Botanical expressions

When you consider all that plants do for us, from providing us with food, to producing oxygen, to purifying our soil, it’s no surprise that they have been the inspiration for a number of English idioms. Test your knowledge of the following plant idioms by matching them with their correct meanings.

1. not let the grass grow under one’s feet
2. make hay while the sun shines
3. sow the seeds
4. be an old chestnut
5. lose one’s gourd
6. be unable to see the forest for the trees
7. bark up the wrong tree
8. beat around the bush
9. be a thorn in someone’s side
10. extend an olive branch