Podcasts about sir hans sloane

Nicholas Cullinan, the new director of the British Museum, seems to think so. “I'm not afraid of the past,” he says — which means talking about looted objects, the basement storerooms, and the leaking roof. We take the guided tour. SOURCES:Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum. RESOURCES:"Inside the British Museum: stolen treasures and a £1bn revamp," by Alice Thomson (The Times, 2025)."British Museum gems for sale on eBay - how a theft was exposed," by Katie Razzall, Larissa Kennelly, and Darin Graham (BBC, 2024)."British Museum chief Nicholas Cullinan: ‘I start with the idea that everything is possible,'" by Jan Dalley (Financial Times, 2024)."Who Benefits When Western Museums Return Looted Art?" by David Frum (The Atlantic, 2022).The Will of Sir Hans Sloane, by Sir Hans Sloane (1753).The Portland Vase (The British Museum). EXTRAS:"Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard." by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

La historia detrás del Museo Británico, el museo más importante del planeta y en constantes escándalos sobre la adquisición de sus piezas. Fundado en el siglo XVIII por Sir Hans Sloane, el museo es tanto motivo de humanismo y democracia como de abusos coloniales. El cargo Historia del Museo Británico – Bully Magnets – Historia Documental apareció primero en Bully Magnets.

Sir Hans Sloane's legacy is a bit mixed. He is the reason there's a British Museum, but there are a lot of problematic aspects to the way he gathered his collection. Research: Blair, Molly. “350 years of the Chelsea Physic Garden: A brief history.” Gardens Illustrated. https://www.gardensillustrated.com/features/chelsea-physic-garden-350 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Sir Hans Sloane, Baronet". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Hans-Sloane-Baronet Delbourgo, James. “Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum.” Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2017.  “Health in the 17th Royal Museums Greenwich. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/health-17th-century “Introducing Sir Hans Sloane.” The Sloane Letters Project. https://sloaneletters.com/about-sir-hans-sloane/ Lemonius, Michele. “‘Deviously Ingenious': British Colonialism in Jamaica.” Peace Research, vol. 49, no. 2, 2017, pp. 79–103. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44779908 “London, January 13.” The Derby Mercury. Jan. 12, 1753. https://www.newspapers.com/image/394230860/?match=1&terms=Sir%20Hans%20Sloane Pavid, Katie. “Hans Sloane: Physician, collector and botanist.” National History Museum. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/hans-sloane-physician-collector-botanist.html “Sir Hans Sloane.” Sir Hans Sloane Centre. https://sirhanssloanecentre.co.uk/who-is-hans-sloane/ “Sir Hans Sloane.” The British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/sir-hans-sloane Stearns, Raymond Phinneas. “James Petiver Promoter of Natural Science, c.1663-1718.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. October 1952. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807240.pdf See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

fWotD Episode 2708: Secretum (British Museum) Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Thursday, 3 October 2024 is Secretum (British Museum).The Secretum (Latin for "hidden away") was a British Museum collection of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that held artefacts and images deemed sexually graphic. Many of the items were amulets, charms and votive offerings, often from pre-Christian traditions, including the worship of Priapus, a Greco-Roman god of fertility and male genitalia. Items from other cultures covered wide ranges of human history, including ancient Egypt, the classical era Greco-Roman world, the ancient Near East, medieval England, Japan and India.Many of the early donations or sales to the museum, including those from the collectors Sir Hans Sloane, Sir William Hamilton, Richard Payne Knight and Charles Townley, contained items with erotic or sexually graphic images; these were separated out by museum staff and not put on public display. Modern scholars believe the segregation was probably motivated by a paternalistic stance from the museum to keep what they considered morally dangerous material away from all except scholars and members of the clergy. By the 1860s there were around 700 such items held by the museum. In 1865 the antiquarian George Witt donated his phallocentric collection of 434 artefacts to the museum, which led to the formal setting up of the Secretum to hold his collection and similar items. The Secretum collection began to be gradually broken up in 1912, with the transfer of items into departments appropriate for their time frame and culture. The last entry into the Secretum was in 1953, when the British Library found 18th-century condoms being used as bookmarks in a 1783 publication they held. The last remaining items were moved out of the collection in 2005.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:07 UTC on Thursday, 3 October 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Secretum (British Museum) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Amy.

Welcome to September 27th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate colorful scraps and comfort drinks.  The first scarves depicted in fashion are found in ancient Egypt, where Queen Nefertiti wore a tightly woven scarf beneath her conical headdress. Military ranks were often marked with scarves of varying value from expensive silk to lowly cotton. But our love for scarves as a fashion statement can be traced to the house of Hermes in the 19th century. Making use of the beautiful patterned fabrics from China and India, Hermes designed the first ready-to-wear graphic silk scarf in 1837. When it caught the eye of Queen Victoria and became a part of her iconic look, scarves were quickly embraced in Europe and America as the essence of chic. On National Scarf Day, enjoy the big impact of a small strip of fabric. While hot chocolate has been around in one form or another for thousands of years, it's believed that chocolate milk came from 17th century Jamaica. Sir Hans Sloane, an Irish botanist was given a post here, to serve an English Duke. While mixing with the locals, he discovered a drink made of cocoa and water that he described as nauseating. By substituting milk for the water he created a much smoother concoction that he later brought to apothecaries in Europe, where it was used as a medicine. And while chocolate milk may not be considered a health food, on National Chocolate Milk Day we remind you that some foods feed your body, while others feed your soul. I'm Anna Devere and I'm Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today We Embrace The Fashion Statement That's Fit For A Queen. Welcome to September 27th, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the little things that comfort the body and soul. More after the break from Anna Devere. Scarves are a wonderful way to brighten up the gloom of fall and winter as they cozy up to our necks and keep us warm. The first scarves depicted in fashion are found in ancient Egypt, where Queen Nefertiti wore a tightly woven scarf beneath her conical headdress.  Military ranks were often marked with scarves of varying value from expensive silk to lowly cotton.  But our love for scarves as a fashion statement can be traced to the house of Hermes in the 19th century. Making use of the beautiful patterned fabrics from China and India, Hermes designed the first ready-to-wear graphic silk scarf in 1837. When it caught the eye of Queen Victoria and became a part of her iconic look, scarves were quickly embraced in Europe and America as the essence of chic.  On National Scarf Day, enjoy the big impact of a small strip of fabric. While hot chocolate has been around in one form or another for thousands of years, it's believed that chocolate milk came from 17th century Jamaica.  Sir Hans Sloane, an Irish botanist was given a post here, to serve an English Duke.  While mixing with the locals, he discovered a drink made of cocoa and water that he described as nauseating. By substituting milk for the water he created a much smoother concoction that he later brought to apothecaries in Europe, where it was used as a medicine.  And while chocolate milk may not be considered a health food, on National Chocolate Milk Day we remind you that some foods feed your body, while others feed your soul. I'm Anna Devere and I'm Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day.

One day, more than 2,000 years ago, Emperor Yuan of China's Western Han dynasty and his concubines were watching animal baiting. Suddenly a black bear jumped out of the enclosure and attacked the spectators. The emperor and his concubines were scared and ran away. But one of the concubines, Feng Yuan  did not. She stood right in front of the bear, while two guards tried to stop the bear with their long spears. She later explained to the emperor that she did this to defend him, because fierce beasts would usually stop their attack once they had grabbed one person. The emperor was very grateful. About 400 years later during the Eastern Jin dynasty, Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi drew a picture showing the moment that Feng faced the bear without any fear. He also drew another 11 pictures, each about a woman known for her virtue. He did this to illustrate a book on preaching to women how to behave well. The 12 pictures of the 12 women are collectively titled the Admonitions Scroll, which is the first ancient traditional Chinese painting we know today. Gu Kaizhi is one of the greatest artists in China's history. He paid a lot of attention to the demeanor and spirit of the people in his pictures. This theory and practice had a far-reaching influence on Chinese artists. None of Gu's authentic work remains today. One of the two copies that people today can see is a reproduction by an unknown artist during the Southern Song dynasty between the early 12th and late 13th century. It was on display at a painting exhibition from May 1 to June 25 at the Palace Museum in Beijing. All of the 55 exhibits were used to educate royal members in ancient China. The other copy is an earlier, better reproduction during the Tang dynasty kept at the British Museum. Two reproductions of another Gu Kaizhi masterpiece, the Nymph of the Luo River, are also part of the most precious collections of the Palace Museum and the British Museum. The British Museum and the Palace Museum are the world's largest museums if they are measured by different standards. The British Museum's collection holds over 8 million objects, more than any other museum in the world. The Palace Museum is built on an area of 1.12 million square kilometers, larger than any other museum in the world.  Early collections at the two museums mainly came from private collectors. Sir Hans Sloane, a physician, donated his collection of 71,000 items to his country when he died in 1753, on the condition that 20,000 pounds would be paid to his heirs and a free public museum was built. The British Museum opened to the public six years later in 1759. Nearly half of the Qing's royal collection of calligraphy and paintings which were created before the Yuan dynasty came from a wealthy man called Xiang Yuanbian who was born in 1525, during the Ming dynasty.   

