Urtica gracilis (often classified as a subspecies of stinging nettle, Urtica dioica subsp. gracilis) is a widespread nettle species in North America including Canada and Alaska. It has many local names including slender nettle, California nettle and American nettle. This year, my tallest nettle is currently over 2.9m high!
It was (and is) an important plant of the first peoples throughout the continent from Vermont to Alaska,used as a vegetable, medicinally and, most importantly as a fibre plant, including fishing nets!. One native use I noted was “Rubbed on the bodies of sealers to keep them awake at night” :) (Moerman’s Native American Ethnobotany has a long list of uses)
My slender nettle has almost no stinging hairs, and, in general, has much less than stinginess than the introduced Urtica dioica subsp. dioica (stinging nettle) and Laportea canadensis (Wood Nettle; see my book Around the World in 80 plants). It is unisexual ( I seem to have just one sex as it doesn’t produce seeds…)
Added 300917: The friend in Granville, Ohio who sent me the seed of this nettle writes: “I collected the Urtica gracilis along the back of my property, near an old railroad (now a bike trail). It’s a common plant in “waste places”. I’ve never seen the plants grow that large here. Could your additional sunlight be to blame?”
Sonchus kirkii is the original perennial sow thistle (puha) of the Maori which I’ve long wanted to try (see the account in my book Around the World in 80 plants of this species and annual super(healthy)weed Sonchus oleraceus which replaced it in Maori kitchens! Probably not hardy here, I overwintered it inside having finally layed my hand on some seed! Variously known as puha, shore puha or New Zealand sow thistle (syn. Sonchus asper var. littoralis), its habitat is described by the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network as http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=205: “Coastal. Usually on cliff faces in or around damp seepages where it often grows with the blue green alga Nostoc and fern Blechnum blechnoides. This species has a distinct preference for base rich rocks such as basalt, calcareous mudstones, siltstones, limestone or apatite-rich greywacke faces. On some offshore islands this species extends up into coastal scrub and herbfield. It occasionally grows on stabilised sand dunes. Indications are that this species once occupied a wider range of habitats but has retreated to those less suited to other faster growing introduced weeds.”
I will hopefully eat it for the first time next summer!
NZPCN states that “Easily distinguished from all the other naturalised Sonchus species by the very large, glaucous, non-spinose leaves” (this includes S.arvensis –perennial sow thistle and annuals S. asper and S. oleraceus)
Meanwhile, here are a few pictures:
Leaves of Sonchus arvensis on left and the large glaucous leaves of the original perennial Puha
Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of a memorable visit to the Århus CSA scheme and Tom Harald Eckell’s magical vegetables with Rita Amundsen, Margaret M. Meg Anderson and Veronica Samycia!
Never have I been so impressed by a field of vegetables (organic too), the astonishing diversity, many of which I’d never seen before…..and above all Tom Harald’s gentle modest manner in the midst of brilliance….my life changed that day…
We all sensed that we’d passed into a parallel universe for the duration of the visit and we all sensed simultaneously on the journey home our return! My life changed that day
Tom Harald Eckell and Veronica Samycia in front of the salad trailer
Sunflower sprouts
Rita Amundsen and Meg Anderson Hagen in front of the salad trailer
Veronica Samycia makes a B-line for favourite berry, one of the white Rowans
A large berried Cornus mas (Vårkornell)
Inspecting the Sea Buckthorn / Tindved (Hippophae) collection
Sea Buckthorn / Tindved (Hippophae)
Århus Andelsgård
Squash and pickling cucumbers
Tom Harald Eckell and (WOW WOW WOW) a long row of welsh onions!/pipeløk. Fantastic! My mind is truly blown by what this man does!
Welsh onions!/pipeløk (Allium fistulosum); you might have noticed I’m religious about onions and this row was simply onionasmic…
Margaret M. Meg Anderson spots the only cabbage white caterpillars of the day!. I suspect that Tom Harald had put them there himself!
Radish for pods
Radishes grown for the pods. We agreed that this was an underestimated food. The pods produce considerably more than the “radishes”
A Pak Choy
Amazing diversity of colours and leaf forms of the asiatic vegetables, growing perfectly here! Stunning!
