Pontic Rhododendrons

 Note from the Author: Eventually we had to talk about the other half of the family.

 

 

Emerging shoots for new leaves are pretty strange looking.

The flower of a Pontic Rhododendron is very nice.

These small clustered buds will be leaves and branches sometime soon.

The flower bud is very distinct on a Pontic Rhododendron.

 

Common Name: Pontic Rhododendron

 

Other Common Names: Common Rhododendron

 

Botanical Family: Ericaceae (The Heath Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Rhododendron ponticum baeticum

 

Description & Habitat: 

          In our landscape we see a lot of Azaleas but their evergreen bigger leafed relative is often absent because of our climate. Needless to say all from a scientific perspective all azaleas are Rhododendrons but not all rhododendrons are azaleas. With that said Rhododendrons of this type are woody broadleaf evergreens, but can be deciduous in some colder climates. These plants are native to places such as Bulgaria, Lebanon and the Caucasus but are well adapted to our respective climate in zone 8. The genus name comes from the Greek word ‘rhodo’ and ‘dendron’ which mean rose and tree respectively. Physically this shrub is best recognized by its leaves which have a simple margin, are elliptical in shape and its alternate branching. As with a lot of rhododendrons this plant’s buds are also a good identification feature as flower buds are often born singly and are larger than leaf buds. On rhododendrons the flower buds bear several individual flowers whereas leaf buds may appear singly, or in clusters indicating potential branching. On average this type of Rhododendron can get up to 4 feet tall with a 5 foot spread, though if planted in too much shade it can get a bit tall while stretching for light.

 

In some older publications this plant may be listed as Rhododendron x obtusum.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  

Nothing on this plant is edible because it contains Grayanotoxins.

 

When & What to Harvest:

This plant is not edible.

 

Related Plants:

There are numerous species of Azaleas and Rhododendrons available on the market.

 

Recipe:

          Rhododendrons are inedible

 

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rhododendron-ponticum/

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

Generally this plant is not grown from seed and Rhododendrons are available in most garden centers or nurseries.

 

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 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.

 

Fresh Foods

Fig Leaf Tea, 8oz

Soupkit, Parsnip

Soupkit, Turnip

Carrots

Onions

Turnips

Celery

Red Potatoes

Parsnips

[Coming soon: Apothecary grade Powdered Fig Leaf]

 

Fall Plants

Brussels Sprouts

Collards

Corn Salad / Mache

Kale, Dinosaur

Kale, Ragged Jack

Kale, Rubybor

Kale, Scotch Blue

Lettuce, Buttercrunch

Sorrel, Raspberry Dressing

 

Garden Supply

Live Mushroom Compost, 1 Gallon

Live Mushroom Compost, 3 Gallon

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

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 (1): Celriac

 

With all of the updates, blog posts, community announcements and the main topic handled remember that Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’s meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is October 3^rd at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm, or at North South Brewing on the same day between 1:00 and 5:00pm.

Perilla

 Note from the Author: I’m surprised I’ve not done a file for this one.

 

 

Common Name: Perilla

 

Other Common Names: Beefsteak Plant, Shiso, Japanese Basil.

 

Botanical Family: Lamiaeae (The Mint Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Perilla frutescens

 

Description & Habitat: Perilla is a non-native annual in the Mint family that is considered an invasive species in North Carolina. Perilla is native to Asia and is often called Japanese Basil, although this particular common name more references how it is used and not the scent and flavor of the plant’s foliage.  Typically you will find two varieties of this plant in common cultivation, a purple-leaf type which can have a reddish color likened to beefsteak. The other variety is the green-leaf type which physically looks like the purple one but is plain green. They taste and smell the same give or take but the big difference is that the flowers are more visible and thus showier on the purple-leaf variety. In general flowers should be pinched regardless of foliage type to prevent this plant from escaping cultivation. A cultivated specimen of this plant can grow up to three feet tall in a growing season and require two or more repottings so its roots can keep expanding. In general Perilla’s leaves are roughly heart shaped and tend to have very visible serrations on the leaf margins. Some leaves at the tip may have a bit of a tail. The foliage is aromatic to the touch and there are no other herbs that smell like Perilla though sometimes stinging nettle can appear somewhat similar. With moderate care Perilla can become pretty bushy and may make for a good indoor plant as only winter’s cold stops it’s growth.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  Perilla is toxic to Dogs, Cats, Horses and Cattle.

 

When & What to Harvest: The leaves are what you are after.

 

Related Plants: ‘Tricolor’ (P. f. ‘Tricolor) a barely scented ornamental variety.

 

Recipe:

While I don’t have a formal recipe for Perilla leaves here’s a good one for pickling them.