"that conduit carries one of the lost rivers of London"

Long before it began asking, “Got Milk?” the Dairy Association used to tout milk as “Mother Nature’s most nearly perfect food.” The slogan always made sense to me, especially those days when after I got home from school my mother would fix me a tall glass of chocolate milk. Without the chocolate, milk was only nearly perfect. With it, it could not be improved. I was moved recently to think back on those memories and wonder, is chocolate milk really be just for kids? Chocolate made just for drinking has a noble heritage. In fact, chocolate was being enjoyed as a beverage for centuries before anybody ever thought of actually eating it. It can be traced back to the Ancient Mayans of Central America who believed the beans used to make the drink were an offering of the gods. (Makes sense to me.) Still, their drink was not quite chocolate milk. The credit for that is often given to Sir Hans Sloane who supposedly came up with the idea while visiting, of all places, Jamaica in the late 17th

Kriminella sätter upp vägspärrar i Göteborg. Vladimir Putin och ledningen i Kreml vill inte utreda om Aleksej Navalnyj blivit förgiftad. Konflikt mellan Grekland och Turkiet. Terrorrättegång i Nya Zealand. 73 kan förlora jobbet efter branden på Polarbröds fabrik i Älvsbyn. Hur präglas modet av corona? välbesökta Brittish Museum som agerar. British Museum ska plocka bort en byst av grundaren Sir Hans Sloane i spåren av Black Lives Matter. Dementa mår i vissa fall bättre av att inte ha så mycket att göra, visar det sig under pandemin. 3 år sedan flyktingkrisen Rohingyer.

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In 1753, Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed his collection of over 70,000 objects to the nation, founding the British Museum's collection, and those that would become the British Library and Natural History Museum.  His collection spanned from natural history specimens to ancient sculpture, plants and contemporary 18th-century objects. But Sloane's collecting is tied closely to colonialism, empire and slavery – his family profited from sugar plantations in Jamaica worked by enslaved people, and some of the objects in his collection were also collected with assistance from enslaved people. So how do we navigate Sloane's story in the 21st century? Guests Miranda Lowe and James Delbourgo explore Sloane's life, collecting and legacy with Hartwig Fischer and Sushma Jansari, and examine the role of slavery and enslaved people in his collection and collecting practices. They also consider how museums should respond to these histories and to figures like Sloane.   Miranda Lowe is Principal Curator and museum scientist at the Natural History Museum.  James Delbourgo is the James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Jersey.

Today we remember the beloved English writer who was punished for treason but adored with flowers. We'll also learn about the female botanical illustrator who is known as the "Audubon of botany." We celebrate the Dean of American Architecture. We also salute the "poet of the blackbirds." We honor the establishment of the horticulture program at the Smithsonian Gardens. In Unearthed Words, we say goodbye to July and hear some poems about the fleeting summer. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that celebrates 25 years of the Garden Conservancy through over 50 gardens from across the country. And then we’ll wrap things up with a little story about the Alligator Pear. But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today’s curated news.   Subscribe Apple  | Google  | Spotify  | Stitcher | iHeart   Gardener Greetings To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.   Curated News How To Grow A Mood-boosting Garden| Financial Times | Clare Coulson Here's an excerpt: “Isabel Bannerman – who along with her husband, Julian, has created atmospheric gardens for the Prince of Wales at Highgrove [and other royalty] – is a passionate flag-bearer for good-for-you gardening. “Plants are a really good steadier. You can’t let them die, you have to keep going. Like having children, but less demanding,” she says. But as she also notes, gardens are very forgiving. “There’s always another year, another season to look forward to, to try again. There is so much beauty, such sensory pleasure, all of which feeds the soul and the psyche.” For Bannerman, scent is key to creating gardens that transport and revive – a subject she explores in her book Scent Magic: Notes from a Gardener. Natural chemical “uppers”, including indole, are present in the fragrance of lilac and jasmine, while the calming qualities of lavender are connected to linalool. Bannerman uses their powers to envelop the home." Garden designer Jo Thompson says it is really important to have an “enclosed garden (the hortus conclusus). “It’s really important to have a place to sit or even a retreat,” she says. “These areas are magical and inspiring. You’re in nature, there’s movement and life but you feel safe...”  American journalist and author Florence Williams has gathered and simplified the research in her book The Nature Fix, which reveals that we are hard-wired to be in the natural world. “Our brains become relaxed because these are things that we are designed to look at, hear and smell,” she says. “The frontal lobe – the part of our brain that’s hyper-engaged in modern life – deactivates a little when you’re outside, while alpha waves, which indicate a calm but alert state, grow stronger.” Korean researchers have found that pictures of landscapes stimulate brain function in... areas associated with empathy and altruism."   Alright, that’s it for today's gardening news. Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts 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 1703  It was on this day in 1703 that the English journalist and author Daniel Defoe was made to stand in the pillory in front of the temple bar. Daniel is remembered for his popular novel Robinson Crusoe which, at the time, claimed to be second to the Bible in its number of published translations. After Daniel was convicted of treason for one of his political writings, he was punished with time at the pillory. The pillory was essentially a stockade; the hands and head were stuck between two giant beams of wood. The person would stand in the pillory for days. It was a horrible punishment and it was usually reserved for hideous crimes. While Daniel was in the pillory, the crowds did their best to show their support; they sang songs, shouted encouragements, and threw flowers at his feet instead of mud. In 1830, a biography of Daniel said that his stocks were adorned with garlands and that drinks were provided to celebrate Daniel's release. The image of Daniel standing with his head and hands in the stocks surrounded by an adoring audience was memorialized in an 1862 painting by Eyre Crowe. Gardeners will especially notice the flowers strewn on the ground in the foreground. On the right, there are two women struggling to hold on to a large basket of flowers as they are being pushed away by the red coats. Behind the women, a man has managed to attach a small bouquet to the tip of a spear that he is attempting to give to Daniel who is standing calmly in the pillory.   1860  It’s the birthday of the botanical illustrator Mary Vaux Walcott who born in Philadelphia on this day. Gardeners appreciate Mary for her meticulously accurate watercolors of plants and flowers. For this reason, Mary is regarded as the "Audobon of Botany." Mary began her career as an illustrator one summer after being challenged to paint a rare blooming Arnica. Although her effort was only a modest success, it encouraged her to pursue art. In the pursuit of her art, Mary met Charles Doolittle Walcott. They were both doing fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, and they found they were equally yoked. They married the following year. At the time, Charles was the secretary of the Smithsonian; that's how Mary was tapped to develop the Smithsonian process printing technique. Mary created hundreds of illustrations of the native plants of North America. Her five-volume set entitled North American Wildflowers showcases the stunning beauty of common wildflowers, many of which are at peak bloom right now. In addition to her work as a botanist, Mary was a successful glacial geologist and photographer. She was the first woman to summit a peak over 10,000 feet in Canada when she tackled Mount Stephen. Today Mary even has a mountain named after her in Jasper - Mount Mary Vaux.   1895  Today is the anniversary of the death of Richard Morris Hunt, who was an American architect during the gilded age. Gardeners know Richard for his collaborations with Frederick Law Olmsted. They worked together on the Vanderbilt mausoleum and the Chicago world‘s fair. Their ultimate collaboration occurred in Asheville, North Carolina, where they worked together to design the gardens, house, and manor village for the Biltmore Estate. Richard is often recognized as the Dean of American Architecture. He was the first American trained at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. If you get the chance to walk around Central Park, you’ll discover a memorial to honor Richard Morris Hunt. The memorial is located on the eastern perimeter of the park, and it was created by the same man who created the monument to Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French. When he was alive, Richard wanted to elevate the public taste in design and the arts, but he was also flexible enough to meet them where they were. Modern-day designers will recognize the truth of Richard’s advice to other Landscape Architects. He said, "The first thing you've got to remember is that it's your clients' money you're spending. Your goal is to achieve the best results by following their wishes. If they want you to build a house upside down standing on its chimney, it's up to you to do it."   1917  Today is the anniversary of the death of the Irish war poet and soldier Francis Ledwidge. Francis grew up in the Irish countryside. When he became a writer, he established himself as the "poet of the blackbirds." Francis was killed in action during World War I at the Battle of Passchendaele.   When the clouds shake their hyssops and the rain Like holy water falls upon the plain, 'Tis sweet to gaze upon the springing grain And see your harvest born. And sweet the little breeze of melody The blackbird puffs upon the budding tree, While the wild poppy lights upon the lea And blazes 'mid the corn. — Francis Ledwidge, A Rainy Day in April   Broom out the floor now, lay the fender by, And plant this bee-sucked bough of woodbine there, And let the window down. The butterfly Floats in upon the sunbeam, and the fair Tanned face of June, the nomad gypsy, laughs Above her widespread wares, the while she tells The farmer's fortunes in the fields, and quaffs The water from the spider-peopled wells. The hedges are all drowned in green grass seas, And bobbing poppies flare like Elmo's light While siren-like the pollen-stained bees Drone in the clover depths. And up the height The cuckoo's voice is hoarse and broke with joy. And on the lowland crops, the crows make raid, Nor fear the clappers of the farmer's boy, Who sleeps, like drunken Noah, in the shade. And loop this red rose in that hazel ring That snares your little ear, for June is short  And we must joy in it and dance and sing, And from her bounty draw her rosy worth. Ay! soon the swallows will be flying south, The wind wheel north to gather in the snow Even the roses spilt on youth's red mouth Will soon blow down the road all roses go.  — Francis Ledwidge, June   1972   It was on this day that the horticulture program at the Smithsonian Gardens was established by Sydney Dylan Ripley, who served as the secretary of the Smithsonian. An American ornithologist and conservationist, Sidney had been inspired by the area around the Louvre in France as a child. With the Louvre always in the back of his mind, Sidney hoped to make the Smithsonian a bustling destination with activities to engage crowds of visitors and tourists. The horticultural services division was created to provide landscaping in and around the Smithsonian museums. Sidney knew that gardens not only attracted pollinators but people as well. In 2010, the Smithsonian horticultural program was renamed the Smithsonian Gardens to recognize the central role that the gardens play in the visitor experience.   Unearthed Words Today we say, “Goodbye, July. Until next year, we’ll miss you.”  Today’s words are about the fleeting summer.   Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet   You have seen the blossoms among the leaves; tell me, how long will they stay? Today they tremble before the hand that picks them; tomorrow they await someone's garden broom. —Hanshan, Chinese Tang Dynasty   Grow That Garden Library Outstanding American Gardens by Page Dickey This book came out in 2015 and the subtitle is  A Celebration: 25 Years of the Garden Conservancy. This gorgeous book celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Garden Conservancy. The book highlights eight gardens preserved by the conservancy and 43 gardens that have participated in the Open Days Program. The author, Page Dickey, is a well-known garden writer. Among her many books are Gardens in the Spirit of Place, the award-winning BreakingGround: Portraits of Ten Garden Designers, and Duck Hill Journal. She created Duck Hill, her garden in North Salem, New York, over the past 30 years. This book is 272 pages of inspiring gardens from all around the country and photographed in a variety of seasons from spring to fall. You can get a copy of Outstanding American Gardens by Page Dickey and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $20.   Today’s Botanic Spark Today is National Avocado Day. Avocado is a fruit, and it was initially called an alligator pear by Sir Hans Sloane in 1696. And, Guinness has a giant avocado recorded at 5 pounds, 6 and ½ ounces. Don’t forget that the skin of an avocado can be toxic to cats and dogs - but the flesh of an avocado is higher in potassium than bananas. Now, the next time the price of avocados gets you down, remember that avocados are harvested by hand. Pickers need to use a 16-foot pole to reach the hanging fruit. And, finally, here’s a little fun fact about avocados: The conquistadors used avocado seeds to write. It turns out, the avocado seed produces a milky liquid that changes to the color red when exposed to air.

