garden. But ultimately we have to change because you can't exist for 350 years by standing still. And I think that is quite brave, I think, to say that. And it's not dismissive of our kind of core audience or our existing audience, it's just saying there's space for everyone, there's space for more people here. Frances Sampayo: And if you're not okay with that, you've got your quiet hour, you can come then. We're trying to accommodate you. But actually, if you want to come to Chelsea History Festival weekend, where we've got circus performers and a military band in the garden, come along to that. That's great. You're going to really have a good time if you want. So we kind of accepted that we might lose some visitors and I, unfortunately, sometimes get complaints from people about, "I've ruined the garden or I've ruined the atmosphere", but for every complaint I get like that, I get 20, "I would never have come here if you weren't doing this. And I discovered the garden because you had a poetry evening and I thought that was amazing, or I came on the lawn sessions for a date and now I'm coming back to see the collection in the day." Frances Sampayo: So it really is worth it and you just have to be kind of resilient and true to what you're doing and why and stick to it, because we're kind of here for people and we want as many people to enjoy the garden as possible. So there has to be a bit of disruption and a bit of change.Kelly Molson: Yeah. I mean, we all like to say that we don't like change, though, don't we? You're always going to get somebody who really don't like change and it's really uncomfortable for them, but you can't stay the same for those people. How do you think? Because this has all happened over quite a short period of time, really, hasn't it? I mean, we can throw COVID into the mix and I think it goes without saying, really, that everybody became a bit braver during that time, because it was a time of, "Well, let's just try it. What else could go wrong?" Right? But what do you think that you've been able to kind of change and adapt so quickly? Frances Sampayo: Yeah, so I think it's all about people. We've got a really amazing team here and they're really committed to what we're doing. I kind of label it as persistent, professional radicalism, which people enjoy, but that's kind of what we're doing. We want to make change, so we have to be persistent. We'll consider the fact that some visitors might not like it, but others will, and we've got data to support us and then we're kind of radical because that's just what we're doing, being really bold as we approach things. And this team of people that I get to work with, really kind of support that and want to work in that way. At the start, weren't all saying we're being radical at work and we're being really bold. People weren't necessarily comfortable with that. Frances Sampayo: So there were a lot of conversations that needed to have with people around, giving them permission to explore new things and say, "What are you excited about that we've never done in the garden before, that you think would be really cool that you'd want to come to, or what do you want to do?" And gradually people started understanding that actually there was permission for them to try new things and to work in new ways. So one of the learning team really wanted to learn more about podcasting. So brilliant. There's a training course on podcast. You go on that, you tell me why it would be good for the garden and if you can convince me, I'll back you up and we'll make sure that we kind of get this going and get you the equipment you need and the space you need. Frances Sampayo: So were able to do that and now we've got a really great podcast that's available in all good podcast places that you can listen to about the garden and it helps people that aren't here connect with it. And that just came from a mad idea from one of the teams saying, "Actually, I'd really like to learn a bit more about this, and were able to just kind of go with it." So empowering the team has been really key to that. And then also for me, I'm really lucky that our director, Sue Medway is really supportive of kind of what we're doing. And our trustee board as well have kind of become used to me coming in and saying, “Oh, we're now teaching children how to make broomsticks for Halloween.”Kelly Molson: It's such a great idea.Frances Sampayo: So it's so great and it's a sustainable way of using twigs, things like that. So we use all kind of organic well, all materials from the garden. They learn how to make them and yeah, cool, they get to pretend that they've got magic powers and can fly around the garden, but also they can take that home, they can help with the housework, they know a bit more about sustainable cleaning, don't have to buy a new broom. So there's all kinds of things that we're doing and people have just kind of accepted now that we're going to do things a bit differently. And when they open their kind of board papers, there might be something a bit mad in there, but they really enjoy it. So it's great. Kelly Molson: That is a brilliant idea and it kind of sums up the ethos of the whole place, right? You're teaching children to do something really fun with the things that you have there and they're learning about sustainability. It's absolutely perfect. Yeah, I really love that. I should probably book onto that podcasting workshop that you talked about as well. Add that to my list of things to do. When we talked a few weeks ago as well, I think you mentioned, I think you kind of mentioned, like, the 80 20 rule that we talk about quite frequently. About 80% of what you do is kind of in fixed once the programme is decided, but you have that kind of 20% of flexibility where if something is relevant, you can go, “Hey, we've got a little bit of space here, let's put something on.” So it's nice to be able to have that level of flexibility and kind of agileness about what you do. Frances Sampayo: Yeah, definitely. So, again, when I first joined, actually, that was something that were kind of not confident in. So by November, the whole following year would be planned and then the walks, talks and workshops, leaflets that were produced would talk you through the whole year. So we'd printed the whole year in advance. That was it. This is the programme, we're sticking to it. So now we kind of print only kind of two or three months in advance. And we also use QR codes a lot to say just check our website for what's happening. And that really gives us the space to be agile. So we now programme 80% and then it gives us that space that if you pick up a really amazing phone call from someone, can do an event. Frances Sampayo: We get a lot of really interesting artistic projects, we also get some really amazing kind of sell out events and it's actually we've got to have capacity to run that event again because it was so popular. So, yeah, that's been a really big shift, is just having that kind of 80 20 and it also helps the team with capacity management, I think, because sometimes when we get approached for things like we had this really amazing approach for kind of a shadow puppet theatre to come into the garden and it was a really interesting opportunity for us. It would have been a bit of a kind of learning curve, but we just didn't have capacity. Frances Sampayo: And it was really good to be able to say to the team, “Actually, we've already factored in five new events in the next four months, so do we think that we can build this one in as well? Because those are five new events that we haven't run before.” So it just made us a bit more kind of structured in our decision making process of what we could take on and couldn't. And so that went on the back burner and we said we potentially be available in the future. But yeah, it just makes us have decisions that are kind of really grounded, I guess, from what I'm saying. It seems like we just say yes to everything, but sometimes we do say no and think about whether something's right for us or whether we've got capacity for it. And 80 20 has really helped. Kelly Molson: Yeah, that felt like a considered no, not a reflex no, but actually with other things that we have on, we don't need to do this right now. We'd love to, but we don't need to. And that's a good position to be in, to be able to make that kind of decision. I would love to know what you've learned about it all and what's the one thing that surprised you the most about the process that you've been through? Frances Sampayo: Well, I've learned a lot. It's been a really amazing journey and obviously I've learned a lot just about our collection and from our horticultural team. But aside from that, it's really been about listening to people that your team are going to make you better, they're going to make your programme better, and sometimes you have to listen to challenge and critique just as much as you have to listen to positivity. I think that gives you a lot to learn from. And again, that's that feedback cycle and loop from earlier, I think it's really important to be excited and that makes your team excited about things and want to go the extra mile and put in the energy that it takes to get these things off the ground. Really about empowerment, that's been the key to the success, is just having an empowered team. Frances Sampayo: And I think particularly recently, I've been reflecting on just how important it is to be grateful. And I think I've learned a lot about being grateful not only to the team, but also to our visitors and our audiences that come here and the fact that they've chosen to come to us and making sure that we're grateful for that. So those have kind of been some recent learnings that I've been reflecting on. And then in terms of surprise, well, I think something that I wish I could have used as my answer to your earlier question about objectives and kind of what you set out to achieve actually came as a surprise to me. Frances Sampayo: So we've had at least three staff members and more volunteers cite the public programme as the way that they discovered the garden and also as part of their motivation for joining and wanting to apply. Yeah, so it's been really interesting, and I wish that I'd kind of gone into it at the beginning and kind of said, "Well, yeah, well, this is going to lead to an increase in applicants for jobs and diversity of applicants for jobs", but I just didn't really consider it as an outcome. And it's been great. And actually, one of our Cafe team who cited the Dash of Lavender programme as a motivation for joining went so above and beyond. During Dash of Lavender this year, they had the inclusive pride flag all over. Frances Sampayo: We had a whole range of lavender themed, like macaroons and desserts, and they really took it to another level, because they felt like we, as an organisation, were accepting of this programme and therefore would just really support them to deliver what they felt was their interpretation of the programme. And we did, even if that did mean having to have lavender themed macaroons every day, which is a really hard life. Kelly Molson: That sounds really tough. Frances Sampayo: Oh, no, what a shame. But, yeah, it was just brilliant because they really took it and ran with it and that just makes us better and hopefully our visitors will enjoy that as well. But, yeah, that was completely unexpected. Kelly Molson: That's such an amazing outcome, isn't it? And like you said, completely unexpected that they've really taken ownership of it. They've taken ownership of the programme and put more into it than you ever could have imagined. Frances Sampayo: Yeah, because I could never have done that. And I think I'm really lucky every single day here, because I work with such amazing people. I get to say, "Oh, brilliant. I get to represent everything that people have done and achieved and come up with". And that's just one of those completely unexpected outcomes, which is delicious and great fun. I think they even created a cocktail for out of hours events that transformed. So the cocktail started pink and then they poured in a blue gin and then it turned into a lavender colour. Kelly Molson: They really thought about it. Frances Sampayo: It was amazing. And then the visitors that came here, it's just such an added benefit. So, yeah, creativity comes from everywhere and it's brilliant to see.Kelly Molson: That is brilliant. Yeah, that's another question, actually, is unexpected outcomes. So that was one of the unexpected outcomes, which you had no idea that it could have been an objective that was achieved. But there's been some other things that have come out of this as well, hasn't there? Can you tell us a little bit about them? Frances Sampayo: Yeah, and it comes back to that idea that 80 20 and just having space to pick up the phone and have those conversations. So we do a lot more working in collaboration than we've ever done before. And I think it's maybe because we've caught people's attention as a partner and people are interested in what we're doing now, not just from that kind of LEAF forum, but a lot more dynamic organisations, not just kind of botanically rooted organisations. So many plant puns. I have to apologise, it's just what. Happens when you want to kit. Kelly Molson: We're pun agnostic on this brilliant show.Frances Sampayo: Yeah, one of my favourite activities that we've launched is the Chelsea History Festival, which we run in collaboration with the National Army Museum and the Royal Hospital, which are our neighbours along the Royal Hospital road. And the three of our sites are really different. We have really different audience bases, but we've come together for this week long festival each year and because of that, we've had a military band in the garden that would never have happened if we didn't collaborate and weren't open to collaborating. We've seen a real kind of increase in visitors because of that. And what's been interesting is a lot of visitors go to the National Army Museum because they have a soft play, so there's a lot of families that go there who now come here afterwards, and so they're actually going to both sites.Yeah. Kelly Molson: Oh, that's great.Frances Sampayo: Whereas before, they might have just gone to the Army Museum and not known that were here. So it's really brilliant for us to be doing that work in partnership. And the Royal Hospital are doing more and more to open up. Obviously, their primary function is to be a care home for the Chelsea Pensioners, that's their priority. But they are doing more to connect with the local community and so we're able to facilitate that, maybe host some things for them and just continue to work as a trio of sites as opposed to three independent institutions, which is really exciting moving forward. I think it's really going to change how we all operate. And so that's kind of one collaboration that we just wouldn't have happened if weren't open to working in that way. Frances Sampayo: And we've also launched Crossing the Floors with David Hingley, who's been on the podcast. I'm sure many people know that initiative to kind of link up front of house teams to get experience of working in different sites. Kelly Molson: Such a great idea. Frances Sampayo: It's such an amazing idea. And we're kind of completely different as a site, as an outdoor site. So a lot of people working in places might never have got to come to an outdoor site before. And they get to kind of see how we programme things, how we deliver activities in a very different way, very seasonal way, as opposed to kind of exhibition, programme driven. So that's been really interesting. And, yeah, other collaborations have just come from picking up the phone. We do a lot of work with the University of Westminster now to help blind and partially sighted people have a multisensory experience in a botanical garden, which doesn't sound you think? Well, yeah, of course it's multisensory being in a garden, but actually, you can't touch a lot of our collection. A lot of it's poisonous. Frances Sampayo: It's going to do you a lot of harm if you touch it. So, yeah, how do we kind of layer that in a safe way? So there's so much that can come from collaborating with different sites and, again, that just is going to improve everything we do here and we learn a lot. Kelly Molson: That's so good, isn't it? And I guess all of those things, by changing the programme, you've changed the profile of the garden and you've raised your kind of perception, or changed the perception of it to so many different audiences. And now those audiences will go to the attractions and the places that are next door to them, and yet you don't suffer any visitor loss from that. And likewise, because they're now coming to two of the different ones on the same day, it's just perfect. Frances Sampayo: Yeah, it's great. And hopefully in the future we'll be able to keep building on that as three sites and continue to work together. We're an independent charity, so every kind of penny we earn, we have to earn ourselves. NAM have got a different funding model, as have the Royal Hospital, so we've got a lot to learn as well from each other as organisations of how we approach things and what we need to consider, so it's even better for organisational learning as well. It's just going to help elevate everyone. And as you said earlier, I think people became a lot bolder following the pandemic in terms of sharing and wanting to help each other, whereas before were all very isolated, so that's really helped things. Kelly Molson: It's brilliant. Thank you for coming on to share this with us today. It's been so lovely to talk to you about it. We always ask our guests to share a book that they love, so have you prepared something for us today? Frances Sampayo: Yes, so that was a really hard question and I thought about the book that I've gifted the most. So last year I read Black Tudors by Miranda Kaufman. I don't know if anyone's recommended it previously. Kelly Molson: No, I don't think so. Frances Sampayo: So it's a really fantastic history book. And as someone who's worked at sites with kind of Tudor history in the past, it completely blew my mind to hear about how dynamic the range of black people were in Britain and beyond in the Tudor times, because we really don't get to hear about that. I think, kind of in traditional academic circles. So it's a great read and I think I gifted about five copies of it last year, so I think people would it's just brilliant and I hope someone gets to enjoy it. Kelly Molson: Well, listeners, as ever, if you want to listen, if you want to win a copy of Frances's book, you know what to do. Head over to our Twitter account. And if you retweet this episode announcement with the words, I want Frances's book, then you might get the chance for us to gift you us to gift it to you, not Frances. She can save her pennies. Thank you so much for coming on. It's been such a pleasure. I don't know, you've sold it to me. I mean, I want to come and make a broomstick and some soap. Frances Sampayo: Yeah, soap and a broomstick. Kelly Molson: That's like my perfect day out. Frances Sampayo: That's our tagline for 2024, actually. Just visit garden. Soap and a broomstick. Kelly Molson: Sold. I'll order my ticket in advance. Thanks, Frances. Frances Sampayo: Thanks, Kelly. Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

