I am glad you addressed this issue :-) As for garden rules:

I get so weary when shoppers come in to buy plants for their beds because they think the planting rules are cut in stone. No, one does not have to plant things in threes. That was a helpful suggestion, not the eleventh commandment.

No, just because something is a HOUSEPLANT does not mean you cannot stick it directly into the ground! Where the lleh do you think they grew before humans invented houses? One of the loveliest designs I did for a hillside was to mass plant airplane plants as a ground cover.

On other issues:

Yes, you can serve vichycoise hot, it's called cream of leek soup.

Yes, you can wear white suits in winter. I had a winter white Liz Claiborne wool suit and it was to die for until the moths found it.

When I hit forty was when I let my hair grow. It's shorter now, at shoulder length than I've worn it in a decade and a half, but I'm letting it grow out again. Why? It's easier to care for. Ditto bikinis. Age is a moot point. I know teenagers who shouldn't wear them. I got away with it until forty five before I retired mine.

And there is nothing wrong with spagehetti for breakfast. Who "invented" breakfast food anyway?

And every planted container must contain a "spike" for height and some varigated vinca for interest.
And no dotted Swiss nor voile after August first.
I also find that perennials are good in pots...I currently have some lamiun pink Nancy dripping out of a pot of yellow pansys.
Linda C

LOL! I was thinking about the wearing white rule this morning, although I hate white shoes and hardly ever wear them. However, hearing my mother's voice in my head (which happens all to often) I still refrain from white cotton slacks or dresses until Memorial Day (Suzy, wool winter white suits are an exception to the rule).

As for garden rules, there are very few that I follow.

Like Andie, I don't like white shoes and don't even own any. But I did wear a white skirt about two weeks ago on a hot day. However, the fashion police did not give me a ticket.

Yes, marda, I recall all those rules and I am glad to say that most of them have gone by the wayside in contemporary times. I even remember when women wore hats and gloves to go out and even young women wore "garments"--yes, I have been around that long. I wear my hair short not because of my age but because I have hair like cornsilk and when it gets long it turns to strings, so short it has to be. I wish I did have hair that I could refer to as "tresses." LOL!

And young unmarried girls didn't wear diamonds...pearls or colored birthstones were considered more appropriate. And sweaters were supposed to hang loosely enough that they didn't hug your bosom (I started to type 'boobs' but that wasn't a nice word!).

I read once that throughout history most of feminine fashions originated with the ladies of the evening (now there's another handy euphemism): Cosmetics and perfumes and long painted nails, high heels, oversize jewelry and hairdos, satins and lace and sheer fabrics for clothing, lowcut dresses, even bright colors in clothing. First entertainers or actresses adopted them and then the wealthy society ladies.

Makes sense today too as most fashions seem to start on the street or in entertainment circles and then designers kick it up a notch. By the time faded torn jeans or whatever reach Bloomingdales the kids have gone on to something else. Look how tattoos have gone almost mainstream! And earstuds on men are nothing unusual. I'm just waiting to see a CNN anchor with a pierced lip! josh

Goodness knows it was hot enough for white this weekend. As far as gardening rules, do you all remember a thread entitled:"Managerial Gardening" that was posted about 5 years ago? If I recall, the poster was thrilled about applying business management techniques to gardening. We all politely disagreed,lol, but she indicated that our difference of opinion was due to us being bafoons.

My hair is ridiculously long right now. I'm not sure if I've been horribly lazy or if I'm really serious about getting a perm. By the way, does anyone know what "they" say about the perm rule these days? Are they in? Or out?

My hair is easier to deal with long because of my work as well. Ponytails allow you to constantly adjust keeping you hair out of the way. I suppose a very short hair cut would do the same.

I'm looking into getting a very basic, no frills bike. Yes I want a basket on the front. With flowers preferably. Yes I want handle tassels and a bell or a horn. I too believe I will wear a calf length sundress as I ride. Exactly how many rules will I be breaking?
~di

My hairdresser doesn't do perms. She says they ruin your hair. Come to think of it,I don't know anyone who gets them anymore. You have such great hair just about anything would look good on you.

I keep remembering "rules." One doesn't wear diamonds in the daytime. And young girls don't wear black (and who pays attention to that anymore?).

My favorite garden rule was Ruth Ann's 3" rule. Sh planted everything only three inches apart to give her garden instant fullness. This sounded like a good idea at the time until I had plants falling all over themselves.

The only rule I really remember about dressing is the one about not wearing white shoes before Memorial Day, which made no sense at all because all the ladies always wore white shoes and gloves with their Easter finery. While I know I wore a dressy hat and neat gloves whenever I went out, from the time I was a very young lady until I left Ma Bell, I don't remember *when* the change to bare heads took place. It must have been sometime during the mid '60s, because in '69 I had to buy a hat to wear during a specific function, and afterwards that very expensive chapeau sat on the closet shelf, unworn for another 2 decades. When I was young, the only rule that was consistently cited to me concerned wearing jeans or trousers 'in public'... that it "just wasn't ladylike." Funny thing is, by the time those scolds were leaning over me and waving their fingers in my face, I already knew that being a Lady or being a Gentleman had nothing at all to do with what you wore and everything to do with how you behaved. I like to think that I behaved very well, never once biting a finger poking into my face.

no problem observing the "white shoes/pants/skirts" rule here:

I never wear white on anything to which I do not wish to call attention (or anything upon which I do not wish to spill tea or spaghetti sauce)!