news birthdays/events ashley and brad play mindtrap hackers can get ahold of your scooter...oh no! news have you driven off with something on top of your car? totally unplugged vacation...could you do it? if you look like your sibling...you're more likely to get along with them...is this the same for other family members? news professional misconceptions...i.e. difference between radio dj and wedding dj is it ok for new or super expensive cars to take up 2 spots? what about when it's holiday time and not covid? ashley and brad play think n sync news 1st date improvements good or bad idea to teach your kids things they won't learn in driving class (like driving with your knee) goodbye/fun facts....national chocolate milk day...In the late 1680s, an Irish-born physician by the name of Sir Hans Sloane invented the chocolatey beverage. While in Jamaica, Sloane encountered a local beverage. The locals mixed cocoa and water together. However, Sloane hated it but after some experimentation, the doctor found a way to combine cocoa with milk. Initially, apothecaries introduced the concoction as a medicine. In 2006, the dairy industry conducted a study and discovered that chocolate milk helps athletes with muscle recovery. It provides nine essential nutrients, making it both delicious and nutritious!

We'll also learn about the botanical illustrator and collector who established a worldwide reputation for his incredible herbarium. We celebrate the great Himalayan and Alpine mountain climbing and writer - he was also a botanist. We also honor bees with today's poetry. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book gardening in a humane way - helping you create a garden that is healthy and harmonious for all living things. And then we'll wrap things up with an Ode to Basil - my favorite summer crop. But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Gardener Greetings To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.   Curated News The hidden gardens of lockdown | The Guardian "As some of the UK's best-loved gardens prepare to reopen to the public, we ask the head gardeners what has been happening behind their closed gates." Gardener Jess Evans: "I can't lie, it's been amazing, and so peaceful," she says. "It's very easy to stick your head down and just crack on and get things done, but this has given us an opportunity to take stock and look at the garden properly." She has also enjoyed the chance to get her hands dirty. "I'm doing more outdoor work than I have done in ages. Usually, I'd be in the office at least two or three days a week, and yet now I've had the perfect excuse not to be."   Hollyhocks | Gardenista "Hollyhocks are designed to give easy access to quantities of pollen, through the open funnels of the single varieties. Just watching a less svelte bee (like a bumblebee) climbing around a hollyhock illustrates how double flowers can be problematic. Aesthetically, the simple singles are very desirable but have been out-marketed by the doubles. The best way to procure singles, in the best colors, is through a generous friend."   What's Green and Sings?   (Click to read this original post)   Alright, that's it for today's gardening news.   Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts 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 1706  Today is the anniversary of the death of Leonard Plukenet, who had served as the botanist to Queen Mary II. When he died (like almost every plant-lover of his era), he left his collections and herbarium to Sir Hans Sloane, which is how his collections have become one of the oldest still existing at the Natural History Museum in England. As the royal botanist, Plukenet was an important part of botanical society during the 1600s. Along with George London and William Sherard, Plukenet assisted the zealous botanical aspirations of Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort. Her next-door neighbor was Sir Hans Sloane. When she died, she, too, left her herbarium and other valuable botanical items to Sir Hans Sloane. This is how Hans Sloane became a one-man botanical repository, and that repository ultimately became the Natural History Museum. Plukenet played an unforgettable role in the history of the sacred lotus. And in 2011, Corinne Hannah wrote an exceptional piece about Plukenet's name for the sacred lotus. Here's an excerpt from Corinne's marvelous article, which appeared in the Calgary Herald. "[The] English botanist Leonard Plukenet christened the sacred lotus in 1696 as: Nymphaea glandulifera indiae paludibus gardens foliis umbilicatis amplis pediculis spinosis flore rosea-pupureo, ("nim-fay-EE-ah-gland-you-LIFF-er-AH-in-die-EE-pall-ooh-duh-bus-gardens-fol-ee-ice-umb-Bill-ah-CAY-tis-AMP-YOU-lis-ped-DIC-YOU-lis-spin-OH-sis-flora-row-SAH-poo-PURR-EE-oh") or "the marsh-loving, nut-bearing Indian water lily with large, navel-centered leaves, prickly stalks, and rose-purple flowers. Thank heavens for Carl Linnaeus and his invention of binomial nomenclature, which decreed each plant could only be identified with two names! But Linnaeus was not infallible. He, too, initially identified the sacred lotus as being closely related to the water lily family (Nymphaea). Recent genetic testing has confirmed that sacred lotus belongs to a genus unto itself, Nelumbo nucifera. This aquatic plant is not even remotely related to water lilies. In fact, it is far more closely allied to woody plants such as plane trees or banksias. "   1785  Today is the birthday of the great Sir William Jackson Hooker. Hooker was both a botanist and a botanical illustrator, and he was a great friend of Joseph Banks. Thanks to his inheritance, Hooker was wealthy; he didn't need a patron to fund his work or expeditions. Hooker's first expedition was to Iceland in the summer of 1809. The trip was actually Bank's idea. Hooker came along in order to collect specimens, as well as to trial everything he discovered. Unfortunately, during their voyage home from Iceland, there was a terrible fire. Most people don't realize it, but Hooker nearly died. Sadly, all of Hooker's work was destroyed. But it turns out, Hooker's mind was a steel trap. In a remarkable accomplishment, Hooker was able to reconstruct his discoveries and publish an account of his adventure in a book called Tour in Iceland. Over his lifetime, Hooker established a global reputation for his world-class herbarium. By 1841, he was appointed the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Hooker elevated Kew to greatness. His leadership resulted in an expanding of the gardens from 10 to 75 acres as well as adding a 270-acre Arboretum and a museum for botany. In 1865, there was a virus going around at Kew. Everyone had sore throats. Soon, Hooker, too, became ill. He was 80 years old. The virus overpowered him, and he died. His son Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, and outstanding botanist in his own right succeeded him at Kew.   1900 Today is the birthday of the great Himalayan and Alpine mountain climber and mountaineering writer Frank Smythe. Frank had a diverse range of interests, which he mastered - including photography, collecting plants, botany, and gardening. He is most remembered for his mountaineering and for discovering and naming the Valley of Flowers in the Western Himalayas in India. During his lifetime, Frank would go on seven expeditions to the Himalayas, where he especially enjoyed botanizing and taking pictures. In 1931, Frank stumbled on the Valley of Flowers along with two other English mountaineers after they got lost. The climbers had just finished ascending Mount Kamet, and they were looking for a place to escape bad oncoming weather. The Valley enchanted them, and the flowers made it seem like they were in a fairyland. When Smyth returned to England, he wrote a book called Kamet Conquered, and in it, he named the area the Valley of Flowers. Well, the name Frank gave the Valley caused a sensation. In one of his later books, Frank wrote about the moment he discovered the Valley: "Within a few minutes, we were out of the wind, and in the rain, which became gradually warmer as we lost height. Dense mist shrouded the mountainside, and we paused, uncertain as to the route when I heard Holdsworth, who was a botanist as well as a climbing member of the Expedition, exclaim, "Look!"  I followed the directions of his outstretched hand. At first, I could see nothing but rocks. Then suddenly, my wandering gaze was arrested by a little splash of blue, and beyond it were other splashes of blue, a blue so intense it seemed to light the hillside. Holdsworth wrote: 'All of a sudden, I realized that I was simply surrounded by primulas. At once, the day seemed to brighten perceptibly. Forgotten were all the pains and cold and lost porters. And what a primula it was! Its leek-like habit proclaimed it a member of the nizalis section. All over the little shelves and terraces, it grew, often with its roots in running water. At the most, it stood six inches high, but it's flowers were enormous for its stature, and ample in number— sometimes as many as thirty to the beautifully proportioned umble and in the color of the most heavenly French blue [and] sweetly scented.' In all my mountain wanderings, I had not seen a more beautiful flower than this primula. The fine raindrops clung to its soft petals like galaxies of seed-pearls and frosted its leaves with silver. "   Now you can see how Frank's writing inspired so many people to make a pilgrimage to the Valley. For the people who make the trek, the Valley of Flowers is a seven-day trip from Delhi. It is now a protected national park. As the name implies, it is a lush area famous for the millions of alpine flowers that cover the hills and slopes and nestle along icy flowing streams. Through most of the year, the Valley of Flowers remains hidden, buried under several feet of snow throughout a seven-to-eight-month-long winter. In March, the melting snow and monsoon activate a new growing season. There is a brief 3-4 month window when the Valley of Flowers is accessible – generally during the months of July, August, and September. In 1937, Frank returned to the Valley, where he especially enjoyed botanizing. He gathered specimens and seeds and documented his discoveries. The Valley of Flowers is home to over 500 varieties of wildflowers, and many are still considered rare. Along with daisies, poppies, and marigolds, there are primulas and orchids growing wild. The rare Blue Poppy, commonly known as the Himalayan Queen, is the most coveted plant in the Valley.   Unearthed Words Today's poetry is all about the buzz of July: Bees.   The hum of bees is the voice of the garden. — Elizabeth Lawrence, garden writer   The dandelions and buttercups gild all the lawn: the drowsy Bee stumbles among the clover tops, and summer sweetens all to me. — James Russell Lowell, American Romantic poet   "And pray, who are you?" Said the Violet blue To the Bee, with surprise, At his wonderful size, In her eyeglass of dew. "I, madam," quoth he, "Am a publican, Bee, Collecting the tax Of honey and wax. Have you nothing for me?" — John Bannister Tabb, American poet and priest, The Violet and the Bee   Answer July— Where is the Bee— Where is the Blush— Where is the Hay? Ah, said July— Where is the Seed— Where is the Bud— Where is the May— Answer Thee—Me— ― Emily Dickinson, American poet   All day the bees have come to the garden. They hover, swivel in arcs and, whirling, light On stamens heavy with pollen, probe and revel Inside the yellow and red starbursts of dahlias Or cling to lobelia's blue-white mouths Or climb the speckled trumpets of foxgloves. My restless eyes follow their restlessness As they plunge bodily headfirst into treasure, Gold-fevered among these horns of plenty. They circle me, a flowerless patch With nothing to offer in the way of sweetness Or light against the first omens of evening. Some, even now, are dying at the end Of their few weeks, some being born in the dark, Some simply waiting for life, but some are dancing Deep in their hives, telling the hungry The sun will be that way, the garden this far: This is the way to the garden. They hum at my ear. And I wake up, startled, seeing the early Stars beginning to bud in constellations. The bees have gathered somewhere like petals closing For the coming of the cold. The silhouette Of a sphinx moth swerves to drink at a flowerhead. The night-blooming moon opens its pale corolla. — David Wagoner, American poet, Falling Asleep In The Garden   Grow That Garden Library The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson This book came out in 2017, and the subtitle is: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife (How to Create a Sustainable and Ethical Garden that Promotes Native Wildlife, Plants, and Biodiversity) In Nancy's words: "A humane gardener challenges herself to see the world through the eyes (and ears and noses and antennae) of other species, from the easy-to-love butterflies and birds to the more misunderstood moles and beetles and wasps and groundhogs. She appreciates all the creatures just trying to make a life outside her door, rather than applying compassion selectively to some species and not others." The book is 224 pages of valuable, inspirational, and critical information designed to help you create a garden that is healthy and harmonious for all living things. You can get a copy of The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $16.   Today's Botanic Spark 2015 On this day, Leah Raup, over at the unboredhousewife.com, wrote an ode to Basil. It's a delight. Basil, sweet basil, you are a true summer treat. Straight from the plant is the only way to eat your tender green leaves on Caprese salad or penne, the uses for you are vast – they are many. In ice cream or cookies you're an unexpected flavor, you make me creative and cause me to savor the warm summer air and my bare feet in the grass. I'm pondering ways to store you when autumn comes to pass.

