Thursday, December 8, 2022

A rose by any other name...might be a Primrose.

 

Welcome back to the Lost In the Farmer’s Market Blog. At the current time we have a long-running series that covers useful, edible and medicinal ‘weeds’ that you can commonly find in the southeastern states of the United States. While our survey area is just within Cumberland County North Carolina it’ is possible you can find some of these forage plants in other places. This series was begun to give folks a detailed look into the resources they might not have known were right there in their lawn. Given that the world situation is not that great and there are already shortages of critical grains and fertilizers forage foods may be the most useful answer on a local level. LITFM will keep this series going as long as we keep finding wild resources to photograph and write about. If you have any questions or comments about our articles please leave a comment either here or on our YouTube Channel (The link is at the end of the article). Thank you for reading, and remember just one thing, you can’t eat lawn grass.

 

 

 

 

I spotted these growing beside a construction site where the dirt had been turned over.

These photos were taken in the early morning so thankfully you get to see the flowers.

[Photo]

 

 

Common Name: White Evening Primrose

 

Other Common Names: Pinkladies, Pink Evening Primrose, Showy Evening Primrose, Mexican Primrose, Amapola and Buttercups.

 

Botanical Family: Onagraceae (The Primrose Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Oenothera speciosa

 

Season to Harvest:  Late summer.

 

Habitat:  This perennial plant can be found in overgrown lawns, waste areas, near meadows, pastures along the road side and near disturbed soil.

 

Parts to Harvest: The root, and the seeds.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None are known.

 

Related Edible Species: Evening Primrose (Oenothra biennis)

 

Description: This perennial Primrose is known to be erect and or spreading in stature and freely branching. It is best identified by its pink tinged white flowers which stand out in the wild. Its leaves are borne in an alternate arrangement with a overall elliptic to linear shape that may be irregularly lobed. The primary means by which this perennial reproduces is by seed. Interestingly these plants bloom during the day and at night however the flowers close when the full sun hits them.

 

Recipe: Unfortunately, aside from collecting the seeds and pressing them to extract oil there is no clear use for this plant. Several sources indicate you can do something with the root but they are unclear as to what that is.

 

 

 

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.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 2:00 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.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Fresh Produce:

Garlic Bulbs

Soup Kit – Parsnip

Soup Kit – Turnip

 

 

Holiday Houseplants:

3” Square pot – Spear Sansevieria (Dracaena angolensis)

3” Round pot – ‘Drunkard’s Dream’ Cactus (Hatiora salicornoides)

3” Round Bowl – Dragon Haworthia (Haworthia coarctata)

3” Tree Trunk Pot – Dragon Haworthia (Haworthia coarctata)

3.5” Hexagon pot – Money Plant (Pilea peperomioides)

3.5” Lattice pot – Mini Aloe (Aloe descoingsii)

5” Large Hex pot – Sausage Plant (Euphorbia guentheri)

 

 

Coming Soon:

MOAR HOUSEPLANTS!

 

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

 

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (3): Chipola River Tickseed, Mealy Cup Sage, ‘Sindbad’ Begonia.

 

Meetings still going on! We now meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on December 15th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.

 

 

 

 

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