Garden Flowers Trivia Quiz

Answer: primrose

Polyanthus is another name for the primrose or primula. The name "polyanthus" comes from two words meaning "many flowers". My grandmother loved pollies (as she called them) and grew them in several garden plots. The ones she grew in the 1960s had no perfume, but later versions have.

Answer: pansy

The pansy used to be known as heartsease, and that is its meaning in the language of flowers.

Answer: viola

The viola, a small relative of the pansy, shares its name with the viola, a relative of the violin. I made up drumflower and harp flower, and flutewood is also made up. The flutewood tree appears in the book "Shadowdancers".

Answer: All roses

Poppies come in red as well as other colours, while daisies are often white and cornflowers mostly blue. Violets are sometimes white, salvia is usually red, and lobelia blue. Polyanthus come in most colours, including red, white, and blue. Roses come in red and white, but no one has managed to breed a true blue yet. The nearest I've seen is a kind of washed-out mauve.

Answer: hydrangea

The hydrangea has this interesting attribute. A pink-flowered specimen can be persuaded to bear blue flowers by changing the PH of the soil. The reverse can also happen.

Answer: white or purple and white striped

Believe it or not, purple honesty and its white relative can cross- pollinate to make a delightful striped version. I know this, because my grandmother grew these too!

Answer: Jolly James

Ragged Robin is a pretty pink flower, and Herb Robert, a tiny geranium, has small purplish-pink flowers. Sweet William is a delightfully scented relative of the dianthus, but Jolly James I made up!

Answer: Star of Bethlehem

Star of Bethlehem is a pretty pale blue star-shaped flower that grows from a bulb. Christmas Bush has delightful flowers, but they do appear in December. I made up the other two. Another flower that appears in the northern hemisphere's Christmas period is the Christmas Rose, or hellebore. In my country it is often known as the June Rose or Winter Rose.

Answer: tulip

The tulip caused a huge stock-exchange-like disaster in the Netherlands. Known as tulipomania, the panic boom bust brought a great many dealers and breeders unstuck. You can read about tulipomania in the book called "A Basket of Onions".

Answer: Aquilegia, hooped petticoat, granny's bonnet

Aquilegia, also known as grannies' bonnets and hooped petticoats, are very pretty and often come in contrasting colours. They are delicate and always attractive. Lady's slipper is a real flower, but I made the others up!

Answer: ranunculus

The ranunculus is a spring-flowering plant that grows from corms. It comes in the same clear yellow as its humble relative, and in other colours as well.

Answer: hyacinth

All these really are flowers, and two of them are named after Greek myth characters. However, Narcissus wasn't exactly gay. He was only in love with his own reflection. Hyacinthus was a youth beloved by Apollo, and when he died during a Grecian sports day, Apollo turned him into a flower.

Answer: violet

Violets are usually violet, although you can also get them in white, pink, and pale yellow. Roses are sometimes rose pink, but just as often red, white, yellow or orange. Turquoise is gemstone and not a flower, and an orange is a fruit.

Answer: They are most often found growing at the base of sunny walls

The simplest explanation is correct - wallflowers simply grow well at the base of sunny, warm walls. The "foreign" etymology is true not for the wallflower but the walnut - in this case, the "wal" is derived from old English "wealh" (foreign). The name "wallflower" for a solitary beauty on a dance is rather derived from the flower, not vice versa.

As for the botanist, finally - I invented him.

Answer: blackberries

The rose is related to the blackberry vine. Not only do they share a similar leaf, but the flowers of blackberries are very much like simple roses. And then there are the thorns...