Will the Shake

That’s how the late great Hoss dubbed the Bard. William Shakespeare really knew how to celebrate nature and his plays are liberally spattered with herbs and flowers and the trees he lived among. In The Shakespearian Gardens Dr Levi Fox names the trees in Shakespeare’s Birthplace garden and the associated quotes. I wish I had read it before visiting them in Stratford some years ago.

Apple Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is

before ‘tis a peascod, or a codling when ‘tis almost an apple

Twelfth Night 1,5

Cedar As upright as the cedar

Love’s Labour’s Lost 1V,3

Cherry ‘Tis as like you – as cherry is to cherry

King Henry V111, V, 1

Hawthorn There’s a man hangs odes upon hawthorns and elegies on brambles.

As you like it 111, 2

Medlar They would have married me to a rotten medlar.

Measure for Measure. 1V, 3

Nut Sweetest nut hath sourest rind, such a nut is Rosalind.

As you Like It. 111, 2

Plum The mellow plum doth fall, the green sticks fast, or, being early pluck’d,

is sour to taste.

Venus and Adonis

Oak The worthy fellow is our general; he’s the rock, the oak, not to be

wind-shaken.

All these trees and more are in The Birthplace Garden. Anne Hathaway’s Cottage Garden was quite delightful.

This garden has a world of pleaure in’t. What flower is this?

The Two Noble Kinsmen

Have you got a favourite quote from Shakespeare? It doesn’t have to be related to flowers or trees?

Here’s one I love –

There’s rosemary , that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember…

Hamlet, 1V, 5