March 17, 2009

Pronounce this: Shut it

You say clem-a-tis, I say clem-atis. Some talk about Gertrude Jeckyll like it rhymes with heckle, while others say Jeeekle even though it’s not spelled that way.

What I am getting at is, don’t you get a little perturbed at people correcting other people’s plant pronunciation? After all, we can’t all be Dan Hinkley who, by the way, speaks fluent botany with barely an accent. And if we wanted to know how to pronounce a plant name, we can always check Taunton’s Plant Pronunciation Guide. Handy tool it is. In fact, fun to test what you know against it.

So the question: Is correcting people’s plant pronunciation rude or helpful?

On a more loving note:

If you are looking for garden love in all the wrong places, Los Angelenos might be happy to discover that organic guy John Lyons of The Woven Garden is right around the corner. Lyon provides all kinds of services that are hard to find: rose cultivation, fruit tree pruning, kitchen garden planting, seasonal bed maintenance, and design. He consults, blogs, builds, teaches and grows a spectacular vegetable garden in his own backyard. Espaliers included.

In fact, you can see his Incredible Edible Maze at the 2009 LA Garden Show. Until then, a little Lyon eye candy: