If you want to be surrounded with glorious flowering plants, there is, of course, an easy way: inherit or earn lots of money and either purchase an already flourishing estate or order the sources of horticultural perfection. Alas, neither has been my lot, so I've discovered an alternative way to do something somewhat similar: adopt a kind of Zen-like patience and collect seeds. When I was spending my work weeks at Yale in New Haven, I walked by some of the most spectacular flowers in creation, and after talking to the heads of the grounds crews, I received permission to pocket seeds and try to grow them at home. The results aren't quick—some seeds take two years or more to simply germinate and send roots and shoots in the right directions—but if you have time on your hands and no need for instant gratification, you can wind up with some pretty splendid plants. This year's addition to the blossom congregation is a Japanese Snowbell, a member of the Styrax genus that hails mostly from Asia. The drooping white flowers are eye-catching and aromatic, and Styrax japonicus has the additional bonus of producing, besides a resin and an incense treasured throughout the Near East, copious numbers of large, hard seeds in late summer and early autumn. I happily stuffed these into old film containers, brought them home, and put them out in pots that I simply left exposed to the elements. This small tree, now about ten feet tall, is still in its pot, although the roots have long since penetrated through the plastic. I think those seeds were planted about ten years ago. This year, my patience and my cheapness were abundantly rewarded.