quotations about gardens & gardening
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.
ALFRED AUSTIN
attributed, Growing with the Seasons
The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.
MICHAEL POLLAN
The Omnivore's Dilemma
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such a variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repared by the success of another, and instead of one harvest, a continued one through the year.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to Charles W. Peale, August 20, 1811
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
RUDYARD KIPLING
"The Glory of the Garden", Rudyard Kipling's Verse
To cultivate a garden is to walk with God.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
It was such a pleasure to sink one's hands into the warm earth, to feel at one's fingertips the possibilities of the new season.
KATE MORTON
The Forgotten Garden
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
EVE
Genesis 3:2-3
The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds. If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte.
VERA NAZARIAN
The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
A garden is made of hope.
W. S. MERWIN
What Is a Garden?
'Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet
However many years she lived, Mary always felt that she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow.
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
The Secret Garden
People who think they can run the earth should begin with a small garden.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Some flowers were arrogant invaders and would overrun the entire garden if allowed too much freedom. Some were so diffident and fearful that in their fragile reticence often lived the truest, most infinitely prized beauty.
PAT CONROY
The Lords of Discipline
A seed is a contract with the future. It's saying, I know something better will happen tomorrow.
QUIARA ALEGRIA HUDES
Elliot: A Soldier's Fugue
Show me your garden, provided it be your own, and I will tell you what you are like.
ALFRED AUSTIN
The Garden that I Love
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
DOROTHY FRANCES GURNEY
God's Garden
When I find spirituality in my garden, it seems to go hand in hand with hard work and diligence. Like a burst of sunshine on a cloudy day, a feeling of peace will come over me and grab me by surprise. I don't really know why or how it happens. But then again, I wouldn't want it any other way.
FRAN SORIN
attributed, A Garden of Inspiration
The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.
MICHAEL POLLAN
Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
Gardens exist not only in the here and now, but in the there and then, too. The good ones seem to strike a pleasing or intriguing balance between here and there; unsatisfying ones err on one side or the other.
MICHAEL POLLAN
Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.
LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY
Country Life, March 1903