Happy Easter 2023 with this floriferous forced Primula elatior (oxlip / hagenøkleblom) in the kitchen window. Unlike England where oxlip is a rare native plant, it was introduced to Norway in the 1800s from further south in Norway and has commonly escaped from gardens naturalising mainly in my area and further north, right to the very north of Norway. This is the first of the three Primulas to flower here, followed by Primula vulgaris (primrose / kusymre) and finally Primula veris (hagenøkleblom).
All 3 species which also commonly hybridise where they grow together, as in my garden, are considered to be edible. I mostly use them in mixed salads, the flowers decorating early spring salads. This is what Cornucopia II says about their edibility:
Another one flowering currently in the window are the forced dandelions which we’ve been eating for since January most days:
Hybrids can also occur in gardens. I’ve several strains in my garden from seed, including “Sunset Shades” and “Red Strain”. I also grow the earlier flowering subspecies macrocalyx with overlarge sepals.
I use small amounts of leaves and flowers to decorate spring salads and other dishes…an undispensable shade loving and hardy edimental!
Primula veris “Sunset Shades”
Wild and forms of Primula veris, probably including hybrids
Wild and forms of Primula veris, probably including hybrids
I took the ferry across from Vancouver Island to the city of Vancouver. I’ve already posted a lot of pictures of the birds of fabulous Stanley Park, a green lung right in the centre of the city (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=10476). Here’s a few pictures of emerging edimentals I spotted in the park during my visit on 4th April 2017.
Stanley Park
Gunnera chilensis
Cowslip (Caltha palustris) is an important edible of native americans, but needs careful preparation to detoxify and remove the bitterness, the flower buds have also been used to make capers
Ostrich fern ready to eat, planted in an ornamental bed
Ostrich fern
Hosta shoots
Hosta shoots
Hosta shoots
Magnnolia buds and flowers are used in the Far East
Typha spp. (cattails), the supermarket of the swamps, with a backdrop of central Vancouver
Tonight’s dinner was a Hablitzia-Ramsons-Nettle quiche with oregano, poppy and celery seeds on top with cowslip-violet-Allium zebdanense-Arctic bramble flowers….wholegrain barley-oat-rye pastry…. not at all bad :) Anyone else have this tonight? …no, I didn’t think so somehow ;)
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
…no, I didn’t think so somehow ;)