Like Diane, I too have wondered about such things. People bring with them aspects of their original culture and if those do not include ornamental horticulture we should not expect it to appear as a general rule. Given that our pastime is one of luxury, beyond the provisions of feeding one's family and other basic needs, it should not be surprising that only the most prosperous areas manifest it. Very few countries or regions can boast a long and productive relationship with floriculture. Many, perhaps the great majority, of immigrants in the U.S. and Canada are/were of modest means so that if they are prone to cultivate plants at all it is as a source of food rather than for pleasure. But there is more to it than this. I wonder about those of West Asian origin, especially Iranians, most of whom are well-acculturated to the West and could afford to cultivate flowers if they so wished. Conversely, it is common to see modest but well-loved small gardens and window boxes in tropical Latin America, at all social levels, but this may diminish or disappear when the same people settle overseas. In both of these cases, if prosperity eventually allows one to hire "gardeners" to do the work then grubbing in the dirt may be seen as a lowly activity. I think it takes not only prosperity but a settled culture, or settled population, to allow flower growing to develop. If there is no historical basis for such activity then perhaps it will only show up as a cultural idiosyncrasy, or not at all. Another important factor is the "volunteer spirit". In most parts of the world volunteerism is rare to non-existent. I can attest to this in Latin America and even in the UK there is nothing like the volunteering that goes on in the U.S. This peculiarity of ours can be an estrangement for some and may account for the low participation in clubs and societies which are, of course, voluntary. Just my random thoughts. Dylan Hannon