#wild sunflower

[boschintegral-photo]

Golden Crownbeard (Verbesina Encelloides) Toulouse, France

[theghostowl]

[summerdragoness]

A tinyart commission I worked on today. 2″, ink and gouache paint

[venus-garden]

Tithonia tubaeformis 

known as mexican sunflower, or ‘gigantón’

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

Last garden-related post before I go outside to see if the rain has let up enough for me to finish my wall.

For those of you with gardening space you can afford to alott for food, go to a garden centre or to a specialty grocery store and buy the tuber called “Jerusalem artichoke”. Might also be called “sunchoke”. If you find the plant in a garden centre, it’s Latin name is “Helianthus tuberosus”. It’s a sunflower with edible tubers. It spreads aggressively, so you want it in a place where you can keep it under control.

It’s native to North America, so don’t worry about it being invasive if you live there, but you will have to thin it out from time to time. As long as you have a window where a lot of sunlight comes through, you could probably get away with growing them inside in a large pot. Again, you’ll have to thin it out from time to time or it will overcrowd itself.

Anyway, the tubers are ready in the late autumn, and are crunchy and kind of taste like artichoke, hence the common name, or like a water chestnut. Once you have them, you will never not have them, as even a small tuber or piece of rhizome left in the ground will grow as a new plant. They are sunflowers, but their flower heads aren’t huge like the sunflower you’re thinking of (Helianthus annuus). This is a perennial and it passes as a tall, decorative garden plant with bright yellow flowers, for those of you who live in areas with municipal laws against growing vegetables on your own property.

They can be sliced and eaten raw, they can be roasted, baked, fried, boiled, steamed, or even microwaved. They’re a source of fibre, potassium, copper, and iron. They are starchy and versatile and can be used a lot of the same ways potatoes can, though some people get gas from them, so eat in moderation.

Basically, though, this will be a reliable, plentiful, and nutritious food source every fall, and you can of course freeze the excess to eat for the rest of the year. Potatoes and turnips in short supply or too expensive or you just can’t lug home a potato because you don’t have a car? You don’t need to. You have sunchokes. Need a food item your neighbour has that you can’t get? Trade’em sunchokes for it.

You might not get a lot the first year with a single plant (I got a couple handsful), but my one plant is now ten after a single year and I can only imagine how many tubers I’ll find in the fall and how many plants I’ll have next year. Why buy potato plants every year to grow when you can get a plant once and it will multiply and produce food every year?

This is just a suggestion. I know a lot of people are worried about food prices going up/certain foods becoming unavailable, so here’s a plant that will guarantee you always have something to eat once it gets going.

[jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels]

Good morning! Happy Monday! This tiny sunflower bloomed overnight. I’ve been watching the plant struggle through the winter, but here we are! One small, but beautiful bloom! Proof that where there’s a will, there’s a way! Perseverance, an admirable quality in nature and life!

I hope y’all have a beautiful day! 

[waywardfae]

Fairy with wild sunflower

[lovelesslylust]