Thursday, December 6, 2007

My Favorite Plants

Have you ever been asked what your favorite plant is? Last week I was contacted by a writer for the Chicago Tribune who has been doing a series on people's favorite plants. Now the question is, "Do I have a fave?" Normally, no. I like a lot of plants for different reasons. However, since the writer asked and may put my name in the paper, Of course I have a favorite plant!

So, what did I tell her?
Well, I was tempted to provide my favorite fictional plants. That is, they have plant-like names, but they are most certainly not plants! Actually, a few are less than tasteful.

Since this is my forum, I will share them with you.

Impetigo rosacea sounds like a plant. It's not. Definitely not. But if I’d offered it, I wonder if the writer, who may not be particularly horticulturally astute, would have caught it. I just started writing a fictional description of this "plant," but thought better of it and deleted. It got ugly.

I could have also suggested one of my other favorite non-plants: Chlamydia. Again, it sounds like a plant...Not likely this one would have slipped through.

But maybe Ginkgo balboa would have gotten by. I can't really give it a good description. Maybe a picture would help.

Okay, I know the suspense is just too much. What did I choose? I played it safe and went with a ground cover I like. It's called Waldsteinia ternata, or barren strawberry. It's used less commonly in my area than plants like Pachysandra or Euonymus, and grows in a variety of conditions. It doesn't look terrific as it comes out of winter, but, then again, not much does here deep in zone 5. So there you have it. Just be glad I didn't post pictures of all the fictional plants.

Just for grins, check this out for some others: Wiki

1 comment:

Tim Thoelecke said...

Update: The article will be published in the 12/23/07 Home and Garden Section of the Chicago Tribune.