I had one of those "duh" moments this morning. I was cleaning up the spring bed under the apple tree, clipping old leaves from hellebores and freshening the leaf mulch so the primroses will look nice when they bloom. I love my 'spring bed' with its hellebores, primula, anemone and vetchlings, but I always regret that they bloom amid the detritus of winter's worst. I was determined to enjoy them against a field of freshly turned out mulch made by running the decomposing leaves through a chipper shredder. I stuck my finger in my mouth to get rid of a piece of leaf and the most God-awful bitterness spread across my tongue. What the.....? I looked at my fingers and saw some sticky white stuff...hellebore sap. I don't know why I never put it together before, but it struck me then. All of those fat, juicy little buds and new leaves thrusting up never get eaten by rabbits. Of course! Alkaloids.  I'd never heard of anyone being poisoned in their own garden, but I began to worry about just how toxic this sap may be. I told my husband to watch me for convulsions, tongue swelling and eye rolling so he could get me to the hospital. He allowed as to how that had never prompted a trip to the ER before and went back to work. So did I, and we both lived. —Deb Terrill

Photo: Ron Capek