Hm... I don't know about specific scenes... but I sometimes think of Anne of Green Gables and the other works by L.M.Montgomery. She had a real appreciation for nature and was an avid gardener herself. Her descriptions of gardens are lovely, and I'd be hard pressed to think of just *one* favorite-- but if I had to, I'd choose Hester Gray's garden, in Anne of Avonlea. (Hester Gray died young in her own beautiful garden, with her arms full of her own sweet roses. When Anne and her friends find it, the garden has long been neglected, but they can still trace her handiwork.) I like to think of future generations maybe stumbling across the remnants of my own little garden.

Oh, and also the scene in Jane Eyre when Jane and Mr. Rochester first confess their love... sitting in the garden... I love the entire novel, and that scene in particular is so beautiful, despite the sense of forboding that runs throughout it.

Gene Statton Porter's "Girl of the Limberlost" was one of those childhood books for me. Her love of nature and wildlife were inspirational for me then. I was thrilled to learn that a woman could be a natualist. I especially remember some of the parts about moths.

I love Girl of the Limberlost! I still occasionaly read it.
Also, all the Little House books are so wonderful. Gardening, cooking, decorating are so easy compared to back then.

Oh, my, I'd forgotten all about Girl of the Limberlost! And the Little House books held a great deal of fascination for me - I liked the "grow-your-own", simple life feel of them. And then there's Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass - wouldn't it be great to have a chess board garden with topiary chess pieces?
From Through the LG, the Garden of Live Flowers:

"O Tiger-lily," said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, "I wish you could talk!"
"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily: "when there's anybody worth talking to."
Alice was so astonished that she couldn't speak for a minute: it quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice -- almost in a whisper. "And can all the flowers talk?"
"As well as you can," said the Tiger-lily. "And a great deal louder."

Isn't that the truth.

Wendy

How about "The Lord of the Rings", with its wonderful descriptions of Rivendell, Lothlorien, the Shire and Fangorn Forest? I especially love the end, when Sam returned the Shire to its former glory, using his gift from Galadriel.

Great passages in the Ordinary Princess by M. Kaye where she escapes from her castle bedroom by climbing down ancient wisteria branches and where she goes frolicking in the woods. And the scene when she is in another kingdom disguised as a kitchen maid showing the Man-of-all-work (really the prince--but she doesn't know it) her favorite spot in the woods where they have picnics. Great woodland desciptions. We read it in our mother-daughter bookclub with our second grade daughters and they all loved it!

The Burgess Flower Book For Children(Thorton W. Burgess). Out of Print.I have a 1923 edition
Dedicated to:"...the awakening in children of love for our wildflowers in their native habitats..."
priceless stories...

Living in the deep south some of the garden scenes I remember from childhood reading that struck a note with me are rather....uh.....southern gothic I guess. Lots of little details from The Bad Seed stuck with me for instance. In the seventies I read Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" and was very taken with her descriptions of the various plants and atmospheres one encounters down here. I never read The Secret Garden when I was little, I did read Turn of the Screw though, what a surrealistic landscape!

An Episode of Sparrows
by Rumer Godden

I can't remember the book, though i wish i could. It had an illustration of a beautiful cottage garden with a rabbit, who had her own charming little house in the garden. The picture enchanted me, and I often recall it as i work in the garden, esp. when i'm joined by my rabbit.

Does this ring a bell with anyone?

I just ordered "A Girl of the Limberlost" based on the comments here, thanks all. Somehow I didn't read it as a kid and I'm really looking forward to it.

This isn't specifically garden-related but I have the best memories of the "Boxcar Children" books. I don't have any to re-read but I think I might seek them out. Don't know if I'll be as impressed with them as an adult but they sure made an impression on me as a child.

Sorry ocbird, I don't know which one you are referring to. Sounds cute, though!