Violas. I planted them for three summers, but I don’t have to anymore because they come back as sure as snowbirds. I think they’re cheerful, and the flowers are edible to boot. Some people call them invasive. Me, I say they’re sustainable.
I’m grateful for edible perennials right about now. Not that I don’t love the spring ritual of planting seeds, of watching seedlings break soil. But there’s also something wonderful about peaceably co-existing with thriving plants. Like our thick clump of sorrel. Like the raspberries and blackberries in a weedy side yard. And all of the herbs, hardy and tender.
There’s garlic and horseradish that I aspire to grow too, and rhubarb, a plant that my fellow blogger Stephen considers a weed, it’s so ubiquitous in Alaska.
What are your favorite edible perennials?
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April 21, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Lane
Ah, a favorite topic this time of year, as I cruise the perennials:
corn salad–ok, it’s not a perennial, but it reseeds so faithfully it might as well be, and along with the baby greens in a pot on the deck, it keeps me in homegrown salads in April
nettles!! preferably not from my own yard.
Jerusalem artichokes, especially now that I’ve found a variety that’s easy to clean. Red fuseau rules.
Artichokes and asparagus. We cut back an overgrown California lilac in my little yard, and now I think I have enough unshaded space for asparagus. I’d better get going, since they take years to get really rolling and I’m not getting any younger. Asparagus before Medicare is my motto.
April 22, 2010 at 10:42 am
audrey
Hi Lane, I love your list! Corn salad is a great idea — from past experience, almost as easy as growing moss. Asparagus in the backyard would be deluxe. I wish we had the space but if Medicare is the deadline maybe there is hope. And I’ll have to check out red fuseau. We eat the knobby stuff that grows wild at the p-patch, and it’s a bear to clean.