“Down a small alley,
Behind a palazzo,
around a corner,
near a cafe.”
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Want to learn more about Milan? Check out these books at your local library and on Amazon!
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† Books available at the LA Public Library
Archive.org has a host of old seed catalogs (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of date, but you never know what you might find when you explore these catalogs. I’ll be sharing more catalogs as I find them in the coming weeks. –Douglas
I love the artwork I find in these catalogs. They range from the austere to the fanciful to the comic — as with these Brownies plants and harvesting the flowers they selected. They stand alone as little artworks all by themselves.
Historical Seed Catalogs: Choice flower seeds (1898) – 7 in a series
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FOR THE STORY OF THE BROWNIES.
My 1898 Greeting! Cash Prizes
My artist (another woman) has given you, this year, three pictures of the Brownies, viz.: (1) the front cover page, (2) this page and (3) the back cover page, and into these pic- tures, in this order, she has woven a little story, in the right reading of which by my patrons I am very much interested. And so I offer the prizes following for the best interpretation of this story.
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I’ve always loved the look of wattle fencing. It is a bit time consuming to build yourself, but it is an excellent way of using on-site materials to brighten yo your garden or homestead. All it takes are some sticks and time. — Douglas
You’ll find more example of wattle fencing and edging — along with some instruction — over at Insteading.com
Wattle Information from Wikipedia
Wattle is a lightweight construction material made by weaving thin branches (either whole, or more usually split) or slats between upright stakes to form a woven lattice. It has commonly been used to make fences and hurdles for enclosing ground or handling livestock. The wattle may be made as loose panels, slotted between timber framing to make infill panels, or it may be made in place to form the whole of a fence or wall. The technique goes back to Neolithic times.
It forms the substructure of wattle and daub, a composite building material used for making walls, in which wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw. Wattle and daub has been used for at least 6,000 years, and is still an important construction material in many parts of the world. This process is similar to modern lath and plaster, a common building material for wall and ceiling surfaces, in which a series of nailed wooden strips are covered with plaster smoothed into a flat surface. Many historic buildings include wattle and daub construction, and the technique is becoming popular again in more developed areas as a low-impact sustainable building technique
Archive.org has a host of old gardening books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of
Download in Text, PDF, Single Page JPG, TORRENT from Archive.org
PREFACE
From its simple nature, this book seems scarcely to need any prefatory remarks, with the exception only of certaui acknowledgments.
A portion of the contents (about one-third) appeared during the years 1896 and 1897 in the pages of the Guardian, as ” Notes from Garden and Woodland.” I am indebted to the courtesy of the editor and proprietors of that journal for permission to republish these notes.
The greater part of the photographs from which the illustrations have been prepared were done on my own ground — a space of some fifteen acres. Some of them, owing to my want of technical ability as a photographer, were very weak, and have only been rendered available by the skill of the reproducer, for whose careful work my thanks are due.
A small number of the photographs were done for reproduction in wood-engraving for Mr. Robinson’s Garden, Gardening Illustrated, and English Flower Garden. I have his kind permission to use the original plates.
I also owe my thanks to several friends, and especially to Canon EUacombe and the Rev. C. Wolley Dod, for the correction of a number of errors and inaccuracies in botanical nomenclature that appeared in the first and second editions.
G. J.
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We were greeted with these blooms after returning from our trip to Milan.
See all my Flowering Now Posts
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Want to learn more about succulents? Check out these books for your local library and Amazon.com!
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Books available at the LA Public Library
Archive.org has a host of old seed catalogs (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of date, but you never know what you might find when you explore these catalogs. I’ll be sharing more catalogs as I find them in the coming weeks. –Douglas
Historical Seed Catalogs: Leonard’s seeds / Leonard Seed Company (1916) – 6 in a series
Download in Text, PDF, Single Page JPG, TORRENT from Archive.org
LEONARD’S RETAIL CATALOGUE
WE RESPECTFULLY SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
1. That a larger vegetable diet instead of much meat possibly might be of bene- fit to your health and that of your family.
2. Tbat a diet of vegetables is more economical than a meat diet.
3. That the kitchen garden is the surest way of securing fresh vegetables, as the purchased vegetable is most frequently old and inferior.
4. That if you do not plant your yard and care for it, the weeds will grow and become ugly and offensive.
5. That you plant your vegetables in long rows instead of little beds and do without stooping, the work of six hoes with our wheeled garden cultivator.
6. That the work of making a garden is as healthful a physical exercise as golf and as mentally stimulating as chess, the work for ladies and gentlemen.
7. That no house can be complete in its setting without well-kept gardens, lawns and flowers.
8. That no place can possibly be mean that has about it gardens, lawns, and flowers grown from our vegetable, grass and flower seed.
9. THAT THE LEONARD SEED COMPANY ARE SEED GROWERS.
10. THAT THE LEONARD SEED COMPANY SELLS SEED IN BULK ONLY. SEED THAT IS FRESH AND TESTED. THEY DO NOT HANDLE OLD AND RETURNED, COMMISSION SEED.
11. THAT THE PRICE OF LEONARD SEED COMPANY’S BULK SEED IS AS REASONABLE AS GOOD SEED CAN BE SOLD.
12. That you buy at once before some varieties of seed, made scarce by the war and bad climatic conditions, be exhausted.
More information on this catalog:
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library
Archive.org has a host of old gardening books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of
Download in Text, PDF, Single Page JPG, TORRENT from Archive.org
The Retir’d Gard’ner.
In Two Volumes.
Vol. I.
Being a Translation of Le Jardinier Solitaire or Dialogues between a Gentleman and a Gard’ner : Containing the Methods of Making, Ordering and Improving a Fruit and Kitchin-Garden, with many New Experiments, from the Second Edition Printed at Taris.
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Learn more about gardening history with these books
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library
Orto Botanico di Brera/Brera Botanic Garden
Only one of the many photos I took in this 250-year-old Garden which includes 2 original ginkgo biloba trees. via Instagram
Ever wondered how to propagate a certain succulent? For example, lithops (living stones)…is it possible to take cuttings from those thick, molar-shaped leaves? How about ruffled echeverias…can a solitary rosette be made to offset? And stacked crassulas…what do you do when stems are tightly lined with leaves?
Most succulents can be propagated vegetatively—via stem cuttings, pulling apart offsets, or rooting leaves. To the novice, of course, such tasks are mystifying. How deep, for example, does one plant a leaf?
Want to learn more about succulents?
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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Books available at the LA Public Library
An interesting link found among my daily reading
Yellow Peppers at the Farmers Market
Another trip to the Farmers Market this week and another batch of wonderful produce pictures.
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