Today in botanical history, we celebrate a Spanish botanist, a Swiss poet and diarist, and an American industrialist. We’ll hear an excerpt from a best-selling book where the main character is a 12-year-old girl named September. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that offers a year of fantastic wild flower paintings and notes. And then we’ll wrap things up with a lab girl - a scientist whose incredible book was released just five years ago.   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   Facebook Group If you’d like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you’re in luck. 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.   Curated News New books: how designers see the world | Wallpaper.com | Jonathan Bell   Important Events September 27, 1777 Birth of Simón de Rojas Clemente, Spanish botanist, intellectual, politician, and spy. He is regarded as the father of European ampelography (the identification and classification of grapevines). Today a statue of Simón overlooks the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid. In the early 1800s, Simón taught Arabic. One of his students, Domingo Badía Leblich, invited Simón on an extensive trip through Africa from the Atlas Mountains to the Nile. Anticipating resistance from locals, Domingo and Simón disguised themselves as Muslims and even changed their names. Simón became Mohamad Ben-Alí. And at some point after joining the expedition, Simón learned the true reason for the trip: spying on North Africa for Manuel Godoy, the First Secretary of State of Spain. Simón went on to explore Andalusia before returning to Madrid, where he served as the director of the Royal Botanical Garden library. In 1820, Simón planted a collection of grapevines at the Madrid Royal Botanic Garden. To this day, Simón’s grapes are among the wine and table grapes grown in the garden since the 18th century. Simón’s herbarium contained 186 specimens of grapes, which remain in excellent condition. They are especially prized because they are the oldest collection of grapevines and because Simón collected them before phylloxera arrived in Spain. Today Simón’s grapevine specimens have been genetically analyzed thanks to modern DNA testing.   September 27, 1821 Birth of Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher & poet. He is remembered for his Journal Intime, which he kept from 1847 until twenty-two days before he died in 1881. On August 26, 1868, he wrote, Say to yourself that you are entering upon the autumn of your life; that the graces of spring and the splendors of summer are irrevocably gone, but that autumn, too, has its beauties. The autumn weather is often darkened by rain, cloud, and mist, but the air is still soft, and the sun still delights the eyes, and touches the yellowing leaves caressingly: it is the time for fruit, for harvest, for the vintage, the moment for making provision for the winter. My life has reached its month of September. May I recognize it in time, and suit thought and action to the fact! He also wrote, A modest garden con