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Kathy’s Garden Writing |
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SOLOMON’S SEAL Spring awakens gently in rural Pennsylvania, like a musical adagio. First a quiet trickle as ice thaws, then swelling buds, a venturesome robin, and a patch of Solomon’s Seal unfurling in the hedgerow. The genus polygonatum, or Solomon’s Seal, is a common and unpretentious plant, found throughout most of North America, Europe, and even Siberia – growing in moist loamy shade. A member of the lily family and a close relative of Lily-of-the-Valley, its foliage appears in early spring, followed by pendent umbels of tiny whitish-green bell-shaped flowers, and then dark purple berries in late summer. Solomon’s Seal has been heralded since the Middle Ages, whence it derived its unusual name. The ancients believed that King Solomon himself marked this humble plant with a six-point Star of David they saw embossed on some of its rhizomes. And indeed this widespread perennial does embody the wisdom of the plant world. It is used in herbal tinctures and salves. It provides nectar for bees and hummingbirds and butterflies, and berries for birds. In desperate seasons, deer browse its leaves and humans forage on its stems and roots. Solomon’s Seal is also popular in shade gardens for dramatic accent, with colonies of arching foliage spread by underground rhizomes – a supporting companion to bleeding heart and other more showy spring bloomers. And the flowers are a hidden treasure, for those willing to peek beneath the shielding leaves at the secret world of the elfin bells. Aaron Copeland’s haunting musical composition, “Appalachian Spring,” captures the tempo of spring’s unfolding throughout Pennsylvania’s woodlands and field verges, with plants like Solomon’s Seal heralding a verdant renewal. Kathleen Arcuri Published in Inside Pennsylvania, Spring 2009 |