When politicians pass laws and regulators make rules aimed at punishing corporations, the big companies usually aren't the ones that really feel the pain. The real victims are small businesses — often with no more than 50 employees — who don't have armies of lobbyists to create special loopholes or well-staffed compliance departments to prepare the new paperwork.
Fortunately, the House Small Business Committee, a permanent standing committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, is fighting for these small business owners to ensure that they are not forgotten in the back-and-forth of policymaking.
Now through Sunday, March 26 Boston's annual Flower and Garden Show plants a punch of Springtime on the eyes and ears of anyone weary of this winter. Professional landscape designers have translated this year's theme of "Superheroes of theGarden" into 17 extravagantly lush scene-stealers. Their utility belts employ the powers of innovation, a rainbow of planting materials and designs with enough mossy imagination to catapult any would-be troweler into a heightened state of Spring-fever.
Surrounded in technicolor, masterful works by stonemasons interpret fable, romance, and whimsy in structures evocative of Merlin's magical "Sword in the Stone," a cozy fireside cabana, and the fairy house of Miss Tinker Bell. Archways, gateways, and pathways lead from horticultural havens into grand floral arrangements, charm-filled window box displays, and free lectures.
