Where Am I From? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mexico

The Dahlia is found mainly in the high plains of Mexico, although some species are found in Ecuador and Honduras. It came to Europe from Mexico some 200 years ago, appearing in the Botanical Gardens in Madrid towards the end of the 18th Century. It is named in honour of Andreas Dahl, Swedish scientist and environmentalist.

Answer: Eastern Asia

The Camellia is indigenous to North Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Nepal. They flourish in high, humid regions with very porous soil.

Popular for their beautiful flowers and scent, the first one in Europe is believed to be a simple, red flowered, Camellia Japonica grown by Lord Petre of Essex in his private greenhouse.

The oldest known specimen in Europe is in Portugal. It is thought to be some 300 years old,with a height of 15m and a width of 6m.

Answer: Babylonia/Assyria

Rose cultivation began in ancient Babylonia and Assyria, and was passed on to Europe through other civilisations. Before the 19th Century most garden roses were wild varieties, and their natural sports and hybrids, grown for beauty, scent, rose water and rose oil. In the 19th Century, following the importation of cultivated species from China, deliberate cross breeding began, resulting in many new varieties and colours. Many of the groups created then still exist, and rose breeding and hybridisation has continued right up to the present time.

Answer: Israel

Grown in England since the 12th Century this plant originated in the Holy Land. It was originally spelt holihoc, holi for holy, and hoc for mallow, a native plant which it resembles.

Answer: South America

There are now thousands of different types of Fuchsia, all coming from a handful of species found in South America and Mexico. The first to be named was found in the Dominican Republic in the 17th Century. The discoverer was a Franciscan monk, Father Charles Plumier, who named the plant after Leonhart Fuchs, a 16th Century German doctor and herbalist.

Answer: America

That first plant was Hydrangea Arborescens which was found growing wild in a colony in Pennsylvania. It found immediate popularity in England, and from there quickly found its way to Europe

Hydrangeas are found in all parts of North America, and fossils show that they were growing there 40 -70 million years ago.

Answer: China

The Chrysanthemum is recorded as being grown in China as a flowering herb as far back as the 15th Century BC. It was introduced to Japan in the 8th Century AD, where it's immediate popularity led to it being adopted as the crest and official seal of the Emperor. The Imperial Order of The Chrysanthemum is the highest Order of Chivalry in Japan.

It was introduced to Europe in the 17th Century AD and was swiftly hybridised into various forms, some of which would be familiar to us today.

Answer: Cyclamen

The cyclamen is from the Mediterranean where it can be found growing wild. It has been a popular garden plant in England since the 16th Century, flowering in late summer with the marbled foliage not coming through until the flowering season is over.

The South African introductions to our gardens are all fairly recent, and most are not hardy even in a fairly mild winter so need to be treated either as annuals, or as house plants.

Answer: Australia

The Crimson Bottlebrush was introduced to England by Joseph Banks in 1789.
The flower spikes form in spring and summer and are made up of a huge number of individual flowers.

Other varieties now available are The Lemon Bottlebrush, which is the first frost tolerant species, and The Willow Bottlebrush which has narrow foliage, white papery bark, and white flower spikes, although this will also produce pink or mauve flower spikes from time to time.

Answer: Italy/Spain

The Mouse Plant, or Mouse Tail Plant, is a very recent introduction. The arrow head shaped shiny green leaves form a low spreading carpet, beginning in late winter when not a lot else is happening. The mice, which are fat brownish beige flowers which descend into white at the stem, elongating to a chocolate brown tail at the other end, start to appear in Spring reaching a peak in April.

It is fully hardy and can be spread by lifting and dividing the tubers.