I seem to remember Mae West's remark about not wearing diamonds in the daytime. She thought it was made by ladies who did not have any!

I'm with Sylvia. I never wear white. It is ruined instantly. I think I shall go to all coffee and chocolate covered clothes.

I hate white clothes but somehow tend to have lots of white or off-white shirts/blouses.

They are switched from the "good" clothes closet to the "junk-around-the-house" closet depending on where the stains are...and usually the first time they are worn.

For those of you that 'know' me, I tend to live 'outside the box.'
If it feels good, I feel good in it, I wear it.

I remember the hat and slacks rule in church when I was a kid.
Another church rule I remember was that ladies/older girls had to have sleeves...nothing sleeveless in church.

I wear sandals year round.
Very, very rarely white ones though as I hate to clean them every time I wear them.

One of Mama's rules that I still hear in my head:
"One only wears jeans when they are field hands or too poor to afford any better."
I can count on two fingers the pair of jeans I have had in my 54 years of life.

As for garden rules:
I have a 'stick-it' garden.
Where ever there's a hole, that's where I stick it.

I wear white mens med V neck t's year round under my sweatshirts in winter and while at home during the summer. As for shoes most tennies are white. Funny how thngs change.
When I went to San Fransico last month I thought I have no city clothes, so I wore tie dye and jeans. Looked better than most. lol

I remember the hats and gloves rules, and young unmarried women couldn't wear "flashy" clothes.
When I was sixteen or so a woman in my apartment building gave me a brand-new pair of red pumps, they didn't fit her just so. I was very happy, shoes were not available in war-time, except for lots of money on the black market. My mother frowned, said "you can't wear these shoes, tacky, tacky" and took them away from me. They were really too large for her, dear Mama had very small feet, but she managed to work out a trade with a shoe-maker somehow and ended with a well fitting pair of great shoes.
I did not think this was nice.

Shoot, any color I wear gets stains down the front.
It seems as though i'm always wearing my meals. I'm
looking for a line of plastic clothes. Something so the
food and drinks just slide right off but then i'd have to
worry about my shoes and feet. I can just see me in my
plastic t-shirt and pants with food all over my feet.:0)

I sometimes sleep in big oversize white t-shirts, I buy
them in pkgs from Sam's. I wear them in the garden to work
in. They do get awfully dirty but they can be bleached.

I remember hats and gloves and rules about what to wear
when. The gloves came in handy when I decided to dye my
hair black and not only had black hair but matching hands.
I couldn't get the dye off my hands so I ended up having
to dress up every where I went so I could wear gloves.
Lord I was embarassed.

At this stage of my life I just throw caution to the wind
and wear whatever the heck I want to. I used to be one of
those everything had to match down to my jewelry kind of
woman. Now if I can just remember to get dressed before
going out it's a good thing and you can forget about the
jewelry.

Wanda, the Texas Forum once decided that there are 2 kinds of gardeners, planners & plunkers.

They even came up with a group, Plunkards Anonymous, but there were a couple of problems:

1. Nobody could think of 12 steps.
2. For the system to work, the person has to really want to recover!

Sylvia,

How funny.
I really do start with a plan.
I promise.
I even have the plans on graph paper with little circles where trees are to go, little marks for rocks, etc.

But, then there is a plant that is SCREAMING for me to take it home.
I am such a push-over.
For instance, went to the Master Gardener Annual Picnic Saturday.
We always have a plant swap.
I didn't take any plants because I was NOT going to bring any home.
Well, at the end of the evening there were a couple dozen that had been left behind, bless their hearts.
So...
Now I have to find about a dozen more holes to stick the new ones.

I know what you mean. I am having a bunch of people here for brunch on Thursday and needed a couple of small houseplants to set here and there on the porch. Well...I came home with no houseplants but two Snow Storm spireas and a ninebark. Why did I do that and where in the heck am I going to put them?

Marda,

Run on down to my house.

I have some beautiful dwarf banana pups that don't get but about 16-18 inches tall.

Also, some bromeliads that I've divided.

Some hen and chicks...make up real cute tucked inside a piece of veggie with a little moss nest.

Give me an hour notice where I can make a path through the house.

I was actually grateful that I missed two gigantic plant sales this spring, as my eyes are always way too big for my trowel. My problem is that I never end up buying something small. I always glom onto a big bush or a tree. Right now I've got 3 altheas, two hydrangeas, a redbud,a Chinese fringe tree, a vitex and a couple of roses living in pots because I haven't gotten around to making a space big enough on our property for them to be happy.