When I popped blooms into the test tubes of one of the stands we had for sale today at our open garden, it made me think straight away of ‘three little maids from school’. The original picking was of three different calendula – Indian Prince, Sunset Buff and Snow Princess – but the latter two were looking a little fraught after a day in the sun, so for my IAVOM contribution I replaced them with more Indian Princes, in a move that made me think of some oriental magic show, transforming Indian princes into schoolgirls (or maybe it is the other way round?). The schoolgirls are certainly of the undisciplined sort, refusing to stand up straight and smile for the camera.