Let me try to get this saying right..but I usually get confused when recalling my all-time favorite Bush-ism from a speech he gave in 2006.

Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
~ President George W. Bush

Not only did our former president misquote the idiom but he introduced and botched Pete Townsend's lyrics from the song, Won't Get Fooled Again.

Here goes. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

While prowling around a nursery shopping for plants to fill huge, 22-inch hanging baskets for our covered front porch, I stumbled on to some uniquely variegated and beautifully colored impatiens called Fanfare Orange Spreading Impatiens (FOSI). I was smitten and immediately picked out four of the nicest plants.

Several days later after the plants had been properly acclimated to outdoor conditions (i.e., when I finally had time), I gather plants, soil, tools and baskets and begin the consummately pleasurable project of planting the big baskets. I'm carefully arranging the plants where I want them: Swedish ivy and fuchsia hybrids trailing over the edges, 'Rustic Orange' coleus, big 'Riviera White' New Guinea impatiens and FOSI taking up the middle.

Yikes! I carefully read the plant tag and FOSI is a full sun impatiens. What? Who knew? At the nursery, it was benched with other shade-loving impatiens. Rats. So I swapped in some darling 'Xtreme Utopia Mix' regular impatiens and potted up the FOSI in a big terra cotta container and plopped it on my south-facing, full sun deck.

The fool me twice part? Where are the hot orange flowers like on the plant tag? Among all four plants, there is one measly orange blossom and the rest, while attractive, are various colors ranging from soft pink to salmon and coral.

Now I'm completely flummoxed. A little research (better late than never) is in order.

FOSI was developed by Ball Horticultural Company and, according to their website, the plant is actually a cultivar of Impatiens walleriana named Fanfare Orange Trailing (yes, trailing) Impatiens (FOTI). Other Fanfare cultivar/colors include Blush, Bright Coral, Fuchsia, Orchid and Pink Sparkle. The plant will reach 16-20" in height with a spread of 18-24". In addition, Ball brags it up. FOTI is "extremely free-flowering with excellent vigor...rebounds from water stress without shedding buds or blooms...and is naturally well-branched, so no pinching required."

Lesson learned: Read plant tags but don't believe everything on them.

Absolutely no disrespect is meant or felt toward President Bush. He had several other booboos and malaproprisms during his presidency. The best thing to do is to laugh. Everyone makes mistakes and says the wrong thing occasionally. His audience, unfortunately, was the entire world.