Naming Conventions

I don't know the Latin names of all of my plants. Hell, sometimes I'm not even sure what I planted. I put this stuff in a pot and it's growing like gangbusters, but I'm not really sure what it is. Oh well.

But I do name my plants. And the local squirrels. And anything I deal with on a regular basis that doesn't already have a name. It's just how I deal with the world. Jen last night was unsure how I could name and keep track of all the plants I have going on, but see, that's the key. You don't really name them all. You name them, for the most part, by container.

Yuri is a "black prince" tomato plant. Which the little tag claims is an Siberian hybrid. I got him at walmart. I named him after a Russian I admire: Yuri Gagarin. Lieutenant Barkley is another space man. A star fleet officer. Apparently he became a commander or something in Voyager, but I'm going with an earlier time, where the other people in engineering called Lieutenant Barkley "Lieutenant Broccoli." He was played by Matt Frewer. Good name for a Broccoli plant.

He's actually much bigger today. And properly, a them. But Lt. Broccoli sort of expanded out of control in that one episode. That played a part. My onions are named Booker T and the MG's. Booker has the curl.

It's not very scientific, but that's the point. There's nothing serious about this container garden. If I really want onions I can be at Tops in under 5 minutes by bicycle. Well, ten, it takes me a little while to get the bike out now with all the containers on the stoop. My friend, Cormac, taught school for a year at the Lakota Sioux reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Cormac is an odd name for anyone not Irish, so the kids first called him Cornsack and then Wagmiza (corn). I'm naming my corn plants that. When they sprout I will say, "Eeeez, Wagmiz" and that will be that.