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The Gardeners Who Planted for US Presidents - Prescott eNews

Duke of Atholl, near Dunkeld. In 1856 McKerichar was hired as a foreman under John Watt, taking on the role of head gardener nine years later. Known for his hothouse grapes, he also raised off-season Caledonian cucumbers for President Grant. Like the gardeners before him, he resigned from the White House to open a garden center in Alexandria, Virginia.George Field (Served 1875–1877, under Ulysses Grant.) The first English gardener at the White House, Field's floral fame came after he left the White House. He opened a garden center on Georgia Avenue NW with his brother Thomas. Field was responsible for naming and promoting the 'American Beauty' rose, originally selected on historian George Bancroft's estate as 'La Madame Ferdinande Jamin.' Field supplied the cattleya orchids for Alice Roosevelt Longworth's bridal bouquet in 1906. The Washington Post described him as an orchid specialist. He was an active member of the Florist Club of Washington. In 1916, he sold his stock of orchid plants for $15,000.Henry Pfister (Served 1877–1902, under Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt.) A native of Zurich, Switzerland, Pfister trained in the conservatories of a Swiss banker and at the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. He made his way to Cincinnati and then to Washington, where he was hired under Hayes. Pfister managed the greenhouses, designed and planted the ornamental beds around the White House lawns, and provided all indoor floral and plant decorations, including the wedding of Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom. He later opened his own florist and landscape design business on Connecticut Avenue.George Hay Brown (Served 1902–1909, under Theodore Roosevelt.) The son of a landscape gardener in Perthshire, Scotland, where he learned the family trade. In 1850, the family immigrated to the United States. In 1858, Brown took a job in Washington D.C. at the government experimental gardens. During the Civil War, he served with the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. By 1890 he was back in Washington D.C. as a public gardener with the War Department. Brown worked on the Capitol grounds, city parks, and the government propagating gardens and greenhouses near the Washington Monument, as well as the White House. He taught Theodore Roosevelt's children how to propagate plants in his greenhouses.Charles Henlock (Served 1909–1931, under William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.) A Yorkshireman, and proud of his horticultural training, having worked for Lord Mowbray in Yorkshire, Lord Denbigh in Warwickshire, and Lord Harrington in Derbyshire before spending five years with the Royal Horticultural Society. Henlock arrived in Washington D.C. just before President Cleveland's wedding in 1886 and was hired as a foreman gardener at the White House, and grew to the propagating gardens and city parks. Henlock was the White House head gardener in 1909, where he was responsible for the first shipment of cherry trees sent from Japan as well as the successful plantings around the Tidal Basin.William Saunders Reeves (Served 1931–1945, under Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt. William Saunders Reeves was the first American-born White House head gardener.) His grandfather, William Saunders, was the chief of experimental gardens for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and founder of the National Grange but is perhaps best remembered for introducing the navel orange. Reeves worked under both Roosevelt's, starting as a groundskeeper at the White House during... https://www.prescottenews.com/index.php/features/columnists/mountain-gardener/item/34856-the-gardeners-who-planted-for-u-s-presidents

Revealed: The First Flower, 140-million Years Old, Looked Like a Magnolia - Scientific American

Previous evidence pointed to different answers. On the one hand, one of the earliest diverging lineages of flowering plants, represented nowadays only by a rare shrub from the Pacific island of New Caledonia called Amborella, has flowers that are either male or female. On the other, most modern species combine both sexes in the same flower.The authors of the study settle the question and show that the ancestral flower was a hermaphrodite. This means that early flowering plants could reproduce both as a male and a female. Combined sexes can be advantageous when colonising new environments as a single individual can be its own mate, and indeed many plant species colonising remote oceanic islands tend to be hermaphrodite. Maybe the combination of sexes helped early flowering plants to outcompete their rivals.The devil’s in the detailDespite the apparent similarity with some modern flowers, their ultimate ancestor has a few surprises up its sleeve. For example, botanist have long thought that early flowers had floral parts arranged in a spiral around the centre of the flower as can be seen in modern species such as the star anise.The new reconstruction, though, strongly suggests that early flowers had their organs arranged not in a spiral, but in series of concentric circles or “whorls”, as in most modern plants. The early flower had more numerous whorls, however, suggesting flowers have become simpler over time. Paradoxically, this simpler architecture may have given modern plants a more stable base upon which to evolve and achieve more complex tasks such as sophisticated interaction with certain insects as in orchids, or the production of “flower heads” made of dozens or hundreds of simpler flowers as in the sunflower family.Although now we have a good idea of what one of the earliest flowers may have looked like, we still know little about how that flower came to be. The detailed steps leading to its evolution are unknown. Perhaps we will have to wait for the discovery of new fossil flowers spanning the gap around 250m-140m years ago, before we can understand the very origin of what is the most diverse sexual structure on the planet.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Caledonia florist Mary Ann Schmitz is ready to retire after 65 years - La Crosse Tribune

