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:

I appreciate the misunderstanding I have had with Nature over my perennial border. I think it is a flower garden; she thinks it is a meadow lacking grass, and tries to correct the error. – Sara Stein, My Weeds, 1988

How can I stand on the ground every day and not feel its power? How can I live my life stepping on this stuff and not wonder at it? Science says that an acre of soil produces one horsepower every day. But you could pour gasoline all over the ground forever and never see it sprout maple trees. – William Bryant Logan, Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth