Common Evening Primrose

 Welcome to the 2024 edition of the LITFM blog.  This blog is the text-based complement to my weekly posts on Nextdoor.com and the gardening channel on YouTube. In 2023, this blog took on a more formal instructional tone with jokes dispersed within to serve as a hub for conveying information that might not work in a video or weekly update format. The subject matter here is always the wide variety of plant-based foods that you can find growing around you in nature or as some call it ‘Forage Foods’. This ties in with local bartering, and indirectly now we will be including mycology. The primary reason for the change in the blog’s tone and topic came about due to the events of the pandemic, the resulting economic turmoil and other factors. The reality is that we are surrounded with perfectly edible plants that can fill at least some of the void in our dietary needs. There is no reason not to be educated in what is and is not safe and how to prepare it into a nutritious meal. With that said I also realized that in my own way by keeping this blog running I might be butting heads with a billion-dollar pesticide/herbicide/fertilizer industry at times. It has always been in the interest of that industry to label certain things ‘weeds’ so they can sell you product that as time goes by we find out is worse for your health than the weeds are. Coupled with an Agricultural-Education system that peddles the myths of the industry and the old myth that if you can afford a nice lawn you must have wealth we have a population that has been fooled for a long time. So, here we are in 2024, and the forage foods series will continue. I hope all of you who read this blog find the information useful or at least thought provoking. The ‘weeds’ I am listing a certainly found in Zone 8A in North Carolina and should certainly be easy to find in the Southeast regions of America.  Thank you for sticking with LITFM and stay tuned for a year of forage foods.

 

 

 

This is a second-year specimen

 

 

Common Name: Common Evening Primrose

 

Other Common Names: Evening Star, Sundrop, Weedy Evening Primrose, German Rampion, Hog Weed, King’s Cure-all and, Fever-plant.

 

Botanical Family: Onagraceae (The Willowherb/Evening Primrose Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Oenothera biennis

 

Description & Habitat:  Evening Primrose is commonly found in disturbed sites, along road sides, in prairies and in fields. It also can be found in vacant lots, in garden beds and in lawn areas. Its seed is often included in wild flower mixes and this may not be intentional. Given that this plant is a biennial in its first growing year you can expect a rosette of elliptical shaped leaves that may or may not have a reddish blotch of variegation. This plant has elongated taproot and its stalks are often a bit hairy. In the second year of this plant’s life it will grow a tall central stalk that has an alternate leaf arrangement. The flowers on this plant are bright yellow and have four petals. This plant is called an evening Primrose because its flowers begin to open in the early evening.

 

When & What to Harvest: The taproots of this plant can be dug and harvested in the first year of growth while young leaves can also be picked in early spring.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None are known.

 

Related Edible Species: Other Oenothera are known to be edible.

 

Recipe:

If you harvested this plant’s tap roots you can prepare them by peeling them and then and boiling them in two changes of water for a total cooking time of about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve the cooked roots with butter and seasoning or slice them and pan fry them for a crispy treat. Sliced roots can be added to soups and stews or boiled in sugar syrup for about 20 minutes to candy them. Leaves can be added to salads sparingly but you can also boil them in two changes of water for about 20 minutes. You can then, season the cooked leaves with butter or vinegar to taste.

 

 

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 my 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 8:00 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.

 

 

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

 

Fresh Food:

Garlic Bulbs

Soup Kits – Parsnip

Soup Kits – Turnip

 

Spring Garden Plants  (NEW!)

Arugula – Astro

Carrots – Chantennay Red Cored

Kale – Kalebration Mix

Radish – Cherry Belle

Sorrel – Raspberry Dressing

Swiss Chard – Ruby Red

 

Garden Plants

(Coming very soon, please check in at the market I may sneak some on the table.)

 

Coming Soon:

Expect new things soon!

 

 

 

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 (0): [New content coming soon]

 

Meetings are 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 March 21^st between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.

It's the Primrose Thing to do

 

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.

 

 

 

Evening Primroses are one of the best things I ever unintentionally introduced to my garden.

 

Common Name: Evening Primrose

 

Other Common Names: Evening Star, Sundrop, German Rampion, Hog Weed, King’s Cure-All and, Fever-Plant

 

Botanical Family: Onagraceae (The Evening Primrose Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Oenothera biennis

 

Season to Harvest:  Summer, Fall and, Winter.

 

Habitat:  Common Evening Primrose is a Biennial non-native plant introduced from Europe that has escaped cultivation and can be found in disturbed sites, along roads, in prairies garden beds, lawns, pastures and prefers sunny arid places with loamy soils but will tolerate a lot of soil conditions. It is sensitive to nitrogen and areas with too much available nitrogen can adversely affect its production of seeds.

 

Parts to Harvest: You can harvest the leaves, taproot, second-year stalks, and flower buds and, the seeds are edible. I have to mention that some parts when eaten raw may irritate the throat so fully cook where needed and test small portions before you make a meal out of it.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None noted, though do not confuse this plant with other Evening Primroses.

