Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate by Terri Munson

​While traipsing around Muster Field Farm in nearby Sutton, I came upon a new-to-me flower.  It was tall and looked like a kind of grass with lots of tiny red flowers budding on the top.  Imagine my delight when I learned that this bouncing little flower is called Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate.  I could easily imagine a tall country lad leaning over to steal a sweet kiss from the blushing farmer’s daughter.  I picture it as a Norman Rockwell painting.  And here are some more interesting flower nicknames that I was lucky enough to photograph this past growing season...

​We all have heard off forget-me-nots, but what about touch-me-nots? The touch-me-not is a small, bright orange wildflower that got its name from their seed pods that explode when you touch them.  So the name is actually a fair warning instead of a romantic notion  

​I read that the ugly named lungwort got its name because it looks like a lung (really?) In the Middle Ages, it was believed that God created it to look that way to guide people to use it to make medicine to help with chest ailments and coughs.  

This odd looking pink flower is Old Maid's Bonnet which must have received its nickname years ago before central heating; a time when old and young maids wore bonnets to bed and the men wore nightcaps.   

Where on earth did foxglove get its name with nothing foxy about it.  In Welsh this flower is called by the beautiful name of maneg ellyllon, or the fairies’ glove. In England these little elves were called ‘the good folks.’ No doubt, then, these flowers were called ‘the good folks’ gloves’, a name since shortened into foxgloves. 

Despite it sad name of Bleeding Heart, these flowers always delights when blooming in the garden.  A silly name for it is Lady in the Bathtub because someone thought that's what it looks like when viewed upside down.  Personally they always remind me of our beloved Peppermint Patty's who has been doling out ice cream to folks at Eastman Lake for decades.  
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So that's the end of my odd named flower blog.  I'm running out of ideas in the non-growing season but have a few more up my sleeve.  

Flowers from the Shakespeare Garden, Muster Field, and the gardens of Anne Langsdorf, Elise Kendall, Janie Clark, Jane Verdrager, and Sharon Parker.