Contents
04
From the Editor
05 10
is Good to Go!
The Distinctive Dame by Jack Lynch
14 18
Charlie Bedford
Portrait Drawing Series with Lois Jessop
Business Book in Brief Power Branding
21
Music Perspective by Mark Morand
25 27
Denise on Fiction The Midnight Library
PPS Album Review In A Silent Way - Miles Davis
31
Commericial Space Decorating with Plants
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Magazine Chiara Stranges Graphic Design Denise Picton Contributor Jack Lynch Contributor Lois Jessop Contributor Mark Morand Contributor Victor Stranges Contributor
Venue Raymond Tunks Chef Marc Scollo Sound Engineer Lexi Ukosich Bar & Service Jack Lynch Bar & Service
From the Editor We Have A Choice We (Melbourne Australia) have just come out of our fifth lockdown since I opened the venue in February 2020. Yup, fairly disastrous timing, one COULD think ... but I choose not to. I can shut down emotionally from where I was and what I wanted to achieve before the pandemic, and allow myself to be hardened, OR I can grow from the experience. Too woo-woo for you? it's been tough, but dealing with the new "C" word has also brought some positives. The venue changed format to "Lounge" and we absolutely love it! Then there's our new magazine. I would not be writing as Editor had it not been for the disruption. Instead of feeling grumpy and hard-done-by (no point, no-one cares), I’m aligning myself with the Phoenix Phenomenon. New life arises from the remains of the old way of being. Some questions to go on with:* What do I want to be about, in the face of this difficulty? * How can the business diversify to protect trade during a crisis? * What are the lessons I've learned from the "C.?" * Are you with me? .
Anthea Palmer anthea@jimmyhornet.com
CHARLIE BEDFORD IS GOOD TO GO! LUXRUG
This young Bluesman has won multiple awards, played with music royalty, and recently released a chart-topping album, despite release during pandemic times.
Describe your music in a sentence. Contemporary blues infused with a splash of pop, rock and soul.
What compelled you to become a musician? My Dad, Gary, was in a few bands when he was younger and he’s always loved music, so I grew up with sounds around the house from as early as I can remember. I’ve just always loved music and my parents were both super supportive so becoming a musician was bound to happen!
Which artist has had the biggest influence on you? In terms of blues guitar influences, I’d have to say, B.B. King. I’ve always loved his playing since I first discovered blues. Saying that, I grew up around a bunch of different music, lots of the Australian scene with alternative pop-rock so genre-wise I’ve had a fairly wide array of influences. Locally, the amazing Geoff Achison and Lloyd Spiegel have been incredible mentors & friends of mine. They’ve helped me with singing, playing guitar, putting on events, the whole business side of things and so much more, not to mention how inspiring they are as artists too!
What's the biggest "break" you've received? I’m super humbled and honoured to have had some really special experiences & opportunities in my time as a musician.
LUXRUG
I’ve performed in the USA in 2017, ‘18 & ‘19 at the International Blues Challenge – Youth Showcase hosted on Beale St in Memphis TN. In early Feb 2020, I returned for the IBC & performed again in Nashville & Muscle Shoals. In the four years of attending, I’ve had the amazing opportunities to perform alongside band members from great acts such as BB King, Albert Collins, Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, and Wilson Pickett. My latest album “Good To Go” was received really well, despite being released during these strange COVID times. Many thanks to Betsie, Sallie & the whole “Blue Heart Records” team. - #1 Aust RMR top 50 Albums, #2 USA RMR Top 50 Blues Rock Albums, #3 Aust Blues & Roots Airplay charts, #14 UK - IBBA Album charts. “Good To Go” was also a top 5 finalist for Music Victoria’s best blues album alongside Lloyd Spiegel, Aaron Pollock, Joe Camilleri & The Teskey Brothers! Alongside all this, I’m stoked to be an official endorsed artist for the incredible Hagstrom Guitars - based in Sweden!
Who do you have on your team? I do most of my work as a musician and behind the scenes performing solo. That said, my dad, Gary has been a massive help in making this passion of LUXRUG mine a professional career and I’m so grateful to have had his help and input over the years. He got me started with music itself, playing and performing and he knows a bunch about the business side of things with his current work & past musician work too! Besides myself, my Mum & Dad, my partner and the rest of my family and friends are amazing supporters. I have the absolute pleasure of working with an incredible USA-based label called “Blue Heart Records”. They’ve made my latest release “Good To Go” receive some great attention and we’ve achieved some really special results that I’m really proud of.
