Last Chance Today: [NOW] Gardening knowledge is gardening power!

Read this collection now to gain valuable gardening knowledge—and have fun! [GreenPrints]( February 23, 2023  [learn about all sorts of gardening matters—and with your knowledge comes the power to grow better & live better!]( When you read this GreenPrints Special Collection Gardening History: Entertaining stories that will boost your gardening knowledge, you get more than 30 informative and entertaining stories that will make you smarter about all sorts of gardening and nature issues. Start reading—and learning—from these insightful stories right now! Dear Gardener, You deserve to know as much as possible about gardening and nature facts. And all in the spirit of continuous improvement! When you read the special GreenPrints Collection [Gardening History: Entertaining stories that will boost your gardening knowledge]( today, you’ll learn new and interesting things that will boost your gardening knowledge and your skill. You’ve heard the old adage that “learning is eternal”—well, this Special Collection will help you continue to expand your own knowledge, no matter how long ago you finished school. [History Collection]( And with these stories, you don’t get dull and dry—you get interesting, fun, and revealing. When you grow your gardening knowledge: - You’ll be more than a trivia superstar when you share your new-found knowledge at your garden club, book club, or your next cocktail or dinner party. - You’ll impress your neighbors and gardening friends when you divulge fun facts you’ve learned from this collection. - You’ll apply your learnings to strategies and tactics about planning and managing your own garden and plants—for continuous improvement right in your own backyard! To give you a taste, here’s a story from the GreenPrints Collection [Gardening History: Entertaining stories that will boost your gardening knowledge]( entitled “And So to Bed”—you’re bound to learn something new when you read this! [And So to Bed]( The stories behind our—and our gardens’—beds. By Diana Wells [image] When after almost a year away, I climbed back into my own bed, I immediately felt a sense of homecoming. My bed was, in the words of Goldilocks, “just right.” We spend about a third of our lives in bed. We are (usually) born in bed and die in bed. No wonder that we love our beds. In the past, people would even leave their beds in their wills. Beds have not always been the sophisticated structures we know now. The earliest beds may have been hollows dug in the earth and filled with leaves. The early word bhedh means “a grave”—a place where the dead slept dug into the earth. Beds, as we now think of them, date back to four centuries before Christ—and were only for the rich and powerful (and often shared by several people). Others slept on pallets stuffed with straw. When Christ said, “Take up thy bed and walk,” it would have been a pallet or even a litter (the French word for bed is lit). The ancient Greeks believed that a bed should be smoothed out after the night—to prevent an enemy from stabbing the body’s imprint on the mattress. What about in the garden? True, flowerbeds are places where your plants are protected and seeds can cozily sleep until it is warm enough to wake. The term, however, most probably evolved from their shape, rather than the connotation of safety and warmth. Even ancient gardeners created separate spaces for growing flowers, sometimes outlining elaborate patterns, similar to embroideries. Christopher Marlowe described one such garden layout as looking like a “costly valence o’er a bed.” Before hardy annuals were abundant, the patterned spaces might be filled with grass or even colored glass or gravel. In the 19th century, an influx of bright tropical plants revolutionized flower beds. In Britain, “bedding out” became popular and dominated gardens for a century. This trend accelerated when, in 1847, the tax on glass was repealed and it became cheaper to build glass houses where tropical plants could be raised and protected until it was warm enough to plant them in outdoor beds. There they bloomed nonstop until the frost killed them (unless they could be dug up and brought inside). These new beds rivaled each other in intricacy and brilliance and were sometimes called “carpet beds” because the plants were of equal height and formed into complicated patterns such as clocks or coats of arms. One such garden in a house in Clapham was said to contain 60,000 plants, where “brilliance is combined with chasteness.” (One wonders about the latter!) We still use tropical plants in Summer beds, but, except in municipal parks or the like, we mostly don’t make elaborate patterns. These fell out of favor at the end of the 19th century when “wild gardens” became popular. The revolution against bedding out was said to have started when William Robinson, a young Irish gardener, allowed the furnace in his employer’s greenhouse to go out, then opened the windows and left—supposedly as a protest against what he called a “repulsively gaudy” garden system. He started a kind of gardening that restored “Nature’s ways of displaying the beauty of vegetation.” In time, these so-called “herbaceous” borders, a mix of shrubs and perennials, mostly replaced formal beds. We still have beds and often plant them with seeds of tender annuals to come up as the weather warms or with already flowering plants that fill nurseries in the Spring. Our flower beds are safe, warm enclosures packed with brightness—or so we hope. Tucked in my own bed, sipping a cup of early morning tea, was the moment I finally began to take in that I was really home. Things would never be the same again, but I was also coming back to my own sadly neglected garden. Yes, I would be planting flowers again, making a safe haven for them and, I hope, being rewarded with their brilliance. Being rewarded, maybe, after a bleak, bleak year, with perhaps a reason to hope again. ❖ Speaking of beds, Diana thought we would all enjoy this classic garden bed poem by A.A. Milne (from his 1924 poetry collection, When We Were Very Young). And you know what? I think she’s right! [Here it is](. Illustration by Blanche Derby What a fascinating account of the origin of “beds”—floral and otherwise! Who knew all these details! And the GreenPrints Collection [Gardening History: Entertaining stories that will boost your gardening knowledge]( has many more stories for you—more than 30 stories that deliver you historical facts and details that will inform and enlighten you. Including this featured story—“And So to Bed”—you get all 30+ stories in this GreenPrints Special Collection on gardening history and facts, including: [History TOC]( [History Collection]( And new stories are being added to this Special Collection all the time—you get access to all of them! Please read what some subscribers say about how GreenPrints helps and entertains them: “Fun and informational story.” —Tamara Swanson, El Cajon, CA “I laugh so hard tears stream down my face!” —Sierra Butler, Carmel, CA “I got the latest issue and it lifted my heart with much needed laughter! My husband just went under hospice care, and it is very trying on me. Thank you so much for coming through when I didn't realize I needed you!!” —Karen Tuffly, Kingston, OK “I love this little publication! It is so much more than just about gardening. It nourishes all our senses. Whatever the cost has to be, I will pay it! I don't want to be without GreenPrints.” —Sharon Park, Palo Cedro, CA The only way to get full access to the GreenPrints Collection [Gardening History: Entertaining stories that will boost your gardening knowledge]( 13 other Collections filled with stories about gardening humor, gardening science, healing gardens, mystical gardens, and even some audio collections for enjoyable listening—is to get [GreenPrints All-Access Membership]( with a whole year’s worth of stories in a full subscription to GreenPrints Magazine, both print and digital editions … and benefits galore for only $20 for an entire year! [$20 SPECIAL! 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[Claim Your $20 Membership Now!]( Summary of All-Access Membership Benefits 01 A full year of GreenPrints All-Access Membership, an exclusive club for those who want to enjoy the greatest gardening stories ever—save $40 off the annual cover price, a 67% discount! $60/year Now Only: $20/year! 02 1-year subscription to the GreenPrints Magazine, quarterly issues filled with humorous and heartwarming stories—in print, delivered directly to your door, and sent to you digitally as soon as issues are published! INCLUDED 03 Full and immediate access to the GreenPrints Digital Library—your membership includes access to the current digital magazine issue and back issues, a digital version of The Weeder’s Reader, plus the library is constantly growing with new content regularly added! INCLUDED 04 Instant and unlimited access to all GreenPrints Collections—curated and comprehensive collections of stories from the heart, organized around specific topics such as humor, joy, romance, mystical and healing gardens, and gardening mishaps. And audio collections for your listening enjoyment! INCLUDED 05 GreenPrints Insider — You get our exclusive email newsletter, for premium members only, to guide you through the GreenPrints Library by highlighting articles, magazine issues, story collections, and audio collections that you won't want to miss—delivered regularly to your email inbox! INCLUDED 06 FREE BONUS: The Weeder’s Reader—a compilation of the sixteen greatest stories ever published by GreenPrints. You get a FREE copy mailed to you, plus instant and unlimited access to the digital version in the library! FREE [Claim Your $20 Membership Now!]( Become a [GreenPrints All-Access Member]( today—while this special $20 offer lasts! Sincerely, [Bill Dugan] Bill Dugan Editor & Publisher GreenPrints P.S. Claim your benefits with a spot in [GreenPrints All-Access Membership]( today—only $20 for an entire year with this Special Offer, a 67% discount off the regular price! P.P.S. You deserve all the benefits of these fact-filled stories—please act now to claim your [GreenPrints All-Access Membership]( and get started reading all these informational gardening stories to enjoy the benefits! [GreenPrints All-Access Membership Special Offer—Only $20!]( 67% Off the Regular Price Now! [GreenPrints all access](  Claim your GreenPrints All-Access Membership today and get all the greatest gardening stories ever—heartwarming and funny, for you now! [YES, SIGN ME UP FOR JUST $20 FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!]( About GreenPrints Magazine: GreenPrints shares the absolute best true stories of gardeners from all across the country. It’s the most inspiring, humorous, and heartfelt gardening magazine of them all. There is nothing else like it. 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