Today we celebrate an old poet who loved gardens, We'll also learn about an inventor and architect who created a large machine to help move established trees during the establishment of Prospect Park. We hear a delightful excerpt about a purée of spring vegetables. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a beautiful set of Paper Flower Cards - a little stationery set for the gardener today. And then, we’ll wrap things up with a British philosopher, mathematician, and author who won the 1950 Nobel Prize for literature. He spent a great deal of time studying happiness, and no surprise - he found it in a garden.   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 Gardening 101: Solomon’s Seal | Gardenista | Marie Viljoen   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 May 18, 1048 Today is the birthday of the Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet Omar Khayyam (“Ky-yem”). In 1859, the British writer Edward FitzGerald translated and published Omar’s signature work, The Rubáiyát (“Rue-By-yat”). In The Rubáiyát, Omar wrote some beautiful garden verses: I sometimes think that never blooms so red The rose that grows where some once buried Caesar bled And that every hyacinth the garden grows dropped in her lap from Some once lovely head. Today in Iran, tourists can visit the beautiful mausoleum of Omar Khayyam and the surrounding gardens. And gardeners in zones 4-9 can grow a pretty pink damask rose named Rosa 'Omar Khayyam.' Over on the Missouri Botanical Garden website, they report that, “'Omar Khayyam' ... is reputed to have grown on the tomb of Omar Khayyam in Persia, [and] was brought to England by William Simpson, an Illustrated London News artist, and in 1893 was planted on the grave of Edward Fitzgerald, who translated the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam into English. According to the Modern Roses 12 database of the American Rose Society, it was registered in 1894. It is a small, dense shrub with grayish-green, downy foliage and numerous prickles. Its clear pink, double flowers are 2 in. wide with a small center eye and 26 to 40 petals. Blooming once per season in late spring to early summer, the flowers are moderately fragrant and in groups of 3 to 4. 'Omar Khayyam' grows 2 to 3 ft. tall and wide.”   May 18, 1839 Today is the birthday of the American civil engineer, landscape architect, inventor, and plantsman John Yapp Culyer. John was commissioned to work on parks in major cities across America - like Chicago and Pittsburgh. He was the Chief Landscape Engineer of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, which opened to the public in 1867. During his time at Prospect Park, John invented a machine to help relocate large trees. His impressive tree-movers (he had two of them built) moved established trees and placed large specimen trees from nurseries. In February 1870, the Brooklyn Eagle reported that John’s tree-moving machines had relocated 600 trees - a feat