Valentine gifts for gardeners 2023 – Top 10 Valentines quotations for your sundial this year
Finding the perfect gift for your gardening beloved is a tricky business. A horizontal sundial engraved with a few thoughtful words makes a very personal present that will last a life time. Hoever deciding what to say can be hard, so we at Border Sundials we have composed a list of our top 10 quotations about love to give you some inspiration.
The History of Valentines Day
The idea of sending cards and gifts on Valentines Day goes way back to the 3rd century. St Valentine is reported to have been martyred on 14th February, for illegally officiating the marriages of young Roman soldiers, just before his execution he sent a letter to his lover signing off ‘your Valentine’
St.Valentines Day later became melded with pagan traditions of early spring, the mating season and ideas of romance. The custom of sending messages and gifts gradually became established. The first to write about Valentines day as a day of romantic celebration was the poet Geoffrey Chaucer “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul (fool) cometh ther to choose his mate.” Parliament of Foules 1375
The earliest surviving Valentines card dates from 1415 and was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. The Card is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England. In the UK, Valentine’s Day saw increasing popularity the 17th century with the notions of courtly love and by the middle of the 18th century it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange tokens of love and handwritten notes.
By 1900 due to developments in the printing press mass produced cards began to replace written letters. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in an era when it was hard to express of one’s feelings directly. Cheap and efficient postal systems also contributed the increasing popularity of sending Valentine’s Day messages and gifts.
Reportedly 145 million Valentines cards, love tokens and gifts are now sent each year. The tricky bit for the sender is what to say in these missives? At Border Sundials we have been thinking long and hard about this and we have made a short list of our top 10 Valentines Messages for you to quote to your loved one this year 2023. Or why not engrave one on a sundial? A perfect Valentines gift for your special someone who loves gardening.
Valentine Quotations
If I had a flower for every time I thought of you… I could walk through my garden forever.
Alfred Tennyson
In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine. Maya Angelou
You are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing. E.E. Cummings
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
My night has become a sunny dawn because of you. Ibn Abbad
Yours is the light by which my spirit’s born: yours is the darkness of my soul’s return–you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars. E. E. Cummings
I love you and that’s the beginning and end of everything. F. Scott Fitzgerald
If I know what love is, it is because of you. Hermann Hesse
It’s always better when we’re together. Jack Johnson
Thinking of you keeps me awake. Dreaming of you keeps me asleep. Being with you keeps me alive. Unknown
