Central Virginia Organic Gardener

"And 'tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes." - William Wordsworth, 1798

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Wednesday Lagniappe


(Lagniappe: Cajun for: a little something extra that is pleasurable).

A banana flowers in Virginia! As I have professed before, I have a thing for bananas. Banana plants, that is. This is blooming today in my central Virginia garden, a pretty, exotic touch! Other than needing winter protection, potted bananas are pretty easy to care for, though they are heavy feeders (fish emulsion) and like a lot of water. The second photo shows the part that becomes the fruit-the while, bulbous base to the yellow flower (the ovary).

Happy gardening!

6 comments:

Anita said...

Who names plants? Since reading your blog...is it my imagination, or are some of them named with a "pleasurable" theme? :)

Judy Thomas said...

The International Code of Botanic Nomenclature governs the naming of all plants. Priority is the first goal, that is, giving credit to the "discoverer." The next goal is to make sure the name makes scientific sense. Names can be changed at the Botanic Congress if they are wrong (like new DNA evidence shows it is in the wrong genus) or if someone else documents their own priority. In the past, sometimes scientists have named a nasty plant after a scientific rival, but this is frowned upon. Mostly, species names are given as an honor, after being Latinized, like Jeffersonia, Darwinia, Banksia, etc.

Anita said...

Duh, I knew that. :)

Seriously, that's a mouthful, but it makes perfect sense to be named so. And, I "didn't" know that. Did my trusty Google and see that it's acronym is ICBN.

Anita said...

Did I write "it's?" Oops. :)

annemccahill7@gmail.com said...

Is your banana plant surviving as of 2013.

Judy Thomas said...

Yes, surviving and thriving, with more daughter plants than I can keep!