今日は趣向を少し変えて、イギリスに行ったら是非行見てみたい観光的な施設をご紹介したいと思います。第１回目はロンドンにある大英博物館の話をします。 大英博物館は行ってみたいという方がとても多いです。初めて行くと、大抵規模に圧倒されてしまい、「なんでもう少し時間を取っておかなかったのだろう」と後悔することが多いです。やはり短時間ではとても見て回れません。試しに全部まんべんなく見てみようと思い、まったく立ち止まらずにグルグル回ったことがありますが、それでも２～３時間かかりました。１日潰すつもりでないと、じっくりは見られません。 特に博物館好きというような方になると、１日でも足りないと思います。ロンドンには色々な博物館の類がありますが、大英博物館が一番大きな博物館と言えると思います。航空写真などを見ても相当な大きさだというのが分かります。大英博物館は英語ではBritish Museumと言いますが、イギリスは日本で言う国立の施設、公立の施設といった考え方が少し違うので言いにくいですが、公的な施設であることは間違いありません。何より日本と大きく違うのはもちろん規模もありますが、無料であるということです。 イギリスも博物館の維持費用がかからないわけではないので、もちろん国から費用は出るのですが、寄付は募っています。入口に色々な国のどんなお金でもいいから、少し入れてくださいということをしています。あまり良い言い方ではありませんけど、見せ金（募金箱に沢山お金を入れておいて、入る人にこのように寄付をするものだ、という気持ちにさせる）をして、寄付を募るという形です。前から申し上げてきましたが、日本でも博物館を無料に出来るといいなと思います。 今、日本では国立の博物館が値上げをしています。博物館の運営にお金がかかるということはよく分かりますが、それをイギリスでは無料にしているという、その発想自体が素晴らしいと思います。大英博物館が開館したのは1759年のことなので、もう何世紀か前のことです。日本の近代的な博物館はずっと後ですので、大英博物館は大先輩ということになります。 大英博物館は開館当初からずっとそのままの形かというとそうではなく、途中で場所が足りなくなって、科学分野の一部が、自然史博物館として分かれています。そして、図書の部分が大英図書館として分離しています。それぞれ19世紀、20世紀のことです。それでも大英博物館には収蔵品が沢山残っていて見ごたえのある博物館ですが、個人の古美術収集家のハンス・スローン（Sir Hans Sloane）がイギリス政府に対して、自分が亡くなる時に全ての収集品を譲ったというところが元になっています。実は、ケンブリッジ大学の話をした時も、ケンブリッジ大学の博物館も実は個人の収集品から成り立っているということをご紹介したことがありますが、このように個人で持っている収蔵品の規模が、我々からすると想像が出来ません。 個人の収蔵品から始まった博物館ですが、何層かの構造になっていて、いわゆる正式な屋敷の回廊形式になっていて、色々な部屋を巡ることになります。目玉品というと皆さん色々想像されると思いますが、有名なところではエジプトのミイラなどでしょうか。日本にも時々大英博物館からの収蔵品が来ることがあります。ロゼッタストーン、イースター島の巨像、あるいはルイス島のチェスの駒という遺産がありますが、これが九州国立博物館に来たのを見た時にはすごく興奮した覚えがあります。ハリーポッターをご存知の方は、見たらすぐ分かります。その他には、ギリシャのパルテノン神殿の彫刻なども相当来ています。よく考えてみると、なぜ世界の色々な物、有名な物がここに集まっているのか、ということになりますが、正直に言うと植民地時代に内緒で取ってきてしまった、という物がもちろんあります。持ってきて正当だった物もあれば、内緒で持ってきてしまった物もあり、時々現地に返還する、というようなことをしている話は、皆さんも聞いたことがあるかと思います。 大英博物館には日本コーナーもあります。大英博物館所蔵の浮世絵も沢山あります。浮世絵は世界各地に散らばっていると思いますが、大英博物館にも相当な数の浮世絵があると思います。何せ展示してある品物の数十倍の収蔵品があるそうなので、貸出はいくらあっても尽きないということです。 最後に皆さんに大英博物館に行くときに、気を付けてほしいことがあります。閉館時間ギリギリまでいられるのが日本の常ですが、大英博物館の場合は奥の方から閉めていって、最後に追い出される時間が閉館時間ということになっています。従って閉館時間の30～40分前には、一番奥の方から閉まりますので、計画にはお気をつけ下さいということです。 今日のまとめ： ロンドンの大英博物館からはじめて今後、イギリスの色々な見どころを紹介し、文化を語ってみたいと思っています。

This month Hugo and Sushma meet Stuart Frost – the Museum's Head of Interpretation and Volunteers – to discuss how we create narratives around the collection and how volunteers are vital in supporting the work of the Museum. In the archives, Sian and Francesca look at the history of clubs and societies for Museum staff. For object of the month, Jill Cook – Deputy Keeper of Prehistory and Europe – talks about a stone tool from the original collection of the Museum's founder Sir Hans Sloane.