The second of our three-part mini-series in partnership with Belvoir Farm, hosts, Jessica and Ned, explore all things Hibiscus. They discuss, its significance in different cultures from a medicinal and culinary perspective as well as getting a chance to chat to Leanne from Belvoir Farm behind the scenes in their factory.  Presented by London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea Physic Garden, join hosts Jessica Regan and Ned Sedgwick as they explore the fascinating world of plants and the impacts they have had on history, culture and society. Chelsea Physic Garden has partnered with Belvoir Farm to celebrate their botanical sodas range. A range of three, nature-inspired sodas including Floral Fizz, Bitter Orange Spritz and Spicy Ginger Fizz. Bringing something deliciously different to your usual mixer.

The first of our three-part mini-series in partnership with Belvoir Farm, hosts, Jessica and Ned, explore all things Ginger. They discuss, its significance in different cultures from a medicinal and culinary perspective as well as getting a chance to chat to Leanne from Belvoir Farm behind the scenes in their factory.  Presented by London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea Physic Garden, join hosts Jessica Regan and Ned Sedgwick as they explore the fascinating world of plants and the impacts they have had on history, culture and society. Chelsea Physic Garden has partnered with Belvoir Farm to celebrate their botanical sodas range. A range of three, nature-inspired sodas including Floral Fizz, Bitter Orange Spritz and Spicy Ginger Fizz. Bringing something deliciously different to your usual mixer.

The final of our three-part mini-series in partnership with Belvoir Farm, hosts, Jessica and Ned, explore all things Oranges. They discuss, its significance in different cultures from a medicinal and culinary perspective as well as getting a chance to chat to Leanne from Belvoir Farm behind the scenes in their factory.  Presented by London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea Physic Garden, join hosts Jessica Regan and Ned Sedgwick as they explore the fascinating world of plants and the impacts they have had on history, culture and society. Chelsea Physic Garden has partnered with Belvoir Farm to celebrate their botanical sodas range. A range of three, nature-inspired sodas including Floral Fizz, Bitter Orange Spritz and Spicy Ginger Fizz. Bringing something deliciously different to your usual mixer.

Kew's Joe Richomme on popularising botanical words, career changing, how to get into the industry, what peonies and alternative grasses to plant, Richomme is a botanical horticulturist based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Working primarily with temperate plants, he is responsible for Kew's living collections of grasses and peonies.With Emma Townshend, he has written Kew - Plant Words: A book of 250 curious words for plant lovers "exploring everything from arboreta to the wood-wide web...delving into the roots, meaning and compelling stories of 250 botanical words".He explains what the wood wide web is and why basic botany is important.Navigating the challenges of job changing from working for the London Symphony Orchestra to horticulture have included volunteering at Chelsea Physic Garden and other London gardens, which have helped him develop his career.Richomme talks about his Kew Specialist Certificate in Kitchen Garden Production and how well (or badly) plant proteins grow in the UK, and 2019 study tour to New York.He discusses adding tropical grasses to turf mixes to create a more drought-resistant lawn and his favourite peonies and plans for the collection. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I'll be talking about the autumn equinox, harvest time, foraging, moon gardening and sharing delicious recipes for elderberry cold & flu syrup and blackberry & pear crumble. Instagram: @rootedbynaturepodcast Elderberry Syrup RecipeIngredients elderberries water sugar lemon, ginger or cinnamon & cloves (optional) Method Tip the berries into a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for 20-30 minutes on a medium heat. Sieve the juice from the berries, squeezing as much out as possible. Return to the pan with the sugar (450g to 600ml of juice) along with any additional flavourings and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Decant, cool and store in the fridge for a few weeks or freeze to see you through the winter.Blackberry & Pear Crumble RecipeIngredients75g sugar (demerara preferably) 75 butter 150g plain flour pears blackberries vanilla extract (optional) caster sugar (optional)MethodPreheat the oven to 180 degrees fan. Peel, core and chop the pears and place in a buttered oven dish along with the blackberries and caster sugar if required. Put on the lid and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile grate the (fridge cold) butter into a bowl, add the demerara sugar and flour and rub together to form crumbs. When the fruit is baked, remove the lid and sprinkle over the crumble topping and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the crumble top is cooked through and golden. Reading listThe Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben The Glorious Life of the Oak by John Lewis-Stempel The Wild Remedy: How nature mends us – a diary by Emma Mitchell The Hedgerow Handbook by Adele Nozedar The Almanac: A seasonal guide to 2022 by Lia Leendertz The Way Back Almanac 2022: A contemporary seasonal guide to nature by Melinda Salisbury The Herb Almanac: A seasonal guide to medicinal plants, Chelsea Physic Garden

Presented by London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea Physic Garden, join hosts Jessica Regan and Ned Sedgwick as they explore the fascinating world of plants and the impacts they have had on history, culture and society. Subscribe now to be the first to get new episodes as they are released. 

Events and historically important men and women are like radionuclides. They each have their own particular half-life.

This week David gets a masterclass in the art of cloud pruning. He finds out why it's time to abandon precision pruning and spirit level accuracy for something more freestyle, natural and altogether less stressful. Also on the programme, the listener who wants to turn bumpy apples into a bumper crop, Tony Kirkham selects his tree of the month at the Chelsea Physic Garden and why organic grower Klaus Laitenberger is on a Greek Odyssey to find forgotten veg. You can contact David and the team on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

My guest is Alison Jenkins of Damson Farm in Somerset, England.  Alison trained as a garden designer before making her small holding of Damson Farm into a resource for learning about the interrelationship of gardens and the natural world. The workshops that she offers at the farm focus on observing and supporting natural ecosystems, creating gardens which function ecologically and look beautiful, too. The garden is often a place of solace in difficult times. I think Alison's work shows us the comfort that can be found working with nature, as well as a way forward in our efforts to bring peace and healing to the earth. Garden People podcast, from https://www.instagram.com/violetear_studio/ (@violetear_studio) L I S T E N https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/garden-people/id1595934172 (iTunes) https://open.spotify.com/show/7qlYq5yVrLEgfCuZOtrPcn (Spotify) https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/garden-people (Stitcher) S H O W N O T E S https://www.instagram.com/damsonfarm/ (Alison Jenkins), https://www.alisonjenkins.co.uk (Damson Farm) https://www.rhs.org.uk (Royal Horticultural Society) https://www.englishgardeningschool.co.uk (The English Gardening School) at the https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk (Chelsea Physic Garden) https://www.gardensillustrated.com/gardens/country/alison-jenkins-cotswold-garden-sustainable/ (Gardens Illustrated profile of Damson Farm) http://wwoofinternational.org (WWOOF International) https://www.instagram.com/fergusmustafasabrigarrett/ (Fergus Garrett), https://www.greatdixter.co.uk (Great Dixter House & Garden) https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/32424/robert-macfarlane.html (Robert McFarlane) (some of my favorites arehttps://amzn.to/3tpWy5x ( The Lost Words) and https://amzn.to/3HC8w11 (Underland)) https://amzn.to/3syl1Gx (Braiding Sweetgrass) – https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com (Robin Wall Kimmerer) https://www.permaculturenews.org/what-is-permaculture/ (Permaculture) https://orfc.org.uk (Oxford Real Farming Conference) Amelanchier essay by Robin Wald Kimmerer: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-serviceberry/ (The Serviceberry, An Economy of Abundance) https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl (Heritage Seed Library) P L A N T L I S T Lemon cucumbers or cucumber melons? Amalanchier Damson https://www.thespruce.com/growing-dog-roses-rosa-canina-5097564 (Dog Rose), Rosa canina https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/wild-plum/ (Wild Plum), Prunus Americana https://www.gardensillustrated.com/plants/trees/the-best-crab-apple-trees-for-colour-and-form/ (Crab Apples) Malus https://www.burpee.com/fruit/currant/ (Currants) (black currant, Ribes nigrum; red currant, Ribes rubrum) https://futureforests.ie/products/worcesterberry (Worcesterberry) Ribes divaricatum Edible honey suckle Lonicera caerulea Perennial Sorrel Rumex acetosa Alpine strawberries Fragaria vesca https://www.johnnyseeds.com/flowers/atriplex/red-plume-atriplex-seed-3702.11.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAyPyQBhB6EiwAFUuakklNPXCp9m-2iU881QQfJxnMjNFzcCXxEiijiO4Av8WxYzIsqeNPjhoC1rwQAvD_BwE (Purple orach/atriplex)

