Daffodils
Peonies
I grow 2 species of peony. One is the herbaceous and one is the tree peony.
The tree peony has a woody stem that remains above ground all year.
The herbaceous peony dies back and consequently has to start from scratch each year.
Below is the herbaceous peony emerging.
1.5+ month to go between now and blooms
April 22. Herbaceous peony broke through the soil
Helleborus.
I grow Helleborus for 2 reasons.
1. it is the earliest bloomer in the garden
2. I am smitten with the flowers.
My garden is mostly about culinary plants and culinary oddities.
Because the whole Helleborus plant (flowers, roots, leaves,) is poisonous, and because poisoning my public is a self defeating culinary goal, I limit myself to a couple plants to ohh and ah over before the usable edibles emerge.
For the ghoulishly curious, the symptoms of ingesting large amounts of the plant are:
“Burning of mouth and throat, vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, nervous symptoms, depression,skin irritation after contact.”
And such a pretty flower.
April 16, 2009