Esculent Inflorescence

Esculent (edible) Inflorescence (flowers) 

 There are many ways to enjoy a flower.

We can gaze at the bloom, taking in the color, contrast and shape of the petals as they create a lovely composition.  Holding one up to our noses for a quick sniff is a fabulous way to trigger the release of pleasurable endorphins in our brain.  Rubbing soft petals between our fingers or up against a cheek is sure to bring smiles and calming thoughts.

Probably the most intimate approach is to pop a flower directly into our mouth and savor the flavor of the bloom.

|Date=2006 |Author=Mag. Dr. Markus

As long as Barbara Bush has been serving broccoli, people have been eating flowers.   Hops have flavored beer and dandelions have been used to make wine for ages.  Unfortunately, people also have been poisoning themselves eating flowers as well!!  Before going out to collect flowers to add to your dinner salad or refreshing drink, read on for a few pointers about edible flowers.

When gathering edible flowers, beware of pesticides and poison flowers and plants.  If you are unsure if a flower has been sprayed: don't eat it!  If you are not 100% sure of the plant identification: don't eat it!  Failure to know what you are eating and if it has been sprayed can cause sickness and death.

Edible flowers behave like produce: there is a premium time to harvest for maximum flavor.  Taste a few blooms before harvesting to test for good taste.  By all means, if it doesn't take good, leave it for looking, smelling or touching instead of eating!!

 Here is a diagram of a flower with the various parts labeled.

 As a general rule, when you harvest flowers for eating, keep the flowers cool.  If the flower has a long stem, place the flower stem immediately in water after cutting.  This will help keep the bloom longer and the flower tastier.  Prior to eating, remove the pollen by removing the pistils and stamens of the flowers.  People are allergic to pollen so it makes sense to remove it from your prepared meal!  Remove the sepals of all flowers except Johnny Jump Ups and Pansies.  Only eat the petals of calendula, chrysanthemum, lavender and rose. 

I, Daniel J. Layton

  In our area, gardens frequently contain plants with edible flowers.  Here's a partial list of flowers (verses herbs and shrubs) that made me smile.  You see, I have many of these in my garden and now can look forward to adding another avenue of bloom enjoyment!!

Bachelor's Button (Centaurea cyanus)
Borage (Borago officinalis)
Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
Chives (Allium schoeonoprasum)
Dianthus (Dianthus spp. - sweet williams, pinks, carnations)

Density, 2004 Wikipedia

Hollyhock (Althea rosea)
Lavender (Lavendula spp.)
Marigold (Tagetes patula)
Mint (Mentha spp)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Pansy (Viola x wittrockiana)
Scented Geraniums (Pelargonium spp.)
Violet (Viola odorata)

Note this is a partial list: I can find these in my garden so I listed them.  :)  There are many more including herbs and some trees and shrubs!

 A comprehensive source for learning about edible flowers, complete with listings can be found at North Carolina State University's website. 

I encourage you to click on the North Carolina State link above and explore.  We have five senses  ~ why not use all of them in the garden!!!

The Passing of Fran Zigmont

Fran Zigmont, a longtime member of Auraca and contributor to our newsletter, the Auracan, passed away April 19, 2013.  Below is a copy of the obituary in the Binghamton Newspaper.

Zigmont, Frances D. 

Frances D. Zigmont of Binghamton, passed away with courage and with her children by her side on Friday, April 19, 2013 at Wilson Memorial Hospital. She was predeceased by her parents, and her husband of 50 years, Richard Zigmont; also a sister, Margaret Klodowski. She is survived by her devoted son, Joseph A. Zigmont and loving daughter-in-law, Ann Marie, Castle Creek, NY; a most beloved and caring daughter, Diane M. Zigmont, Binghamton; cherished grandchildren, Richard A. Zigmont, Binghamton and Nicole M. Zigmont, NYC. She is also survived by an uncle, Adam Kress and an aunt & uncle, Ann & John Hatala; nephew, Michael (Lisa) Klodowski; nieces, Janet (Don) Kubisa & Marlene (Christopher) Turock, VA; also many cousins including the Kress family and Connie Katunak; many devoted friends, especially Tozia Stacey. Frances was born of July 4, 1927. She was a faithful parishoner of the former St. Christopher's Catholic Church, now the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, since 1950. A native of Johnson City, who graduated the Class of 1945. She was employed 20 years by Fairplay Caramels, of JC, as an office manager. She established the Sunflower Gift Shoppe in 1973 and co-founded the Hill-n-Dale garden club of Chenango Bridge in 1958, and was an honorary charter member. In 2008 she was Honored with 50 years of service to the club. Also an honorary member Emeritus of the Binghamton Garden Club, a member of Auraca Herborists of Cornell Plantations, and a life member of 6th District of NYS Federated garden clubs. Frances was an accomplished gardener, writer, speaker, educator, decorator, and it was her life long passion. She was a former member of the Johnson City and Town of Chenango Senior Citizens and a member of the Widow and Widowers Club of the Southern Tier. Frances was very proud of her Polish heritage and is leaving a small and very much loved family. She was the greatest Mother in the world, and she was ours. The family would like to thank the loving & caring staff of St. Louise Manor and the compassionate staff of Wilson Hospital who took care of her in her last days. A special thanks to Dr. Jerome Mikloucich, Dr. Jonathan Kloss, and Dr. Hisham Kashou. In her memory, expressions of sympathy may be made to any of the following: Broome Oncology for the Angel Fund, St. Louise Manor, or Cornell Plantations.

