Murmur's idea: Adjective's for describing flowers

Murmur, I loved your saying

Toofew, bless your heart for starting this thread!!!

'Captivating' is an excellent descriptive word - let's hope we can come up with tons more!!!

Here's some of the usual:

gorgeous,
beautiful,
Heavenly,
lovely,
appealing,
magnificent,

Okay - will someone add some good ones now?

Breathtaking
Amazing
Attention Grabbing
Vivid
Enchanting
Alluring

That's it...

Ooooooooo . . . those are good!

We need more, though - so many fabulous (there's another, although overused), awesome (hehehehehe - talk about overused, but sometimes the only one that works) photos coming on these threads that I, for one, would sure like to avoid sounding repetitious all the time!!

Inspiring, compelling......

Mesmerizing : )

"Inspiring" would be quite a compliment, I would think!

Arresting.

Or maybe we need to go to another language....
Italian - bellissima - "most beautiful"
Italian - dilettevole, incantevole - "enchanting"
Spanish - bella or bello - "beautiful"
French - beau parfait - "beautiful, perfect"

Thants' my contribution, LOL!

Suzy

These are wonderful - I am making a list to have beside my computer - lol - of course, the problem is, we'll all be using the same ones! Thanks for joining in with me on this silliness . . . makes me happy!!

Suzy - yes yes yes yes!! I adore "bellissima!! Other languages are a great idea!

The shizzle!

LOL! You are way too cool:LOL:

ala Paris Hilton "that's hot!"
80's style "trippindicular" "that's rad"
70's style "cool" "choice" "dynomite"
60's style "far out" "outta sight" "groovy"
50's style "neato" "like crazy" "razz my berries--as in "those planters sure razz my berries"

The scary part is these came from googling slang terms from various decades:LOL:

Well, then I can keep going. Too bad it's in the wrong direction, ie back in time! LOL!
30s - The bees knees
40s - the cat's pajamas, cat's meow

The scary part is, this isn't from google, it's from my memory! LOL.

I'm really not sure of the decades, I just made that part up. I think my mom used "cat's meow".

Suzy

You guys are way too funny!! A blast from the past and some spice from other languages!

How about
enthralling
arresting - maybe not so good.

Here's one I like ' spellbinding', goes along with 'bewitched'.

elegant, stately....

This gets better and better - now if I can just train myself to not go back and start using my old standbys!!!

......I wonder if that would be a compliment on the CG forum, though? If you said my garden was "elegant and stately", I'd know you were a darn liar! hahahahaha!

I'm not sure I have the demeanor to say, "Oh, Toofew, your garden is absolutely spellbinding." You'd all laugh me out of Dave's. Oh the otherhand, I could say, "Oh, Toofew, your garden is the BERRIES!!!!!!" LOL!

Suzy

No, no Suzy....you're supposed to say it to those who don't garden....then they think you know a whole lot more than you do. "Just look at the elegant, stately form of that floriforous lillium. It's absolutely spellbinding!"

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I stood spellbound by the beauty of Suzy's garden!
And It would be the truth!!!

some blooms are elegant and stately (foxglove, lily).... but others are brash or eyepopping (think hot colored primroses)... and some are demure or bashful (lily of the valley, wood violets)... I think we need to start pairing these adjectives with flowers that come to mind when we consider these descriptions!

LOL, Princess, I am obviously confused! I thought we were talking about whole gardens or beds from pictures people were posting...not individual flowers. I'll have to go back and re read it now that I have the big picture. The thing is, the flowers are easier to ooh and aaah over than the gardens, well, not that, but it's easier to come up with different descriptive adjectives for flowers, and someone like Wallaby who has 50 pictures,,,,each one better than the last; I'm just running out of different ways to say "gorgeous!" and "I want that!" Oh, wait, I've just been *thinking* that last one.

Critter, Right now down the basement under lights are some gor-jer-ous primulas called "Dazzler Tagetes". The blooms look just like MARIGOLDS! It is the funniest thing! I just put them in 3" pots today because they had filled their little cells. If it were March 15th and nicer out (a whole lot nicer!), I would have started hardening them off, but it's way too early. Anyway, these aren't the style of primulas I prefer, with the flowers on a nice stem, but they are easy and I'll use them in a big swathe somewhere where they'll really show up.

