Apios americana, Campanula rapunculoides, etc

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Hello Folks,

I’m based in Minneapolis (5a), where there’s been a sudden uptick in intense residential herbicide applications by well-meaning folks “for the natives” and “for the pollinators” - because of the spread and tenacity of the creepy hellflower (creeping bellflower, Campanula rapunculoides). I am, with some self-imposed sense of urgency, trying to cultivate a demonstration garden heavy on edible (by humans and other foragers!) native perennials especially featuring plants that may hold their own against C. rapunculoides.

So I’m reaching out for species suggestions, and for related plant materials that you might be willing to share. In particular, I would love to trade for some diploid seeds of Apios americana as well as for any tubers (nativars, wild type, improved LSU, anything!).

Keep growing. These times sure demand adaptiveness!

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Eat those bellflowers! :grin: Seriously, creeping bellflower is delicious, and once you start pulling it out every day to munch on it, you’ll be disappointed to discover how quickly you can eliminate a patch that you now value and wish would stay. :wink:

Do you want sunchoke tubers? I could trade you some sunchoke tubers, if that’s a species that interests you. I have Beaver Valley Purple and several phenotypes from the Joseph Lofthouse landrace.

Sunchokes can definitely hold their own against anything (and they’re delicious, and as a warning, they have just as much weed potential as creeping bellflower :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: ). I’ve read that hopniss and sunchokes often grow together in the wild, so if you’re hoping to grow hopniss, I bet that species would be delighted to have sunchokes in the polyculture, as well.

I’ve been growing sunchokes and garlic together this year, and they seem happy together. Garlic is so easy that it’s practically a cheat code – just stick it in the ground, and you’re golden. I bet any alliums would work well in that polyculture – walking onions, for instance, might be a great choice.

I’ve read that sunchokes are mildly allelopathic (which doesn’t seem to affect either alliums or legumes, as far as I can tell), so it’s possible their presence may deter the creeping bellflower. I can’t be sure because I don’t know how sunchokes affect the Campanulaceae plant family.

Anyway, if you want some sunchoke tubers, I could trade you some. :blush: Just PM me if you’re interested.

I could also save you seeds from everlasting pea. That definitely has strong weed potential – it is hard to get rid of, and I’m saying this as a person whose next-door neighbor has a vigorous twenty-year-old plant that has never been watered except by rain, and our summers are arid. The seeds are (mostly) inedible, so I don’t recommend eating them, but the flowers are delicious: they taste like peas with a bit of a sweet floral aftertaste. The leaves are edible and tasty, too, similar to pea leaves. Highly ornamental, and not bad at all as a vigorous food producer.

But honestly, if I were you, I would be rejoicing in the creeping bellflower, and including it as a welcome part of the garden. It’s such a delicious perennial vegetable.

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I second Emily’s pro-creeping bellflower sentiment! I didn’t stay in my temperate garden (in Portland OR) long enough to come to know the plant as well as I’d like, but I greatly appreciated the leaves and flowers, and was starting to work out how best to cultivate it for the tasty roots.

I wrote some thoughts relevant to growing it for roots in Perennial polyculture species profiles:

  • Harvest time: I think we can get usable roots year round.
  • Harvest process: Fairly major soil disturbance. Need to dig towards the center of the clump to find usable roots. I suspect it will keep regrowing vigorously after each harvest with no need to deliberately leave roots behind.
  • Very shade tolerant, and competes well with other vegetation.
  • Vegetative growth: Leaves appear in early spring and make a good source of greens while others are somewhat scarce. Plant reaches about 3’ tall and runs vigorously. I think that without irrigation it responds to our summer drought by going somewhat dormant, resuming growth in the fall before dying back for good over the winter.
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This is dangerous, I love to Forage for wild edibles, I really wish I didn’t have to look out for this risk, I don’t want to poison myself. This is truly a really sad situation.

I’ve heard the only reason Campanula rapunculoides is invasive is because no one bothers harvesting roots for food (As is the case with many Tuber/USO (Underground Storage Organ) species).
For example Thladiantha dubia is also “Invasive” for similar reasons in Minnesota. It’s just starting to become invasive (Hoorayy!!! :partying_face:). It could potentially have edible roots but at least the fruits are edible & have potential for domestication!

I want to domesticate Apios americana & Campanula rapunculoides, lets not forget Capanula americana too!

As for suggestions, there’s literally too many (But I’ll give it a try)! Plus all the other crops we can breed to be competive & vigourous!

@estherogen I recomend looking into Sicyos angulatus, I found a non bitter version that had very delicious squash flavored greens. I’d also look into Mayapples (Podophyllum spp), too much potential there. Let’s not forget Strophostyles helvula the wild bean that’s phylogenically inbetween Phaseolus & Vigna, might be useful as a bridge genus & *Amphi

Here’s a small list

  • Fuzzy Bean (Strophostyles helvula)
  • American Hogpeanut (Amphicarpea bractata)
  • Tuberous Vetchling pea (Lathyrus tuberous)
  • Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus) : Graft it onto Honeylocust!
  • Bigroot Morning Glory (Ipomoea pandurata)
  • Bush Morning Glory (Ipomoea leptophylla)
  • Chinese Yam (Dioscorea polystachya)
  • Catails (Typha spp.)
  • Woodnettle (Laportea canadensis)
  • Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza longistylis)
  • Cherokee Swamp Potato (Oxypolis rigidior)
  • American Swamp Skirret (Sium suava)
  • Wild Carrot (Daucus carrota)
  • Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
  • Camas (Camassia spp.)
  • Tuberous Buggleweeds (Lycopus uniflorus and other Tuber producing species)
  • Chinese Tubermint (Stachys affinis)
  • Florida Tubermint (Stachys floridana)
  • Poppy Mallows (Callirhoe spp.)
  • Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
  • American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)
  • Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)
    and so many more!