Cleavers—Galium Aparine

by Lili MacCormick

When I was first clearing my property for a garden, my daughter was helping me pull up by the hand the most persistent weeds, namely garlic mustard and a nasty week that left her bare legs (for it was summer and she was wearing shorts) with hundreds of little scratches, as if from tiny razors. From my book of weeds I identified the offending plant as rough bedstraw.  While the garlic mustard has been long gone, the rough bedstraw has persisted. I learned to keep my legs covered, but while the cobwebby growth whicle lies like a lacy curtain over some of my shady ground cover is easy to pull up, it leaves my socks, gloves and sleeves covered with little spiny seeds that take some time to remove after the day’s work in the garden.

This annoying week goes by many names: Cleavers, catchweed-bedstraw, goose grass, scratchgrass, grip-grass, sticky Willie, rough bedstraw, and, in Latin: Glium aparine and Rubiaceae.

In recent month I have been listening to Books on Tape—the Brother Gadfael series, where the 12^th century monk Brother Gadfael, who is responsible for the monastery’s herb garde and the preparation of healing medicines is described as using Cleavers to prepare a healing potion for open wonds.

I couldn’t believe it! That sticky, scratchy weed for healing? So I looked it up.

Well, yes.

According to Anna Kruger in An Illustrated Guide to Herbs, their medicine and magic, “Cleavers has been used in herbal medicines for centuries, on account of the tonic, blood-purifying and diuretic properties of the fresh plant. In spring, after a starchy winter diet, the fresh green tops were made for a cleansing drink. An infusion of cleavers is traditional remedy for skin eruptions, while its diuretic properties are helpful for urinary problems. Modern herbalists value cleavers’ tonic effect on the lymphatic system. This encourages the elimination of toxins and explains the cleansing reputation of the herb.”

The seeds were “once dried and roasted as a coffee substitute and, according to Linneaus, Swedish farmers made the stems into a crude sieve for straining a milk?”

“Cosmetically, a cleavers’ rinse may help to clear up dandruff.” (pp.64-5)

According to Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, Cleavers “is under the dominion of the moon. The juice of the herb and the seed together taken in wine, helpeth those bitten with an adder, by preserving the heart form the venom. It is familiarly taken in broth to keep them lean and land that are apt to grow fat. The distilled water drunk twice a day helpeth the yellow jaundice; and the decoction of the herb, in experience, is found to do the same, and stayeth lexes and bloody fluxes. The juice of the leaves…bruised and applied to any bleeding wound, stayeth the bleeding. The juice also is very good to close up the lips of green wounds, and the powder of the dried herb…doth the same and likewise helpeth old ulcers. Being boiled in hog’s grease, it helpeth all sorts of hard swellings or kernels in the throat, being anointed therewith. The juice dropped into the ears taketh away the pain of them.”

In my book, Weeds of the Northeast (p. 302) it says that rough bedstraw is “found near woodlands and tickets and in shaded mulched beds. It thrives in moist areas, usually in the shade, and prefers nutrient riche, high organic soils.” So perhaps as a gardener who composts and mulches I should consider its abundance in my garden as a compliment!

Source of image Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_aparine

Zingiber officinale - Ginger to you and me!!

Ginger – Zingiber officinale

Ginger has been used by humans for around 5,000 years.  It is thought to have been cultivated originally in China with evidence of use by the ancient Romans and Greeks.  Currently, it is cultivated in Asia, East Africa and the Caribbean.  

