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 […]
Gardening, with its mix of joys and challenges, has long provided fertile ground for humor. As Dorothy Parker wryly observed, “My garden will never make me famous, I’m a horticultural ignoramus.” This self-deprecating wit captures the essence of funny gardening poems, which celebrate the triumphs and tribulations of tending to plants. Even Shakespeare found humor […]
The leaves boast every shade of green, the blossoms wag chromatic tongues. Some impish dyer dyed them thus, then hung the petals out to dry. The ivy, clamped by clinging roots, that clambers up a red brick wall. Two pigeons cloaked upon a ledge, they’ve made this ivied cave their nest. All rests in […]
“People Are Like Plants” by Gary Carter is a thought-provoking short poem about gardening that draws parallels between human characteristics and various plant species. This poem explores the diverse personalities and traits of individuals, likening them to the unique qualities of different plants. Throughout this short poem about gardening, Carter employs vivid imagery and metaphors […]
There’s not very much blooming in November where I live. By then, the smell of wood smoke is in the air as people gather around backyard fire pits, their faces and hands warmed as flames flicker and dance atop maple and cherry logs. In the garden, most everything is done for the year. If I’m […]
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 […]
Many old European homes had keeps, food-storage rooms located off the kitchen. The meadow keep was for drying the family’s culinary and medicinal herbs and flowers. Author and herbalist Elizabeth C. Burgess wrote Meadow Keep full of gardening poems in honor of these fragrant storage rooms. Her book is filled with delightful poems, each exploring […]
As a passionate flower gardener with a penchant for poetry, I’ve often found myself pondering words that rhyme with plants while tending to my beloved blooms. It’s a peculiar habit, I’ll admit, but one that has led me down a delightful path of horticultural wordplay. If you’ve ever dreamed of penning your own gardening poem […]
I love to learn about all the different moons, and think about those who named them so long ago. It’s funny how relevant the names are still, today, and how we still celebrate them in our own ways. The Flower Moon is traditionally the fifth Full Moon of the year, and it happens in May. […]
Bud upon bud of flowers, roses, and I can only wander, can only rake my hands along the thorns, my heart heavy within me, a reddening of flesh dripping of blood, the physical pain matching what I feel on the inside When I walked here before, the garden her beauty matched what was inside Some […]
