A Winter Garden

George Granville, Lord Lansdowne (1666-1735)
‘Written in a Garden in the North’

What Charm is this, that in the midst of Snow,
Of Storms, and Blasts, the choicest fruits do grow?
Melons on Beds of Ice are taught to bear,
And Strangers to the Sun, yet ripen here:
On frozen Ground the sweetest Flowers arise,
Unseen by any Light, but Flavia’s eyes:
Where-e’er she treads, beneath the Charmer’s Feet
The Rose, the Jas’min, and the Lilies meet:
Where-e’er she looks, behold some sudden Birth
Adorns the Trees, and fructifies the Earth:
In midst of Mountains, and unfruitful Ground,
As rich an Eden as the first is found,  
In this new Paradise she reigns in State
With Sov’reign Pride, disdainful of a Mate,  
Like the first Charmer fair, but not so frail,
Against whose Virtue all Temptations fail:
Beneath those Beams that scorch us from her Eyes,
Her snowy Bosom still unmelted lyes;
Love from her Lips spreads all his Odours round,
But bears on Ice, and springs from frozen Ground.  
   So cold the Clime that can such wonders bear,
   The Garden seems an emblem of the Fair.

George Granville, Lord Lansdowne, Poems Upon Several Occassions, 3rd ed. (London: Printed for J. Tonson, 1721), p. 37.

Gardens In Utopia

St Thomas More (1478-1535), Utopia, ed. & trans. by Edward Surtz, S.J. & J.H. Hexter. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965; first pub. 1516 [The Complete Works of St. Thomas More, Volume 4]), p. 120; p. 121:

Hos hortos magnifaciunt. in his uineas, fructus, herbas, flores habent. tanto nitore, cultuque, ut nihil fructuosius usquam uiderim, nihil elegantius. qua in re studium eorum, non ipsa uoluptas modo, sed uicorum quoque inuicem de suo cuiusque horti cultu certamen accendit. & certe modo aliud quicquam temere urbe tota reperias, siue ad usum ciuium, siue ad uoluptatem commodius. eoque nullius rei, quam huiusmodi hortorum, maiorem habuisse curam uidetur in qui condidit.
 
The Utopians are very fond of their gardens. In them they have vines, fruits, herbs, flowers, so well kept and flourishing that I never saw anything more fruitful and more tasteful anywhere. Their zest in keeping them is increased not merely by the pleasure afforded them but by the keen competition between blocks as to which will have the best kept garden. Certainly you cannot readily find anything in the whole city more productive of profit and pleasure to the citizens. There is nothing which their founder seems to have cared so much for as these gardens.

Jakob Grimmer (c. 1525-1592) - Allegory of Spring