Garden Humor: Personal plant vocabulary.

Everyone has a plant vocabulary. We all have favorite plants that linger in our ears, eyes and on our tongues and lips. What plants are on your mind? These are some for designing, for eating, for removing, for climbing, for just looking at to enjoy. Most on this list tumbled out in this order-  then some grew in that were on the tip of the tongue. Making a plant list can get you thinking in new ways about the plants you want to focus on - sort of a internal plant inventory. It's fun to think how they might be personally organized or related.
Are your favorite plants grouped in your head by kind, care, water needs, drainage, soil or sun? What time of year do they thrive? When do they bloom? Are they perennial, annual, or evergreen? Exotic? Native? Invasive? Healing? Itchy? Not plants at all but in some other kingdom? Or are your fav plants associated by experiences-  taste smell or use? Can you sell them? Will you pick them for a bouquet? For dinner? Or to make a rope? Do you have to cut them, burn them, or remove them and send them to the compost or to the landfill? Will you wash them, cut them, cook them and serve them? Are they colorful and spicy or will your plants make a nice tea? What do other people think about your plant vocabulary? Is it small or full? Halting? Pre-verbal?  Do you mix your plants up into salad? Do you grow your plants or buy them?  Do you long for a particular plant that you miss? Are you a plant observer or a plant consumer? It's summer now and things are growing!

daisy, shasta, arobirvite, barberry, bayberry, virginia creeper, english ivy, boston ivy, hyacinth, lily of the valley, boxwood, douglas fir, maple, scholar tree, japanese maple, cherry, birch, ironwood, plum, hosta, persimmon, rasberry, wineberry, japanese honeysuckle, japanse knotweed, dandelion, irish rose, switch grass, sedum, bamboo, multifloral rose, elm, black oak, pin oak, turkey oak, sweet-gum, willow, tree of heaven, sugar maple, silver maple, paper birch, river birch, tulip tree, tulip, chestnut, walnut, crabapple, pear, fern, apple, blueberry, hydrangea, moss, pitcher plant, daffodil, grape, corn, tomato, basil, coriander, lavender, pepper, sunflower, water lily, day lily, cherry, strawberry, cilantro, juniper, red maple, hickory, dogwood, cat briar, cotton, thistle, heather, rubber plant, fig, palm, pineapple, solomon's seal, bee balm, clover, nightshade, hay, tobacco, boxeldar, mugwort, hemlock, thyme, rosemary, mustard, sage, lamb's ears, eggplant, string beans, peas, oranges, limes, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, chives, leeks, potatoes, cabbage, ornamental cabbage, peach, magnolia, walnut, pine, spruce, elderberry, lettuce, elm, rosewood, peanut, currents, rhubarb, sassafras, sargasso grass, periwinkle, radish, mushroom, lichen, seaweed, pumpkin, squash, mahogany, ash, stinging nettle, poison ivy, rhododendron, philodendron, coleus, parsnip, black rasberry, rose of sharon, morning glory, cucumber, starfruit, kiwi, coffee, wheat, hops, rye, olive, sorghum, soy, rice, alfalfa,  lady's slipper, hellebore, witch hazel, kingsfoil (grin), mums, cocoa, jasmine, redwood, phragmites, cactus, spider plant, lime, lemon, tangerine, azalea, celery, artichoke, banana, boston lettuce, butternet squash, red leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, chard, arugula, cashew, nectarine, almond, cantelope, watermelon, dahlia, zinnia, solidago, marigolds, lantana, mint, pampas grass, ginger, oregano, vanilla, cinnamon, anise, water chestnut, coleus, salvias, coreopsis, impatiens, columbine, violet, queen anne's lace, baby's breath, and blackeyed susan.

For a more extended personalized list please explore: http://plants.usda.gov/checklist.html