We Have A Winner...Or Two!

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.
~Mirabel Osler

Thank you everyone for your entries! What a fun and imaginative bunch you are. But how to choose? They are all wonderful. Oh dilemma!

While looking over this fabulous list of entries and considering choosing just one via ‘pin-the tail on-the donkey’ style, a combo-name popped into my head, rolled around in there for a while and refuses to exit. Leaving you in suspense a little longer, I’ll give a rundown of the names submitted.

Shari from FitFeat got the ball rolling with:
Mary Jane: clever, verrrrry clever my dear, but no doubt some knuckle-head will point out that mary jane is aka ‘weed’ and since no weeds are allowed in my garden I had to root that one out ;)
Sukhon: meaning pleasing scent…hmmm I like that! It’s restful.

From Tracy at Kitsap Garden
Mali: meaning Jasmine…ohhh lovely and as she stated I do have Jasmine vines!

From Rosella at Rosella's Garden
Floradora: whimsical fun! Capricious comes to my mind…root: n caprice meaning…"head with hair standing on end"…and Rosella hadn’t even seen this picture yet!! Are you psychic?

Lastly, Cindy at A Sparkle A Day
After a frightening brain freeze, her ‘little grey cells’ kicked back into high gear just as the door was closing…
Petunia-Panten-a
Jasmine-Jehmima
Bee-Trice – Yay! Save the bees!
Rose-Annafanna - Love this, too funny!
Hya-Cynthias
Mademoiselle Fanny Le Fleur – I love French lingo and French music

Well I had some work ahead of me didn’t I? And the winning name is…drum roll…are you sitting down?...

Mademoiselle Mali Sukhonafloranna

Pronouncation: mad-mwa-zel molly sue-CĂNNĂ-flor-ănnă.

Translation: Miss pleasing scent Jasmine flower- anna.

How cool is that? Indeed, it is a mouthful and even my brain is beginning to freeze…but hey, I like it!! And if you’ve ever studied German, you know they make HUMONGEOUS compound words…so if they can, I can!

Well done all!! Which means you’re ALL winners!! I have packets of poppy seed ready to be sent to each of you. Email an address to which you’d like me to send them at: gardenblogger at msn dot com and I’ll get them out right away. Please, please…a big woohoo for each other!

This year Mlle. Mali Sukhonafloranna will be sporting a spikey do (no greasy kid stuff needed) of Spider plant (Cholorophytum) with a mossy crown. Normally, Spider plant is an indoor plant around here, but I think it will do well for her this summer as soon as the night temps stay above 50F (10C) degrees and she stays in a shady spot. It will be a fun experiment, and no doubt one of many changing hairdo’s she’ll undergo in the years to come. Though now it looks more like an unruly mohawk, as the plant grows and fills in I’ll be sure to update her picture. Stay tuned!

In bloom in my garden today: Oxalis oregana ‘Wintergreen’, Anemone nemerosa ‘Robinsoniana’, Dodecatheon (Shooting Star), Alpine strawberry, Muscari (Grape Hyacinths), Hepatica, Fritillaria, Primrose, Hellebore, Skimmia, Mahonia repens (Oregon Grape), Heather, Rhododendrons, Clematis, Hyacinth Orientaliis, Daphne caucasica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ and ‘Summer Ice’, Wood Hyacinth (Hyacinthoides hispanica)


Author’s photo

What's In A Name?

“Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive”
~Thomas C. Haliburton

This pothead is the newest addition to my garden. I’ve had a hankerin’ for a pot head for some time, and after a lot of looking but no finding, I was thrilled to stumble over a newly arrived, large shipment at a small nursery that was just what I was looking for!

Almost every pet I ever had was given a well thought-out name, and this hand crafted pothead that comes to my garden from Thailand is no different. I have a few ideas for a name for her but I’d love your input!

Ooh, ooh, I know…let’s make this a contest! The winner will be rewarded, naturally. If you are in the continental USA, I will send you a prize of TWO packets of my favorite annual purple poppy seeds! One for you and an extra if you choose to give a friend a gift. These poppy seeds should arrive to you in time to sow them in your spring garden in the Northern hemisphere. Here in the western part of Washington State, USDA zone 7-8, I can usually sow them in February, and they bloom in June. They reach over three feet tall and are a beautiful deep purple, single (occasionally double) flower with a darker throat and creamy pollen which my honey bees love. After flowering, it yields wonderful seed pods that not only supply you with a-gazillion more seeds to save but also snazzy dried pods to use in your fall decorations or arrangements. Heck, I even like to use the green under-ripened pods in flower arrangements, which you can see in this picture.

Outside of the continental US it is illegal for me to mail seed, so for my non USA readers, if I choose your suggestion for a name you’ll have to settle for knowing I celebrate you as the winner! Lame, I know but my hands are tied. Sorry! But your name and blog address (if you have one) will be forever posted for all to see! I’d love to hear all my reader’s suggestions!! I know I have many readers outside the US, so please join in the fun! After all how often do you get invited to give your opinion?

I’ll end the contest 7 days from the day of this posting.

In bloom in my garden today: Oxalis oregana ‘Wintergreen’, Anemone nemerosa ‘Robinsoniana’, Dodecatheon (Shooting Star), Alpine strawberry, Muscari (Grape Hyacinths), Hepatica, Fritillaria, Primrose, Hellebore, Skimmia, Mahonia repens (Oregon Grape), Heather, Rhododendrons, Clematis, Hyacinth Orientalis ‘Blue Jacket’, Daphne caucasica ‘Eternal Fragrance’, Wood Hyacinths (Hyacinthoides hispanica), Corylopsis veitchiana (Winter Hazel)

Author’s photos