Heliopsis? Auchs Aye!

T'is the season for heliopsis in my garden. Everywhere I look, things are golden yellow...and I like it. Heliopsis is a Greek word meaning 'sun' (helios) and 'appearance' (opsis). Though heliopsis sounds exotic, it really just means 'looks like sun'.

That reminds me of the early days of place naming in New Brunswick by the first wave of European visitors. They took one look at the large bay just upriver from Reversing Falls and said 'auch aye, it's a grand bay', so Grand Bay it became. They traveled further upriver and found a really big lake. Of course they named it Grand lake.

They found another really large lake on the western border of New Brunswick. So what did they call it? Grand Lake. Doh! We now have at least two Grand Lakes in New Brunswick. Early settlers weren't always the most imaginative, though they called it like they saw it.

Heliopsis also has another name...ox-eye. Now that's creative, but I'm not sure how/where they found the inspiration....