The Assault of Goodness

Too much of a good thing

can be wonderful.

Mae West

Celandine Poppy

Last night, there came a frost,

which has done great damage to my garden...

It is sad that Nature will play such tricks on us poor mortals,

inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her, and then,

when we are entirely within her power,

striking us to the heart.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Lilyput Iris 'Making Eyes'

Darwin Hybrid Tulip "Apeldoorn's Elite"

Nature,

to be commanded,

must be obeyed.

Francis Bacon

Virginia Bluebell

Half the interest

of a garden

is

the constant exercise

 of the imagination.

Mrs. C.W. Earle

Rabbiteye Blueberry

Triandus albus daffodil 'April Tears'

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments;

there are consequences.

Robert Ingersoll

Allegheny Spurge

Only in quiet water

do things mirror themselves undistorted.

Only in a quiet mind

is adequate perception of the world.

- Hans Margolius

Golden Club

Pesty Weed

Indian Strawberry

I am not a lover of lawns.

Rather would I see daisies in their thousands,

ground ivy, hawkweed, and even the hated plantain

 with tall stems, and dandelions

with splendid flowers and fairy down,

than the too-well-tended lawn.

W.H. Hudson

Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart

Alumroot 'Carmel'

I'd like to leave but daffodils

to mark my little way,

to leave but tulips red and white

behind me as I stray;

I'd like to pass away from earth

and feel I'd left behind

but roses and forget-me-nots

for all who come to find.

I'd like to sow the barren spots

with all the flowers of earth,

to leave a path where those who come

should find but gentle mirth;

and when at last I'm called upon

to join the heavenly throng

I'd like to feel along my way

I'd left no sign of wrong.

And yet the cares are many

and the hours of toil are few;

there is not time enough on earth

for all I'd like to do;

but, having lived and having toiled,

I'd like the world to find

some little touch of beauty

that my soul had left behind.

Edgar Albert Guest

Holly 'China Girl'

Gardening is civil and social,

but it wants the vigor and freedom

of the forest and the outlaw.

Henry David Thoreau

Mother Nature...

Dog eat dog world out there...

Every thing's part of the food chain...

Just ask any human, being chased by a bear.

Hot...cold, hot...cold, hot...cold.  Last week was short sleeves and sandals; today it's winter coat and gloves, weed picking, lawn mowing, weed picking, edge trimming, weed picking, butt knot, weed picking, compost laying, weed picking, mulch laying, weed picking, leg cramp, weed picking, garden grass raking, weed picking, back pinching, weed picking, pond dredging, weed picking, teeth clinching, weed picking.

One day it's cramming all spare fragments of time I can possibly scrape into the wee hours of my past bedtime evening, leafing hurriedly through the colorful pages of one of many many plant catalogs that choke my mailbox as it wobbles under the weight overload of so many dead trees.  Next morning March gardens have exploded across the starting line in a marathon race of gigantic proportions, filling every nook and cranny with green, green, green, upward, upward and outward; and as usual, they have left me choking in their dust three miles back, five miles back, way way waaaaay back.

April will invariably find me cursing to the heavens the day I ever thought a yard full of nature was the greatest idea ever, and wondering why do I keep buying these bloody plants from those bloody catalogs; plants that I have absolutely no time to stuff into the earth, but time I must find, even if it's with flashlight in hand, wind blowing on face, trying to beat the rain before the sprinkles break loose into a deluge.

It is utterly forbidden

to be half-hearted about gardening.

You have got to love your garden

whether you like it or not.

W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman