William Cullen Bryant wrote,    “There is no glory in star or blossom  till looked upon by a loving eye;  There is no fragrance in April breezes  till breathed with joy as they wander by.”   That pretty much sums up what happens with the plants I’ve dubbed "double-takes".    A double-take plant is the one you first ignore or blow off - but them something about them causes you to take another look; to appreciate what you didn’t see the first time around.   Until the first spring I saw Lungwort in bloom, I never looked at it with a loving eye. But then, that very first time I saw it in bloom, it about knocked me over.   THAT BLOOM    Bluey-purpley-pinky little delicate thing.   It took my breath away; Pulmonaria making me need a Pulmonologist.   I suddenly didn’t mind the speckled foliage.   And now?   Now, I love it.   It’s a classic double-take plant.   Brevities #OTD Buried on this day, 381 years ago, in the churchyard of St Mary at Lambeth, alongside his son; the gardener John Tradescant the elder. Today, the churchyard is the Garden Museum.     #OTD in 2003 Horticulturist Graham Stuart Thomas (Books By This Author) died. He was 94. (3 April 1909 – 17 April 2003).    GST was fundamentally a nursery man and he lived a life fully immersed in the garden. His passion was sparked at a young age by a special birthday present he was given when he turned six: a beautiful potted fuchsia.    In 2003. his gardening outfit - including his pants, vest and shoes - as well as a variety of his tools (including plant markers and a watering can) were donated to the Garden Museum.    GST was best known for his work with garden roses and his leadership of over 100 National Trust gardens. He wrote 19 books on gardening. Ever the purposeful perfectionist, he never wasted a moment.   What do folks have to say about GST on social media? Here’s a sampling: Pachysandra ground cover - A GST classic! My mom gave me a Graham Stuart Thomas for my first gardening book, so very special Our best selling plant of 2015? At number 1 (drum roll) - Eryngium Graham Stuart Thomas. Flower spike on yucca in border. GST used them as punctuation marks in design.  Love being married to someone who knows what I mean when I say, “Bring me Graham Stuart Thomas" #OTD Physicianand botanist James McBride was born in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, in 1784.   As a babe, he was left an orphan. With nothing to his name, he managed to get an education through what his Yale biography called "indefatigable industry and perseverance”.   Trained as a doctor, he spent his free time pursuing his passion: botany. He wrote papers to the Linnean Society and other scientific journals. His personal friend, Dr. Stephen Elliott, named the Macbridia pulcrafor McBride. He also dedicated the second volume of his Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgiato McBride’s memory: "[James was] a gentleman who, uniting great sagacity to extensive and accurate botanical knowledge, has made the medical properties of our plants a subject of careful investigation. Profoundly skilled in his profession… he fell victim to the fatigues and exposure of an extensive [medical] practice. In the midst of a brilliant career, with prospects of increasing usefulness and extended reputation” James McBride died at the age of 33 trying to help stop an epidemic of yellow fever in Charleston, South Carolina on September 21, 1817.     #OTD American botanist and plant collector Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer died. He was born in 1870 in Van Dyne, Wisconsin.    Elmer got degrees from the Washington Agricultural College, and Stanford University. He collected plants in the Philippines from 1904 to 1927. Kew Gardens shared that in 1919 Elmer’s notes stated  “ I ... collected [plant specimens] on the Bulusan (“Bah-loo-sahn”) volcano which has recently become active and..may cause the total destruction of its vegetation.”   Elmer was editor of "Leaflets of Philippine Botany”. In that publication, he documented more