Useful Wildflowers

Zigs

Zigs

Well-known member
Administrator
Location
Kent, England
Hardiness zone
9a
Tetter's idea, thought I'd start it off with this one...

Dandelion - Taraxacum officinalis

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Common and well known, main flush of flowers is in May but carries on flowering till Autumn, took the above pic today.

I used to regularly make coffee by roasting the roots, I'd leave a few in the veg plot to grow large and then scrub and split the roots lengthways. Roast in the oven till dry, chop up and use a few teaspoons. Boil in water till it goes a nice dark brown then strain and add 2 sugars and milk (if you like)

The flowers make a lovely wine. To each gallon of flowers (put in a bucket and not pressed down) cover with boiling water and 2lb of unrefined sugar. When cool add lemon juice and yeast. Strain off the flowers after a week and ferment out till clear. Bottle and drink as the first snow starts to fall, it's known as liquid sunshine in Dorset.

If you want to eat the leaves then you need to blanch them under a flower pot as they are very bitter. Trouble is, take the bitterness away and the slugs eat the lot,so you can't win :rolleyes:
 
My grandmother used to send me out in early spring, as soon as the first baby dandelion leaves came up to go pick her a big basket of those baby leaves. Didn't take too long because we were polluted with them.
She would rinse and boil them three times. That took the bitterness out and we ate it with butter and salt.
 
Anniekay said:
My grandmother used to send me out in early spring, as soon as the first baby dandelion leaves came up to go pick her a big basket of those baby leaves. Didn't take too long because we were polluted with them.
She would rinse and boil them three times. That took the bitterness out and we ate it with butter and salt.
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Aah, didn't think about boiling them :)
 
In folklore, dandelions were known as pissabeds (with dashes between words, but I took them out to seem more ladylike)
As kids, we were told not to pick them because they'd make us wet the bed.
In actual fact they are widely used as diuretics, and can relieve the body of all kinds of impurities - as well as various medications, which is one reason to be careful how many you consume.
 
In France they're called Pissenlit 😁

Our name comes from the French words for the shape of the leaf, dent de lyon, lion's teeth.
 
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Ginger Zingibar officionalis. It's a wildflower somewhere !! 😄
Very good for digestion and settles an upset stomach. I have some growing in the ground in the yard but it has died back and I dug some of the root up to use in cooking. Those roots multiply very quickly. Last year I gifted some to all my neighbors I had so much of it.
 
One of my favorite weeds wildflower is Spiderwort (Tradescantia). So many people spend so much effort in attempting to rid their garden of this grass-looking (but not in the grass family) wildflower.


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roadrunner said:
One of my favorite weeds wildflower is Spiderwort (Tradescantia). So many people spend so much effort in attempting to rid their garden of this grass-looking (but not in the grass family) wildflower.


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Yes, The problem with them is that: you mow your grass, cut down the Tradescantia and in FIVE days, they're back !! Not only are they back, they stick up 5-6" taller than the grass and make your yard look like it's polluted with weeds ! ! They self-seed like crazy too.

I dig them up and compost all but the root and flowers because just one little bit of those rubbery roots will grow you a whole new clump.
If they would stay where you put them, different story. 😐
 
Anniekay said:
Yes, The problem with them is that: you mow your grass, cut down the Tradescantia and in FIVE days, they're back !! Not only are they back, they stick up 5-6" taller than the grass and make your yard look like it's polluted with weeds ! ! They self-seed like crazy too.

I dig them up and compost all but the root and flowers because just one little bit of those rubbery roots will grow you a whole new clump.
If they would stay where you put them, different story. 😐
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I'll admit they are very ugly growing in grass....that's why I just got rid of the grass and kept the spiderwort;)


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