Fantasy gardens

Hi! I was wondering . . . does anyone else "name" their plants? I am a lord of the rings / dragonlance fan (hence the handle "Seandor" pronounced SEE an dor).

Anyway, my family thinks I am nuts because I refer to the spring bulbs as 'the dwarves' because they mostly work underground, bringing their "jewels" to the surface once a year. The oriental lilies are the Elves - because they are so elegant. The pinks and lavender (and other 'cottage' plants) are hobbits.

The Primrose lilac is called "Ron" (after Ron Weasly of Harry Potter) because of the unusual "hair colour." (Currently, wee Ron has a bucket over his head to protect him from the cold winds). Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (a twisted hazel) is simply called 'Harry' for Harry Potter. The viburnum is Herminone.

The roses (yet to arrive) already have names too! A red shrub rose 'TESS OF THE D'URBEVILLES" is called "Tass" for Tasslehoff Burfoot (a whimsical character in the Dragonlance books). The Betty Harkness rose is Legolas, the Welsh Gold rose is Aragorn, (because 'all that's gold doesn't glitter . . .') the Margaret Merril rose is Seandor (c'est moi - white, pure, and perfect!), the Darlow's Enigma rose is Gandalf (rambler of unknown origin, with strong magic - fragrance). The rose The Poet is David, because David, my husband is a poet (also St. David is the saint of poets!), the Midnight Blue rose is Miki for my daughter (who recently went through a stage of wearing primarily just black . . . :-) Finally, I have two minature roses Scentsational (lavender and highly fragrant) that I call "Sam" and "Frodo"

so what do you call your plants . . . or is my family right, and I am just nuts :-)

Well, of course, you're totally nuts, as you are perfectly aware, so there's no need to fret about that. But I definitely approve of the idea of giving names to things in the garden.

Thus far, my own ventures into this particular form of insanity have been rather cautious -- we have "Callie's Oak" and "Tristan's Swamp" and "The Dark Forest" and "The Magic Circle" and the like. But I can see where this sort of thing would lead if you gave yourself free reign.

I wonder if your feelings toward these named plants -- which evidently count as individual beings -- are of a neopagan sort? I mean, do you feel that the plants have distinct identities or other qualities of "beingness," or is this all just kind of whimsical? In my experience, there are people who love fantasy, and people who sort of BELIEVE in fantasy, if you know what I mean. I think I'm one of the latter types.

I have not ventured into this form of insanity, but I give it my stamp of approval. Our gardens are what they mean to us. My roses (not all) have become some kind of testimonial to people or pets that have been influential in my life on way or another. One that has deep meaning to me is Nicole, planted in honor of one of my employees that lost the battle of life. That rose will be spoiled forever. I won't go into all the other roses, but our gardens, ultimately, bring us what we desire. And sometimes the passerby will enjoy the fruits of our labor, and that makes it even better.
But I wonder, Seandor, which bloom will be the coveted "ring"?? :>)

Seandor, I don't either (most of my gardening insanity comes out in this forum, not in the garden). However, I'm in favor of anything that has Harry Potter charecters in it and I did notice the scar on your walking stick's forehead.

Ah . . . the ring . . . well, the whole point of LOTR was to get rid of it, as it was evil incarnate. Ummmm, I wonder what passes for evil incarnate in a garden? Any ideas? Maybe I will start a new thread on this one!

Seandor, here is our Arwin (we call her Winnie) named for the pretty elf in Tolkien"s Lord of the Rings taking a stroll and a sniff in our Nantucket garden last summer. She would love your new fragrant garden. I love your red Victorian. I sometimes go to Springfield for fabric at Ozgoods and kitchen stuff at Kittridges, or to meet people at the train station to bring upt o our house in southern Vt. I love going to a nursery just north of North Hampton on Rt 5/10 called BAY STATE PERENNIALS. http://www.baystateperennial.com/. Keep the pictures coming when things start to pop. Patti

Hey Patti,

Thanks for the link. I am reasonably new to Massachusetts and didn't know Bay State Perennials even existed!