Today we celebrate a bryologist who Asa Gray called, "a noble fellow" and the botanist who, along with his wife, helped found the New York Botanic Garden in the Bronx. We'll learn about one of the first and most prolific professional female garden photographers and the female botanist with a mountain named in her honor. Today’s Unearthed Words feature poetry that's all about using our imagination and memory when it comes to our gardens in the dead of winter. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us appreciate our garden through our senses during all four seasons. I'll talk about a garden item that is cute and functional and can be used outside of the garden as well, and then we’ll wrap things up with the anniversary of the opening of the museum that was started with the estate of the botanist Sir Hans Sloane. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Curated Articles Gardening with Dave Allan: Scent in the winter garden | HeraldScotland Here are some great suggestions from Dave Allan about sweetly scented flowering shrubs for your Winter Garden: Take the small cream flowers of shrubby Lonicera fragrantissima(Common Name: sweet breath of spring): They suffuse the air with compelling fragrance. You know they’re frustratingly close but sometimes must act as a sniffer dog to track them down, hidden in a tangle of leaf-stripped twigs. I can’t see beyond Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn.’It’s always a joy to have a whiff every time I pass by on the way up to the duck run. A flush of little buds readily replaces any that have been blasted brown by frost and snow. Viburnum farreri and V. tinus also faithfully flower from November to February. I’m thinking of shrubs like Mahonia japonica and M. x media (Common Name: Oregon grape-holly). These evergreens do boast highly scented sprays of the tiniest yellow buttons, so don’t banish them to the gloomiest corner just because they’re tough woodland edge plants. Why not plant them where you’ll actually see them?   6 must-visit garden shows for 2020 From House Beautiful (ww.housebeautiful.com) | @hb: “What are the best British garden shows to visit in 2020? From the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show to fringe events like Seedy Sunday, these gardening events are perfect for the green-fingered horticultural lover, regardless of whether you’re a budding beginner or a seasoned pro.”   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 1803Today is the birthday of William Starling Sullivant. Sullivant was born to the founding family of Franklinton, Ohio. His father, Lucas, was a surveyor and had named the town in honor of the recently deceased Benjamin Franklin. The settlement would become Columbus. In 1823, William Sullivant graduated from Yale College. His father would die in August of that same year. Sullivant took over his father's surveying business, and at the age of thirty, he began to study and catalog the plant life in Central Ohio. In 1840, Sullivant published his flora, and then he started to hone in on his calling: mosses. Bryology is the study of mosses. The root, bryōs, is a Greek verb meaning to swell. It's the etymology of the word embryo. Bryology will be easier to remember if you think of the ability of moss to swell as it takes on water. As a distinguished bryologist, Sullivant not only studied and cataloged various mosses from across the United States, but also from as far away as Central America, South America, and from various islands in the Pacific Ocean. Mosses suited Sullivant's strengths, requiring patience and close observation, scrupulous accuracy, and discrimination. His first work, Musci Alleghanienses, was: "exquisitely prepared and mounted, and with letterpress of great perfection; ... It was not put on sale, but fifty copies were distributed with a free hand among bryologists and others who would appreciate it." In 1864, Sullivant published his magnum opus, Icones Muscorum. With 129 truly excellent illustrations and descriptions of the mosses indigenous to eastern North America, Icones Muscorum fixed Sulivant's reputation as the pre-eminent American bryologist of his time. In 1873, Sullivant contracted pneumonia - ironically, an illness where your lungs fill or swell with fluid - and he died on April 30, 1873. During the last four decades of his life, Sullivant exchanged letters with Asa Gray. It's no wonder, then, that he left his herbarium of some 18,000 moss specimens to Gray's beloved Harvard University. When Sullivant was still living, Gray summoned his curator at Cambridge, Leo Lesquereux, (pronounced "le crew"), to help Sullivant, he wrote to his friend and botanist John Torrey: "They will do up bryology at a great rate. Lesquereux says that the collection and library of Sullivant in muscology are Magnifique, superb, and the best he ever saw.'" On December 6, 1857, Gray wrote to Hooker, "A noble fellow is [William Starling] Sullivant, and deserves all you say of him and his works. The more you get to know of him, the better you will like him." In 1877, four years after Sullivant's death, Asa Gray wrote to Charles Darwin. Gray shared that Sullivant was his "dear old friend" and that, "[Sullivant] did for muscology in this country more than one man is likely ever to do again." The Sullivant Moss Society, which became the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, was founded in 1898 and was named for William Starling Sullivant.   1859Today is the birthday of the American botanist and taxonomist Nathaniel Lord Britton. Britton married the famous bryologist Elizabeth Gertrude Knight. Together, they used Kew Gardens in London as their inspiration for the New York Botanical Garden. An obituary of Britton, written by the botanist Henry Rusby shared this charming anecdote - an exchange that happened some few years back between Nathaniel and Henry: "Attracted one day, by the beauty of some drawings that lay before him, I inquired as to their source. When told that he, himself, was the artist, I asked in astonishment, 'Can you draw like that?' 'Of course,' he said. 'What you suppose I did all that hard work in the drawing class for?'"   1864Today is the birthday of Frances Benjamin Johnston - who always went by Fannie. Fanny was a photographer, and she took the portraits of many famous people during her career. Some of her famous subjects included Mark Twain, Susan B Anthony, Booker T. Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt. In 1897 the magazine Ladies Home Journal featured in an article that was written by Fanny called "What a Woman Can Do with a Camera." But gardeners should also know the name Frances Benjamin Johnston because Fannie also took incredible photos of gardens - public and private - during the early to mid part of the 1900s. Her garden photography of the elite was used in magazines and periodicals like House Beautiful and Country Life. And Fannie went around the country using lantern slides of gardens as visual aids for her lectures on topics like "The Orchids of the White House," "American Gardens," and "Problems of the Small Gardener," to name a few. One newspaper account said Fannie, “presented with the enthusiasm of a true garden lover.” Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. wrote that Fannie’s photographs were “the finest existing on the subject of American gardens.” Over her career, Fannie was recognized as one of the first female press photographers in America. And if you’re a gardening cat lover, you’ll be pleased to know she had two cats; Fannie named them Herman and Vermin.   1923 Today is the anniversary of the death of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Lemmon is remembered for her successful 1903 piece of legislation that nominated the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) as the state flower of California. Asa Gray named the genus Plummera in honor of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Plummera is yellow wildflowers in the daisy family, and they bloom from July through September in southeastern Arizona. Lemmon and her husband, John Gill Lemmon, were both botanists. Her husband always went by his initials JG. Although Sara partnered equally with her husband on their work in botany, their papers were always published with the credentials "J.G. Lemmon & Wife." The Lemmons had found each other late in life in California. They had both suffered individually during the civil war. John was taken prisoner at Andersonville. He barely survived, and his health was impacted for the rest of his life. Sara had worked herself ragged - tending wounded soldiers in New York - while teaching. In 1881, when Sara was 45 years old, the Lemmons took a honeymoon trip to Arizona. They called it their "botanical wedding trip." The Lemmons rode a train to Tucson along with another passenger - President Rutherford B. Hayes. When they arrived, the Lemmons set off for the Santa Catalina Mountains. In Elliot's history of Arizona, he recounts the difficulty in climbing the mountain range: "The Lemmons often sat on the stone porch of their cave and dug the thorns and spines out of their hands and feet." Once, they saw, " . . . a lion so large he carried a huge buck away without dragging feet or antlers." When they returned to Tucson unsuccessful and discouraged, they were told to meet a rancher named Emerson Oliver Stratton. Thanks to Stratton, they were able to ascend the Catalinas from the backside. When they arrived at the summit, Stratton was so impressed with Sara's drive and demeanor he named the mountain in her honor - Mount Lemmon. Sara was the first woman to climb the Catalinas. Twenty-five years later, in 1905, the Lemmons returned to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. When they climbed the Catalina's in celebration, Stratton was again at their side, helping them retrace the steps of their "botanical wedding trip" to the top of Mount Lemmon.   Unearthed Words Today we hear some poetry about the importance of using imagination and memory in regards to our gardens during the winter months.   From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens -  the garden outdoors,  the garden of pots and bowls in the house,  and the garden of the mind's eye. — Katherine S. White, Garden Author   Soon will set in the fitful weather, with fierce gales and sullen skies and frosty air,  and it will be time to tuck up safely my roses and lilies  and the rest for their winter sleep beneath the snow,  where I never forget them,  but ever dream of their wakening in happy summers yet to be. — Celia Thaxter, American Poet & Storyteller   Of winter's lifeless world each tree Now seems a perfect part; Yet each one holds summer's secret Deep down within its heart. — Dr. Charles Garfield Stater, Methodist Pastor & West Virginian Poet, Buckwheat Fields, and Brush Fences   Gardeners, like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute. What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us. But there is a second way of seeing. Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past, and years gone by. — Allen Lacy, Garden Writer   In winter's cold and sparkling snow, The garden in my mind does grow. I look outside to blinding white, And see my tulips blooming bright. And over there a sweet carnation, Softly scents my imagination. On this cold and freezing day, The Russian sage does gently sway, And miniature roses perfume the air, I can see them blooming there. Though days are short, my vision's clear. And through the snow, the buds appear. In my mind, clematis climbs, And morning glories do entwine. Woodland phlox and scarlet pinks, Replace the frost, if I just blink. My inner eye sees past the snow. And in my mind, my garden grows. — Cynthia Adams, Winter Garden, Birds and Blooms magazine, Dec/Jan 2003   Grow That Garden Library Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman This book came out in 2002, and the subtitle to Cultivating Delight is "A Natural History of My Garden. This book was the sequel to Diane's bestseller, "A Natural History of the Senses." In this book, Diane celebrates the sensory pleasures of her garden through the seasons in the same vein as Tovah Martin's "The Garden in Every Sense and Season." Diane is a poet, essayist, and naturalist, and she writes in lyrical and sensuous prose. Let me give you an example. Here's how Diane starts her section on spring: “One day, when the last snows have melted, the air tastes tinny and sweet for the first time in many months.That's settled tincture of new buds, sap, and loam; I've learned to recognize as the first whiff of springtime.Suddenly a brown shape moves in the woods, then blasts into sight as it clears the fence at the bottom of the yard. A beautiful doe, with russet flanks and nimble legs, she looks straight at me as I watch from the living room window, then she drops her gaze." The Boston Globe praised this book, saying Ackerman has done it again... one of the most buoyant and enjoyable garden reads... uplifting and intelligent. The New York Times review said: “Understated elegance, lush language, historical and scientific nuggets, artful digressions, and apt quotations, Ackerman's book reminds us that we, too, can make our paradise here and that tranquility can be achieved by contemplating the petals of a rose.” You can get a used copy of Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $2.   Great Gifts for Gardeners DII Men and Women Kitchen Shamrock Green Buffalo Check Apron, Green and White Buffalo Check $14.99 I have a thing for aprons. I love looking for them.  I like to have my student gardeners use them, and I often get a set of aprons to bring to family gatherings. They make for cute pictures of us all working in the kitchen together. This year for the garden, I found this adorable shamrock-green buffalo-check apron, and it's perfect for my student gardeners. It has a little pocket in the front for their phones, and it's so cheerful. I can't wait to see them all and their aprons. Now, if you're not a fan of shamrock green, but you do like buffalo plaid, this apron comes in several colors. You can get red and white, or red and black, pink and white, blue and white, a tone on tone gray, and a black and white. So, tons of options ONE SIZE FITS MOST: The apron measures 32" x 28", with an adjustable extra-long strap to warp around the neck and waist, one size fits most men and women. EASY CARE LONG-LASTING MATERIAL: 100% Cotton Fabric, Machine Washable. Wash with Cold Water in Gentle Cycle & Tumble Dry Low. Do not bleach them or run them through a hot dryer A PERFECT GIFT WITH CUSTOMIZED LOGO SPACE: Plenty space for logo printing, monogram, and embroidery make the apron a great gift for birthdays, Mother's day, holidays, housewarming, and hostess gifts.   Today’s Botanic Spark 1759The British Museum opened. (261 years ago). The British Museum was founded in 1753 when Sir Hans Sloane left his entire collection to the country of England. At first glance, a personal collection doesn't sound worthy of starting a museum. But over his lifetime, Sloane ended up becoming a one-man repository for all things relating to the natural world. Sloane outlived many of the explorers and collectors of his day, and as they would die, they would bequeath him there herbariums and collections. So when Sloane passed away, he essentially had become the caretaker of the world’s Natural History, aka the British Museum. Today the British Museum is the largest indoor space captured by Google Street View. Google mapped the museum in November of 2015, and so it's now available online to all of us. When your friends ask you what you're doing, you can say, "I'm going to tour the British Museum. What are you up to?"      

