Gardening transcends everything that otherwise divides us.

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

In addition to all its rich offerings to the body and its five senses, gardening engages the mind.

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.

One becomes a gardener by becoming a gardener.

A powerful hand lens [Eschenback Leutchlupe] with a focused beam of light opens up an entire world below the threshold of the ordinary experience of seeing.

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.