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Garden Poetry

© Connie Krochmal

Here in the Southeast, the winter continues to be a rough one. Right now, we're in the midst of a snowstorm that may bring up to a foot of snow and ice with the possibility of power outages. Rather than worry, I'd rather turn my attention to the indoors where there's no shortage of garden-related activities. Among my favorite winter pastimes is garden poetry.

Because of copyright issues, it isn't possible to quote contemporary works, but there are many fine examples. In any case, let's take a look at some garden verse.

A great place to start is with a section from "A Shropshire Lad" by A.E. Housman.

"And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow."

One of the most remarkable collections of garden verses was written over a thousand years ago. Walahfried Strabo (809-849 A.D.) wrote "Hortulus" in 827. This cycle of garden poetry remains a longtime favorite, especially among herb lovers.

Walahfried was initially a monk, and later the abbot at a monastery in Reichenau. You can find English translations for some of these verses online. However, some of these aren't very good. Somehow in the process of translating them from Latin to English the beauty of the original is lost.

Some years ago I received a copy of an excellent English translation. This was given to me by a fellow volunteer at Cornell Plantations. I have treasured this collection, and return to it time after time.

Some of Walahfried's verses focus on the pleasures of gardening, and the gardening cycle throughout the year. Others refer to specific plants, including herbs, melons, and other edible crops. In one verse, he tells how he dug out stinging nettles from a plot to establish his garden. Another deals with his love of gardening:

"A quiet life has many rewards; not least of these is the joy that Comes of devoting himself to a garden."

Individual herbs are profiled in some of the verses. He writes of the virtues of horehound, wormwood, mint, tansy, fennel, and rose. For him, roses were of great medicinal value:

"It colors the oil which bears its name. No man can say, No man remember, how many cures there are For Oil of Roses as a cure for mankind's