Won't Get Fooled Again! (Maybe?)

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. Have you have had that moment where you realized quite surprised that the plants you thought you knew were living under a false identity? For years you might have sworn up and down that this specimen plant you were proud of was a specific plant species and had no inclination to believe otherwise? Well we all get bamboozled, some times the tagging on the plant is accidentally switched or the wrong seed or cutting ends up in the wrong stretch of starting soil. Maybe another customer at the nursery moved your plant or the tag is flat missing but the plant is with a batch of others that look just like it so you presume things. You put in effort year after year and your plant is doing just fine and then it delivers a knock-down whammy, that shrub you thought was a three-spine barberry is actually a wintergreen barberry or that grape vine you thought was going to be scuppernongs turns out to be muscadines. This happens a lot in the industry as any number of variables can combined to turn your efforts in making sure your plants are perfectly labelled into a hilarious mess. In the test gardens I ran into just that sort of problem just a few days ago. A few years back a fig bush was donated to the gardens, the owner said it was Brown Turkey Fig which is a common but very large fruit producing variety that is super-easy to cultivate.

I mean it is brown-ish amirite?

 The catch was the plant was in a large 18” diameter pot and I had just three days to come and get it because the owner was moving and could not take it. So, I went and retrieved it and maintained it for a winter before planting it in the backyard. That same year I had also bought two Brown Turkey Figs from Lowes in 1-gallon pots earlier on but thought the older one would produce sooner while the younger two got situated. The big one produced, the two small ones just grew and got bigger.

 

Ficus carica 'Magnolia' fruit in perspective

Ficus carica 'Brown Turkey' fruit in perspective.

Well little did I know both I and the other prior owner had been bamboozled, you see when all three figs finally fruited at the same time this year I noticed something very unusual, the smaller Brown Turkey’s fruit were all a dark purple with brown tinges, what was coming off the larger older plant was more tan-brown and while of similar size the flesh was pink whereas the brown turkey flesh was more red colored. This posed an odd quandary as I pondered if environment, siting, irrigation or other factors played a role in the difference. As it turns out it was none of that there is a variety of fig called Magnolia, that looks identical to a Brown Turkey until it produces fruit which is give or take the same size but is a differing color and flavor. If it were not for the fruit, I would have thought I was growing three of the same and instead my fig orchard was more diverse than I ever imagined. In case you are wondering this means the following are now growing in the test gardens.

-          White Ishchia

-          Chicago Hardy

-          Black Mission

-          Celeste

-          Kadota

-          Magnolia

-          Brown Turkey (2x)

From top to bottom; Ficus carica 'White Ischia' fruit, F. carica 'Chicago Hardy' fruit, F. carica 'Celeste' fruit.

Now some might be upset by this surprise but not I, you see this just adds to the variety, and lowers the chance some pest or disease can come in and wreck my crops wholesale. Monoculture is a bad thing in backyard farming because it leaves you open for problems such as soil nutrient depletion, and soil structure damage. But the real moral of the story here in this late post (sorry for the delay) is that when it comes to plant labels you don’t always get what you want but some times you do get what you need. The magnolia fig has turned out to be a great addition, and likewise when the Kadota gets big enough to fruit I look forward to finding out if it’s label was legitimate as well. Gardening is both an adventure and a fair exchange, you get out of it what you put in, but also be prepared for the plants you count on to surprise you at times by doing the delightfully unexpected. On that note I urge you to check in next Friday, I’ll be talking about the pursuit of rare plants, and how a mere common weed that no one gives the time of day has become a modern ‘cultured’ garden perennial despite having the same botanical Latin name as it’s weed counterpart. Now some garden photos!

Platycodon grandiflora 'Astra White' Balloon Flower with a tiny mason bee inside.

Hibiscus moscheutos 'Texas Star' with a very hungry grasshopper eating the petals.

Asclepias cruassivica, Scarlet Milkweed blooms up close.

Agriope aurantia, calligraphy spider, seen near my AC unit.