What are you working on at the moment? LUXRUG Currently, I’m writing, workshopping & planning my next release of music as well as performing my solo electric show around Victoria. It is quite bizarre not being able to travel & share my music abroad but on the other hand, it’s been really nice reconnecting & performing much more locally.
What do you find most difficult about the business side of your music career? I’d say keeping up with the necessary daily “housekeeping” type of work that goes along with being a professional musician is one of the hardest aspects. I just love creating music & performing but in order to pursue music professionally, the three or four hours at a venue is just the tip of the iceberg.
How do you spend your time when you're not working on music? I love hanging out and traveling with my partner, family & friends. Reading books, drinking too much coffee, going for bushwalks, listening to new music, watching performances, playing guitar, exploring weird sounds, trying to stay fit & basically having a good time!
From a music career perspective, what are you most afraid of? I’ve always been afraid of wasting an opportunity or my own and other's time. I never thought about becoming a musician for fame or even to make a living, I just love music & I’m super grateful to be able to do this professionally.
What makes you feel powerful? A super appreciative and hyped audience definitely feels good. If the audience is into your music it feels amazing! I had an experience like that the first time I went to Memphis USA for the International Blues Challenge when I was 15. I was performing at Rum Boogie Café with my first band, we were so gobsmacked by the place it was amazing, true blues legends had played on that exact stage & played to the same audiences. We were having a blast! We finished our last song & received a standing ovation, which was so humbling & such an honour!
What's your favourite "Dad" joke? My favourite dad joke is hard to choose as I am slightly obsessed with awful jokes but I’ll leave you with this one… “My ceiling isn’t the best, but it’s up there.” ...and on that garbage note, thanks to The Hornet Press for inviting me to answer these questions! I hope you enjoyed reading a slice of my story.
Cheers, Charlie Visit Charlie Bedford
Charlie Bedford and Katankin at Jimmy Hornet
The Distinctive Dame Makeup, Hair, Style, and Love I first met “The Distinctive Dame” AKA ‘Margeaux Vallantyne’ at a Fairfield coffee shop in 2019 with Melbourne-based photographer Maylei Hunt. We were gathered to discuss unconsolidated creative projects due to my own feeling of a lack of creative community in Melbourne, having moved from Toowoomba, Queensland in 2016. The backstory to our meeting: Maylei befriended me in 2016, when I first moved to Melbourne, at an artists’ studio in Collingwood. She heard me singing and in return handed out an olive branch of friendship and helped save my lost creative soul. I had told Maylei that I was feeling creatively starved, and as artists do - Maylei told me she had a good friend to bring on board. Together we could work on collaborative creative projects.
When I first met Margaux, I was immediately in awe of her flawless style and had the impression that she had stepped out magically from another time. Cut to August 2019 I was hurriedly developing a Fringe Show whilst studying music full-time at Monash University and I thought - I need a fabulous Makeup Artist! I contacted Margaux, and the rest is history… Margeaux was not only the makeup artist for my Fringe show at the Butterfly Club in 2019 - “Confessions from the Bell Jar”: She was my carer, my words of support and encouragement, and has nurtured me fully in every creative endeavour I have ventured to take ever since.
By Jack Lynch
Some Questions for a Dame What inspired you to become a Makeup and Hair artist? Every day I watched my mum partake in the ritual of beautifying herself with hair, makeup, and clothes. This impressed upon me the transformational power of hair and makeup in addition to the importance of putting your best self forward. I adopted this as my own personal ritual, which intensified during my time in art and fashion school and reached its peak after discovering vintage style. I became Obsessed - getting my hands on whatever material I Could: books, film, shows, online resources (which were quite limited at the time) and learning as much as I could about historical hair and makeup and eventually making it my job!
What is your favourite part of your job? I love hearing people's stories, offering emotional and energetic support and being creative. As someone that runs a heart-led business this is so important to me! This work I do happens in such an intimate setting, so I get to learn about people and the world. It's also such a creative outlet for me - I get to bring the visions of others to life and time travel. So much fun!