Ginger is eaten as a candy, used as a spice and administered medicinally.   We are most familiar with ginger in teas, ginger ale, gingerbread, gingered candy, in curries, in stir fries, and as gingersnap cookies.    There are six forms of ginger:

• ·     Fresh: generally used in cooking and teas;
• ·     Dried ginger: the root is dried whole or in slices and re-hydrated when used; 
•        Pickled: think sushi where thin, colored slices of ginger are used as a condiment;
• ·    Preserved: chunks are preserved in a sugar-salt mixture;
• ·    Crystallized: cooked in sugar syrup until tender and rolled in sugar, eaten as a candy;
• ·    Ground ginger: ginger root dries and powdered.  Used primarily in cooking and is very different from fresh ginger in flavor.

According to research preformed at the University of Michigan, the essential oil gingerol, which gives ginger its characteristic smell, is strong antioxidant which calms the digestive tract.  When ginger is eaten, gingerol blocks serotonin receptors in your tummy which cause nausea.  Additionally, over the past 25 years, ginger has been shown to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent. 

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (US Department of Health and Human Services) states ginger:

• ·         Safely relieves pregnancy related nausea and vomiting;
• ·         Has shown mixed results alleviating motion sickness and nausea related to chemotherapy or surgery;
• ·         Has shown unclear results treating rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, joint and muscle pain.

Side effects of use are minimal and include gas, bloating, heartburn and nausea.  Interestingly, these symptoms are attributed to powdered verses fresh ginger use. 

Wikipedia reports overdosing on ginger (3/8 cup for 100 pounds body weight) will result in “ginger Jitters”.  It seems you can over stimulate your system and become intoxicated on the spice!!

Ever since I was young, I thought drinking ginger ale would settle my stomach and knock back any feelings of nausea.  Turns out this is supported by scientific evidence!  However, there is a catch: the ginger ale you drink has to have been made with real ginger.  A quick googling of ginger ale and ingredients will tell you only the custom or boutique ginger ales are made with real ginger.  Schweppes, Canada Dry, Seagram’s – all the main brands are made from ginger flavoring, not the real thing.  So, if your child or grandchild has a rumbly tummy, grabbing ginger ale will probably make them happy: any bubbly, sugary drink will!! ~ but you have to get the real thing to actually settle their stomach.  

Locally, we have a native plant called “Wild Ginger”.  Asarum canadense is native to most of the eastern US, up into Canada and west to Texas and the Dakotas.  We know it as wild ginger, Canadian snake root or Canada wild ginger.  A low growing ground cover, wild ginger loves shade in slightly acidic, moist, rich woods, has no significant insect or deer problems, and makes a lovely addition to your woodland garden.  

Amos Oliver Doyle, CC-BY-SA-3.0

 The rhizomes smell like ginger when crushed and have been used by Native American and early colonists as a food flavoring and medicine.   Folk lore has wild ginger treating everything from soup to nuts and it is important to note modern testing has shown the root to contain aristolochic acid, a known carcinogen.  Eating quantities of the root is not advisable. 

The US Forest Service has a neat summary of fun facts regarding wild ginger which is quoted below:

“The color and the location of the flower have an unusual and interesting story. The flower evolved to attract small pollinating flies that emerge from the ground early in the spring looking for a thawing carcass of an animal that did not survive the winter. By lying next to the ground flower is readily found by the emerging flies. The color of the flower is similar to that of decomposing flesh. Whether these flies pollinate the flower or not is in some dispute. Never the less they do enter the flower to escape the cold winds of early spring and to feast upon the flowers pollen. Some of the pollen attaches to their bodies and is taken with them when they visit the next flower. 

Jason Hollinger, Wikipedia

When the seeds finally ripen, they have a little oily food gift attached to the seed; this appendage is called an “elaiosome.” The “elaiosomes” attract ants that carry the seeds off to their underground home where they consume the tasty food and leave the seed to germinate. The ecological advantage is that the seeds are not predated upon by seed-eating animals."

(US Forest Service  - http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/asarum_canadense.shtml)

Personally, I love this plant.  It is one of the first to flower in the spring and is fun to point out to friends and family when hiking in the woods.  There is a lovely patch of wild ginger in the Mundy Wildflower Garden behind the native lawn.  Check it out on your next walk through the gardens. 

Written and research by Jean Gerow 3/10/2013

What's GDD? IDK!!

I learned two things today.

First, I'll never be a textster and secondly, I learned "GDD" is shorthand for Growing Degree Days.

Being a woman of a certain age, not being a textster (my word for a person who texts) is no big deal.  Being a gardener, knowing what GDD is, is a pretty big deal.

