The first name I learned for this plant was Nancy Pretty some 30+ years ago. It is sometimes called London Pride, St. Patrick's Cabbage, Whimsey, Prattling Parnell, and Look Up And Kiss Me, but it also goes by the name of Saxifrage Urbium.
It's a fantastic little plant if you want a carpet of ground cover fairly quickly, though it's less invasive than many other ground cover plants. It's a pretty hardy little plant, isn't fussy if the ground dries out a bit and has very attractive variegated leaves. It thrives in neglect- which is just as well in my garden!
It has traditions all of its own, in part due to that tolerance. After the Blitz in London during the Second World War it colonised many bombed sites. Noel Coward wrote a song about it - London Pride - which became very popular and was designed to uplift the spirits of the Londoners.
Flowers have a language of their own and London Pride is said to stand for frivolity. Some would claim that it has a special day on the 27th of July.
Perhaps you know even more about this lovely little plant.
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ReplyDeleteI'm in Ayrshire in Scotland, it's very cold this morning, probably our fifth keen frost of the season. I am planning all the jobs that need doing,(in my head), and this small plant stops me in my tracks every, single time. I've known it as Nancy Pretty for more than fifty five years, and now,thanks to you,and this and this damnably clever phone, I now know so much more about it. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteRobbie.
I'm also in Scotland, near Livingston. My Mum was Welsh and called these Pretty Nancies. We had them in the garden 65 years ago and I have some that I rescued now because they remind me of her - her name was Nance. Nice to know a bit more about them. Love the London Pride story. Super little plant for filling a space, and yes, I think they are very pretty.
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