Laying out grounds… may be considered as a liberal art, in some sort like poetry and painting…. it is to assist Nature in moving the affections… the affections of those who have the deepest perception of the beauty of Nature… – William Wordsworth, letter to George Beaumont, 1805 October 17th [Author trivia:

The home gardener is part scientist, part artist, part philosopher, part ploughman. – John R. Whiting

In order to live off a garden, you practically have to live in it. – Frank McKinney Hubbard

We think that diamonds are very important, gold is very important, all these minerals are very important. We call them precious minerals, but they are all forms of the soil. But that part of this mineral that is on top, like it is the skin of the earth, that is the most precious of the commons. – Wangari Maathai (1940–2011), Dirt! The Movie, 2009