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duffy_gw

Gardens with Plants with Fun Names

duffy
21 years ago

I'm going to set aside a bed just to plant things like "love lies bleeding", "love in a puff", "kiss me over the garden gate" and put some "bleeding hearts", "dragon's blood" sedum there too. The names are just so amusing! I'll make sure to label each one. My daughter also is amused by "yew" trees, so I think I'll have to put one there too.

What are some other funny-named plants?

Comments (35)

  • shlomiesdad
    21 years ago

    A yew is nice as long as yew look after your taxus.

    Ethan

  • nora_in_vancouver
    21 years ago

    Mugwort (Artemesia) is always amusing.

  • LeAnn_at_the_hill
    21 years ago

    More amusing names:How about red hot poker. Also I thought of Japanese blood grass. In the south, rain lilies are often called "naked boys" by older gardeners because of the flowers appearing first with no foliage. As a child I thought that was extremely funny.

  • nora_in_vancouver
    21 years ago

    Dandelions are "pis-en-lit" (pee-a-bed) in French.
    I think my favorite is "money plant".

    Here is a link that might be useful: Lunaria annua

  • butterbeanbaby
    21 years ago

    We like fairy wands, bugbane, snake weed, soap wort, spider wort and naked ladies (LeAnn, those are the same as your naked boys).

    Holly

  • shlomiesdad
    21 years ago

    I like some of the latin names. My favorite is "Dizygotheca elegantissima", the false aralia. It simply feels good in the mouth. :-0

  • TreeClimber16
    20 years ago

    Here's a few:
    Dragon Tongue (bush bean)
    Peek A Boo (flower)
    Walking Stick Kale
    Tommy Toes Cherry Tomato
    Hungarian Finger Fruit (scallop type squash which to my mind looks kind of like a Pikachu from the Pokemon show)
    Greasy beans (lots of varieties)
    Rattlesnake bean
    Rat Tail Radish
    Lion's Ear (herb)
    Tigger Melon

  • samanthaz
    20 years ago

    My very favorite - Poached egg plant, limnanthus... it is such a funny looking flower. More silly veggies, too - runner beans, Thumbelina carrots (I always make my 3year dance around the thumbelina's!). I have a 'grumpy' fuchsia, a 'creamsicle' brug, 'sugar baby' watermelon, and always get a laugh out of 'yucca'. Of course, kids will end up making their own names for those plants - marigolds turned into 'face puffs' before I could convince him otherwise ;-)

    Best of luck! Great idea!
    Samanthaz

  • TaraRose
    20 years ago

    I've been thinking how much fun it would be to plant a bed with black dragon coleus, dragon's blood sedum, mountain laurel "elf" and viking ship heucharella. Kind of a medieval theme, I guess!

    TR

  • kids2spoil
    20 years ago

    I've been eyeballing an "Easter Egg" plant....supposed to look like it's name......

  • joannd_CNY
    20 years ago

    Speaking of eyeballs, I saw an "eyeball plant" in the Park seed catalog. I also saw a Coleus 'Inky Fingers' somewhere.

    I'm going to put a few new plants in my daughter's garden: Asclepias 'Cinderella' and Spirea 'Little Princess'. It doesn't hurt that they're pink, too. (Can you tell she's four?)

  • butterbeanbaby
    20 years ago

    Joann... what IS it with four year old girls and pink?!?!

  • joannd_CNY
    20 years ago

    Hee hee, I sure didn't raise her to be like that! When she was just two, she suddenly refused to put on her blue pajamas one night. She told me "I no be little girl in that!" It's been pink and purple ever since.

    But if planting pink flowers is all it takes to get her interested in gardening, I don't mind!

  • Slimdew
    20 years ago

    In a garden book I ran across mouse-tail plant

  • Cindi_KS
    20 years ago

    I know this is an old post, but I sure enjoyed reading it! We have a flower bed in our yard that gives us secret giggles...we planted the smoke tree next to the burning bush and the red hot poker, red hot sally salvia and pyracantha. I was on the garden tour, and my daughters waited and waited for a visitor to comment on the combination.
    When I planted daylilies, I honored my oldest daughter by planting Rose Emily next to Femme Fatale, Wild One, Cleopatra, Lady Emily, Renegade Lady and Just For Fun.
    Emily is actually a serious student and a young political activist who enjoys a good joke.
    cindi
    --

  • SwtMary
    20 years ago

    Cindy in KS,

    I live in KS too, northeast area between KCK and Lawrence.
    I've never visited this forum before but enjoyed your ideas.
    Hope you don't mind but I would like to "borrow" your idea of the smoke tree, burning bush, red hot poker,etc as a combination. My DH & DS are volunteer firefighters and I have a couple of fire boots that I want to use to combine with appropriate "hot" plants in a garden bed. I also have some other "firefighting" accesories that can be used in there also for accent, such as large old brass hose nozzles and fittings, old fire hose(thinking of placing a soaker hose in or just under it for actual watering). I was having trouble of thinking of other plants to use in the bed. Could only come up with red hot poker & firecracker plant. I even put in a new burning bush in another bed and DH & DS kept teasing me asking if my bush was on fire yet?? DOH! Never even thought to use it in combo with the firefighting stuff and other plants. Now I just need to find out what a smoke tree is. Can you enlighten me?

    Thanks
    MaryK

  • hija_de_lamadre
    20 years ago

    Cupids dart. My kids think it's funny.

