Old-Fashioned Names for Flowers

In one of my winter reads, Old Time Gardens by Alice Morse Earle (1901), I've come across some wonderful old nicknames for flowers that I hadn't heard before.

Ever since I first heard of "gillyflowre" for stock - I think it was Celia Thaxter's book, I always delight in the discovery of new nicknames. Whoever came up with the idea of "Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate" or "Johnny Jump-Up"? They're all great!

Here's a few I've learned in the book so far - I had to google them to find the flower they represent:

Ladies Delights - (wild) pansies
London Pride - saxifragia x urbium
Flower de Luce - Iris (purple, and yellow)
Old-fashioned (1901!), early, "Piny" - peony
Bridal Wreath - spirea

This one I can't find yet - anyone have a clue? - Peter's Wreath, or St. Peter's Wreath.

I'd love to hear the ones you all know!

St. Peter's Wreath:

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun 1. St. Peter's wreath - shrub having copious small white flowers in spring
Saint Peter's wreath, Spiraea prunifolia, bridal wreath, bridal-wreath
spiraea, spirea - any rosaceous plant of the genus Spiraea; has sprays of small white or pink flowers


Looks like it means its a Spiraea.. :)

Hey P-Sue - the Bridal Wreath Spirea is still alive and kickin' - there's a really nice young one in one of my client's yards. She prefers "authentic" heirloom plants, and that is one of her pride and joys.

I wonder what St. Peter has to do with a bridal wreath, seeing that they're the same plant?

hmmmm......that's a good question - there's got to be a good story there somewhere...

Different areas name things differently. ;) It's hard telling how old that name is.. It could be that it's really ancient and that Bridal-wreath is a newer name. Of course, all these names could be hundreds of years old or so.

I always called any Spirea "Bridal-wreath." But have been informed in the past few years that only the double flowered Spirea is the true "Bridal-wreath." Beats me. I like 'em all. :)

Ticker, I just went back and re-read your first post of a description - since it blooms in Spring, I wonder if that has any relation to the name St. Peter's - perhaps 'way long ago girls made wreaths to wear at Easter, or something like that.

That's as good of a reason as any. :)

I suppose it's like Lycoris squamigera. I've always known it as Surpise Lily, but it's also known as Naked Ladies and Resurection lilies. :)

I wonder if that's where the Bare Naked Ladies got their name from?

Hi everyone, I was just wondering around and found this thread, hope you don't mind me jumping in.

When I was younger ( ahem ) In the u.k. we called Wallflowers/Cheiranthus , Gilly Flowers.The Bridal Wreath you mentioned also used to be considered an invasive weed, strange how over time they are now sold in garden centres etc .

Here are a few more names I grew up with
columbine = Grannys bonnet
Comfrey = Knitbone
Clear Eyes = Clary
Heartsease + Love in Idleness

Will try and think of some more I am little rusty

There are some fascinating names and many plants were named for what they could cure , such as the comfrey.

Jack in the pulpit
Cowslip
Queen Annes Lace
Stinking Gladwin
Sweet Maudlin
Melancholy thistle

LOL - I bet you're right about the band! I *love* that nickname - and was pleasantly surprised to find some in our yard the spring after we moved in. I quickly marked their spot so I didn't whack them later on when planting seasonal stuff.

Okay, fleurone, spill the beans. What's Stinking Gladwin (love the name!) and Sweet Maudlin?

Stinking Gladwin
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Iris+foetidissima


Sweet Maudlin is Achillea Ageratum

I seem to remember that bridal wreath being called goats beard as well so I am looking through my u.k. books right now.

A book you may like is called Memories and Gardens by Marion Howard Spring.

Fleurone - your listing reminded me of some other "old herb" names: Boneset, Lungwort, Cow-Itch (trumpet vine)...

Travellers joy is also old mans beard. clematis vitalba

I know the first two dryad but not the cow itch one . some plants that we had in England you have under different names here . I found it amazing how many I grew up with knowing them to be weeds ( even beautiful weeds ) are now sold for gardens

How about this for a lovely name Autumn Lady's Tresses.. Spiranthes spiralis.

I like that!! And let's not forget Love-Lies-Bleeding (Dave's elf leaps to mind - LOL) and Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate!
http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate

Thank you! I do love that name - I looked up a photo on Google - it almost looks like tiny orchids! I assume it blooms late summer/autumn?

In my town polygonum are a road-side weed. I figure that aeons ago, someone had them in their garden (maybe mine - I've an old farm) and they took off. Every year I bring some up from our "field" behind the barn to my garden. This year a white one grew!

It is Orchid family not sure when it blooms.
It was funny when I saw your original post I love the London Pride it is so delicate and pretty and only the other day I looked it up on here with some wild notion it may grow in some shady spot in FL!.
.
beautiful names dryad, I also like Love in a Mist .. Nigelia (sp ) and Bachelors Buttons .. cornflowers.

Campions, Maltese Cross, Ragged Robin , Toadflax , Foxgloves , Verbascum all were weeds.
lol I used to grow a lot of weeds :). I had a beautiful wilderness garden, the middle of the drive was like a country lane with wild strawberries, celandines and coltsfoot , pimpernels , harebells....
One of my favourites used to be Witches Moneybags .
Wow you are sure taking me on a memory trip here...

That polygonum is gorgeous, I have never seen them in white.

I thought Goat's Beard was also known as False Spirea?? Heck, I have enough trouble keeping straight what their current name is let alone tying to figure out what they were called a couple hundred years ago. :) LOL

You are right Ticker also it was aruncus or similar?

