Favorite Quotes on the Art of Gardening and Landscaping

Are you inspired by nature, gardens and beautiful landscapes? Then some of these quotes might be for you...

Some favorite pithy quotes on the art of gardening and landscaping…

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece” – Claude Monet

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” – William Shakespeare

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” – Aristotle

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” – John Burroughs

“Watching something grow is good for morale. It helps us believe in life.” – Myron S. Kaufman

“Don’t underestimate the therapeutic value of gardening. It’s the one area where we can all use our nascent creative talents to make a truly satisfying work of art. Every individual, with thought, patience and a large portion of help from nature, has it in them to create their own private paradise: truly a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.” – Geoff Hamilton, Paradise Gardens, 1997

“This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” – Alan Watts, Work as Play

“I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I work in the garden.” – John Erskine

“The gardener’s work is never at end; it begins with the year, and continues to the next: he prepares the ground, and then he sows it; after that he plants, and then he gathers the fruits….” – John Evelyn, Kalendarium Hortense, 1706

“Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe.” – Therese of Lisieux

“The garden must first be prepared in the soul first or else it will not flourish.” – English proverb

“In his garden every man may be his own artist without apology or explanation. Each within his green enclosure is a creator, and no two shall reach the same conclusion; nor shall we, any more than other creative workers, be ever wholly satisfied with our accomplishment. Ever a season ahead of us floats the vision of perfection and herein lies its perennial charm.” – Louise Beebe Wilder

“Gardening is a humbling experience.” – Martha Stewart

“There’s little risk in becoming overly proud of one’s garden because gardening by its very nature is humbling. It has a way of keeping you on your knees.” – Joanne R. Barwick, in Readers Digest (1993)

“Texture and foliage keep a garden interesting through the season. Flowers are just moments of gratification.” – Kevin Doyle

“The first law of a painting and of a picture on the soil is to be a whole . . . Without principles and without discernment one never attains veritable beauty.” – Edouard Andre

“Gardens are the result of a collaboration between art and nature.” – Penelope Hobhouse

“To some, gardening is therapy for the mind. Art is therapy for my soul.” – Reno

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” – Hans Christian Andersen

“Nothing is more the child of art than a garden.” – Sir Walter Scott

“The aesthetically literate person also knows that the artistic dimensions of existence have meaning for every sphere of human endeavor … and that a refined aesthetic sensibility can as easily lead to a cure for cancer as to the composition of a great symphony.” – James Fenwick

“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.” – Claude Monet

“Good planting design does not follow a formula. At best, it allows you to experiment with nature and through nature to make an
original statement. As in all of the arts, the best garden designers take risks. Only by taking risks can you come up with something exciting and original.” – James Van Sweden

“All gardens are a form of autobiography.” – Robert Dash

“Gardeners are generous people and perennials, which grow and multiply, help foster these instincts.” – David Scheid

“Successful gardening is doing what has to be done when it has to be done the way it ought to be done whether you want to do it or not.” – Jerry Baker

“It has been the office of art to educate the perception of beauty. We are immersed in beauty but our eyes have no clear vision.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“In the creation of a garden, the architect invites the partnership of the Kingdom of Nature. In a beautiful garden the majesty of nature is ever present, but it is nature reduced to human proportions and thus transformed into the most efficient haven against the aggressiveness of contemporary life.” – Luis Barragon

“All gardening is landscape painting.” – Alexander Pope

“Gardening is the purest of human pleasures.” – Francis Bacon

“Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“You know you are a hard-core gardener if you deadhead flowers in other people’s garden.” – Sue Careless

“Every garden is unique with a multitude of choices in soils, plants and themes. Finding your garden theme is as easy as seeing what brings a smile to your face.” – Teresa Watkins, Gardening With Soul

“Reading is good but the garden is the best teacher.” – Christine Allison, 1995

“Remember that gardeners generally want to share knowledge and hear your comments, so don’t be shy about starting a conversation. Like artists, most gardeners want to know how their creation communicates with the viewer. See if you can discover the spirit and vision behind the garden and reflect on what is moved within you. – Suzanne Edison, Ask Questions

“The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.” – George Bernard Shaw

“The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.” – Hanna Rion

“Even while we study and master the individual tasks and lessons of gardening, the garden remains as a place that is far greater than the sum of its parts. After plant infatuations, color schemes, and double digging, there is still the essence of the garden, the central theme that invites our attention. Happily, the exploration and creation of the garden goes on. . . . and on . . . and on. . .” – Lynn Purse, The Creative Gardener

“Life begins the day you start a Garden.” – Chinese Proverb

“The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.” – Genesis 2.15 NLT

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves.” – Ken Druse

“God Almighty first planted a Garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks. And a man shall ever see, that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection.” – Sir Francis Bacon

“Gardening requires lots of water – most of it in the form of perspiration.” – Lou Erickson

“One of the healthiest ways to gamble is with a spade and a package of garden seeds.” – Dan Bennett

“There are many tired gardeners but I’ve seldom met old gardeners. I know many elderly gardeners but the majority are young at heart. Gardening simply does not allow one to be mentally old, because too many hopes and dreams are yet to be realized. The one absolute of gardeners is faith. Regardless of how bad past gardens have been, every gardener believes that next year’s will be better. It is easy to age when there is nothing to believe in, nothing to hope for, gardeners, however, simply refuse to grow up.” – Allan Armitage

“There is no “The End” to be written, neither can you, like an architect, engrave in stone the day the garden was finished; a painter can frame his picture, a composer notate his coda, but a garden is always on the move.” – Mirabel Osler

“I don’t think we’ll ever know all there is to know about gardening, and I’m just as glad there will always be some magic about it!” – Barbara Damrosch

“The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.” – Vita Sackville-West

“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.” – Joel Salatin, Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World

“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.” – Abraham Lincoln

“I’m not aging, I just need repotting.” – unknown

Quote list compiled by Richard Warden

Quote Sources:

Gardening Quotes

Quotes About Gardening

Gardening Quotations

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(This post in Southampton Patch was originally featured at Warren's Nursery blog.)