The Name Game

Yes, you are about to embark on another trip down useless information lane.

Well, I don't find it useless, in fact, as you may know already, I am fascinated by unimportant facts and trivia that most toss aside and ignore. I may have missed my calling by not training and competing in the Trivial Pursuit Olympics (quick thought - how did I ever meet a woman and actually get her to marry me? Must have been my bankroll).

Today is all about the origins of names. As is typical of my M.O., I like to mix the pop culture world with gardening (the success of such ventures is definitely up for debate).

First off, I am always intrigued by the origin of band names. They are often left open to interpretation, but here are a few I found interesting (you can read all about it here)

• Alice in Chains - a reference to Alice the housekeeper from the Brady Bunch. It was rumored that it was a dream that one band member had of Alice getting all randy and dressed in an S&M outfit.

• Beastie Boys - according to band members, stands for Boys Entering Anarchistic Stages Towards Internal Excellence.

 

• Cheap Trick - the band asked a Ouija board what they should name themselves.

• Jane's Addiction - the lead singer knew a girl in LA who was a prostitute and she called it her addiction.

• Kiss - Paul Stanley claims it sounded dangerous and sexy at the same time.

• Led Zeppelin - Jimmy Page was drinking with Moon and Entwhistle, who were bitching about their band mates Daltrey and Townshend. They joked about the two of them starting a band with Jimmy, and one of them said "Yeah, that will go over like a lead balloon". When Jimmy formed his own band, he remembered this and thought "Lead Zeppelin" would be good, both from that conversation and the heavy/light contradiction similar to the band named IRON BUTTERFLY. They decided to drop the "a" so Americans wouldn't mispronounce it.

• Pearl Jam - 1) Eddie Vedder's grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug) jelly/jam , which as kids they called pearl jam.  2)Name comes from former NBA player Mookie Blaylock -- it's his nickname.  Band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were huge fans of Blaylock, loved his peculiar name and wished to just call their band "Mookie Blaylock" but Blaylock protested, so they used his nickname "Pearl Jam" instead.

• Soundgarden - a garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows through them... a sculpture in Seattle called "Sound Garden". 

You know each one of you will use this newly learned info in some manner in the near future. Remember where you heard it first.  

Now on to the next name phase. Cultivar names.

According to Wikipedia,  a cultivar is "a cultivated variety of a plant that has been deliberately selected for specific desirable characteristics (such as the colour and form of the flower, yield of the crop, disease resistance, etc.). When propagated correctly, the plants of a particular cultivar retain their special characteristics."

Or in simpler terms for you uneducated and simple readers, it is the name between the ' and ' marks.

Most cultivar names are descriptive of the plant and easy to understand:       
   

• Sedum 'Autumn Joy', 'Autumn Fire' - fall blooming perennials

• Acer Rubrum 'October Glory' - Red Maple with amazing Fall color

• Caryopteris 'Sunshine Blue' - Bluish blooms with yellow foliage

• Clethra 'Ruby Spice' - scent of the blooms

• Eupatorium 'Chocolate' - foliage color

Then there are those cultivar names with a more interesting back story:

• Nepeta 'Walker's Low' - A misleading name as it is not a low growing catmint; the name refers to the name of the garden where the plant was originally found, most likely in Ireland.

• Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' - named after the famous German plantsman from the 1950s who first recognized the ornamental value of grasses.

• Penstemon 'Husker Red' - a selection discovered at the University of Nebraska.

• Itea 'Henry's Garnet' - discovered  in the early 1980's on the campus of  Swarthmore College, PA and named for it's fall color.

 

• Achillea 'Anthea' - introduced by Alan Bloom, the famous British horticulturalist, and named after his daughter.

• Daphne 'Carol Mackie' - little NJ connection - named for Mrs. Carolyn Brett (formerly Carol Mackie), who discovered the mutation of the hybrid in her New Jersey garden.

And then there are those names that need no further explanation:

• Hosta 'Outhouse Delight' - see link here 

 

• Rose 'Golden Showers' - see link here

• Iris 'Baboon Bottom' - see link here

• Hemerocallis 'Crotchless Panties' - see link here

And finally, some cultivar names I would like to change based on the results I've seen in my garden to date:
 

• Ilex Glabra 'Shamrock' to 'Scamrock' - the most leggy Holly I've ever seen.

• Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' to 'Endless Heartache' - never blooms as it is supposed to.

• Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns' to 'Happy returning every day to prune this SOB to keep it looking OK'

• Eupatorium 'Gateway' to 'Gateway to wanting bigger and better versions of this beauty' - OK, a stretch, but A+ for effort.

• Nepeta ' Walker's Low'  to 'Walker's Low and Really Friggin Wide' - nuff said.     

And finally a challenge, give me a cultivar name you want to change based on how it has performed or underperformed for you.

Later   

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