CALEDONIA, Minn. – At age 87 and after more than six decades in business, Mary Ann Schmitz is finally ready to retire and sell Mary Ann’s Floral & Gift in downtown Caledonia to her great-niece.Schmitz is selling the business and building to Aimee Welscher as of Jan. 1. She will help Welscher until she retires April 2 – exactly 65 years after she and her late husband opened the shop.“Willie and I started the business on April 2, 1952,” said Schmitz, who was parade marshal for the local Founder’s Day Winter Wonderland parade earlier this month (on Dec. 2).Willie died in 1994.Mary Ann’s Floral was in two other Caledonia locations before the Schmitzes bought the house at 308 E. Main St. where the shop has been since 1955. It’s also the home where they raised their children, Ken, Steve, Bill and Debbie.Schmitz said she is retiring for health reasons, and expects to miss operating the floral and gift shop. She plans to continue enjoying playing cards.“I love it,” Schmitz said of being in... http://lacrossetribune.com/business/local/caledonia-florist-mary-ann-schmitz-is-ready-to-retire-after/article_8b06e1cf-2fa6-5dc1-832e-744d35eeb25c.html

Best Flower Shop: Julie's Personal Touch Flowers - Journal Times

First place: Julie's Personal Touch Flowers, 5445 Spring St., Mount Pleasant; and 4060 N. Main St., CaledoniaSecond place: Millers Flowers,  219 Sixth St, RacineThird place: Milaeger's, 4838 Douglas Ave., Racine; and 8717 Durand Ave., SturtevantSpring is in the air year-round at Julie's Personal Touch Flowers as flowers and vibrant colors fill the shop.Julie Mohrbacher opened the shop in her basement in 1971. Demand for her work grew quickly. She started doing funerals as well and opened a brick-and-mortar location in 1977.Years of experience and honest service is what Mohrbacher believes makes them the number one flower shop in Racine County.“Originally I only did weddings," Mohrbacher said. "Mothers started calling and thought of me as their florist so I expanded."Her two daughters, Melissa Mohrbacher and Jamie Doe, manage the stores with her — Jamie at the Spring Street location and Melissa at the Main Street location.The locations offer green plants, blooming plants, arrangements, and fresh flowers among its products."We get flowers from all over the world," Doe said. "We get flo... http://journaltimes.com/best-flower-shop-julie-s-personal-touch-flowers/article_f8a5c3ed-cf6b-5f20-8e82-36041e2806d0.html

Getting a green thumb — tips for beautiful plants - WOODTV.com

Harder and Warner gave us some tips.Tip #1 – pruningTip #2 – waterTip #3 – fertilizeHarder and Warner is located at 6464 Broadmoor AveCaledonia(616) 698-6910Share this:AdvertisementWOOD TV8 provides commenting to allow for constructive discussion on the stories we cover. In order to comment here, you acknowledge you have read and agreed to our Terms of Service. Commenters who violate these terms, including use of vulgar language or racial slurs, will be banned. Please be respectful of the opinions of others. If you see an inappropriate comment, please flag it for our moderators to review. http://woodtv.com/2015/07/23/getting-a-green-thumb-tips-for-beautiful-plants/

Philly florists bring beauty back to voting with public installations across the region - The Philadelphia Inquirer

What they do have are flowers — a lot of them. So to highlight the beauty of voting and nip the negativity in the bud, they’ve teamed up with 15 other florists across the Philadelphia region, New York, and New Jersey for United by Blooms, a nonpartisan outdoor floral installation event from Oct. 14-16 aimed at promoting voting. “By incorporating it with flowers, we bring back a positive connotation to the actual process of voting,” Lam said. #right-rail .newsletter-card,.newsletter-card.hidden-desktop{display:none} Inquirer Morning Newsletter Get the news you need to start your day United by Blooms is the brainchild of farmer-florist Kate Carpenter, co-owner of EMA (East Mount Airy) Blooms. Participating florists and growers, who donated their time and flowers to the project, were asked to provide a positive public experience while raising awareness about voting. Designers were encouraged to put their installations near mailboxes or ballot drop boxes (but not on them), to highlight voting by mail and the necessity of the U.S. Postal Service, which has faced its share of heavy criticism this year, too. “It’s an opportunity to thank the postal workers, who are essential workers, and to get the community engaged about participating in our democracy,” said Carpenter, 35. “Plus, it gives growers and designers the chance to take their talents to the streets of Philadelphia and give people something to enjoy right now.” Carpenter’s design, which she created with her business partner, Courtney Jewell, was inspired, in part, by the rainbows that people placed in their windows for children’s scavenger hunts during the height of quarantine. Several rainbow-colored chalk paths lead to the installation at Green Street and Carpenter Lane in Mount Airy, where flowers crawl up a stop sign and flow out from underneath the mailbox nearby. A QR code at the site takes visitors to a map with the locations of the oth... https://www.inquirer.com/news/united-by-blooms-art-flowers-philadelphia-voting-20201015.html

