October 10, 2022 No-Foolin' Fall, George Pope Morris, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lin Yutang, Helen Hayes MacArthur, Garden as Art by Thaïsa Way, and Mr. Pringuer's Apple Tree

Subscribe
Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart
 
Support The Daily Gardener
Buy Me A Coffee 
 
Connect for FREE!
The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community
 
Historical Events
1802 Birth of George Pope Morris was an American editor, poet, and songwriter.
George co-founded the daily New York Evening Mirror with Nathaniel Parker Willis. George and Nathaniel also started Town and Country magazine. Nathaniel once wrote that George was "just what poets would be if they sang like birds without criticism."
In 1837, George wrote his popular poem-turned-song Woodman, Spare that Tree! The verse resonated with conservationists.
Woodman, woodman, spare that tree
Touch not a single bough
For years it has protected me
And I'll protect it now
Chop down an oak, a birch or pine
But not this slipp'ry elm of mine
It's the only tree that my wife can't climb
So spare that tree
 
1825 On this day, the English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote,
Nature is a wary wily long-breathed old witch, tough-lived as a turtle and divisible as the polyp.
 
The polyp Coleridge refers to is the water plant discovered by Abraham Trembley in 1740. That year, Abe was walking along a pool of water and saw what he called a polyp or a hydra. Abe was astonished to see the organism's response to being chopped into pieces; it would simply regenerate into a new whole organism.
 
1895 Birth of Lin Yutang, Chinese inventor, writer, and translator.
Yutang's English translations of Chinese classics became bestsellers in the West.
Yutang once wrote,
I like spring, but it is too young. 
I like summer, but it is too proud. 
So I like best of all autumn, because its tone is mellower, its colours are richer, and it is tinged with a little sorrow. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and its content.
 
1900 Birth of Helen Hayes MacArthur, American actress.
Remembered as the "First Lady of American Theatre," she was the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting - an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.
In her spare time, Helen was also a gardener.
Regarding wildflowers, she said,
They won’t bow to one’s wishes. 
They don’t want to be tamed. 
That must be the reason these darling, lovely, little things won’t cooperate.
 
While most people credit Helen's success with her passion and inner drive, Helen found the time she spent in her garden as restorative. She wrote,
All through the long winter I dream of my garden. 
On the first warm day of spring I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar.
 
 
Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation
Garden as Art by Thaïsa Way ("Ty-EE-sah")
This book came out in 2022, and the subtitle is Beatrix Farrand at Dumbarton Oaks.
If Thaïsa's name sounds familiar to you, it is because she is the director of garden and landscape studies at Dumbarton Oaks and her book is one of two new books this year as part of the centennial