BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Container Gardening Fission Chips

OMG! I am undone. I am in a quandry. I don't know what to do. Or say. Another favourite has hit my hit list. Am I being unfaithful to my roses?

See, I have just fallen irrevocably in love with IRISES. I mean I knew they were beautiful and intriguing plants - but it seems that my eyes have been opened and I am oh so pleased to have been introduced to these beauties again.

Names? Well Fission Chips will make you smile for starters.

It's a Dwarf Bearded Iris, one of the fragrant ones that has bright orange blooms offset with red beards. It only grows to about 7 inches high so it is a great choice for a big mixed container.

An article on these fantastic bulbs is coming up sometime soon ... Ah what new plans I have for some of my containers - they are not going to know what hit them!

Do you grow Irises? Do you like them? What colours have you tried? Do tell.

Cheers now

Lestie, I have to approve of the irises, because last month my lovely niece gave birth to my first grandniece. She is, of course, from all the pictures too adorable for words. And her name is Iris! Looking forward to hearing more about your irises.

BTW isn't fission chips what nuclear physicists eat?

Hey Mona ... now you did make me smile! Nuclear physicists indeed!

So I got to thinking about names along the same lines and guess that my new hybrid Iris, which can be a bearded dwarf as well, would have rust outer leaves and a yellow throat.

I could call it 'Bredin Butta', which could be what the ubiquitous ma in the street eats (so who is to say just how popular those would be?)

Then what about 'Dottin Dash' for printers or

'Chork Incheez' for confused mice? or

'Sandin Sun' for beachcombers.

Anyway, maybe you can think of others? For instance what might be on the menu for Astronomers?

Pretty name given to your grand niece, short sweet and international too.

Cheers now

Well, Lestie, if we want a meal for astronomers, we'd have to PLANET with care. And make sure there's plenty of SPACE to CETUS at the table (MENSA) at LAUNCHtime.

The constellation CETUS (SEE-tuss) represented the sea monster that nearly devoured Andromeda.
Lacaille was inspired to create the constellation Mensa (Latin for table) by Table Mountain near Cape Town.

...and what do you think was on the menu? Something meteor ?

There is a Roast Beef Island off the west coast of Namibia, so I guess there are some interesting names to be found amongst the stars (besides all the numbers that is).

Loved your article Mona, captures the reader and fills some gaps, thank you.

Cheers now

Indeed, no sense gathering at the table if there's no food!

They could have something METEOR fishy, but I think perhaps a salad of COSmic lettuce, young dandeLEO leaves, SUN-dried tomatoes, and ROCKET with sliced EGG plus a STARfruit garnish.

1. Cos lettuce aka romaine.
2. Rocket aka argula & other names.
3. Starfruit is one of the names for carambola.
3. An EGG (evaporating gas globule) shields dense areas of gas from damaging radiation, allowing young stars to form. You can see them in the Hubble image "Pillars of Creation"

The astronomers will want dessert, as well. There will be an ice cream SUNdae with MARSmallow topping and preTY CHOcolate sprinkles.

Tycho Brahe was a superb 16th century astronomer. His observations were so good that they enabled Kepler to formulate the three laws that described the orbits of the planets mathematically.

“By Jove,” HELIOS said as he SATURNed down at the head of the table, “the MILKY WAY in which this pud is presented is PLUTOnically GALACTICAL. It reminds me of that meal we had when we passed through the BLACK HOLE in search of that WHITE DWARF. Remember, it was when VENUS was going through one of her PHASES. That GEOCENTRIC cherry just makes it QUITESSENTIALLY scrumptious!”

“Don’t be such a LUNARtic,” came the reply from LEO, “ the sprinkling of INTERSTELLAR DUST has affected your eyesight … what Cherry? It’s the MARS-bar sauce that makes it…and anyway I SPYGLASS with my little eye something beginning with N.

Transiting MERCURY, a SUNSPOT in disguise, just smiled.

Cheers now

Lestie, this sounds like such a great party, I think I need to break out a CRATER beer!

Though "crater" the constellation means cup, I think we'd better go for the whole crate, even though it isn't my brew of choice.

For the tea drinkers, we will need the "teapot" of Sagittarius. I know that there are MILKY WAY, GALAXY and MARS bars, but in the absence of any chocolate star groupings, the teapot is my favorite asterism!

An asterism is a recognizable grouping of stars that is part of one or more constellations.