 

https://mykoreankitchen.com/korean-pickled-perilla-leaves-kkaennip-jangajji/

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/perilla-frutescens/

 

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-korean-perilla.html?srsltid=AfmBOope2fTkP3GvEYOBdYC_EH6BkBj5NspPiBkWy6fPSx7gpCU_Ledg

 

 

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 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.

 

Fresh Foods

Peppers, Hybrid Lemon Drop

Figs, Magnolia

Figs, Kadota

 

Herbs

Basil, Sweet Genovese

Oregano

Prickly Pear, Spineless

Sage, Common

 

Summer Plants

Calibrachoa, Caliburst

Dahlia, Figaro Mix

Madagascar Periwinkle, Tattoo Blueberry

 

Fall Plants

Collards

 

Garden Supply

Live Mushroom Compost, 1 Gallon

Live Mushroom Compost, 3 Gallon

 

Plants Coming Soon:

-Fall Food Plants-

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

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 (1): Purple Tomatillo

 

With all of the updates, blog posts, community announcements and the main topic handled remember that Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’s meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is August 29^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm, or at North South Brewing on the same day between 1:00 and 5:00pm.

Heavenly Bamboo

 Note from the Author: This was supposed to be posted last week and something went wrong so here it is.

 

 

This 'mini forest' is how Nandina can crowd out native species.

This was what was on the other side of that cement walk in the picture above, a Nandina Jail break.

A closeup of the bark on the plant's trunk, only the foliage makes it look passingly like Bamboo.

The bright berries are pretty but dangerous.

Common Name: Heavenly Bamboo

 

Other Common Names: Sacred Bamboo

 

Botanical Family: Berberidaeae (The Barberry Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Nandina domestica

 

Description & Habitat: Heavenly Bamboo is a nonnative evergreen perennial that was brought over to the United States in in the early 1800s. Since then as with a lot of plants that were not properly evaluated for invasive traits Heavenly bamboo has proven it is anything but heavenly. By the way, Heavenly Bamboo isn’t a true Bamboo it is in the Barberry Family and the word ‘nadina’ is the Latin form of the Japanese name for this plant ‘nanten’ while the specific epithet ‘domestica’ means domesticated or of a home site. Heavenly Bamboo is a non-native as its original range was central and southern China and Japan. Now if you know anything about Barberries, you know they can be literal and figurative pains in the rear end. Barberries are often best identified by the fact their roots once you scrape the skin off have a bright yellow coloration and this is due to high concentrations of Berberine which is a bright yellow nitrogen-containing compound that acts a natural defense against pests and disease. Heavenly Bamboo, if you scrape off the root bark has yellow roots for the same reason as other members of the Barberry Family. In general Heavenly Bamboo is well regarded for its evergreen foliage, interesting bark on its trunks and its flowers and berries. The use of Nandina fronds and berries in holiday dried arrangements is a common thing around the region and they definitely are a great alternative if you cannot get Holly.  Fortunately, the newer hybrids such as Obsession, Blush Pink, Flirt, Lemon-Lime, Cool Glow, Tuskin Flame and, Twilight have all been bred and selected to not have the two biggest problems with Nandina. This is where this article takes a turn, because I now have to talk about the bad side of Heavenly Bamboo. Firstly, a distinction has to be made, older varieties like the ones in the included photographs are of the old types, and may not even have a specific variety. Older Heavenly Bamboo installations can be found all over Fayetteville and some of them may even be wild types that were planted or escaped and formed their own colony. Older varieties can aggressively sucker and produce large numbers of offsets allowing them to crowd out competition. This problem alone is why Heavenly Bamboo is classified as an Invasive plant by numerous groups in North Carolina. The berries these Nadina’s produce are viable and their bright color makes them a tempting snack to animals, birds and small children. The problem is that they are highly toxic to birds, cats, dogs and livestock. Not even Pigs can eat the berries which should give you more than enough reason to not plant old school Nandinas nor allow existing stands of them to remain. The dangerous ingredient in question is Hydrogen Cyanide, and some of you who read this undoubtedly know how bad that is. Nandinas are responsible for killing a lot of North American Songbirds who mistook their berries for an easy meal and Cedar Waxwings were hit noticeably hard. The odd balance there is that when Heavenly Bamboo blooms in spring the pretty flowers are often crawling with various types of bees because the bees are immune to the poison or, the poison is not present in the nectar and pollen. I am not sure this is an acceptable tradeoff for a plant that can kill wild birds and also can easily escape captivity. The good news is that modern hybrids have been selected and bred not to produce berries however the stability of that breeding and selection under field conditions is still worthy of debate because; nature finds a way. Now personally, I have a few of the old school Nandinas that were planted on the property by my Great Grand Parents in the late 70’s if not early 80’s. Before any of you get the pitchforks and torches out over that revelation, I cut off and dispose of the berries so songbirds aren’t harmed and also the population of Nandinas has been reduced to two specimens that are managed. They haven’t gone colonial and honestly this works for me but I also understand not everyone will bother to undertake this kind of management which also includes making sure there are alternate food sources for wild birds that feed on berries in the property I own. It’s more work than you might expect but having a specimen or two to use as a cautionary tale is how we got this article. As a final note for this post, you will see Nandinas sold in nurseries and garden centers, these are usually hybrids selected to be less of a problem. Always check the tag to see what variety you are getting and if it’s not a cultivar you recognize or it just says Nandina domestica don’t buy it.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  All parts of this plant are inedible and toxic due to a compound called Hydrogen Cyanide.

