The Monk’s Hood

My mother has a spectacular garden at her cottage and for years the centerpiece was the delphinium with their beautiful and stately spires of blue and white flowers. She was so successful at growing them that they were at least 7 feet tall. They were such a hit that the neighbors would invite their guests over for a tour of the garden. Too bad Mum didn’t think to charge admission!

One year the delphinium would not grow properly. She suspected that the soil composition had somehow changed and the delphinium, being somewhat delicate flowers, stopped thriving. Her bedraggled garden no longer inspired the same awestruck admiration as when the delphinium were in full regalia.

So Mum decided to try growing Monkshood in their place which look rather like delphinium and she had spectacular success with them as well. They are very hardy plants and grow under a variety of conditions, even inhospitable ones. The trouble with Monkshood is that they are terribly poisonous plants, known to have killed horses that decided to eat them as a snack. Even more troubling, it was used in ancient times to poison water in warfare and arrowheads for hunting as well as being the attributable cause of the demise of Claudius I,emperor of Rome!

Monkshood is also toxic to the touch which I found out one day when helping Mum in the garden. I happened to take off my gardening gloves while working around the Monkshood, then inadvertently rubbed my eye. Sure enough, a short while later, my eye started to burn. The lower eye lid swelled up turning bright red and the eye itself was bloodshot and did it ever sting. I was not happy in the least especially since I could not wear my contacts for a few days until the irritation cleared up. Wearing glasses did not suit my vanity at all.

So, I learned a huge lesson and from then on I took extreme care not to touch the Monkshood when helping out in the garden. My ever accommodating father would come to the rescue if any weeds needed pulling near those poisonous plants. I also made sure that visiting children stayed clear.

On one particularly hot, sunny day, my cousin’s daughter who was five at the time, bounced into our cottage asking Mum if she could go out to see the garden. I solemnly warned her not to touch the tall blue flowers since they were very poisonous. She agreed and happily bounced back outside while the rest of us stayed in the cool, breezy cottage enjoying some afternoon tea.

A little while later, the little girl arrived back in the cottage with her prized discovery. She was holding a spire of WHITE Monkshood flowers! I screeched, yelling at her to drop the flowers immediately at which point she burst into tears being so frightened by my outburst.

I felt so bad that I wished I WAS a Monk with a hood to hide in!