Love the picture of Winnie. Funny - I never thought before about naming a plant for either Arwin or Galadrial - oh well, must be an excuse to buy more plants!

Last year, there was an orb weaver spider who protected my tomato plants from pests. She earned the name Dinah and her web was with us from April-late November. I don't name my plants, though.

When we lived in Kamloops British Columbia, we had the most beautiful spider that lived in the peonies. Truly a living jewel, it was white with pink tips, perfectly mimicking the flowers. I only heard it called a "garden spider."

Does any one have suggestions for plants deserving the name "Arwin" or "Galadrial"? Arwin was considered the most beautiful woman of middle-earth. She was associated with star-light. Galadrial was her grandmother, and also considered a contender for most beautiful woman. She was known as the Lady of the Light (Because she was the sole living person in Middle Earth who had seen the living lamps of the two trees in the land of the gods). Galadrial is associated with the morning.

So? Any suggestions?

Seandor... I am a Lord of the Rings fan also... I have seen all the movies, read all the books ... more than once each.... I even got Tolkien for Dummies... I have a celtic ring that is very similar to the Rohan symbol and a Fossil watch that has the white tree of Gondor.... yes... pretty pathetic...

I every dwarf plant is Gimli.... lol....

My Arwin was the white datura... really pretty...

Japanese beatles are orchs... evil smeeeeeellllllly orchs....

and the brazilian guy that came every week to cut my grass was short, chubby and looked like Sam... so he is the hobbit gardener...

I've named my garden gnome, Eli Hershberger, after a very cool amish man we met. They look quite similar.

Kassia! There's a Tolkien for Dummies????? I have all sorts of academic books on Tolkien - philosophy, writing process etc. Japanese Beetles as orcs! Perfect! Never thought of that one LOL. Wonder what is Portugese for "Sam"? I'll have to look up a Datura. I still need to find a plant for Arwin and Galadriel.

I keep seeing something pale blue, tall, graceful, for Arwin. maybe an aconitum? or delphinium?

for Galadriel it almost has to be white, even taller, a white delphinium maybe, a perfect white rose. I even thought about moonflower vine because it waits for morning and then disappears.

Well, the perfect white rose is me, so that will never do LOL! I have started Blue Bird delphinium (Pacific Giant) so that might work for Arwin. If there is a white morning glory that would work for Galadriel. Gee, I wonder if there is a dark moonflower . . . or a star flower . . . . Arwin's full name is Arwin Evenstar.

Can anyone help me here? (Nothing like designing gardens based on novels!)

Hi everyone! I'm not a Tolkien fanatic, but I'm a fanatic about lots of other things. I think all insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, and plants are entrusted to my care (as children or peers). This makes nature very personal and every event very fulfilling (and sometimes very sad). I have such a bad memory that I could never remember "my" name AND the "official" name for each plant so I don't name them very often. And I tag EVERYTHING! But when I say, "Heritage" (for my DA English rose), there's a respectful worshipful quality to my voice that says, "She is one of my very best friends." Almost like giving something a personal name. Best I can do. Having said all that, I do call turkey vultures, "Skekseez" (no idea of spelling) from the Dark Crystal. But I most often call things "sweetheart" when I talk to them. Which I do a lot. And I'm sure I've named a few spiders. Seandor, do you talk to your character plants?
BTW, in the birding world there are LBJ (little brown jobs), tweetles (songbirds), and peeps (shorebirds) but I didn't make them up.
And Bay State Perennials is great.

There are wildflowers called star flowers but they're white. I just bought an older daylily called Dark Star. http://db.tinkersgardens.com/?script=3.1

Absolutely I talk to them! I call them by name, and let them know what I am doing - and what I expect from them! I want us all "reading from the same page! " LOL

Wacky as this sounds, I think individual plants have "personalities" - or at least quirks. One plant pouts, another is seemingly gleeful, another unnecessarily aggressive . . .

I'll look up the daylily.

What about a Jasmine? Could I grow that here? zone 6a

I know I can't in zone5. I don't tell plants what I expect-I beg.

Hey! Maybe that's where I am going wrong!