plants

Our attitude towards plants is a singularly narrow one. If we see any immediate utility in a plant we foster it. If for any reason we find its presence undesirable or merely a matter of indifference, we may condemn it to destruction forthwith.

He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.

A sensitive plant in a garden grew, And the young winds fed it with silver dew, And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light, And closed them beneath the kisses of night.

The first western gardens were those in the Mediterranean basin. There in the desert areas stretching from North Africa to the valleys of the Euphrates, the so-called cradle of civilization, where plants were first grown for crops by settled communities, garden enclosures were also constructed. Gardens emphasized the contrast between two separate worlds: the outer one where nature remained awe-inspiringly in control and an inner artificially created sanctuary, a refuge for man and plants from the burning desert, where shade trees and cool canals refreshed the spirit and ensured growth.

The overly sheltered child, like the hot-house plant, is seldom able to stand the rigors of later life.

After killing off a number of plants inadvertently, it may be hard to face horticultural euthanasia. . . . But the misfortune of these mistakes goes beyond a small blot on your garden. The sad relics are the lessons you are refusing to learn. . . . After four or five years you have to make an assessment of your selections and stop nursing along specimens that long for [permanent quiet peace]. You will be amazed what a lift it will give to your whole garden to be rid of these ghosts.

Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden.

Who can estimate the real wealth that inheres in a fine character. . . . How base and mean money and huge estates look in comparison. All other things fade before it. Its touch is like magic to win friendship, influence, power. Can you afford to chill, to discourage, to crush out of your life this sweet, sensitive plant, which would flower in your nature and give added glory to your life, for the sake of a few dollars, a little questionable fame?

There is a little plant called reverence in the corner of my soul's garden, which I love to have watered once a week.

As aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow; But crush'd or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around.