Tag Archives: Oxlip

Happy Easter with a floriferous oxlip

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:

First 2023 Edimental Flowers

Despite the fact that the soil is frozen solid apart from the top couple of cms, I was surprised to discover the year’s first flowers in the garden: 
1. I received this as Primula veris subsp. macrocalyx but is always a couple of months earlier than Primula veris, so I wonder if it’s a hybrid?

2. Primula elatior (oxlip / hagenøkleblom) – this could also be a hybrid

The year’s first extreme salad

Half an hour “foraging” in the garden and half an hour in the kitchen and I can present the year’s first multi-species salad….54 different plants! Notable additions were dark-leaved sea kale (strandkål) and Hydrophyllum virginianum (at the bottom), moss-leaved dandelion and Hablitzia tamnoides (centre). Edible flowers included two begonias and Oxalis triangularis (grown inside) and the first oxlips and hybrids (hagenøkleblom)



Two month early spring foragables at 63.5N

It was one of the mildest December / January periods here since records began in the 1800s, no snow at sea level and no snow forecast, 3-4 cm of froszen soil at the surface and that’s it. Temperatures are currently like early April and early April foragables are now available!

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Dandelion crowns (løvetann)

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Lesser celandine (vårkål – the Norwegian name means spring greens!), edible until flowers appear

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Lesser celandine (vårkål – the Norwegian name means spring greens!), edible until flowers appear

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Hedge mustard (løkurt / Alliaria petiolata) with Oxalis acetosella (wood sorrel / gjøksyre)

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Primula veris (cowslip / hagenøkleblom)