Ornamental Spurge / Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion Spurge)

On 27 April 2016, I had a volunteer shift and afterwards, as the sun was peeping through the clouds, I decided to call in at the Reader Rock Garden. There was a reasonable number of plants in bloom. I wasn't sure if I was going to be too early or too late for Tulips, especially as this year has so far been most unusual, weatherwise. There was also a bush of gorgeous pink Hellebore flowers, hanging their heads as they tend to do. The Ornamental Spurge was in bloom, attractive as always. So different rfrom the Leafy Spurge that has taken over so many of our natural areas. There was enough colour and variety of plants to make this visit worthwhile.

"Spurges belong to the quite large Euphorbia genus of plants that contains 2,000 different species, some of which are highly ornamental, and some of which are weeds with little cultivated value. They all, however, are characterized by a lack of true flower petals or sepals, but have instead brightly colored modified leaves known as bracts, which look just like flowers. The most well-known member of this group is the poinsettia, whose red "flowers" are in fact the showy bracts of an ornamental spurge."

www.chicagobotanic.org/plantinfo/spurge