Mayapples ((Podophyllum peltatum) are not a fruit I would eat. And though I have never  heard of anyone else eating them you can eat the bland fruit, but not the seed. This year is so dry that the plants started shrivelling in early July.

Mayapples begin to grow early in the spring.. When the leaves are full, creating large umbrellas, you are not able to easily see what is going on below them. Surprisingly, there will be lovely flowers.

You get aa good sense of the size and shape of the Mayapple foliage, and the lovely blossoms that make you  kneel down (maybe lie down) to see the blossoms. They do not last very long.

In July you can see the Mayapple fruit. It is very small, and ordinarily you would still need to crawl under the foliage. Surprisingly, in this hot, dry  weather, the Mayapples are still working – making fruit for all to see.  Now the foliage gets drier by the day, and the fruit is shrivelling.

I love the Mayapples because they are so interesting at every step.  The foliage also covers a substantial section of our Hugel.  They are looking  sad now, but alas, this year all the flowers are suffering from the dry weather. Word has  just come out  that we cannot water our gardens, or wash our cars – but there is always next year.