Today we celebrate the wealthy Dutch banker who bought enough plants to fill a book for a young Carl Linnaeus and a royal gardener who is an ancestor of Princess Diana. We'll learn about the man who started the first seed company in America and the German botanist buried in the Botanical Garden he curated during his lifetime. Today’s Unearthed Words feature words for children about January. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book written by a beloved Washington DC garden columnist. I'll talk about a garden item that I use all the time in my potting shed and around my garden (so many uses!), and then we’ll wrap things up with the New Zealand gardener, who is featured in one of my all-time favorite garden photos. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Curated Articles Gardening: Going blue for 2020 The Pantone color of the year for 2020 is Classic Blue. Here's a great post from Nancy Szerlag Detroit News who suggests blue options for the garden: "If I were to look for that color to use in the garden, my first thought would be a Delphinium. Nigella ‘Miss Jekyll' produces exquisite quarter-sized blue flowers on 15-inch plants in full to part sun in late spring or early summer. They are said to reseed annually, so I’m hoping a one-time planting of seed will do the job. A favorite blue flowering shrub of mine is Proven Winners Color Choice ‘Blue Chiffon’ Rose of Sharon. In full sun, it will climb to 10 feet and be covered in lovely anemone-like blossoms for several weeks in summer."   Paris in Bloom - Flower Magazine Here's an excerpt from Georgianna Lane's new book Paris in Bloom. Georgianna's charming images of parks, gardens, shops, and architectural motifs are a vision of Romance and Spring - the perfect gift for Valentine's Day.   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 1685   Today is the birthday of the wealthy Dutch banker and a director of the Dutch East India Company George Clifford III. Clifford loved gardens and had a passion for plants and plant collecting. His work with the Dutch East India Company had made him quite wealthy, and he could afford to purchase the latest plants discovered from around the world in the early 1700s. Clifford invited a young Swedish naturalist to come and stay at his estate. Over two years from 1736 to 1738, Carl Linnaeus helped Clifford with his plant inventory, and he cataloged his vast herbarium. Clifford’s estate gave Linnaeus a treasure trove of botanical specimens, which became the subjects of a book - his early Botanical Masterpiece called Hortus Cliffortianus. The book is essentially an inventory of Clifford's plant collection. Today Clifford's herbarium is housed at the National History Museum in London.   1715   Today is the anniversary of the death of Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort ("BOH-fert"). She was an avid gardener and botanist. She survived two husbands and had eight children. After she was widowed a second time, she focused all of her discretionary effort on gardening. The best horticultural minds of her time helped Mary with her efforts: George London, Lenard Plukenet, and William Sherard. Her next-door neighbor was Sir Hans Sloane, and when Mary died, she (like almost every plant-lover of her era) left her herbarium and other valuable botanical items to him. This is how Hans Sloane became a one-man Botanical Repository. Among Mary's many descendants are Princess Diana and the genus Beaufortia was named in her honor by Robert Brown.   1784  Today, David Landreth started the first American commercial seed business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. David and his family immigrated to Montreal from England in 1780. Four years later, David relocated his family to Philadelphia and named the company simply David Landreth. David was one of the first nurseries to propagate seeds from the Lewis and Clark expeditions. He introduced the Mexican Zinnia in 1798, the garden tomato in 1820, the 'Landreths’ Extra Early' pea in 1822, and the 'Bloomsdale' spinach in 1826. His son, David Jr, took over the business after his death. David Jr. was one of the founding members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which started in 1827. Today the Landreth Seed Company is the fifth oldest corporation in America.   1848  Today is the birthday of the German botanist and curator of Berlin Botanical Garden, Ignatz Urban.  He helped catalog the Flora of the Caribbean and Brazil. In 1986, Urban’s tombstone was moved to the Botanical Garden he helped relocate during his tenure. He lies alongside other well-known botanists in Berlin.   Unearthed Words Today’s Unearthed Words were written to delight little ears, which makes them timeless in my book. The theme, of course, is January.   Little January Tapped at my door today. And said, "Put on your winter wraps, And come outdoors to play." Little January Is always full of fun; Until the set of sun. Little January Will stay a month with me And we will have such jolly times - Just come along and see. — Winifred Marshall Gales, Abolitionist & Author, January   The sun came out, And the snowman cried. His tears ran down on every side. His tears ran down Till the spot was cleared. He cried so hard That he disappeared. — Margaret Hillert, American author, poet, and educator, January Thaw   January opens The box of the year And brings out days That are bright and clear And brings out days That are cold and grey And shouts, "Come see What I brought today! —  Leland B. Jacobs, Poet & Literature Professor at Ohio State, January    In January it's so nice while slipping on the sliding ice to sip hot chicken soup with rice. Sipping once Sipping twice. — Maurice Sendak, American illustrator, and writer of children's books (Where the Wild Things Are), In January   Grow That Garden Library The Essential Earthman by Henry Clay Mitchell Mitchell was a garden columnist for the Washington Post, and this book was the sharing of the many posts featured in his column. As a writer, Mitchell was down-to-earth and funny. As a gardener, Mitchell was down-to-earth and funny. This is why, for me, his book is a personal favorite. Here is an excerpt regarding his suggested New Year’s Resolutions for gardeners: “The days are now at their shortest, and the gardener should keep it in mind that his ill humor and (as it may be) gloominess is directly linked to this nadir of the year. All that is necessary is to hold on until spring or a few sunny days, which will surely come in January, February, March, April, or May at the latest. Meanwhile, several activities will help the gardener keep cheerful. Whenever it snows, go out with a broom and swat all conifers likely to be broken down by snow. Whenever there are ice storms, pull the window shades down. When Christmas gift plants… stop blooming, either give them conditions they require or else throw them out. There is no point making yourself miserable by watching a Poinsettia, Cyclamen, or Azalea died over a period of 3 months. Force yourself, for once, to order the varieties of annuals you want from a seedsman in January, so you will not find yourself in a snit in March. Decide those old gardeners are correct, who have been saying for the past few hundred years, that nothing is lovelier or more cheerful in Winter than common ivy, common holly, and common yew. And, you might add, junipers. Put a couple of logs in Lily pools to absorb or deflect some of the pressure of the ice. Do not chop holes in the ice. Fish do not need air holes. If it ever gets warmish again, admire the swelling buds of Elm, Ash, Azalea, flowering Quince. Make up your mind once and for all whether you will give space to a Pussy Willow Bush. Whichever you decide, decide, and stop being of two minds about it. Thank God you do not have to stay in the garden all winter like a blasted Snowdrop ( which should, incidentally, be showing some signs of activity within the year’s first month). Gardeners, on the other hand, will stir about April 8th. You can get a used copy of Mitchell's book and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $3. Great Gifts for Gardeners RETON 20 PCS Black Color Heavy-duty Steel S-hooks for Plants, Towels $7.99 Package includes: 20 x S Hooks Heavy-duty steel with PVC coating for durability Great for hanging plants, towels, pans, pots, bags or dozens of other uses around kitchen and bedroom Hook size: Length about 3.4"; Width of open end about 1.2"; Thickness about 0.1" or 3mm The storage hooks can hold up to 40 lbs.; they are made to handle heavier loads.   Today’s Botanic Spark 1983  Today is the anniversary of the death of New Zealand botanist Eliza Amy Hodgson. Hodgson specialized in liverworts. Liverworts are nonvascular plants like mosses. Without a vascular system, mosses and liverworts don’t get very big. These are tiny plants to be sure, and worts are considered one level simpler than mosses. They grow flat on the ground and have large leaf-like structures. Like mosses, worts thrive in moist areas. The word "wort" means "little plant, herb or root" (St. John’s Wort, Pennywort, lungwort, and Bladderwort.) Long ago, herbalists likely thought one of the liverworts resembled a liver - and so used it as a medicine for liver ailments. Thus, the word liverwort means a "liver-like small plant." Now, the reason I chose Eliza Amy Hodgson to close the show today is that she is often shown in a photo, standing in front of a flower border with green foliage and white blossoms. The only problem with the photo is that Eliza is wearing a green hat along with a green dress that is covered in white leaves, which turns the photo into a bit of a Where’s Waldo - and it makes sweet Eliza look like her head is floating above the Landscape. So, here’s a thank you to dear Eliza - who gives us the good reminder never to have your clothes blend in too much with the garden - lest you, in an odd way, become part of the garden itself.

