Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1809 On this day, Thomas Jefferson (books about this person) wrote to his friend and favorite nurseryman, Bernhard McMahon. At the time, Jefferson was counting the days until he retired from the White House. From Jefferson's letters, it's clear that he was looking forward to spending more time in his garden. The previous July, Jefferson had written McMahon and confided: Early in the next year I shall ask [for] some cuttings of your gooseberries  and [I'll also] send a pretty copious list for...the best kinds of garden seeds and flowers.  I shall be at home early in March [and plan to] very much devote myself to my garden…  I have the tulips you sent to me in great perfection, also the hyacinths, tuberoses, amaryllis, and artichokes.   And so, when Jefferson wrote to McMahon on this day - a month before leaving office - he was following up with the list of plants he wanted at Monticello ("MontiCHELLo"). As you might imagine, Jefferson's letter reads the same as any written by an avid gardener in pursuit of new stock: Sir I have been daily expecting some of the large hiccory nuts from Roanoke…  but they [have] not yet arrived.    I must now ask [a] favor of you  to furnish me with the [items mentioned below] for the garden,  which will occupy much of my attention... at home.  …If you will be so good as to send them by the stage  which leaves Philadelphia on the 1st of March…  they will come in time for me to carry on to Monticello.  I salute you with esteem. Th: Jefferson Chili strawberry Hudson strawberry Some of the fine gooseberry plants of which you sent me the fruit last year Some roots of Crown imperials(Fritillaria imperialis - a dazzling and unique member of the Lily (Liliaceae) family) lilium convallarium (lily of the valley) Auricula Sea kale, or Crambe maritime One gallon of Leadman’s dwarf peas (mentioned in your book page 310)   1823 John Galvin was born. An English-American born in Kent, he mastered his grandfather's nursery business in Ireland before immigrating to America with his mother at 18. After working for several nurseries in New England, including the property owned by Thomas Motley which would eventually become the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard, John went on to beautify Boston as the City's Forester. John's greatest legacy was transforming old circus grounds and a playground into the Boston Public Garden. After the Massachusetts Public Garden Act was passed in 1856, George Meacham was hired to design the park. But it was John Galvin, and his crew who installed the trees, shrubs, flowers, and turf. Outside of his work for the city, John opened the very first retail florist shop in Boston, making life much easier for him and his customers. Before John's flower shop, Bostonians had to order their roses and other cut flowers by mail. They would put their orders in little post boxes that John had placed in various stores around the city. It was a cumbersome process. John named his business John Galvin & Co., and the work became a family affair as John's wife and seven children helped the business prosper. Over time, the middle child, a son named Thomas, took over the business, and he became a successful gardener, landscape designer, and florist in his own right. John was a beloved member of many Boston social and charitable groups. He embraced his Irish heritage and loved dancing jigs and reels. One obituary noted that his favorite Irish song was Malony Don't Know that McCarthy is Dead, sung to the tune of the Irish Washerwoman. Two years before he died, at the age of 76, the April 6th, 1899 edition of the New England Florist shared a little story about John. They wrote, The veteran florist John Galvin, the father of Thomas W Galvin, had his pocket picked on the street the other day - March 31st, we believe. But [he]