 

 

When & What to Harvest: When the berries ripen and have a good red color you can harvest them for dried arrangements along with the foliage but you might have to spray them with something like Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane to preserve them. Do NOT eat any part of this plant.

 

Related Plants: There are many hybrids of this plant that have selectively bred out the bad traits…in theory.

 

Recipe:

-None, this plant is toxic if eaten.

 

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nandina-domestica/

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

Unfortunately you can still find hybrids of this plant at garden centers and nurseries.

 

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 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.

 

Spring Plants:

Elephant Garlic

Soft Neck Garlic

Egyptian Walking Onion

Arugula, Astro

Salad Mix

Kale-ypso Mix

Lettuce, Romaine Parris Island

Corn, Glass Gem

 

Plants Coming Soon:

Yellow Onions

Spineless Prickly Pear

Formosa Lilies

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

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 (1): Black Rabbit’s Foot Fern

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is February 28^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. If you can’t make it to the City Market come on down to the North South Brewery Market which is at 304 Williams Street (Right off West Russel Street), between 1pm and 5pm every Saturday.

 

Egyptian Spinach

Note from the Author: This plant has never been covered on the blog before.

 

 

Notice the seed pod in the middle of the picture, this is about as big as they get.

The tiny yellow flowers are pretty, but not present enough to bother with. The pollinators still dig them.

Note the shape of the leaves.

This plant which was not grown optimally is lanky and loose but it's foliage is no less edible.

 

 

Common Name: Egyptian Spinach

 

Other Common Names: Molokhiya, Jute Mallow, Jew’s Mallow, Mallow Leaves, Nalita Jute, Tossa Jute, Mloukheyeh, West African Sorrel

 

Botanical Family: Malvaceae (The Hibiscus Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Corchorus olitorius

 

Description & Habitat:  It is unlikely that you will find this plant in the wilds of North Carolina as it is an introduced species. However it is possible you will find it in yards, old farms and in places where Jute was cultivated for the purposes of making rope. Egyptian Spinach is generally grown as a annual and on average the plant can grow to about five feet tall unless intentionally grown for the purposes of making fiber for ropes at which it can be up to thirteen feet tall. The leaves of this plant are borne in an alternate arrangement and are roughly elliptical in shape with a serrated margin and small thin spurs facing inward towards the stem. The flowers of this plant are tiny and yellow and seem to open sometime in the morning. Seed pods look a bit like a tiny okra pod but they only get an inch or three long and may curve at the tip. Overall this plant essentially looks like a weed despite its numerous useful traits.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  This plant has no toxicity

 

When & What to Harvest: The leaves and young seed pods are edible. Generally the leaves are what you want as they can be used fresh or dried as a tea or a soup thickener. The seeds even when mature are also edible though small.

 

Related Plants: White Jute (C. calsularis), is the other plant that supplies the fibers to make Jute Twine.

 

Recipe:  Normally I post one of my recipes here but I found one that looks so good that I’m sharing a link

https://harmonyvalleyfarm.com/recipes/stewed-egyptian-spinach-with-north-african-spices/

 

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://www.kikkoman.com/en/cookbook/glossary/moroheiya.html

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://www.southernexposure.com/products/molokhiya-egyptian-spinach/

 

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 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.

 

 

Fresh Produce:

Figs, Magnolia

Peppers, Banana Drop Hybrid

 

Summer Vegetables:

Nightshade Greens, Gbognome

Nightshade Greens, West African Njama

 

Autumn Vegetables:

Collards ‘Green Glaze’

 

Herbs:

Chives

Egyptian Onions

 

Flowers:

Flowering Tobacco

 

Plants Coming Soon:

TBA

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

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 (1): Japanese Aralia

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is August 30^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.