Gossypium hirsuitum 'Mississippi Brown', MB cotton is an antique variety with pretty white flowers and unique brown-lint cotton. Many doubt when I say the leaves are a show unto themselves, here's the proof.

A cluster of puffball mushrooms, I have not identified the precise type. These fungi were growing in a raise bed next to my Sungold tomatoes.

Lantana camara, Common Lantana; the lantana isn't the interesting part look close near the center of the picture and you will see a Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris spp.) that stood nice and still to get it's photo taken.

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:

Basil, Thai: 3” - $3.00

Basil, Mirihani: 3” - $3.00

Butterfly Weed: 4” - $5.00

Santolina, Etruscan: 5” - $5.00

Valerian: 3” - $3.00

Flowers:

Coneflower, Feeling Pink: 3” - $4.00

Coneflower, Pow Wow White: 3” – $4.00

Salvia, New Dimension Blue: 5” - $5.00

Fruits & Vegetables:

Peppers, Special: 3” – $3.00

Peppers, Ornamental ‘Black Magic’: 4” - $4.00

Coming Soon:

Coneflower ‘Green Twister’

Rose Mallow ‘Luna Red’

Rose Mallow ‘Disco Belle Pink’

Rose Mallow ‘Disco Belle White’

Common Mallow ‘Zebrina’

Heuchera Americana ‘Marvelous Marble’

Rue, Marbled

Sage, Common

Santolina, Etruscan

Foxglove, Camelot Lavender

Foxglove, Camelot Rose

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 fifteenth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 9th of August. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

Ok it's now monsoon season

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. For this episode I am going to answer a question I often get in regards to the test gardens. I often tell visitors that I intentionally plant rather poisonous plants besides non-poisonous ones because it keeps browsers honest. Of course, I get asked what I have that is poisonous and typically I’ll just generally gesture at the gardens and say half of everything you see. This is both my way of being humorous about it and making a philosophical point, you see some of the most poisonous plants known also have the most attractive foliage or beautiful flowers. Danger comes in many forms and knowing what is and isn’t safe to eat in general is a very important part of being a skilled gardener. So today I am going to show all of you some of the more obvious culprits for poisonous plants and tell you why I keep these plants around. I think you’ll enjoy the trip and I will also include a list of common poisonous garden plants at the end.

 

 Rhubarb – Rheum rhabarbarum

You know there's a saying about never touching another man’s rhubarb and it’s true, the leaves of rhubarb contain several poisonous substances but the one you have to worry about is oxalic acid. Technically the stems have it too but it’s in lower concentrations and the boiling of the stems in several changes of water flushes it out.

 

Pokeweed – Phytolacca americana

Pokeweed is quite poisonous and becomes more so as it matures, the highest concentration of its poisonous compounds are found in the roots, stems, leaves and berries literally in that order from most to least. Even then the berries are pretty toxic, and it can kill by way of respiratory paralysis. Even so its flowers bring in the pollinators and its fruit is eaten by wild birds with no issue. I keep a few of these plants around because they are pretty, and their large leaves can act as a shield against the hot southern sun.

 

Carolina Lupine – Lupine perennis

Who knew lupines were poisonous, but apparently the foliage is especially after they flower which makes them more of a threat to grazing animals than people. Even with that fact who could possibly turn down those incredible blue flowers which bring in the pollinators and the fact that lupines are a legume so they also fix nitrogen in the soil. It’s a win-win, unless you make a salad out of them.

 

Grecian Foxglove – Digitalis lanata

Much like it’s more well-known perennial/biennial cousin Digitalis purpurea, it too contains the compound digitalin which is a cardiac glycoside. Common foxglove is also what made VanGogh a little bit crazier but that aside all members of the digitalis family including the hybrid Digiplexis contain some level of digitalin and thus are considered poisonous.