What were the challenges you faced in becoming an independent businesswoman? I think my greatest challenges have been managing those emotions and thoughts that arise as a symptom of impostor syndrome and anxiety: selfsabotage, self-belief, self doubt. Also taking the leap and backing myself 100%.
Who are your biggest hair, fashion, and makeup inspirations? There are so many people, places eras, and formats that I look to for inspo - art, film & tv, musicians and performers, photoshoots, people I see on Insta and on the street. Almost too many to single out because inspo can find you at any moment and the archives are overflowing.
What is your career highlight to date? Having a studio and also having folk interested in what I do is probably my greatest achievement and highlight. I think we can each get caught up in the rhetoric that we’re the only ones that like this weird thing that we’re into and it’s been nearly 8 years since my biz was birthed - over this time I’ve seen more and more interest and appreciation for historical fashion and styling which is incredible.
Margeaux is not only a phenomenal Makeup and Hair artist - but goes above and beyond the call of duty of her role: providing care, emotional support and love - to any client she has under her faithful hands.
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Let's Make Faces Portrait Drawing Series by Award-Winning Artist Lois Jessop
Please allow me to introduce myself... I am a happily mature resident of Frankston. My living room is also my art studio, so when friends call in, they're often confronted by the latest project. Most recently I designed three life-size murder scenes for The Frankston Theatre Group's next production, Bloody Murder (a comedy, by the way). Imagine visiting your neighbour and walking into one of those scenes! Why do I draw? You may as well ask Why do I breathe? Over the years I always found opportunities to create images. Even as a Key Punch Operator at the Commonwealth Sub-Treasury, I joined the holes cut out of the reject cards, as one would join the dots! At one stage I painted the faces of famous musicians on smooth river rocks and called them Rock Legends! Always fascinated by fleeting and emotional expressions, portraits have emerged as my main subject preference. And now I have the opportunity to share my drawing secrets with you, readers, and devotees of the Jimmy Hornet Press. I hope you like my presentations!
The Subject We see them every day; real, live, three-dimensional, or two-dimensional on TV, or starring in movies, or beaming out from our magazines... Faces enable us to recognise others and to identify the many emotions conveyed by the 43 muscles that exist on the front of our skull. (Not to mention just a few other essentials, such as being able to see, hear, smell, taste, breathe, speak, sing and eat...) The human face is a fascinating object for budding, and seasoned, artists to study, offering great opportunities to learn how to draw basic shapes, light and shade, texture, and to observe proportion and composition, which are all you need to draw just about anything! In this new series of articles about making faces, my goal is to show you how I approach the challenges of capturing the likeness of my subjects, from photographs and from life. We'll begin with learning how various basic shapes and textures combine on a simple grid, then use this knowledge to create a realistic portrait, then later, we'll distort certain facial elements to create hilarious caricatures! After each article I highly recommend practicing, and practicing some more, to enable you to build a memory bank of effective and successful techniques, and to experiment! And to have fun... make mistakes... I often think of drawing as re-drawing!
You will need ... • A rigid board, or tabletop • Drawing paper, white A3 or larger to begin, preferably unlined • Black lead pencils, preferably 4B to 8B • Steer clear of HB or HH pencils as they are too hard and horrible! (Bs are Better, I think, as you can make a blacker black in shading) • A kneadable eraser, because it won't scratch the surface of the paper or leave little bits of itself to have to clean away, and you can mould it to a point for dabbing unwanted lines or shading off, and it's fun to play with while you're deliberating your next line, or area to be shaded • A Stanley knife, or blade, for sharpening the soft lead B pencils. Don't use the little plastic-block sharpeners because the soft lead will be twisted and will break... very annoying!
Creative Zone You will need a slice of time to yourself, maybe some fine music to calm your mind, enabling concentration and letting the creative juices flow! When you arrive in this creative zone, adjusting, observing, and judging your work, you will be exercising neurons in your brain, and that's a very healthy thing to do
Homework So, until next time, begin practicing drawing vertical ovals... that's your homework. Cheers, Lois
Contact Lois Jessop
WANT TO DRAW WITH LOIS? Join in and submit your finished portrait. Three will be selected by Lois to be featured in the magazine. Selected contributors will receive a mystery surprise package from The Hornet Press. Submission and queries to: info@jimmyhornet.com Pencils ready?
business book in brief Leveraging the success of the world's best brands. Author Steve McKee, as president of McKee Wallwork & Company, specialises in revitalising stalled, stuck or stale brands. Full of wisdom from experiential learnings, he manages to make the book an easy and thought-provoking read. The book is broken up into five main concepts.
