On 2nd April 2018, Matthias Brück who had invited me to Switzerland to take part in the Perennials for Resilience seminar in Stans asked me along on a trip through the Alps to the Piedmont area of NW Italy! This is the first of three blog posts about this trip to an area that I think one day Matthias and his good lady Katharina will have a big impact in this area! This is also written as a thank you to Centro d’Ompio’s founder Pius Leutenegger who invited us to stay at the centre, wined, cheesed and dined us and took us on a wonderful tour of gardens and nature in the Lago d’Orta / Lago Maggiore area! I hope to come back one day and repay your kindness in helping developing the Centre’s gardens and maybe holding a course to start the process!
Phyteuma spicatum is the most popular bee plant in my garden at the moment and a great edimental….a very old root vegetable in Europe, mentioned already by Gerard’s Herball from 1597, but best known as a vegetable in France and Germany.
These pictures are from a bed in my garden where I originally planted Phyteuma nigrum (P. spicatum subsp. nigra) many years ago. It must have crossed with other plants elsewhere in my garden as there’s now a range of colours from white to almost black!
The name rapunsel is related to rapa (turnip) due to its use as a root vegetable!
Before my talk at St. Koloman on the edge of the Alps last week, I saw both P. spicatum and P. orbiculare growing nearby in the wild for the first time! Therefore, I made a special slide for the occasion (see picture). The picture of the roots was from my garden! They were quite tasty!
This video was taken in June 2016 during the big diamond back moth invasion..
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