Intuitively, we know what GDD are and have worked our gardens using them without even thinking about it.  When you start seeing buds on certain trees or birds arriving and bugs flying, you know it's time to plant certain veggies and flowers.  Researchers have tracked and studied Growing Degree Days (GDD) for years and documented which plants and insects start emerging, growing, blooming etc. at what degree day accumulation levels.  A farmer who wants to try a new variety of crop will look at the GDD to see approximately when to plant, how long to maturity in his neck of the woods and if there is typically enough time to reach maturity for that variety in his region.  Likewise if you are looking to spray for the emergence of apple maggot or horned something creeping-crawly, you can look up how many GDD until they start hatching.  This is how many people use GDD in their IPM programs to help minimize pesticide and herbicide use.  

Cornell has a nice write up about this topic and links here.   You can read about how its calculated and the variables involved.

Plants and insects follow nature, not the calendar.  So should we - with a little help from our scientists.  OMG! WAC!! NTC.   (Oh My Goodness! What A Concept!! Now That's Cool. )

Non-Textstering Jean, signing out!

Our Yarb Woman on a Cold January Day

The Herb Garden Yarb Woman, January 18, 2013.  
Here she is, watching over the herb garden on this sunny January day!  Do you ever wonder what she is looking at?  What do you think is in her pockets?  Is that her favorite tool?
We may have to investigate this!!!

Gardening Restraining Orders and Herb Spirals

A bit of background first.

On our 20 acres, there is only one flat area which is clear of trees.  It happens to be our side yard, the only area we can entertain ourselves and guests outside.  Over the past 20 years, I've tried and failed to put rock walls, ponds, garden beds, ~ anything fun in place of the grass out there.  No matter what, it stays grass.

About that "Gardening Restraining Order"....

Occasionally, I find myself with too much time on my hands.  One day last May, was one of those times. Who knows what triggered it; it could have been a review of perennial herbs or just an image of a circular garden but right then, I became obsessed with creating a herb spiral.  In our side yard.  The side yard I've unsuccessfully tried to put gardens in for the past 20 years.  I was thinking HUGE ~ "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind" huge.  Sketches of spirals, plant lists and material checklists littered the kitchen table.  A carp pond, waterfall, flowers for all seasons: you'd be able to see it from the International Space Station!  Images would be on Oprah.....

All it took was a simple "Hey Jean, what's all this?" from my husband and my "Close Encounters" dream wilted away.

"Oh, Tom, this is soooo cool!  I'm going to make this really neat herb spiral!  There'll be a wetlands on the downhill side - I'm thinking a bit of irrigation to run a small stream going into a small pond.  I can put my salad garden - you know we keep talking about growing our own greens - in the spiral, right outside in the side yard and with it close to the house, hose, and full sun...."
"Side yard??!!"
"Well, yeah. It's the only flat spot ..."

From here, the conversation isn't worth repeating.  It ended with a "Gardening Restraining Order" on me concerning anything in the side yard.  Not only is any form of gardening forbidden in the side yard, tools left there are subject to confiscation and mentioning or alluding to digging is out of bounds as is even asking to bury spring bulbs in the grass.  Violation of said order is subject to the cold shoulder and the toilet seat being left up in the middle of the night. 

Bummer.  My bet is Doris Robison never had a gardening restraining order out on her... Or maybe she did and that's why we have the Robison Herb Garden!!! 

Back to the spiral. 

Not one to give up on really cool garden concept, I went out and choose an overgrown bed that I'd been eying for a re-do.  I dug up all the rubeckia, oregano, bee balm and daffodils and created a herb spiral.  So there, husband of mine!!  Take that!!!

This is the view this week.  You can see the "bones" of the garden: the plants are all asleep.

Granted, it's not huge but it is functional and within the standard size recommended.  Most sources suggest a spiral no larger than 6' across so that you can reach what you need. easily.  My "Close Encounters" spiral, although cool, would have been a bear to weed and harvest from.
 

To create this garden, I used the area I had and applied the principles of a spiral to make it work.  A rosemary lives in the very top area (it's currently overwintering in the shop) with sages below and lavender and thyme in the dry, shallow soil areas in the "front" of the bed.  The larger center area has a peony on the downhill side: it was living in the original bed and LOVES it.  I'm not messing with a happy peony! Mints, hyssop and chamomile were added in that bed.  My mints are sunk into the garden in plastic pots to keep them from spreading.  To control the oregano, I placed it in the small, contained area at the "bottom". 

On the "downhill" side of the Rosemary wall  ~ the area to the left, I started planting succulents in the rocks.  This is a very visible wall and I wanted to add interest to it.  We'll see how they do in a few months: I'm hopeful the majority will last and multiply. :)   You can see a few in this image.

This will be year two of the spiral and I have high hopes for it this spring.  As the season progresses, more pictures will be added.

Do you have a herb spiral in your garden? Tell us about it!

Alternatively, do you have or have you ever had a "gardening restraining order" out against you??!!!