More asiatic leaf vegetables
Flowering Pak Choy
More asiatics
…and even more
Grown for the succulent flowering stems
Veronica Samycia shows off the diversity of carrots including Dragon (‘s tooth) from Seeds of Change
Saltagurk
Rita Amundsen and Tom Harald in front of the Broad Beans!
Parsnip
Nero di Toscana kale
Giant cabbages
Kales and Broccolis (Grønnkål og brokolli)
A very interesting kale from either Baker Creek (Frank Morton) or Seeds of Change (Frank Navazio) – open pollinated, there was quite a large diversity
Rita Amundsen: What a waste – they don’t use the tops, the best bit!
Leek “Belgian Breeders Mix” from Frank Morton. He mentioned Lieven David
Leek “Belgian Breeders Mix” from Frank Morton. He mentioned Lieven David
At this point I passed out (besvimt) at the sight of this row of flowering Allium tuberosum (Kinagressløk). WOW WOW WOW again. An asiatic form of Allium fistulosum in front
Asiatisk pipeløk/Asiatic Allium fistulosum
Margaret M. Meg Anderson , Veronica Samycia, Tom Harald Eckell and Rita Amundsen
Just feel the weight of these
Tomato peppers
Watermelon
Carp pond overgrown with a Petasites spp
Hosta!
Flettverkshuset / Trellis Work House
Veronica Samycia levitating
Veronica Samycia levitating
The lunch spread
Allium tea…
Earth Oven /Jordovn
Margaret M. Meg Anderson elsker kål / starting a new trend of veggie hugging…
I visited Bo “Bosse” Blomquist last year outside of Gothenburg and despite it being a bit late in the day and almost dark at the end, I was really impressed by his collection of edible trees, shrubs and bushes! He works in Gothenburg and is a regular visitor to the gardens! We agreed to meet before my talk and a group of friends also joined us!! It was great to walk in the garden with Bosse as he knew all the interesting edible woody plants! Thanks!! Here are a selection of pictures!
A walnut I’ve never seen before, Juglans microcarpa (Little walnut/Texas walnut)…this tree was surpisingly old, almost 90 if I remember right!
Juglans microcarpa (Little walnut/Texas walnut
Another surprise, Sorbus devonensis, which I first saw in Martin Crawford’s forest garden about 11 years ago :)
Another surprise, Dystaenia takesimana, a plant in the carrot family that I haven’t succeeded with…sometimes called Korean celery due to the taste of the leaves
…and then Aralia cordata var. sachalinensis, Sakhalin-udo!!
Aralia cordata var. sachalinensis, Sakhalin-udo!
Rubus peltatus from Japan (is in my Japanese foraging book)
Another thing I’d missed earlier in the day (looking down too much) was the hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta I think) which has climbed right to the top of this conifer…
Bosse pointed out this bamboo with relatively thick shoots: Phyllostachys atrovaginata…
Large clump of Hosta (Sum and substance?)
Another patch of yellow flowered Allium hookeri var muliense; Yellow Hooker’s Onion
I hadn’t noticed this large Toona sinensis either….extensively cultivated in China for the young shoots, often served as a onion-like flavouring with omelettes!
Bosse shows us Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Northern China Pepper), one of several species for which the spicy seeds and leaves are used
Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Northern China Pepper)
Matteuccia orientalis is as far as I know not used like Ostrich Fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris
Sinofranchetia chinensis, an unusual fruit from China
Giant lily, Cardiocrinum…the bulbs have been foraged in Japan!
Japanese ginger, Zingiber mioga
Cephalotaxus harringtonia, yew plum
Hardy kiwi..
Torreya nucifera from Japan is a popular edible seed!
Yesterday, I gave my first talk about my (second) love of onions (alternative title All you wanted to know about Alliums but were afraid to ask!)….fittingly in the nursery with I believe the best selection of Alliums being sold as foodplants in Europe if not the world , my friend Aiah Noack’s Naturplanteskolen just outside of Copenhagen. Aiah is the author of an excellent book Fantasilater (fantasy salads), only in Danish so far which also includes several Alliums. My book Around the World in 80 plants mentions some 45 Allium species!
