Every time we put a plant in the ground, harvest a vegetable, or feel the warm soil in our hands, we hold gardening history. The soil we hold may have been tilled by our great grandparents or cultivated by unknown people from the past or possibly never touched except by nature.
It’s not always easy to recognize, but that gardening history is there and it helps us connect with the world around us.
Like gardeners, writers too enjoy those moments of contemplation and often have an appreciation of the small miracles of nature. Perhaps that’s why gardening and writing go hand in hand. At least, they do in Anne McGouran’s Planted by the Mind.
In her story, she explores the connection between gardening and creativity. Meanwhile, Diana Wells takes gardening history literally, looking back as far as 1597 to explore humanity’s longstanding love of the garden. A Garden of Miracles Celebrated is full of wonderful thoughts about art, science, and gardening through the centuries. But the quote I think I like the most comes from Diana herself: “How lucky we gardeners are, especially in Springtime, to be able to concentrate on miracles.”
Then there are daffodils, that ubiquitous early sign of Spring. But daffodils might not be what they seem, at least in A Surprising Daffodil Gardening History. It turns out, not all gardeners appreciate these golden yellow signs of Spring. But I don’t want to give away the secret here. Be sure to read the story!
Feel free to stay a while and enjoy all the gardening history we have to share below. And be sure to check out our Gardening History Collection while you’re here, which features a hand-picked selection of our favorite history lessons from this category.
Let me kick off with your first pineapple fact of the day: Did you know that pineapples were once such a prized possession that people would rent them to display in their homes, as a show of wealth? That’s right. The rich could afford to buy them, and even eat them, but, during the pinnacle […]
Oh! The gentle gardener, kneeling patiently in the soil, pulling weeds one by one and talking to the flowers and plants. Come what may, the garden is a place to relax and commune with nature. We do our part and look on respectfully as nature takes over and produces colorful flowers, brilliant plants, and delicious […]
The secret meaning of flowers conjures the idea that flowers are much more than meets the eye—or the nose. I suppose, if you wanted, you could delve into what flowers mean to life on earth, since they are the beginning point of our food chain. You could imagine flowers as a secret code, with spies, […]
Do you own a Christmas cactus; or Schlumbergera bridgesii? I’ve always liked the look of them, with their reaching little green fingers and funky pink blooms at the tips, but I never knew much about them until this year, which inspired me to purchase one myself. I like a challenge, I guess. For example, did […]
Gardening and gambling might seem like two very different activities, but in many ways they are actually quite similar. Both gardening and gambling involve taking risks, trusting your intuition, and loving what you do. Whether you’re feeling the tulip love and planting bulbs or betting on the come-out roll at the craps table, it takes […]
I’ll be the first to say that every time I dig in my garden, I always hope I’ll come across some buried treasure. Maybe it will be a lost ring or a wheat penny or an antique toy long forgotten and hidden beneath the soil. It would be my very own garden of lost secrets […]
Way back in 1961, a gentleman by the name of Ernie K. Doe recorded a hit song called Mother in Law. The lyrics, in part, refer to the singer’s mother in law as “the worst person that I know.” He goes on to sing: “If she’d leave us alone, we would have a happy home.” […]
I might be somewhat biased when it comes to writing about gardening. I am, after all, a writer. And a gardener. In fact, I’m lucky enough that I get to combine two of my loves and spend time with both pen and plant. Gardening and writing have a lot in common. They can both clear […]
To read a page from the garden diary of Elizabeth von Arnim is to read of the beauty of a lush garden, blooming and fragrant in its revelry. Elizabeth so loved her garden that she wrote a book, Elizabeth and Her German Garden, which became a bestseller when it was first published in 1898. She went […]
I’ll admit that I sometimes find Spring garden inspiration hard to come by. I find that’s especially true with vegetables, since I’m often starting seeds while there is still snow falling gently from the clouds and I have to scrape ice from my car windshield. Starting seeds truly is an exercise in faith. When I […]
