Who Knows How a Garden Grows?

Amelie gratefully accepts the cultivated plot of tomatoes that Mr. Boggs gives to them. "Thank you. I'll place them right here," the robot says.

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After cleaning up their fertilizer spill, they try again to finish the dandelions. Unfortunately, they end up accidentally stepping on one of the tomatoes they just planted! "Oh, bother," they sigh again, pausing their work to repair the damage they've done.

---

Timber watches where Amelie is putting the tomatoes with an approving nod. He whispers something to his cronies, his arms crossed and his leg thumping occasionally, before he notices Amelie step on one.

"Watch where you're going?" He cries. "Them's good tomatoes and all, and-"

He blinks, then taps a finger against his temple. The other rabbits turn, surprised by Timber's outburst cut short. They're used to him making a mountain out of a warren over anything, so seeing him pensive is so completely out of the normal. Eventually, as one of his cronies says "boss" in concern he snaps to.

"Now there's an idea."

"What's that?" Says one of the other rabbits, a sinking feeling growing.

"'Ow about I be the judge, let you know if what you're planing is right or not? Golden idea, right?"

"That's a splendid idea, Mr. Rabbit!" Mr. Boggs says "You know, I don't think I'd be a very good judge anyway. I'm more of a man of science than one who goes by gut feeling. Give me graphs and charts any day! But judging creativity and beauty, oh no. I have no clue what I'd be doing."

He strokes his chin contemplating. "Now, I feel like I do have to point out a small disadvantage for a rabbit in this scenario. You see with your low vantage point, it will be very tough to get a good and fair overview of the planted plots in this garden."

"Lets say for example" He grabs a packet of pumpkin seeds. "We were to plant the pumpkins here. Like this." He says, throwing some of the seeds down on the plot he's standing at. "Now, those will grow quite large and likely they will obscure the view to the dandelions behind for someone of you stature." He tells Timber. "How will you manage such things?"

"Ya all are being completely ridiculous," Iris the rabbit squints at Mr. Boggs and Timber and his cronies. "It's a *garden*, not some fancy art project which needs a gallery of high brow judges. It gotta grow carrots, what does it matter how pleasing it is to the eyes if it's a pain to maintain?"

"And here is where you're wrong, Mister Iris!" Sal triumphantly brandishes his towel, having just retrieved a bag of rutabaga seeds and successfully made an appropriately sized row of tilled soil for them. "For art can exist in the most mundane of things! Practicality is all well and good, but it lacks the soul!"

He glances over at the Amelie's side of the garden, then takes a visible double-take. "My metallic friend, am I seeing what I'm seeing? Did you finally get caught by the creative spirit? Why, this place is absolutely perfect for the tomatoes!" The musician gestures enthusiastically at the center of their shared space. "Tell me, what do you think ought to be centerpiece?"

Amelie stares at Sal for a few moments, parsing the night porter's words for traces of sarcasm. Detecting none, the robot nods, accepting the compliment. "Thank you. It matters not what is in the center of the garden, so long as it is another vegetable and not a flower to maintain orderly rows of like plants."

They look up at the sun beaming down on the garden from high above. They look back down at Sal. "The UV index today is high. I would remind you to apply sunscreen to the exposed areas of your body. Getting a sunburn would prove to be painful. Or so I am told."

"Wassat? No, no Iris you've got the wrong idea here." Timber gestures vaguely, as though he's not entirely sure of his own point. "It's not like I'm going around trying to be some high brow, lah-dee-dah art guy."

"Thas right." One crony says.

"Our boss doesn't know art." The other says.

"Not at all what I was saying!" Timber, exasperated, gives them a glare. Had he been closer he might've given one of them a friendly, but reminding, knock on the head but they'd kept their distance. "I know art as well as- no, better than the next rabbit. All I'm saying how it looks is just as important as where things are placed."

He gestures to a step ladder nearby, hoping that Mr Boggs or anyone really will get the hint and give him a vantage point. "Unless, of course, things are placed in the wrong place."

"But, er, boss. You just said it's not important where they are?"

"Yeah, sure," Iris murmurs in agreement which is practically dripping with skepticism. It's also not exactly evident what he is agreeing with - Timber's view of arts or the importance of placement of things or even both at once. Either way the dark grey rabbit twitches his ears and crosses his paws before huffing: "Sensible words about the sunlight, it's getting hot like in a volcano. And since you seem to have it under your - dubious - control, Timber, I'll leave you three to it. I'm sure you're all are very prepared to shoulder the responsibility once it goes south!" He waves at the group at large and then darts into the bushes - presumably, towards his burrow.

