"Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow." - The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Occurring at the end of a musing about the individual power of actively pushing out negative thoughts, this quote represents one of the main motifs of The Secret Garden, that happiness breeds happiness and misery breeds misery. One must actively encourage their happy thoughts to cultivate happiness.
The literal meaning of this quote is that two things can't grow in the same place at the same time*, but with the relevant contextual information the metaphor is made clear: the rose, a delicate flower with pretty colours, in many cultures associated with love, represents the "good thoughts", while the thistle, a prickly weed**, is a metaphor for the "bad thoughts".
Of course, being The Secret Garden, this message is conveyed through natural imagery. The almost-personification of these thoughts as plants that need tending emphasises the need to "think with intent", while passively contributing to ideas of growth and development. This isn't the only time that characters' feelings are discussed through the natural world, and each time adds to the sense of the relationship between the landscape and one's own mental and physical wellbeing***.
This quote also enhances the characterisation of Colin, the one to whom the discussion relates, as the rose is a motif strongly associated with his late mother, Lilias Craven. As Colin is coming closer and closer to, and more involved with, the garden, so does he with the memory of his mother, who began the "Secret Garden". This foreshadows his eventual reconciliation with his father. There is a subtle yet pervasive theme of family in this quote.
*which already expresses the meaning of the message - if you encourage (or "tend") the "good things" there won't be any room for the "bad things" to grow.
**but remember that roses have thorns, too - important detail or to be overlooked and overpowered by the beauty of the flower? Discuss below.
***this itself also suggests a sort of "internal garden", as the characters see everything through a horticultural lens. Perhaps there is a message here about seeing beauty in everything?
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