WHO IIt is true that we can be so enthusiastic about our service, or product, that we forget to consider WHO else will care enough to part with hard-earned money for it. Caring about the WHO doesn't mean it needs to be a one size fits all scenario. McKee writes "if you try to be all things to all people, you'll end up being nothing to anybody." This section of the book discusses the importance of finding your niche, the customers that dig it, and why. In addition, the WHO covers the people who work for the brand, and how important it is for them to connect and communicate it. There is also a worthy reminder that even if you are working in a B2B (Business to Business) scenario, companies don't buy things, people do!
WHAT Not what are you selling, but ... what are YOU? * What does your brand represent? * What drives its value? * What sets it apart? * What do you stand for? "If you can't articulate your brand's value proposition, your customers never will."
how Firstly, McKee takes on the subject of branding message. His "Be signal, not noise" slogan is a damn good one. This is a warning that if your brand comes on too strong at first, it may not get a second chance with potential customers. Your advertising isn't about your brand, it's an extension of it. Looking for what the extension might be? Answer the WHAT questions to get your message on track. Also some important notes on the importance of creativity in marketing, and how it must immediately attract attention. Good suggestions for communication style and themes are provided.
Where and when This is a big section, and a little more theoretical. It's about WHERE you market or advertise, on what platform, and with what mix.
Key Topics in this section • Branding and credibility • Sales and Marketing Mix • Data and CRM • Advertising spend and ROI • Visability and Virability
Whoops Steve McKee A reminder not to rest on your laurels, push yourself and work with others who will challenge you. BUT, don't be lured away from your core brand message, no matter how "influential" the temptation might be. There's a good discussion on giving too much away, and/or not charging enough for your product or service. Consider that raising your price may enhance your appeal. It's ok to make mistakes, so long as you learn from them! Stay authentic, and true to your WHAT, you can't go wrong!
WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK? Well, the goal of this monthly column is to provide you with enough information, to ensure purchasing and, more importantly, reading this book is worth your while. To that end, if any of my notes are of interest, do it! Generally, I would say it provides a cohesive look into the essence and purpose of branding, and that's something every business owner and commercial creative needs to be jiggy with.
Anthea Palmer
About mark Hello! I’ve had half a lifetime as a musician – student, amateur, semipro, pro, teacher; songwriter; composer. You name it I’ve done it.
And I’ve had half a lifetime in the “conventional” workforce – financial services, community sector, public sector, even ship building. And some pretty interesting jobs too – from running helpdesks to managing vast spending pools to designing programs to support the disenfranchised to exploring the arcane mysteries of something called “strategic innovation”. I’ve even owned and operated a cake shop! And right now, along with everyone else here in Melbourne, and of course across the world - I’m living through the most unprecedented of times. Although - I may not have been quite as surprised as some of us when the pandemic came along. As far back as 2005 I was writing the “pandemic plan” for a major financial institution, as had become a requirement of the Australian financial services regulator in the wake of SARS. Yep. This has been a long time coming.
My Favourite Words I should also mention my three favourite words:
Serendipity Possibility Perspective So when I was given the opportunity to write a series for The Hornet Press I asked myself two questions: “well, how did I get here?” (which we surely all regularly ask ourselves) and “well, what shall I write about?” For me the answer to the first question lines up with the first two of my three favourite words; so it seems only natural that I should answer the second question with my third word…
Perspective I like the word “perspective” because it reminds me that we all have one; and that no two are remotely alike, once we take into account all our unique inputs, from the earliest of childhood experiences through to what happened to us daily. Also because the power of perspective is that, once shared with someone else, its inherent uniqueness can’t avoid influencing another person’s perspective in some way. It is Newtonian. Its also true that I’m sometimes tapped by people as a “mentor” – someone who will listen to a situation and provide a perspective on it – because they’ve recognised the value of getting someone else’s take on things, even if it’s different – or radically different – to their own. So, dear reader, I expect that my perspective will not align entirely with yours. And I hope, dear reader, that my perspective empowers the serendipitous introduction of new possibilities for you in these, the most challenging shared circumstances that we’ve ever experienced.
