How's your skill at mental image making?

By David Wallace Barr IV

Some of the things I often have difficulty remembering are the names of familiar garden plants I should know. When I was a boy, I was often called upon to weed my mother and father’s flowerbeds. They were avid gardeners and taught me the names of many beautiful plants. Over the years, I  visited and admired many many gardens and learned many more plant names. Love those gardens with the little labels that tell you what each plant is. But when you are not using these names every day or every week some of them seem to slip away.

It’s different ones at different times. When I see an iris I can always remember that it’s an iris. But a rhododendron for instance, or an azalea, can easily slip my mind. It’s not the flower or plant that I forget. Each time I see it I recognize it instantly. It’s just the name that is sometimes hard to produce. Oh, that elusive name will usually resurface after a day or two, typically long after I needed it.

If I get really annoyed at this uncertain access to the nomenclature of garden plants in my memory, I will think up an image that works to jog my memory every time. By an image I mean a little internal picture in my mind, a visualization if you will. Most people have this ability. If I say to you, "Picture yourself reclining in a lawn chair with a cool drink in hand on a wide green lawn that slopes down to a blue lake where a gentle breeze ruffles the surface of  the water," most of you will be able to imagine some version of that image as quickly as I am able to say it. I have found that making mental images like this is a most helpful way for me to remember the names of garden plants I walk by every day with the dog.

One example is a common spring flower called the narcissus, which is a close relative of the familiar daffodil. I find that all I have to recall, when I see a little narcissus in the garden, is a mental image of the mythical Narcissus, gazing at her own reflection, in a pool of water while holding a narcissus flower.

And how about the morning glory, that gorgeous, delicate flower, carried up some vertical surface by its tender clinging vine? Here’s what works for me… a mental image of morning glory flowers twining around a doorway. Then I instantly think of those two memorable lines from the old popular song, 'Carolina in the Morning,' by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn. 

"Where the morning glories twine around the door,

"Whispering pretty stories I long to hear once more"

Not  exactly a garden plant, but a glorious flowering tree, which one often sees planted on lawns, is the Catalpa. That's another name that has frequently eluded me in the past. Now it never does because when I see it, I instantly think of my own personal mental image of a grinning Cheshire cat perched on one of its branches. The association between 'cat' and Catalpa immediately brings the name to my mind.

Why not try it yourself? For any name you are trying to remember, a personal mental image may help. With some memories I admit, it’s not so easy to come up with a mental image. I still haven't mastered 'azalea.' And your success may depend a lot on your own creativity. But if the idea appeals, you may find it’s just the enjoyable memory trick you need.