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GARDENING

“I must always have flowers.”

—Claude Monet (1840-1926), French artist and gardener

Small Talk

You can always start a friendly conversation by complimenting neighbors on their gardens. Let’s practice chatting about flowers, plants, and gardening.

1. Do you like flowers? Which ones?

2. What is your favorite flower? Why? Can you describe it?

3. Which flowers have you ever given, or received, as a gift?

4. Can you describe a beautiful garden you’ve seen?

5. Have you ever visited a famous or special garden? Where? When?

6. Have you ever nurtured a flower garden? Pruned a bush? Where?

7. What kinds of flowers were in your garden? Your home?

8. Do you grow flowers, herbs, fruits, or vegetables now? Which ones?

9. Are there others you would like to grow? Which ones?

10. What tasks do you enjoy doing in a garden?

11. What do you dislike about working in a garden?

12. What is a weed? Do gardeners need to weed a lot? Why?

13. Are there flowers that grow readily where you live now that are rare in your native country? Which ones? Why?

14. Are certain flowers associated with special occasions, like weddings, holidays, or funerals in your country of origin?

15. Have you ever visited a scent garden? Where? When?

16. What flowers and herbs might be found in a scent garden?

17. Do you usually use herbs when preparing traditional dishes? Which ones?

18. Have you ever heard of a plant being used to help cure an illness? Which plants? What were they used for?

19. Have you ever heard of plants being used to help one’s love life? Which plants? Are there flowers traditionally given to lovers?

Vocabulary

Choose four words that you know and create a question for each.

rare | herb | tasks | plant | weed | scarce

scent | widespread | export | hobby

Proverbs

Read the common sayings and proverbs below. Can you add two more?

He who plants a garden, plants happiness. —Chinese

As is the gardener, so is the garden. —Hebrew

The lotus springs from the mud. —Chinese

A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever. —English

Sow soy beans, and you will reap soy beans; sow red beans and you will reap red beans. —Korean

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

The Conversation Continues

1. Have you ever grown vegetables or fruits for your own use? When? Where?

2. Which vegetables or fruits did you have in your garden? Where did you get them?

3. What did you like about growing your own produce?

4. What did you dislike about cultivating vegetables and fruits?

5. What were “victory gardens” in World War II? How did they help win the war?

6. Does your native country export flowers, herbs, vegetables, or fruits? Which?

7. What are some differences in climate between your native country and here?

8. Is water scarce in your native country? Is water expensive?

9. What are some drought-resistant plants?

10. What are some famous gardens in the world today?

11. What are some of the differences in tools and work practices in gardens between what are commonly used in your country of origin and here?

12. What are some famous gardens from religion, history, and myth? Which would you most like to visit?

13. If you had unlimited money and were able to have the garden of your dreams, would you garden yourself or would you hire others to do it? Why?

14. What makes a good gardener? Which character traits might help?

15. How does gardening as a hobby help people develop a positive outlook?

Discussing Quotations

With your conversation partner(s) or on your own, read the following quotations out loud. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why? Explain your reasons.

1. “As you sow, so shall you reap.”

—Bible, Galatians

2. “We must cultivate our own garden.”

—Francois Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer

3. “People who think they can run the earth should begin with a small garden.”

—Evan Esar (1899-1995), humorist and columnist

4. “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth and no culture comparable to that of the garden.”

—Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), statesman, architect

5. “You can pick all the flowers, but you cannot stop the spring.”

—Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), Chilean poet

6. “A weed is no more than a flower in disguise, Which is seen through at once, if love give a man eyes.”

—James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, diplomat

7. “I don’t accept flowers. I take nothing perishable.”

—Paulette Goddard (1910-1990), actress

8. “A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”

—William Blake (1757-1827), English poet and painter

9. “If a tree dies, plant another in its place.”

—Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist

10. “The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.”

—George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright

11. “Life is not a puzzle to be solved, but a garden to be nurtured and enjoyed.”

—Toni Aberson (1937-), teacher and gardener

12. “When I go into my garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health, that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), author and essayist

13. “If we could be understand a single flower we might know who we are and what the world is.”

—Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), Argentinian writer

On Your Own

Learn the English name for three flowers that you find pretty.