Other Offerings
Plants are priced as
shown below. All
plants
are shipped Priority Mail. Unless otherwise
noted, plants are
well established in 2½"
square
pots that are 3½" deep to provide our customers with larger,
healthier plants. NOTE: Number of days from transplanting
until harvest is only for comparison purposes between varieties. Actual
number of days varies with location and growing conditions.
| CUSTOM
GROWING: Don't see that "must have" variety in our regular
offerings? We're happy to do custom sowings of unlisted
varieties, often at no extra charge! But you must order early
enough to
allow the plants to reach shipping size. More
Information |
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Comfrey
3 root
cuttings
for $3.00 (Shipped Bare Root, shipping counts as 1 plant)
(Symphytum
sp) Perennial plants
ordinarily to about 2 feet; tall inflorescences to 4 feet. Very
upright,
slightly prickly-leaved herb that blooms in an attractive medium
purple. A Eurasian native that has a long tradition of use as a
healing
herb and dye plant, but its medicinal use is contoversial and some
studies have shown possible
dangers with using this herb internally. Therefore we offer it
here
only for the purpose of either ornamental use in the garden, or else
growing for the harvest of its leaves for mulch, which is
recommended. Our strain doesn't spread by seed, so it stays
within bounds in the garden. Can easily be propagated by planting
root
cuttings in
the garden, so it can readily be multiplied if a larger stand is
desired. Eradication isn't easy, so plant it where you know
you'll want
it to remain. Comfrey leaves may be cut several times a season
(usually
2-4
times from late spring until early fall), with the leaves
constituting
a
superlative mulch or compost-starter, or fermented in water and applied
as a liquid plant food. This crop has been grown as
livestock
feed for a very long time on the chalky soils in some areas of the
United Kingdom, where its quality and productivity are known to
rival
those of alfalfa. To us, comfrey is an under-utilized and
undervalued
crop that deserves to be in more gardens. We ship three root
cuttings, just making top-growth.
Yacon or
Bolivian Sunroot $3.50
(Smallanthus
sonchifolius) South American relative of Dahlia and Jerusalem
Artichoke. Produces delicious sweet-potato-like tubers, weighing
as
much as 3 lbs, in 3-5 months from sowing, outyielding potatoes where
well grown. The plants reach 4-5 feet in height, occasionally bearing
small daisies, but blooming is rare except in really long-season
climates. The fascinating plant produces two types of
tubers--propagation tubers, at the center of the root mass, which can
be divided and replanted in the spring, and the edible tubers, which
produce no buds and therefore cannot reproduce. The flavor is
likened
by some to apple combined with celery. We find them to be
somewhat
reminiscent of Jerusalem Artichoke, but milder-tasting and
jucier. The
roots contain inulin and are of benefit to diabetics. Also
reputed to
possess anti-oxidant and probiotic qualities. Grow in full sun,
in rich
soil with abundant moisture. Potted and growing in our regular shipping
pots.
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Jerusalem
Artichokes 1 lb, $11.00,
postpaid; 2 lb, $19.50,
postpaid; 3 lb, $28.00,
postpaid
(Helianthus
tuberosum) Perennial -
Redoubtable source of reliable, delicious
tubers, yielding a crop under almost any conditions! Grow in full
sun
to partial light shade. Our variety hasn't a name, that we know
of, but
was given to us several years ago by an Amish grower. The tubers
get
quite large. White-skinned, sweet and delicious. The Jerusalem artichoke root reportedly is
even used to
produce a spirit called "Topinambur" in Germany. The plants produce somewhat rough-looking
stalks to 6 feet, surmounted in late-summer to early-fall by bright
sunflower-yellow
single daisies, in sizable clusters, usually fairly showy.
Recommended. (Price reflects $6.00 per pound plus S/H.
Jerusalem
Artichokes must usually be shipped earlier than live plants, and will
in all cases be shipped separately and immediately upon receipt of
order.)
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