April Showers Brought May Flowers

I've got lots of new plants in the yard this year.  Here's my verbena.  According to folk legend, it was used to stop the bleeding from Jesus' wounds when he was taken down from the cross.  It seems too lovely for such a sad use.

Whenever I see the name Gerbera daisy, I think of Gerber's Baby Food.  This is unfortunate, for this delightful plant ought not to generate such a mundane image.

The botanical name for the pincushion flower is scabiosa, which sounds like a disease.  We'll stick with pincushion.

Spirea is properly spelled spiraea.  It rhymes with Crimea, Korea, and Medea (according to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary).  It has medicinal properties similar to aspirin, though an overdose could be fatal.

This Virginia Spiderwort looks like a wreath.  Native Americans used the plant to treat a host of maladies including insect bites, kidney trouble, stomach aches, cancer, and "female ailments and rupture."  I imagine our forebears produced these medicines more safely, simply, and cheaply than the pharmaceuticals that are foisted on us today.

Bacopa is supposed to improve your memory.  Dr. Oz recommends taking 150 mg per day, but Dr. Weil recommends crossword puzzles, reading, and other more rigorously-studied supplements.  If I could, I'd like to know what the Native Americans recommend; they seem more knowledgeable.