Gertrude Jekyll

“The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies.” — Gertrude Jekyll

Long before I started writing about gardening, there were lots of other people who had a way with words.  Fortunately for all of us, the Internet is a fine resource where their words are not only documented and preserved, but they can also be shared.

When you do some research, it’s amazing to discover just how many quotes there are about gardening.  It kind of makes me wonder, “What does it take to be someone whose words live on?”  A friend of mine once said that gardening is like a natural surprise party.  At the time when she said it, we laughed about it.  But you know what?  Nearly two decades later, I still say it each season.  Usually I say it when a yellow zinnia blooms in a flat of red ones.  Surprise!  It’s one of those phrases that takes the edge off of any frustration in the garden, and it makes me smile.  I think that’s why my friend’s simple sentiment resonated with me.

I started this quest for gardening quotes after my chairperson told me she was retiring and asked me to organize her retirement party.  She gave me strict orders that I was not to have a retrospective slide show of her career.  But since she’s a gardener, and the theme of the party was a garden party, I created a slide show of gardening quotes and photos.  

As I searched the Internet for quotes,  I harvested them, savored them, and added them to photos of flowers and vegetables and gardens.  Each one seemed to speak of my chairperson’s passions; each one seemed to speak to what I feel and think inside — only that someone else was smart enough, poetic enough, and prolific enough to write it down.  And I am — we are — all the better for it.

And now, I’d like to share the slide show with you. 

I hope you enjoy it.

Special thanks to macmanx for guiding me through the embedding process.