Tuesday, October 28, 2008


Beautiful and poisonous

The garden died in the season's first hard freeze last night. One thing that stands out in my late garden when all else grows weary is monkshood, a late bloomer, and I love late bloomers. This year I had several strong stems of this regal blue flower. Someone asked me about it and I had forgotten that it's poisonous. I won't harvest it, but I will enjoy as this tall delphinium-leafed specimen makes a last stand in the late autumn, after everything else has packed up its summer glory. I wonder if there is a connection between being a monk and being sinister. Could make a good sequel to The Da Vinci Code --- Monkshood, or, Intrigue in the Garden.