Winter sunshine is a fairy wand touching everything with a strange magic. It is like the smile of a friend in time of sorrow.

gardening is something more than a pastime; it is a religion.

....the ancient ritual of the earth; ploughing and planting, reaping and threshing. The fundamental business remains unaltered; it is only the methods and tools that science is changing.

Forget the times of trouble, but not the truths they taught. Forget the days of sorrow, but not the strength they brought. Forget the storms you battled through beneath a heavy load - but not the light that led you safely down the unknown road.

If you want good roses, sharpen your knife and harden your heart.

Happy is the person who can keep a quiet heart, in the chaos and tumult of this modern world.

I thought I had finished with romantic adventures, but half-way through life and well past the age for losing one's heart, I was suddenly swept off my feet by a new love, a passionate, tyrannical, all-absorbing emotion: the love of a garden.