#54 - Organic flower grower Polly Nicholson from Bayntun Flowers shares her small business journey. Passionate about tulips, she also grows narcissi, alliums, peonies, clematis, sweet peas, bearded irises, delphiniums, zinnias and dahlias. She supplies wholesale flowers to florists, runs workshops and is also in-house florist for residential properties locally. Growing up in the countryside, her parents grew very few flowers in their garden. So Polly used to go and pick wildflowers, and developed a lifelong passion for picking flowers. After university, she worked as an antiquarian book specialist at Sotheby's in London.  As part of her role, she catalogued a gardening catalogue, which built on her childhood passion for picking and foraging.   Once married and having had children, she signed up for a course in Practical Horticulture, which The English Gardening School were running at Chelsea Physic Garden.  And she found the course life-changing. Fifteen years ago, she and her family moved to Blacklands, a Georgian house in North West Wiltshire, which has a series of walled gardens. Missing the flowers she'd been used to buying at New Covent Garden Flower Market in London, Polly decided to begin growing her own.  And she started by planting tulip bulbs.  Five years later, Bayntun Flowers was born. Initially, she was selling hand-tied bunches and floral designs for small events locally. Polly brought in Arne Maynard to help with the design of the garden. And he suggested that she took on a Head Gardener. Polly discusses the different varieties of tulips that she currently grows, including an annual crop and historic tulips. The latter have recently been awarded National Collection status with Plant Heritage. She also discusses her numerous sustainability practices, the range of workshops that she has planned for this year and her incredible press coverage. She talks about the impact of the pandemic on her business, together with her 2022 plans. Listening to this episode, you'll hear how passionate Polly is about sustainability and growing flowers, in particular tulips. And I'm sure you'll really enjoy the interview!Show notes are available on the My Small Business & Me website: https://mysmallbusinessandme.com/episode54Flower Photography (iPhone Version) Online Course: https://learn.flowerona.com/flower-photography-iphone-version

Today in botanical history, we celebrate a wealthy gardener and Apothecary whose garden became his legacy, a ​​pioneering Landscape architect who left his mark on the world in his all-too-short life, and the fine fine fun that can be had dying flowers - a hobby that's been around for quite a longe time. We'll hear an excerpt from a book by a Quaker woman who spent a year tending sheep. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about flowers in all their glory, and it takes us inside the Secret World of Plants... And then we'll wrap things up with a little poem written by an American writer, and it's a little poignant - so kleenex should be on standby. “If you're the first of November, you're Scorpio. A large reporter of his owne Acts. Prudent of behaviour in owne affairs. A lover of Quarrels and theevery, a promoter of frayes and commotions. As wavery as the wind; neither fearing God or caring for Man.' ‘Better,' said Lymond coldly, ‘to be stung by a nettle than pricked by a rose.” ― Dorothy Dunnett, Checkmate Maggie Dietz poem 1995  Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden 1995 The Unsung Season: Gardens and Gardeners in Winter: Sydney Eddison, Karen Bussolini 2001 A Garden from Hundred Packets of Seed by James Fenton What plants would you choose to grow, given a blank slate of a garden, and given the stipulation that everything you grow in this garden must be raised by you from seed? 2009 Jane Colden: America's First Woman Botanist Paperback – November 1, 2009 Curated News Interview with Lee Smith, Southern Writer | Southern Environmental Law Center 1944 Here's a short clip with writer Lee Smith about the importance of the natural world for writers and inspiration. In the video Lee says that the South does have a very strong literary tradition that is grounded in place and specifically a rural place. Lee says the land is so important to southern writing. Land not only shows up in southern stories but also in southern music and southern culture. Lee tells how her father used to fight her when she tried to get him to leave the mountains and move to her home in North Carolina and so he would always say I could never leave the mountains he said I need me a mountain to rest my eyes against and That resinates with lee who went on to say that there's something in the contemplation of mountains of nature  of natural places that leads us to think of things that are really important that leads us to think of the real questions and issues and things that people need to be working on. And so Lee, like many of us, gets her inspiration from the natural world To borrow her phrase, I need me a garden to rest my eyes against... Important Events November 1, 1666Birth of James Sherard, English apothecary, botanist, amateur musician, and composer. His older brother, William, was also a botanist. James served as an apprentice to an apothecary named Charles Watts at Chelsea Physic Garden. He later followed his entrepreneurial instincts and started his own business, which made him quite wealthy.  In August of 1716, he wrote that, “the love of Botany has so far prevailed as to divert my mind from things I formerly thought more material.” After retiring, he purchased three residences - two manor homes and a place in London. At his London residence, he established a garden and began collecting and cultivating rare plants. Around the time his garden was becoming one of England's top gardens, James's brother William invited the German botanist Johann Jacob Dillenius to visit England. Dillenius created an illustrated catalog that described the plants cultivated in James's collection in London. The English botanical writer Blanche Henrey called Dillenius's book, “the most important book published in England during the eighteenth century on the plants growing in a private garden." Today, the walls of the Herbarium Room at the Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum are graced with the illustrations from Dillenius's book - so the plants in James Sherard's beautiful garden live on in that marvelous place. November 1, 1859Birth of Charles Eliot, American landscape architect. In his brief career, Charles established principles for regional planning and natural systems for landscape architecture. He also helped set up the world's first land trust and the Boston Metropolitan Park System. He was a prolific writer and observer of nature and Landscapes. His work set the stage for conservancies across the world. Charles was born into a prominent Boston family. In 1869, the year his mother died, his father, Charles William Eliot, became the president of Harvard University. In 1882 Charles went to Harvard to study botany. A year later, he began apprenticing with the landscape firm of Frederick Law Olmsted. As a young landscape architect, Charles enjoyed visiting different natural areas, and he conducted regular walking tours of different nature areas around Boston. In his diary, Charles made a charming list titled, "A Partial List of Saturday Walks before 1878". Early in his career, Charles spent 13 months touring England and Europe between 1885 and 1886. The trip was actually Olmsted's idea, and it was a great training ground for Charles's understanding of various landscape concepts. During this trip, Charles kept a journal where he wrote down his thoughts and sketches of the places he was visiting. During his time in Europe, Charles's benchmark was always Boston. Throughout his writings, he continually compared new landscapes to the beauty of his native landscape in New England. Charles's story ended too soon. He died at 37 from spinal meningitis. Before his death, Charles had worked with Charles Sprague Sargent to plan The Arnold Arboretum. When Charles died, Sargent wrote a tribute to him and featured it in his weekly journal called Garden and Forest. Charles's death had a significant impact on his father, Charles Eliot Senior. At times, the two men had struggled to connect. Charles hadn't liked it when his dad remarried and, their personalities were very different. Charles, the architect, could be a little melancholy. After Charles died, his dad, Charles Sr., started culling through his son's work. In April 1897, Charles Sr. confided to a friend, "I am examining his letters and papers, and I am filled with wonder at what he accomplished in the ten years of professional life. I should've died without ever having appreciated his influence. His death has shown it to me." Despite his heavy workload as the president of Harvard, Charles Sr. immediately set about compiling all of his son's work. He used it to write a book called Charles Eliot Landscape Architect. The book came out in 1902, and today it is considered a classic work in the field of landscape architecture. November 1, 1883On this day, the Brown County World (Hiawatha, Kansas) published a little blurb that said, A distinguished botanist has found that by simply soaking the stems of cut flowers in a weak dye solution, their colors can be altered at will without the perfume and the freshness being destroyed. Unearthed Words On the first day of November last year, sacred to many religious calendars but especially the Celtic, I went for a walk among bare oaks and birch. Nothing much was going on. Scarlet sumac had passed, and the bees were dead. The pond had slicked overnight into that shiny and deceptive glaze of delusion, first ice. It made me remember skates and conjure a vision of myself skimming backward on one foot, the other extended; the arms become wings. Minnesota girls know that this is not a difficult maneuver if one's limber and practices even a little after school before the boys claim the rink for hockey. I think I can still do it - one thinks many foolish things when November's bright sun skips over the entrancing first freeze. A flock of sparrows reels through the air looking more like a flying net than seventy conscious birds, a black veil thrown on the wind. When one sparrow dodges, the whole net swerves, dips: one mind. Am I part of anything like that? Maybe not. [...] It's an ugly woods, I was saying to myself, padding along a trail where other walkers had broken ground before me. And then I found an extraordinary bouquet. Someone had bound an offering of dry seed pods, yew, lyme grass, red berries, and brown fern and laid it on the path: "nothing special," as Buddhists say, meaning "everything." Gathered to formality, each dry stalk proclaimed a slant, an attitude, infinite shades of neutral. All contemplative acts, silences, poems, honor the world this way. Brought together by the eye of love, a milkweed pod, a twig, allow us to see how things have been all along. A feast of being. ― Mary Rose O'Reilley, The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd   Grow That Garden Library Flora by DK Flora was also contributed to by Kew,the Royal Botanic Gardens. This book was published back in 2018, and the subtitle is Inside the Secret World of Plants. Well, let me tell you that when I got my copy of this book, I was so pleasantly surprised. This is a big book - it's a coffee table book. The cover is predominantly white, and then it just has a single flower featured on the cover - and it is stunning. I like to think about this fantastic book as a floral scrapbook. So imagine if you were to put together a book of flowers, and on each page, you feature: a different blossom, details about the plant, the history and some outstanding characteristics of the flower, and other various aspects of the plant. This book also reviews a little bit of the science behind why plants do what they do and how they do what they do. Flora is beautifully illustrated with modern photography and also some incredible botanical art from the ages. And it is just a joy to leaf through. So whether you are a gardener or even a non-gardener, I think you would enjoy this book. You can get a copy of Flora by DK and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $12. Today's Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart November 1, 1871 Birth of Stephen Crane, American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Stephen started writing at the tender age of four.  As a young adult, he dropped out of college at Syracuse and started working as a reporter and writer. By 1895 his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage won acclaim despite Stephen never having any personal experience as a soldier.   The following year he was asked to go to Cuba as a war correspondent. During the voyage, his ship, the SS Commodore, sank off the coast of Florida. Stephen survived after spending thirty hours adrift at sea in a small dinghy along with other survivors.  The experience became the basis for his book called, The Open Boat. Despite surviving the shipwreck, Stephen Crane died young of tuberculosis at the age of 28. Today, The Red Badge of Courage is considered an American classic. But Stephen also wrote short stories and poetry. One of his biggest fans was Ernest Hemingway, who credited Stephen as a source of his inspiration. In Stephen's poem, The Black Riders and Other Lines (1895), Stephen wrote, There was set before me a mighty hill, And long days I climbed Through regions of snow. When I had before me the summit-view, It seemed that my labour Had been to see gardens Lying at impossible distances. Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

