I just learned about poison hemlock. I want to share things as I learn here, so others can learn too. Hemlock is one of the most poison plants, an extract from which Socrates died.
I think most folks know what Queen Anne's Lace is. I thought everything I have ever seen that looks like Queen Anne's Lace was in fact Queen Anne's lace. WRONG.
Be aware of hemlock. All plant parts are poisonous. I read a story about someone picking berries for jam, and her husband had seeds that had fallen into his bowl of berries. She asked to see where he'd been picking and it was hemlock seeds that had fallen into his bowl! This jam was destined to be sold to folks. They dumped the berries and went elsewhere to pick. She was very smart to check anyway and be aware.
Queen Anne's Lace. Nice smooth green stem, typical flowers. Non-poisonous. Used in ancient medicinal remedies: the seeds being used as a contraceptive; the young root being edible. Also referred to as wild carrot.
Here is poison hemlock:
Posion Hemlock
Originally uploaded by Dale Hameister
I just saw this post and wow what a picture! 
I loved these flowers. Madeline, the poster, said they were tassel flowers. So I decided to do a bit of checking. Right away I found this entry at a seed seller
❁ Tassel Flower is a tender annual that grows to two or three feet in height. Flame-colored, button-like flowers appear on slender stems in summer. Sow seed after last frost in spring in a well-drained, sunny site. Thin seedlings so they are six inches apart. Tassel Flower is native of the Far East and was introduced into England in 1799. The species works well as a quick and curiously attractive filler in the summer flower border. ❁
It's been raining nearly daily for two weeks now. Just a couple of days of nice weather then it started up again.
Vegetable Garden: Yesterday my husband weeded the vegetable garden, and I worked on the herbs and flowers. We're also learning little by little what seeds to put in the ground when. We are still pretty new at this and just expect everything to come up whenever we put it in the ground. Haha Newbie gardeners here, yep. So we'll be planting our brussels sprouts, spinach, more carrots, leeks, cauliflower and some other late fall/wintery harvest veggies later in the season. We're learning!
Herb Garden: My german chamomile did not come up. :( So I have more seeds ready to plant. If they don't come up this time around I won't try again until next year. Yesterday my husband harvested some cilantro to put in the shrimp fried rice I made. It's still not fully grown but the flavor was strong and good.
Our herb garden - the bare spots are where the herbs I planted did not make it. Chamomile, sweet basil, oregano, italian parsley and lavender didn't make it. Bad seeds? Not sure. There's a bit of shade from the nearby tree in the afternoon - I wonder if that's problematic?
Flower Garden: Wildflowers and other mixes of seeds planted last month are coming up nicely, but slowly, since there's not been much sun. I have some seeds from Burpee that is a mailbox/lampost mix. I'm not sure if it's too late to put them in or not but I'm going to try. I put in thumbergia and morning glory and wow are they slow to grow. Also most peoples' clematis are growing strong and flowering now. The one I put in is still a little vine. I guess I'll have to wait and see what it does next year.
Today we replanted some seeds. Certain things didn't take well.
Here's the current layout, with explanation:
Row + Vegetable:
* = harvestable
Zucchini+Canteloupe a few days ago. Has been weeded and looks nice now!
1: Zucchini - nice and full
2: Canteloupe - not where I wanted to put this; husband popped it in there - full
3. Transplanted zucchini from row 1 - doing well
4. * Mesclun mix - is coming up nicely now and we've eaten twice from this
5. Summer squash - coming up
6. Pepper Mix - put these seeds in today
7. Tomato Plant + chili plant - purchased from Home Depot last week
8. Head lettuce - still little; not coming up well
9. Tomato - put in again today from seed; other seedlings were pulled out by Mr. Groundhog
10. Carrot - only one grew from our first planting; replanted this row today
11. -saving for later season-
12. Cukes - sprouting nicely
Side rows:
Sugar Pumpkins - yay coming up nicely
Watermelon - only got one plant
French canteloupe - coming up well
From small plantlings:
Our grape vine - dying
Blueberry bush - ugly and dying
We're really not sure how to get nice blueberry bushes planted; I'll look into this when I have time. The concord grape vine was just for fun. Darned animals keep tasting it.
This past weekend I visited Virginia. Went lots of places. Gardening-wise, I visited Meadlowlark Botanical Gardens with my friend. I bought my husband a winddeva from the gift shop - it's a basic red acrylic twirly. He's been such a good gardener!
Here are a few pictures of the garden:
Entering the garden from the gift shop
From the top of a hill that overlooked the pond area
Loved the huge pond dragonfly!
There were LOTS of turtles in the large pond, with huge catfish lurking underneath, their black shadows nearing the surface
Lots of lovely flowers and grasses
The friend who took us to Meadowlark also gave me some things from her garden. I got several pieces of her jade tree - I wish I would have taken a picture of it! It was gorgeous. I got some shade plants, some other flowering plant, and some herbs - lemon balm, and some lemon basil. i split with her the peppermint plant I just bought, and the lemon thyme.
From someone else I got lemongrass and some American mint. I had bought her some peppermint herb (she'd not been able to find it).
It's fun exchanging plants!
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