Zetas Nots

The Forget Me Nots are now in full bloom in the new part of the farmhouse garden we made last summer.  The nots remind of us of our four legged Border Collie (long departed) friend who use to sniff them and sneeze.  We even call them Zetas Nots.  I named her after the beautiful Catherine Zeta Jones who was starring in The Darling Buds Of May at the time.

We often said Zeta was half human.  She sneezed at flowers and sat down at Pelican crossings and waited for it to make a beeping noise.  You could hold an ice lolly in your hand and she would lick it slowly and would daintly take out crisps from a packet with her mouth, one at a time.  Zeta's party piece was when I asked her if she wanted a can of beer?  Zeta would bark three or four times and I would pour her a can of bitter into her bowl.  She had definitely been here before and she loved walking round the garden sniffing flowers.  I am always under strict orders never to weed Zeta's Nots.

Its strange how vegetables and flowers make you sad and happy.  I use to grow Parsnips for my dad and Beetroots for my mother.  When they euphemistically passed away.  I carried on growing them for a few years.  I don't think I will bother with them this year.

In the background you can see Foxgloves that have self seeded everywhere.  I let them grow.  One year a white one appeared in the front garden.  It never self seeded though and we have never had any more white ones reappear.

Forget Me Nots or their posh Latin name: Myosotis Arvensis "Mouses Ears".  Are said to have got their name in Medieval times.  A knight and a lady were walking next to a river.  He was dressed in full armoour.  They happened to be very much in love and he leaned over the side of the river to pick a large bunch of the flowers.  The weight of his armour made him fall into the swollen river.  He started to drown.  Just before he drowned he passed the lady the bunch of flowers and said:

"Forget me not!"

Don't know if its the true etymology of the meaning.  But a nice tale!

Here's an appropiate song by Foster and Allen.