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J blue

Bunnytrix Hopper posing prettily in front of my wall of Melothria pendula (native cucumber).

Also caught her munching on milkweed. Has anyone ever heard of a bunny eating milkweed? I thought it was poisonous.

@jblue@mastodon.world All Asclepias have edible shoots in spring. I'm trying to grow them here just for that. So far the slug damage is very high because they didn't adapt to our European slugs.

@malterod do be careful. ❤️ There are tons of edible weedy plants from NA that won’t poison you that are less susceptible to slugs if you’d rather hear about them.

@jblue@mastodon.world I'd love to hear which ones you recommend. As far as I know, native people on your continent have eaten several species in this genus and there is evidence that the glycosides denature through cooking, right? I eat too many new plants on a regular basis not to be careful - but first I need to successfully grow them, then sample small, then research more etc. I'm far away from eating this plant in any quantity.

@malterod this is a non-exhaustive list of the best tasting very weedy edible plants of North America: 😊
Allium tricoccum
Amaranthus cruentus
Asimina (trees form colonies)
Boehmeria cylindrica
Chenopodium nuttalliae
Desmodium
Helianthus tuberosus
Melothria pendula
Passiflora incarnata
Pediomelum esculentum
Physalis grisea
Rhus (any edible species, the root suckers are edible)
Rubus occidentalis
Rumex (any edible species)
Tradescantia (any species)
Vitis rotundofolia

Thanks! I'm growing around half of that list or very similar species in the same genus, but several of them I've never heard of before. I didn't know the root suckers of Rhus were edible. You have to tell me more about this.
I'm growing Rhus typhina, Rhus aromatica, Rhus glabra and have some seedlings going of Rhus trilobata this year. I've been interested in them for the fruit / spice mostly, but never heard of the suckers being edible. They are all very prolific growers here so that would be interesting to learn more about.

@malterod @malterod I’ve only made “lemonade” out of the berries and eaten them raw. But apparently, the root suckers should still be soft when you collect them and you steam them. Rhus glabra is what grows locally and I collected the seeds too early last year and they weren’t viable. I’m going hiking regularly this month so maybe I can try to make vegetative cuttings. It grows up everywhere along the sides of roads but not in a convenient place to stop.

@malterod do you have greenhouses that stay above 10C in winter? If so, I can recommend some subtropical/tropical plants for perennial fruit and veg 😊

@jblue@mastodon.world I'm a temperate climate species gardener. I do grow some bordering on subtropical or warm Mediterranean that normally don't work here but might work with some breeding efforts.

@jblue What a cute bunny…looks like it’s trying to hide behind the milkweed. 😁

@jblue varies in toxicity and small amounts may not hurt rabbits.