"That's true, it is getting quite hot. Thanks for the reminder, 'Lie" Sal sighs and wipes his brow with the back of his hand before straightening up and looking around. "Where do we have sunscreen again? Don't tell me it's that very suspicious green can on the shelf by Boggs, it looks like it haven't been touched in years! Maybe I should just go grab a hat... Hmm, any of you want one?"

Amelie focuses their attention at the task at hand. They finish planting the remainder of the dandelions and arrange them in the logical position next to the daisies.

Mr Boggs, who has been a bit lost in calculations and his own thoughts snaps out of his haze as Sal is mentioning the heat and sunscreen. "Oh, yes, it is quite hot today." He agrees. "Here, let me help you cool down." Boggs moves over and to Sal and holds his umbrella up above the rocker's head to give him shade. "How's that? Nothing beats a good umbrella!"He notices that holding his suitcase, his umbrella and the pumpkin seeds at the same time is a bit inconvenient and thus decides to dump the rest of the seeds where he is standing right now. "I suppose here is as good a place as any, then." Mr Boggs uses his feet to trample the seeds into the soil. The rain cloud above his head makes sure the soil is sufficiently moistened now that he's not protecting his own self from the rain.

"Why thank you, Mr. Boggs, the shade of your umbrella is most refreshing!" Sal beams at Boggs and then claps his hands, giving the land before him a sweeping gaze. "And truly, our garden is looking fantastic already! Although I think it can use a drop more chaos, wouldn't you say? We can't simply settle for straight rows, Mx. Amelie, we simple cannot!"

He glances around, grabs a small bag of moon lilies bulbs and confidently plants them into the soil right in the middle of the alloted space. "Behold, the centerpiece! Moon lilies are tall, eye-catching, but not big enough to completely block the view of other plants like sunflowers would, and thus are perfect for the middle of a garden!" He steps back, raising his hands to mimic a frame to look through: "I think some lettuce right by would be perfect, green goes with white delightfully well."

Amelie regards Sal's placement of the moon lilies in the center of the garden. "That was supposed to be reserved for a vegetable. But it is acceptable to have lettuce on the far side, as it fits the vegetable categorization."

The robotic maid begins working on preparing the lettuces.

---

"Great, you deal with the greens and I'll deal with the oranges! And by that, I meant the pumpkins." Sal turns towards where Mr. Boggs spread the pumpkin seeds earlier and examines the plot. "Have you ever wondered how weird it is to have a colour named after a fruit, or vice versa? And there are a lot of those, too, especially among the shade varieties! I especially like watermelon, since it doesn't explain what colour that is with name alone... Hmm, I think these can use a little bit of soil variety. I shall regrettably leave the welcoming shade of your umbrella, Mr. Boggs, and go grab the peat bag over there."

Amelie stops what they are doing to process Sal's words. "No, I have never wondered about colors named after fruits, or vice versa. I shall do so now."

Something whirs in the maid's chest and their LED eyes are replaced by the words.

Wondering... Wondering... Wondering...

Amelie's eyes return. "I have now wondered about the topic you proposed. I have come to the conclusion that I dislike it. The lack of specification in the naming conventions can lead to confusion and doubt. Precision is preferable."

"And it's not only fruits, my metallic friend! Flowers, elements of nature, metals! And this causes the most interesting uncertainty - your imagined lavender might be much lighter than my imagined lavender, and one can argue for hours about which exact shade of fuchsia is the one true fuchsia!" Sal seems to delight in the topic as he wildly gesticulates with his arms, almost knocking away Bogg's umbrella and spilling the watering can in the process. "I imagine that a precision-minded person like yourself would have a much more definite way of identifying hues. Tell me, what would you call the colour of these here roses?" He present Amelie with the cover of the seed packet he's holding.

Once assured that Amelie has examined the cover, he opens the packet and drops the seeds into the soil. "And I bet the ones which will grow here won't even have the exact same colour as they do on the packet!"

"Roses are red. Violets are blue. Or so I have been told," Amelie states matter-of-factly. The robot continues to attempt parsing the confusing nature of reality, forgetting to continue their work on the garden.