Gardening is a labour full of tranquility and satisfaction; natural and instructive, and as such contributes to the most serious contemplation, experience, health and longevity.
Interpretation
Gardening offers a peaceful and fulfilling experience that benefits both the mind and body.
This quote by John Evelyn highlights the profound impact that gardening can have on individuals. It emphasizes that gardening is not just a simple task, but an enriching activity that promotes tranquility, satisfaction, and contributes to overall well-being. Engaging with nature through gardening fosters deep contemplation and can lead to improved health and longevity, making it an essential practice for a fulfilling life.
In practice
A speaker at a community gardening event could use this quote to emphasize the benefits of gardening.
The Hellish and dismal cloud of...Coal...perpetually imminent over (London) ...that her inhabitants breathe nothing but impure and thick mist...corrupting the lungs and disordering the entire habit of their bodies; so the Catarrhs,...Cough, and Consumption, range more in this one City, than in the whole Earth besides.
Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.
Birds ... are sensitive indicators of the environment, a sort of "ecological litmus paper," ... The observation and recording of bird populations over time lead inevitably to environmental awareness and can signal impending changes.
She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful.
[The natural world cleans water, pollinates plants and provides pharmaceuticals, among many other gifts.] Thirty trillion dollars worth of services, scot-free to humanity, every year.
And out of darkness came the hands that reach through nature, moulding men.
Now the gardener is the one who has seen everything ruined so many times that (even as his pain increases with each loss) he comprehends - truly knows - that where there was a garden once, it can be again, or where there never was, there yet can be a garden.
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