Poison on the Property

I've had a lot of interesting plants pop up in my yards over the years. I relish in the anticipation of the different 'weeds' that I might discover each Spring as I let patches grow wild. This Spring brought a wild and beautiful plant that was so deadly, I could not keep it.

Poison Hemlock

I learned that it is the poison that killed Socrates.

Since kids and poisonous plants don't make a great match, I took it out. But not before spending weeks watching it grow. Though I suppose I could see how someone who didn't know Queen Anne's Lace could mistake the two, there was no way I could have been fooled into thinking Poison Hemlock was Queen Anne's Lace. There were so many distinct differences. The purple spots and streaks on the stem, the clusters of flowers, the missing purple center in the flower and the leaf pattern were all very different. Even the rate of it's growth seemed different. Faster. And no actual Queen Anne's Lace were in bloom yet that I saw either. 

A few days before we hosted a big party where there would be kids, it began to bloom. Had it been a few feet further from the walking path, I would have left it. But it was hanging over the deck, too close to where little fingers would touch it. On the day of the party, I got confirmation of it's identification, put on long sleeves and gloves then cut it down piece by piece and sealed it in a garbage bag to be taken away in the garbage truck. 

It was a really cool plant. Maybe one day we'll meet again.