What's in a name: "GAGA"?

Pop culture has never really coincided with horticulture all that much, but I thought it’d be interesting to bring the two together in the hopes that I can somehow attract someone from my generation who might not really know or care about plants to have a second look and say, “WTF?”

Lady Gaga has probably been the most intriguing pop icon to inundate the media and garner the attention of many with her wild and abstract sense of fashion and persona. Her music is annoyingly catchy and it’s her constant reinventing of herself that makes her unique, yet so incredibly attractive to the masses.

When I watch some of her music videos, television appearances, and images from photo shoots, I can’t help but compare her to some of the weirdest, most exotic flora. Whether it’s her hair, her outfits, or her make-up, certain images in the landscape seem to come to mind.


I’ve always thought that if Lady Gaga were a plant, she’d be an Arisaema. Bizarre, unusual, sexually suggestive and ambiguous, her “disco stick” is the spadix, duh!




Like topiary, hair is easily shaped and formed to whatever your heart desires. She just happens to find inspiration from either the manicured confines of a Japanese garden with prized specimens of pine or maple bonsai or the mysteries of the wild forest where the white capped Volvariella bombycina mushroom seeks attention.




At last year’s VMA’s, Lady Gaga performed her hit “Paparazzi” and caused quite a stir as she graphically portrayed the consequences of what the media can almost do to a rock superstar. She also created an image that reminded me of a new plant I grew last year that didn’t garner nearly as much attention besides a handful of avid gardeners.






Oh I could go on comparing her to various orchids and alien-like carnivorous plants; perhaps another time.

Studio’s callin’…