{"id":8515,"date":"2016-11-15T12:57:57","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T11:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=8515"},"modified":"2016-11-15T15:30:10","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T14:30:10","slug":"sonchus-custard-in-greens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=8515","title":{"rendered":"Sonchus “Custard in Greens”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those that follow this blog will know that I consider common sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus<\/em>) to be a super weed in the sense of its importance as a food and (protective) medicine plant for Homo sapiens.<\/em> Inspired by the Maori tradition of “cultivating” … or tolerating this weed on their vegetable plots due to its market value…. I actually introduced this plant to my own garden and it is probably now my most used vegetable from July to September! \u00a0I wrote 10 pages about it in my book Around the World in 80 plants ;)<\/p>\n

There is, however, an ornamental sow thistle called “Custard-in-Greens” (or as the RHS spell it: “Custard ‘n’ green”). I traded seed of this with an ornamental gardener in Holland in 2003, but despite my best efforts to encourage it, its offspring were mostly not variegated. One single plant appeared in 2009, but it didn’t go to seed and I haven’t seen this form since…. I can’t find a source of seed either, so maybe it’s lost :( \u00a0 \u00a0(Admittedly, it’s not the most ornamental plant out there, but I love the unusual, so please let me know if you know of a source!)<\/p>\n