Daily Dose

From Four Faultless Felons, by G. K. Chesterton

MODESTLY

"I've been modestly comparing my own backyard to the Garden of Eden."

From The Epilogue of the Garden

Daily Dose

From A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, by Christopher Alexander et al.

START

"Start by thinking about the front gardens which you know. They are often decorative, lawns, flowers. But how often are people sitting there?"

From III, Half-Hidden Garden

Clerihew of of the Well Traveled New Englander

AMY LOWELL

Amy Lowell
Went for a stroll
'Round some ancient Japanese temples
And thought, "Brookline, Mass. this closely resembles."

Daily Dose

From The Complete Poems, by Thomas Moore

OH, COULD WE DO WITH THIS WORLD OF OURS

Oh, could we do with this world of ours
As thou dost with thy garden bowers,
Reject the weeds and keep the flowers,
What a heaven on earth we'd make it!
So bright a dwelling should be our own,
So warranted free from sigh or frown,
That angels soon would be coming down,
By the week or month to take it.

Like those gay flies that wing through air,
And in themselves a lustre bear,
A stock of light, still ready there,
Whenever they wish to use it;
So in this world I'd make for thee,
Our hearts should all like fire-flies be,
And the flash of wit or poesy
Break forth whenever we choose it.

While every joy that glads our sphere
Hath still some shadow hovering near,
In this new world of ours, my dear,
Such shadows will all be omitted; --
Unless they're like that graceful one,
Which when thou'rt dancing in the sun,
Still near thee, leaves a charm upon
Each spot where it hath flitted!  

Hazlitt's Garden

Daily Dose

From Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer, by Vivien Noakes

NO END

"He was proud of his garden and found it 'a gt amusement, & the picking off of caterpillars & tying up of creepers no end of distraction.'"

From Chapter 18, Villa Emily, 1869 - 1871

The Garden by Andrew Marvell

A Gardener's Clerihew

GERTRUDE JEKYLL

Old Gertrude Jekyll,
Deciding to take all
Her intentions for deeds,
Planted flowers in weeds.

Daily Dose

From Rhapsody in Green: The Garden Wit and Wisdom of Beverley Nichols, edited by Roy C. Dicks

SWIFT SILHOUETTE

"There is something dead about a lawn which has never been shadowed by the swift silhouette of a dancing kitten."

From Catty Remarks