LUCY’S GREEN THUMB!

Lucy’s Plants, Flowers, and other Botanical Delights

Plants and flowers bloomed and grew as fast as Lucille Ball’s career!  Here are just a few moments that feature our botanical world.

One of (blonde) Ball’s first roles in Hollywood was as flower store clerk in Top Hat (1935) selling flowers to Fred Astaire to send to Ginger Rogers.

In real life, Lucille Ball loved plants and flowers and grew them in gardens in all her homes. 

Her favorite flowers were peonies and lilacs which grew quite well in the East where she was raised.

Lucille Ball at home watering the houseplants in her rose pattern dress. 

“Mother-in-Law” (1949) ~ George’s allergic mother comes to visit. Liz hopes to drive her out by spreading ragweed and other allergy-inducing plants around the house. Katie the maid is angry because Mother Cooper has burst into her room to confiscate her roses. Liz reminds her that Mother Cooper is allergic to roses. 

KATIE: “Four Roses?”  

Four Roses Whiskey, that is!  

“I LOVE LUCY”

“We have real furniture, real plumbing, and a real kitchen where we serve real food. Even the plants are really growing; they’re not phony.” ~ Desi Arnaz, about the ‘I Love Lucy’ set

Some glimpses of plants and flowers on the set of “I Love Lucy.” 

“The Operetta” (1952) ~ Ethel as Lily of the Valley, singing in front of a windowsill of flowers at the Inn on the River Out.

“The Black Eye” (1953) ~ In order to patch things up between Lucy and Ricky (who he believes are feuding) Fred orders Lucy some flowers from Ricky with the help of Pete the florist (Bennett Green). Before shutting the box of roses and hastily scribbling the card, Fred tells Pete to put in some gladiolas, too. 

When Lucy later opens the box of flowers, however, the gladdies are nowhere to be seen! We discover that Fred has accidentally signed his own name to the card, instead of Ricky’s. 

The episode opens with Lucy reading a thriller novel with a large houseplant behind the sofa. 

“Ethel’s Hometown” (1954) 

“Hollywood at Last!” (1955) ~ To see the star, just move the plant!

“Lucy Raises Tulips” (1957) ~ When the Ricardos move to Westport, Lucy throws herself into gardening. She competes with Betty Ramsey (Mary Jane Croft) for Westport Garden Club’s ‘Best Garden,’ a title that Betty has held for three years running. 

Lucy experiments with wax tulips. Although there is a genus of flower known as waxflower (chamelaucium), in this the term refers to actual wax!

Both women are growing tulips. We are told that Lucy’s are pink, and Betty’s are yellow. It’s a shame this episode is not in color! 

When Lucy takes charge of the rider mower, the landscape changes for the worse… including the garden! The replacement wax tulips wilt in the summer sun!

“Lucy Makes Room for Daddy” (1958) ~ When subletting their home to the Williams’ Lucy worries they won’t take care of her houseplants. When Ricky finds out she’s been secretly caring for them against his wishes, she physically demonstrates how badly wilted they’d become.

“Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” (1958) ~ Lucy and Katie (Ann Sothern) drop flower pots off their hotel balcony, which leads them to serving time in a Havana jail! 

“THE LUCY SHOW”

TV Guide – September 1962

“No More Double Dates” (1963) ~ Frequent background performer Bess Flowers sits in front of a centerpiece of flowers while Lucy and Harry stand in front of a spray of fresh flowers.

“Ethel Merman and the Boy Scout Show” (1964) ~ Merman sing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” surrounded by roses!  She originally sang the song in the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy, where her character name was Rose.

“Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (1965) ~ To track down the star, Lucy disguises herself as a poor but humble flower seller, much in the manner of Eliza Doolittle, a character from the 1956 Broadway musical and 1964 film My Fair Lady.  

“Lucy and the Soap Opera” (1966) ~ To spy on the writer of her favorite show, Lucy disquises herself as a gardener, spraying insecticide on his plants and flowers. 

