Last post I wrote about how spring is in the air. And it is! We’ve been getting lots of needed rain recently, so this spring the wildflowers are popping up all over the place. In fact, we don't mow in many parts of our yard because we want to enjoy the blanket of vibrant colors that cover our lawn.
I'm always amazed by these native plants and how beautiful they are. People call them weeds and I have to laugh because I see some very expensive weeds for sale in the nurseries around town! Anyway, a few days ago our girls were over at a neighbors house and discovered one of the flowers when pulled had a very garlicky odor. They came home all excited because they had seen the same flowers in our yard. Em said that our friends called it wild garlic.
Today they went out hiking along the far side of our property and came back carrying these pretty flowers.
Sure enough, they have a very pungent garlicky odor along the cut stems. This made us question whether or not they could be eaten. We decided to do a little research and discovered they are actually part of the allium family. This one in particular is Allium Drummondii, also known as Drummond’s onion.
The Native Americans used to gather these and use the bulb that is found at the end of the plant as an onion. They would cook it with their meats. It needs to be cooked, apparently for awhile, because it contains a substance that could upset your stomach if eaten raw.
So my girls have entered another page in their nature journal. We are constantly amazed by what our little piece of land provides homes for.
Do you have any favorite “weeds”?
Those look like my chives when they bloom! Very cool that they found them growing at their home!
ReplyDeleteI know, we were so excited to figure out what they were!
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