In a well-made garden every day is new.

Gardener's , like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute. What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us. But there is a second way of seeing. Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past and years gone by.

Of course, the character of my garden is also determined by things beyond any human decision, mine or anyone else's.

Am I accurately reporting what I see in such a blossom? The answer is no ... and yes.

Show me a person without prejudice of any kind on any subject and I'll show you someone who may be admirably virtuous but is surely no gardener. Prejudice against people is reprehensible, but a healthy set of prejudices is a gardener's best friend. Gardening is complicated, and prejudice simplifies it enormously.

Plants are the original chemists. Their sophistication makes DuPont and Monsanto look like little kids with chemistry sets.

But there is one place where a person can make choices that will lead in a small way toward greater sanity in dealing with the natural order. That place is the private garden.