Monthly Archives: February 2026

Gather and Sow: March 2026 out now!

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Head over to our site Gather and Sow for the March 2026 newsletter.

“Light Iris” by Georgia O’Keefe (1924). You don’t have to seek out a Georgia O’Keefe painting to see giant flower parts from the iris family (Iridaceae). Just look in your spice cabinet. The spice saffron is the dried stigmas from the flowers of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), also in the iris family. We explore the botany of saffron and corn silks in this month’s Botany Lab of the Month feature.

We observe two holidays in this March 2026 issue of Gather and Sow: St. David’s Day (March 1st) and Women’s History Month (all of March), which coincides with International Women’s Day on March 8th. 

Leeks are a traditional symbol of St. David’s Day, and their morphology is the topic of this issue’s Food for Thought: Ay, leeks is good!

Women’s history month is a time to recognize the contributions of women to American history, society, and culture. Too often women’s accomplishments have gone unsung. The same is true for the “female” parts of flowers. We rectify this by celebrating extraordinary flower parts in corn and the saffron crocus. All celebrations deserve cake, and we offer a recipe for one that combines corn and saffron in this month’s Botany Lab of the Month: Honoring female (plant) anatomy with saffron polenta cake.

We conclude with research and media highlights in Baker’s Dozen and Gleanings. Alongside several recent research articles, we have included a few classic papers by two matriarchs of plant biology, Katherine Esau and Barbara McClintock, in honor of Women’s History Month.

Introducing Gather and Sow: The Botanist in the Kitchen Newsletter

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The Botanist in the Kitchen has a new online presence and a new monthly newsletter: Gather and Sow.

The Gather and Sow: February 2026 issue is out, just in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s all about love and chocolate.

Cauliflorous fruits on a cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), in a glasshouse at the United States Botanic Garden.

We intend to post new issues of Gather and Sow every month. Content here on the blog will generally remain available. We remain dedicated to illuminating the fascinating biology of our food plants. 

Each issue of Gather and Sow will feature three components:

  • Food for Thought: an essay, possibly seasonal or inspired by current events
  • Botany Lab of the Month: a botany lesson for the hands-on learner, packaged as an activity or recipe designed for the home kitchen
  • Baker’s Dozen and Gleanings: We highlight thirteen-ish recent research articles and other relevant media, respectively, that further our understanding of the biology of our food plants.

FAQ: Aren’t you two writing a book? Is it done yet? Yes, we are writing The Botanist in the Kitchen book. No, it is not done yet. We have an agent (Hi Lucy!). And a book proposal document. We are close to being done with our sample chapters. Hopefully a publisher will take interest very soon. We’ll post updates with the newsletters. 

We would love to hear from you.

You can subscribe to Gather and Sow from theGhost site. We will also publicize newsletters here on the blog  and on social media (Bluesky, Facebook). Please email us at botanistinthekitchen@gmail.com.