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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.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.

I like to think of myself as a natural gardener.

Gardening is learning, learning, learning. That's the fun of them. You're always learning.

I've always felt that having a garden is like having a good and loyal friend.

How deeply seated in the human heart is the liking for gardens and gardening.

I'm not a gardener. I wish I was.

Gardeners instinctively know that flowers and plants are a continuum and that the wheel of garden history will always be coming full circle.

So high do these plants stand in the favour of the Chinese gardener, that he will cultivate them extensively, even against the wishes of his employer; and, in many instances, rather leave his situation than give up the growth of his favourite flower.