How very annoying it is when something that you know the name of, suddenly, is just a blank space in your memory bank. Try as you might that elusive name will not pop back.
It happened. embarrassingly, to me in a previous post. A flower that has been in the garden forever and I do know the name of, really I do… But I forgot it…
I tried Googling “pink perennial flowers” and various combinations. But could not track it down. Then suddenly, amazingly, unexpectedly and without warning the name just surfaced in my mind as I was watering the garden this evening.
And I had that “of course, I knew that” feeling.
Here it is, on the left, in all its glory before the caterpillars stripped it. Then, on the right, the sad-looking plant as the caterpillars munched their way through it.
It is called Pentas and this is what Wikipedia says about it…
Pentas is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceaefamily. The genus is found in tropical and southern Africa, the Comoros, Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula.[1]
The plants have hairy green leaves and clusters of flowers in shades of red, white, pink, and purple. Pentas are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. Some species are commonly cultivated and can be grown in pots and baskets. Species such as Pentas lanceolata can withstand full sunlight and need little to no care, growing even in locations that are dry and hot
Well I am now happy to be able to name this plant. It is a favourite of mine. It is easy care, flowers most of the year, until the caterpillars arrive. Then bounces back after the caterpillars have gone and is so easy to reproduce with cuttings, even self sowing all over the garden.
Not so much forgetting as slow retrieval. I like to think it’s because the brain banks are so full of wise and useful things…
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Now I like that explanation, of course a lot of trivia is mixed in there as well. 🤔
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I like your take on it!
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Thanks Sue
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Doesn’t everyone? 🙂 The thing that annoys me is I can most times remember the letter of the word it starts with but can’t pull the entire word to the front to grab it. 🙂
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Ah yes… going through the alphabet, it does sometimes work…
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I am ALWAYS doing that!
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It took my husband and I three days to remember Stevie Wonder’s name!!!!
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Oh NO….When you do finally remember you wonder (haha) “how could I forget that???”
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Yes that old filing cabinet is getting full and it takes longer to find some things. Mine guarantees an answer by 4:00am.
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The same day???
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Always 4:00am the next morning. Not the ideal time to finish a conversation.
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It’s very pretty, and I’m glad you remembered the name. It drives me crazy when names become elusive, which they seem to do with more frequency these days. 🙂
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Even the occasional word mid sentence can disappear, it’s maddening…
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Wow! I was not even close!
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Must admit the first photos in the other post did not give you much to go on.
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We don’t forget we file things carelessly.then have problems with the recall.
We put things down without noting where, then later can’t find them.🐛
It is not that our mind is full it is because we are not always mindful.🦋
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Good comment Jack. Pity we cannot put some of the “stuff” onto a hard drive to clear up some room up there…
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Oh my Pauline – one of my least favorite things I must admit! Happens often – I’m worst with people’s names which is awful. I find if I can quietly go through the alphabet I usually can come to the answer but sometimes it takes an extra run-through or two. As we say here, aging is NOT for sissies! Anyway, love your beautiful flower and happy to see it’s name has come back to you all on its own 🙂
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I used to be very good at remembering names but have to admit that is not the case now…
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You are most definitely not alone in this PP. I am usually OK with flowers, but names of actors (that is if I even know them in the first place) are hard to retrieve. My filing system needs decluttering!!
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Now we can look up so much on google the brain storage is in overkill…
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Yes all the time and it can be about things I’ve known all my life or was talking about an hour before!
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It seems we al have this problem
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Doesn’t everyone? It bothers my husband more than me because he had an amazing memory for even the most obscure things…I agree with one of your previous commentators- aging is not for sissies!
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I can understand your husbands annoyance. I used to have a great memory for names, sadly no more…
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