The creeks have been completely ice free for a few weeks now. The water is running cold and clear and the moss is greening.
Bloodroot [Sanguinaria canadensis] is coming up in the woods. First the flowers, then the leaves. Since our weather got hot fast, the leaves on these came out before the flowers had fully opened or faded.
Bloodroot is one of those plants that the ancients believed was governed by the Doctrine of Signatures.
Here is what a modern herbal says about it. Mostly, you should remember that it is poisonous.
P.S. They say it's good for dyeing, but you'd have to gather a whole lot of it and since it uses the root, you'd be destroying the plant. I don't harvest it ever because the colonies are very small around here and I want it to spread.
