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Australia
I ran away from teaching to the country to grow veggies. There are also some chooks and a pair of troublesome goats who were so much trouble they had to go! My simple green life isn't always as simple or as green as I'd like...but I keep trying!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Stinking Billy?

Dianthus barbatus - a native of Europe and a common, if somewhat old fashioned plant in Australian gardens.  


I have always known him as "Sweet William".  

Apparently he was named so after William of Marlborough, Duke of Cumberland.  The Duke led the English to victory at the battle of Culloden.  He wasn't that sweet really and was extremely brutal towards the kings' enemies,  the Irish and the Scots.  Not surprisingly in Ireland and Scotland this dianthus is sometimes referred to as 'Stinking Billy'.

Also flowering:

It has leaves like a wisteria and blooms like a wisteria.  It isn't a vine but a bush.  
Is it a wisteria?


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