Humor doesn’t have a season, but I realized a few weeks ago I have established a new habit (or maybe it’s an escape) of heading to my gardening bookshelves and pulling out the humorous books to page through.

It’s the time of year that my mind and brain need some housecleaning before I go into the mode of organized thoughts and schedules.

So, if you need an escape route other than a good mystery, I’m here for you with some garden humor and musings.

“The Quotable Gardener,” edited by Charles Elliott, is a wonderful collection of wisdom, insight and humor. The selections range from 10th-century Japanese court lady Sei Shonagon through Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Whitman and Prince Charles:

“Few lend (but fools)

Their working tools.”

— Thomas Tusser (1557)

“What do gardeners do in winter? They accumulate fat.”

— Geoffrey Charlesworth (1988)

“The gardener’s autumn begins in March, with the first faded snowdrop.”

— Karel Capek (1931)

“Gardening is an outlet for fanaticism, violence, love, and rationality without their worst side effects.”

— Geoffrey Charlesworth (1994)

“A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.”

— Michael Pollan (1991)

“Grass is hard and lumpy and damp, and full of dreadful black insects.”

— Oscar Wilde (1891)

“A cauliflower is a cabbage with a college education.”

— Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“To get the best results you must talk to your vegetables.”

— Prince Charles (1986)

“There is nothing very beautiful about the sunflower, but I am told that it bends towards the sun, which is strange and rather appealing.”

— Sei Shonagon (10th century)

In a more contemporary vein, Texas Bix Bender’s “Don’t Throw in the Trowel” is a favorite of mine. It’s a small book but with good giggles:

“In comparison, sometimes a garden can make the one you love seem almost easy to please.”

“Flowers and vegetables are mortal like us. Weeds never die.”

“Your garden in the spring is never as big as it was when you placed your seed catalog order.”

“Reading garden catalogs in the winter is like having cocktails in the evening: After one or two, your big plans begin to look feasible.”

“If weeds could think, they would have been on the moon long before Neil Armstrong.”

“A garden is a sublime lesson in the unity of humans and nature.”

“One who grows does not grow old.”

“Weeds are crack addicts. No matter how small the crack, there’s a weed that desperately wants it.”

My favorite definition of gardening comes from “A Gardeners Dictionary” by Henry Beard and Roy McKie.

• Gar-den-ing (n.) — The art of killing weeds and bugs to grow flowers and crops for animals and birds to eat.

• Furrow — Horizontal line on forehead of gardener. See Harrowing.

• Harrowing — Type of gardening experience that produces furrows.

• Ornamental — A shrub, bush or small tree that is transplanted at least twice in any calendar year.

• Path — In most gardens, the shortest distance between two eyesores.

• Sucker — According to the American Botanical Association, gardening is growing rapidly in popularity, with a potential new amateur gardener being born every sixty seconds!

• Yard — 1. (penology) Dusty open area where hard labor is performed. 2. (horticulture) Dusty open area where hard labor is performed.

From the book titled “A Garden’s Blessings” by Lois Trigg Chaplin comes this thought:

“In the book of Genesis you need read no further than Eden to conclude that the outdoors is our natural home. It is ironic that we spend thousands of dollars on comforts for our air-conditioned abodes, and even cultivate plants indoors, but many of us don’t consider spending the same on the room just outside our door.”