Bouncing Bet

Dear Lilliputian ,

Do you see the flower photo up above ? It is called Bouncing Bet . Don't you think that is a funny name for a flower that really doesn't bounce . I would have called it Pink & White because if you look closely at the photo . . . this plant has flowers that are pink and on the very same plant it will have white flowers . It also has a few other names that people like to call it  . . .

Soapwort , Goodbye Summer , and my favorite . . . Crow Soap . I wonder if Crows use it to wash their handsome little faces ?

Did you know that Bouncing Bet's  leaves and flowers magically becomes soap . It just looks like a very ordinary flower , but if you know how . . . you can wash your hands with this flower instead of the soap in your bathroom . Not only does it wash your hands very nicely . . . but the suds become a pretty green . . . Maybe the fairies use the leaves or flower petals as a little tiny wash cloth ?

I am not the only person to know that this flowering plant can turn into soap . All through history people all over the world have used Bouncing Bet to wash wool , to bathe sheep before they are sheared , and also people who liked to make felt out of sheep's wool used Bouncing Bet to relax the wool fibers when making wool felt .

 Bouncing Bet was not always growing in New England where you and I live . . . but our Pilgrim ancestors brought seeds over from Europe on boats to plant so they could grow it here in Massachusetts to use as soap . And . . . because they planted Bouncing Bet in their gardens hundreds of years ago . . . we now have it growing in fields and all along road sides in New England . 

If you would like to make some green soap suds . . . pick some leaves and flowers from the Bouncing Bet plant and put the leaves and flowers in a bowl of warm water for a minute or two . 

Then pick up a handful of wet leaves and flowers and rub them together like they are a bar of soap in your hands . It takes a few minutes . . . but not long .

Well , I hope you have some Bouncing Bet growing near you so you can try this fairy soap . 

Make sure you scrub your hands nice and clean with your lovely flower soap . 

Speaking of fairies . . . you might like a picutre book called Thumbelina by Hans Christian Anderson and this one was illustrated by a friend of mine . . . Lauren Mills . 

 Or , if you would like a longer book , Mistress Marsham's Repose by T. H. White it is all about Lilliputians , who are very much like fairies but they don't have magicalness about them . In this story there is also a little girl who gets to know the Lilliputians and protects them from a mean ol' nanny and gardener . It might be a story someone can read to you on long Summer afternoons . 

Well , until next time ,
Wildbee