Have you ever used a knife as a garden tool?   Serrated knives are my favorite.   The word serrated has latin origins meaning “saw shaped”; think of the serrated edges of Maple leaves.   If you are a thrift shopper, at Goodwill, they keep most of the donated knifes in a case at the front of the store. You can just ask to see if they have any serrated knives - they are so handy in the garden for weeding and working with difficult spaces like between pavers or even just wearing out the root systems of weeds through continuous chopping above ground.       Brevities #OTD  Today is National Pick Strawberries Day Last year, instead of annual hanging baskets, I installed hanging strawberry baskets over my herb garden. They turned out great and it was fun to harvest (and eat) strawberries as I worked in the garden.  There is undeniably something extra special about the taste of a sun-warmed strawberry picked straight off of the vine.  Between me and my student gardeners, there weren't many strawberries left to bring in the house.  Still, it was a fun alternative to an annual basket and I think I'll do it again this year. Strawberries are members of the rose family and they are unique in that their seeds are on the outside of the fruit.    In the late 18th century, the first strawberries were grown in France. It's sweet to read early newspaper accounts of strawberries during the 1800s.  In 1843 the New York daily Herald announced that the first strawberries went to Pattinson's on the corner of Ann and Nausau,  and they reported that they were as red as the last day. It also noted that strawberries were selling in Baltimore at $.03-$.06 a quart for the best; While green peas were abundant - selling for two shillings a peck. Twenty years later, the first strawberries were announced in this adorable newspaper account out of Columbus Ohio - from the Daily Ohio Statesman, on May 27, 1864. Here's what it said: "The first strawberries of the season were visible to the naked eye and Charlie Wagner's show window yesterday– a window, by the way, in which everything new in the fruit line is always first seen in Columbus." Finally, news of the first strawberries of the season were shared with excitement in the 1800s and the early part of the 1900s. In an article in The Woodstock Mercuryout of Woodstock ,Vermont on July 27, 1854, strawberries made the list of a notable firsts that bring joy to life: "First things are good or bad, as it may happen or as you take them. The first shad or the sleighing, the first strawberries or first child, the first kiss of love or first pair of whiskers, these may be ranged among the primordial delights."       #OTD On this day in 1902, America lost one of its most prominent horticulturalists – Horatio Hollis Hunnewell.   Hunnewell was staggeringly wealthy. He was a railroad financier.  But he also had a lifelong love of nature and gardening.   When Hunnewell purchased over 40 acres of land along the eastern and southern shores of Lake Waban ("Wah-bin"), he built a magnificent estate there. He had married Isabella Pratt Wells and he decided to call his impressive home Wellesley in honor of his wife's maiden name Wells.  When it came time for the nearby town and college to settle on a name, they also selected the name Wellesley after conferring with Hunnewell who was the most generous benefactor of the town.   The Hunnewell estate was so large, that when the Hunnewell children grew up, seven of the nine had homes built on the property - right next to their parents original home.  Aside from the impressive homes, Hunnewell added many magnificent features to the estate including a pinetum with over 325 specimen to conifers.   Hollis Honeywell made the following remark in 1899 In reference to his trees,"No Vanderbilt, with all his great wealth, can possess one of these for the next 50 years, for could not be grown in less time than that."   And, Hunnewell also installed the very first topiary Garden in America at Wel