How should care homes be designed? Should the places we spend the end of our lives be clinical and bland, or should they be places that are beautiful, inspiring and actually are something we look forward to going to. As Lori says in this interview, "you don't stop living just because you're in a care home, in fact you should start living better". Lori Pinkerton- Rolet is a force of good, she is director of Park Grove Design, which focuses on creating comfortable spaces for our third age. In fact she also has a podcast, which I recommend you look up, ThirdAge.design. In our podcast together here, we talk about the origin of the Care Home is still stuck in its original format, that of a "hospital", and she shares with us some thought-leader suggestions on how we can design better spaces to create homes that are better. Lori is also passionate about Biophilic Design, she is down-to-earth and practical but designs with such sensitivity and vision that I hope I end up in a home she has designed. Have a listen to see how we should be designing with the people in mind, how we should be thinking what lives that generation may have had, what were their life experiences, how should we improve the acoustics, how can we incorporate getting outside into nature, maybe participating in producing food for the kitchens, what about the colourways of the floor to support those with dementia, how we can create the feeling of contentment, can we incorporate scents, sounds, views to create an experiential sensory home to uplift and create beautiful inspiring places. You'll come away from this podcast, wondering why all Care Homes don't incorporate these design features. Lori also talks about her experiences in Japan and some of her designs including that with the Royal Hospital Chelsea for the Chelsea Pensioners, where she is incorporating echoes of the Chelsea Physic Garden into the design. One of her loudest wake up calls though is for the supply chain to talk to each other. There are many solutions we can find together if we communicate. Lori also is on the British Standards Committee for furniture fabrics, and is passionate about reducing the chemicals used in surface materials. I'm also in favour of that, because as we know, reduce the VOCs helps reduce health complications and also CO2 emissions. There are lots of more natural solutions that Biophilic Design encourages, so let's put our thinking heads, and our purse strings together and start creating Third Age Biophilically Designed Homes. For more information on Lori's practice please do visit her websites www.parkgrove.co.uk and www.thirdage.design.

Your chance to help develop online accessible tours of Chelsea Physic Garden in London and you could win a £200 prize! Westminster University and Chelsea Physic Garden in London are working together to research and develop accessible online tours to improve access for blind and partially sighted people. Connect Radio's Toby Davey caught up with Dr Lindsay Bywood from Westminster University to find out more about the research project and how blind and partially sighted people can get involved in the research project. Dr Lindsay Bywood began by explaining to Toby why Westminster University are researching into online historic garden tours and why they have teamed up with Chelsea Physic Garden in London.  Lindsay also outlined to Toby how blind and partially sighted people can get involved in the research, what they will be asked to do, how their feedback and comments will  be taken forward to develop both online and physical historic garden tours in the future. For more details and your chance to win a £200 prize do click onto the following website link to start the online research survey -  https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/westminster   (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)

LOUISA HOOPER is a Londoner born and bred. She was a regular customer at Travelling Through bookshop not suprisingly as she studied literature at University and equally has a penchant for travel. In 2019 Louisa took a three month sabbatical from her work with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to travel across Russia, through Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. During her travels she swims with sea horses under the stars and catches up with environmental initiatives one of which is to remove discarded fishing nets from the ocean. Louisa's recent projects with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation focus on the importance of the ocean and its pivotal role in the environment. She talks about how language holds knowledge about the environment and why we need a healthy ocean. With the UK hosting the G7 Summit in June and the UN Climate Change Conference in November, the spotlight is on the UK and all it is doing to address environmental challenges in the 21st century. Tune in to this podcast for an inspiring insight into Louisa's views and thoughts on environmental initiatives she has seen and been involved with in relation to London, the world and life. To know more about Louisa Hooper click the following links: https://gulbenkian.pt/uk-branch/about-us/team/louisa-hooper/ Some links to things we discussed: #OneLess bottle -  https://www.onelessbottle.org/  #OneLess pledge - https://www.onelessbottle.org/network/ #OneLess - https://www.wcl.org.uk/mayoral-environment-debate.asp To get involved in ocean conservation where you are in the UK - https://www.mcsuk.org Report on the benefits of a healthy ocean -  https://www.sas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/SAS-Ocean-Climate-Report-2020-Digital.pdf Climate Stories that Work -  https://youtu.be/Ig34VWcJ9CE https://www.onroadmedia.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Six-ways-to-change-hearts-and-minds-about-climate-change.pdf The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation -  https://gulbenkian.pt/uk-branch/ *** TO KNOW MORE about your podcast host EMMA and JOIN HER MAILING LIST please go to https://www.travellingthrough.co.uk/ THANKS to MARISKA Martina at https://www.mariskamartina.com/ for creating our upbeat travelling through podcast jingle! AND FINALLY, a big thanks to the Chelsea Physic Garden for hosting this podcast chat as we walked and talked. ***

Technical issues all sorted, we are back for a wholesome podcast after the cheek of the last one! We're off to Chelsea Physic Garden today, and OF COURSE goth guide Emily manages to find some death and destruction amongst the lovely green plants. Alex gets her knickers in a twist over old characters in history, and normal service is resumed. The question on everybody's lips though - will Emily finally get that podcast pedestal win she craves?! Find out here. Our lovely jingle writer Ben Morales Frost has a new musical on - the Sorcerer's Apprentice. It can be found at https://www.stream.theatre/season/25 Let us know what you think on Instagram, or on our websites. Instagram @ladieswholondonpodcast Email ladieswholondon@gmail.com Websites www.guideemily.com and www.alexlacey.com/links where you can also book for our virtual and real life walking tours. Thanks to Susie Riddell for our voiceover jingles www.susieriddell.com and our jinglemeister Ben Morales Frost, can be found on www.benfrostmusic.com See you next week

"you can put a child on one of these lily pads and they will not fall in"

This week I’m chatting to author of the book I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast, Michael Holland. The book is a botanical and environmental textbook for children that makes learning about even quite complex topics such as plant scientific names seem like fun. I talk to Michael about activities you can do with children using stuff you can find in your cupboard, about some of the most engaging horticultural concepts for kids and how you can make learning entertaining.  About Michael Holland: Expert ecologist, educator and author, Michael Holland FLS is on a mission to educate and inspire people from all walks of life about the powerful world of plants and the vital role they play in our daily lives. Michael’s first book, I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast is published by Flying Eye Books on April 1 2020. Printed on Munken Arctic Paper and with ink using soya beans and linseeds, it provides an inspiring and accessible introduction to the wonderful world of plants and how they are relevant to our lives. Colourfully illustrated, it is packed with hints, tips, practical ideas and fun-filled activities to get children 7+ and their families informed, engaged and excited about plants. Michael studied Ecology at Lancaster and Oregon State Universities and is a keen photographer, wildlife gardener and all-round composting nerd! Michael had a 25-year career at the eminent Chelsea Physic Garden in London, latterly as Head of Education for over 17 years. He has taught tens of thousands of people, aged 2 to 92, about the natural world. He is both a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and of the London Environmental Educators’ Forum (LEEF) - both organisations that work tirelessly ensuring people from all walks of life are connected to nature and natural history. Michael has spoken at a number of global conferences; a highlight being invited to talk at a botanical garden in Japan on subjects including ‘State of the Art Medicinal Plants’, ‘Container Gardening’, ‘London’s Parks & Gardens’ and ‘Five Plants that Changed the World’. Michael has delivered a herb-planting master class for the team at Jo Malone London for their Herb Garden perfumes cologne collection, and in 2003, developed the innovative and award-winning Shelf Life project, labelled by Head of Interpretation, Sharon Willoughby at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as “the most effective piece of plant-based interpretation.” What We Discuss: Michael’s background in horticulture  The importance of the book having roots in science and botany as well as being fun Some of the best experiments kids can do with plants Michael’s favourite fact to reel a child in to horticulture The Shelf Life project Useful online resources Links: www.growingunderstandings.co.uk I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast by Michael Holland and Phillip Giordano - Flying Eye Books, 2020  Get in touch: Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall  Instagram @rootsandallpod  Help me keep the podcast free & independent! Support me on Patreon  Or donate as much or as little as you like at GoFundMe 

Ever wondered about how you can make a career out of your love of gardening? But have sceptics and people’s comments about how unrealistic a dream it is put you off?! This episode of The Plant Based Podcast delves into career changes in horticultural and looks at the paths available into the green-fingered world. The options are so varied. It’s not just about being outside tending to plants - you could give talks; utilise your writing and marketing skills; or even put your corporate know-how to use by exploring the business side of horticulture. The possibilities are endless! Someone who knows this first hand is Wendy Bowen who chats to Michael about her varied career path. Wendy switched from working among the fashion elite in Vogue House to giving in to her green urges and taking a new direction via the allotment and becoming the Commercial Director at the Chelsea Physic Garden.   The Plant Based Podcast:  www.theplantbasedpodcast.net Instagram Twitter Facebook 

