Gardening History

Gardening history is embedded in the plants we grow and the stories we tell. Here are some of the stories we hope you’ll love as much as we do.

Every time we put a plant in the ground, harvest a vegetable, or feel the warm soil in our hands, we hold gardening history. The soil we hold may have been tilled by our great grandparents or cultivated by unknown people from the past or possibly never touched except by nature. 

It’s not always easy to recognize, but that gardening history is there and it helps us connect with the world around us.

Like gardeners, writers too enjoy those moments of contemplation and often have an appreciation of the small miracles of nature. Perhaps that’s why gardening and writing go hand in hand. At least, they do in Anne McGouran’s Planted by the Mind. 

In her story, she explores the connection between gardening and creativity. Meanwhile, Diana Wells takes gardening history literally, looking back as far as 1597 to explore humanity’s longstanding love of the garden. A Garden of Miracles Celebrated is full of wonderful thoughts about art, science, and gardening through the centuries. But the quote I think I like the most comes from Diana herself: “How lucky we gardeners are, especially in Springtime, to be able to concentrate on miracles.”

Then there are daffodils, that ubiquitous early sign of Spring. But daffodils might not be what they seem, at least in A Surprising Daffodil Gardening History. It turns out, not all gardeners appreciate these golden yellow signs of Spring. But I don’t want to give away the secret here. Be sure to read the story!

Get more stories about gardening history below

Feel free to stay a while and enjoy all the gardening history we have to share below. And be sure to check out our Gardening History Collection while you’re here, which features a hand-picked selection of our favorite history lessons from this category.