GARDENING QUOTES

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

Tags: Alfred Austin


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

Tags: Thomas Jefferson


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


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

Tags: Bible quotes


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

Tags: Rudyard Kipling


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


To cultivate a garden is to walk with God.

CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE

Intuitions and Summaries of Thought

Tags: Christian Nestell Bovee


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


People who think they can run the earth should begin with a small garden.

EVAN ESAR

20,000 Quips & Quotes


A garden is made of hope.

W. S. MERWIN

What Is a 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


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


'Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Hamlet

Tags: William Shakespeare


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

Tags: Alfred Austin


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


One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

DOROTHY FRANCES GURNEY

God's Garden


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


The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.

MICHAEL POLLAN

Second Nature: A Gardener's Education


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