trees

It is one of the peculiarities of garden-making, the greatest of all the arts, that there are no "great" gardens made by welfare recipients …

Working the soil brings me back to my own nature, as I now understand that tending a garden is the same as taking care of myself.

If tending a garden has meant coming under the yoke of the seasons, my capitulation is complete; it is a willed captivity, however, perhaps like any other kind of passion.

I will not say that your Mulberry trees are dead, but I am afraid that they are not alive.

I am all for playing rough with things [i.e., plants] that play rough with us, and for making them behave as our servants, not our masters.

It is one of the peculiarities of garden-making, the greatest of all the arts, that there are no "great" gardens made by welfare recipients …

Looking back on what I have just written, I see I said sow a vast patch. I am sure this is good and sound advice. Always exaggerate rather than stint. Masses are more effective than mingies.

Forsythia is a sheer joy. There is not an ounce, not a glimmer of sadness or even knowledge in forsythia.