Wednesday 7 July 2010

Gardenia jasminoides


After all the things that I wrote in praise of orchids below, I should just add that Gardenia jasminoides, with its gloriously scented, waxy blooms, can never really be bettered as a buttonhole flower: for morning, noon or night...The pugnacious Herbert Buckmaster, founder of Buck's Club, sometime husband of actress Gladys Cooper and grandfather of the late broadcaster, writer and critic Sheridan Morley, was so fond of them that he bought his second wife, Nelly, a flower shop, next to the club (where they lived), so that he would have a constant supply. That's what I call dedication. If you follow his excellent example in choosing this as a buttonhole, keep a couple of leaves on the stalk.

1 comment:

  1. We've a gardenia bush in the backyard. Somehow I walk by it each day without thinking to pluck a bloom for my lapel. Never again.

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