Edelweiss.

I bought aLeontopodium alpinumthe other Clarence Day for my crushed rock garden and burst into the famous birdcall from The Sound of Music as I was planting it . I keep blank out that I have close neighbours now and I should n’t burst into song , declaim poetry aloud , dance naked round the lawn , or argue loudly with the Pianist whilst bring ping pong , about who is the secure player and which uncoordinated idiot restrain hitting the ball into the pool . really , I made it up about naked dancing , but I could have done if I wanted to in my previous garden , But not now ; I ’ve done aside with the lawn .. Here , we have to assay to think to do things quietly . But now and then I forget and collapse into song . And how can you institute Edelweiss without a musical accompaniment ? This small garden malarkey has unanticipated drawbacks . But I digress , I was not only vocalizing , but wonder why such an unimportant picayune flower should have such iconic status . The cult of the Edelweiss seemed to take off in the eighteenth century and indeed it became part of the Swiss identity operator . It became so popular that it was the first plant to be protect by law as betimes as 1787 , because visitors dug it up to take a bit of Switzerland home . Of course , plant collectors throughout the 19th one C and into the former twentieth century feel no shame in go abroad and digging up and stealing plants from all round the world . But at least the Leontopodium alpinum was protect . Mark Twain did n’t think much of it though . He enjoin : ‘ the fuzzy bloom is the color of bad cigar ashes . ‘ you could sort of see what he intend , if you look at the peak close up .

I have been reread Reginald Farrer and his description of Edelweiss made me chuckle , so I am going to quote it at length .

‘ And now we issue forth to the arch- role player of the garden- the Flannel efflorescence of the Alps , so preposterously sought after and marvelled at . The man who first call it ‘ Edelweiss ’ was a master of humor ; the plant is neither noble or white . I am far from denying the unknown , wonderful beauty of the thing- the hoary leaves and hoary star- flowers are marvellously absorbing . It is the flagitious claim of the plant that I protest against . Many hoi polloi reckon it as the distinctive plant of gamey , parlous peak ; many people annually topple off precipices in their attempts to find it ; and the first question that all stranger put on entering a rock garden is the reverent whisper , ‘ Do you grow the Edelweiss ? ’ Now , so far from being the typical Alpine flora , the Edelweiss is not even an alpine plant at all . It is a desert plant from the great Siberian wastes … . in the 2d place , far from being a vertex plant , what Edelweiss really enjoy is a scrubby , stony , level lawn , where it grows like a daisy amongst chips and sparse herbiage … , only by stroke does the Leontopodium ever appear on cliffs and pinnacles … . There is no variety of horticultural merit or aureole about spring up the Edelweiss . A more rich smoke does n’t exist . Any dryish discourse courting it , and the only way in which you could ever hope to drop off a clustering is to plant it so modest that it gets too much wet in winter … This lovely Siberian interloper has no darkness of a rightfield to any of the claim that are so absurdly made about it … . The affair is a pretender all around ; even his flowers are not really flowers , but only a parcel of leaves expire mad … . we find ourselves bound to denounce him as a flannelette fraud , write entirely of deception , without and within , a bunch of whitened leaves masquerading as a prime , and an easy- pass sand- loving parvenu … ’

Leontopodium alpinum

I have abridged the rant fairly as Farrer does not cut a retentive storey curt . But you get the idea ; there are native plants more desirable of the iconic condition of peak of the the Alps than this ‘ flannelette hoax ’ . It is a good matter that Farrer did not exist long enough to see all the tatty kitsch sold in gift shops , with Edelweiss emblazoned on everything from car stickers to cuckoo redstem storksbill .

But finding out that Edelweiss is actually a native of Siberia is not my only letdown today . I now learn that Christopher Plummer did not sing Edelweiss in The Sound of Music ; he was dubbed . I ’ll never feel the same way about him .

But noble and blank , or not , I guess my Edelweiss has great charm . And it does look felicitous to see me .

Leontopodium alpinum

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I ca n’t claim I knew much of anything about Edelweiss but I apprise its backstory . It ’s one of those works , like mistletoe , I ’d call “ interesting ” rather than beautiful . I wonder if it was as popular before the song furbish its reputation ? It ’s odd how mythology can develop around a plant life , leading it to be coveted . California has had a significant event with wide - scurf theft of Dudleya . It ’s arguably more attractive than Edelweiss ( albeit not during its dormant season ) but I suspect that its common name , the “ live forever plant , ” may account for its attraction . Dudleya poaching is now against the practice of law in California .

“ Flannelette Fraud , ” huh ? I agree with you that it ’s unique , interesting , and beautiful in its own way . Thanks for the entropy and the stories . Now I ’m sing …

Leontopodium alpinum

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