Coming Stories I’ve conceived of six-story headlines that draw the arc of what I propose to write about, on the subject of the music business – the second-toughest industry I’ve ever worked in, after the fresh food (ie, if you don’t sell it you have to throw it out) business:
• An aphorism for times like these • The unique continuum of participants in the music performance business • Art, creativity and competition • The second toughest industry I’ve ever worked in • Music Monetisation in the age of streaming (ideas, anyone?) • Portfolio theory for musicians
An aphorism for times like these Increasingly I have found that, when people seek me out for advice or guidance on a problem or challenge they are facing, that themes tend to emerge. That challenges tend to have a ring of familiarity about them. That simple wisdoms, seemingly relevant to the discussion, quickly spring to mind. That I’ve become kind of a walking bag of aphorisms.
So far so good. The catch being that the utility of an aphorism is bound to the context in which it is offered and – dear reader – the context for you and I is rather one-way! So I must conjure up a useful context in which to offer what is, for me, among the most profound and utilitarian aphorism I have yet to encounter. Here goes:
You’re a Musician You might be a student, an amateur, a semi-pro, a pro, a teacher, a songwriter, a composer. You might be all of those or any of those depending on the context Or, to go broader, perhaps you work in the hospitality/entertainment business in a way that at least partly engages with the music industry Your work – some of it, maybe all of it – has vanished in a puff of coronavirus You’ve discovered that your “new normal” is a world where everything can be shut down on just a few hours’ notice The other catch with aphorisms, I hasten to add, is that there are no simple answers to wicked problems like this one. But they can contribute to your perspective on things, and so I offer up this aphorism in that spirit, without further explanation, and I hope it is of some use to you as you organise your thinking about what to do next. Its 2,000 years old and is credited to the Greek Philosopher Epictetus: It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
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DENISE ON FICTION The Midnight Library By Matt Haig There’s something of a recent trend for writers to take back mythological, and sometimes historical women figures to rewrite them as strong women who survive and even thrive in a man’s world. Madeline Miller’s Circe is one of my favourites. Her protagonist is no longer the wicked witch who seduces the hero Odysseus, but a woman who faces down Odysseus and survives. The outcome is the same in ancient story and Miller’s tale, but through a modern woman writer’s eyes, Circe asserts and diverts rather than weeps and creeps. Given which gender penned the great myths, the bias is hardly surprising. If a myth is a symbolic narrative that explains how the world works, Matt Haig’s recent novel, The Midnight Library fits the bill without falling into the ancient trap of male as hero and woman as demon or dipstick. Here a male author presents the fable of a young, modern woman who hangs between life and death, trying to identify the ‘why’ of things in order to decide whether to remain in this life, or go on to the next adventure. Rather than a rugged island, we meet his protagonist Nora just before midnight in a library. And rather than a ferocious multi-headed beast, she is challenged by her old school librarian. Mrs Elm, to decide which path to take. Elm is guide to Nora throughout the book as Virgil is to Dante.
Much as it sounds rather desperate, Haig writes with a deft, light touch that often uses humour to make it possible to relate to the frailty of his characters without needing to reach for our own pills or scotch. As Nora tries on several versions of her life for size, Haig makes a space for us to wonder what might have happened had we taken a different path. If to have a philosophy is to have a view of man, Haig tries on several for size as Nora explores anger, rejection, self-esteem, grief and loss, fame and fortune. The story is populated with little pearls and diamonds at every turn, including how to think about the flawed people we love.
‘A person was like a city. You couldn’t let a few less desirable parts put you o the whole.' The final chapter is titled How it Ends. Finding the real Mrs. Elm in an aged care facility, she and Nora embark upon a game of chess. The movement of the pieces, most satisfactorily, takes us to the resolution of the novel while leaving the library door open for the reader to decide how to make their next move. If I had to choose one word to sum up how I felt as I closed the back cover, I’d say ‘uplifted’.
