I was very pleased to be invited to give a talk organised by the Curtis Museum in Alton, Hampshire, UK, not far from where I grew up in Eastleigh, Hants.
In my book I introduce the Hampshire towns of Alresford (watercress), Selborne (Gilbert White and sea kale) and Alton as the “Hampshire perennial vegetable triangle” or the UK hotspot of perennial vegetable domestication. Alton is included as the home of botanist William Curtis, who was Praefectus Horti at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London in the 1770s. He was also a friend of Gilbert White! He wrote a pamphlet, ‘Directions for the culture of the Crambe maritima or Sea Kale, for the use of the Table’ in 1799 to bolster efforts in introducing it as a market vegetable.
See the album of pictures from a wander around Alton with Sheila John of the Curtis museum, edimentals tour of the Allen Gallery garden and later talk there! See the album below!
Other related posts:
On the bus between Winchester and Alton, a sign pointing towards Gilbert White’s House (and also Jane Austen’s)!
Wandering around Alton with my host Sheila John, a charity shop with a Hosta plant for sale…
On the road where William Curtis the botanist lived, a Wisteria in full flower…had to resist having a taste of the flowers ;)
William Curtis’ house and Sheila John of the Curtis Museum
The chalk River Wey with wild watercress
The next talk after mine was about the Watercress Line!
Watercress had in the past been cultivated on the Flood Meadows near the centre of Alton…
The Flood Meadows in Alton where watercress had been cultivated in the past
The Flood Meadows in Alton where watercress had been cultivated in the past
Brooklime, Veronica beccabunga in the flood meadows
The Curtis Museum
The Curtis Museum
Entrance to the Curtis Museum
The venue for the talk, the Allen Gallery (after artist W. H: Allen); see https://hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/allen-gallery
I lead an edimentals walk for a half hour in the garden before the talk. Sheila John showed me around beforehand and we found a number of excellent edibles :)
A little herb garden!
Viola spp.
Tulips out!
One of the staff had brought a Hosta plant along to my talk ;)
I was shown the collection of information about William Curtis the Botanist…
I prepared a couple of slides specially as I was at the Curtis Museum, this included this picture I took at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London where Curtis was demonstrator of plants and Praefectus Horti from 1771-1777! The Curtis Border at Chelsea celebrates some of the plants we associate with the man and with reference on the plant label to his Botanical Magazine! It seems that Curtis introduced day lily Hemerocallis fulva (one of the 80 in my book) to the UK :)
Slide showing the front of Curtis’ sea kale pamphlet, some interesting quotes from it and a picture of a sea kale pot and sign telling about the pamphlet at Chelsea!
Mainly for my friend the Extreme Chili Guy, Chris Fowler, who reportedly maintains a collection of over 1,000 chilis in South Wales, here’s an album of pictures from a little exhibition showing off the diversity of chilis at Chelsea Physic Garden this autumn!
Explosive Ember
Gelbe Kirschen (Yellow cherries)
Spaghetti
Volcano
Purple Tiger
Fish (variegated leaves)
Elephant’s Trunk
Umbrella
Cherry Bomb
Jamaican Hot
Carolina Reaper (renowned as the world’s hottest in 2013)….and I used some of this in ny dinner two nights ago…but it was a bit disappointing. Do they lost a lot of their strength after drying and storing – mine was about 2 years old
Last Monday I arrived in London for a work /family trip and despite a 2-3 hour delayed flight due to fog, I was able to have two hours at Chelsea Physic Garden before closing time at 4 pm.
So, here’s some pictures of mostly unusual edible plants spotted during my visit!
One of my favourite gardens…
The flight was 3 hours delayed due to fog in London, clearing as we arrived
Red sun glare in the background from the fog-free English channel!
Windsor Castle
There’s a garden of Unusual Vegetables at Chelsea, but the real unusual edibles are to be found in other parts of the garden in the systematic beds and other special collections. The following pictures show edible plants I found during my visit!
Hydrophyllums propagated for sale? Great North American forest garden edibles, known originally as Indian salad.
Solanum aviculare, Kangaroo Apple has edible fruits eaten fresh and dried when completely ripe. I saw poroporo growing wild in New Zealand years ago..
Aralia californica…these seemed to have been propagated by cuttings..
The impressive olive tree at Chelsea!
One of several ornamental varieties of Gingko available from specialist nurseries. This is “Majestic Butterflies” for obvious reasons!
Citrus aurantium “Seville Orange”
Spilanthes acmella, toothache plant…has an intense citrous flavour which numbs the tongue as though you’ve been to the dentist!
