Subtitled - 'A Worisit?'
I have just returned from a visit to stay with my mother. She will be 88 in a couple of weeks and retains a keen interest in her garden. It was far too cold for her to go out into the garden but we looked out at her raised mainly alpine bed from the kitchen window and chatted. Our conversation went something like this :
Mum - " I lost a plant a couple of years ago from my bed. I'd like to replace it. You knew its name"
Me - "Oh. Give me some clues to jolt my memory"
Mum - "Well I think it had blue and white flowers"
Me - "When did it flower?"
Mum - "Well it was early enough to get excited"
Me - "Was it before the daffs?
Mum - "I'm not sure"
Me - "Where did you get it from?"
Mum - "Do you expect me to remember that?
Me - "What colour were the leaves?"
Mum - "Grey I think but I couldn't swear to it and if so not very grey"
Me - "What sort of shape was it?"
Mum - "Difficult to describe"
Me - "Was it a bulb?"
Mum - "Possibly but I don't know for definite"
Me - "Did the flowers smell?"
Mum - "Now you are asking too much!"
Me - "Oh"
Mum - "It had a double barreled name"
Me - (clutching at straws at this stage) - "Scilla siberica?"
Mum - "No it wasn't that"
Answers on a postcard please if you can guess the identity of the lost plant!
Hellebore? They can be short lived hence need replacing every so often.
ReplyDeleteAdvance Happy Birthday to your Mum btw!
Heehee :) This did make me laugh. Afraid I can't help with any identification. It is very similar to many conversations I have with my parents.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful post Anna. Sadly I seem to have these conversations where I have complete blanks about the name of a plant or what it looks like, and I have quite a few years before I reach 88 (sigh)
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was a Lithodora of some kind - there is one that is blue with white in the middle (I think) or a gentian?
K
Sorry, can't be of any help, but how wonderful that your mum still has an interest in the garden. Such a shame that the lower temperatures have arrived, I don't feel like venturing in to the garden either.
ReplyDeleteI have those conversation with myself....sadly. You must let us know if you track down the plant :-)
ReplyDeleteHow about Chionodoxa forbessii which is blue with a white centre.
Denise.
Words vanish without warning far too often for my liking and as for names of plants!!! All the little blue flowers that I can think of have already been mentioned, hope you sort it soon!
ReplyDeleteI have similar conversations with my father, and often have to ask for a clue to know what he's trying to say or where the conversation is going!
ReplyDeleteHow about a lithodora or maybe anemone blanda?
I used to walk thru my garden and be able to name most plants. Now it is me, having that sort of conversation with myself. That's why I like to sleep on blog posts - tomorrow, I KNOW I got that name wrong and can correct if before sending the post out to be read.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking Brunnera or Forget-me-not. :) I've had MANY a conversation such as this with my garden buddies. It seems we can never remember the name of a plant while visiting. It's only after we've returned home and our brains are less cluttered that the plant identity will reveal itself. I feel for you. You're too funny!
ReplyDeleteI've been on both ends of conversations like that many times as well :-D
ReplyDeleteThe first things I thought of were Gentians, or Chionodoxa lucillae, but there are also various Muscari, Scilla mischtschenkoana, Puschkinia libanotica, Corydalis flexuosa, maybe even a Pulmonaria ... ? I'm going by early blue and white flowers. I'm not sure any of them have greyish leaves though.
LOL! I know the feeling! Sorry I can't help, but I've recently started taking vitamin B supplements - they're supposed to aid the memory! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI dont have conversations with my Mum about plant names just about whether she needs to dig it up and put it in a pot. She does this with any plant that isnt performing as she thinks it should - the poor plants are quite intimidated by her constant scrutiny
ReplyDeleteYour post is so cute! My mum is a really keen gardener, no doubt where I get it from. My Dad is becoming very forgetful now and I often have conversations like this about all sorts of random things!
ReplyDeleteHilarious! Sorry, I have no idea. There again, I spent ages staring at a shrub in the front garden with a neighbour, both of us desperately trying to remember what on earth it was!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd guess Puschkinia libanotica, because it is an early bulb with blue and white striped flowers, and its common name is double barrelled, striped squill. However the leaves aren't gray.
ReplyDelete