Suzy

These are so subjective, though.

hypnotic -- bat lilies (I don't like them, actually, but they're fascinating)

alluring -- daturas at sunset with their fragrance wafting along the humid evening breeze. I also think maybe a tea olive or a night blooming cestrum, hidden in a corner, filling an intimate nook with intoxicating fragrance.

intoxicating -- see above. Add ylang ylang to those fragrances.

captivating -- a spider web stretched between two delphiniums, bejeweled with morning dew, sparkling in the sunlight.

stately -- a long bed of daylilies stretching out towards a stand of trees.

grandiose (for over-the-top) -- Cannas to me can be grandiose. They can be stately too. It depends on quantity and placement. A row in the back of a bed -- stately. Standing tall at the front of the bed, leaning over the viewer -- grandiose.

frilly -- a lot of Oriental lilies and a lot of irises are frilly. Carnations too.

frou-frou -- fritillaria to me are frou-frou, just from their name.

dainty -- baby's breath is dainty.

quaint -- see baby's breath.

frothy -- a lot of baby's breath, a huge drift, maybe mixed in with the daylilies, or Autumn clematis exploding in bloom on top of a weather post.

riotous -- every color you can imagine thrown together.

earthy -- I think of the smell of fresh-turned ground, or fresh-mown grass. To me, hellebores look earthy too. Their colors are subdued, their stature is low.

lilting -- a spray of dainty flowers nodding in the breeze above a more substantial bed. Snowbells lilt.

spritely -- a small, perky yellow aquilegia nestled in the midst of some blue forget-me-not. A grape hyacinth defying an early May snowfall.

bold -- a red petunia sitting beside the aquilegia.

Others: subtle, sleek, sumptuous, sensual, imposing, reserved, conservative, brash. :)

-Joe

Great descriptions Joe! You put a lot of thought into that!

Suzy, I guess our minds work different lol. Mine went straight to individual flowers and their qualities while you were looking at the entire garden. I'll have to broaden my thought process and come up with a few more!

Joe, wonderful! That's just the sort of list I was hoping for, to get my juices going for planning some new garden areas!

Joe, ya put me to shame! "Spritely." I shall put that on the front burner. And I call dibs on "Sumptuous!" I bet we see a picture posted soon where I can use that word! "Oh, Toofew, that ____ is sumptuous!"

Princess, I was the one who was off base -- he subject line clearly says "flowers". d-uh.

Critter, MORE gardens? How big is your place? Somewhere between stately and grandiose? ROFL!

Suzy

Joe and Critter - Very inspiring indeed! :-)

In between housework and homework chores (mine and the kids'), I've been planning new gardens, and ways to beef up the winter interest in what I've already got. Beefy? Naw, sounds like a tree LOL.

You ought to see my list of adjectives now!!!!

Fun thread!

Sumptuous puts me in mind of a rose, full of soft petals, cool against your cheek as you enjoy the fragrance. Aaahhhh......

Floofy was the term Zuzu used to describe mounding roses so covered with bloom you can hardly see the foliage- appropriate I'd say :) Sometimes it does seem we need to make up words to best describe them, lol.

Frothy seems to describe astilbe and tiarella blooms.
Luminous brings to mind blooms that seem to glow at dusk, or catch the light enticingly.
Satiny and Intricate- Mexican Shell Flower
Velvety- Deep red roses
Silky- Poppies
Vulgar- Voodoo lily and other arums (interesting and fun, but kind of vulgar looking, lol)
Airy- Gaura
Spiky- Glads
And one of my favorites, Voluminous- hydrangea and tall phlox.

Suzy, LOL, my place is not that big! It's a little less than half an acre, but because of the shape of our lot (end of cul-de-saq) much of the space is in the back yard, albeit oddly shaped. There's just a lot of little areas that were overrun first by "volunteers" (ok with me, I call them wildflowers) and then by grasses (not so cool about that)... I'm trying to get some nicer plantings established under our little fruit trees at one side of the yard, and I'm trying to figure out how many of the lilies I just bought through 4paws' co-op will really fit in the new bed that runs along the neighbor's fence.

So, I'd say my place was a little bigger than "quaint" but not a tenth as big as "stately" and farther yet from "grandiose!"

toofew, glad you started this thread, I can't think of anything to add, but I appreciate what the rest of you have posted.

I was thinking festive and flamboyant......but then I was wondering if those were good things lol.

Oh, I can definitely think of some flamboyant, over-the-top flowers... and whether it's a good thing just depends on your preferences... I'd say some of those luscious orienpets are decidedly flamboyant, and I love them, but other flamboyant flowers I'd rather "admire" in somebody else's garden.

Festive and flamboyant are excellent. For flamboyant I have always loved the look of nasturtiums. Flame-red nasturtiums cascading over the edge of a glazed yellow pot. I love illoquin and gemini's stuff too. Sumptuous. Ooooooo.

Ya know, flowers can be sexy too. Think of a the folds in a beautiful big peony, satiny and sleek. Reminds me of a great big bed decked out in satin sheets. Throw that in a vase with some chocolate cosmos and a velvety red rose or two. :)

Scintillating -- that sparkle you see in some flowers when they're brilliantly lit by sun. I think of white orchids.

And there's coquettish -- dianthus peeking out among a bunch of large-leafed plants, maybe at the base of some hollyhocks.

How about prim? A single very stately, well-kept solitary pink amaryllis rising above a variegated catmint?

This *is* fun. :)

-Joe

This message was edited Feb 8, 2007 1:14 AM

Joe, this is a really good one -> 'Coquettish'

Okay -- Here are some from me:

Classic - Darwin Hybrid Tulips

Vermonty - Hollyhocks at the back door. The back door is a Dutch-door

Cottagy - Hollyhocks, and Roses and Delphiniums -- growing with abandon (okay to substitute foxgloves for any of the aforementioned)

Tropical - Hibiscus

As you can see, I don't have the flair. I need to think 'personality' and I can only come up with 'geography' LOL!

Princess, 'Festive' is wonderfully descriptive, but I can't think of anything besides those wonderfully speckled mimulus. 'Festive' and 'flamboyant' -- Are you sure you're not from New Orleans instead of Baton Rouge? LOL

'Flamboyant' could be good, too. Take a look at the split corona (Div 11) 'Trigonometry' daffodil below
http://www.web-ster.com/havensr/mitsch/exhibition.html --> scroll down, they're in alpha order. I pasted it below.

Let me try to redeem myself with some better descriptive terms:

Shy -- downfacing pink or white turkscap-style lilies with little freckles.

Reticent - down facing pastel Columbine with long spurs.

Exuberant - Fritellaria imperalis

Magical - Crocosmias (for Mark, Mr. Crocosmia LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Dangerous - Fritileria persica

Sturdy - Calla Lilies

Beefy - for PGZ5 - Those asiatic liles with the big flowers crammed too close together on the stem....the stem being 3/4 in diameter on a 38" tall plant.

Optimistic - Yellow daffodils

Friendly - White Daisy w/ Yellow center

Logical - Hostas

Critter, the way you're expanding beds, I thought you had acres..."the orchard" was what gave the impression, I think, but the phrase, "adding more beds" might have helped reinforce the impression. LOL!

And I'll add one more, "Vulgar" for Geminii Sage -- Lilium speciosum and some of the species impatiens. LOL!

Suzy

This message was edited Feb 8, 2007 3:48 AM

Just thought of a couple more!

Demure - snowdrops, crocus, hardy cyclamen

Shimmery - the sparkle of an African violet bloom in the sunlight.

oh, big difference here between "new garden areas" -- meaning new groupings of plants, to me -- and adding new beds! And while there are a dozen fruit trees in our little home orchard, they're all dwarfs, and they're packed together as tightly as seemed feasible!

My mom always said, you can have one tree, or a pair of trees... but any more than that, and you get to call it a "wood" or a "grove" or an "orchard" LOL!

I like the idea of "Friendly" flowers.... definitely suits daisies, maybe also pansies, sunflowers.....

I keep waiting for someone to tackle 'fragrant' flowers.

Beefy? I'd re-think that one and suggest you not use it in the presence of Lily fanatics. IMHO, I think most people on the Lily Forum would not take it as a kind description. Leave beefy to describe tomatoes, please.

Naw, Beaker, it's okay -- I am talking about the 1a asiatics. Real Lily people hate them, at least the clumsy, beefy ones bred as cut flowers and pot plants. I'm not sure whose all on the Lily Forum, but Pardalinum would agree with me. There has to be space on the stem for each flower to show up individually....and oftentimes with these there isn't, and they don't.

Toofew -- just start a new thread....are we naming fragrant flowers or trying to describe, in words, the fragrance of them?

Wood, grove or orchard -- I think I have some new names for beds *I* need to start! My White Pine Grove Bed, formerly my English Ivy Grotto. LOL! Every time I think about all the work I have to do, I get tired. It's all good and well looking outside in the winter and saying, " I'll just clear this area of English Ivy and I can plant _____.", but the amount of work it takes to erradicate a plant that can grow 4 linear feet a year might be too much for me. And you have to get it all or what's left will fill the cleared space.

AND Critter, I need help thinking in terms of new garden areas. I have three or 4 beds in the back and I always end up looking at them and planting them an a big bed. The end result is that it looks like a commercial planting more than a cottage garden. Most people have gardens that look too spotty - but mine is the opposite; it looks like an office park complex. Most years I buy 4 flats of moss roses to augment the existing reseeders for one bed, a package of 5000 marigold seeds for the next bed (the marigolds flop over and make a 36" tall hedge of green and orange.) I have reseeding Impatiens in another, but I alsy buy a couple flats to get an earlier start. The 4th bed gets a few Caladiums and a couple flats of dianthus 'Telstar' or is bare mulch. Naturally with wintersowing I'll have lots to choose from this spring. The perennials will be too small, but the annuals will have a good old time; I just need to figure out where to put them, how to group them, and how to space them! LOL!

In Daffodil circles, the flowers that sort of sparkle in the sun are often called "diamond-dusted", but shimmery is probably a better word.

Suzy

I think Suzy or Critter should start a new thread with pictures of their gardens and we can come up with names for their 'beds'. LOL

Suzy, I guess I meant to come up with something better than 'smells great'. :o)

Naming my beds is a problem for me. There's the east garden then the back garden and then the side garden and now the central new east, etc etc. I think I'll start naming them proper names such as Fred or Alice. That way I won"t have to remember their orientation, just the proper name.