Today we celebrate one of the first successful uses of the Wardian Case on a ship in 1833. We'll also learn about the Minnesota botanist who discovered a fun new cereal. We’ll remember the beloved British children’s author who wrote in his garden shed. We salute the various ways trees drop their leaves… or not - in a verse by an American writer. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a cookbook for gardeners with a mix of old and new takes on garden to table goodness.  And then we’ll wrap things up with a grower’s tips on Poinsettia care.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: a personal update from me garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show and more... Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org.   Curated News The Beauty of the Fibonacci Sequence in the Garden | Empress of Dirt |  Melissa J. Will Today is Fibonacci “fee-bo-NA-chee” Day!   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events November 23, 1833   On this day, the ship Captain Charles Mallard wrote a letter to Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. Four years earlier, in 1829, Nathaniel developed the first terrarium when he accidentally grew a fern in an insect jar. A fern spore had gotten into a jar Nathaniel was using to observe insect behavior. Nathaniel suddenly realized that if plants were enclosed in airtight glass cases, they could survive without water for long periods. Nathaniel constructed his Wardian cases out of wood and glass. Nathaniel’s little portable greenhouses sat on the deck of a ship where they could absorb as much sunshine as possible. The inside of the box would have some soil on the bottom. The plants would be in pots, and a series of battens would stop the plants from rolling around inside the case. After the plants were watered and safely tucked inside, the case was nailed shut, and all the seams were painted with tar to seal the case. Wardian cases were a game-changer for plant explorers who needed to keep plants alive during long voyages. Snug inside the Wardian Case, plants often lived on ships for 6 to 12 months. And so, it was on this day in 1833 that Captain Charles Mallard excitedly shared that Nathaniel’s cases worked like a charm. He wrote: “Your experiment for [keeping] plants alive… has fully succeeded.” Before the Wardian case, saltwater and sun killed most plants before they reached England. With the Wardian case, plantation crops like tea, rubber, and sugar, and medicinal and ornamental plants - could be moved among the Botanic Gardens of the British Empire.   November 23, 1862  Today is the birthday of the American plant physiologist, botanist, educator, and inventor Alexander Pierce Anderson. Alexander grew up in rural Southeastern, Minnesota. His cousin, John Lind, became the governor of Minnesota. After getting a degree in botany, Alexander went on to teach at Clemson. Three years later, he went to work for the New York Botanical Garden in research. This unassuming position would lead Alexander to a fantastic discovery. Suspecting that microscopic amounts of water exi