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.

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.

I cannot walk into our garden without constantly being reminded of the friends who have shared their plants.

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

Gardening is in large measure a phenomenon of attention.

Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII of France, had such an aversion to roses that she could not stand seeing one even in a painting.