Comments on Ecological Gardening: All Kinds of Nightshade

Thanks for this interesting article. I was just t...

2011-08-07T17:28:40.993-07:00

Thanks for this interesting article. I was just this weekend at a workshop with Sam Thayer. He shared his research that nightshades (the solanums) are eaten as a prized cooked green all around the world when they're young and tender.

He regularly eats the young greens as well and ate and shared some with participants in the walk yesterday. He has shared the cooked greens all

I saw a lot of wild datura when I lived in New Mex...

2011-07-26T20:57:58.546-07:00

I saw a lot of wild datura when I lived in New Mexico, in the high desert country. Beautiful, but not what people want to have in their gardens. Someone here in IL gave us some thornapple seeds a few years ago, which turned out to be datura. They are beautiful but now we consider them weeds. The seeds are dangerously thorny, and we don't want anyone to get hurt. For the same reason I don&

As I mentioned, datura was one of Renoir's fa...

2011-07-23T08:28:35.210-07:00

As I mentioned, datura was one of Renoir's favorite flowers, and you are right, it is also knowsn as Jimson weed. I think he must have liked its beautiful trumpet shape, that hangs down gracefully. The ones I have seen have been on cultivated, three-like plants, and covered with blooms are spectacularly beautiful. I have photographed white,yellow,pale pink blooms.
Thanks for the very

Hi Jean, lucky you! Yes, that confusion is easy to...

2011-07-23T06:31:52.494-07:00

Hi Jean, lucky you! Yes, that confusion is easy to do--I've done it myself, and might again, without my wildflower book.

Adrian, Those look-alike plants can be tricky. Yes...

2011-07-22T19:13:58.227-07:00

Adrian, Those look-alike plants can be tricky. Yesterday, I decided to beef up my cut flowers for the house by going to cut some wildflowers -- rudbeckia hirta and queen anne's lace -- that I had noticed growing in my neighborhood near wear a stream crosses under the road. As I cut the Queen Anne's Lace, I realized that they were actually some other plant with very similar flowers. Today,

Hi Don, That is a very good question. Wikipedia m...

2011-07-22T14:50:13.051-07:00

Hi Don,

That is a very good question. Wikipedia mentions early American colonists confusing the plants--but they seem awfully different to me. Let me know if you find anything out.

Hope your garden is growing well.

Solanum dulcamara--yes, it's spread all...

2011-07-22T14:38:12.964-07:00

Solanum dulcamara--yes, it's spread all over the place around here. And I spend way too much of my time trying to get rid of it.

But I thought the "bittersweet" reference in the common name referred to the semi-woody, climbing stems. Someone, I assumed, must have thought the plant bore a resemblance to bittersweet (Celastrus scandens, or it's invasive