Jennifer Favorite Archives

Transplanting

by Theodore Roethke Watching hands transplanting, Turning and tamping, Lifting the young plants with two fingers, Sifting in a palm-full of fresh loam,– One swift movement,– Then plumping in the bunched roots, A single twist of the thumbs, a tamping, and turning, All in one, Quick on the wooden bench, A shaking down, while the…

Meadow-Sweet

by Charles MacKay Rose! We love thee for thy splendor, Lily! For thy queenly grace! Violet! For thy lowly merit, Peeping from thy shady place! But mine airy, woodland fairy, Scattering odors at thy feet, No one knows thy modest beauty, No one loves thee, Meadow-Sweet! As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by…

And Here are Butterflies Poor Things

by William H. Davies And here are butterflies: poor things Amazed with new-created wings; They in the air-waves roll distressed Like ships at sea; and when they rest They cannot help but open and close Their wings, like babies with their toes. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the…

A Kernel is Hidden in Me

by Herman Hesse A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the…

I Have Never Seen a Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker I have drawn all the plants and flowers carefully, from real ones, but I have never seen a fairy… Note: Barker loved wildflowers, but she didn’t believe in fairies. Barker wrote the quote above in the foreword to Flower Fairies of the Wayside. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast:…

June Was Made for Happiness

by Annette Wynne Why was June made? Can you guess? June was made for happiness! Even the trees Know this, and the breeze That loves to play Outside all day, And never is too bold or rough, Like March’s wind, but just a tiny blow’s enough; And all the fields know This is so— June…

Green Summer

by Alice M. Swaim No farther than my fingertips, No weightier than a rose, The essence of green summer slips Into a waiting pose. The tilted bowl of heaven Has spilled its blue and gold Among the vines and grasses Where autumn is foretold. Skylarks trill the melody, Crickets cry it over; Summer hides her…

A Piece of Our Heart

by Joanne Shaw A piece of our heart is in all our gardens. Note: This is a quote from my friend and fellow podcaster, Joanne Shaw, who said this one year ago. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Joanne…

If a June Night Could Talk

by Bern Williams If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Bern Williams

A Brilliant Night of June

by Thomas Love Peacock In a bowl to sea went wise men three, On a brilliant night of June: They carried a net, and their hearts were set On fishing up the moon. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Thomas Love Peacock

When Laughter is Sadder than Tears

by Frances Theodora Parsons The marshes stretch to the dunes and the dunes sweep down to the sea, And the sea is wooing the meadow which waits with an open door; Then a melody sweet to the hearer floats up from the murmuring lea Till the sea slips seaward again and the land is athirst…

Queen of the Garden

by Hannah Rebecca Hudson It is set by fields of clover And sentinelled with trees, Hosts of sunbeams range it over ‘Tis owned by birds and bees. Larkspurs, leaning out of places Where bashful myrtles creep, Peep at monk-flowers’ hooded faces And poppies gone to sleep. There are wild and headstrong briers And thistle knights…

Old Garden Chair

by Alice M. Swaim Old garden chair sagging with the weight of a single leaf. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Alice M. Swaim

This Compost

by Walt Whitman Now I am terrified at the earth! It is that calm and patient, It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions, It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless successions of diseased corpses, It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor, It renews with such unwitting…