Woody Plants II: Ruta graveolens

I ordered this rue plant from Mountain Valley Growers last October.  It didn't do much all winter long, but really took off this summer.   I replanted it to get it away from the sprawling wormwood plant, and it has adapted nicely.  I decided to feature it right now, because it's currently blooming, with its strange looking yellowish green flowers.

Rue has been used for centuries as a medicinal herb and flavoring for food. In his final book, If I Were to Make a Garden, Ernest H. Wilson lists R. graveolens as a common plant of early eighteenth century gardens.   And in Richard II, the gardener says to the Queen:

Poor Queen, so that thy state might be no worse
I would my skill were subject to thy curse.
Here did she fall a tear.  Here in this place
I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb-of-grace.
Rue even for ruth here shortly shall be seen
In the remembrance of a weeping queen.