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Larkspur for kids

The Flower Mix-Up. The true story of Larkspur, near Larkspur, CA, told for kids.

Watercolor illustration for The Flower Mix-Up
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Read along

We're in Larkspur! Want to hear how it got its name? It's a funny mistake! A long time ago, a lady named Georgiana Wood looked up at the hills, all covered in pretty blue and purple flowers.

And she said, "Oh! Those are larkspur flowers! Let's call this town Larkspur!" But guess what?

They weren't larkspur at all. They were a different flower called lupine! But the name stuck, and the town has been called Larkspur ever since. So in the spring, when you see blue flowers on the hills, you can say, "Those are lupines, not larkspur!"

Quiz the back seat

The flowers on the hills were really called...

Show the answer

Lupine. Lupine! Oops, Larkspur!

Fun facts

  • Named by Georgiana Wood, who mistook lupine for larkspur.
  • Larkspur was incorporated in 1908.

For grown-ups

Every Tumbly story is checked claim by claim against the sources below before it's published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.

Sources

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Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).

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