Listener Favorite Archives

Trees

by Alfred Joyce Kilmer I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of…

Botany

by Berton Braley There should be no monotony In studying your botany; It helps to train And spur the brain– Unless you haven’t gotany. It teaches you, does Botany, To know the plants and spotany, And learn just why They live or die– In case you plant or potany. You learn, from reading…

The Sleep of Seeds

by Lucia Cherciu It didn’t rain all summer. Instead of water, my father used prayer for his garden. Despite his friends’ laughter, he planted spinach and lettuce, countless rows of cucumbers in beds lined up meticulously ignoring old people’s warnings about the drought. Every afternoon, he pushed his hat back, wiped off his sweat, and…

If Words Are Seeds

by R.H. Swaney If words are seeds, let flowers grow from your mouth, not weeds. If heart are gardens, plant those flowers in the chest of the ones who exist around you. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. R.H. Swaney

Here are Sweet Peas

by John Keats Here are sweet peas on tip-toe for a flight With wings of gently flush o’er delicate white And taper fingers catching at all things, To bind them all about with tiny rings. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. John…

Midsummer Night Itch

by Niels Mogens Bodecker Mosquito is out, it’s the end of the day; she’s humming and hunting her evening away. Who knows why such hunger arrives on such wings at sundown? I guess it’s the nature of things. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words…

Someone Who Knows a Little Bit Less Than You.

By Allen Lacy I suppose that for most people one of the darker joys of gardening is that once you’ve got started it’s not at all hard to find someone who knows a little bit less than you. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words…

Falling Asleep in the Garden

By David Wagoner All day the bees have come to the garden. They hover, swivel in arcs and, whirling, light On stamens heavy with pollen, probe and revel Inside the yellow and red starbursts of dahlias Or cling to lobelia’s blue-white mouths Or climb the speckled trumpets of foxgloves. My restless eyes follow their restlessness…

The Hum of Bees

by Elizabeth Lawrence The hum of bees is the voice of the garden. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all.

All in June

by William Henry Davies A week ago I had a fire To warm my feet, my hands, and face; Cold winds, that never make a friend, Crept in and out of every place. Today the fields are rich in grass, And buttercups in thousands grow; I’ll show the world where I have been– With gold-dust…

Shut Out

By Christina Rossetti The door was shut. I looked between Its iron bars; and saw it lie, My garden, mine, beneath the sky, Pied with all flowers bedewed and green: From bough to bough the song-birds crossed, From flower to flower the moths and bees; With all its nests and stately trees It had been…

A Vegetable That Can Make People Laugh

by Will Rogers An onion can make people cry, but there’s never been a vegetable that can make people laugh. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Will Rogers

The Months

by Christina Georgina Rossetti January cold and desolate; February dripping wet March wind ranges; April changes; Birds sing in tune To flowers of May, And sunny June Brings longest day; In scorched July The storm-clouds fly, Lightning-torn; August bears corn, September fruit; In rough October Earth must disrobe her; Stars fall and shoot In keen…

No!

by Thomas Hood No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member – No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds – November! As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Thomas…