This week we kick off a series on the Healing Power of Gardens, in the series we’ll visit with Dr. Naomi Sachs, of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network, with Perla Curbelo, a recent graduate of the Horticultural Therapy certification program at the Chicago Botanic Garden, with Iain Houghton, at the Chelsea Physic Garden, one of the oldest extant botanical and medicinal plant gardens in the UK (and world), and with Matt Wichrowski, a horticultural therapy clinician and educator in New York City. This week, we start off right where we are - in our own gardens, speaking with P. Annie Kirk about Sanctuary and Healing - beginning with ourselves. The whole world is in need of sanctuary and healing - in varying degrees of urgency and from varying kinds of wounds. Annie Kirk of Red Bird Restorative Gardens starts us off with a conversation about the transformative power of the garden, plants, and nature to offer us healing and health - starting in our own gardens, hearts, and minds. Join us! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you so much for listening over the years and we hope you'll support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow even more of these types of conversations. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher. To read more and for many more photos please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Today we celebrate the botanical illustrator who was wrongfully fired from his first job and the French botanist who spent a month in California with a boatful of Russians. We'll learn about the botanical name of the city where people leave their hearts, and we’ll fall in love with a classic garden writer from Bronxville, New York. Today’s Unearthed Words feature an English poet who loved gardens and wrote many poems about them. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that talks about the revolution that will save our food. I'll talk about a garden item that I have WAY too many of - but, then again, can you really have too many? I digress. And, then we’ll wrap things up with the story of the woman who wrote a flora dictionary anonymously - signing her work very  mysteriously with the words “by a Lady.” But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Curated Articles Good Decisions by @papaver Good Decisions in the garden -Alison Levey ("Lee-Vee") - The Blackberry Garden  " I planted them and whispered to the nearby ants 'when you wake up, take the seeds and spread them throughout the garden.'”   The Plight of the African Violets — In Defense of Plants The Plight of the African Violets — In Defense of Plants — "their numbers in captivity overshadow a bleak future for this genus in the wild. Many African violets are teetering on the brink of extinction."   Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. There’s no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events 1708 Today is the birthday of the botanist and the incomparable botanical illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret. Georg was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to Ferdinand Christian Ehret, who was a gardener and also had a talent for drawing. He taught his son both skills- gardening and drawing - before he died. Georg made his way to Regensburg. There, he met an apothecary who hired him to draw of specimens from his herbarium and garden. Georg earnestly took on the job, creating over 500 pieces in one year. Taking advantage of his young employee, the apothecary fired Georg and told him he should have completed 1,000 drawings. It was basically the apothecary's way of avoiding paying Georg. After this dreadful experience, Georg made his way to England and worked at the significant botanical gardens - Including Chelsea Physic. Isaac Rand, the first director of the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, told Georg to paint the rare plants in the garden. The uniqueness of the specimens added to the demand for Georg's work. As a result, Georg was on friendly terms with the plant collectors and naturalists of his time. Chelsea was formative professionally and personally for Georg; He married the head gardener's sister-in-law, Susanna Kennet. In The Art of Botanical Illustration, Wilfrid Blunt noted that, “By the middle of the century he had become a popular figure in London society: the highest nobility in England clamored to receive instruction from him,” Indeed, the wealthiest woman in England, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (the Duchess of Portland), gladly retained Georg as a drawing instructor. Struck by the luminescence of his work, and ultimately she would buy over 300 of his paintings. In 1737, Georg was hired to draw by Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty. In August of that year, Wagner's personal garden is where Georg first observed the Magnolia grandiflora flowering. The bloom was so inspiring that Georg walked for an hour each way, from Chelsea to Wagner's house (in Fulham), to see and sketch every stage of the Magnolia grandiflora; from bud to full flower. Georg's work provided the world with the first Magnolia to be illustrated in England. Beyond his work in England, Georg traveled throughout Europe in pursuit of his craft. He met Linnaeus in Holland when he was visiting the botanical garden in Leiden. Linnaeus taught Georg exactly how he wanted plants to be dissected and drawn. By this time, Georg felt that his drawings were already aligned with Linnaeus, but the calibration didn't hurt; Georg's work made it possible for Linnaeus to show the differences between plants for his books. When Linnaeus released his catalog of rare plants, "Hortus Cliffortianus," in 1737, it featured 20 meticulous plates made by Georg. As a result of partnering with Linnaeus, Georg understood plant structure on a level that rivaled most botanists. Georg's style of drawing is referred to as the Linnaean style. Ehret's father could have never predicted the impact of teaching his son both gardening and drawing, but the two skills had come together in Georg in an extraordinary way. One expert wrote that, "[Ehret] was the greatest artist-illustrator that Linnaeus had." Today, Georg's work is difficult to source. Given the rarity of an Ehret drawing, they are expensive to acquire; pieces generally start around $1k (if you can find one.) Just this past year, the NYBG organized an exhibit called "Georg Ehret: The Greatest Botanical Artist of the 1700s.” They featured 48 Ehret watercolors and engravings.   1781 Today is the birthday of French-German poet, naturalist, and botanist Adelbert von Chamisso ("Sha-ME-So"). Born into a French Noble family, Chamisso’s family fled to Germany after the French Revolution. Chamisso is remembered for a number of different accomplishments. His creativity was captured in a novella called Peter Schlemihl’s Wonderful History, published in 1814. The story is about a naturalist who travels around the world thanks to a pair of seven-league boots and who sells his shadow to the devil in exchange for a bottomless wallet. Seven-league boots were a common part of European folklore and allowed the wearer to walk seven times further than an average stride, making the wearer possess super-human speed. Chamisso established himself as a Romantic poet with his poem Frauenliebe und leben, The poem’s English translation is A Woman's Love and Life and is actually a series of poems describing a woman’s love for a man from their first meeting, through their married life together and ultimately to the time after his death. Robert Schumann later set Chamisso's poem to music in his Opus 42. It takes a soprano opera singer 30 minutes to sing all the poems in the Opus from start to finish.  After surviving the french revolution and the war between France and Prussia, Chamisso eagerly joined a round-the-world voyage aboard a Russian ship called the Rurik. It would be the greatest adventure of his life. The trip was financed by a Russian Count named Nikolay ("NEE-co-LIE") Rumyantsev ("Roo-myan-sev"), who was eager to find a route around North America by water - which would later be called the Northwest Passage. Chamisso was the ship’s naturalist, and Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz was the ship’s doctor and botanist. When the Rurik ended up in the San Francisco Bay area in 1816, Chamisso and Eschscholtz ended up exploring in California for about a month. One of his discoveries was the California poppy, which he named Eschscholzia California after his friend, the botanist Johann Friedrich Von Eschscholz. In return, Eschscholz named a bunch of plants after Chamisso - a little quid pro quo. The California Wild Rose (Rosa californica Chamisso and the California Blackberry (Rubus vitifolius Chamisso) are named for Chamisso. In 1903, the botanist Sarah Plummer Lemmon put forth a successful piece of legislation that nominated the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) as the state flower of California. During his three year Journey on the Rurik, Chamisso collected over 12,000 species of plants. Today his collection is preserved at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg. It was Chamisso who said, “In pain, a new time is born.”   1847Today the city of Yerba Buena ("YAIR-Bah Byoo-Nah") is renamed San Francisco. San Francisco was originally known as Yerba Buena - Spanish for "good herb" - a small mint-like plant early explorers found. Over the years, people have left their hearts in San Francisco. The author Rudyard Kipling said, "San Francisco has only one drawback – ’tis hard to leave." Paul Kanter of Jefferson Airplane said, "San Francisco is 49 square miles, surrounded by reality." Ashleigh Brilliant, author and cartoonist, said, "There may not be a Heaven, but there is San Francisco." The writer William Saroyan said, "If you’re not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life."   1878 Today is the birthday of one of America's greatest Garden writers and one of the 20th Century's most famous horticulturists, Louise Beebe Wilder. Louise was born into a wealthy family in Baltimore. After marrying an architect named Walter Wilder, they bought a country place - a 200-acre estate in Pomona New York; they called BalderBrae. Louise set about adding fountains, terraces, arbors, walled gardens, and pathways. Her book called "My Garden" shared Louise's experiences learning how to garden at BalderBrae, where one of her first flower beds was bordered with clothespins. At BalderBrae, Louise and Walter created a garden and a stone garden house that was made famous in Louise's book "Color in My Garden" - which came out in 1918 and is generally regarded as her best work. In the book, Louise was the first garden writer to write about gray as a garden color. Louise was also the first person to write about Moonlight Gardens, and she wrote about looking at plants under the light of the Moon. After World War I, Walter and Louise settled in suburban Bronxville, New York. Louise created a personal Eden on a single acre of land complete with stone pillars and a long grape arbor. It was here that Louise began rock gardening. After 1920, most of her garden writing focused on rock gardening. Louise inspired both women and men to rock garden. By 1925, Louise founded a local Working Gardeners Club in Bronxville, and she also had steady work as a garden designer and as a garden writer. Her experiences gave her material for her writing. Louise included so many people from Bronxville in her writing that her columns were referred to by locals as "a Bronxville Family Affair." In all, Louise wrote eleven books about gardening. Her voice is pragmatic and pointed, which is why they were popular; gardeners appreciated her no-nonsense advice. For instance, Louise was not a fan of double flowers. In her book, "The Fragrant Path" from 1932, she wrote: “Some flowers are, I am sure, intended by a wise God to remain single. The hyacinth doubled, for instance, is a fat abomination.” Louise wrote for a number of publications, and her writing was published in many prominent periodicals like the Journal of The Royal Horticultural Society of England and the New York Times. House and Garden alone published close to a hundred and fifty articles by Louise. Many of Louise's columns were collected and published as books. A year before she died, Louise was honored with the Gold Medal for Horticultural Achievement from the Garden Club of America. It was the pinnacle moment in her career, and it came as Louise and her children were still grieving the loss of her husband. In the Spring of 1934, Walter had committed suicide after a long battle with mental illness. Louise wrote prolifically about gardening and plants. Her experiences resulted in increasing the awareness of different plant species, gardening practices, and she helped shape the gardens of her time. Louise gave us many wonderful garden quotes. On Snowdrops: “Theirs is a fragile but hardy celebration…in the very teeth of winter.” On Rosemary, “It makes a charming pot plant, neat, svelte, with its dark, felt-lined leaves held sleek against its sides. The smell… is keen and heady, resinous, yet sweet, with a hint of nutmeg.” On Roses: “Over and over again, I have experienced the quieting influence of rose scent upon a disturbed state of mind.” On gardening: “In the garden, every person may be their own artist without apology or explanation. Each within their green enclosure is a creator, and no two shall reach the same conclusion.” Louise is buried with her parents in lot 41 in Lakeside Cemetery in Wakefield, Massachusetts. It was a shock to read that her grave is unmarked and to see that it is completely unadorned - without any flowers - nor does it rest under the shade of a tree.   Unearthed Words 1782Today is the birthday of the English poet and literary critic Ann Taylor. Her sister Jane was a poet as well. Ann famously said, “The most important thing is to wear a smile.” Here's a collection of poems about the garden by Ann Taylor.   Come And Play In The Garden Little sister, come away, And let us in the garden play, For it is a pleasant day. On the grass-plat let us sit, Or, if you please, we'll play a bit, And run about all over it. But the fruit we will not pick, For that would be a naughty trick, And very likely make us sick. Nor will we pluck the pretty flowers That grow about the beds and bowers, Because you know they are not ours. We'll take the daisies, white and red, Because mamma has often said That we may gather then instead. And much I hope we always may Our very dear mamma obey, And mind whatever she may say.   The Gaudy Flower Poem Why does my Anna toss her head, And look so scornfully around, As if she scarcely deigned to tread Upon the daisy-dappled ground? Does fancied beauty fire thine eye, The brilliant tint, the satin skin? Does the loved glass, in passing by, Reflect a graceful form and thin? Alas! that form, and brilliant fire, Will never win beholder's love; It may, indeed, make fools admire, But ne'er the wise and good can move. So grows the tulip, gay and bold, The broadest sunshine its delight; Like rubies, or like burnished gold, It shows its petals, glossy bright. But who the gaudy floweret crops, As if to court a sweet perfume! Admired it blows, neglected drops, And sinks unheeded to its doom. The virtues of the heart may move Affections of a genial kind; While beauty fails to stir our love, And wins the eye, but not the mind.   The Field Daisy I'm a pretty little thing, Always coming with the spring; In the meadows green, I'm found, Peeping just above the ground, And my stalk is covered flat With a white and yellow hat. Little Mary, when you pass Lightly o'er the tender grass, Skip about, but do not tread On my bright but lowly head, For I always seem to say, "Surely winter's gone away."   Grow That Garden Library The Seed Underground: by Janisse Ray The subtitle of this book is: A Growing Revolution to Save Food. Ray writes: “There is no despair in a seed. There's only life, waiting for the right conditions-sun and water, warmth and soil-to be set free. Every day, millions upon millions of seeds lift their two green wings.” Ray's book takes us to the frontier of seed-saving. She shares beautiful stories from gardeners around the country who are working to preserve our food by growing old varieties, heirlooms, and eating them. Gardeners will love this book because, as a gardener, Ray is relatable, and her stories feature ordinary gardeners who are trying to save open-pollinated varieties of old-time seeds - the true treasures in our Gardens. Ray's book is not just about gardening, but also about preserving our food by saving seeds before they disappear. Ray helps us understand why seeds are under threat and why a lack of seed diversity is something that should concern all of us. Ray is a writer, naturalist, and poet. This is one of my favorite books on this topic, so I hope you'll check it out. You can get a used copy of The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food by Janisse Ray and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $4.   Great Gifts for Gardeners Stonebriar 9 Inch Clear Glass Dome Cloche with Rustic Wooden Base, Antique Bell Jar Display Dome, For Plants, Succulents, Fairy Lights, Photos, Medals, Decorative Fill, and More, Medium $31.99 Add a rustic touch to your home decor with Stonebriar's clear glass bell-shape cloche with a wooden base. This cloche features a clear glass dome with the decorative knob so you can easily remove it. The rustic wooden base measures 6.1 inches in diameter and is the perfect size to display your favorite pillar candles, flowers, succulents, medals, photos, and fairy lights. This glass cloche is small enough to use in any room in your home but big enough to make a statement. Add your favorite filler and create a unique centerpiece for your kitchen or dining room or place filled cloche on your mantel for a little added decoration. This cloche is also the perfect party decoration. Buy multiple cloches for rustic tabletop display. This decorative cloche is the perfect size for any tabletop measuring 9" in height, and the wood base with metal trim measures 6.1" in diameter Glass dome inner measurements are 4.7" in diameter and 6" in height. It can easily fit your favorite pillar candles, flowers, succulents & more Rustic wooden base cloche is available in 2 separate sizes. Buy one size or buy both sizes and create your own unique display set.   Today’s Botanic Spark 1784Today is the birthday of the American Floral Dictionary writer, Elizabeth Wirt. Elizabeth was the second wife of William Wirt, who served as an attorney general of the United States. They had ten children. In 1829, Elizabeth wrote her floral dictionary.  She published it anonymously, using the very mysterious name ‘by a Lady.’ Wirt featured lovely tidbits in her dictionary - quotes and prose by poets and writers accompanied the information for each plant. Her dictionary also included extraneous information that would be of interest to gardeners in the early to mid-1800s: the Structure of Plants, the Structure of Flowers, and a sketch on the Life of Linnaeus. Elizabeth shared all she knew about the history of each flower she featured in her dictionary. Gardeners adored her book. It was republished every two years. In the 1835 edition, Elizabeth finally felt confident enough to publish the book using her name "Mrs. E. W. Wirt of Virginia.”The final edition of her book was published in in 1855 it was the first book of its kind in the United States to feature colored plates. You can see a copy of Wirt's dictionary online for free.

