Showman, designer, and mobile gardener Simple bids farewell (kind of) to his wonderland before moving on to his next adventure in grow and glow.

I am impressed by those who love their gardens. I like all sorts and have shamelessly cribbed from many. I admire

John Lennon named his final album for a freesia, a rare cultivar he encountered in a Bermuda garden.

After more than three mysterious years— childrearing? shooting junk? trying ultra-seclusion after decades of percolation through the public nervous system? – John Lennon was emerging in late

Wolfgang Laib paints with pollen in Sydney, Australia.

The yellow rectangle, radiant but soft around the edges, is reminiscent of Mark Rothko’s pulsing paintings of the 1950s. But this piece is ultra contemporary, made from freshly gathered tree pollen.

Wolfgang Laib’s Pollen from Pine and

The national flower of Jamaica has become a rarity, and its loss needs a new, tougher generation of conservationists.

Hartley Neita’s editorial in the Jamaica Gleaner (January 14, 2006) strikes the conservationists’ dissonant chord: one note of lamentation and three of alarm.

Neita writes that

“… subtly ginger-like scent… a sweet and sour, piquant flavor with citrus-forward nuances .” Who could ask for more? What more IS there?

If you’d care to spend this afternoon in an Asian market and concocting a tangy alternative to roast chicken for dinner, consider

Who wants a flower that looks like a human organ?

There’s a fine line between magnificent and hideous. Steering clear of cultural minefields like the papacy, breast augmentation and John Wayne, we turn to Celosia argenta var. cristata . Garish and fuzzy, it hardly looks