The gardens I love best are those that are still affectionately tended by the people who own them and who made them - who planned and planted and replanned and replanted them, who dug in the dirt and moved hoses and watched the gardens change with the cycle of the seasons and over the passage of years.

I suppose that for most people one of the darker joys of gardening is that once you've got started it's not at all hard to find someone who knows a little bit less than you.

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

In a well-made garden every day is new.

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

We quickly discovered that two kittens were much more fun than one.

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.