gardening quotations
By franl155
28 comments
I used to subscribe to a gardem tips e-newsltetter, which sadly doesn’t seem to come round any more. I’d save all the tips in a Word file; marking the ones that were most relevant to me, for future ref.
Each time there’d be a quoeation included in the email, and I’d save those too. Just occurred to me that these are share-able! They’re not my words, but then, they weren’t his, either …
Here they are, in no particular order:
All good work is done the way ants do things: little by little — Lafcadio Hearn
It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop — Confucius
All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today — Indian Proverb
Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow — Anon
I have found, through years of practice, that people garden in order to make something grow; to interact with nature; to share, to find sanctuary, to heal, to honour the earth, to leave a mark.
Through gardening, we feel whole as we make our personal work of art upon our land — Julie Moir Messervy
If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars? — G K Chesterton
I don’t know whether nice people tend to grow roses or growing roses makes people nice — Roland A Browne
Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul — Linda Solegato
True friendship is like a rose: we don’t realise its beauty until it fades — Evelyn Loeb
Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result thereof — Julie Moir Messervy
Gardening requires lots of water… Most of it in the form of perspiration — Lou Erickson
The rose has thorns only for those who would gather it — Chinese Proverb
We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden — Anon
I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the garden — John Erskine
On every stem, on every leaf … and at the root of everything that grew, was a professional specialist in the shape of grub, caterpillar, aphis, or other expert, whose business it was to devour that particular part — Oliver Wendell Holmes
All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar — Helen Hayes
Any garden demands as much of its maker as he has to give. But I do not need to tell you if you are a gardener, that no other undertaking will give as great a return for the amount of effort put into it. — Elizabeth Lawrence
Each flower is a soul opening out to nature — Gerald De Nerval
Gardening is something you learn by doing and by making mistakes. Like cooking, gardening is a constant process of experimentation, repeating the successes and throwing out the failures — Carol Stocker
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers — Claude Monet
If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done — Anon
In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful — Abram L. Urban
The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before — Vita Sackville-West
We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses — Abraham Lincoln
When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves — Ken Druse
You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt — Anon
When your garden is finished I hope it will be more beautiful that you anticipated, require less care than you expected, and have cost only a little more than you had planned — Thomas D Church
Gardening is a kind of disease. It infects you, you cannot escape it. When you go visiting, your eyes rove about the garden; you interrupt the serious cocktail drinking because of an irresistible impulse to get up and pull a weed — Lewis Gann
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
– Dorothy Frances Gurney
What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered — Emerson
Who would have thought it possible that a tiny little flower could preoccupy a person so completely that there simply wasn’t room for any other thought…. — Sophie Schol
A garden is never so good as it will be next year — Thomas Cooper
One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener’s own body.
A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race — Wendell Berry
Has anyone got any more to add to the collection? Please???
2 Feb, 2012
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Comments
I enjoyed reading these. I think my favourite one was "When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves" ...
2 Feb, 2012
The one I relate to most while enjoying all of them is the second last one - 'a garden is never so good as it will be next year.'
Seems I've been thinking that for over thirty years and three gardens! Slow learner .......
2 Feb, 2012
If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars? — G K Chesterton
Love that! :))
2 Feb, 2012
You and me both, Ojibway! What we're going to do is always better than what we've done, or are doing now. Oh, the plans I made for a garden, when I got one! totally impractical, but great fun.
For me it's the Confusius one, I think - I've got another quote from him, which could go with that one - "The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step", to which I usually add, "But you have to *take* that step!"
2 Feb, 2012
Fantastic blog, Fran. Thank you.
Adding to my favourites :o)))
2 Feb, 2012
thank you - for a moment, I read that as "adding my favourites" and was going to reply, "can't wait to read them" - must clean these specs - @-@¬
2 Feb, 2012
I like your specs. picture. :o)
I'm just resting my eyes before working out another quiz !
2 Feb, 2012
lol can you do an idiot-level one? then I'll have a chance!
2 Feb, 2012
I go for the Chesterton like Karensusan, but the Abraham Lincoln one is the best philosphy in my book. Is your glass half full or half empty?
2 Feb, 2012
Hi Fran..
An all-photo quiz coming up next.
