gardening, Nature, Uncategorized, Words

What’s in a Name?

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New seed catalog time has come, and Husband and I chose and ordered our selections for this year’s garden.  Husband always researches the varieties carefully and chooses based on length of growing season, disease resistance, past successes, and past failures. I don’t think he ever chooses based on the name of the variety. It seems like a lot of effort goes into finding catchy names to entice us to buy one variety over another.

I wonder how they arrive at the names?  I like it when a plant is named for a person-Big Jim Peppers  or Queen Elizabeth Hybrid Tea Roses.  Some names speak to productivity, such as Mortgage Lifter tomatoes or Lazy Housewife pole beans.   Why, though, would you name a variety of celeriac Mars? There isn’t anything particularly warlike about that humble root vegetable. Flower names get pretty fanciful, such as Double Scoop Bubble Gum Echinacea.

I wondered what names Baboons could come up with if they were to name some plants, so that is today’s challenge.

Come up with some clever names for varieties of flowers,  trees, vegetables, shrubs, or even  weeds  I will get us started with my choice of Dead Man Walking American Elm.

50 thoughts on “What’s in a Name?”

        1. Okay, that’s accurate but pretty creepy, VS. Especially when I realized that this plant wouldn’t grab flies but something else…

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  4. I will talk about Apollo Gel. Gel is the colored “plasitic” that’s put at the front of conventional lighting fixtures to change the color. (A common thing before the prevalence of LED’s came to market).
    Appollo has fun with their color names. Everyone has a numbers as well, but other companies have more tradition names.
    These are some of the Apollo names:
    Simply Mauvelous, Precious Purple, Sour Grape, Purplexed, submissive Lavender, Lavender Retriever, Dominant Lavender, Whispering Lavender, Breathless Lavender, Alexander the Grape, Flirtatious Lavender, Groovy Grape, Cowboys & Indigo, King Congo Blue, Blurple, Kelly Green (my favorite), Cactus Juice green, Putting Green, Margarita Green, Yellow Snow, Fatherless Amber (A popular, oft used color, is ‘Bastard Amber’, so this is their take on that). There’s also Bashful Amber and Rust Assured. Just Peachy, Trick or Treat, Salmon”illa”, Sailors Delight Orange, Hot Wings, Hot lava Orange, Scandalous Scarlet, Vixen Red, Diva Red, Cherry Lewis, Bludgeon Red, Spanked Pink, Tease Pink, and Pink Pong, Pinkerbell, Screaming Pink and Sassy Pink. Ruby Slippers too.

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    3. Is Apollo a relatively new company, Ben? My memory of gel books (I still have them, because I think they are so pretty) was that Lee was the British company, and then there was something else that was the American one.

      The colors all had numbers as well as names (not sure they all had names), and then there were some unofficial names, the most memorable of which was “why bother blue”, which was practically clear.

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      1. Yes, Apollo doesn’t have the standing that Lee and Rosco have.
        And it’s tough to break into the market as well. Here in the midwest, it’s hard to get Apollo gel. I can get it drop shipped, but most theater supply houses carry all the Lee and Rosco.
        Gam is another company with some nice gel, but it’s hard to get.
        Yep, most people just go by the number.

        When I first started it was ‘Roscolene’ and it melted and faded fast. Rosco-lux was just coming out.
        Most all the colors stand up to the heat better these days. Course the dark colors still melt and burn (because they’re absorbing all the heat.)
        It makes me laugh, there’s 24 shades of blue in the book and only a couple I really like.
        750 watts behind a blue color washes it out fast. Takes a nice rich blue to look good.
        Gam 915, Twilight, is a favorite but it’s got a hint of purple too it. Rosco 2006, Storaro Azure, is my newest favorite; just a nice thick blue.
        R73, peacock blue is one of my favorites. Rosco 3313 is my ‘Go-To’ front light gel, it’s just a little pink called “Tough 1/2 Minusgreen” meaning it pulls some of the green wavelength out.

        So much inane trivia in my head!! 🙂

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        1. i always assumed it was a slide insert like a sunglasses lens or a sheet of cellphone done in the color you wanted available like a pantone book

          is it too expensive to have a collection of permanent color slides?

          do the still do this or do the just turn the computer dial to adjust more or less red yellow or blue?

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        2. There are some glass “colorizers” that go into the middle of the light fixture. They’re more expensive, but last almost indefinitely. I’ve got a couple dozen of them.
          A sheet of gel measures 21″ x 24″ and costs about $8-$10 / sheet. Then I cut the size I need for that particular fixture. Might be 7 1/2″ square, or 5 1/4″ or 10″. Seems like I always end up with a 2″ strip I’m throwing away. I have fixtures that take 3″, but they’re not used enough to justify all the scraps I end up with.

          I still do this frequently. Just ordered 22 sheets of a couple colors. 10 of the pink because I use it often. And then 3 or 4 sheets of some colors I wanted for this show. (“Bald Soprano” opens tonight.)

          Yeah, tim, with LED’s now, it’s using a ‘color picker’ on the computerized lightboard to tell it what color I want.
          Some of the fancier moving light fixtures have dichroic color wheels built in.

          Here: https://youtu.be/LZ81uXsJva8

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        3. I’ll let Ben tell you what they do now, but with the old gel system, eventually, the color would “burn out”, so you needed to replace it.

