Q. I have a friend who is a serious gardener. I myself am reasonably keen but not in her league. Last year she gave me some rare plants. Unfortunately I didn’t plant them very carefully and they ended up dying. She lives some distance away and I felt quite safe pretending they had flourished. With any other gardener I would have had no compunction in admitting they had died but our relationship is complicated. She’s now asked to come and stay for a local wedding and I’m dreading her discovering the truth. What can I do, Mary?
– Name and address withheld
A. When she asks how the plants are doing say that they were seized on with rapture by a local rare plant specialist who has proper glasshouses and propagation facilities and who insisted on taking them away to ‘grow them on’. You are expecting sturdy versions to be delivered back to you any day.
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