 

Related Edible Species: O. Biennis, O. Hookeri, O. Lamarckiana, O. Californica, and O. nuttalli.

 

Description: Evening Primrose is a biennial that has a variable appearance based on its state of maturity. In the first year it forms a rosette and bears alternately arranged lance-shaped leaves. The species I have in the test garden occasionally also has reddish markings on the leaves. In the second year Evening primrose will grow a tall stalk that can be up to three feet tall which bears the flowers for which it is famous. The seed pods that follow are four-sided capsules that split at the tips when ready. A single seed pod can contain hundreds of individual seeds.

 

Recipe: Evening Primrose leaves can be used sparingly in forage salads but are best when cooked like spinach with other greens that have the same use. Typically cooking evening primrose leaves by themselves as a spinach substitute requires boiling for 15-20 minutes in at least two changes of water to even out the flavor. The taproots of this plant can be dug in the first year of growth during most of the year. Those taproots need to be peeled and boiled in at least two changes of water for an overall time of 20-30 minutes. Once tender the roots can be served with butter and seasonings or you can slice them up and fry them. A candy can be made out of the boiled roots; all you have to do is gently simmer the cooked roots in simple sugar syrup until they are properly candied.

 

 

 

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 8:00 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.

 

 

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

 

 

Garden Stuff: ($3.00)

Brussel Sprouts - Redarling

Cauliflower – Snow Crown

Cauliflower – Flame Star

Cauliflower – Veronica

Celery - Tango

Cilantro – Vietnamese

Collards – Green Glaze

Kale – Ragged Jack

Kale - Redbor

Hoan Ngoc

Mustard – Japanese Red Giant

Pak Choi – Rose’

 

 

Coming Soon:

House Plants (November-ish)

 

 

 

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): Angelonia

 

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 November 3^rd  between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.

 

Nightblooming Forage foods

 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.

 

 

This is your basic Cutleaf Evening Primrose, it's roughly rosette forming and a decent looking plant.

The bright yellow flowers are why this plant is sometimes called 'Sundrops' or 'Suncups'. They bloom in the evening to attract pollinating moths.

There can be some variation in shape, form or the number of lobes on the leaves.

Note that the flowers can fade from yellow to a orangey coloration and that the lobes can look lore like giant serrations too.

Cutleaf Evening Primroses will produce side-shoots and, are very adaptable.

 

Common Name: Cut-Leaf  Evening Primrose

 

Other Common Names: Members of the species are sometimes called Suncups opr Sundrops.

 

Botanical Family: Onagraceae (The Evening Primrose Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Oenothera laciniata

 

Season to Harvest: Spring, Fall and, Winter.

 

Habitat: Cut-Leaf Evening Primrose can be found in sites with disturbed soil, areas of cultivation like farm fields and pastures as well as in lawns, yards and in fields. It does not seem to mind sandy soils and may act as a colonizer in soils where the topsoil is barely present.

 

Parts to Harvest: Leaves, Flowers, seed pods, tap root.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known

 

Related Edible Species: Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis).

 

Description: Cut-leaf Evening primrose in the southeast USA is a winter annual/ biennial that bears a fibrous root system and a taproot. The stems are hairy reclining and branched from a central base. Leaves are borne in alternate arrangement with elliptic to lance shaped margins and numerous irregular notches or lobes. The flowers are typically bright yellow with five petals and appear in leaf axils on low stems. This plant is native to the Northeast of the USA but has expanded beyond its original range.

 

How to Harvest: Leaves can be harvested as needed, though younger leaves have less of a strong peppery flavor. Leaves, flowers and seed pods can be used as a potherb and all bear the same flavor though cooking does reduce the pungency and these parts can be used as a cooked spinach substitute. The taproot has to be boiled to be edible.

 

Recipe: The most common recipe for this plant is to cook it like a potherb. Basically you pick at least a cup of lightly packed greens, flowers and seed pods and cook it for about ten minutes with whatever other forage potherbs you might have on hand. The taproot of this plant should be peeled (if possible) and then boiled in 2-3 changes of water to make its flavor more palatable. This plant does have the same amount of gamma-linolenic acid as the more well-known Evening Primrose.

 

 

 

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 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.

 

 

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

 

Garden Stuff: ($3.00)

Basil – Emerald Tower

Fennel - Black

Parsley – Italian

Parsley – Curled

Sage – Common

Thyme – Common

 

Cotton – Erlene’s Green Lint

Hibiscus – Luna Pink Swirl

Milkweed – Orange blooming

Tobacco – Flowering “Starmaker Apple Blossom”

 

 

Coming Soon:

Purple Heart (Next Week)

Vietnamese Cilantro (Next Week)

Pineapple Sage (Next Week)

Hoan Ngoc

 

 

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 (2): Caladiums, Marshmallow

 

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 August 4^th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.