Today we celebrate a botanist who gave Meriwether Lewis a crash course in botany. We'll also learn about a poet who wrote some touching poems that incorporated the natural world. We hear some words about getting the garden ready for growing - straightforward advice on getting started. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about a garden style that’s never gone out of style: cottage gardening. And then we’ll wrap things up with a pioneer naturalist who wrote books that became a beloved part of many modern childhoods.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Curated News New Owners Of Barton Springs Nursery Plan To Add Learning, Community Spaces And Inspire Local Gardeners | Digging | Pam Penick   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events February 10, 1766 Today is the birthday of the American botanist, naturalist, and physician Benjamin Smith Barton. Benjamin worked as a Professor of Natural History and Botany at the University of Pennsylvania, where he authored the very first textbook on American Botany. In 1803, at Thomas Jefferson's request, Benjamin was tutoring Meriwether Lewis to get him ready for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Now Meriwether had many strengths, but he had little knowledge of natural history or plants. Thanks to Benjamin's tutelage, Meriwether was an awesome specimen collector on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After the Expedition, Benjamin was supposed to create a book describing all of the plant specimens found on their great voyage. But, for some reason, he never began writing. Instead, the job ultimately fell to Benjamin's assistant, Frederick Pursh. And when Frederick ended up having a falling out with Benjamin, he secretly took the specimens and fled to England. Once there, Frederick found a patron and published his Flora of North America in two years' time — much to the embarrassment of Benjamin Smith Barton and all American botanists. And, there's an incredible story that came out two years ago, in February, regarding Benjamin. The story featured a little yellow butterfly that was found pressed between the pages of one of Benjamin's manuscripts from 1812 - his Flora Virginica. And it turns out that a delicate, tiny, yellow-winged butterfly was discovered by a library fellow named E. Bennett Jones at the American Philosophical Society as he was looking through the book. Well, naturally, this caused a stir, and butterfly experts were called in to examine the specimen, and they believed that it was placed deliberately since the butterfly was found on the pages listed "Plants beloved by Pollinators - such as Monarda."  After this incredible discovery, the Barton Butterfly, as it came to be called, was carefully removed and preserved in a suspended container. And there was a final touching detail to this story: the butterfly left an indelible mark on the manuscript. Even with the specimen now safely preserve