In the very late autumn, when almost all colors are gone, when yellows and reds are dominated, and almost all perennials have finished blooming, these striking, spikey, tall blue flowers...
In the very late autumn, when almost all colors are gone, when yellows and reds are dominated, and almost all perennials have finished blooming, these striking, spikey, tall blue flowers appear. Each individual flower looks like the helmet of a soldier, or the hood of a monk. According to legend, it grows from the place where cerberus (a dog with three-heads, and a tail like a snake) spit when he was brought from hades, angry and blinded by sunlight. I painted soldiers launching their arrowheads tipped with monkshood as poison–from atop their blue rocket, which is another name for the plant–used by hunters for centuries across many cultures.