Reyes (Marisa Paredes), a wealthy actress, lusts after her longtime gardener; Magda (Carmen Maura), a successful hotelier, seeks comfort--and the end of a kitchen staff strike - in the arms of her head chef.

Tigga, his late, beloved Jack Russell terrier, is immortalized in a relief sculpture on a nearby garden wall, behind which a longtime gardener prepares the ground for the prince's favorite vegetables, potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

THE way Shin Aizeki, a longtime gardener at the Zinsser Community Gardens here, recalled the incident, a young boy stood, frowning at a cultivated patch, his eyes wandering from the handwritten shopping list to the produce arrayed before him.

The longtime gardener, John Laidlaw, built enormous arrangements that evoked Niagara Falls, the battleship Maine, and well-known landscapes.

Chefs like Alice Waters, Rick Bayless and Peter Hoffman offer their own recipes, so you are getting a mini-cookbook as well as advice from longtime gardeners like Barbara Damrosch with your free catalog; (860) 567-6086, www.kitchengardenseeds.com.

"Libby loved daffodils," said Roger McStocker, Ms. Holman's longtime gardener, now 86 years old, who, in accordance with her will, has continued to live in the caretaker's cottage with his wife, Margaret, and will remain after the houses are built.

Dr. Swain, a longtime gardener and writer, will discuss other natives in the garden - like birds in the blueberry patch and groundhogs grazing on the lettuce - but wild plants will be the focus.

"The damage has been done," said Eleanor Taylor, a longtime gardener there.

John Ellys's "Fulke Harold" (1736-44), for example, shows Sir Robert Walpole's longtime gardener dressed as a gentleman.

John Digence/"John-the-dig": Angelfield's longtime gardener and the Missus' companion.