MAHONIA

I'm struggling to find a poem that I always think of when the Mahonia comes into flower. I think it is a John Hegley poem from Hearing with Hegley and may never have been published, hence the difficulty of finding it on the internet. Anyway, the poem is about some kids hanging over a garden wall, asking the gardener, Mr Brown, what this plant is called, and what that plant if called. Mr Brown keeps answering monosyllabically, 'petunia', forsythia' and so on till the listener wonders what is keeping the kids so interested, until the last few lines, when they ask again what the plant is called and he says:

'Mahonia'
Mr Brown
Leaning on his spade
Bollock naked

Anyway, to save you asking, this is the Mahonia in our garden. It flowers in December, smells gorgeous and...no, I was not naked when I made the picture.