Lady Narcissa Von Trapp, Beguiling Horticulturalist

Newly transplanted into town, Lady Narcissa boasted exceedingly about her prolific green thumb. As she told it, camellias and roses flourished in the open gardens of her country estate. The crown jewels of her collection, the subtropical blooms of orchids, the exotic protea and even a Venus Fly Trap, were being shipped along for her new conservatory.

Quite lovely to look at, and loquacious on the topic of plant life, she was much more mum on the past details of her own life. Inquiries about the demise of each of her three late husbands (from whom she acquired her lofty title and rumored fortune) were brushed aside with a sob and a sigh about a series of unfortunate events. Ignoring the innuendo and whispering among the town tongue-clickers, the lonely philanthropist and primary benefactor of the Horticultural Society, Mr. Horace Navelwort, invited this beguiling newcomer to enter a specimen in the annual Blue Ribbon Garden Show.

Returning the favor, she requested his presence alone for a private tour of her glass hot house and his advice on "cultivating both plants and relationships", as she put it. Enjoying her hospitality and sipping on a "special brew" of tea leaves, Mr. Navelwort glanced off at the darkened corner of her garden and spotted the fatally toxic Nightshade and equally poisonous Hemlock growing heartily by design. Wilting, he set down his demitasse on the saucer, realizing that this woman was not the sweet flower that she appeared.