First, this bread was INCREDIBLE! I had bought culinary lavender to cook with a few months ago. Today was the perfect time to cook with it (apparently, from what I have read, it is best to cook with culinary lavender and not stuff from your yard – ornamental lavender). What makes this bread even better is warming it up and eating it with vanilla ice cream. The recipe was a great one that can be adapted to your tastes and preferences. Here is the recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/53172/lavender-tea-bread/ I chose this herb bread since the focus of the book is the use of botany in medicinal science. Now for the book… this book was suggested to me by a friend. I bought it last year but just now read it. I LOVED this book. It was fascinating in so many ways. First, if you love early American history, you will love to read this book. The book is about Dr. David Hosack and America’s first botanical garden – Elgin Garden. He was the doctor that was at the Hamilton and Burr duel. He was friends with both, always saying that science and politics should never mix. The book moves through the presidencies of Washington to John Quincy Adams. You don’t learn all the history during this time but how Hosack became a doctor and beloved botanist during this time. For example, you read through the War of 1812 but not the historical events as much as how the trade embargoes hurt Hosack in getting seeds and plants from overseas. Also, you read about the Lewis and Clark expedition’s connection to Hosack. Second, if you love NYC, you may like this book. Towards the middle of the book to the end, you begin to see NYC transform to what it is today. I remember going on a food tour in NYC and the tour guide talked to us about how the hills were leveled to create the streets and avenues we see today. This book walks you through that and how it impacted the Elgin Botanic Garden, which, by the way, is where Rockefeller Center is today. Radio City Music Hall is even built on former lands of this garden. When I travel, I love learning the history of cities and understanding the layout (maybe a little OCD about that part). Third, one of Hosack’s last homes (country estates) is now the Vanderbuilt Mansion in Hyde Park. Although the original house burned, the grounds is still home to some of Hosack’s plants and trees, one of the oldest collections in the country. Fourth, you learn how certain plants got their names. Hosack’s most treasured plant he loved was the camellia japonica he received from Japan. I think we all can say we love our camillas!!!! One was even named after him- camellia hosackia. Last, we go to national science museums and botanical gardens and never consider how these places came to be. This book walks you through the agony of establishing these intellectual centers (even how Smithsonian Institutes came about). Although Dr. Hosack failed in his botanical garden endeavor (not by his doing), his legacy lives on. I love going to Mount Vernon, Monticello, and other historical places and seeing their gardens. This book helps you see how important botany and gardens were back then. I could say so much about this book but don’t have time…I love gardens and plants and history which may be why I liked this book so much. And I sort of want to teach Botany now but read I would have to pass the Biology Praxis and that ain’t happening…so…in the mean time, happy planting! 🌸 🌹💐
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