When it was founded in the 18th century from the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, the British Museum aspired to being not just a national museum, but a world collection, accessible to a global audience. Produced for BBC Radio 4

Did you know that poppies were Christopher Lloyd's his favorite flower?  In his short essay about poppies, he introduces 'Goliath' poppies which grow to 4 feet tall and offer the largest blooms of any poppy.   Lloyd wrote about the blooms saying, "They are rich crimson, which is as exciting as scarlet. In choosing plant neighbors to vie with it, I have been best pleased with an equally bright and pure yellow giant buttercup. Ranunculus acris ‘Stevenii.’ It is, however, shocking to discover that there are some gardeners (and non -gardeners) of congenitally weak and palsied constitution who do not like strong colors and who even pride themselves, as a class apart, on their good taste. The good-taste brigade can only think comfortably in terms of color harmonies and of soft and soothing pastel shades." Oh, how it pains the heart to be called out by Christopher Lloyd, doesn't it? Well, even though he thinks we're too meek when it comes to color in the garden, we are in violent agreement when it comes to procurement. You'll love this little snippet about how he came to own the poppy "Beauty Queen": "I took a fancy to ‘Beauty Queen’ in a friend’s garden in Scotland in June, when it was flowering, and received permission to take a piece. When you see a plant that you must have, the answer to the question “Would you like some at the right time? should be “I’d rather have it now,” right time or not. Otherwise, the right time will surely slip by, the transference of the coveted piece from central Scotland to the south of England (or from California to Maine) will be in convenient, and all you’ll have is a gnawing gap in the pit of your wish-world."   Brevities #OTD  It was on this day in 1703 that Daniel Defoe was made to stand in the pillory in front of the temple bar.  The pillory was basically a stockade; the hands and head would be caught between two large beams of wood. It was a horrible punishment. It was usually reserved for the most hideous crimes. When Dafoe was convicted of sedition, the crowds did their best to show their support; they threw flowers at his feet instead of mud.   The image of Defoe standing with his head and hands in the stocks surrounded by an adoring audience was memorialized in an 1862 painting.    In 1830, a biography of Defoe said that the stocks were adorned with garlands and that drinks were provided to celebrate Dafoe's release.     #OTD It’s the birthday of Mary Vaux Walcott born in Philadelphia today in 1860. Gardeners know Walcott for her work as a botanical illustrator; she created meticulously accurate watercolors of plants and flowers. She is known as the "Audobon of botany". Walcott became an illustrator one summer after being challenged to paint a rare blooming Arnica. Although her effort was only a modest success, it encouraged her to pursue the art. In that pursuit, she met Charles Doolittle Walcott. They were both doing fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies and they found they were equally yoked. They married the following year. At the time, Charles was the secretary of the Smithsonian; that's how Walcott came to develop the Smithsonian process printing technique. Walcott created hundreds of illustrations of the native plants of North America. Her five volume set entitled North American Wildflowersshowcases the stunning beauty of everyday wildflowers, many of which are at peak bloom right now. In addition to her work as a botanist, Mary was a successful glacial geologist and photographer. She was the first woman to summit a peak over 10,000 feet in Canada when she tackled Mount Stephen. Today Walcott even has a mountain named after her in Jasper - Mount Mary Vaux.     #OTD   Today’s the anniversary of the death of Richard Morris Hunt who was an American architect during the gilded age.   Gardeners know Hunt for his collaborations with the Frederick Law Olmsted. They worked together on the Vanderbilt mausoleum and the Chicago world‘s fair. Their ultimate collaboration occurred in Asheville, North Carolina, where they worked together to design the gardens, house, and manor village for the Biltmore estate.   Hunt is often recognized as theDean of American Architecture. He was the first American trained at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.    Although Hunt and Olmsted had history, they clashed over Hunt's design for the southern entrance to Central Park.   Hunt had won the competition to design it, but Olmsted and Vaux balked when they saw Hunt's glorious plan.   For the main entrance at Fifth Avenue, Hunt had designed what he called the Gate of Peace. It included a circular fountain within a square parterre.    The most magnificent part of his plan, was a semi circular terrace with a 50 foot column featuring a sailor and a Native American holding up the cities arms. At the base of the column was to be a monument to Henry Hudson. It involved a pool of water featuring Neptune in his chariot and Henry Hudson standing on the prowl of a ship. On the back side, there was a memorial to Christopher Columbus.   Thinking the public would embrace his grand vision, Hunt made the decision to promote his designs for the park all on his own.   But Hunt did not appreciate Vaux's is power. Although privately Vaux said that Hunt's plans were "splendid and striking"; publicly he told a friend they were, "what the country had been fighting against... Napoleon III in disguise all over. Vaux summarized that Hunt's designs were, "not American but the park was."    Ironically, in 1898, a memorial was erected in Central Park to honor Richard Morris Hunt.   The memorial is located on the eastern perimeter of the park and it was created by the same man who created the monument to Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French.   When he was alive, Hunt wanted to elevate the publics taste in design and the arts, but he was also flexible enough to meet them where they were. It was Richard Maurice Hunter who said, "The first thing you've got to remember is that it's your clients' money you're spending. Your goal is to achieve the best results by following their wishes. If they want you to build a house upside down standing on its chimney, it's up to you to do it."     #OTD  It was on this day in 1972 that the horticulture program at the Smithsonian Gardens was established by Sydney Dylan Ripley who was the secretary of the Smithsonian. An American ornithologist and conservationist, as a child Ripley had been inspired by the area around the Louvre in France. He had hoped to make the Smithsonian a bustling area with activities for visitors and tourists. The purpose for the establishment of the horticultural services division was to provide landscaping  in and around the Smithsonian museums. In 2010, the horticultural program was renamed the Smithsonian Gardens to recognize the role that the gardens play in the visitor experience.         Unearthed Words Here's a poem by Robert Frost called ‘Lodged’.  This is a short garden poem. In six little lines, Frost connects himself to the flowers in the flowerbed, pelted by wind and rain; yet through it all, managing to survive. The rain to the wind said, 'You push and I'll pelt.' They so smote the garden bed That the flowers actually knelt, And lay lodged--though not dead. I know how the flowers felt.   Today's book recommendation: Gardenista: The Definitive Guide to Stylish Outdoor Spaces by Michelle Slatalla    Slatella's book was named "the best gift book for gardeners" by the New York Times book review.   The book was put together by the team responsible for Gardenista and Remodelista. It’s chockfull of hundreds of design tips and easy DIY‘s. It features 100 classic garden objects and a landscape primer with tips from the pros.   It’s a fantastic resource for folks hoping to get Garden Design 101 tips from the best and most creative in the business.     Today's Garden Chore Check for overcrowding and overall areas of meh. Garden chores tend to get pushed aside this time of year. But it's worth spending a little time this week looking closely at the overall appearance of your beds, borders and containers. Take your camera with you to document what you see. If the beds are both crowded and unattractive, you'll probably need to do a bit of pruning and transplanting to whip those beds into shape for the remainder of the season.   Something Sweet  Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart   Today is National Avocado Day.   Avocado is a fruit and it was originally called an alligator pear by Sir Hans Sloane in 1696.   And, Guinness has the largest avocado recorded at 5 pounds 6 1/2 ounces.   Don’t forget that the skin of an avocado can be toxic to cats and dogs - but the flesh of an avocado is actually higher in potassium than bananas.   Now, the next time the price of avocados gets you down, remember that avocados are harvested by hand. Pickers need to use a 16-foot pole to reach the hanging fruit.   And, finally, here’s a little fun fact about avocados:   The conquistadors used  avocado seeds to write.   It turns out, the avocado seed produces a milky liquid that changes to the color red when exposed to air.     Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

