garden folklore

I plan to put in a folklore garden next spring. This subject is a passion of mine. I love the tales of how a plant came into being or got it's name through some Greek mythological tragedy. Other plants were named according to their uses/curative powers. Are there others out there who share my interest in this topic? Wouldn't this make a great forum topic if enough people were interested?!

Absolutely. It would be fun to research. It does link with Herbal topics, but not restricted to only that.

Breeze, if you haven't checked out Botanary yet, you should - you'll find the etymology behind the botanical names of *most* of the entries in the PDB. And if you come up with the meaning behind other plant names that we haven't yet included, you can add them yourself or send them to us (see the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page.

One note of caution - Botanary is only for genus and species names (and family, if you really want to delve into a HUGE subject!) but not the common names :)

And for the record, yes I'm a huge fan of finding out more about the history of the plants I grow, and those that intrigue me...which is part of why I championed the creation of Botanary. (The other major reason was based on the belief that the more we know and understand a plant's botanical name, the more likely we are to use it.)

Breeze, I think that would make an excellent theme for a garden! I like doing "demonstration" gardens, "theme" gardens, etc. Sounds like you could have fun with this one!

Folklore/naming of a plant is what often-times helps me to remember facts, qualities, and such about a plant. I more inclined to remember that kind of info more easily that botanical names. (Probably cuz it strikes a stronger interest in me.)

If you get some "takers" on this topic, maybe you could start another thread (not another forum) about this. Any entries that people bring in can also be added to Botanary and/or the PDB. We'll all benefit from it!

(Course now, I'm sure we'd all love to see pics of your garden when you get it going also!) Good idea!

We recently had a discussion on common name origins in the European forum

http://davesgarden.com/t/361423/

Trouble is, as with most etymology, it's only as true as the earliest reference someone can find and people are discovering more information about names every year. It will never be exact but it is a fun topic.

This message was edited Saturday, Nov 9th 4:09 AM