Nickie and Leila Picken stopped in Motovun on their tour of Istria and Dalmatia. I used to see the Pickens often on my many trips to Hong Kong in the early Nineties, but they moved to Australia before my last trip there in 1996. Nickie’s husband, David, was my colleague. Leila and her younger sister, Elspeth, were in their teens back then, but Leila now lives in London, where Nickie is originally from. Anyhow, Nickie was delighted to hear that I had a large if unkempt garden. In spite of the rain, she wanted to inspect it, too. A passionate gardener, she knew a great deal about every plant in sight. And she knew each plant by name. “Virginia Creeper,” she said as soon as she spotted the plant growing on the north wall of my terrace. She immediately noticed that it was dying, as well, but I was still thrilled to learn its name. “Virginia Creeper,” I kept repeating to myself, “Virginia Creeper.” As soon as Nickie and Leila left, I searched the World Wide Web for the plant’s Latin name, which I found at once: Parthenocissus quinquefolia. At least I will know what I am yanking out of the ground in a month or so, when I will make preparations for a new creeper.