In a little over 2 hours I covered about 66 of the world’s cold hardy onions and over 80 if we include cultivars and subspecies…
Other onion related topics were also covered, such as “grow your own fireworks and Xmas decorations”, “Allium as a dancing partner”, the Allium microphone (Alliomike) and the garlic scape armband to keep “wild” animals, trolls and mosquitos away (Transylvanian Garlic keeps vampires away too)… It was a fun afternoon with yet another great group of edimentals fans! ;)
The video is of one of my pictures about drying Persian Shallots with a shot of my drying racks over my wood burning stove. Someone noticed that you could actually see heat rising through the racks!!!! (a wood burning stove was on behind the projector) ;)
Aiah with a collection of late flowering Alliums from the nursery on display for the participants…
The day started with a tour of the (smelly) part of the nursery ;)
A large selection of Alliums for sale…
Aiah has constructed an Allium display garden with some 60 species :)
Allium nursery
Alliza for the food break (Allium pizza!)
Somebody pointed out there was an onion inflorescence hanging from the roof, so I stopped to take this shot :)
Not onion related but there were also delicious rolls decorated with seed of this plant, Plantago major “Atropurpurea”!
Tomorrow evening, I’ll be giving two talks in the botanical garden in Gøteborg (Gothenburg) in Sweden, the first at 1700 is sold out, but there are I think still tickets for the second at 1900!
I’ll be selling signed copies of my book Around the World in 80 plants at SEK 250 (remember cash/paypal also accepted)!
The talk will be a little different this time as I will be showing many pictures of edimentals (edible ornamentals) taken in the botanical gardens, but keeping to my Around the World in 80 plants / perennial and forest gardening vegetable theme :) Welcome!
Allium wallichii (Sherpa onion, Nepal onion), my oldest variety from an unknown source and clearly different from all my others
Norrlands Onion was discovered in gardens in Northern Sweden (see my book Around the World in 80 plants).Thanks to DNA sequencing by Erik de Vahl in Sweden with help from Nikolai Friesen, this is now believed to be a hybrid between Allium angulosum (mother) and Allium nutans (father).
Allium “Miami”
Allium “Miami”
Allium caesium
Allium macranthum
Allium macranthum
Allium scorodoprasum
Allium cernuum “Wall of Pink”
Allium jajlae
Allium tuncelianum
Allium nutans or hybrid from Kazakhstan
Allium nutans “Seedlings” from Wietse Mellema
My oldest Allium wallichii (unknown source) now emerging
My oldest Allium wallichii (unknown source) now emerging
My oldest Allium wallichii (unknown source) now emerging
My oldest Allium wallichii (unknown source) now emerging
My oldest Allium wallichii (unknown source) with Allium “Hair” – can’t work out what species this is as it has some characters of scorodoprasum and some of vineale…
Allium wallichii flower stalk with Allium victorialis from the Haut-Chitelet alpine garden in the Alps
Allium “Hair” – can’t work out what species this is as it has some characters of scorodoprasum and some of vineale…
Allium ovalifolium
Allium stenodon
Received as Allium schoenoprasum ssp sibiricum from Hokkaido but flowers much later than other chives…
On 19th May 2017, filmakers Ane Mari Aakernes and Berit Børte of Grow UP City filmed me in the garden collecting ingredients for an extreme salad, made with 211 different plants, almost all of them perennials. I’m told that almost all the ingredients are shown in this 6 part film, so settle down and join me in foraging my maximum diversity edible garden where the focus is on sustainable, nature and climate friendly, perennial vegetables ….. :)
Eirik Lillebøe Wiken and Hege Iren Aasdal Wiken‘s Udo (Aralia cordata) has grown a lot since last year and has one of the best views over Fyksefjorden in the Forest Garden! :)
1. Eirik and his Udo now towers over his head..
2. Decaisnea (Dead man’s finger / likfinger) on the left produces fruit with Udo (Aralia cordata)
3. View down over Eirik and Hege’s house close to the Fyksefjord
