This delightful collection of wisdom, insight and humour, from Diane Ackerman to Emile Zola, captures the essence of the world’s most popular hobby. Here are over four hundred quotations - not only one-line zingers but stanzas of verse and full paragraphs of narrative - on the endless fascination of gardening. The great gardening writers of past and present are amply represented, but these varied selections also range the entirety of recorded literature, from the Bible and the tenth-century Japanese diarist Sei Shonagon through Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Walt Whitman, and even Prince Charles. For anyone who counts their hours in the soil as their most valued, The Quotable Gardener is the ideal gift - an invaluable inspiration during the gardening months, and a treasured companion during the long, desperate winter.