ABSTRACT
To understand public administration as gardening is to know that it is all about the garden, not the gardener. In the long run, the patient public administration gardener will, working with the resources at hand, plan, adapt, guide and nurture processes of genuine and lasting institutional change. Our best gardeners will pay attention to the soil, the water, the seeds, the climate, and know when to prune, to plan, to plant, and to cultivate.
