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February 3, 2010

Sci-Fi Gardening

I read an article on Dave's Garden a year ago on plants with Star Trek names, and I just adore the idea of having a science fiction themed garden. Looking through some more plants, I've come across even more plants that would fit within a sci-fi/outer space theme.

Coleus:
  • Darth Vader
  • Saturn
  • Saturn's Rings
  • Solar Flare
  • Solar Shadow
  • Solar Sunrise
  • Vulcan


Daylily:
  • Alien
  • Alien Contact
  • Alien Encounter
  • Alien Escape Pod
  • Alien Invader
  • Alien Landing
  • Alien Skin
  • Alien's Eye
  • Android
  • Android Dreams
  • Andromeda
  • Asteroid
  • Astral Voyager
  • Beam Me Up
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty
  • Ben Kirk
  • Big Dipper
  • Black Hole
  • Borg Technology
  • Cloaking Device
  • First Officer's Log
  • Galaxy Quest
  • Klatuu Barata Nictu
  • Life on Bajor
  • Notify Ground Crew
  • Photon Torpedo
  • Romulan Deflector
  • Spock's Ears
  • Vulcan Logic

Hosta:
  • Captain Kirk
  • Enterprise
  • Foxfire X Philes (just for fun)
  • Galaxy
  • Galaxy Light
  • Gamma Ray
  • Kiwi Milky Way
  • Little Dipper
  • Lunar Eclipse
  • Lunar Orbit
  • Lunar Sea
  • Outer Space
  • Saturn
  • Starship
  • Striker
  • Super Nova
  • Venus
  • Voyager
  • Vulcan

These lists are not complete. I looked through 5,320 daylily names out of 38,449 on Dave's Garden and then filled in with some names from the article, and I'm sure there are more genuses with sci-fi plants. The reason why there are so many hostas, daylilies, and coleuses is because they're relatively easy to hybridize and propagate. I started looking through African violets, but half-way through I was pretty sure I wouldn't find any. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some more in the Liliaceae family such as with tulips, but phew, that's a lot of plants.

Looking through some of the names, it would be relatively easy to do a Lord of the Rings or fantasy-themed garden. I even found hostas called "Dot Com" and "Website". Hybridizers certainly get creative when it comes to names. I think I'll send my brother-in-law a hosta called "Twisted Sister".

7 comments:

  1. Cute post, AR~~ I've thought of this too. Plant breeders must have great time conjuring names for their babies. I'm amazed at the variety you were able to find.

    I didn't see the Dave's Garden article so if these have been mentioned, my apologies.

    There are the food-themed Heucheras such as, Marmalade, Georgia Peach, and the sub-themed Dolce series, Creme de Menthe, Key Lime Pie, Licorice, Peach melba. There also city themed Heucheras, Hollywood, Paris, etc.

    Lagerstroemia or Crape Myrtle has a series with Native American tribal names.

    This is a fun topic.

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  2. Gardening was really fun to do.Therefore, it is really a fun topic.

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  3. I think the length of your lists simply suggests: There are WAY too many hostas and day lilies in the world! I won't say that about coleus, because I like coleus. I bet there would be some african violets -- there are some crazy ones with spotted flowers, and I think some of them have sci-fi names.

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  4. But what will you do with the 'Dark Side' of the garden?
    Nice post:)

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  5. How cool is this??? I never realized all of these names were out there!!! I just adore coleus...but it takes water and with our watering restrictions here it is impossible!!!

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  6. How interesting. I never thought of having a themed garden based on the names of the plants. I am surprised by the quantity of plants with sci-fi related names.

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  7. Thanks for making the list, Not-So-Angry Redhead - I love the idea of such a garden, even if I'd never get around to actually making it!

    The daylily named 'Lunar Landing' is one I'd love to grow.

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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