A Rainbow of English Plants Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fuchsia

Choisyas are lovely evergreen shrubs with white flowers. Lilacs are not all lilac, but come in many shades, including pinky-reds. Magnolias range from white through pink to purply colours, and also yellow. Fuchsias can be any combination of white, pink, purple, and red.

Answer: Wallflower

Lilies are summer flowers, and both red-hot pokers (Kniphofia) and Crocosmia flower from summer to autumn. Red-hot pokers come in a range of colours, from hot red down to a very cool green. Wallflowers are spring flowers, and orange ones look stunning with deep purple tulips such as 'Queen of the Night'.

Answer: Daffodil

An easy one, I hope. Snowdrops are white, bluebells are blue, pink or white, and Cyclamen are pink or white. Daffodils are usually yellow, but not always. Some of the most elegant varieties are white, such as 'Thalia'.

Answer: Camellia

Camellias have gorgeous shiny green leaves. The smoke bush (Cotinus)is so named because of the fluffy flowerheads, and can have green, purple or gold leaves. Hollies can have the most beautiful variegation. Berberis also comes in green, purple and gold-leaved varieties.

Answer: Himalayan

Himalayan poppies (Meconopsis) are fussy, preferring rich, acidic soil, but are well worth growing if you have the right spot for them. Californian poppies are low-growing annuals, with flowers in shades of yellow, orange, red and white. Welsh poppies are yellow perennials, and opium poppies come in a wide range of colours, but not blue.

Answer: Foxglove

Aconitum is a very useful plant for shady corners, if you are not bothered by its toxicity. It was used by ancient Germans to poison wolves, hence the name Wolfsbane. The flowers are cowl-like, giving it the name Monkshood. Foxgloves are also poisonous plants for shade, but with purple or white flowers.

Answer: Lavender

Everyone knows the smell of lavender. Sage is a Mediterranean shrub, but has broad, felty leaves. Rock roses have large, papery flowers. Juniper is a conifer.

Answer: The petals have a zig-zag edge

The colour pink is named after the flower, not the other way round. It is thought to be derived from the Dutch word pinck, which means little hole, and was used to denote a holey or zigzag edging, as in pinking shears. So the little 'light red' Dianthus flowers were called pinks for the edges of their petals, and gradually the name was used to denote that particular shade of light red.

Their leaves are just plain silver or green, and their seeds do not make a noise.

Answer: Black grass

Black grass is not a true grass, but has similar shaped, but true black leaves, and also black berries. It is an excellent and unusual ground cover plant. The others are made up.

Answer: Birch

The silver birch, of course, has lovely white bark, particularly the variety Betula 'Jaquemontii'. Ash trees have smooth grey bark. Most cherries have fairly ordinary greyish bark, but the paperbark or Tibetan cherry (Prunus serrula)has amazing shiny mahogany bark. The snake-bark maples have unusual stripy green or brown bark.