A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 My hubby got to laugh at me.....

Okay, well I have this huge garden book--Western Garden Book.....I know I don't live in the west, but I got it for free and it is one of the best gardening books I have--it's huge....

So it has a pronounciation guide in the back that breaks down how to say the names of all the plants.....so I was sitting on the couch last night mumbling them all to myself--Mark turned to me and said what are you doing? Talking to yourself.....lol I gave him a shocked look and said--Mark half of the plants that I thought were said one way are pronounced a totally different way ......I still can't get used to saying certain plants the right way....I mean even if you are a huge gardener you may not know the correct pronounciation, so I don't feel quite so bad--it's actually kind of funny......

It's gonna take some getting used to though.... :p Some of the names don't sound anything like the spelling....I should post a few words a day breaking down there pronounciation so all of you can sit at home talking to yourselves too.......

One that surprised me was the dracaena--I have two of them actually, but I've never heard anyone say there name outloud so I always pronounced it wrong....but the correct way is: druh-SEE-nuh I know I'm an idiot......but if you never hear a plants name spoken outloud then I guess it's really easy to say them wrong....... :rolleyes:

hi loz....i think thats a great idea!! my mother has always amazed me when she rattles off the botanical name of a plant. i'm lucky if i can remember the common name
Linda

LOL......never though of it that way Linda....but it should count that I'm in Western Maryland...... Catlover or Bill would love this book, it's all really directed towards the west coast, but every single plant I've ever wanted to know about is in that book--so it works for me..... It retails for 36.95 and it was free at a book fair.....

Okay, so I'll work on a list of pretty common plants and there pronounciation......it really is amazing the way you are supposed to say some of these plants......

I have quested a long time now to find out the
botanical and latin names of plants,
and that's exactly one of my personal pet peeves is if you haven't heard it verbally, how can you pronounce it correctly??????? ???


I have a couple that I did learned, and I loooove saying them..

#1. Verbena bonariensis pronounced; ver-bee-na bo-nar-e-en-sis
#2. Lysimachia punctata pronounced; lie-sa-mock-e-a punk-tot-a

Weezie

Just curious, Loz. How were you saying "dracaena"?

Dianna

Okay, don't laugh at me too much ....I was saying it sort of like Drak ay na.....

I never knew that the C had a soft S sound to it.........It's tough when you've never heard a word pronounced correctly before....I mean heck, I have 2 of them and have read about them a zillion times but never knew the correct way of saying it.....Even the woman in the garden department said it wrong, kind of like I did.....lol I've turned over a new leaf though....I'm going to learn proper pronounciations and study up on it all!

I shudder to think how many I mis-pronounce!

Dianna

Color me yellow with feathers I just point and say I like that one.

This is definitely another black eye for the educational system and their sight reading techniques.

Phonics at Forty .... or (ok) Fifty

There is a booklet called New Pronouncing Dictionary of plant Names that I purchased when I was taking horticulture classes at the local community college in the mid 80s. Amazon has it listed, but says it's currently unavailable. This web site http://www.naturalworldbooks.com/categories/botanical/botanical_references.html also has it, but says it's out of print. I have a call in checking on availability, but haven't heard back yet.
Here is another place that has it listed. http://gardenshoponline.com/reference/pronouncedict.html
New Pronouncing Dictionary of plant Names
No mention of being unavailable, but it's more expensive--$9. It's only a little booklet. (64 pages)

oh...oh....just found this....i'm not sure how to post a link but heres the address:

Pronouncing Botanical Latin

......useful to save....but i still like loz' posting a word a day idea!!

Linda

Linda, your link wouldn't work for me.

Terry,
I fixed it!!!

Weezie

Please always remember that latin has never been heard in its native form by modern ears. There are in fact disputes on how exactly to pronounce some things.

But sorry to say... it really is druh-see-na LOL! I had no idea either. But luckily I hadn't pronounced it wrong for too long!

weezie....you go girl ....thanks for your adjustment <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" />

Linda

Don't feel bad...my mom had to correct my pronunciation of nasturtiums! And the bad thing is, I just got 2 weigelias...do ya happen to know what the actual pronunciation is for those??

Weigela--- Wye-JEE-luh

I don't think I've ever said that out loud before, but I know I wouldn't have said it like that.......

Thanks, Loz! Maybe now I'll sound a little more intelligent when it comes to some of the plants! I wasn't too far off the mark!

Not a problem .......It's good to know how to say things the right way huh? I'd hate to be talking to someone about the forum and then start saying things the wrong way....lol That would be pretty embarrassing......Luckily for me I'm just mispronouncing things to my mom or husband.....or my non gardening friends....

Another plant I've had a few of and mispronounced is a Kalanchoe.....got the first 2 syllables right.....but the last part was way wrong...
Kal-an-KO-ee.....I always thought the last part was said like show, only choe.....

I used to say nasturtium NAS-TER-TEE-UM!

dra-KAY-nuh
me too oh my gosh no wonder my mother never knew what plant i was talking about ah ha ha ha ha ha

See all of this mispronounciation is pretty funny really...... Don't feel bad.....there are a few plant pronounciations that are different here in the US then they are in England....so my parents still say some things the English way--can't think of one off the top of my head, but there are a few.....

On a side note, one thing that really gets to me is when you go in to buy a plant and instead of having the proper name it just says tropical or annual on the tag......Sure would be nice if they always had the name on them...... :rolleyes:

How about.. wiggle wiggle, wiggle wiggle.. don't stop movin baby, wiggle wiggle.. Wigg-el-a. That's how I woulda prounounced it.

Meg

I was saying it something like WHY-GEE-LEE-A...and then I noticed a few spellings were different, so I really wasn't sure how to say it!

I also woulda pronounced the other one "drak-ee-nah". <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" />

Meg

Personally, I think all plant tags should come marked with the specific plant name, the particular variety, AND a proper pronunciation note for those of us who haven't heard it.
So, Loz, when are you going to start that post and ensure we are all properly ED-YU-MIK-ATED?