Sunflowers
These cheerful giants with spectacular flowers that can reach the size of pie plates go by the botanical name of Helianthus. The Latin name is a nod to Helios, the Greek sun god. Not only do the flowers of Helianthus look somewhat like the ball of fire in the summer sky, but, true sun worshipers that they are, they always turn themselves to face the sun. Despite the Hellenic name, sunflowers are North American natives. Even the earliest European plantsmen to "discover" them here reported that the huge flat blooms resembled a "plate or platter."

Sunflowers are not only fun to look at, they’re useful. While sipping a summer beverage, you might let drop that sunflower seeds, besides making a tasty snack on their own, are used in the production of cooking oil and other food products and in the manufacture of soaps, paint and cosmetics. Many birds prize them, presumably for their high protein and mineral content. Flower lovers, however, can just enjoy them for their supreme "smile-ability" factor.

Lilies
Often called "the queen of the summer garden," the lily is also tops when it comes to flower lore. The ancient Greeks said that lilies sprang from the drops of the Goddess Hera’s milk as she nursed baby Hercules (a fact left out of the Disney movie). Through the ages, lilies were used to make fine perfumes, cosmetics and anti-aging creams. Lily petals mixed with honey were thought to remove facial wrinkles and make skin soft again.

The flower was also a popular aphrodisiac among the ancients (who were then, of course, all ages, both young and old!). As a medicinal herb, lilies were said to treat burns, snakebite and even leprosy.

Dahlias
As is true of so many bulb flowers, the dahlia was first found interesting not for its blooms but for its bulbs (or tubers to be exact). Forget the flowers! Let’s eat them, said their first discoverers! The dahlia’s spectacular flowers (of which there are many shapes and varieties) were discarded then, as the tubers were evaluated as a possible substitute for the potato. Fortunately for flower lovers everywhere, the dahlia has since become one of the worlds’ favorite summer-blooming flowers. A good thing, too, as everyone soon agreed: despite its beautiful flower, the dahlia tuber is not very tasty!

Dahlias are native to the mountainous regions of southern Mexico and Guatemala, where they were grown by the Aztecs, who called them cocoxochitl. The dahlia was given its name in 1789 by Abbé Cavanilles, director of the royal gardens in Madrid. Cavanilles grew dahlias from seeds sent to him from the Americas, and named the plant in honor of Swedish botanist Andreas Dahl, who, though he had never even seen or heard of a dahlia, was much admired by Cavanilles.

Gladiolus
This tall, spiked summer wonder derives its name from gladius, the Latin name for sword. (Think gladiator!) In fact, one of its early English language common names was sword lily. Not only does this refer to the long shape of the plant itself, but to its pointy leaves.

There are at least 250 species of gladioli growing in the wild in habitats ranging from Europe to Asia Minor. The gladioli that we know today hail mostly from southern Africa, where, again, their corms were once prized as a food.

Zinnia
Fun, zingy zinnias were named in honor of an Eighteenth-century German medical professor Johann Gottfried Zinn who wrote the first description of the flower. Dr. Zinn also wrote medical texts, specifically a treatment on the human eye. Dr. Zinn was a lucky man (despite his untimely death at the age of 32) honored for both his passions with a flower named zinnia and a part of the human eyeball forever since known as "Zinn’s zonule."

If that tidbit is not enough to jumpstart a cocktail conversation, consider this: When the Spaniards first came across the flower in its native Mexico they considered the the flower "soon-to-be-known-as-zinnia" as so puny and unappealing that they named it mal de ojos, which means "sickness of the eye." In fact, zinnias, even in Dr. Zinn’s time weren’t much to look at. It wasn’t until early in this century that American hybridizers found the key that unlocked the full potential of this favorite cut and garden flower.