OMG! i just bought a homophobic plant

[mitchtv]

I went to the plant nursery and came home with a pair of "Romneya Coulteri". I'm afraid they'll turn on me

[Quantess]

1. Poor plant. Here's a mildly humorous tidbit:

In the SF Guardian, I read about a help wanted ad that caused controversy. It said something like:

Florist needed PT. $/hr. Gay White owner [phone]

People were wondering why being gay or white was relevant in any way to the job offer. Turns out, the owner's name was Gay White.

[xchrom]

2. where's herb caen when you need him?

[mitchtv]

5. You are dating us all

my God it's been years since I heard his name.

[xchrom]

7. i've lived in new york, chicago and sf --

for my money he was the best man about town reporter at that time.

funny wry, self effacing.

remember jim de strange?

[mitchtv]

8. sure do and I left SF years ago

I used to know Debbie Caen (step daughter) in NYC in the sixties

[Quantess]

6. Yeah I think that might have even been written by Herb Caen, it was so many years ago.

It was in the '90s, when I lived in the city of SF.
What a great city! It just got to be too hard to live there.

[Bear down under]

3. Will it make you feel better

to learn that the tree poppy is named in honour of the flower-loving Irish astronomer Thomas Romney Robinson (1792-1882) and the Irish botanist Thomas Coulter (1793-1843)?

The connection is that Coulter brought the plant from California (where it is native; it also grows wild near Las Vegas) and gave it to his friend Romney Robinson, in whose garden near Dublin it is said to have bloomed for the first time in Europe. if I remember right, this was in 1829. Theirs was quite an achievement, as not only is Romneya coulteri notoriously difficult to transplant -- let alone half-way across the world -- but it is not easy to grow in the Irish climate. It is an extremely beautiful plant.

[mitchtv]

4. Wellll, the fact that Ann Coulter is probably Irish doesn't help much

I expect it to do well here in the Coachella Valley. I am unwilling to attempt the seeds , which involves burning pine needles over them for an hour. Large root cuttings is the best propagation method. Ireland? a tough haul for the Matilija popppy.