Plant gender?

[UserName]

All of my plants are boys. One has a real given name, a diminutive boy name. When I speak of any of them, the pronouns I use are "he" and "him."

Which are yours -- boys or girls?

I wonder because from my reading here, I think (?) maybe (?) I discern a pattern.

[PaphMadMan]

Since orchid literally means testicle, I always figured all orchids must be male...

[estación seca]

Mine are almost all intersex, except for the Catasetinae, which can't make up their minds about which bathroom to use. I do my best to be lovingly supportive.

[jkofferdahl]

I always refer to mine using female terms, but even in North Carolina or Texas they could use either bathroom. Frankly, they're plants.

[Orchid Whisperer]

AFAIK, only a few orchids have flowers with male-only and female-only flowers (e.g., Catasetinae as stated above). I don't grow any of these.

All of the orchids I grow have the combined male and female parts fused into a column. I refer to each of them as "it" when I use a pronoun.

[PaphLover]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Mine are almost all intersex, except for the Catasetinae, which can't make up their minds about which bathroom to use. I do my best to be lovingly supportive.

You never fail to make me giggle.

UserName, I have to say, I don't think I've ever thought of my plants as a gender. I do like to tell them how beautiful they are, though. ...But that doesn't solve anything because I believe men can be beautiful too!

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by PaphLover

You never fail to make me giggle.

UserName, I have to say, I don't think I've ever thought of my plants as a gender. I do like to tell them how beautiful they are, though. ...But that doesn't solve anything because I believe men can be beautiful too!

I can only speak for myself but I assure you that while I am male, I am also quite traditionally ugly. Enough to frighten young children!

[PaphLover]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

I can only speak for myself but I assure you that while I am male, I am also quite traditionally ugly. Enough to frighten young children!

Pshaw! Traditional beauty leaves a lot to be desired.

[Fernando]

All my plants are as gay as myself, therefore: he!

[FairyInTheFlowers]

I generally try not to assign a gender to my plants. And when I do refer to them, generally use their assigned, technical plant names.

Originally Posted by Fernando

All my plants are as gay as myself, therefore: he!

I would say the same, but I always find that most of my friends are females.