Born on May 30th:

Alfred Austin, b. 1835. British Poet Laureate after the death of Sir Alfred, Lord Tennyson, a hard act to follow. Austin’s poetry is not highly regarded, but he did write a couple of books extolling the virtues of gardens and gardening, The Garden That I Love and In Veronica’s Garden. I wouldn’t mind taking a look at these, even though I’m a terrible gardener. (I have a small garden with five tomato plants. One of my tomato plants has three tomatoes. The rest have none . . . yet?)

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.

There is no gardening without humility. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder.

Katrina Trask, aka Kate Nichols Trask, b.1853. The following poem was written by a woman, Kate Trask, who had all four of her children die in their childhood or infancy. And then her house in Saratoga Springs, which was to be her and her husband’s legacy to the artists and writers of the world, burned to the ground. But she and her husband, businessman Spencer Trask, rebuilt the house and its gardens and made it a retreat for artists. I don’t know if the poem, Consolation, was written before or after she endured all this tragedy, but either way it is a striking commentary on her life and work.

Lie down and sleep,
Leave it to God to keep
The sorrow, which is part
Now of thy heart.

When thou dost wake,
If still ’tis thine to take,
Utter no wild complaint,
Work waits thy hands.
If thous shouldest faint,
God understands.

Gladys Conklin, b.1903 She wrote 25 children’s books about insects and other nature topics, and she was also a children’s librarian in California. There’s a very sad story about her disappearance (or death) in 1982. I have three of Ms. Conklin’s books in my library: When Insects Are Babies, How Insects Grow, and The Bug Club Book: A Handbook for Young Bug Collectors.

Millicent Selsam, b.1912. Ms. Selsam also wrote numerous children’s books, more than a hundred, about animals, insects, plants, and other nature topics. She taught biology in high school and at Brooklyn College. I have many of Ms. Selsam’s books in my library, including Terry and the Caterpillars, Plenty of Fish, Tony’s Birds, Seeds and More Seeds, Tree Flowers, A First Look at Leaves, Peanut, and many more. I would be quite happy to have all 100+ of her books because she writes with engaging text in a way that is simple and direct but also richly informative.