Show Notes Today we celebrate the Chelsea Physic Garden Curator who was partly responsible for the British Fern Craze and the botanical illustrator whose art ended up on South African currency. We'll learn about the man who discovered the virus researching tobacco plants and the English architect who partnered with Gertrude Jekyll to design Country Estates. Today’s Unearthed Words feature garden-inspired poetry from the English gardener and writer Thomas Moore. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that will make you feel like you’ve made a garden friend. I'll talk about a great garden item that is made from repurposed weapons. and then we’ll wrap things up with the origin story of the Kent mango. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Curated Articles The Herbs of Christmas by Mother Earth Living @mthrearthliving “Learn which herbs help welcome us into the holiday season The botanical trappings of the season have proven astoundingly consistent throughout the past several thousand years.” Naturally, they discussed the holly and the ivy and the poinsettia. But, they also discussed the mistletoe. They explained: "Mistletoe called for a gesture of conciliation—usually a kiss. Under the original rules, a berry must be picked for each kiss." After all the berries were removed, the sprig was taken down and replaced with a new one.   Superglue plant and ‘miracle berry’ among 2019’s new finds by @dpcarrington @guardian  As we welcome the new year, here's a nod to a handful of the plant discoveries made in 2019. @Kew scientists officially named 102 plants & 8 fungi in 2019 - including a shrub that oozes superglue and cancer-fighting fungi. A new species of Snowdrop was spotted on #Facebook!   Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. There’s no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events 1887  Today is the anniversary of the death of the gardener, naturalist, and Chelsea Physic Garden curator Thomas Moore. Before Moore worked at Chelsea Physic Garden @ChelsPhysicGdn, he spent four years at Fraser’s Lea Bridge Nurseries, Leyton from 1839-1842. Moore wrote several books on horticulture - many reflected his lifelong passion for ferns. In 1848, the year he started at Chelsea Physic Garden, he wrote the 'Handbook of British Ferns.’ His maniacal focus on ferns led to the creation of a Fernery in the garden and inspired the Victorian Fern craze or "Pteridomania". Twelve years after his first book on ferns, his love was still going strong and he wrote British Ferns and Their Allies in 1869. Thomas is remembered for these wonderful quips like: “The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden,” or “Garden as though you will live forever.” My favorite Thomas Moore quote is about rosemary. He wrote, “As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls...because it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship.”   1895  Today is the birthday of the South African botanical artist Cythna Letty. Letty’s mom was a painter and she gave Cythna her first lessons on painting and sketching. As a small girl, she began creating a book that illustrated all of the flowering plants of her homeland. It took her a lifetime to finish the work and it was finally published in 1962. Letty captured the wildflowers of Africa with detail and grace. She worked for the Botanical Institute in the Department of Agriculture in South Africa. Based in Pretoria. In the 1960s as South Africa moved from the English sterling system, Cythna’s work was selected for three coins in South African currency. The 10-cent coin featured the Aloe, the 20-cent featured the Protea which was the National Flower of South Africa. And the 50-cent flower featured the Agapanthus. Cythna wrote poetry as well. She once wrote: “I hitched my wagon to a daisy Direction vague and destination hazy But, could any star have guided me more exactly to where I most dearly loved to be?”   1931 Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Martinus Beijerinck (pronounced “by-a-rink”). Beijerinck searched for the reason tobacco plants were dying. In his research, Beijerinck ground up some diseased tobacco leaves and then pressed the juices through a bacteria filter. He was utterly shocked when the filtered, bacteria-free liquid still spread the disease. After reviewing his experiment, Beijerinck concluded that a "contagious living fluid" was the culprit. It was a disease-carrying micro-organism that was smaller than bacteria and he called it a virus, the Latin word for poison." Today, two of the most common viruses are the flu and the common cold.   1944  Today is the birthday of the English Architect Sir Edwin Lutyens ("Lutchins"). Edwin went by Ned. When Ned was almost forty, he was hired to work on a house for the great garden designer and horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll. It was the beginning of a professional collaboration and friendship that had profound effects on the English country garden. Jekyll and Ned created some of the greatest Edwardian gardens in the world. Lutyens reflected on the work of a garden designer when he wrote: “No artist has so wide a palette as the garden designer, and no artist is in greater need of discretion and reserve.” When Jekyll introduced Ned to the founder of Country Life Magazine, Edward Hudson, she created another invaluable source of synergy for his work. Hudson greatly admired Ned’s work and he became a vital patron. He regularly shared Ned’s work in his magazine, he commissioned Ned to design numerous jobs for his many homes, and he even had Ned design the new office space for the magazine. The home Lutyens designed for Hudson known as Deanery Garden is arguably his best country home. It’s now owned by Led Zepplin guitarist Jimmy Page.   Unearthed Words After researching the Chelsea Physic Garden curator Thomas Moore for today’s show, I thought you’d enjoy a few of his delightful poems.    In 1805, Moore was inspired by a rose specimen called ‘Old Blush’ and wrote a poem called The Last Rose of Summer: Tis the last rose of summer, Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone.   Moore wrote this verse about the tuberose also known as a Night Violet or Dame's Violet (Hesperis matronalis): The tuberose, with her silvery light, That in the gardens of Malay Is called the Mistress of the Night, So like a bride, scented and bright; She comes out when the sun's away.   And, here’s a lovely verse from Moore about Jasmine (Jasminum officinale): From plants that wake when others sleep, from timid jasmine buds that keep their odor to themselves all day, but when the sunlight dies away let the delicious secret out to every breeze that roams about.   Grow That Garden Library Potted and Pruned: Living a Gardening Life by Carol J. Michel The subtitle to Carol’s book is Living a Gardening Life and it came out in February of 2017. Potted and Pruned won the 2018 Garden Media Awards Gold Medal for Best Overall Book. As someone who has a large garden library, one of the things I love about Carol’s delightful little book, Potted and Pruned, aside from the title and all the wonderful stories inside, is the cover - it’s a verdant green. Is there any other color more suited to a garden book? I think not. Yet, you wouldn’t believe how few garden books are actually green nowadays. Beautiful green books like Carol’s are wonderful to have out during the holidays. But all year long, Carol’s book is really the perfect book to have by the bed in a guest room or at the cabin or just on an end table because it’s short and sweet - just 144 pages; and best of all, it is heartwarming. To read Carol’s book is to feel like you’ve made a garden friend. Carol’s the kind of gardener that can laugh at her garden mistakes and she makes you feel like making mistakes is as natural as the garden itself. After all, how else are we to learn? In her book, Carol has written 36 wonderful stories for gardeners. You’ll feel like you’re right beside her in her garden called May Dreams where some of her plants prove frustrating, where the weeds want her full-time attention and where new rare plants are always welcome. You’ll find inspiration as you read about how Carol handles drought or her practical pieces of advice that are sprinkled throughout the book. Carol’s Book reminded of the book Gardener’s BedTime Stories - only shorter, sweeter, and more relatable. You can dip in and out of her stories and then drift off to dreamland where you’ll hopefully dream of your garden - your happy place.   Great Gifts for Gardeners Here’s a very unique gift for gardeners; it’s the Garden Mattock from Raw Tools.  Raw Tools makes garden tools from guns, in the spirit of beating swords into plowshares. The mattock is a double-sided tool that meets a variety of needs when caring for your garden. It offers a hoe on one side and a fork on the other. The tool is made from about 5” of a rifle barrel. Every barrel gives us a different tool. Each is one of a kind and made by hand. The handle is 14″-18″, the hoe and fork are 6″-8″. You can check out their amazing work here.   Today’s Botanic Spark 1933 On this day the Kent Mango (Mangifera indica) is planted on land belonging to Leith Dunlop Kent in Coconut Grove, Florida. Kent was just a kid when he was given a little Brooks Mango seedling for Christmas. Six years later, Kent’s tree produced its first crop of mangos. The tree was a prolific and consistent producer. Kent brought some of the mangos to the Florida Mango Forum and the Kent Mango became a vital part of the commercial mango industry in Florida. By 1950, Kent was elected president of the Florida Mango Forum. And, here’s a caution for gardeners when it comes to mangos. People can have a sensitivity to the peel and milky sap of the plant. It turns out that the substance, urushiol ("u-ROO-she-ol"), is also found in poison ivy, sumac, and poison oak.

