Note: Tina normally posts her "Plant of the Month" choice on the 10th of the month, but it will be posted tomorrow instead...
This is not the beginning of the Name these Plants Game. First, I wanted to show you a plant which is thriving in my Georgia Garden. This is one of 5 peonies I planted a few years ago. 
I planted these pink and white beauties as a root from a package from Wal-Mart. With each year, they grow stronger and larger then the year before. They give me some really large blooms and I can only dream that one day they will be as huge as the ones we had at the old house on Commerce Street while growing up in Clarksville, Tennessee... 
Instead of staking my peony blooms this year, I decided to make all the Mothers of the Blogging world a Bouquet instead. I picked some of the pink and white peony blooms and added some purple verbena in the mix as well. Here is your bouquet through the wonders of cyber world! 
Happy Mothers Day to all you blogging mothers of today, yesterday and tomorrow as well...
Now lets play a Game shall we.... 1. The Plant above was spotted in a garden while in Fredericksburg, VA. Sorry I did not snap any close ups of the little white blooms but maybe you can see enough with this picture.
Can you name this plant?
2. Sorry about the sideways view of this bush but for some reason Blogger turned two of my pictures around today and I cannot get them corrected. Argggg. This bush was also spotted while in Fredericksburg, VA. 
Here is a close up view of the blooms. 
And also some old pods from last years growth. Can you name this plant?
3. I peeked over a stone wall during our VA stroll to find these cute flowers. They resemble Blue Bells but are totally white blooms.
Tiny and cute white blooms at that. Can you name this plant?
4. This bloom caught our eye as well while on the VA stroll.
Here is the bush the blooms were on and many bushes not just one. 
Here are the cute blooms up close. Cute blooms aren't they?Can you name this plant?
5. This tree (which I thought was a crepe myrtle) is located on the River Walk of downtown Augusta, GA. 
Here is a close up of the interesting blooms of this tree. 
Yet a closer view of the dainty white blooms.Can you name this plant?
6. Here is the second sideways picture compliments of a blogger error. Arggg. This plant was spotted on the white sandy beach of Charleston, SC. 
The yellow blooms glowed from the sun shining on them from above. This bush was thriving in the sand along the dunes.Can you name this plant?
Here is a bonus question. Even though this looks like an alligator, it is not. This is a small lizard that I spotted on the tree stump in our GA woods. I zoom in on this critter as it would not allow me to get close. I had no idea how much it resembled an alligator until I loaded the pictures onto the computer! Isn't he an interesting looking lizard?As a bonus question: Can you name this lizard?
The one who guesses the most questions will be the winner. If we have multiple winners (which I assume we will) all names will be placed into the Saints magic hat for one name to be drawn as the overall winner of the prize. Prize will be something to aide you in the garden this summer. I will keep the prize a secret until the winner is announced next Saturday on the blog. The winning name will be selected on Friday May 15, 2009, until then, keep on guessing. You may guess more then once as I want you all to have a name in the Magic Hat. Winner must have a United States address to receive this prize but all bloggers are welcome to play in the naming of the plants as the main thing is to identify the plants for me...
Have fun trying to NAME THESE PLANTS, In the Garden...
Beautiful bouquets! I can name the easy ones: 2 is Pearlbush, and 5 is Fringetree. I will be curious to hear what the others are.
ReplyDeleteI can't name all the plants but I would like to add that it is a lovely collection of white flowers - they look so magical at night inthe moonlight!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning All,
ReplyDeleteHappy Mothers Day to all Mothers.
Love the pics Skeeter. I don't know any of the names. Wish I did.
They would be an asset to my garden for sure. I do think the one in Augusta is what they call a smoke tree.
Will be glad to hear the names of all.
Have a glorious day all.
I'll give it a try. I would guess the first one is maybe Star of Bethleham. The second one-no idea so I'll defer to Sweet Bay with her guess (though I'm not guessing it). The third is some kind of blue bell. The fourth, for sure Fringetree. The fourth kind some kind of evening primrose. The lizard now, hmmm. We just went to an exotic pet store and saw something similar. It was some kind of iguana. It surely looks like an alligator!
