A Joy of Gardening

“The true gardener must be brutal, and imaginative
for the future.”

“The behavior of plants is indeed inexplicable. It breaks all the rules; and that is what makes gardening so endlessly various and interesting.”

“I have come to the conclusion, after many years of sometimes sad experience, that you cannot come to any conclusion at all.”

“Naturally, every garden must be a law to itself.”

“You cannot expect your soil and your plants to go on giving you of their best if you are not prepared to give something back in return. This is as true of gardens as of human relationships.”

“The only thing is to be bold; try the experiment; find out.”

Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962) was an award-winning English author who published numerous collections of poetry and thirteen novels, in addition to immensely popular gardening columns for The Observer from 1946–1961. With her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson, she designed the celebrated gardens at Sissinghurst in Kent, England. 

Ulrich Baer is University Professor at New York University, a graduate of Harvard and Yale, and the recipient of Guggenheim, Getty, and Humboldt fellowships. He has published widely on literature and photography, written new introductions to many classic books, and gardens avidly in New York City.