Jennifer Favorite Archives

I am Going to Sleep

by Alfonsina Storni Teeth of flowers, hairnet of dew, hands of herbs, you, perfect wet nurse, prepare the earthly sheets for me and the down quilt of weeded moss. I am going to sleep, my nurse, put me to bed. Set a lamp at my headboard; a constellation; whatever you like; all are good: lower…

The Naming of Plants

by Linda Leinen The naming of plants? It really does matter. It isn’t correct to think all are the same. You may think at first I’m indulging in patter, but I tell you — a plant must have four different names! First comes the name that tells us its genus — Gaillardia, Solanum, Ilex or…

Taxonomy

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Taxonomy is the best words in the best order. Note: Samuel Taylor Coleridge was one of the first to note the symmetry in taxonomy and poetry. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sorrow is a Fruit

by Victor Hugo Sorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it. Note: Today in 1885, Victor Hugo died, the author of the Hunchback of Notre-Dame as well as Les Miserables. A gardener, Hugo had many wonderful garden-inspired quotes. As featured onThe Daily Gardener…

How Did it Happen That Their Lips Came Together

by Victor Hugo How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. Note: Today in…

Pope’s Grotto

by Alexander Pope Thou who shalt stop, where Thames’ translucent wave Shines a broad Mirror through the shadowy cave; Where ling’ring drops from mineral Roofs distill, And pointed Crystals break the sparkling Rill, Unpolished Gems no ray on Pride bestow, And latent Metals innocently glow. Approach! Great Nature studiously behold; And eye the Mine without…

White Stone Days

by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin And it is Cecelia Page who said these wonderful quotes: “An admission of ignorance may well be a step to a new discovery.” and then this one (which harkened back to Page’s discovery of the bee orchid). “The reward of the young scientist is the emotional thrill of being the first person…

Hewett Cottrell Watson’s letter to Charles Darwin

by Hewett Cottrell Watson 21 Nov 1859 My dear Sir Once [I started] to read the ‘Origin’ I could not rest [until] I had galloped through [all of it]. I shall now begin to re-read it more deliberately. Meantime I am tempted to write you [my] first impressions… 1st. Your leading idea will assuredly become…

My Little Dove Has a Tree Full of Them

I was mistaken about [our] large garden fruit being peaches… It turns out to be apricots and I enclose one which I found on the ground today… Just think, my little Dove has a tree full of them. Note: Today, (May 2) in 1863, Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own…

Twilight Hymn

by Phoebe Hinsdale Brown Yes, when the toilsome day is gone, And night, with banners gray, Steals silently the glade along In twilight’s soft array. I love to steal awhile away From little ones and care, And spend the hours of setting day In gratitude and prayer. I love to feast on Nature’s scenes When…

So Frail are We

by Agnes Falconer So frail are we, pale are we, Mist-thin, ghost-white — Hark o’er us, spring’s chorus Trills all life’s delight! And no leaf stirs in all the wood Yet see! our blossoms quiver! Dance these not in thy solitude — Forever! Note: Windflower is the common name for Anemone blanda. As featured…

The View from the Jore Mountains

by William Bartram It was now after noon; I approached a charming vale… Darkness gathers around, far distant thunder rolls over the trembling hills… all around is now still as death. A total inactivity and silence seem to pervade the earth; the birds afraid to utter a chirrup… nothing heard but the roaring of the…

All Women Together

by Virginia Woolf All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Virginia Woolf

Ho! Gate, How Came ye Here?

by William Kent Ho! Gate, how came ye here? I came fro’ Chelsea the last yere Inigo Jones there put me together Then was I dropping by wind and weather Sir Hannes Sloane Let me alone But Burlington brought me hither This architecton-ical Gate Inigo Jon-ical Was late Hans Slon-ical And now Burlington-ical …