Today we celebrate the English garden writer who fell in love with one of the world’s first science fiction writers - and she turned out to be a woman. We'll also learn about the Connecticut botanist and conservations who created a new undergraduate degree program he called Human Ecology. We’ll hear a delightful interview with the month of December in today’s poem. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that helps us turn our cupboards into our very own kitchen apothecary through recipes that help and heal us. And then we’ll wrap things up with the state flower of Alabama - the Camellia.   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 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 New variety of apple discovered by Wiltshire runner | The Guardian Archie Thomas stumbled across solitary windfall fruit that could be a cross between a cultivated apple and a European crab apple.   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  December 14, 1843  Today is the anniversary of the death of the Scottish botanist, garden designer, and author John Claudius Loudon. A prolific garden writer and publisher, John coined the term arboretum. There are two stories I love to tell about John. One is his love story with his wife Jane, and the other is a famous miscommunication he had over some beech trees. Well, John’s love story with his wife was made for movies. The two met when John insisted on meeting the fantastic new sci-fi author of a book named The Mummy by Henry Colburn. When John went to meet with Henry, he discovered Henry was a nom de plume for Jane. The two fell in love and married a year later. Now the second story I like to tell about John is about his letter to the Duke of Wellington and what happened next is like a Shakespeare comedy. John had written the Duke to ask if he could inspect the Waterloo Beeches. These gorgeous beech trees had been planted as a memorial to the battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately, when the Duke got John’s note, he misread the signature at the bottom of the letter. Instead of JC Louden, the Duke mistakenly believed the note was from CJ London or the Bishop of London. Compounding this problem, the Duke misread the word beeches as “BREECHES.” And so, the Duke thought the Bishop of London wanted to inspect his pants. So, the Duke wrote the Bishop back, saying: "My dear Bishop of London, It will always give me great pleasure to see you… Pray whenever it suits your convenience, whether I am at home or not. My servant will receive orders to show you so many pairs of breeches of mine as you wish, but why you should wish to inspect those that I wore at the battle of Waterloo is quite beyond [my] comprehension." From that day forward, the incident became known as the story of the "Waterloo Breeches.” And, we wouldn't have it - without John Claudius Louden. John and his wife Jane were considered high society, and their friends included Charles Dickens. As he grew older,