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 1848Birth of Paul Gauguin(books about this person), one of the leading French painters of the Postimpression- ist period. Born in Paris, Paul Gauguin was a self-taught painter. He was also a rugged individualist, and his incredible talent helped introduce Primitivism to the art world. His best primitive work was created on his 1895 trip to Tahiti - a place he would spend the rest of his life. Flora and fauna of the landscape feature prominently in most of his Tahitian art. Paul was obsessed with art, and he once wrote, Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams. After Van Gogh rented a yellow house in Arles, he invited Gauguin to visit. In preparation for his stay, Van Gogh painted 'Poet's Garden' in the bedroom Gauguin was to stay in. The painting depicts the public garden across from the Yellow House. Van Gogh filled the rest of the house with paintings of sunflowers. When Gauguin arrived, he painted his friend, Van Gogh, painting sunflowers. For nine weeks, the two men painted, and when they weren't painting, they fought. In fact, during one of their final arguments, Gauguin was supposedly sliced off Van Gogh's ear with a sword. Paul was more diverse in terms of his subjects. He didn't exclusively paint florals. Once when he was in a creative lull, he wrote, When I am able to paint again, if I have no imagination, I shall do some studies of flowers . . . . It is a great pleasure for me. 1878On this day, Fisk Bangs wrote about his blooming White Mustard in the American Bee Journal Volume 14. It began to bloom about June 7th and lasted nearly eight months. The bees commenced work on the 11th. On the 19th, the bees were so thick that their hum sounded something like Prof. Cook's buzz-saw, lacking the screech. This is one of the best honey plants, and I think its bloom call be easily regulated... to have it come after Basswood. 1935Death of Ivan Michurin(books about this person), Russian botanist and plant breeder. A Russian horticulturist and a Master of selection, Ivan was an Honorable Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Throughout his life, Ivan created all sorts of fruit plants. He introduced over 300 new varieties and was often called the Russian Luther Burbank. Ivan started out working on the railroad. His job riding the rails allowed him to visit many famous gardens and nurseries across Russia. His informal nursery tour inspired Ivan to start a fruit tree nursery in 1888. Ivan was maniacally focused on improving fruit, and by doing so, he selected the best examples and used them to improve the next generation. And although Russian would not support his work, they made sure that Ivan could never leave the country. The last thing Russia wanted was for Ivan to bring his work to the United States, where many scientists recognized the value of Ivan's work early on. Although the 1917 October Revolution hurt many land owners and farmers forced to give up their land to Mother Russia, Lenin liked Ivan. With Nikolai Vavilov's encouragement, Ivan's work was protected as intellectual property of the Russian government. Today, Ivan's most famous creation is the Antonovka or 'The People's Apple.' It was Ivan Michurin who said, We cannot wait for gifts from Nature. To take them from her – that is our task. (Translation my own.) 2013On this day, Jane Green planted zucchini in her garden. Then, she wrote about her zucchini in a lovely little article calledConquering the Zucchini Beast. Here's an excerpt: Something's always happening in a garden Upon entering the garden {on the morning of the 4th of July], [my dog] Tootie and I found that our four zucchini plants were in full bloom, and lo and behold, one plant had already popped out a n...