Bouquet for Sunday at the End of May

Woodland pinkroot, aka Spigelia marilandica. This is its third year in the garden and by far the best. It's a native and seems perfectly suited to its location. Behind it are Japanese spurge. an effective ground cover, but I'd plant something else now; periwinkle (vinca minor, present when we moved here), and mountain mint.  

​The Mother of All Living Names Names
 
She first called them cleavers,
twayblade, bittersweet,
swamp saxifrage.

Here are horehound, she said,
goat’s rue, turtlehead,
wild columbine.

These are cheeses (she laughed),
milkwort, cracker-crumbs,
sweet pepperbush

and madder and loosestrife,
nits-and-lice, nettle,
pale touch-me-not:

each name a poem or pun,
henbit, puncture weed,
and prickly pear.

Each name she said—hatpins,
skullcap, rattlebox,
Eve’s necklace-pod--

feels on the tongue so right--
eyebright and fire pink,
wild bleeding heart--

that, sprout to seed, we love
this ruined garden,
our only home. 

Blanket flower, a new, native addition to the garden. 

The aptly named balloon flower, not a native. The spot it's in is too shady, and the summer temperatures are too hot, but it manages to bloom every year. 

A native, nonflowering, nonsessile perennial. His notice sudden was. 

A swamp milkweed. Its second year in the garden.

A new addition, the spiderwort (Tradescantia) has begun blooming. Wort is from Old English wyrt root, herb. 

Posted 30 May 2026, revised 1 June 2026. Post comments here or send them to [email protected]