First and Last

My garden is a melody that's sweetly sung in tune.

 first Queen of Sweden

My garden is the Mary Rose that's newly sprung in June.

 first Mary Rose

Ye flowery banks, how can ye blume sae fair?

 first Winchester Cathedral

So fair art thou in spite of winter's blare.

 first Julia Child

So, in defiance I shall grow thee in the sun,

first pumpkin plant

While the shifting sands o' life still sweetly run,

first lavender and aster

And the sultry suns of summer fame

first coneflower

Ripen berries to their fleeting flame.

first strawberry

* * *

With bending joints and drooping heads

The flowers begin to fail.

last peony

The colours sicken and fade to dead
And all grows wan and pale.

 last anemone

The garden

              will make a man forget his woe;

              will heighten all his joy;

              will make the widow's heart to sing,

              tho' the tear were in her eye.

borrowed from Burns