I'm just awaiting written permission from a couple of members to include their GoY photos :o)
2 Feb, 2012
Very good.
My fave is " Gardening is a disease"
When visiting I always want to pull up weeds ! :0))
2 Feb, 2012
A GARDEN is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Fern'd grot—
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not—
Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign;
'Tis very sure God walks in mine.
Thomas Edward Brown
Not a proverb or an aphorism, I'm afraid, just a rather nice "pome". Does it qualify? Unfortunately, God would need his wellies on to walk in mine right now....
I love this blog - it has gone straight into my favourites.
When I was a little girl, I used to hear my mother singing:-
" A Gordon for me, a Gordon for me / If you're no a Gordon ye're nae use to me",
and for years I thought the words were
"A Garden for me, a garden for me, If you've not a garden, you're no good to me"
It could explain a lot.
I like the Confucius quotation, too.
2 Feb, 2012
Fran this is a lovely blog, i love quotes and I have found you one more.
God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown
Have saved these in my faves.
2 Feb, 2012
oh, so many lovely additions, thank you all! The only family quote I have is from dad: "there's seven years work in a weed"
3 Feb, 2012
I know a slightly different version of that, Fran - I remember it well, because it was one of the set questions in my finals:-
"One Year's seeding, seven years' weeding - Comment."
3 Feb, 2012
True, Gattina! Finals for what exam?
Someone once commented that it was easy to tell weeds from flowers - flowers were the ones that pulled up easily!
there was a tin on the Gardeners' Question Time radio prog - hoe when you don't have any weeds and you won't have any
3 Feb, 2012
I have heard a few of these Fran, the one I can most associate with and has to be my favourite is Lewis Gann " Gardening is a disease" I am a terrible visitor to have as I can never resist deadheading and pulling the odd weed here and there..
3 Feb, 2012
*s* I never actyually did that, but my hands used to itch something terrible wth the effort of restraining myself from "helping" someone, whether they wanted it or not!
I had a garen at work: one paving-slab square, because that's what it was - they'd lifted a slab and not replaced it, and even that much planting space was better than nothing. I grew at 12-15-foot sunflower on my first go - surprised it stayed alive and upright: i held it up with bits of twine Scotch-taped to the wall!
3 Feb, 2012
I did a B.Sc in Zoology with Botany and Cytogenetics as my subsidiary subjects at London University about a hundred years ago now, Fran - they had just about discovered the double helix by then......Certain I couldn't do it these days. I found one of the old exam papers a couple of years ago, and couldn't even understand the questions any more.
3 Feb, 2012
wow, hat off to you! never even heard of ctyogenetics!
the learning curve gets steeper all the time: the more we know, the more there is to learn, and knowledge accrues far faster than ever before. one would have to strat in the cradel these days, and live at least 150 years, studying all the time!
3 Feb, 2012
That's what computers are for!
3 Feb, 2012
when they work - work FOR you, that is, and don't try to baffle you with BS or decide to crash just when you need it most.
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it - Dr Johnson
but often the "where" is on the PC that refuses to play ball!
3 Feb, 2012
I can't say I haven't had the problem, Fran, so these days I keep my requirements very modest, and don't try to do anything remotely technical or complicated. I also have an Apple Mac instead of a PC.
3 Feb, 2012
ah, right; I've not tried Apple-ing, not sure if my specialised visual software would work with it.
3 Feb, 2012
Speaking of how knowledge changes - anyone see 'A History of Botany' recently? Apparently only a few hundred years ago people thought plants grew by eating the earth! Wish I'd known of my love of gardening years ago - I might have done something about courses in Horticulture etc. But it came to me late in life, so I just struggle on with the knowledge I pick up from you guys, cursing my arthritic knees along the way, then falling in love with my garden everytime something blooms!
4 Feb, 2012
*s* I haven't watched TV since December 199 - I usually check out new stuff I've heard of by renting from Amazon, then buying the DVDs - usually about a year late by the time I get to hear of it, but I'll keep an eye out for the Botany series going to DVD
4 Feb, 2012
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Nothing to add, but thank you sooooo much for sharing what you have already! Delightful sayings - and all so true. Hope others come up with more sayings. :o)
2 Feb, 2012