 

Purple Hyacinth Bean – Leblab purpureus (aka Dolches leblab)

I bet you didn’t see this one coming; yes, purple hyacinth beans are poisonous. The beans themselves contain cyanogenic glycosides which convert in the stomach to hydrogen cyanide. Yet this danger can be averted if the beans and their pods are cooked in several changes of water. It is because of this boiling process that the two most well-known food products (tofu and tempeh) made of Purple hyacinth beans are possible. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked somewhat like swiss chard, and the roots can be boiled or baked. Not bad for a garden plant that toughly demands you respect its seeds.

Rue – Ruta graveolens

Disclaimer alert, I happen to like rue, it’s the one perennial member of the carrot family in common cultivation aside from fennel that I find useful in cooking. Despite what I like, I do know that consumption of large quantities of rue is toxic as its extracts are already known to be mutagenic and hepatoxic. As if that were not bad enough the sap on the skin can cause phytophotodermatitis, thankfully cooking the stuff neutralizes the danger.

Castor Bean – Ricinus communis

You all knew this would be here, castor bean is that exotic plant with the large seeds with crazy swirly patterns on them calling out to you with it’s promises of large crazy looking plants with massive tropical foliage, oh and promises of candy and power. However, the seeds of this plant contain ricin which is incredibly poisonous as roughly four to eight seeds are enough to kill an adult human. The poison is actually a defense mechanism to prevent animals from eating the seeds and is probably the plant’s dark way of getting a nice new lump of fertilizer.

 

Angel’s Trumpet – Datura metel

It’s always the pretty ones that are dangerous and boy does Datura prove the point as it contains strong concentrations of tropane alkaloids that are flatly fatal to humans and livestock.  The trade off for the risk is that it’s easy to grow, tends to divert horn worms away from other nightshades, it’s evening blooming and scented and the seed is super easy to collect.

 

Flowering Tobacco – Nicotiana sylvestris

Technically this flowering tobacco is believed to be one of the parents of smoking tobacco, but if you tried to smoke it or rub against it while the foliage was wet, you’d regret both. This ornamental tobacco can still give you green tobacco fever due to a contact overdoes of nicotine when the foliage is wet. Like wise smoking it, eh lets just say you’d be worse off for a few days and leave it at that. While flowering tobacco isn’t exactly as toxic as other entries it’s worthy of note because without a label or tag it looks just like smoking tobacco.

Known Poisonous Plants

Rhododendron – Rhododendron sp.

Lily of the Valley - Convallaria majalis

Hydrangea – Hydrangea macrophylla

Daffodil – Narcissus sp.

Foxglove – Digitalis purpurea

Larkspur – Delphinium consolida

Oleander – Nerium oleander

Purple Nightshade – Atropa belladonna

Mountain Laurel – Kalmia latifolia

Mistletoe – Phoradendron flavescens

Monkshood – Aconitum sp.

Morning Glory – Ipomoea spp 

English Ivy – Hedera helix

Lantana – Lantana camara

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:

Agastache, Golden Jubilee: 3” - $3.00

Aloe, Vera: 4” - $4.00

Basil, Sweet: 3” - $3.00

Basil, Thai: 3” - $3.00

Basil, Mirihani: 3” - $3.00

Etruscan Santolina: 3” - $4.00

Sage, Common: 3” - $3.00

Valerian: 3” - $3.00

Flowers:

Coneflower, Feeling Pink: 3” - $4.00

Coneflower, Pow Wow White: 3” – $4.00

Lupine, Carolina: 3” - $4.00

Mexican Sunflower: 4” - $4.00

Salvia, New Dimension Blue: 3” - $3.00

Salvia, Silver: 3” - $4.00

Fruits & Vegetables:

Cotton, Mississippi Brown: 3” - $4.00

Okra, Red-Burgundy: 3” - $3.00

Peppers, Special: 3” – $4.00

Peppers, Assorted: 3” - $1.00

Tomato, Assorted: 3” - $1.00

Coming Soon:

[TBA soon]

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 fourteenth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 26th of July. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.