I am the fonder of my garden for all the trouble it gives me, and the grudging reward that my unending labours exact.

All the wars of the world, all the Caesars, have not the staying power of a lily in a cottage garden.

I think the true gardener is a lover of his flowers, not a critic of them. I think the true gardener is the reverent servant of Nature, not her truculent, wife-beating master. I think the true gardener, the older he grows, should more and more develop a humble, grateful and uncertain spirit.