In Praise of the Ugly Ducklings (... which will never grow up to be swans)

摘要

Okay, I must begin this article with a confession: there is nothing in this article about ducklings... in fact, the closest I will come to ducklings is a hairless cat.Have I lost you? Let me slow down and begin with my inspiration for writing this piece.One of my prized African violets, 'Senk's Long Legs,' had developed an interesting growth habit. It is a standard trailer, but I hadn't gotten around to removing the crown. In the meantime, it had happily bloomed and following that, the petioles on the bloom stalks had continued to grow and developed into complete crowns. A few weeks ago, I brought it to a meeting as an interesting specimen for discussion, and I was amazed by the division of opinions amongst those who saw it since people either loved or hated it... well, mostly hated it.