“The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.”   ~ Robert Frost   April can be a challenging time in the garden.   How many truly lovely Aprils does one get in a lifetime? I’d venture to say maybe five or six.   Often, the gardens are too wet to get into; provided you could even get to them. Even with the rain, the snow hasn’t completely melted away.   It’s too cold to turn the spigots on, so you’ll have the thrill of trooping through the residue of a long winter: grit and grime, salt and mush.   Until it dries up, there’s really no sense going out.   Content yourself with planning or growing seeds indoors.   Unless you’re having a once in a decade kind of April… then pinch yourself and get going.     Brevities #OTD  We’ve got a big birthday today: Sir Hans Sloane, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector.    He bequeathed his collection of 71,000 items to the British nation thus singlehandedly establishing the British Museum, the British Library and the Natural History Museum, London.     How was his collection so large? First, he lived into his 90’s and outlived many of his collecting friends. Second, when his friends passed away, they gave Hans Sloane their herbariums and other materials. He was a one man repository for horticultural knowledge.    Fun fact: Sloane is credited with adding milk to cacaoto make  drinking chocolate.   There are many botanical birthdays today. Perhaps Hans Sloane has blessed this day.     OTD Happy birthday to British botanist William Stearn (16 April 1911 – 9 May 2001).    The author of “Botanical Latin”as well as the Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners, a popular guide to the Latin names of plants. He was mainly self-educated which was probably a by-product of being a librarian for the Royal Horticultural Society in London for almost 20 years.   Highly esteemed, he is THE expert on over 400 plants that he named and described.     #OTD  American botanical illustrator Ellen "Nelly" Thayer Fisher was born today in 1847 (April 16, 1847 – October 15, 1911).    The daughter of a doctor, she learned her craft from her brother Abbott.  To make a living, she painted pictures for exhibition but she also gave “lessons by letter” to aspiring artists.  Additionally, her paintings of flora and fauna were widely reproduced as chromolithographs by Boston publisher Louis Prang.     #OTD Mary Gibson Henry died today in (1884 – April 1967).     She was born to be a plants-woman. Her family’s roots in horticulture went way back. Her great-grandfather, George Pepper, was a member of the first Council of the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society.    She became an avid botanist and plant collector and also served as president of the American Horticultural Society. The daylily Hymenocallis henryae is named in her honor.     In 1909, she married Dr John Norman Henry. She had a large backyard garden and greenhouses. She had a splendid kitchen garden, native rock plants, and orchards.    Starting in 1929, she went on biannual plant collecting trips. On her first trip, she brought the family - 4 kids and her hubby. Not sure if she continued that, but over the next forty years, she went on over 200 botanical expeditions.   And, she figured out that plant collecting wasn’t for sissies, saying,   "I soon learned that rare and beautiful plants can only be found in places that are difficult of access ... Often one has to shove one's self through or wriggle under briars, with awkward results to clothing and many and deep cuts and scratches ... Wading, usually barelegged, through countless rattlesnake-infested swamps adds immensely to the interest of the day's work.”   On this day in April, Mary died in North Carolina doing what she loved to do: collecting plants     #OTD Born on 16 April 1886, Sir Edward Salisbury was the youngest of nine children.   His passion for plants started as a child. On outings, Salisbury would collect flowers to grow in his own patch at home. Get this: He attached a label to each one, giving its Latin name. His brothers called his garden ‘The Graveyard’.  Typical brothers.    One of the leading British botanists of the twentieth century, he was the director of Kew during the Second World War.  He was not simply an expert on plants themselves, he was supremely interested in their natural habitat.    He wrote many books - my favorite of all of his books is “Weeds & Aliens”. In it, he goes for a walk in the countryside and discovers when he gets home that the cuffs of his wool trousers were full of seeds. He decides to try to grow them and is astounded to discover that he was able to grow more than 300 plants “comprising over 20 different species of weeds."   It was Sir Edward Salisbury who said,  “The double lily was and is a crime against God and man. He lived to be 92.     Unearthed Words Aphra Behn, (Books By This Author), the first professional woman playwright in Britain, whose novel 'Oroonoko', played a crucial role in the development of English fiction, was buried in Westminster Abbey #OTD in 1689.   'All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds' - Virginia Woolf.     Aphra was one of the first women in England to earn a living through writing, inspiring future generations of women to write.   'That perfect tranquility of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library' – Aphra Behn Today's book recommendation  Adventurous Women: Eight True Stories About Women Who Made a Difference By Penny Colman (There’s a profile of Mary Gibson Henry in this one)   Today's Garden Chore Todays chore is to get ready to direct sow.  Radish, turnip, and parsnip seeds - get ready to suit up!   Something Sweet  Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart #OTD Emily Dickinson's brother, William Austin Dickinson was born today (1829-1895). Of her brother she said, “There was always such a Hurrah wherever you was” William was the oldest of the three Dickinson kids. William was about eighteen months older than his sister Emily.  He tried his hand at teaching but ended up becoming a lawyer; following in the footsteps of both his grandfather Fowler and his father Edward. When they were young, Emily was very close to her brother.  When he was away from home, her letters to him show their common interests and her love for him. She wrote, "Our apples are ripening fast—I am fully convinced that with your approbation they will not only pick themselves, but arrange one another in baskets, and present themselves to be eaten".     Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

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.

Professor Neil Kenny (University of Oxford) Edwin Rose ( University of Cambridge) Abstracts Professor Neil Kenny The mineral-hunters: Martine de Bertereau and her husband Jean du Chastelet One kind of object dominated not just the life of Martine de Bertereau (1590–1643), but also her family’s past and so to an extent her social identity: minerals. Little wonder, then, that she married a fellow mineralogist, Jean du Chastelet. They spent their years and their resources prospecting throughout Europe, on a vast scale, before dying in Richelieu’s dungeons. What economic, social, epistemic, and also cultural and narrative frames did their object of choice impose upon them? And what does their singular pursuit of minerals tell us about the relation between knowledge, family, gender, and social hierarchy in early seventeenth-century France? Neil Kenny is Professor of French at the University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. His publications include The Uses of Curiosity in Early Modern France and Germany (2004) and an earlier book on the word history of the ‘curiosity’ family of terms. His last monograph was Death and Tenses: Posthumous Presence in Early Modern France (2015). He is currently completing a book called Literary Families and Social Hierarchy in Early Modern France. The example he is discussing today grows out of that project, but is not included in it. Edwin Rose Collecting natural history in late eighteenth-century Britain The late eighteenth century witnessed a distinct rise in natural history collecting, both on a commercial and a scholarly level, alongside a growth in travel by naturalists, the main object of which was for them to acquire natural history specimens for their collections and record their observations of the natural world. One of the most prolific naturalist-travellers was Thomas Pennant (1726–98), whose collection remains intact and is primarily held by the Natural History Museum, London. In this paper, I give a general overview of Pennant’s collecting activities, examining his working practices in the field along with how he synthesised the information and objects he collected to compile his seminal work, British Zoology. This lavishly illustrated publication reached multiple editions from 1766 to 1812. Pennant’s collection was compiled from taxidermy, primarily birds and quadrupeds, from around the globe; shells, fossils, minerals, a small herbarium of dried plants, and a library which amounted to over 10,000 volumes, all of which he kept at his home at Downing Hall, Flintshire, North Wales. Pennant’s natural history collection was rigorously organised according to a variety of different systems of classification, such as that devised by John Ray (1627–1705) and that developed by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) from the 1730s. The understanding of the connections between this large collection of physical objects, Pennant’s travels and his publications gives a direct insight into how these physical objects were used to create natural knowledge during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Edwin Rose is currently a PhD candidate in the department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. His interests are primarily concerned with the history of natural history, collecting and bibliography from the mid seventeenth to the mid nineteenth centuries, although the main concentration of his current research rests in the period between 1750 and 1830. Edwin has published widely on the history of natural history, in particular on the collections of Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753) and the British Museum, and his most recent article entitled ‘Specimens, slips and systems: Daniel Solander and the classification of nature at the world’s first public museum 1753–1768’ was published in the British Journal for the History of Science in April, 2018. As well as his PhD research, Edwin has two forthcoming publications, one for a special issue in Notes and Records of the Royal Society entitled ‘From the South Seas to Soho Square: The Library of Joseph Banks and the Practice of natural history’ and another which he has co-authored with Anna Marie Roos (University of Lincoln) entitled ‘Lives and Afterlives of the Lithophylacii Britannici ichnographia (1699), the First Illustrated Field Guide to English Fossils’, to be published in Nuncius in January 2019.

Felicity Roberts from King’s College Londondelivers a talk titled “Sir Hans Sloane’s Museum and Animal Encounters.” This talk was included in the session titled “Visiting.” Part of “Early Modern Collections in Use,” a conference held at The Huntington Sept. 15–16, 2017.

Mark Spencer explains why Sir Hans Sloane is his Natural History Hero.

Sir Mark Walport, the government's Chief Scientific Advisor champions the life of Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum. Along with expert Marjorie Caygill they tell Matthew Parris why they think Sloane is the mother and father of all collectors. Producer : Perminder Khatkar.

This is the first part of an African slave song notated when Sir Hans Sloane was in Jamaica in 1668. It's quite a lovely tune and I thought putting it to clawhammer banjo was fitting. Sloane also drew the earliest known pictures of the gourd banjo, seen in many written reference materials.

This is the first part of an African slave song notated when Sir Hans Sloane was in Jamaica in 1668. It's quite a lovely tune and I thought putting it to clawhammer banjo was fitting. Sloane also drew the earliest known pictures of the gourd banjo, seen in many written reference materials.

Neil MacGregor's history of the world as told through things that time has left behind. Throughout this week he is examining the often troubled relationship between Europe and the rest of the world during the 18th century. Today he tells the extraordinary story of a now fragile African drum. It was taken to America during the years of the slave trade where it came into contact with Native Americans. The drum was brought to England by Sir Hans Sloane, whose collection became the British Museum in 1753. This drum, the earliest African-American object in the Museum, is a rare surviving example of an instrument whose music was to profoundly influence American culture - bought to America on a slave ship and transported to Britain by a slave owner. The historian Anthony Appiah and the writer Bonnie Greer consider the impact of this drum. Producer: Anthony Denselow Music research specifically for the Akan drum: Michael Doran.

An overview of the history of botanical collecting: the characters and their stories; the motivations and disagreements; the current situation and what the future might hold. Dr Robert Huxley is Head of Collections in Botany at the Natural History Museum____________________This...