Garden Wisdom Blog

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) Chives have been in cultivation since at least the Middle Ages in Europe, and there are references to their use in ancient Rome, but primarily as a medicinal herb. They were used to treat sunburn and sore throat, and it was believed that they would increase blood pressure and act as a diuretic. As a culinary herb, they did not really catch on until the late 18th century. Bundles of dried chive flowers and leaves were hung in some central European households to ward off evil spirits. Chives are, of course, small members of the onion family,...

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) Asparagus has very few close botanical relatives in its own family, Asparagaceae. The name “asparagus” simply comes from the Latin botanical title, with its roots in Greek and the original Persian, asparag, meaning “shoots.” The asparagus we eat, of course, are actually the young shoots of a large perennial plant, harvested shortly after appearing above ground in the spring. The shoots issue forth from an underground stem (crown), and if left to mature, form a dense cloud of diaphanous green foliage. The fern-like leaves are actually modified stems called cladodes, which emerge from the crutches of true...

About Arugula Arugula is a low-growing member of the Brassica family that forms rosettes that resemble a cross between lettuce and dandelions. Its leaves have deep, round indentations reminiscent of oak leaves. These, as well as the flowers and seed pods are edible. Arugula grows naturally all around the Mediterranean, and has been collected since Roman times from the wild. It only really caught on as a salad green for garden cultivation in the early 1990s. Traditionally, arugula is yet another vegetable (as we shall see) thought to have aphrodisiac qualities. There are numerous varieties of Arugula to choose from....

Artichokes are heat-loving plants of the large family, Asteraceae. The genus Cynara includes eight other wild, thistle-like plants, including C. humilis, which was grown as a food crop in North Africa. Some people grow these plants for their splendid purple flower heads and striking foliage. The plants, with their silvery foliage, can grow to 3m (10’) or more! Their flowers can be up to 20cm (8”) in diameter, and are easily identifiable as giant relatives of the wild thistles that are common around the northern hemisphere. We grow them for the wonderful flavour of the scales that surround the flower...

Prior to the 18th century, scientists struggled to find conventions with which to categorize organisms. In the 1730s, the visionary Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus developed a system of taxonomy (called binomial nomenclature), which assigned Latin names to all living things. This conveniently allowed groups of similar plants and animals to be bundled according to their shared physical characteristics. His work has been adopted and adapted by biological scientists ever since, and is accepted across the globe. A marine biologist working in Helsinki can use this system and be understood by a botanist in Hanoi. The divisions work like this: A...