People have always created gardens. Once a link to the divine, gardens have been celebrated for centuries by painters, sculptors, poets, and novelists from all parts of the world. This marvelous collection of prose and images explores gardens from many angles—capturing their sensual, spiritual, aesthetic, social, and even political dimensions. Writers as varied as Pliny the Younger, Homer, Ji Cheng, Boccaccio, A. A. Milne, Colette, Willa Cather, Tom Stoppard, Joy Kogawa, W. O. Mitchell, and Jamaica Kincaid evoke the garden in its many incarnations, sometimes lightheartedly, sometimes wittily, sometimes expressing regret or sorrow.   Whether the gardens are portrayed as a source of sustenance, a showpiece, a place to wrestle down weeds, a bower filled with ghosts, or simply an excuse to spend time in the outdoors, the essays and artwork in this beautiful book will delight readers who appreciate carving out a spot for themselves from the natural world.