US Botanic Garden Controversy

In the novel, The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan tells the intriguing story of how plants are domesticated from the perspective of the plant with regards to four specific plants.. The four plants he chose for discussion are the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. As he discusses the domestication of these plants, his overall focus is the desire that each of these plants have to us as humans. Pollan has written books and magazine articles among other pieces of literature that discuss the relationship between plants and humans. Throughout this informational text, Pollan tries to keep the perspective from the “plant’s-eye view of the world,” but he often slips into Pollan’s eye view of the world. As he talks about experiences that he has had with each of these plants and gives a little bit of their history, it was often hard to stay focused on the topic that he was trying to convey. However, I found that the perspectives that Pollan brings up are interesting to think about. The Botany of Desire was an interesting journal type informational novel that didn’t quite live up to my expectations of what it could have been.

One might ask how the scientific facts of the functional purpose of a plant would connect to a literary piece, especially the well-known play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry. The plant in the text symbolizes the foundation for the family, honest hope, and Mama's dreams. Symbolism is not a definition of an item, but represents something specific other than itself. Much like Mama's plant, it represents many meaningful ideas with supportive evidence throughout the text. The plant standing alone may seem like a generic addition to the setting of the Younger household, but when it is observed in a deeper analytical approach; the symbolism of it in itself holds such

Because flowers go in cycles of life and death, we can look to them as archetypes. The cycle is really closely related to the circle which is a very prominent archetype in the world today and the past. The other thing I think of when I hear the word flowers is gardens. When I looked for the garden archetype I found that gardens symbolize love and fertility (YourDictionary 2). Flowers and gardens also have many symbols associated with them depending on who you ask.

“ There are your radish seeds everyone.” Said Mr. Susick. The whole class looked around at each other with a blank confused face. It was the first day of junior year in my English class. Mr. Susick started talking about how our first assignment would be to grow radishes. We were all thinking, how in the world does gardening relate to English class. I had heard about this project from previous juniors but none of them said what the real reason was. All Mr. Susick said was that you need to let the project teach itself and get into nature. He left us with one bit of information along with the requirements to start. The main goal of the assignment was to extract your own universal truths. For the first time in English class,

Featured are four of China’s most auspicious and culturally significant plants: rhododendrons, camellias, peonies and magnolias. These will be displayed as prize-winning cuts and talked about by several master gardeners during the Plant Talk Series.

Lewis and Clarke are rewarded for their adventure westward. While in the west, Lewis and Clarke found plants that had never been seen before. The plants excited the members of the American Philosophical Society. At the time of 1806,Americans cannot change the way plants grow.

science, made discoveries with regards to the life of agriculture, or just plants in general. The

The expedition was a strong incentive for furthering education in botanical science about the west because of information discovered about unknown plants and uses in

What was most fascinating, his profound love for his country deeply rooted in his passion for nature of agriculture and gardens? As Wulf displays, He used words like trees and plants as metaphors to describe the struggle for independence. America had just declared their independence with Washington as commander and chief, he was poor equipped and bracing himself for the first and major war for liberty, one would think his mind was constantly on strategy but often his minds drifts of to his garden. He even recommended that his troops make Rigid gardens so they can produce vegetables for the nation. Washington saw the future of America as a country of people and not by soldiers, but by farmers an, “agrarian society that would be industrious, happy and independent” 1. As Wulf explains for Washington trees were a glorious expression of American beauty and political trop. Since the first settles had arrived in 1607 in Virginia they desperately tried to recreate the gardens and homes they left behind in Britain. Washington Felt strongly about cutting all ties and memories of the old mother land. He wanted a new culture, landscape filled with only American plants. He wanted nothing to do with Britain’s plants poisoning the

“America’s Father of Modern Horticulture,” also known as Liberty Hyde Bailey, a jack of all trades and a significantly influential botanist within the horticulture community, lives on in spirit even today (Gasser 2014). His nickname says it all, from his dedication in studying cultivated plants, to his many published volumes and papers about his findings, his research continues to make an impact on horticulture. Bailey began building his background with cultivated plants as a young child on a fruit orchard in South Haven, Michigan (Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum 2017). These early years shaped his views and desires for later dates to come, specifically regarding his college education and research that followed. Although, the vast majority of people did not find the topics within horticulture interesting or something of importance to investigate, Bailey took the world by surprise and found himself with a completely incongruous mindset.

Visually flowers are beautiful plants created by nature. Unless one is a gardener or a farmer, one may forget how much flowers undergo to maintain their beauty. Nor do people ponder on the life cycle of plants. It then takes a strong flower to withstand such environmental and physical change. But the support of its roots, photosynthesis, and possibly the help of a gardener or farmer allow the flower to sustain life. In Sapphire’s Push, Claireece “Precious” Jones was a sixteen-year- old mother and daughter who experienced numerous obstacles such as physical, sexual, mental, verbal, emotional, and socioeconomic abuse in the projects of Harlem, New York. Once Precious received the opportunity of attending an alternative school, her teacher, Blu

Botanicals are an appealing way to introduce science to children while pleasing and engaging the senses. At all ages, it is important to orientate children towards native plants and wildlife. Learning about the importance, function, and preservation of native species not only teaches science concepts, but also encourages environmental stewardship. The Botanical Gardens walking and hiking trails are an opportunity to exercise while studying diverse flora and fauna. In addition to nature education opprotunities, Chicago Botanical Gardens has model train exhibit.

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollen uses examples of four plants including the apple ,tulip, marijuana, and the potato, to describe evolution and how mankind works to help plants reproduce. We are a slave to things of sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control. These four things are described by the different plant chapters in the book. We as people are driven to these kind of things because of the product we get, we subconsciously are working to make these plants more fit and therefore helping in their reproduction and evolution. With each plant chapter Pollen goes into depth about its contribution to the world and history behind the plant within human evolution. By using the examples he provides in the book helps demonstrate the ideas of how these plants contribute to the human body systems, evolution and ecology. To further explain these topics I chose to explore the apple, tulip and cannabis plants.

5) The federal government also runs the U.S Botanical Gardens, a plant museum the exist for the purpose of informing visitors about the important roles plants play in our ecosystem.

Central Idea: Flower is important in life as it helps in enormous symbolism, natural remedies for depression and are an integral part of many of life’s ceremonies.