As we approach midsummer many of my perennial vegetables are beginning to flower and from spring leaves and shoots we are now in the flower bud, scape (flower stem) and broccoli stage. Many stronger tasting plants have much milder upperparts than the earlier growth. This is presumably because the plants transfer their energy from insect defence to seed production.
From left to right: Turkish rocket / russekål (Bunias orientalis); Allium x proliferum (topset onions / luftløk); heartleaf crambe / buskstrandkål (Crambe cordifolia); sorrel / engsyre (Rumex acetosa) and sea kale / strandkål (Crambe maritima)
I inherited a garden full of columbines / akeleier (Aquilegia vulgaris) and there’s a range of different forms. I took the pictures below yesterday. I tried sucking a couple of flowers for nectar but I guess the bees got there first. I had found a paper documenting that children sucked / ate the flowers for the nectar: “People considered it more a children amusement than a feeding behaviour.” They are not so poisonous that it’s necessary to remove the flowers if children are around which is a custom here in Norway. Ref. Wild edible plants traditionally gathered in Gorbeialdea (Biscay, Basque Country). Otherwise this is a plant that has escaped from gardens throughout the country! I’ll leave them to the bees!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