  • justmossy
    20 years ago

    Among our natives, monkey flower and piggy-back plant are pretty cute! How about a garden with animal-related theme?
    Butterfly bush, dog tooth, tiger lily etc.

  • hipchick
    20 years ago

    Swtmary, That firefighter bed sounds so fun...what a great idea!

    This thread is inspiring, I will keep these in mind for new beds this year

  • hipchick
    20 years ago

    I thought of this while off in another forum...how about a barnyard bed, with hens and chicks, lambs ears, colts foot,etc...anybody have ones to add to that list? I think my 3 yo would love it!

  • msmarieh
    20 years ago

    Don't forget Prairie Smoke for the firefighter bed!

    Marie

  • mdaughn
    20 years ago

    I see this post has been going a while, but I just stopped by. I have carried out the "animal theme" for 4 years now in our children's garden (I work in a public garden). I have a number of perennials, gooseneck loosestrife, lambs ear, worm wood, tiger lily,cardinal flower and so on. Because I have a greenhouse, I also get to use some annuals and tropicals, bird of paradise, snake plant, dragon tree and so on. I have a pretty good list if anyone needs to email me. I am trying to get really cool signs with the animials cut out to add to the effect.

  • Maid_in_the_Shade
    19 years ago

    For your barnyard theme garden bed, don't forget MILKweed, BUTTERcups, and EGGplant.

  • Just1LittlePosey
    19 years ago

    I just came across "sneezewort" at a local nursery!

  • janetgia
    19 years ago

    Lamb's Ear (stachys), which kids will LOVE to touch as well as say ;) ... wormwood, Bee Balm, and... my daughter's favorite, SURPRISE LILIES (also known as "Naked Ladies", which makes her blush and giggle).

  • maayan
    19 years ago

    My kids are bilingual- hebrew/english. This makes for a WHOLE lotta fun in the garden. The mulberry is called 'toot' in hebrew- they always laugh and there are endless jokes. Many names are the same but with a different accent, irises for example are 'eerooseem' (phonetically) so my oldest one laughs and bends down to the bush putting it in front of her 'eye', that is to say for her it's an 'eye-ris', so cute.

    Morning glory- periwinkle- love-in-a-mist- heavenly bamboo- goldfish plant- needle grass- balloon flower- plumbago

    Oh now you've got me going! Great thread!

  • Pat3565
    19 years ago

    A new subscriber ... as of today!! Skimmed through the postings and don't remember seeing: Snapdragon, Pot of Gold, Feverfew, MonksHood, Sweet William, Johnny Jump-up's, Jack in the Pulpit, silver dollar, Chinese lanterns, baby's breath, forget-me-nots, BloodRoot, Queen Anne's Lace, and black-eyed Susan.

  • jennegardens
    19 years ago

    LadyBird Poppies, they really resemble ladybug colorings too!

  • pumpkinvinecreek
    19 years ago

    How about "Bat Face" (cuphea)? This plant is awesome! The flowers REALLY look like a bat's face!

  • ocbird
    19 years ago

    What a wonderful thread! i'm getting all kinds of ideas for our school garden.

    "Envy" zinnia is fun, i think, not often you see green flowers.

  • nora_in_vancouver
    19 years ago

    Kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate, which is nicer than Love-lies-bleeding.

  • PRO
    Catrina's Garden
    19 years ago

    Hi,
    I love this thread. Here's another similar thread http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/mwgard/msg0523334313640.html . I was searching for a thread that I remembered where someone was starting a zoo garden, the list of plants with animal names got quite long, but I couldn't find that one.
    How about a "rock garden" for the teens; with plants that are named after songs. We started one, but right now it's mostly day lilies. You cold look at their names all day.
    Catrina

  • laurelin
    18 years ago

    There's a siberian iris called 'Temper Tantrum' - my kids think that name is very funny, and want me to plant one, even though the joke's on them!

    I also had some fun with daylily names one long winter evening - did you know that there are THOUSANDS of named cultivars, and you could make a daylily garden tailored to anyone's quirks/interests/personality? Here's an example, using my little daughter:

    Precious One
    Sent From Heaven
    Twirl Girl
    Blonde Baby
    Lollipop
    Melody Lane (she loves music)
    Pearl Island (her middle name is Pearl)
    Lavender Angel (little girls and purple again)
    Ginger Cookie
    My Way
    Blueberries and Cream
    Butterfly Kisses
    Cutie Pie

    You could have a LOT of fun, just with one kind of plant.
    The same thing could be done with irises, too, or roses.

    Laurelin

  • Carol_RI
    18 years ago

    I never thought of a theme garden in this way!! I had already started a "love" garden without realizing it. I have Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate, Bleeding Hearts, Love Lies Bleeding, Forget Me-Nots, and Honesty.I think a Monk's Hood might be in order, and some Baby's Breath too.
    How about a 'Gone With the Wind' theme with Scarlett O'Hara morning glories, mint, cotton, 'Tara'-gon?
    How about 'Wizard of Oz' with Lion's Tail, poppies, Witch's Broom? There must be other great plants too. My daughter and I have been having fun looking for 'munchkins'.
    Here's a plant name that made me giggle: aquilegia flabellata; too many sweets will make me flab-allota!! I can't wait to give garden tours. Thanks for the terrific inspiration!!

  • tndrhrtd2u
    11 years ago

    I was thinking of plants like Carlos Lantana and Magilla Perilla. Can't think of any others like this but maybe some of you can.

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