COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



Croydon" enjoyed wide popularity and from this seeming 

 coincidence he assumes that "the grimy hero of the populace 

 stood god-father to our plant." If we may accept this 

 supposition we have, not only Gerade's account of its 

 derivation, but we learn that the woman who bestowed the 

 name belonged, not to a remote rural neighbourhood, but 

 was more or less urban in her associations and while spending 

 at least part of the year in the country, was no stranger to 

 the gay doings of London Town. 



How fascinating to trace out the beginnings of these old 

 plant names! The origin of some is, of course, obvious 

 enough, as for instance, Shepherd's Warning and Poor- 

 man' s-weather-glass, for the Scarlet Pimpernell, that closes 

 its tiny blossoms at the approach of a storm; Butter and 

 Eggs for such flowers as display the fresh colours of those 

 good country products; Guinea-hen-flower and Checker 

 Lily for the Little Fritillary whose bell is well checkered 

 over with deeper colour; Hod-the-rake (hold-the-rake) and 

 Rest Harrow (Arrest harrow) for meadow plants having 

 such thickly growing roots that they impede the operation 

 of rakes and harrows. 



Many plants have received names indicatory of their 

 habits; thus Four-o' clocks, Morning Glory, Evening Glory, 

 John-go-to-bed-at-noon, Ten o'clock Lady, Flower-of-an- 

 hour, Good-night-at-noon; and so also Turnesol (turning 

 toward the sun), Catch-fly, Fly-trap, and so on. 



Creeping plants with insistent colonizing proclivities 

 usually receive some such name as Meg-many-feet, Gill- 

 over-the-ground, Robin-run-in-the-hedge, Roaming Charlie, 

 Creeping Jenny, Jack-jump-about, or Mother-of-thousands. 



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