Name the Flower Game Winners

When the Redbuds Bloom

No new flower to name this week, but if it was, I'm sure you would all know this one. But when the redbuds bloom, you can know it's spring in Kentucky. And that you'll probably have a cool snap in the weather for Redbud Winter. But the Name the Flower game is over and the winners have been picked from my drawing hat. Well, actually by random number. Each guess you made got you a new number. It didn't matter if the guess was right or not.

Last Week's Flower - Bell Wort

There were some very imaginative names suggested for last week's flower. Melanie's suggestion of "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley" for the flower made me smile. But "Cornhusker's Ghost" by Kate, "Umbrella Flower" by Lisa and "Weeping Bells" by Sharma were good too. Several of you suggested they were Snowdrops. But the name in my Kentucky Flower book is Bellwort. I did go check on-line and there were some interesting common names for the flower. "Merrybells" echoed Sharma's name but on the positive side. Other common names were Wild Oats, Strawbells, Mohawk Weed, Straw Lily, and Yellow Bellwort.

Wort is Latin meaning common, and my flower book says the bellwort is a common spring wildflower and the internet says it grows widely in a number of states. 

Bellwort was used for medical remedies by both Native Americans and early pioneers. Some of the uses were treatment of snakebites, to reduce swelling, and as a poultice for topical wounds and skin rashes. Concoctions of the plant were also used for canker sores and other mouth infections and to treat sore throats. You can read more about the bellwort here. That's where I got the information for the plant's medical uses.

And the Winners Are

Now that I made you wait through the flower lesson, drumroll please. Here are the three winners of the Name the Flower Game. Linda M., Danie W., and Kate H. I've sent all three of you a message at the e-mail address you left with your comments. As soon as I hear from you, I'll get your books in the mail.

Thank You All for Playing

I do appreciate all of you playing my Name the Flower game. You make my contests here so much fun. I'll be doing something else again soon. And for sure, I'll be sending out a newsletter contest in June to celebrate the release of The Innocent in July. 

But who knows? I might have something else out there before then just for fun. We do have Mother's Day coming out. As always, thanks for reading.



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Can You Name that Flower?

 New Flower to Name

We're coming down to the homestretch on my Name the Flower contest. Some of you have guessed every post or almost every post and so got your name thrown in my giveaway hat numerous times. We'll see if that helps your luck next Sunday when I pick the three winners. But before that, you have time to guess on two more flowers. The one on this post and one on Wednesday's post to come. It's fun when you come up with the actual common name for the flower, but it's also fun when you don't know and make a stab at giving the flower a fitting name. 


Not sure whether you'll know this Sunday's flower or not. It's another in the unusual flower category the way squawroot was. This one looks more like a flower but sometimes you have to search for that bloom. So do you know its name or do you want to come up with your own name for it? Either way you can get a chance on winning one of my books and a grab bag book by a different author as well. An "I don't know" comment gets you an entry too. I picked out some possibilities for those other books you might win last week. All great books. 

Last Post's Flower

Several of you got last week's flower right and then some of you didn't. A few of you found a new name for it. The flower is a Bent Trillium. The bent part is what makes it so hard to get a good picture. The Bent Trilliums along my wildflower walking trail grow up on a cliff side, so that helps me point the camera under the leaves. Of course the steep cliffs don't make it too easy to get close to the flower to take a picture. 

Here's a white one that very obligingly forgot to bend its head the way it was supposed to and bloomed more on top the leaves than down under. The flower of this species usually nods beneath the leaves. My Kentucky flower book says most Bent Trilliums are white, but on my cliff the colors are about evenly mixed between white and the maroon color of last post's picture. Then there are a few that are about halfway between, a faded purplish white. The middle of the flower is always white. 

Time to Think Flower Names

So what do you think? Got a name? I hope you are enjoying sharing some of my favorite wildflowers. And if you leave any kind of comment here, that puts your name in the drawing for the book prizes. You must be 18 to enter and you need to leave some way to contact you should you be one of the three winners. Print books USA & Canada. E-book prizes international. Deadline for entries April 18 at midnight EST.

E-Book Deal for $1.99 or Less Still Going On

Angel Sister is on e-book sale this month. Here's one of the 100 plus reviews. "Didn't want to stop reading it.. very appropriate for every age and gender." You can take a reading visit to Rosey Corner and get to know my Merritt family for less that 2 bucks at your favorite e-book site. The book was featured today of BookBub that sends out a newsletter about free or low price books every day and that always boosts a book. Angel Sister is now number one in several categories of sales on Amazon. That's fun. Thanks to all of you who may have downloaded it to help it hit those number ones. 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #381 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

• #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Christian > Historical
• #1 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Historical
• #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Religious

As always thanks for dropping by. Name That Flower and get an entry in my giveaway. 

And if you're in the Bowling Green, Kentucky area, I'll be at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest on Saturday signing books and taking part in a panel on writing in the afternoon. Would love to see you there.

One of a Kind Names for One of a Kind Flowers - Name the Flower 3

Spring is still dragging her feet around here and letting Jack Frost hang around days too long. But next week, warmer air is supposed to show up and maybe that will mean flowers start showing up too. Are you ready for flowers?

I hope you're ready for a new flower to guess. Or to name if you don't know the name already. Or even if you do, you can say the name you think might fit the flower better. So, give it a try and enter my Name the Flower contest. You might win a couple of books, one of mine and one of a different Christian author. 

BUT FIRST, LAST WEEK'S FLOWER NAME

Several of you named last week's beautiful flower. A few guesses were Adder's Tongue, Dog-tooth Violet, Dutchman's Britches, but nobody came up with the flower's actual name or at least not the name for the flower in my Wildflowers & Ferns of Kentucky book. However, some of you came up with great new names for the flower. Dewdrop, Teardrops, Grandmother's Dancing Bells, Green Whisper, Job's Arrow or Flying Geese. Now those are some good names. The Flying Geese and Grandmother's Dancing Bells really caught my fancy. Karen's name of Job's Arrow showed some great thinking too. 

But the flower's actual name is Shooting Star. Here's what the wildflower book says about this flower. "The rocket-like flowers of this strikingly beautiful plant appear designed for space flight. It is frequent from Central Kentucky westward but rare in eastern Kentucky." 

It's not rare in my wildflower woods area, but it's a flower that always makes me want to take one more photo.   

NOW CAN YOU NAME THE NEW FLOWER

The flower up top is the new flower to name. It's one of my favorites to find. Let's see if you know its name. You can post that or you can still use your imagination and give it another name if you wish. You can even simply say you haven't a clue about a name. Any of those will get you a new entry into my Name the Flower Contest. Remember, each time you name a new flower posted here, you get a new entry into the giveaway. 

I'll pick three winners from the entries by random drawing on April 19, 2015. So April 18, 2015 at midnight EST is the deadline for entering. You must be 18 to enter and if the winner chosen lives across the ocean, the prizes will be in e-book form. If you haven't guessed on one of the other flowers and left your contact information, be sure to leave it with your comment. If you've already left it on a different guess for this contest, then I'll have it.

Thanks for playing my Name the Flower game.