(September 29, 1920 – May 14, 2008).
Raised in a Yorkshire, England mining village, Geoffrey Charlesworth won a scholarship to Cambridge University from where he was recruited by Alan Turing to join the war time code breakers at Bletchley Park. There he met Norman Singer and formed partnership that lasted almost 60 years until Norman’s death in 2001. After a short time teaching in Egypt, Geoffrey immigrated to the USA where he made a 30 year career in teaching mathematics (receiving an Excellence in Teaching award in 1960) and in administration at Hofstra University. On Long Island, Geoffrey developed an interest in rock gardening that was to become a life-time love, shared with Norman. After buying a summer home in Sandisfield in 1968, they joined the Connecticut chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS).
Geoffrey Charlesworth. Photo: Pam Johnson – awaytogarden.com
Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of his instruments, not the composer.
Meaning: The quote plays beautifully with a musical metaphor. Spring is the composer—it determines the score, the tempo, the melody. The gardener is merely one of the instruments in that orchestra: he performs, but does not create. No matter how hard a gardener works or plants, spring does its own irresistible thing—loud and unequivocal. It is a humble but also liberating thought: nature has its own will, and the gardener is better off submitting to it than resisting it. It aligns nicely with Charlesworth’s character as a rock garden enthusiast and mathematician: precise, honest, and with a healthy sense of the limits of human control over nature. Author:Geoffrey B. Charlesworth was a mathematics professor educated at Cambridge. He grew up in Yorkshire, England, and was a prominent figure in the North American Rock Garden Society. Together with his life partner Norman Singer—with whom he was together for nearly 60 years—he founded the local Berkshire chapter of NARGS in Massachusetts. Charlesworth passed away in the spring of 2008. Source: The quote is by Geoffrey B. Charlesworth: “Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.” The quote comes from his book “The Opinionated Gardener: Random Offshoots From an Alpine Garden,” which he wrote in the late 1980s. It is considered a collector’s item for every garden enthusiast.
Door Pieter
Mensenmens, zoon, echtgenoot, vader, opa.
Spiritueel, echter niet religieus.
Ik hou van golf, wandelen, lezen en de natuur in veel opzichten.
Onderzoeker, nieuwsgierig, geen fan van de mainstream media (MSM).
