I was reading in Facebook yesterday, a friend had planted all of these autumn crocus, colchicums, in her garden. Like any bulb, it takes lots of dedication to get them planted and then you have all of the anticipation - waiting to see if they come up and if they meet your expectations. Anyway, she'd invited some friends over to come and check them out. Instead of being amazed by the beautiful autumn crocus, her friends were completely taken her gorgeous hydrangea. Isn't that the way it goes? We toil in our gardens and then we invite people over to come and see it. Yet, the plants we expect others to be amazed by, the plants that have stolen our hearts, are not always the plants that are the most popular with our visitors.  So, my piece of advice, if you have an affinity for autumn crocus, is don't plant hydrangea. If you do have hydrangea, only invite other gardeners over.  Only gardeners will appreciate the dedication that it takes to plant colchicum. Only gardeners are sensitive to the fact that if they've been invited over to "see the colchicum", they will ooh and aah only for the autumn crocus, and offer merely a passing nod to the show-stealing hydrangea.      Brevities #OTD  Today is the birthday of the botanist Sarah Hynes who was born on this day in 1859,  Hynes was born in Danzig, Prussia and she immigrated to Australia in the mid 1800's. After graduating from the University of Sydney, she and Georgina King brought in fresh flowers for a botanical display at the Sydney Technological Museum. This is how Haynes came to know the director of the Museum, Joseph Henry Maiden. Maiden hired Haynes as a botanical assistant and when he was promoted to be the director of the Sydney Botanic Garden, he hired Hynes to be in charge of the herbarium. Once Hynes arrived at the botanic garden, she ran into difficulties with her male bosses. She was pointing out disparities between herself and her male counterparts; she had requested better pay. In 1905, Hynes was suspended and cited for 39 counts of insubordination including the use of "unladylike" phrase "lowdown, dirty larrikin trick." Hynes stood her ground and denied the charges, which were ultimately dismissed. But, five years later, it happened again. After this suspension, Haynes had had enough; she transferred to the Department of Public Instruction. After this position, Haynes spent the rest of her professional life teaching science to high schoolers.   William Fitzgerald named the (Acacia hynesiana) for her, in recognition of her work with Joseph Henry Maiden on his book Forest Flora.         #OTD   Today is the birthday of the botanical artist Faith Fyles who was born on this day in 1875. Fyles was trained as a botanist, but her natural artistic talent became apparent early in her career. She was the first female hired by the Canadian Department of Agriculture. In 1920, she transferred to the horticulture division where she began producing colored illustrations of plant specimens; especially   fruits and ornamentals.   Fyles is remembered for her work on the 1920 bulletin, Principal Poison Plants of Canada. The bulletin was prepared for farmers so that they could discern the problematic plants on their properties and avoid pasturing animals  with poisonous plants. The book was offered free through the Ottawa Department of Agriculture. Over her career, Fyles had the opportunity to study art with Stanhope Forbes in England and with Rene Menard and Lucien Simon in Paris.     #OTD   Today is the birthday of the Mexican botanist Helia Bravo Hollis who was born on this day in 1901. Bravo Hollis was the first woman to graduate with the title of Biologist in Mexico. By the age of 29, she was named curator of the University's herbarium where she was assigned the job of studying the cactus. In 1937, Bravo   Hollispublished "Las cactáceas de México", making her a leader of global cactus research.  Bravo Hollis focused on cactus in and in 1951, she cofounded th