          If you had permanent colored glass slides or something, they would
          a) be really heavy (old school lighting instruments are heavy enough as it is)

          b) you would either be spending a lot more on tons of permanent slides to get the range of colors for all the different sized instruments. Or you would be working with a much narrower palette.

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        4. New lighting fixtures use glass reflectors at the back, so that allows heat to come out the back, rather than reflected out the front. So a gel lasts longer than they used to. I can reuse a pink gel for hundreds of cycles. The darker colors don’t last as long, but still they are reusable.

          The glass ones are more unique or specialized colors or looks.
          I have some glass patterns custom made of the college logo. They’ve been in use for 8 years maybe? But not on 24/7 or anything. They’re not colored, just the image. I color it with a gel in front. I’ve replaced the gel once I think.

          MIG is right; for straight color it would be impractical.

          Here’s a link to one page of glass color.
          http://us.rosco.com/en/products/catalog/gobos?type=68

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        5. Ah, Rosco, of course!
          So gobos are glass now? How does that work. I remember them as cut metal. The lamp heat could fry those too, but I have a very pretty one of the Chrysler Building that was very artistically discolored by the heat.

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  5. My brain isn’t being clever today, but I’ll mention some of my favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors that I thought were pretty fun – Chubby Hubby, Cherry Garcia (they might have actually had to go to court about that one), Economic Crunch, This Is Nuts, Vermonty Pithon, Shweddy Balls, Hazed & Confused, Oh Pear!…

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  7. I’ve always thought getting a job naming colors would be rather nice, but you probably have to be an English major to get it.

    Remember working with someone who delighted us by bringing in a bottle of “I’m Not A Waitress” red nail polish.

    Gardening-wise, I hope to get some More-than-you-need zucchini planted this year.

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    1. I suppose that once you get the hang of it, naming anything would be fun. At the moment, I don’t think I would last long doing that, however, if the current lack of brain activity in my head is any indication.

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  8. i remember charles kerault having a tulip named after him by a tulip enthusiast in the northeast and so he went to see it the year after he retired.

    i thought that was cool

    people who mess with apples and orchids and hosta to develop special strains get the right to name them
    i am guessing if that were my arena i could do it with reckless abandon
    i remember once being asked to have input from my perspective on foam and or fiberglass flowerpot designs
    they were coming up with butterflies and hummingbirds in gold and bronze
    i was submitting architectural designs like you see around the tops of buildings and around windows especially in the 30’s and 40’s art deco stuff too
    in flowers and vegetables i imagine i would see if there were names available like shrinking violets
    i’ve got to take a “pea”
    little boy “blueberries”
    neil diamond cherry “cherry”
    stymies wish i had a “watermelon”
    me and my fiancé “cantaloupe”
    i had a dream “a black rose”
    puff the magic “snapdragon”
    marilyn monroe tulips

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    1. Some new car debuted in the seventies with choice of colors featured in the ads. But the color names were racially offensive. You can guess for yellow and red. They quickly changed the names. I think it was that short squat AMC car. Cannot remember its name. Names of cars are interesting. I drive a Scion. What is it called in Japan?

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  10. Fake News Foxglove
    Paul Ryan AMERICAN Rose It forces all the weak flowers out of the bed
    Lou Dobbs Parsnip
    Melinia Marigold A foreign invader which sneaks into the garden

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  11. Murdock Ragweed
    Putin Runner Bean It sends out its vines taking control of other plants, notably the Trump Thistle, a noxious weed which thrives in manure
    Renee Rhododendron A reliable producer of beautiful blooms
    Verilee Veritas Violet

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  12. Baboon Begonias A very heady flower
    Medical Insurance Medusa Plant Impossible to prune
    Lutheran Lobelia A varied drab plant that prefers northern climate
    Lawyers’ Lavatera Draws fertilizer from other plants

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  15. I think the veggies in the headet photo should be named “Too beautiful to eat” bok choy. (I think that is what they are).

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    2. they taste too beautiful to eat. they are cheap and wonderful in the chinese store refrigerator that is baby bok choy. regular is biigger and good but baby is delicious

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  17. The flower shop where I work has floral arrangements named with artistic names. Some of them are named by the national organization, some of them locally. One of the designers at our shop made an arrangement with tied clusters of roses, for which I suggested the name “The Ties That Bind”. I’m not sure if that will be the final selection. We’ll see.

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  18. Apple’s logo and the letter I was pure genius – – – – or dumb luck. I am very aware of the I today. I bought a new Ipad. I lost my little Ipod Nano, which was an important item for me when I wait for Sandy when she is at medical appointments, social or church events or shopping. It is very painful to stand and to walk as much as 50 yards. So I sit and wait. The Nano had only 8GB and the battery was wearing down. I have used it hard for seven years. A new Ipod would cost me about $200. With another 200 I got an Ipad 5 with 128. It is wonderful. But today I have been on WordPress with my computer and with both Ipads. WP is spinning in circles. It keeps requiring me to login every time I switch platforms.
    Three doctors want me to try four drugs. The four drugs, with all the appeals and discounts I can get, would cost me per year $1100, $1200, $2900, and $3400. Three are of dubious value. So instead I bought the Ipad.

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