The reflecting pool is a couple of hundred feet from the house, so some of the plant had better be striking if we're even to notice them so far off in the distance.
White Bulrush is at the top of the list, with thin, relentlessly-vertical (and hollow and very liable to snap if they are touched) reeds four or even five feet tall. Already topping at two feet by early May, the plant is eager to show its stuff.
The contrast of the ultimately flat and smooth surface—the water—with the uncompromising skyward thrust of scores of white stems could hardly be stronger, more stimulating. The effect is almost electric, an upward lightening strike.
What could be better? If I'm lucky, this year I'll be able to establish a couple of colonies of the biggest-leaved plant that's at all hardy: Western skunk cabbage.
Banana-like leaves to three feet long. (Thank you Pacific Bulb Society for the picture.) What a juxtaposition with the bullrush!