OK, thanks. A glance at wikipedia seemed to indicated that they only grow much further south, but I think I'll go with it being the plant, and that it was a bit of a joke/pun/whatever to put a plant with a name like that at the end of a list of church stuff. There are a few other times in these books where she does stuff like that with plant names.

Do genteel lady competitive gardeners sneak into their neighbors gardens and sabotage their herbaceous contenders?

Oh yes.

There was apparently considerable houseplant rivalry in that era. I read some other book in which women were boasting about having the best ferns.

There's the occasional bits in the Anne books too about going to the Exposition and winning prizes for butter or crocheting.

I just got to Beep Me, and want to offer much mom ~ma to Scrappy.

Scrappy, I'm so sorry. And Sean, sorry you can't go home.

For books set on an island, these really don't mention the water or fish or ships all that much. There's the White Sands hotel in the first one, but that's about it. A few mentions in later books about taking a walk along the harbor road, or a pathway lined with clam shells, but the first time that there's a sailor or a fisherman as a character doesn't come until the fifth book. And with all the long descriptions of cooking and food, I don't think that anybody has eaten fish. I think there's a scene in one of the later books where one of Anne's daughters goes down to the docks, and there are a bunch of little shacks where the fishermen and their families live, and the kids all laugh at her because of her fancy clothes.

I'm sorry, Scrappy. Much comfort to your mom, you, and your family.

I have a large pile of onions, kale, green pepper, cabbage, zucchini, and chicken, with some olive oil and hoisin. I expect my halo to arrive any moment.