Spring is still dragging her feet around here and letting Jack Frost hang around days too long. But next week, warmer air is supposed to show up and maybe that will mean flowers start showing up too. Are you ready for flowers?
I hope you’re ready for a new flower to guess. Or to name if you don’t know the name already. Or even if you do, you can say the name you think might fit the flower better. So, give it a try and enter my Name the Flower contest. You might win a couple of books, one of mine and one of a different Christian author.
BUT FIRST, LAST WEEK’S FLOWER NAME
Several of you named last week’s beautiful flower. A few guesses were Adder’s Tongue, Dog-tooth Violet, Dutchman’s Britches, but nobody came up with the flower’s actual name or at least not the name for the flower in my Wildflowers & Ferns of Kentucky book. However, some of you came up with great new names for the flower. Dewdrop, Teardrops, Grandmother’s Dancing Bells, Green Whisper, Job’s Arrow or Flying Geese. Now those are some good names. The Flying Geese and Grandmother’s Dancing Bells really caught my fancy. Karen’s name of Job’s Arrow showed some great thinking too.
But the flower’s actual name is Shooting Star. Here’s what the wildflower book says about this flower. “The rocket-like flowers of this strikingly beautiful plant appear designed for space flight. It is frequent from Central Kentucky westward but rare in eastern Kentucky.”
It’s not rare in my wildflower woods area, but it’s a flower that always makes me want to take one more photo.
NOW CAN YOU NAME THE NEW FLOWER
The flower up top is the new flower to name. It’s one of my favorites to find. Let’s see if you know its name. You can post that or you can still use your imagination and give it another name if you wish. You can even simply say you haven’t a clue about a name. Any of those will get you a new entry into my Name the Flower Contest. Remember, each time you name a new flower posted here, you get a new entry into the giveaway.
I’ll pick three winners from the entries by random drawing on April 19, 2015. So April 18, 2015 at midnight EST is the deadline for entering. You must be 18 to enter and if the winner chosen lives across the ocean, the prizes will be in e-book form. If you haven’t guessed on one of the other flowers and left your contact information, be sure to leave it with your comment. If you’ve already left it on a different guess for this contest, then I’ll have it.
Thanks for playing my Name the Flower game.
Comments 31
Nice Idea….there are many names of flower like Sword fern,Cocks comb and poppy.
I thought I had commented on here but don't see it. It is a jack in the Pulpit. I haven't seen one for years. Maxie > mac262(at)me(dot)com <
Author
You left your comment on my FB page, Maxie, but I'm only taking entries here unless someone e-mails or messages me. And of course, you are right. I tell you all about Jack in the Pulpits on last night's post and then there's a new flower to guess.
I said to myself "Jack in the Pulpit" although I have never seen one and really don't know if that is the name. The answer to the last flower, "Shooting Star" really fits that flower and I like it much better than Job's Arrow. Flying Geese really is a good name for it too! I am so enjoying all of your friend's responses!
Author
Glad you are enjoying the Name the Flower game, Karen. It's been fun reading the imaginative names some of you have come up with for the flowers. Jack in the Pulpit is spot on for this flower. Whoever named it must have just come from church. 🙂
Jack in the pulpit, huh? He must have had a long, sharp tongue & preached rousing fire & brimstone sermons! 😉 I was going to guess a lady slipper, oh well. You are so fun Ann! Thanks for sharing with us!
Robin in NC rw620 at aol dot com
Author
He's just that little guy standing in the pulpit of the flower preaching love and forgiveness. I've never found a lady slipper on my wildflower cliffs although I've always wanted to actually see one. Glad you are enjoying my Name the Flower game, Robin.
The striped lily would be my name for this one.
Author
Not a bad name, Donna. I like that better than the cobra names some of the others have suggested although I can see why they picked that name. I'll have to check to see if it's in the lily family.
Looks like Jack In The Pulpit to me. But I'm not great on names.
pmettert@yahoo.com
Author
You're pretty good with this name, Ann. I expected a lot of people to get this one right since it's an unusual flower with a name that's easy to remember.
Jack in the Pulpit but I peeked! at other answers. sm wileygreen1(at)yahoo(dot)com
Author
Peeking is okay, Sharon. This one wasn't too mysterious. I'll try to find a more unusual flower for the next one. 🙂
This is a new one for me. It looks like a leafy cobra about to strike.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Author
You're the second person to name it a cobra, Mary. You are giving me a whole new perspective of this flower.
This one is very familiar to me as I have a huge patch of them growing in one of my perennial gardens. Jack-in-the-pulpit. It's one of my favorite spring flowers, along with trillium that grows right next to them.
Author
I love the trillium too, Nancee. Wildflowers are fun to see. Never tried to bring any of them home with me to plant, but my aunt had a little wildflower garden when I was a girl. The wood poppy plants crowded everything else out after a while.
Jack in the pulpit but I've never seen one for real, just in gardening books. How did it get its name? Thanks for the fun! Linda
dmcfarl101(at)juno(dot)com
Author
I'll have to see if I can find out, Linda, and put that in the post on Wednesday. Along with a new flower, of course. I knew this one would be easy.
#3 i have never seen my guess is some kind of lilly maybe
Author
You have to admit it is an interesting flower, Peggy. I always enjoy spotting it on my cliffside walks.
It is Jack in the Pulpit. A beautiful flower!!
oh.hello.hiya@gmail.com
Author
Thanks for playing my Name the Flower game, Danie, and for sharing it on Pinterest.
Jack in the pulpit, my dad always looked for these in the early spring. A medicinal poultice of root was used for headaches and various skin diseases. Ointment used for ringworm treatments.
Author
Thanks for your information, Mary. I enjoy finding out about the uses of wildflowers and other plants, but I always wonder how people found that out. I guess they tried anything and everything when they had a problem. Then the information was shared down through the medicine men or women. I do hope people around here don't decide to dig up these for medicine. I enjoy seeing them bloom each spring.
Easy…Jack in the Pulpit! They grow around here, too.
Author
I thought maybe this would be an easy one for some of you, but that name also sounds like somebody's creative idea. 🙂
Thought it was an elephants ear but told my daughter it looked like snakes head so I am wrong on so many levels tonight 🙂 its fun guessing though!
Well, I don't know the names of many flowers or plants at all so I am just going to give this plant my original name for it …….Cobra Stripe!
Thanks for a fun game, Ann!
mauback55 at gmail dot com
Author
You've given me a whole new perspective on this flower, Melanie. Your name could work. 🙂