Beats me. :) I have a dwarf goats beard somewhere in the hosta gardens, where, I'm not sure... :)

We call Witches moneybags, Live 4 ever here in Missouri. Datura we call loco weed.

Wow! Many of those I have never heard of before this post. We also call Datura loco weed. My Mom called Zinnias "old maids". What some call Purple heart or wandering Jew http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/93008/
Grandma called "Moses in the boat". I assumed she meant the baby Moses?

lol Ticker :)
I tried one hosta here ( shady spot ) but I think I lost it in the freeze we had.

Thats the one Robynznest we had the pink variety and in the summer it used to be covered in Red Admiral butterflies.Wondering if it would grow down here, might give it a try.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/636/

I have heard of loco weed ( lol, in the old westerns ) but didn't know it was datura.

I forgot about Moses, gramdma called it that too. She also called Spider plant Airplanes. And her yellow marigold were her canaries.

cactus I have wandering jew Trandenscantia or somesuch...( will learn to spell one day :) ) but it is different from what I know as Moses in the boat.

Another one from the westerns was Desert Rose it was a pear cactus.

I have liver 4 ever all over my yard. I break a piece off and stick it in the ground somewhere else and it takes off there. I have it in shade and full sun. The heat and no water doesn't seem to bother it at all. Missouri humidity can be gruesome, again it doesn't bother it. Same with the loco weed and the naked ladies.

Yes, fleurone that is why I put the plantfiles link in my post, it is different with purple leaves? I recall Grandma calling the spider plant, airplane plant too! Loco weed will make a horse go loco if he eats it. My SIL had a great championship barrel racing horse who got into the loco weed and even though he was ok afterward, he never raced barrels again.
We cross posted. I have lots of prickly pear cactus, but that is not what we call a Desert Rose.

This message was edited Jan 25, 2008 3:21 PM

Kids are doing something with datura now a days for drugs and it's killing them. Datura is called Jimson Weed too. I love it and sll the colors but I don't have it in the fields, just pots and I keep an eye on the seeds so they don't go flying away.

got it....Tradescantia

I have the one you posted ( Purple Queen ) but there is also another one with purple varigated leaves , same family has a green and white variegated as well and they are the ones I know as wondering jew. .

Now who would have thought a desert rose was a pear cactus!. mm I will have to try some of the live forever then

My Moses is like the second pic down.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/650/

Thats right cactus , and I have heard the spider plant called aeroplane over here but not in the uk.

I had only heard of the loco weed in westerns, and now here I am with seeds of it ready to start and didn't know it.I had heard of Jimsons too but again didn't know it was the same thing. That's sad about the kids :(

Ya know, fleurone, alot of flowers in my garden are weeds/wildflowers. Everytime I see something growing on the property, it usually ends up in my garden!

Actually if you look, most flowers are poisonous if ingested. Datura is no different and they are so pretty and smell sooo good.

Have you ever seen the John Wayne movie 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'? He gives a desert rose to the girl and in the end a desert rose is on the top of his coffin. It's just a prickly pear in bloom. And they called it Desert Rose for years before the movie was ever made or before we saw the ones from Thailand.

My sister in law in Fl gave me cuttings of what she called Moses in a Cradle. It's the same as the pic in Fleurone's post, third picture down.
I remember reading my son a Greek nursery rhyme about a gillyflower and my MIL told me they grow wild in Greece, so I had to try growing them too.
I have a walking iris and the lady that gave it to me called it an Apostle plant. It has to have 12-13 leaves before it will bloom. I think the name of it in Swedish translates to 13 leaves.
My mom also called the green spider plants airplane plants and the variegated ones spider plants. I'll think of some more.

same here primrose. lol , and I even have a 'real' dandelion growing in a pot !. Now I just need some nettles.

The tropical ones especially Robyn but there are a lot of edible flowers. I don't know if you can grow glads where you are but fill one of the flowers up with cream cheese and try it. Really crispy ... They look great on buffets as well .
Think I must have seen all his movies but don't recollect that scene, probably didn't mean a lot to me then, plant wise.

Hi Raggedyanne the gilly flowers smell gorgeous too. I have the walking iris in yellow and blue. The yellows are a good clump but the blue is relatively new. I have that one in a hanging basket as it is supposed to look good when established a bit .

We used to have a delicate little flower that grew every summer called linaria sometimes it was called the fairy flower.One always had that and nemesia.

Lunaria, honesty is another sometimes called money plant.

I noticed here that there is a wild/weed version of Golden Rod that used to be grown in cottage gardens in the u.k. here it is straggly and there is another flower grows wild which is very similar to the English Michaelmas Daisy.

Golden Rod here is a weed so is Queen Annes Lace. I pull them out by the 100s.

I will have to try the Glads that way, sounds good. Here we treat them like annuals and dig up the bulbs each fall. Hard work but I love their colors in the summer.

I "hate" Queen Anne's Lace with a passion, even though they're so pretty! My dh really likes them, so I have to deadhead them while he's at work. They seedlings are just everywhere in the yard - a never ending chore.

Speaking of nicknames, this isn't about a flower, but it's funny. Growing up, my mom made homemade macaroni and cheese. We lived in the center of town, so whenever she was to make it we went over to the butcher and had to ask for "Stinky Cheese". How humiliating it was after many years when a new butcher came in, and he didn't know what it was - neither did we! But it had a black rind - I think it was actually a sharp NY cheddar.

I think it stinks and tastes just as bad.

My DD is allergic to QAL so we are all the time trying to get rid of it. Hummingbird and Butterfly lovers want that seed, so this year I will dead head alot and give them the seed, then I won't have to pull as much up.lol