British artist Eileen Hogan, Yale Center for British Art curator Elisabeth Fairman, and Artists’ Lives oral historian Cathy Courtney have a wide-ranging conversation about painting, exhibitions, gardens, poetry, and more. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Soundcloud

I thought I'd start today's show off with a quote by Beverley Nichols from his book, Sunlight on the Lawn: “Why do insurance companies, when they want to describe an act of God, invariably pick on something which sounds much more like an act of the Devil? One would think that God was exclusively concerned in making hurricanes, smallpox, thunderbolts, and dry rot. They seem to forget that He also manufactures rainbows, apple-blossom, and Siamese kittens. However, that is, perhaps, a diversion.” This quote by Nichols came to mind when I heard the wondrous story about the little tomato plant that had sprouted on a piling by the Brooklyn Bridge. It made the Nightly News after the story was first published by the New York Times on Wednesday along with a photo taken by a passerby, Matthew Frey. Paddle-boarding between Pier 1 and 2 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Frey saw the leaves first. His incredible image of a lone tomato plant growing straight up with no supports and with one perfectly red little tomato was heartwarming. It reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree but with only one red ornament hanging proudly in the middle of the plant. Frey, who is 54, told the times:  “I’m used to seeing things grow here, but nothing as special as that... Things like that just make me happy.” Beverley Nichols would have loved seeing the little tomato plant that could. To him, it would have been heaven sent - a little gift to us all from above.     Brevities #OTD On this day in 1513, James IV of Scotland, along with other Flowers of the Forest, were killed in the battle of Flodden.   The Scottish army led by James, was taking advantage of Henry VIII's absence in France but they were resoundingly crushed by an army organized by Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's 1st wife. It was the largest battle ever fought between England & Scotland, and it was a devastating defeat for the Scots who remembered   the pain of an estimated 12,000 dead sons of Scotland in an old Scottish folksong called “The Flowers of the Forest.” There are many variations of the lyrics that have surfaced over the years. One of the oldest verses ends this way: "'The Flowers of the Forest that fought at the foremost, The prime of the land are cold in the clay'" In 1765, the socialite Alison Cockburn wrote her own lyrics to the Flowers of the Forest. Here's the first verse: I've seen the smiling Of fortune beguiling, I've tasted her pleasures And felt her decay; Sweet is her blessing, And kind her caressing, But now they are fled And fled far away.     #OTD  Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and the incomparable botanical illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret who died on this day in 1770.   Ehret was born in Heidelberg, Germany to Ferdinand Christian Ehret, who was a gardener and also had a talent for drawing. He taught his son both skills- gardening and drawing - before he died. Ehret made his way to Regensburg. There, he met an apothecary who hired him to draw of specimens from his herbarium and garden. Ehret earnestly took on the job; drawing over 500 pieces in one year. Taking advantage of his young employee, the apothecary fired Ehret and told him he should have completed 1,000 drawings and was fired. It was basically his way of avoiding paying Ehret. After this dreadful experience, Ehret made his way to England and worked at the major botanical gardens - Including Chelsea Physic. Isaac Rand, the first director of the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, told Ehret to paint the rare plants in the garden. The uniqueness of the specimens added to the demand for Ehret's work. As a result, Ehret was on friendly terms with the plant collectors and naturalists of his time.  Chelsea was formative professionally and personally for Ehret; He married the head gardener's sister-in-law, Susanna Kennet.  In The Art of Botanical Illustration, Wilfrid Blunt noted that, “By the middle of the century he had become a popular figure in London society: the highest nobility in England clamored to receive instruction from him,”    Indeed, the wealthiest woman in England, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, (the Duchess of Portland) gladly retained Ehret as a drawing instructor. Struck by the luminescence of his work, and ultimately she would buy over 300 of his paintings. In 1737,  Ehret was hired to draw by Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty.  In August of that year, Wagner's personal garden is where Ehret first observed the Magnolia grandiflora flowering. The bloom was so inspiring that Ehret walked for an hour each way, from Chelsea to Wagner's house (in Fulham), to see and sketch every stage of the Magnolia grandiflora;  from bud to full flower. Ehret's work provided the world with the first Magnolia to be illustrated in England. Beyond his work in England, Ehret traveled throughout Europe in pursuit of his craft. He  met Linnaeus in Holland when he was visiting the botanical garden in Leiden.  Linnaeus taught Ehret exactly how he wanted plants to be dissected and drawn. By this time, Ehret felt that his drawings were already aligned with Linnaeus, but the calibration didn't hurt; Ehret's work made it possible for Linnaeus to show the differences between plants for his books. When Linnaeus released his catalog of rare plants, "Hortus Cliffortianus," in 1737, it featured 20 meticulous plates made by Ehret. As a result of partnering with Linnaeus, Ehret understood plant structure on a level that rivaled most botanists. Ehret's style of drawing is referred to as the Linnaean style. Ehret's father could have never predicted the impact of teaching his son both gardening and drawing; but the two skills had come together in Ehret in a very special way. One expert wrote that, "[Ehret] was the greatest artist illustrator that Linnaeus had."   Today, Ehret's work is difficult to source. Given the rarity of an Ehret drawing, they are expensive to acquire; pieces generally start around $1k (if you can find one.) Just this year, the NYBG organized an exhibit called, "Georg Ehret: The Greatest Botanical Artist of the 1700s.” They featured 48 Ehret watercolors and engravings.   #OTD   Today is the birthday of James Arnold who was born on this day in 1781 and who was the namesake for Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. The Arnold Arboretum was the very first arboretum in the United States. Arnold was born to a Quaker family in Providence Rhode, Island. In 1807, Arnold married Sarah Rotch. Had Arnold not married Sarah, there would have probably never been an Arnold Arboretum. Sarah's father was part of a wealthy whaling family. Through his marriage to Sarah, Arnold eventually became a partner in his father-in-law's business. Arnold used his wealth to buy an 11-acre estate. There he built a mansion and installed beautiful gardens and lawns. The property was so stunning, that the Arnolds opened their gardens to the public on Sundays. It was a rare opportunity. The Unitarian minister, William Potter, called the Arnold estate, "a home the most conspicuous among all our homes for culture, for hospitality, for charity."   John Quincy Adams was a guest of the Arnolds in 1835 and 1843.  When Arnold died in 1868, he had outlived both his wife and daughter. As part of his will, he left $100,000 in the hands of threetrustees: Francis Parker, John James Dixwell, and George Emerson. Emerson and Dixwell were essential to the founding of the Arboretum because they personally knew Asa Gray at Harvard and they also knew that Harvard wanted a Botanic Garden. When the arrangements for the arboretum were finally settled, the instructions were to collect every kind of tree and shrub that would grow outdoors in Massachusetts.  In 1873, Charles Sprague Sargent was hired to be the Arnold Arboretum director - a position he would hold for over four decades. His vision combined with the stability provided by his long leadership, established a solid foundation for the Arnold Arboretum. With the gift from James Arnold, the Arboretum had the means; and with the leadership of Sargent, it had the expertise. Both were needed to create the world-class arboretum we enjoy today.     Unearthed Words This week I'm going to do a special tribute to the author Beverley Nichols, who was born on this day in 1898.  Nichols is remembered for his writing and his love of gardening and cats. Nichols wrote over 60 books - but he is best remembered for his gardening books. In 1932, Nichol's wrote Down the Garden Path. It became an instant best seller on both sides of the Atlantic. In the book, Nichols wrote about his 1928 purchase of a weekend retreat; a thatched cottage in the village of Glatton. Nichols knew nothing about gardening when he bought the cottage, so he shared every discovery and disaster in his books. Based on the positive response to his first book, Nichols wrote two more books on his Glatton experiences. The second book   was “A Thatched Roof” (released in 1933) and the third was “A Village in a Valley” (released in 1934). The books are referred to as “The Glatton Trilogy” or “The Allways Chronicles.” Here are some excerpts from Nichol's first book, Down the Garden Path: “...a cyclamen that looks like a flight of butterflies, frozen for a single, exquisite moment in the white heart of Time...” “It was not till I experimented with seeds plucked straight from a growing plant that I had my first success...the first thrill of creation...the first taste of blood. This, surely, must be akin to the pride of paternity...indeed, many soured bachelors would wager that it must be almost as wonderful to see the first tiny crinkled leaves of one's first plant as to see the tiny crinkled face of one's first child.” “I had never ‘taken a cutting’ before… .Do you not realize that the whole thing is miraculous? It is exactly as though you were to cut off your wife’s leg, stick it in the lawn, and be greeted on the following day by an entirely new woman, sprung from the leg, advancing across the lawn to meet you.”      Today's book recommendation: The Proven Winners Garden Book by Ruth Rogers Clausen and Thomas Christopher   This book is the ultimate gardening guide for all reader levels. It is super easy to read with excellent, clear instructions. Proven Winners is known as the #1 Plant Brand - and just like their quality plants, this book does not disappoint. In this book you get three awesome things. First, Garden Plans. But, not just any garden plan; Simple Garden Plans. Plans for attracting pollinators, plans for creating the most fragrant garden, plans for an entertaining garden, and so on. Second, Clausen and Christopher have put together dozens of recipes for beautiful containers. Just like a cookbook, these recipes are proven and they are geared toward providing curb appeal, color, texture and pizzazz to everything from small spaces to the average home lot. Finally, this guide offers really helpful lessons on how to buy the best plants and also on maintenance; the aspect of gardening so many struggle with. If you are a new gardener, this book will be your bible for getting started in the right way, maximizing your effort,  avoiding hours of research on plants and design; helping  you achieve stunning results in a single season.   Today's Garden Chore Start saving seeds and make cuttings of the plants you want to increase for next year.  Focus on your top performers and sentimental favorites in order to cultivate even better stock next year. Stay active in your garden now - don't leave the best of this year's garden to history.       Something Sweet  Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day in 1903, the Akron Beacon Journal out of Akron, Ohio announced Carnation Day.  Here's what it said: "The Anniversary of President McKinley's Death Will be Noted by the Wearing of His Favorite Flower by Akron Citizens. Next Monday will be the second anniversary of the death of President McKinley, and has been called "Red Carnation day," in honor of his favorite flower. President McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz, in the Temple of Music at the Buffalo exposition, September 6, 1901. The shooting occurred late in the afternoon and inside of an hour, every man, woman, and child within reach of the telegraph instrument heard the sorrowful news, and were sending up prayers for the recovery of the president. After the shooting, President McKinley was taken to the home of John G. Milburn, president of the exposition company, where he lingered; while hopeful and then depressing bulletins were issued from his bedside, until finally on September 14, he passed from life. Last year the president's favorite flower was worn by hundreds in this city, and it is expected that next Monday will see nearly every one wearing the flower that usually adorned the lapel of the third martyr president."     Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