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Miles Davis "In A Silent Way" Recorded 1969 Miles Davis has long held the reputation of a musical visionary and was willing to experiment in areas of music that were uncharted. Davis died in 1991 but he left a legacy of a 50 plus year career covering everything from bebop to avant-garde and hip-hop. Leaving us with a smorgasbord of groundbreaking recordings such as 'First Miles', 'Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet', 'Miles Smiles', 'Bitches Brew' and ‘Kind Of Blue’, his knack for consistently assembling musicians at the forefront of cutting edge artistry helped shape music in the twentieth century and are still being felt today. In A Silent Way captures the humanity of Davis floating over a congruent musical bed of seemingly different musical styles. The album is not jazz, but it is not rock either. What it is is 1969. This album was the first in his "electric" period. Many music journalists have regarded this as Davis's first fusion recording, though his previous records and live shows were signaling to this album.
It is rumoured that Davis had been listening to Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone around the time of this recording. The indelible stamp that marked this recording is Davis’ trumpet which provides the emotional soul of the record. It is moving. The "electric" instruments such as keyboards and electric guitar are mixed with Davis’ cool jazz motifs and are fused into a mysterious new type of genre.
The album opens with ‘Shhh/Peaceful’ which has an ascending organ and guitar string bending arpeggios, creating intrigue before quickly descending into an exquisite jam. ‘In A Silent Way’ is much more dense than ‘Kind of Blue’, with instruments playing freely and cascading over each other, but never tripping over one another. The band included Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, John McLaughlin and Herbie Hancock who chiselled a fine piece of seemingly spontaneous jamming. Along with Tony Williams’ amazing cymbal with brushes and Joe Zawinul’s organ , the group presented their vision of an esoteric far away place. The contrast is set when Davis brings his earthy trumpet providing the heart of the music.
Side two contains only one one track, the title track, which comes in at a length of 19:52. It starts off as a beautiful and almost prayerful subtle meditation. The track all of a sudden becomes assertive, puncturing the evocative intro into an angular version of Davis’ cool jazz meanderings. It weaves through jazz land that we know and love and the piece resolves to a wistful closing. This album is a time stamp in musical history when the possibility of a new type of music without a name revealed itself. It was equally mysterious as it was heartfelt. It was a snapshot of some wonderful jams brought together by producer Ted Macero. ‘In A Silent Way’ took a lot of risks and is a true inspiration for younger musicians that seek the same heights of creating music fearlessly.
By Victor Stranges
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commercial space design DECORATING WITH plants Commercial interiors can be alive and welcoming without sacrificing the functionality of the space. Plants are one of the best ways to breathe life into a commercial property. Not only do plants bring texture and color, but they can actually improve air quality and promote creativity in the workplace. Large, smooth leaves add to a modern feeling in your commercial space. Leafy and variegated greens add texture and interest. And the colors don't have to stop at green - leafy plants come in an array of colors.
Consider the added color, texture, and elegance that comes with blooming plants. Bromeliads add an exotic, bright color as well as thick foliage, all in one plant. Orchids are highly fragrant and offer delicate and variable shapes and colors.
Plants fill empty spaces, disguise eyesores, and divide areas as needed. Placing an uplight behind a plant or pointing a spotlight toward a plant adds drama and depth and ensures that your corners are not dark and gloomy. A winding green space can even be used to channel traffic toward the right path in a building.
To complement your existing décor and aesthetic, consider planters. Do you need a huge ceramic planter to ground your room? Or would a living wall (a vertical planting) be ideal to draw eyes upward? Planters add color in a shape that fits right in with your existing architecture. Sleek planters blend with a contemporary design, while rustic clay pots look great with more organic aesthetics. Decide whether you want the color of your planter to blend in or stand out.
Before including indoor plants in your commercial space, factor in the moisture and sunlight needs. If you want to combine plants in one container, make sure they have the same requirements for optimum health. Otherwise, keeping the plants in separate containers might be easier. Now the fun part. Choose your plants. Some of the most successful indoor varieties are:Ficus Fig Jade Meyer lemon Mother-in-law's tongue Norfolk Island pine Orchid Palm Peace lily Peperomia Philodendron
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African violets Air plant Aloe Bamboo Begonia Bromeliad Calathea Cast Iron Christmas cactus Croton Desert rose Dragon tree