Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Friends of the Garden Meeting in Athens, Georgia Register Here   Historical Events 1763 Birth of William Cobbett, English writer, Member of Parliament, and farmer.  In Parliament, Wlliam fought for agrarian reform. He did this through his regular writings called Rural Rides, where he shared what he saw while taking horseback rides throughout rural England. William never forgot his rural roots, and he was a lifelong gardener. He once wrote, How much better during a long and dreary winter, for daughters, and even sons, to assist, or attend, their mother, in a green-house, than to be seated with her at cards, or, in the blubberings over a stupid novel, or at any other amusement that can possibly be conceived. And he also wrote,  If well-managed, nothing is more beautiful than the kitchen garden.   1845 Birth of Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer, German botanist and plant physiologist. Wilhelm was born in his father's apothecary. He grew up and learned every aspect of the business, which had been in his family for generations. One of his childhood friends noted, In those days, it was not yet customary to obtain drugs in cut and powdered form; thus, he spent hours cutting roots and herbs and pulverizing dried drugs with a heavy pestle in a mortar. In addition to life at the A=apothecary, Wilhelm loved collecting plants in the Alps. His early study of plants and his natural curiosity set the stage for his in-depth plant experiments as an adult. In terms of plant physiology, he's remembered for the Pfeffer pot or pepper pot to measure osmotic pressure in plant cells.   1874 Birth of Karl Foerster, German plant breeder, writer, and garden designer. When Karl turned 18, he took over his family's Berlin nursery, which was a bit of a mess. Karl quickly streamlined the business by simplifying his plant inventory. Although Karl loved all plants, he was especially drawn to tough, low-maintenance, hardy perennials. Karl used three factors to determine whether a plant would be sold in his nursery: beauty, resilience, and endurance. Today, Karl is most remembered in Karl Foerster Grass. The story goes that Karl was on a train when he spied the grass growing along the tracks. Karl frantically pulled the emergency brake, stopped the train, and quickly collected the specimen that now bears his name. In 2001, Karl Foerster grass was the Perennial Plant of the Year. Karl's plant standards and his appreciation for low maintenance spaces with year-long seasonal interest helped shape the New German Garden Style of garden design. A Karl Foerster garden had some signature plants: grasses, delphinium, and phlox. Naturally, all of these plants were favorites in Karl's breeding work. Karl once wrote, Grasses are the hair of mother earth. And he also wrote, A garden without phlox is not only a sheer mistake but a sin against summer. Karl lived to the ripe old age of 96. And looking back, it's staggering to think that Karl spent nearly nine decades gardening, and it was Karl Foerster who said, In my next life, I’d like to be a gardener once again.  The job was too big for just one lifetime.   1892 Birth of Vita Sackville-West, English author and garden designer. In 1930, Vita and her husband, the diplomat, and journalist Harold Nicolson, bought Sissinghurst Castle - at least what was left of it. Together, they restored the house and created the famous garden, which was given to the National Trust in 1967. Vita explored the depths of her own creativity as she shaped the gardens at Sissinghurst. When she came up with the idea for a Sunset Garden, she wrote, I used to call it the Sunset Garden in my own mind before I even planted it up. Vita's Sunset Garden included flowers with warm citrus colors, like the yellows, oranges, and reds of Dahlia's Salvias Canas and tulips. Vita also created