November 16, 2022 Jean Chardin, Elizabeth Fox, Denys Zirngiebel, Amelie, The Revolutionary Genius of Plants by Stefano Mancuso, and Shirley Hibberd

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Historical Events
1643 Birth of Sir Jean Chardin, French jeweler and traveler.
Jean is remembered for his ten-volume work, The Travels of Sir John Chardin, which is considered one of the most important early accounts of Persia and the Near East.
In Travels, Jean wrote about the Persian love language of tulips.
When a young man presents a tulip to his mistress he gives her to understand, by the general color of the flower that he is on fire with her beauty, and by the black base of it that his heart is burnt to a coal.
 
1845 Death of Elizabeth Fox, also known as Baroness Holland, English political hostess and flower lover.
When she was 15, Elizabeth married Sir Godfrey Webster, who was twenty years her senior. After having five children in six years, Elizabeth began an affair with a Whig politician named Henry Fox, the 3rd Baron Holland. When she had his child, she divorced Godfrey and quickly married Mr. Fox. Together they had six more children.
Elizabeth is remembered for her strong will and domineering nature. She was a zealous socialite and highly passionate about flowers. In garden history, Elizabeth is remembered for introducing the Dahlia to England.
In 1804 during a visit to Madrid's Royal Botanic Gardens, Elizabeth received Dahlia pinnata seeds from the botanist Antonio José Cavanilles ("Cah-vah-nee-yes"). When she returned to England, the little seeds were successfully cultivated in her gardens at Holland House.
Twenty years later, Elizabeth's beloved second husband, Henry Fox, was so proud of her effort to share the Dahlia with England that he wrote these words in a little love note:
The dahlia you brought to our isle
Your praises forever shall speak;
'Mid gardens as sweet as your smile,
And in color as bright as your cheek.
 
1964 Death of Denys Zirngiebel, Swiss-born naturalist, florist, and plant breeder.
After establishing a home in Needham, Massachusetts, Denys sent for his wife and little boy. Denys and Henrietta had four children. Their only daughter (also named Henriette) married Andrew Newell Wyeth, and their son was NC Wyeth, the Realistic Painter.
During the 1860s, Denys worked for the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University.
He later bought a 35-acre tract of land along the Charles River in Needham and started his floral business. An excellent businessman, Denys expertly marketed his inventory. Denys shipped flowers to the White House and the State Department each week.
In a nod to his Swiss heritage, Denys was the first person in America to cultivate the Giant Swiss Pansy successfully. Denys's Needham nu