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day to my mother and all the mothers out there!
P.S. Thanks for the lovely bouguet Skeeter!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning and again HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to Everyone! We did not make it to the lake as planned yesterday as the weather turned crummy. We may give it a try again today....
ReplyDeleteSweetbay, Pearl Bush, I have never heard of that one before. Ah, Fringe tree, How ironic as I spotted this tree at the Garden Center yesterday! It was not in bloom and I did not know it was one of today’s mystery plants! Thanks for the ID of these two beauties!
My Little Family, I never thought white flowers were much to the eye until I started to plant more and more of them in my garden. White is a beautiful color on a flower and accents all colors so well. And yes, they do glow in the moonlight under a full moon...
Lola, I have two ID's of the Augusta tree being Fringe tree so I am going to take a stab and say a fringe tree indeed. I had never seen one in bloom before but they do closely resemble a myrtle when not in bloom. I will have to look up a Smoke tree and see what they look like…
Tina, Ah you have named the most so far but I was expecting you to know them Miss Master Gardener :-) Mom B and I were shocked as to how many pretties we spotted and did not know the names to. She knows her plants well so it was fun for us to spot new things while on our walk. Now how can a white bloom be called a Blue bell? lol The lizard was awesome. I looked in my lizard book to find the name but with no luck! I now wonder if this guy was some sort of rare species and I let him go on his merry way. Maybe I could have found a new Discovery. We could call it a Skeeter lizard! lol... Glad you enjoyed the bouquet this morning. I hope you have some fun plans with the Jimster today...
Skeeter, I'll have to come back with my guesses, I can only think I know the yellow one on the sandy beach. I need some thought food first. Skink? We do not have anything like that up here so I'm at a loss although it's going to be interesting to find out.
ReplyDeleteNow Skeeter, I'd be terribly embarrassed if I won! No plans specific, we are moving more furniture down from up north! Urgh! Will it ever end? At least the school is complete now.
ReplyDeleteMy comment is completely useless, but I just wanted to say I mis-read you saying you "staked" your peony to you "stalked" your peony, which made me chuckle. Even in colder climes, peonies take a while to establish and get big blooms. So yours is all good. I'm only a mother to plants and furry things, but can I at least smell the bouquet?!
ReplyDeleteThe peonies are gorgeous! Wish I could name some of the plants, but I'm so bad at that sort of thing. Barely know the names of plants in my own garden... I keep having to look at the tags and my notes. Have a wonderful Mother's Day! -Jackie
ReplyDeleteMonica, I just said on another daughter's blog and will repeat here....Happy Mothers Day to ALL the ladies out there. I say ALL ladies cause I think we have all mothered something or someone in our lifetime!!! So I say to smell and enjoy Skeeter's beautiful bouquet.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tina.
That looks like a BIG lizzard to me but it is pretty awesome.
I was so excited that I knew the peony then realized it wasn't part of the game. Its beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I know any of the plants. A few look familiar, but nothing for sure. I'll check back for the answers.
Well, for a California gardener like me they look pretty exotic. The first one, I agree with Tina, is one of the star of Bethlehem species, likely Ornithogalum nutans. And the sixth is an evening primrose, but which of the 125 Oenothera species? As for the other ones, dunno. Pretty tho.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful bouquet! I'll pretend I'm a mother instead of a father so I can enjoy it even more!
ReplyDelete(And I'm too lazy to play the name game!)
Dawn, Any help with naming will be an asset as not many know some of them. And here I thought I was the only one that did not know names to many plants....
ReplyDeleteTina, I was only turning this into a game to make it a bit more fun. lol, Since I am the Rule maker of the game today, I think I will change the rules in the middle of the game and put all commenter’s name in the hat! That way, everyone gets a chance to win!
