Today we celebrate a botanical illustrator who is remembered as one of the greats from the 17th century. We'll also learn about a woman who battled the Prickly Pear Cactus - not an easy thing to do. We’ll hear an excerpt from an expert on growing giant hybrid delphinium - and why we really should think of these as annuals and not perennials. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about growing food in your own backyard. And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of a magnificent tree that met its demise on this day in 1992.   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 Plantswoman Sarah Raven reveals unconventional tip for growing herbs, and it doesn’t cost a penny | Ideal Home | Millie Hurst   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 forDaily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events March 11, 1775 Today is the birthday of French botanist and illustrator Pierre Jean François Turpin. Pierre learned botany from a friend, Pierre Antoine Poiteau, who was a botanist, gardener, and botanical artist. And though we know that he had some help learning botany from his friend Poiteau, Pierre actually taught himself to draw, and he was influenced by other great artists like Redouté. Today there are many examples of Pierre’s work in the Lindley Library. And history tells us that, altogether, Pierre created over 6,000 magnificent botanical watercolors. Furthermore, many experts regard Pierre’s fruit prints to be some of the finest ever produced. I ran across two fascinating stories about Pierre that I wanted to share with you today. First, Pierre created a fictional illustration of an archetypal plant. This isn't something that he just decided to do. Instead, he was commissioned by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe asked Pierre to demonstrate the diversity of angiosperms - no small task - and Pierre happily obliged. When Goethe first laid eyes on Pierre’s drawing of this composite plant, he named it the Urplant. And he wrote that, "The Urplant would be the most wondrous creation in the world, for which nature itself would envy me. With it, one could invent plants to infinity..."  I've shared his image of the Urplant inthe Facebook group for the show. So you can just head on over there, and it should be at the top of your feed for today. The second story that I wanted to share with you about Pierre is a little sadder but nonetheless touching. It turns out that Pierre also had a son named Pierre Jr., and no doubt. Pierre taught his son how to draw. But tragically, when he was just 18 years old, Pierre's son died, and the very last thing he drew was an Amaryllis. After his death, Pierre made sure to give him credit, and then he did something unusual for botanical illustrations: he made a little remark on his son's passing. And so the inscription under this amaryllis reads. This original illustration was painted by Pierre John Frederick Eugene Turpin. The illustrator, who was 18 years and s