Spider Flowers and Elizabeth Lawrence

Oh, I love spider flowers so. 

I guess I'll never be an official gardener because I MUCH prefer the old fashioned names to anything botanical.  How much more fun is it to refer to these as spider flowers as opposed to cleome?

One of the most wonderful books I've ever read in my life (honest) was Gardening for Love: The Market Bulletins by garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence.  I read a library copy and fell madly in love with it.  Judi found a copy for me when she lived in Iowa City.  I should dig it out and read it again.  It is a story of the correspondence she had with people that advertised in southern regional market bulletins.  Eudora Welty wrote the introduction and I just mention the book here because when I think of old fashioned names for flowers I always think of that book. Lovely, lovely read.....