For those wishing to create a more functional and less formal Shakespeare garden, in the style of the cottage or potager garden, here is a list of the fruits and vegetables mentioned in Shakespeare's works.
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| Kitchen garden at Hampton Court Palace |
Fruits
Apricots and Dewberries
"Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries,"
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III, Scene 1
"And laugh upon the apple of her eye."
- Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2
Apples
"And laugh upon the apple of her eye."
- Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2
Bilberries
"There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry."
- The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V, Scene 5
Blackberries
"If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries ... "
- Henry IV, Part 1, Act II, Scene 4
Cherries
"So we grow together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition;
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart."
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III, Scene 2
"Three pound of sugar, five pounds of currants, rice ..."
- The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 3
Currants
"Three pound of sugar, five pounds of currants, rice ..."
- The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 3
Dates and Quinces
"They call for dates and quinces in the pastry."
- Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, Scene 4
Figs
"O excellent! I love long life better than figs."
- Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, Scene 2
"as the malice of this age shapes them, are not worth a gooseberry."
- Henry IV, Part II, Act I, Scene 2
"Now humble as the ripest mulberry"
- Coriolanus, Act III, Scene 2
"I warrant they would whip me with their fine wits till I were as crest-fallen as a dried pear."
- Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, Scene 2
Gooseberries
"as the malice of this age shapes them, are not worth a gooseberry."
- Henry IV, Part II, Act I, Scene 2
Grapes
"O, will you eat no grapes, my royal fox?"
- All's Well That Ends Well, Act II, Scene 1
Lemons
"A lemon."
- Love's Labours Lost, Act V, Scene 2
Mullberries
"Now humble as the ripest mulberry"
- Coriolanus, Act III, Scene 2
Oranges
"The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor
well; but civil count, civil as an orange,"
well; but civil count, civil as an orange,"
- Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 1
Pears
"I warrant they would whip me with their fine wits till I were as crest-fallen as a dried pear."
- The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV, Scene 5
Plums
"Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons,
And made me climb, with danger of my life."
- Henry VI, Part II, Act II, Scene 1
"There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune."
- Henry IV, Part 1, Act III, Scene 3
"What rhubarb, cyme, or what purgative drug,
Would scour these English hence."
- Macbeth, Act V, Scene 3
Pomegranate
"Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree;
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale."
- Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene 5
Prunes
"There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune."
- Henry IV, Part 1, Act III, Scene 3
Rhubarb
"What rhubarb, cyme, or what purgative drug,
Would scour these English hence."
- Macbeth, Act V, Scene 3
Strawberries
"When I was last Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there
I do beseech you send for some of them."
- Richard III, Act III, Scene 4
Vegetables
Cabbage
"Good worts! Good cabbage."
- The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1, Scene 1
Lettuce
" so that if we will plant
nettles, or sow lettuce ..."
nettles, or sow lettuce ..."
- Othello, Act 1, Scene 3
Onions and Garlic
"And, most dear actors, eat no onions
nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I
do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy."
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act IV, Scene 2
- Henry IV, Part 1, Act II, Scene 1
Peas and Beans
"Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog"
Potatoes
"Let the sky rain potatoes"
- The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V, Scene 5
Squash
"as a squash is before 'tis a peascod"
- Twelfth Night, Act I, Scene 5