British Shrub Is Named “The Andy Murray”

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 10th January 2014

ExxonMobil Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament in Doha

British Shrub Is Named "The Andy Murray"

epa04004439 Andy Murray of Britain returns the ball to Qatari Mousa Shanan Zayed during the ExxonMobil Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament match at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, 31 December 2013. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Amid every other award that a grateful Scotland can dream up for native Wimbledon winner Andy Murray, now is more out of character than naming a delicate strain of plant after the gruff, all-business tennis player.

But that’s what has happened anyway, with a new shrub now named the Andy Murray to go on display at the world-famed Chelsea flower show in London in the spring. The greenery will also be planted at Murray’s new Cromlix house hotel, to open in the spring near his boyhood village of Dunblane.

The Andy Murray – the blooming, not the human, variety – was bred to sprout dainty white and blue-tinged foliage with a line of gold said to represent the 26-year-old’s London 2012 Olympic gold medal.

It will make its debut in May at the annual Chelsea gathering of garden heads. “It had been 77 years since a British man won Wimbledon and we thought it would be good to mark a unique achievement in a unique way, “said an official of the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society. “We asked for permission to name a hosta after him. Andy said he would be thrilled.”

Not to be undone by the Londoners, Dunblane is planning its own answer in the form of what will be the longest garden border composed solely of the new plant.

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Wimbledon