Sunny borders lend themselves well to fruit and vegetable growing, prairie-style planting, sun-loving herbaceous perennials and colourful summer … I love my perennials and will have to incorporate more of the edible ones. Do you like vegetables that can clear your sinus? Perennials have special pest and disease challenges because you can’t use crop rotation to minimize problems. Still, watch out for the ticks the deer bring into your yard. Take it easy, Crocodile Dundee! Grow in a shady border in moist loam, or naturalize beneath trees. Perennial vegetables, on the other hand, are planted once and the plant comes back year after year. “Thrives on neglect” is the magic phrase for me. The 10 best known edible perennials: 1. H. Montana and H. Sieboldii are the two favored varieties. Great article, Dawn! Alternately just let the plant do it’s thing..remember to keep a journal! thank-you! The young leaves are so tasty. To stop the deer from munching away at your trees all you need to do is blant a thorny vine or two about a foot and a half away from the base of the tree. There are many perennials crops that are known and loved by gardeners everywhere, including these ten common ones: But there are actually hundreds of perennial fruits and vegetables that will grow in temperate and warm climates like are found in North America! But many of them are not perennial in the strict sense of the word but annuals or biennials that self seed. Good to know we have camellia bushes too, but I have not made tea yet. There’s tons of it! I only see 10 of the 20 supposedly in this article and wonder where i click to get to the second page of vegetables from 11 to 20 ?????? Think I’ll plant some up against the trees between my yard & the neighbour’s & up against the fence on the other side. Does this apply to a specific variety of hosta, or are all varieties edible? Delicious, and doesn’t cook down to nothing, like real spinach does. Great Article. I do have a couple to add. Down here in TX my fennel is going on its second year with bunches of new bulbs growing from the original plant and my chard is starting its fourth year. Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier is the undisputed bible on this subject. You show a picture of fiddleheads but no mention. However, all the literature suggests that they will be perennial above about zone 9, in places with very mild winters. I can’t wait to have a garden! Here in Australia we take flowering as a sign that we will collect seed soon, not as a sign to disregard a plant. They do not dissolve quickly. What an exciting post! I got Gaia’s Garden as a gift and have been VERY slowly reading it but haven’t really dug in yet. Any help would be appreciated. (Asparagus is a good example of this.). Perennial seeds and plants can be hard to find, depending on where you live. I will not totally disregard it though. When do you harvest fiddleheads and how do you cook them. Whatever the origin of our neglect of these amazing plants, we shouldn’t ignore these useful and productive foods any longer. I wish you all adventure and success! Full disclosure, Click here to comment. We have been enjoying the early shoots of hosta in the spring for a few,up years now. 'Perennial Vegetables' 1 articles, 29 blogs. As for you Toni my dear, when a plant is about to make seeds(which you can harvest and dry and store instead of having to ever buy) the plant will change, it’s putting all it’s energy into reproducing. After a 20-year career in green building and environmental sustainability, chronic illness forced her to shift her expertise and passion from the public sphere to home and hearth. One big one is about regeneration: for the ostrich ferns, if you’re cutting off the fiddles, aren’t you just taking the plant before it grows into something that would look nice in your yard? Rude, and wishing the “dear” best of luck does nothing to counteract such poor manners. I took that as a sign to pull them. Get some bars of “Irish Spring Bar Soap”; put them in old white crew socks; attach them to the branches of the trees (or to the trunks) so they hang down or to stake in the vegetable/flower garden. Sylvetta, Perennial Arugula, Rucola selvatica, Wild Rocket $2.95 $2.95 Sold out Erba Stella, Minutina $2.95 $2.95 Only a few left! But others are less common, like Turkish rocket and black salsify. Some perennials, like Scarlet Runner beans, can be grown in pots on a balcony or patio, and transplanted later. Some perennials have strong flavors which many Americans are unaccustomed to. … Get the whole story behind SFF here. Many perennial vegetables are also beautiful, ornamental plants that can enhance your landscape. http://survivalgardener.com.