New York City's ‘Flower Flash’ Florist Designs a Display for Ralph Lauren - Architectural Digest

The whole idea of the flower flash is to give back, to give joy,” explains Lewis, who has created eye-popping arrangements for New York’s most revered cultural institutions (including MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, and the Whitney) as well as a who’s who of fashion and media brands (Vogue, HBO, and Netflix). “We live in a crazy world and we’re a little bit starved for joy—if we can have a feel-good moment, that’s really important right now.”On October 23, his second installation will bloom outside Macy’s Herald Square. And in an engaging twist, the art is meant to be touched. Shoppers will be encouraged to pluck flowers to take home, part of an effort to spread love (and the #pinkpony hashtag) around the city.“It’s a gift to New York—take a picture or take a blossom,” Lewis says, emphasizing that the temporary nature of his flashes is what makes them so powerful: “You go from this larger-than-life still life to a scattering of leaves on the ground—that’s the life it was meant to live. There’s a strange beauty in the disarray as well.”Another Miller creation outside of a subw... https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/ralph-lauren-flower-flash

The Best Gift for a Flower Lover Is Moda Operandi's Flash Flower Box - TownandCountrymag.com

Moda Operandi Co-Founder Lauren Santo Domingo and Lewis Miller, florist extraordinaire and the man behind the exuberant flower arrangements that have shown up around New York City, bursting out of trash cans and perched next to subway entrances. Each box—there are two you can choose from, Country Wildflower, or Beach Bloom—contains enough blooms for several generous arrangements. They're also accompanied by a series of breezy instructional videos starring Miller himself, explaining how to trim, hydrate, and arrange your flowers.The gift here is not just the gorgeous blossoms but the chance to spend an hour arranging them. My box arrived, neatly packed with 15 creamy white peonies, 10 stems of upright bouvardia, 10 stems of soulful, green helleborus, and 20 stems of cheerful white spray roses. I arrayed my collection of vases, pulled out my clippers, and for a brief moment in time I thought about nothing more than color, proportion, and the balance of green and white. It was a tonic. Here's a sampling of my handiwork: Elizabeth Angell(My only complaint is that I do not own a lazy susan for properly positioning my vase as I work to fill it. I may have to upgrade my set up for future floral-arranging sessions.)The incredible arrangements are available for one more week; a Standard Box is $265 and a Delux is $425. Even better, Moda Operandi will donate $15 from the sale of each Standard Box and $25 from each Deluxe Box to The Loveland Foundation, in support of its mission to bring opportunity and mental health services to Black women, girls, and communities of color. div clas... https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/home-decor/a32910308/moda-operandi-lewis-miller-flash-flower-box/

A Floral Designer Who Forages in the Hills of Malibu - The New York Times

Indeed, Moreno-Bunge is part of a new wave of designers — among them the Berlin-based studio Mary Lennox and the New York-based Joshua Werber — for whom the term florist seems too narrow a definition; they’re artists who not only confirm the obvious appeal of blooms but also reveal the magnificence of their landscapes’ less flamboyant elements: leaves, vegetables, seedpods, weeds and humble grasses.The florist creates a wild, sculptural arrangement of plants including golden rain tree, oats, artichoke flowers and green persimmons.CreditCredit...Scott J. RossThis approach has made Isa Isa — Moreno-Bunge’s five-year-old floral design business, which creates effervescent, naturalistic arrangements and installations — the studio of choice for many of L.A.’s most interesting brands. Visitors to the Chinatown store of the clothing label Eckhaus Latta in 2018 might have noticed a single, ethereal white Iceland poppy emerging from a dense green cluster of beadlike dates, slatted areca palm leaves and the drooping, fist-size fruit of the silk floss tree, arranged by Moreno-Bunge in a pitcher on a table of accessories. More recently, she displayed three green tromboncino squash, coiled like snakes, alongside bouquets of black tomatoes, olive branches and unripened persimmons and lemons, at the women’s clothing boutique Shaina Mote in Highland Park. And Isa Isa’s florals add depth to every console and corner o... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/t-magazine/sophia-moreno-bunge-floral-design.html