By Erin Holden
While looking at a nursery catalogue a few years ago I stumbled upon a fun cultivar of Coreopsis with fluted petals called ‘Jethro Tull’. Although Bluestone Perennials claims it was named after the 18th century agriculturalist, I think it’s no coincidence that the lead singer of the 70’s progressive rock band Jethro Tull also famously plays the flute. And it got me thinking – are there other plant cultivars out there named after music groups? After that I spent many evenings scrolling through seed catalogues and nursery inventories, making a list of any and all plants that had music related names. I had a great time nerding out, and before long had quite a long list of plants. Now what to do with this list? At the time I lived in a small apartment with no room to grow these plants, and worked in the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, where these plants didn’t fit in with the mission of that collection. Could I somehow pitch this Rock n’ Roll Garden to the National Herb Garden? And that’s how the idea for this year’s “Rock” Garden was born. The entrance display this year features herbs that are used to make instruments (think bamboo, gourds, and tree species used for string instruments), herbs that are mentioned in songs (“Scarborough Fair”’s parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme), and herbs that are named after songs, bands, or albums (like Coreopsis ‘Jethro Tull’). Some other plants that make an appearance in the garden:
Allium ‘Pinball Wizard’ (“Pinball Wizard”, The Who)
Cinnamomum verum (“Cinnamon Girl”, Neil Young)
Dahlia ‘Foxy Lady’ (“Foxy Lady”, Jimi Hendrix)
Hylocereus ‘Physical Graffiti’ (Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin)
Juncus sp. (Rush)
Perovskia ‘Blue Jean Baby’ (“Tiny Dancer”, Elton John)
Rosa ‘American Beauty’ (American Beauty, The Grateful Dead)
Vaccinium angustifolium (“Blueberry Hill”, Fats Domino)
Photo Credits: 1) Coreopsis ‘Jethro Tull’ (David Stang); 2) Dahlia ‘Foxy Lady’ (John/Puzzler4879 via Flickr); 3) Allium ‘Pinball Wizard’ (Mike Peel)
Erin is the gardener for the National Herb Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the American Herbalists Guild, United Plant Savers, and The Herb Society of America.