“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would get in.”
– Mark Twain

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.”
– Bertrand Russell

“The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.”
– Harry Truman

READER ALERT!!!

Sadly, Agatha Christie is no longer with us, but Anthony Eglin is. A charming British expatriate whose Larkspur Company produced award-winning horticultural videos (and an award winning gardener himself) Tony has just had his first garden mystery novel published in these U.S. of A. You probably know that millions of dollars have been spent, unsuccessfully so far, to produce the world’s first truly blue rose. “The Blue Rose” (St. Martin’s Minotaur) is set in the English countryside that Tony knows so well, and tells of unforeseen events spinning dangerously out of control following the purchase a run-down property formerly owned by a rose hybridizer. While working on the wildly overgrown garden, a rose bush is discovered in full bloom with flowers of sapphire blue—something some people would kill for. This is a fun read and a different take on the traditional murder mystery genre. Tony’s second gardening mystery novel is due out sometime in 2005. Watch for it.

A STORY TO START THE NEW YEAR RIGHT

Dr. Chlorophyll is always on the lookout for effective, inexpensive, non-chemical treatments for rose disease, and a most novel method is described in the following story by Molly Hunt, Age 8, of Kentfield, CA, first published in American Rose magazine, dedicated to Moo Moo and Geeps:

"MY GRANDPARENTS’ GARDEN"

"My grandparents have a huge rose garden with over 400 roses! Wow! The garden is in Ross. The rose garden is pretty big! Before Moo Moo and Geeps planted all the roses, it was an orchard with raspberries, peach trees, apple trees and vegetables.
When Moo Moo and Geeps planted the roses, my mom and her sisters and brother had to say two Hail Marys when they watered the roses so they would know when to stop watering. They couldn’t say it fast, they had to say it ‘reverently’ to make sure the roses got enough water.

But one of the roses, Fragrant Cloud, had a disease, so every day my mom and her sisters would dress up as Holy Mary and would bring out a record player and sing for the rose. They went out three times a day and sang. And you know what? The rose survived.

I am happy my mom and her sisters sang to the rose. When I go to Moo Moo and Geeps rose garden, I love being surrounded by all of the beautiful roses and petals."

NANCY NON SEQUITUR

A true story from AccessPrint’s "Facts of Life" newsletter:
"Hungarian Jake Fen decided he could end his wife’s incessant nagging by pretending he had hanged himself in frustration. When she came home and saw him swinging on the elaborate harness he had built, she fainted. A neighbor who heard the disturbance came over, and finding what she thought were two corpses, took the opportunity to loot the place. As she was leaving, arms laden with the Fens’ belongings, the outraged and still hanging Mr. Fen kicked her stoutly in the backside, which so surprised the lady that she dropped dead of a heart attack. The Fens reconciled."