I had to chuckle the other day as I was putting together my fall containers. The first thing I do when I transition from one season to another, is determine which plants are salvageable - the ones that have enough gas to go another season. One of my pots ended up being a bit of a hodgepodge. I call it my "Must Go" Container in honor of my husband's Great Aunt Lena.  Here's the backstory: Great Aunt Lena would babysit my husband and his siblings when they were little. She was helping out my in-laws while they were both at work and she was famous for making a casserole at the end of the week she called "Must Go" hotdish.  Phil's dad used to tell how one particular Must Go hotdish was extra memorable because when he was dishing himself up a plate, he pulled out an intact piece of pizza out of the depths of this hotdish; which no doubt was combined with a can of cream of mushroom soup.   In any case, my "Must Go" container ended up being a bit of an homage to Great Aunt Lena; individually, the plants looked fine. But, put together, the effect was jumbled - a "Must Go" container if ever there was one. I'll have to redo it this weekend.     Brevities #OTD  Today is the birthday of the English gardener, designer, and nurseryman Henry Wise who was born on this day in 1653. One can't mention Henry Wise without talking about George London. The two worked together on gardens throughout England. The partnership began when Wise was a student of London.  When Wise came of age, he became London's partner at the Brompton Park nurseries. Wise was one of the greatest gardeners and plantsmen of his time. Together, he and London became THE designers to work for over two decades until London died in 1714.  Wise is remembered for being the gardener for Queen Anne, although he also managed the royal gardens during the reigns of William III and George I as well. London and Wise designed formal baroque gardens. Think - box hedges, gravel walk ways, beautiful statuary and magnificent fountains. Wise laid out the stunning avenue of Chestnut trees in England's Bushy Park as well as the walled kitchen garden made for the Duke of Marlborough in Blenheim which thrills visitors still today.     #OTD   Today is the birthday of the Arnold Arboretum taxonomist and dendrologist Alfred Rehder who was born on this day in 1863.  A dendrologist studies trees and Rehder was the top dendrologist of his generation. Rehder learned about horticulture from his father who was an amateur gardener.  He worked at a number of botanical gardens around Germany.  At the turn of the 20th century, Rehder was sent to the US to study American grapes - which were resistant to phylloxera - the disease that was caused by aphids and that was threatening to obliterate wine production in Europe. There was no better place for Rehder to conduct his research than Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. It was a fortuitous assignment for Rehder who ended up meeting the director of the Arboretum - Charles Sprague Sargent. Sargent recognized Rehder's intelligence and diligence. He persuaded him to stay on and gave him the tremendous assignment of compiling a bibliography of everything written about woody plants published before 1900.  It resulted in a five-volume, 3,789-page work.  Rehder accomplished much during his time at Harvard. He launched a quarterly botanical publication known as the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum and he came up with a system to identify geographic zones based on the relationship between temperature and the hardiness of specific plants. Rehder's work helped establish what we know as the USDA Hardiness zone maps.       #OTD   Today is the birthday of Canada’s first professional woman plant breeder - a woman called the “dean of hybridists” and the “Grand Lady of Canadian Horticulture" - Isabella Preston, who was born on this day in 1881. Vita Sackville-West once acknowledged, "I must confess I don't know anything about Miss Isabella Prestonof Ottawa. . ." Preston's n