General Discussion Thread

[wavewright62]

I picture Sigrun as an iris, violet in colour and bringing out her swords in the spring.
Totally agree with Reynir as a rowan, can't fault your analysis.  (Although there is an argument for him as a peppery nasturtium.)
Mikkel as a sunflower - tall, stalwart, sturdy, and very useful.
Lalli as a jack-in-the-pulpit, quietly beautiful and pale hiding among the litter of the forest floor.
Onni as manuka blossom, delicate and non-showy among its prickly setting, but gorgeous when you look closer, plus magical healing abilities.
Tuuri as a woodrose, like those who covered the field and forest floor where she rests.

[Róisín]

Wavewright, sunflower is very suitable for Mikkel. And jack in the pulpit, like Lalli, is a great deal more dangerous than it looks.

[Vulpes]

Intriguing question!

Definitely agree with Roísín on rowan (Sorbus) for Reynir. Although an argument could be made for Capsella bursa-pastoris - shepherd's purse.

At first I thought Emil should be bunchberry, Cornus suecica specifically - suecica means Swedish. But then I realised he's got to be Epilobium/Chamerion angustifolium... fireweed!

Tempting to assign Trifolium repens to Mikkel, but I think not. Perhaps an Amelanchier, a serviceberry or as they call them here in Newfoundland, chucklypear. Like Mikkel, they are multi-purpose - early blooming for bees, tasty small fruit, tough and shrubby so a wonderful place for small birds to nest, a sort of jack-of-all-trades of the plant world.

For me, Lalli is always associated with Nuphar lutea, the yellow water lily, because of his dreamworld haven.

For some reason I think Sambucus racemosa, red-berried elder suits Sigrun, although I also like the iris suggestion! Maybe elder suits because it's a tough I-don't-give-sh!t plant, adaptable to changing circumstances, and very early to leaf out in spring... let me at it, it says!

I think Rubus chamaemorus, the cloudberry, suits Onni. It's understated and easily overlooked, rather solitary, but tough as nails.

Tuuri's the hardest. Violet is nice, but I finally settled on Campanula rotondifolia, the bluebell. Tuuri is eternally optimistic, and to me bluebells are too - I've found them growing in the darndest places, including on the rocky lip of a waterfall.

[Róisín]

Vulpes, those sound good. And shepherd’s purse would suit Reynir because it is so very useful. And fireweed suits Emil even better than roses - flashy, Beautiful, spectacular, follows fires And is also useful for many things. My Amelanchier was killed by the extreme weather here (+48C to minus12C in the last few years) which is a pity because I enjoy the fruit and my bees liked the flowers. And the water lily would suit Lalli just as well as sweetgrass. My pink waterlily flowered this summer.

The others are good too. And Campanula for Tuuri is even better than violet for Tuuri, and if I remember correctly grows in Saimaa?

[Jitter]

Yeah, bluebells are wildflowers in the area. Possibly also quite close to the color of her eyes. The Finnish name is kissankello i.e. cat’s bell.

[Purple Wyrm]

All very well, but what about Kitty?

[Róisín]

Catnip? Cat thyme or catgrass? Or in Finland cat-tail reeds?

[Vulpes]

All very well, but what about Kitty?

Oh! How could we forget her! I think Roísín got it right on the first try, catnip, even if it's not native to any of the Nordic countries. I'm certain Kitty is a responder, but I imagine she'd only get any when they were somewhere thoroughly safe. I can imagine her rolling about with a catnip mouse (I bet Mikkel would make her one, bad stitching skills or not) holding it in her front paws and rubbing it all over her face, as one of my past cats liked to do.

[Róisín]

I can just see people importing catnip from Iceland or somewhere else with greenhouses. Or would it grow on Bornholm? But there are other herbs that intoxicate cats. Why not valerian (Valeriana officinalis) then? There is even an old gardening proverb about valerian, if you want to grow it without the plant being destroyed by cats, saying that:
 ‘If you set it, the cats will eat it.
But if you sow it, the cats don’t know it.’
That is, if you transplant it the cats will recognise the smell of the bruised plant, and eat it or roll in it, but if you grow it from seed they won’t recognise it, since they appear to recognise it by scent. My own experience is that the scent that attracts them is that of the root rather than the leaf, since my cats only come if I harvest the root, but not if I pick the leaves.

The leaves have their own use, being a tasty and nutritious food. Nowadays it is largely forgotten that the leaves (and the flowers) are edible, but in old times they were eaten both for the fresh taste and as a general tonic, under the name of setwale. Indeed, the leaf has its own little saying:
‘He that would have his heal
Must put setwale in the kale’.
That is, must add valerian leaf to the vegetables. I quite like the taste, which is green and fresh and nothing like the stench of the medicinal root.

[Jitter]

Catnip ("true catnip", Nepeta cataria) grows in Finland and Scandinavia, definitely in Bornholm. Iceland I'm not sure about. It is not very common in gardens, but not extremely rare either. It seeds itself on place, so chances are high some would be available (in abandoned gardens or near them) when the need was discovered. Also I'm imagining the importance of cats was first discovered by a crazy cat lady, who was also growing catnip for her sweeties (and was also a mage). Other Nepeta species, which are of no particular interest to cats, are more common as ornamental plants, and true catnip may be hard to grow because, well, cats But no reason why there wouldn't be any!

[Vulpes]

[...] Why not valerian (Valeriana officinalis) then?

How could I forget about valerian? We had tons of it where we lived last, in New Brunswick, and the cats loved it when we uprooted it from the many places it turned up uninvited. We had a small abandoned pasture than was full of it, the smell when it was in bloom could be a little overwhelming. Beautiful stuff.

[LilG]

Attending online classes has recently become mandatory in my country, and I have to start tomorrow.
Bye bye “pseudo-vacation” aka not having to do anything in quarantine, you were good while you lasted....

[Lenny]

I just moved into a studio apartment (with the help of my dad and his neighbour, and one of my housemates, never with more than three people at a time, and maintaining distance all the while \o/ was an experience).

It's amazing having my own bathroom and space. It's also very hard to concentrate and I miss having other people around. Not that I did much with anyone apart from chat a bit in the evening and sometimes play a card or board game, but it's.... very empty now. The idea was to have my SO here by this time, but since that's being delayed and delayed again I might have to look into getting a pet.

[Róisín]

Glad you have a space now, Lenny. And all the good luck with getting the SO there, and actually getting to commit matrimony.

[Mebediel]

Congrats on successfully moving into your new apartment! Hoping that your SO will be able to join you soon