March Flora Watch

From [madisonsflowers.com]:

I took a walk this past Saturday around N.C. State's campus, J.C. Raulston Arboretum, and my own Gorman Street to see what's what right now in the landscape. I'm not sure if we're safely out of danger from frost yet between the alternating snow and eighty-degree weather, but it's definitely spring. I saw lots of yellow and white blossoms plus the beginnings of new leaves of a lot of the shrubs and some of the trees. By the way, the stinky-but-pretty (and overplanted, frankly) bradford pears ([Prunus calleryana 'Bradford']) are also in bloom so that's probably the source of any random smells of decay.

Highlights are up at [madisonsflowers.com] but here's a preview:

Flora Watch

From [Madison's Flowers]:

This is an aside, but I noticed a few of my favorite early spring bloomers are coming into flower over the last couple days.

This is a yellow crocus blooming in front of my boyfriend's house. I planted a set of these in fall 2007 and adore them. Even when the brief flowers wither, the slender leaves persist like a delicate grass. Crocus species are in the iris family are not true bulbs--they overwinter as a specialized stem called a [corm]. The stigma (female reproductive structure) of Crocus sativus is dried to become the coveted spice saffron.


Carolina yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is a climbing vine that is also the state flower of South Carolina. Its yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers are fragrant and abundant, contrasting with the slightly glossy, dark green leaves. Once you know what it is, you'll see it everywhere (and I hope you will). This clump was planted near the corner of North and Glenwood Streets in downtown Raleigh. There's also a really stunning planting of jessamine on the arbor in front of Withers Hall on the N.C. State campus.

The flowering cherries/almonds/apricots (Prunus species) are coming out! The flowering apricots (Prunus mume) just finished their flowering cycle so I hope to have some pictures of their fruit set later in the season. Either way, I saw some beautiful okame cherry trees (Prunus campanulata 'Okame') when I was in Cameron Village Tuesday. The pears, peaches, and crabapples should start showing signs of flower soon as well. I can't wait for the kwanzan cherry (Prunus serrulata) my boyfriend and I planted together to come into its own in a few months.

Cookies for Preventing Sadness

Cookies for Preventing Sadness

22 g ground nutmeg
22 g groun cinnamon
5 g cloves
500 g spelt flower
150 g cane sugar
250 g butter
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
100 g almond pieces

Bake cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for five to ten minutes. Beware! They have a strong effect.

Based on a recipe by [Hildegard von Bigen] as seen in the book [Pagan Christmas].

Flora watch

Be on the lookout for winter-blooming hellebore species. This typically low-growing, herbaceous perrenial sports showy, petal-like bracts that can persist well into the spring--much longer than its small flowers. Their color spectrum includes greens, creams, and even flushes of red and purple.  The foliage is extremely frost-hardy and variable in its generally slender shape and verdance. 

Hellebore (Helleborus spp.) also has a lengthy history in folklore. Known alternately as "witch weed" and "Christ rose",  toxic hellebore (active alkaloid: helleborin) has been used in folk healing as well as poison-making. Its frost-resistance and winter blooms were thought to be evidence of magical constitution. Hellebore tinctures were also used as a treatment for "winter melancholy" for this very reason--an original treatment for what we've developed as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Ingesting helleborin causes diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea--it was never used as a purgurative for the weak, even in antiquity.