Monthly Archives: July 2018

water plants

Brown Cress is Back

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BROWN CRESS IS BACK!
I received a tip via permies.com that hybrid brown watercress is again available in Europe!
In my book I wrote (in the piece about watercress):
“There aren’t many cultivars and the most common variety is ‘Dark Green American’. In the past, a naturally occurring hybrid between the two closely related species Nasturtium officinale and N. microphyllum (One-rowed watercress), known as brown cress (as it inherited the brownish winter leaves of N. microphyllum), was cultivated. However, this sterile clone had to be vegetatively propagated and the build-up of viruses led to its demise…….It would be nice if the old hybrid brown cress had been available to the home gardener, but I’ve never seen it offered.”
You can order it from:
https://www.kraeuter-und-duftpflanzen.de/Nach-Verwendung/Essbare-Pflanzen/Salatkraeuter/Braune-Brunnenkresse-Pflanz
Please let us know how you get on!
Onions

The perennial bed onions

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A little video showing various Alliums about to burst into flower on a bed I’ve always called the Perennial Bed as it was the first bed devoted to perennials. It’s in the shade most of the day.
0-11 secs: Various forms of Allium cernuum (Chicago onion, nodding onion / prærieløk) and broad-leaved Allium wallichii (Sherpa onion)
11-20: Allium cernuum, Hemerocallis (daylily/daglilje) and Clinopodium vulgare (wild basil)
31: Norrland Onion / Norrlandsløk
(all of the onions above are in my book)
38: Allium cyathophorum v. farreri (Farrer’s onion)
Fjord views, Sun

Bi-coloured fjord

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The fjord was looking greeny blue all day in the sun, perhaps coloured by an algal bloom, then the wind picked up and a front moved across the fjord with cloud giving this amazing view of a two coloured fjord…closest to us in shade! The temperature plummeted from around 23C to 13C in short time.

Bulbs, Edible flowers, Edimentals

Edimentalilies

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I’ve been enjoying my edimental lilies this week and eating the flowers, both as salad and in last night’s tempura!

More about edible lily bulbs in the following entries on my web site:
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=8614
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2614
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2207

Food

Emmer multispecies tempura

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Tonight’s dinner was the first tempura of the year, made with Emmer wheat….delicious!
With Mustard “Giant Red”, dandelion, Hosta flower shoots, assorted lily flowers, ground elder, Daubenton and Daubenton variegated perennial kale, Rosa spp., ragged jack kale, Crambe cordifolia flowers and buds, broad bean tops, Houttuynia cordata “Chameleon”, Calendula officinalis flower, Sonchus oleraceus, giant bellflower flower buds, Allium cernuum flower, Allium senescens flowers, Allium rubens flowers, Diplotaxis (perennial rocket), grape leaf, mustard broccolis, various lettuces, Hablitzia tops, Scorzonera flower stems and buds etc.