Starship Asterisk*

Beyond wrote:Black ones I don't think I've ever seen black ones.

From images on the internet
They are really pretty when in full bloom!

MargaritaMc wrote:I've been trying to get a dandelion root for my garden for over a year... They are said to grow on the island, but no luck finding any so far. So I'm going to try to order some seeds from England.

I'm utterly amazed that you need to send away for seeds to get some of these weeds. People around here would be happy to send you a truckload of them. I think of them as volunteer flowers, but most people abhore the things and try desparately to get rid of them. I just took this pic of our second driveway -- the unused one, since we have only one car.
Rob

rstevenson wrote:

MargaritaMc wrote:I've been trying to get a dandelion root for my garden for over a year... They are said to grow on the island, but no luck finding any so far. So I'm going to try to order some seeds from England.

I'm utterly amazed that you need to send away for seeds to get some of these weeds. People around here would be happy to send you a truckload of them. I think of them as volunteer flowers, but most people abhore the things and try desparately to get rid of them. I just took this pic of our second driveway -- the unused one, since we have only one car.

Dandelions.jpg

Rob

Oh envy, envy!

It's the difference in climate, Rob - I live on sub-tropical desert island where we see very little rain. Not the kind of climate suitable for dandelions. The reports of dandelions are from the north of the island where it is mountainous and where there is enough rain for 'volunteer' plants to grow! Where I live, here in the south, if land isn't watered artificially then almost nothing grows.
I'm hoping that I might be able to nurture a dandelion here and get it cool and wet enough for it not to realise that it is in the desert. But I've still had no luck in getting a dandelion!
Lots of prickily pear tho!
Margarita

MargaritaMc wrote:It's the difference in climate, Rob - I live on sub-tropical desert island where we see very little rain.

Dandelions require almost no moisture. They grow here in our arid climate, and they were all over the place in southern California, growing in near desert conditions. If you can get the seeds, I doubt you'll have any problem growing them. The wetter the ground, the larger the greens and the taller the flowers, but that's about the only effect of adding moisture.

This is exactly what the uncultivated land near us looks like, with the 'houseleek' being just about all that can get a foothold. Although it's known as houseleek, it isn't like the edible plant of that name I've seen in botanical texts. However, Wikipedia says that it IS edible - but I won't try it just yet...


But this definitely is edible! It would keep one from starvation but has such a no-taste taste. Not nasty, just nothing.

A patch grows just along from us on some open ground near where the roadside trees have been planted by the council, so the prickly pear gets some overspill watering from the irrigation system in place for the trees.

Margarita

Chris Peterson wrote:

MargaritaMc wrote:It's the difference in climate, Rob - I live on sub-tropical desert island where we see very little rain.

Dandelions require almost no moisture. They grow here in our arid climate, and they were all over the place in southern California, growing in near desert conditions. If you can get the seeds, I doubt you'll have any problem growing them. The wetter the ground, the larger the greens and the taller the flowers, but that's about the only effect of adding moisture.

Oh, that IS useful to know, Chris! And they are true dandelions? There are a lot of look-alikes that don't have the hollow stems and the milky sap that Taraxacum officinale has.

I've located a seed merchant in England that sells dandelion seeds for people to grow for their tortoises - so I will have a go.
Margarita

MargaritaMc wrote:A patch grows just along from us on some open ground near where the roadside trees have been planted by the council, so the prickly pear gets some overspill watering from the irrigation system in place for the trees.

Certainly, dandelions will grow where prickly pear grows. Here, we have dandelions growing in little more than volcanic gravel, soil with almost no organic content at all. And yes, these are true dandelions; we use both the greens and the flowers in salads during the summer.

Chris Peterson wrote:

MargaritaMc wrote:A patch grows just along from us on some open ground near where the roadside trees have been planted by the council, so the prickly pear gets some overspill watering from the irrigation system in place for the trees.

Certainly, dandelions will grow where prickly pear grows. Here, we have dandelions growing in little more than volcanic gravel, soil with almost no organic content at all. And yes, these are true dandelions; we use both the greens and the flowers in salads during the summer.

Great. And you use the flowers as well? I've not heard of that.
This really is a most useful forum. I posted a question on a herbalist forum last year asking if anyone had experience of growing dandelions in desert conditions and a general shaking of the head was the response.
You don't know if stinging nettle will grow in similar conditions, do you? I only know them in an English setting.
Margarita

MargaritaMc wrote:Great. And you use the flowers as well? I've not heard of that.

The flowers are quite tasty. They aren't bitter like the leaves, and they are good both raw and cooked (lightly fried is nice).

This really is a most useful forum. I posted a question on a herbalist forum last year asking if anyone had experience of growing dandelions in desert conditions and a general shaking of the head was the response.
You don't know if stinging nettle will grow in similar conditions, do you? I only know them in an English setting.

We have a little nettle here, but I've only seen it in creek beds and road edges, where the soil has more organics and there is more moisture. I've never seen it on our typical stony hillsides. I imagine you could grow it easily enough in a watered bed, though.

Thanks again, Chris. I really like the sound of lightly fried dandelion flowers! And I like putting flowers in salads - and am kicking myself about all those wasted dandelion flowers back when I lived in England!

What you said about nettles confirmed what I'd thought, but, as I'd also thought that dandelions needed lots of moisture and organic matter, I wanted to check.

I'd no idea that Colorado's terrain was so like what we have here. But my knowledge of north American geography is rather limited, I'm afraid. And I've only visited San Francisco and surrounds - not exactly wide sampling...

Margarita

Tenerife - including Mount Teide

Colorado - Grand Mesa and Mount Garfield

I've just been looking up Colorado - the reaction is 'Wow!'

There's lots more of Colorado than there is of Tenerife (Such as The Rockies being rather more extensive than Las Cañadas del Teide and the Anaga Peninsula...)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife

But there are definite similarities.
Margarita

Well, most of the pasque flowers are going to seed quickly now, but they remain beautiful even then. Starting to see quite a few wildflowers, now, but haven't had any moisture for a few weeks. Hope we get some soon, or everything's going to dry up and blow away.

Chris Peterson wrote:... haven't had any moisture for a few weeks. Hope we get some soon, or everything's going to dry up and blow away.

If I knew how, I would be glad to send you some of ours. Most of the streets have dried out, but there are still fields standing in water from Friday's deluge.

Couple of flowers that was in a box of assorted seeds and an Iris that is blooming now!

My Daisy is looking pretty spiffy this year! I kind of wish I had more of them to add a little color for this time of year.

I didn't want to toss my old grill, so I made a planter out of it!

I'd be afraid of the lid coming down on the plants! I guess it's no worse than a toilet planter.

As long as you have drainage... what the heck.

MargaritaMc wrote:
This is exactly what the uncultivated land near us looks like, with the 'houseleek' being just about all that can get a foothold. Although it's known as houseleek, it isn't like the edible plant of that name I've seen in botanical texts. However, Wikipedia says that it IS edible - but I won't try it just yet...


But this definitely is edible! It would keep one from starvation but has such a no-taste taste. Not nasty, just nothing.

A patch grows just along from us on some open ground near where the roadside trees have been planted by the council, so the prickly pear gets some overspill watering from the irrigation system in place for the trees.

Margarita

Margarita: your house leek picture reminded me of a a flower called hens and chicks, so i got to looking at wikipedia! This is what I found! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_and_chicks

Today I checked out my flower bed on the South side of the house, and noticed that my daffs were finally poking through the ground. Seems a I remember getting excited that they were starting too early in other years, so maybe they will be OK! One year they were peeking out of the ground in December, and they did just fine.

There used to be some Hens and chicks in the front of my house that my parents put there last century, but i never saw them in an opened up position as one of Orin's pictures show. They began multiplying for a few years, then they began disappearing! Don't know why, but they disappeared completely in about 3-years. Come to think of it, they were disappearing along with some bulb flowers. I guess the mice found out they were edible.

orin stepanek wrote:
Margarita: your house leek picture reminded me of a a flower called hens and chicks, so i got to looking at wikipedia! This is what I found! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_and_chicks

Yes, they do look like the house leek that we see here. I'll look out for the flowers.
Nice that your daffodils are peeking up, Orin. We can't grow them here, and I do miss them!
M

Three of the previous four winters were long and cold here in southern Sweden. So we have been very lucky to have had a mild winter in 2013-2014, at least so far. For much of the winter, temperatures have varied between 0^oC and 5^oC, perhaps equal to temperatures between 32 and 40F.

And now it is time for the first flowers, those that show themselves when winter is over (or alternatively, when winter is taking an extended break), but when spring has not really arrived. The flowers of the season are winter aconites and snowdrops. The old cemetery in central Malmö is looking lovely now, all yellow and white.

Yes, but I get bored easily with winter aconites and snowdrops and want some other flowers, too. And indeed, today I saw some yellow crocuses in bloom in a flowerbed in my own street! In another part of town - well, I was out cycling today - I saw a specimen of Hellebores Niger. And when I visited my mother, I saw that her Hepatica Nobilis plant had put forth and opened one flower! In another garden I saw a just barely open specimen of Scilla Siberica.

And of course there were several specimens of Bellis Perennis in most lawns.

Ann

Ann, how difficult is it to learn Swedish? I wish to trade in my two snow shovels for a garden spade.

Rob

Rob wrote:
Ann, how difficult is it to learn Swedish? I wish to trade in my two snow shovels for a garden spade.

Well, if you ask this guy, it's kind of hard.

Warning: Don't listen to him if you can't stand swearing or if you're allergic to spelling mistakes.

Ann

P.S. It's overcast today, but the temperature now in the morning is about 3^oC.

Okay, I guess I'll have to stick to snow and English. (That was very funny.)

Rob