A Bookish Earth Day

Around springtime and Earth day, I find enjoyment reading books that feature adventures, fairies, fantasy as a whole, and other themes that make me feel one with nature. This year I wanted to encourage readers to not only read this Earth day but do something a little green. Something that wasn’t recycling, but still in theme with Earth day. What better than starting a garden?

 Plant a Literary-Inspired Garden

There are oodles of fictional characters named after plants and flowers. I cannot think of a better way to celebrate Earth day than planting a garden inspired by your favorite characters and fictional plants! I have listed a few below for inspiration, believe me, there are way more than I could ever remember.

The Lord of the Rings

It would be shocking to leave this epic series off this list after just reading them. I picked a few characters and plants.

• Rosie Cotton-aka Rose, wife of Samwise
  • Rose, Daisy, Primrose (some of their children)
• Pipe-Weed aka Tobacco
  • If you are concerned with the legality of growing tobacco in your area, contact your local agricultural extension agent.  If you are outside of the United States, you should start with your ministry or department of agriculture.
• Trees
  • I loved the Ents in Tolkien’s world. I couldn’t decide on one tree imparticular so I recommend planting a tree native to your area.

Harry Potter series

One of my all-time favorite series. Listed below are a few characters named after plants and one plant.

• Lilly
• Petunia
• Narcissa
• Pansy
• Lavender
• Mandrake

A Song of Ice and Fire

Almost every plant under the sun is in this series. I picked three but there many many more.

• Poppies
• Roses
• Trees

Dracula

When I was reading this book I knew I was going to have to touch back to the fresh garlic used to keep the vampire attacks at bay, so here it is.

• Garlic

Alice Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There

A trippy series I like to venture in from time to time. One of my favorite parts is the flowers, so here they are.

• Daisies
• Roses
• Violets
• Tiger-lilly

The Hunger Games

The first few characters named after plants that popped into my mind! I love The Hunger Games. If you do too, then why not add these plants to your garden.

• Katniss
• Primrose
• Rue

Gardening has many benefits for insects and ecosystems as a whole. Please consider which plants grow best in your area and with native plants in your local environment before starting this project. 🙂  If you want to learn more about Earth Day and what you can do to get involved check out Earth Day Network.

Do you do anything special for Earth Day? Recommend any books? Have you planted a garden inspired by your favorite books?