What is it about these slow growing plants that we find fascinating to
the extent of changing our behavior and reducing our autonomy? Is it their
epiphytic independence from soil and the necessity of being rooted in the
garden that provides them with an air of mobility and independence that
robs us of ours? Or is it their marvelous flowers and exotic scents that
gradually seduce us into surrendering our mobility

Let's put it this way. At our society's show in March, as I watched people
leave with arms full of as many orchids they could carry, I remarked to a
friend that I'd never seen anyone go so quite so soft-headed over rose
bushes!