When it comes to gardening poems, there’s no shortage, but I’ve always loved Wordsworth’s “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” His description of a field of daffodils is simply spectacular.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
It’s the captured moments like this that make gardening poems so lovely. Those mundane moments we all skim over on our journeys, a poet collects and gives to us as a gift. In fact, it’s not at all unusual for a poet and a gardener to be one in the same.
Take, for example, Rebecca Bowes’ ode to the Summer Garden.
” Sweet peas twine green fingers through
friendly fences,
beckoning each passer-by
with a come-hither scent.”
Have you ever heard such a lovely depiction of peas?
Other gardening poems help us connect with the small miracles that can happen outside of the garden. Linda Delmont’s Prize Fighter is one such poem. The emotions are right there, barely contained. Sadness, regret, but also hope. And if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that a garden, ultimately, is about hope.
When you can’t get outside to enjoy the colors, sounds, and smells of the garden, you have the next best thing with gardening poems. Let the finely crafted words of these writers bring the garden to you, along with heartwarming scenes and a reminder to notice and appreciate the little moments that we honor in our own gardens, wherever they may be.
Feel free to stay a while and enjoy all the gardening poems we have to share below. And be sure to check out our Gardening Poems Collection while you’re here, which features a hand-picked selection of our favorites from this category.
Pollinators twinkled around the white star flowers of wild onion and the pinking sedum fronting the withering coneflowers in my roadside garden. A new mail lady appeared— Bees! she exclaimed, afraid they’ll attack her in her truck while she’s sorting bundles. I couldn’t convince her they’re harmless. Cut the flowers—or she’ll hold my mail at the […]
There are many things I love about Spring. The smell in the air as the earth unthaws and the soil emerges again. The sound of birds returning home. The sight of forests of brown sticks becoming engulfed by green buds and then leaves. The eager anticipation of starting a garden anew, and wondering what may […]
Today’s gardening poem about the rich diversity of a garden, “with plants of a hundred families, in the space between the trees,” is a lovely reminder of life and death, and how we witness it every year through our garden. Each Spring, we plant seeds of life and hope into the earth. We plant seeds […]
I don’t recall the first time I read a poem for a gardener. If I had to guess, I’d say it was in grade school. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who gardens or enjoys poetry, though. It seems there are so many wonderful poems about gardens, gardening, and the beauty of nature. Are […]
Above clusters of heart-shaped leaves sprouting white scalloped-edged bells, climbing a bending stalk, a bumblebee bizzes into a top fresh blossom. Oh, Bee, what do you see? About the Author: Susan Griffith, a former librarian and college professor, lives, writes, reads and grows flowers in the middle of Michigan’s lower peninsula. She reads children’s books […]
My dear old friend dug a root for me, said Lafayette presented this very rose to her ancestor when the Frenchman returned to America in 1825 on his triumphant farewell tour, and relays of our finest horses pulled his coach from Vermont town to town and our citizens wined, dined, and danced with the aging […]
Gardening is an experience of the senses. No one is talking, drink it in. The site will tell us what to do if we listen. Realize its potential and appreciate the bounty of nature. A human being can create an experience out of nature. Let in the feeling of wildness and accept it. We hear […]
Javier’s class is digging dirt in the community garden by P.S. 102 in the Bronx And Javier says: ”why am I digging dirt, I haven’t done anything wrong?’ He knows that men from Leland Ave., from the barrio, maybe from the block go to jail go to prison He knows that men from the block […]
Visiting gardens this morning, like the neighborhood cleric making parish calls, I chat with peonies, poppies and fragrant heliotrope, and hope I carry contagions of helpfulness to other flowers. As I continue my quiet talk I’m weighted with gifts, gifts like cherished gold which I share along my route, thankful that the proverbial pleasant […]
“Garden Meditation” is a thoughtful and poetic gardening meditation by Rev. Max Coots, a Unitarian Universalist minister who served the Canton, NY church for 34 years. This gardening meditation uses the metaphor of a garden to express gratitude for the diverse and nourishing friendships that enrich our lives. The gardening meditation begins by giving […]
