Cut thistle in May,
They grow in a day.
Cut them in June,
That is too soon.
Cut them in July,
Then they will die.
I wonder what will happen if I cut the thistle in August? Will it be a bust? I’m going to find out this week.
Rhymes and poems have often been used to hand down wisdom through the ages.
How about this one?
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky in morning, sailor’s take warning!
Or…
Leaves of three, let it be.
Or…
When you hear the pigeon coo,
Watch out for birdie doo!
Or…
Take only pictures, leave only footprints.
What rhymes can you contribute to help us share wisdom and knowledge in the garden?
Oh, and I made up one of the rhymes above, can you tell which one?
I do know some rhymes to do with gardening and the weather but they are in Dutch.
Avondrood teder, morgen mooi weder.
Meaning that when the evening sky is a soft red, the next day we’ll have lovely weather.
Well today (and yesterday) we are finally having summer weather instead of autumn/winter. It has rained more than double the usual amount in July and we’re famous for our rainy weather even in summer, just like Britain.
Carol, I’ve never heard the one about the pidgeon coo. Is that the one you made up?
How about…
If it’s yellow, let it mellow
If it’s brown, flush it down
Oh wait, does it have to be about gardening? 🙂
The other day I was trying to decide a better way to accomplish something and a little rhyme came to mind: what to do, what to do. I looked that up on the net and came up with this also. It might indicate a need for learning to compost! That’s what I thought when I read it.
SARAH CYNTHIA SYLVIA STOUT – by Shelley Silverstein @
(http://doubledeckerbuses.org/blog/index.php/2006/07/09/and_now_some_poetry)
I’ve heard three of these before but never heard the one about the pidgeon, so it must be yours. Cute.
Your poem sounds like you’ve had a bad experience or two, Carol!
To make it work in my garden, I’d need your permission to substitute ‘White-Wing Dove’ for ‘pigeon’.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Yolanda Elizabet… I guess the Dutch rhymes don’t translate well into English, but I bet we have many simliar rhymes for the same “wisdom”.
Eleanor… Yep, I made up the one about the pigeon, clever, huh?
Anthony… Well the idea was to come up with rhymes about the garden, but yours is good, too.
Dell(ms.native)… Yes, it might speak to a need to compost.
Robin’s Nesting Place… Yes, the pigeon one is the made up one. I guess it was pretty obvious?
Annie in Austin… Actually, I haven’t personally had a bad experience, but know some people who have. You may change that saying however you’d like for your garden! And I bet you are thinking of a few new rhymes of wisdom to add.
Thanks all for the comments and kind words!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens
is it really true that i could have pulled that weed in july to get rid of it for good? very informative! I like!
When the dew is on the grass
Rain will never come to pass.
Supposedly there’s some scientific validity to this one, but I couldn’t tell you what it is…I was an English major…
I can’t think of any garden rhymes so how about this:
What kind of socks does a gardener wear?
Garden hose.
One of my neighbors in Illinois used to say this when planting flowers:
“Yellow and Pink
Make a Stink!”
[I’m just reporting here – it’s not MY rhyme]
Annie
Gina… I don’t know if it is true, but I guess we’ll find out.
David in Greensboro, NC… I’ll have to think about that rhyme, I haven’t heard it before.
LostRoses… Funny! Have you heard that you can lead a ho to culture but you can’t make her think?
Annie in Austin… Hmmm, wonder wear that one comes from?
Carol at May Dreams Gardens