Smoking – the ultimate exercise in short-term pleasure, long-term pain. Or so I thought. No, I haven’t taken up the fags but I might’ve been tempted back in the 1930s. Back then, cancer sticks came with trading cards included – and I’m not talking about sets of crappy Australian cricketers or V8 supercars, no, no. The trading cards I found a couple of weekends ago feature a variety of flowers, with pertinent factoids and gardening tips on the backs of the cards.
Thus I have learnt, for instance, that the Anemone Japonica “requires no staking”, while the Michaelmas daisy is “best planted in February”. Nemesias, meanwhile “look delightful against a dark background such as a yew hedge”. We’re a bit short on yew hedges round here but I could probably fashion something similar from a couple of bent paperclips.