“Lucy Gets Trapped” (1967) ~ Lucy’s plan to skip work to go shopping backfires when she becomes the 10-millionth customer. She’s draped in roses like a winning racehorse!

“Lucy the Fight Manager” (1967) ~ Lucy helps a washed-up boxer (Don Rickles) get in shape to win a bout so he can open a flower shop.  

EDDIE: “This plant has a bad case of root rot!”

LUCY: “We’ll root out the root rot later!”

“Lucy’s Mystery Guest” (1967) ~ Lucy Carmichael is plant-sitting for a neighbor when her health nut Aunt (Mary Wickes) sprays the plant for bugs, and it promptly wilts.

“Lucy Gets Mooney Fired” (1967) ~ To make Mr. Cheever believe he’s overworked to the point of delusions, Lucy makes his potted palm grow like a beanstalk! 

“HERE’S LUCY”

“Lucy Protects Her Job” (1969) ~ Harry gives Lucy roses, despite saying he was allergic to them in “Lucy and Harry’s Tonsils”. He says they cost $12.50 a dozen.

“Lucy and Mannix are Held Hostage” (1971) ~ Lucy Carter suddenly starts naming and talking to her plants. Their names are Ruthie, Hugo, and Priscilla. Ruthie meets an untimely end when she is tossed out a window in an attempt to stop a robbery.  

“Lucy’s Vacation” (1971) ~ Lucy water the boss instead of the plant!

“Lucy and Donny Osmond” (1972) ~ Flowers for Kim!

“Lucy and Her Prince Charming” (1972) ~ To marry off Lucy to a handsome prince (Ricardo Montalban), Harry has the house bedecked in an explosion of flowers for the ceremony. 

“Lucy and Eva Gabor are Hospital Roomies” (1972) ~ Harry brings flowers to the hospital. Lucy mistakenly believes they are for her!  

“Lucy and the Chinese Curse” (1972) ~ When Lucy saves the life of a laundry owner (Keye Luke), he first shows his gratitude with a bouquet of flowers. 

“Lucy Goes To Prison” (1973) ~ Lucy’s cellmate Mumsie (Elsa Lanchester) calls the scrawny potted plants on her cell windowsill her ‘family’ and has named them Cynthia and Heathcliff. She hopes that by putting them side by side they will give her grandchildren!  

“Lucy and Danny Thomas” (1973) ~ An eccentric artist paints Lucy with a bouquet of flowers – and very little else. 

“Tipsy Through the Tulips” (1973) ~ Although the tulips of the title were nowhere to be seen, Lucy’s home was decorated with plants and flowers for the visit of a famous author (Foster Brooks) with a propensity for drink.  

“Mary Jane’s Boyfriend” (1974) ~ Mary Jane has a new boyfriend (Walter Butley) – who happens to fall for Lucy. He brings her a big bunch of flowers – while Mary Jane gets just a few blooms. [Note: This looks like the same flowers used in “Lucy and the Chinese Curse” two years earlier!]

“LIFE WITH LUCY”

“Lucy’s Green Thumb” (1987) ~ In this unaired episode of “Life With Lucy”, Lucy Barker raises plants that grow at a rapid pace. She names them Melvin, Agnes, and Helga. 

LUCY (To Melvin) “The free ride is over!  You either get growin’ or get goin’!”  

The very first time Lucille Ball was seen on “Life With Lucy” she was moving into her daughter’s home carrying a potted plant (a schefflera). Lucy was afraid it had spider mites. This clip was part of the series opening credits montage.

Lucy’s plants grow so quickly they threaten to take over the hardware shop, much in the style of Little Shop of Horrors. Coincidentally, Lucy is mentioned in the lyrics of the song “Somewhere That’s Green” from the 1982 musical. 

The Lucy Ball flower aka Allium

In 1991, a hybrid tea rose was christened the Lucille Ball Rose, doubtless because it’s distinctive apricot color is reminiscent of Lucille Ball’s hair!