There is nothing that can beat eating fresh food from the garden.     It seems every meal around here has fresh basil lettuce from the garden and little cherry tomatoes.   Today, I was at my favorite olive oil store and they sell this little gizmo called the Zip Slicer.   You load it up with your cherry tomatoes or grapes, and then you slice them all in one quick motion.   It's fantastic if you eat tomatoes and grapes a lot. It cuts down on the prep time and I think around here we've been eating Caprese salad about three times a week. So there you go. Check it out: the Zip Slicer.           Brevities   #OTD   It was on this day in 1757 that the botanist John Bartram wrote a letter to Philip Miller.   Miller was the chief Gardner at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until his death. He corresponded with botanists from all over the world, including John Bartram. Miller even trained William Forsyth after whom Forsythia is named. When Bartram wrote to Miller he shared some of his personal preferences as a gardener. First, he shared his desire for variety in the garden. He said, "One or two is enough for me of a sort." Later in the letter, he shared his dislike for plants that weren't hardy in Pennsylvania. He wrote to Miller saying, "I don't greatly like tender plants that won't bear our severe winters but perhaps annual plants that would perfect their seed with you without the help of a hotbed in the spring will do with us in the open ground."     #OTD  It was on this day in 1803 that President Thomas Jefferson sent a formal letter to his private secretary and aide, Meriwether Lewis.   Lewis was a captain in the first United States infantry. Jefferson wrote him to request that he might lead an expedition of the Missouri River. Jefferson never mentioned botany in the letter, but he clearly was thinking about it; and Lewis knew it. As he was preparing for his trip, Lewis connected with Benjamin Smith Barton. Barton had written the first American textbook on botany and he gave Lewis a little crash course on the subject.     #OTD    It was on this day in 1861 that Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins was born.   In the 1700s, Dr. James Lind had made it known that eating limes would cure a sailors scurvy. Hopkins work call these substances accessory food factors. Today, we know them as vitamins.     #OTD    And it is on this day in 1892 that Benjamin Lincoln Robinson was appointed the curator of the Asa Gray Herbarium at Harvard.   When Robinson took over, both the herbarium and the library were in dire straits. Robinson was instrumental in acquiring funds and extending the growth of the herbarium in library. Today, the Gray Herbarium and library are still housed at Harvard at 22 Divinity Ave.     #OTD    And It was on this day hundred years ago that Isabella Abbott was born.   She was the first native Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in science.  Abbott became known as the "First Lady of Limu" or seaweed. When she was a little girl, she spent hours gathering seaweed for her mother to cook in traditional Hawaiian foods. I found a video online of an interview that Leslie Wilcox did with Abbott back in 2008. When Wilcox asked Abbott about her love of studying seaweed, she said, "There are so few of us [compared to] the thousands of people work on flowering plants. Flowering plants mostly have the same kind of life history so they become kind of boring; they make pretty flowers and make nice smells, they taste good - many of them. But, they're not like seaweeds. With every one you pick up, it does go through life a different way ...  It's a game, it's a game I bet with myself the whole whole time from the time I cut it on the outside I say oh I think this might be in such-and-such a family, or something like that, and by the time I get to some magnification on the microscope...  Oh No. 100% wrong.  So let's begin again."   You can watch the video of the interview with Isabella Abbott in the Facebook Group for the Show: The Daily Gardener Community         Unearthed Words   Green Summer   No farther than my fingertips, No weightier than a rose, The essence of green summer slips Into a waiting pose.   The tilted bowl of heaven Has spilled its blue and gold Among the vines and grasses Where autumn is foretold.   Skylarks trill the melody, Crickets cry it over; Summer hides her mystery In fields of hay and clover.     Alice Mackenzie Swaim        Today's book recommendation: The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs by John Hillier   This book is considered a classic in horticultural literature. The best part about it remains all of the notes that were compiled by members of the Hillier family. Among all of them, they had an amazing amount of direct experience growing plants and assessing their performance in different regions. Over 10,500 plants representing more than 650 genera are described in detail, making it an indispensable guide for any keen gardener or botanist.     Today's Garden Chore   Don't forget to pinch back some of your perennials; this is also known as the Chelsea Chop.   The simple technique helps control plant height and delay bloom.   You can use the Chelsea Chop on a number of herbaceous perennials in your garden. Plants like mums, lysimachia, helenium, aster, sedum, and so forth.           Something Sweet  Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart It was on this day in 1831 that the botanist and founding member of the Torrey Botanical Club, Coe Finch Austin, was born.   He was a noted expert on the mosses and liverworts of North America.   To give you an idea of his fearlessness while he was collecting plants, here's a little story I read across:   Coe was visiting his brother in New York and he decided he wanted to climb High Tor.   Austin climbed the mountain; stopping along the way to add specimens to his shoulder bag.   When he reached the top, Austin surprised his brother and handed him the specimens with instructions to meet him at the base of the mountain.   His brother realize that this meant Austin was going to descend along the most dangerous face of the mountain.   He tried to stop him, but Austin did not relent.   His brother waited for him at the meeting place on the base. After a while, and without a sound, his brother suddenly appeared. He came bearing specimens and had a huge smile on his face.         Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

Well, that was fun. We met up in London, a Gemini town, to record this episode on a hot, sunny day in Chelsea Physic Garden.  You'll get to hear some classic Gemini background noises -- chitchat, a helicopter, bird song. Mars was in the last stages of Gemini as we made this recording. You may be able to guess this by the speed at which we are both talking! It was a day riddled with synchronicity. But the most outrageous was running into a dear Gemini friend of Sally's, just after Sally had mentioned her. This in a city of more than 10 million people. But back to the actual podcast. The month ahead does look excellent for getting a few things started -- as long as you get in early. Things look a little stickier as we head into the Summer Solstice. For more in-depth astrology, take a look at our websites: Sally is at [www.sallykirkman.com](http://www.sallykirkman.com)where you can find details of all her astrology services & products. Christina is at [The Oxford Astrologer.](https://www.oxfordastrologer.com) Check out her in-depth monthly horoscopes for each sign.

Sitting on the banks of the River Thames is a four acre site that is home to more than 5,000 species of plants from around the world. The Chelsea Physic Garden in London is a secret garden originally established by the Apothecaries in order to grow medicinal plants. Nowadays, it’s bursting with edible and useful medicinal plants, and the gardens are open to the public to explore. In this episode of The Plant Based Podcast, Michael Perry and Ellen Mary meet Michael Holland, head of education at the garden, to find out more about the history of the site and to discover the amazing uses of plants for medicinal purposes. Michael talks about how plants can be used in our lives for good, as well as shedding light on plants for herbal medicines and what plants you can use at home to create your own, safe remedies. Visit www.theplantbasedpodcast.net where Michael reveals 5 of the best plants for home remedies.   The Plant Based Podcast: www.theplantbasedpodcast.net Instagram Twitter Facebook    Please visit our sponsor Suttons for a range of plants and flowers www.suttons.co.uk  

After leaving school Joe went to Art College and played bass in a band. He then travelled and worked abroad and upon his return started landscaping in North London and subsequently lived in Australia for a year landscaping in Sydney and Melbourne. He studied garden design at The English Gardening School based at the Chelsea Physic Garden in 1990 whilst simultaneously setting up a landscaping company. Joe started presenting Gardeners World in 1998 and now designs gardens, presents on TV and writes.

David Maxwell and the Gardeners' Corner team look ahead to a new gardening year. He also visits the Chelsea Physic Garden a place familar to Killyleagh man Sir Hans Sloane.

With over 5000 species of plants - many of them medicinal or otherwise 'useful' to our lives - Chelsea Physic Garden still serves the same purpose almost 350 years after it was founded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. This lecture will revisit its past; some of the antique technologies pioneered there as well as profile some of its notable people and, of course, plants.Part of the Mondays at One Gardens SeriesThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/are-you-interested-or-discounted-long-term-social-financeGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.ukTwitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

It's not often you find a garden that was founded in 1673, as the Apothecaries' Garden. Ann was on a trip to Europe recently and dropped in on the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden on the side of the River Thames … Continue reading →

(April 15, 2009)Audio Download (MP3)Corresponding Slides (PDF)Elizabeth P. McLean, garden historian and Library Company Trustee (and former President), speaks about her new biography of Peter Collinson, co-authored by Jean O’Neill. Collinson -- a London Quaker, a draper by trade, and a passionate gardener and naturalist by avocation -- was a facilitator in natural science, disseminating botanical and horticultural knowledge. He found clients for the Philadelphia Quaker farmer and naturalist John Bartram at a time when the English landscape was evolving to emphasize trees and shrubs, and the more exotic the better. Thus, American plants came to populate great British estates as well as the Chelsea Physic Garden. Collinson was a member of the Royal Society who encouraged Franklin’s electrical experiments and had the results published, he corresponded about myriad natural phenomena, and he was ahead of his time in understanding the extinction of animals and the migration of birds. Though a man of modest Quaker demeanor, because of his passion for natural science, he had an unprecedented effect on the exchange of scientific information on both sides of the Atlantic.Co-sponsored by the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania