Welcome
back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. I know this episode was supposed
to be posted on Friday the 23rd, but recent events have pushed it
back a day or two and I will be covering that series of events after I cover
the main topic. This week’s topic is another plant family that never gets
enough credit. The family I am talking about has family members used as
medicine, food, oils, pesticides, biochemicals and many members that are just
there for good looks. This week I am taking a look at the Aster Family, known
in Latin as Asteraceae. The word Asteraceae is from the Latin word Aster
which means star. This is a clear reference to the shape of its flowers and
their round array of petals. The flowers are of note because when we see a Daisy,
we think that the whole flower head is the flower, when biologically the petals
are just modified leaves and the actual center of the daisy flower (aka the
disk) is actually a tightly packed group of tiny individual flowers each with
their own tiny petals. This feature is critical to identifying aster family
members regardless of what country you are in. Literally there is a aster for
every hardiness zone which makes these plants flexible as hell.
 |
| Tagetes erecta - American Marigold |
I
know what you are thinking, ‘Ok, what about those uses you mentioned?” Well that’s
easy there are groups of asters you see all the time at the grocery store as
food. The easy cop-out there is to mention
Sunflower seeds, but did you know that Lettuce, Escarole, Endive, Chicory,
Dandelion greens and, Frisee are all in the aster family and sitting right
there in the salad aisle. Additionally, there is the edible tubers of Jarusalem
Artichoke to consider as they are also in the aster family. As for herbs the aster
family is well represented with plants like Santolina, Coneflower, Arnica, Burdock,
Calendula, German Chamomile, Roman Chamomile, Costmary, Elecampane, Feverfew, Tansy,
Goldenrod, Mugwort, Tarragon, Wormwood, Safflower, Southernwood and, Yarrow. So
yes, the Asters are heavily represented in the herbal/culinary seasoning department.
As for oil extraction Sunflowers and Calendulas are both primary sources of
cooking oil. In terms of bio-chemicals such as medicine, and pesticides The
Painted Daisy and the Pyrethrum Daisy are both sources of the insecticide
Pyrethrum, while Extracts from the Narrow-leaf Coneflower are used as a memory
enhancer…provided you remember to take them.
 |
| Echinacea purpurea 'Cheyenne Red' - Coneflower. |
Interestingly,
in terms of good looks there’s an aster to suit your fancy. Asters come in
virtually any color imaginable; if you want blues and purples, Stoke’s aster,
Pincushin flower and purple coneflower are your best bet. If you want reds and
pinks, Chrysanthemums, Coneflowers, Gaillardia, Cosmos and, Zinnias are a good
call. Yellows and oranges are easy also as you can pick and choose between Sunflowers,
Tithonia, Gazinia, Marigolds, Calendula, Rudbeckia, Coreopsis, Echibeckia, Zinnias
(again) and, Cosmos. Green flowers are
not off limits thanks to strange coneflower breeds like ‘Green Twister’, ‘Irish
Eyes’ Rudbeckia, ‘Green Envy’ Zinnias and a few others. White blooming asters
are incredibly easy to find but here are a few not previously listed, Oxeye Daisy,
Shasta Daisy, Chamomile and, Cape Daisy.
 |
| Rudbeckia lacinata - Cutleaf Coneflower |
As
an interesting cultural note, members of the Aster family thrive in most soil
conditions, while things like Coneflowers, Pyrethrum Daisies and Gazinia prefer
well-drained soil with good organic content and regular water, plants like Helianthis
angustifolius or Rudbeckia lacinata Swamp sunflower and Cutleaf
Coneflower respectively will grow right beside a stream and don’t mind wet roots.
Plants like Tithonia diversifolia (Mexican sunflower), Helenium
autumnale (Sneezeweed) can handle sandy dry soils but do their best with
extra water and enriched soil. Zinnias, Marigolds and Coreopsis all once
established need little to no assistance to survive. So, your options are wide
open when it comes to the aster family, as there is a specimen for all your
needs, heck you might discover something about one of them that could make you
a fortune.
 |
| Rudbeckia maxima - Giant Coneflower |
Now
with the topic of asters covered let us move on to why this post was delayed. In
the middle of last week, I was sent a photograph via text by Marsha Howe from Sustainable
Neighbors of a mysterious plant that needed identification. At a first glance I
thought it to be a member of the hibiscus family due to the growth rate and
unique leaves. For those who don’t know, certain species of hibiscus such as
Okra, Cotton, Roselle, South Sea Salad Tree and the swamp mallows can grow
several feet in a growing season easily so rapid growth is expected. Additionally,
a lot of Hibiscus family members have large exaggerated palmate shaped leaves.
As fluke would have it something told me I should look up a specific species of
tropical fruits and much to my surprise the plant pictured below was precisely
identified.
 |
Carica
papaya
‘Maradol’ – Maridol Papaya
|
Well
it turns out the plant was a papaya, and was the largest specimen out of about
two-dozen volunteer seedlings and plants. Now I know what you might be thinking,
how the heck did Papaya plants get there, those shouldn’t be growing in our
climate at all! This is true however Marsha told me that she had added some of
her kitchen scraps to the compost at the site and that she had some Papaya
leftovers from eating the fruit in there. The seeds germinated within the last
month or two and thus all the volunteers. So I asked if it was ok to rescue
some of the volunteers and try to grow the plants and see if something special
could be done. Marsha was ok with this, and we met on Thursday afternoon so I
could see the site and collect a few Papaya volunteers. A bit later I ended up
with eight plants of varied sizes as you can see below.
 |
| The largest one is in a half-gallon nursery pot. |
Growing
a papaya isn’t exactly easy as the plants are recommended for zones 10 and 11
according to the USDA. In zones 8b (Fayetteville) and 9, they are recommended as
being grown as ornamental plants. This is because cold temperatures below 59 F
can prevent the tree from properly flowering or forming fruit. Temperatures
below 32 F can cause heavy damage to plants while overnight freezes can kill
plants outright. As if this were not enough, they are prone to spider mites when
kept indoors and need a loamy well drained soil and may require a 21-0-0 or
nitrogen heavy fertilizer during the first few months after planting or
transplanting. They also according to
numerous sources start stressing when the temperature peaks above 90 F so they
have an upper limit on the level of heat they will accept. As a last note it is
suggested that for optimum fruit formation Papayas need 4” of rain per month
after fruit as formed. Either way, I’m hoping the eight specimens I have do
well enough, though I admittedly don’t exactly have a complete plan for them
yet. You can bet there will be updates as the Great Papaya Trial continues.
With
all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to
advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably
don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover
the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research &
Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up
the backbone of this blog. Also, as of
the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the
acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With
that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and
fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell
Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on
Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look
for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.
Plants
& Stuff Available Now:
Herbs:
Rue,
Marbled 3” - $4.00
Sage, Common 3”: - $3.00
Santolina, Etruscan: 5” - $6.00
Santolina,
Etruscan: 3” - $4.00
Valerian: 3” - $3.00
Flowers:
Butterfly Weed: 4” - $4.00
Common
Mallow ‘Zebrina’: 3” – $4.00
Coneflower, Feeling Pink: 3” - $4.00
Coneflower, Pow Wow White: 3” –
$4.00
Coneflower
‘Green Twister’: 3” – $4.00
Coral
Bells, ‘Marvelous Marble’ 4.5” - $5.00
Foxglove,
Camelot Lavender: 3” – $3.00
Foxglove,
Camelot Rose: 3” – $3.00
Rose
Mallow ‘Luna Red’: 3” – $4.00
Rose
Mallow ‘Disco Belle Pink’: 3” – $3.00
Rose
Mallow ‘Disco Belle White’: 3” – $3.00
Salvia, New Dimension Blue: 5” - $6.00
Fruits
& Vegetables:
Peppers, Ornamental ‘Black Magic’:
4” - $4.00
Peppers, Ghost: 4”- $3.00
Coming
Soon:
[TBA]
These
days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly
Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions
then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an
open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you
can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me
questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to
what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.
https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/
This brings to a close
the seventeenth LITFM post of the year, stay tuned the next episode which
should be posted on the 6th of September. There will be more garden
updates and other cool stuff.
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