Young autumn shoots of artichoke / cardoon
This pigeon was eating the peppery berries of Zanthoxylum americanum (prickly ash), a North American relation of Szechuan pepper. It has been noted as an alternative to the latter, but it seems mainly to have been used medicinally by the Native Americans
Zanthoxylum americanum in the foreground
Zanthoxylum americanum seed
Zanthoxylum ailanthoides is from Japan, but Z. piperitum is the main species used to make sanshō, Japanese pepper. Nevertheless, the seed and young leaves (ki no mé) of Z. ailanthoides can be used in a similar way. A regional nickname is tara,and in fact, its young shoots are often mistaken for the true tara (Aralia elata) by gatherers of wild plants.
Zanthoxylum ailanthoides in the foreground
Carduus nutans: the stems, once dethorned, are delicious!
Giant Dahlia imperialis, not one of the best edible Dahlias, but the flowers are presumably edible
Ripe fruits of Solanum aviculare, known as kangaroo apple or poroporo in Australia and NZ respectively
Urospermum dalechampii and other relatives are important wild foraged plants in the Mediterranean countries
Peltaria turkmena: an edible woodlander in the cabbage family from west Asia…the young leaves and flowers are eaten.
Crambe cordifolia or ornamental sea kale should be grown more as the taste of the spring blanched leaves is similar to sea kale and it is much more hardy!
Abutilon grandiflora is from tropical East Africa, most if not all members of the mallow family are edible
Lavatera arborea “Variegata”, also in the Mallow family
Althaea cannabina in the Mallow family
Oxalis articulata var. alba
Impatiens tinctoria is best known as a dye plant
The young shoots of Asparagus acutifolius are reckoned to be gourmet food in the Mediterranean countries
Fuggles Hops
Oca, Oxalis tuberosa
Tea plants ;)
Allium tuberosum in seed
…with Solanum sisymbriifolium…
Chenopodium berlandieri (huauzontle)
Perilla
Crimson-flowered broad bean
Crimson-flowered broad bean
Angelica archangelica
Nasturtium roses :)
Cardoon
Tetrapanax papyrifer in flower, rice paper plant in the collection of fibre plants
Flowering Boehmeria nivea or ramie in the collection of fibre plants
Broussonettia papyrifera (paper mulberry) in the collection of fibre plants – it also has edible fruits!
Araucaria angustifolia (Brazilian Monkey Puzzle)
Persicaria virginiana “Compton’s Form”
Tricyrtis (toad lilies) – edible spring shoots. It would be nice to know if the flowers are also edible?
Arctium lappa (burdock)
Hablitzia tamnoides in the systematic beds…no mention of it as an edible plant :(
Hablitzia
Hablitzia
Flowering perennial buckwheat
Rumex scutatus
Gingko
Smelly Gingko fruit
Gingko
Smelly Gingko fruit
Fedia cornucopiae, African valerian is a great edimental and salad crop
Lilium lancifolium “Splendens” – this is cultivated for its edible bulbs in the Far East…the flowers are also edible!
Rhus triloba, lemonade bush
Aster macrophyllus is one of the edible woodland Asters from North America…young shoots
The last flowers on Big-leaf Aster, Aster macrophyllus
Oplopanax horridus from Western North America is found in the understory of old growth forest and has edible spring shoots
Tulbaghia violacea, Society Garlic
Tulbaghia violacea, Society Garlic
As usual there were several wrongly identified Alliums
At the end of April I will be talking at the Curtis museum in Alton….I did my homework here! At least 3 of the plants in the Curtis border are in my book
Hemerocallis fulva from Japan in the Curtis border
Tradescantia virginiana in the Curtis border
Trachystemon orinetalis; see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=1269
Hosta
There’s a great exhibit currently showing off the diversity of chilis
Macropiper excelsa from New Zealand…has various uses in the kitchen from tea to a beer flavouring, the fruit are tasty and the seeds can be used as a pepper substitute. The leaves have also been used..
Fuchsia excorticata yields an important pre-European edible berry in New Zealand.
A November cowslip, Primula veris
New Zealand spinach growing as you might find it in New Zealand in the shade of coastal woods
Houttuynia cordata
Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licquorice)
Tulbaghia violacea var. robustior
Toothpick plant, Ammi visnaga…showing its product and according to pfaf.org the leaves are also edible
The impressive bay tree at Chelsea
The impressive bay tree at Chelsea
The impressive bay tree at Chelsea
Rumex lunaria from the Canary Islands
Stevia in flower
Fuchsia paniculata fruit
Begonia soli-mutata, Sun Tan Begonia! The common name comes from the fact that the color of the leaf will change depending on it’s exposure to bright light. Edible flowers.
Impatiens auricoma x bicaudata is probably edible
Impatiens auricoma x bicaudata is probably edible
Dodonaea viscosa, hopbush, at one time used as hops in beer..
Plantago major “Atropurpurea” or “Rubrifolia”
Umbilicis luteus, a southern European navelwort has edible leaves
Campanula incurva
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
