Today I have been thinking about the names of plants. For years I have bought plants for our home's landscaping, and most of the time I did not keep up with the "variety" of the plants I bought. It did not matter to me, I just liked the look. I believe that most of the ponders who come on Koiphen are that way. Most only have a few varieties of plants and many do not have room for a lot of plants. These people who enjoy the hobby but are not consumed by it. I want to say to those people, "thank you!" You provide many great assets to our hobby. I wonder if many of our "non-members" who view on KP as guests do not sign up to be members because they can not contribute to the program. They may think that they only have a small pond, or only a few fish, or their fish are only mutts, etc. If you are one of these people, please understand that you are important to our hobby. Your questions help us to ponder new answers, share new information, or even remind us of old information. Your experiences also remind us of our own experiences throughout our years in the hobby.
We should not expect everyone to know the names of every plant. there are thousands of named water lilies alone. I understand the frustration because, although I have had koi for years, I do not know the names of the varieties. If you are someone who wants to keep up with the identity of your plants, that is great. But if you only want to know it is a red bloom or a pink bloom, etc. that is good also. We only ask that you not try to identify your plant later because it looks like something that you have seen. It is better to call it a "red blooming hardy" as to say it is "Attraction" when it may be a "Burgundy Princess." Many plants are very similar so identifying one is not easy unless you have a great difference in your varieties. Obviously, if you have a yellow "Charlene Strawn" and a pink "Pink Sensation" and a white "Perry's Double White" but you call them red, pink and white you can still distinguish them if you have kept the names somewhere. If you have Joey Tomicek, Sunrise and Sulphurea the id is not easy. For the vast majority of ponders, you want the plant you get to be the plant you wanted, but since you are not planning on reselling them remembering the names is unimportant. If the pics are in the correct order, you will see Joey Tomicek, Sunrise and Suphurea.
I have plants that I call "lost tags," and sell them as such. They are "named" varieties of plants that because of various factors, the name tags have faded or something has happened to the tags, and I am not sure of which exact variety the plant is. Lots of ponders like the "surprise lily" as they are sold at a lower cost. Almost every wholesaler, especially hybridizers, sell unnamed lilies according to color of bloom. These are generally the plants that came from their hybrids that they did not think were worth naming. They are what might be called "culls" or "seconds" in other industries. I am not disparaging them, but pointing out the difference between a "lost tag" and these lilies. When I look at the beautiful blooms of tMike's lilies and he tells me that many of them will be culled out, I am looking for his garbage bin! I understand his not wanting to put anything but the best into the hobby, but I do not envy his having to make those decisions.
So as I look at the assortment of lilies in my ponds, I am reminded of the vast variety of plants in our hobby and appreciate the tremendous number of ponders with small or larger ponds whose interest in the hobby has created the desire and accessibility of all of these varieties.
Happy "pond"ering!