Moncia, I do that same thing at times with reading blogs. I may mis-read a word that changes the entire sentence. I am also a mother to just plants and furry critters but a mother to them I am so we can all enjoy the bouquet together, even the men bloggers can have a sniff....
Jackie, I to am bad about remembering names of plants. I sure dont know the botanical names but the common names instead. Thank goodness I keep tags. Growing up in TN had me knowing those plants then moving around to different states had me learning the names to other things. But I still forget them at times. I think it is called age for me. lol
Jean, thanks for the motherly chat! I too think we are all mothers at some point in our life. Heck, I mother the Saint as much as the kitties and my surrounding. lol... The Lizard was about the size of what I would assume an average lizard to be. I looked in our reptile book and cannot id him. I wonder if they change colors during different seasons and I could not id him from color only. I may have to dig a bit further....
Catherine, Not many answers on a few of them so stumping us all with those. Maybe someone can ID them all at some point. I will keep the game going until Friday but all commenter’s names will be put into the Magic Hat for drawing of the winner...
Lostlandscape, now I would think that California would have pretty exotic plants compares to the South east US. I looked on internet and do believe that Tina and you are correct with the Star of Bethlehem and Primrose. I do think they are all pretty though what ever they may be...
TC, You are being a bit lazy today? The Mothers are to be lazy today not the fathers. lol, I am only a mommy to furry critters and my yard so I too could say I can just smell the pretty bouquet today so that is fine with us. We all have mothering in us no matter whether a mother to animals or a father, it just comes with the package. So Happy Mothers Day to you as well :-)...
just wanted to wish you and the others mother's a happy day.
ReplyDeleteyour peonies look great. i started two from bare root this spring.
Skeeter, I don't even recognize many plants but just stopped by to tell you your peonies are gorgeous! And that lizard...! Oh wow, I wish I could photograph a beauty like that!
ReplyDeleteReading through older posts that I missed. The Fringe Tree is Chionanthus virginica. Great little tree. The yellow flower does look like a Primrose of some kind. Hope the rest gets ID-ed.
ReplyDeleteMarmee, Thanks and I hope you had a wonderful Mothers Day as well. I spent my day lying around in the sunroom with the kitty cats! They are my little babies. My peonies were started from roots also. Hopefully, your peony will thrive such as mine have the past few years...
ReplyDeleteKanak, The peony are beautiful this year and larger then ever before. I think they may like all this rain we are receiving. Thanks for noticing their beauty today. The lizard was a really interesting find while in the woods. I dont know what it is as it was not in my lizard book...
Janet, I have never heard of Fringe Tree before but it seems to be popular as many have id'ed that one today as well as the Primrose. I just wonder what the name to number 4 could be. No guesses on that one as of yet...
Skeeter, I'm thinking #4 is some kind of Barrberry? I thought that #6 looked like a beautiful Hibiscus. What do i know? Do you have all the names? It would be interesting to know for sure.
ReplyDeleteJust stopping in to say hi, Skeeter, and catching up on my blog reading. I could name the peony, but I have no idea what the other plants are:) Such a beautiful bouquet! Hope you had a great Mother's Day.
ReplyDeleteDawn, the only names I have are the ones guessed or for sure ID'ed on the comments. I had no idea what any were until then. I will write up the list on Saturday while announcing the winner of the prize...
ReplyDeleteRose, Hi and hope you too had a nice Mothers Day. I was planning to get to the lake but the weather was just too unpredictable so stayed home and enjoyed old movies and snoozing in the sunroom with my kitty's. I am a mother of fur babies only but they are sweet little things during snooze time. :-) Oh, and they did get mommy some new chairs for the garden. lol..
Tina, I have to admit I dont know a single one of the answers . But they're all so pretty ( well, maybe not the lizard!) that I wish I had them growing here for me.
ReplyDeleteSunita, Skeeter posting this one today. Sorry to confuse you but we do that at times :-) I would like to have them all in my Garden as well. They are so pretty and I do have the lizard as I spotted him in my woods...
ReplyDelete