Spoons for Escargot and more crazy plant names
October 30, 2014
I’ve been working on a piece for Amateur Gardening, Britain’s long established weekly magazine (Yes, Britain has two weekly gardeing magazines), about plants with names suited to special occasions. You know… ‘Golden Wedding’ rose, that sort of thing. There are plants for birthdays, plants for anniversaries, plants for retirements and… and plants for bereavements.
So, when your beloved terrier or retriever finally passes away, you can plant a rose called ‘In Memory of My Dog’ on its grave. Yes, really! And if yours is a cat household, there’s ‘In Memory of My Cat’! No sign yet of roses called ‘In Memory Of My Goldfish’ or ‘In Memory Of My Stick Insect’ let alone ‘In Memory of My Waistline’.
Of course, you know how I love the oddities of plant names and nothing beats the communist lilacs. But looking through the new plants that are being introduced this year there are some interesting curiosities amongst the names.
There’s a new abutilon rather oddly called 'Eric's Wotsit' and a clivia called, yes, 'Sweet Undress'… hmmm. Of course, as usual, daylilies and hostas excel with 'Romeo is Bleeding' and 'Spoons for Escargot' (above, click to enlarge) daylilies along with 'Tokyo Smog' and 'Rosedale Tractor Seat' hostas. And Americans will be horrified by the pulmonaria called 'Spotted Dick'… (It’s a traditional British baked desert, spotted with raisins).... I'll say no more.
Got any more?
Thank you to Strictly Daylilies for permission to use their picture of Hemerocallis 'Spoons for Escargot'.