Right now is a great time to get all of those fallen branches picked up around your yard. Also, you are running out of time to move your misplaced trees and shrubs.

Some of our bulbs are popping up and blooming. My Bridal wreath spireas are blooming and so are the forsythias. Soon we&8217;ll see the buds opening on Japanese maples. They&8217;re swelling now. Right now is the prime time to graft your rare scions of Acer palmatums to the selected rootstock.

OK. Let&8217;s have some fun now. I&8217;m going to give you a list of plants with animal-like names and you have to associate them with their botanical name. Just for fun, I&8217;m only listing the genus.

1) Bear&8217;s breeches

2) Bear&8217;s foot

3) Beebalm

4) Bullrush

5) Butterfly bush

6) Butterfly weed

7) Cardinal flower

8) Catmint

9) Catnip

10) Cattail

11) Cat thyme

12) Cockscomb

13) Dragon&8217;s Blood 14) Duckweed

15) Elephant ear

16) Foxglove

17) Goat&8217;s beard

18) Hens and chicks

19) Horsetail

20) Hummingbird vine

21) Lamb&8217;s ear

22) Lion&8217;s ear

23) Monkey Grass

24) Ostrich fern

25) Parrot feather

26) Peacock fern

27) Pigweed

28) Rabbit eye blueberry

29) Shrimp plant

30) Spiderwort

31) Tiger lily

32) Toad lily

33) Zebra grass

Now match the following with the above.

A) Sempervivum

B) Vaccinium

C) Matteuccia

D) Tradescantia

E) Thymus

F) Nepeta

G) Monarda

H) Acanthus

I) Asclepias

J) Buddleia

K) Lobelia

L) Stachys

M) Lilium

N) Lemna

O) Iscanthus

P) Amaranthua

Q) Equisetum

R) Ipomea

S) Aruncus

T) Myriophyllum

U) Leonoits

V) Sedum

W) Tricyrtix

X) Digitalis

Y) Celosia

Z) Colocasia

a) Liriope

b) Hellabore

c) Schoenoplectus

d) Typha

e) Selanginella

f) Custicia

g) Nepeta

Test your horticultural knowledge by matching these. List them out by the numbers in the first section and place the corresponding letter with the genus beside each one.

I&8217;ll post the key in next week&8217;s Shelby County Reporter. If you just can&8217;t wait, email me your test and I&8217;ll grade it and return it to you.

Kenn Alan

http://www.aces.edu/dept/extcomm/specialty/t-file/Chipst.tif