May is only March with leaves

When will this horrendous weather end! It's cold and wet again today; a roasting 8°. It's more like March, or at least March with leaves!

I have to confess that I haven't left the property today. Walking down to the town for a paper didn't appeal, so Mrs M went down in the car. So talking about leaves, here are some of my favourite. 

Veratrum album is a tall, sturdy perennial in the family Melanthiaceae. It has a huge Eurasian distribution, as it grows from the Pyrenees in western Europe, through the major mountain ranges of Europe into the Caucasus and across Siberia to Alaska. It’s also found as far south as Japan apparently. Not only are the large pleated leaves very decorative, but the huge plumes of greenish-white flowers are borne on stems which can grow to six feet. It's as tough as old boots, so the question is - why do you so rarely see it? I'm a great believer in using the correct Latin name, which makes sense as it's also known as European white hellebore, langwort, lungwort, white hellebore, white false hellebore, white false helleborine and white veratrum! I grew three species of this family at Arduaine - they're all amazing, tho' I think that Veratrum nigrum is the best!

Quote of the Day:

Sir Peter Smithers – “I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself.”