@estherogen Also if your collecting Wild Edibles seeds, let’s do ourselves a Favor and exchange seeds & Collaborate on Domesticating these incredible wild edibles!

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Everlasting pea (Lathyrus latifolius) may be an interesting idea for you to try. It’s perennial and VERY hard to get rid of, but it’s truly beautiful, and the flowers and leaves are edible and taste nice. (Don’t eat the raw seeds; they’re mildly poisonous. They’re said to be edible if they’re cooked for a long time, but I’ve never tried that.)

I have a huge patch that my next-door neighbor planted that has grown over to my side of the fence, so if you want some seeds, I can share some. I really do like picking the flowers to eat as a garden snack. There are loads of flowers (which taste like peas with a bit of flowery aftertaste) all summer long. They start bearing flowers right around the time that garden peas stop making pods, so when I miss peas as a garden snack, I can start eating everlasting pea flowers instead.

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Thanks Emily! I do eat cbf, and manage it in my garden. It’s a close cousin of a culturally significant (for my family) crop - toraji. It is also a cousin of rampion of Rapunzel fame. so I am really dismayed the way folks around me are treating it. There are many South Minneapolis lawns fully invaded by cbf, and they are not rejoicing. They are spraying (and probably only accelerating its glyphosate resistance)

I would trade sunchokes with you! And would try everlasting peas.

Mine are close to some MN wild ecotype.

I grow a lot of alliums. And would be happy to trade those too

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What is the species name for “everlasting pea”? Ill try it! It might be less weedy in Minnesota where I grow, than in Utah (is that where youre based?)

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Hello! Thanks so much for this list and reply. I would be glad to exchange foraged seeds. Where are you located? Feel free to DM

CBF is in parklands and “wild” lands so with the kind of misguided eco-activism happening around me, those will soon be sprayed too.

I disagree that CBF is only invasive due to its general disuse/un-use as a food tuber, at least in MN - but would be happy to discuss farther

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Hi Norris, you wont find any qualms from me on CBF’s food value! I use it as a toraji substitute. Unless sprayed with triclopyr and glyophosate. Which is happening in the Twin Cities, in just a sad and haphazard way that does next to nothing for containing its spread. You have not a drought. From my observations in Minnesota, creeping bellflower continues growing through drought and out competes other nearby plantings. It has for example destroyed 20-year-old peony stands. In my area, many plants that could otherwise/elsewhere keep up with it winter kill.

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*you brought up drought conditions

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Everlasting pea is Lathyrus latifolius. I have some seeds saved from last year, and I have a bunch of pods forming right now – the first will probably be ready to start harvesting seeds from within a few weeks. If you want some, PM me – I’ll be happy to set some aside for you!

I’d also be happy to trade other things, if you want to chat about what we each have spare stuff of and would like to offer to each other.

Oh! Another thought for you! Have you tried growing common mallow on purpose? It’s a wonderful weed: every part of it is edible and tasty. Not only that, it’s a spectacular medicinal: soak a bit of it in water for a few hours (or days, or weeks, whatever), and then use that as excellent lotion, conditioner, and valuable ointment for speeding up healing of basically any skin problems I’ve tried so far – sunburns, bruises, wasp stings, scratches, rashes, etc. I’m pretty sure I will never need to buy conditioner, lotion, or aloe vera gel ever again, because mallow water works just as well, and it’s super easy to grow, and it’s a very pleasant volunteer to have everywhere in my garden. :blush:

Other mallows will probably work just as well for the same purpose – I’ve used hollyhock water the same way, and it’s just as great. (Hollyhocks are just as edible and just as drought tolerant and just as happy to volunteer for me, by the way.)

Hollyhock and common mallow seeds taste a bit like psyllium husk to me, so I’m thinking about grinding some extra ones up and making a “flour” from them and see if it behaves the same way as psyllium husk. I think it may, because it’s high in mucilage, too. If it does, then I may never need to buy psyllium husk to make my fiber bread again, either. :wink:

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I have common mallow. It is indeed a proven winner in my garden and keeps cbf out of one part shade area. However, my question for the group, especially anyone growing in Zone 5 or colder specifically is for native varieties (improved or otherwise), in order to offer many local militants an alternative to triclopyr and glyphosate. Especially those who think that they are doing so for the benefit and protection of native habitats.

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I can also send you plantain stalks (psyllium husks)

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Oh, nifty! I wouldn’t mind trying out plantain. I haven’t seen it as a weed in my neighborhood, for some odd reason. :wink:

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Ah you mean Platycodon grandiflorus right? Balloon flower, never heard of Toraji Common name. How does it’s flavor compare to Campanula rapunculoides?

Awesome! I’d love to trade ya some of those too! Will send a DM, I’m in Maryland.

:sob: Is there anything you can do? Maybe raise concerns of how bad Spraying this is?

Forager Samuel Thayer mentioned in his 3rd book, I thought you may find this interesting.

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I never found the plant, I really wish there was an abundant local population I could harvest it from tho. It’s not very prolific in Native Plant Communities? I’ve never seen it so I can’t really say but knowing many tuber producing crops are balanced by animals eating the tubers in ecosystem. I notice a trend, but maybe it’s just that (Every plant has a different strategy).

WOW! Really? It’s that effective? Has the Lotion & Sunbrun cream industry investigated mallow? Are they sleeping on it?
It’s also that simple, which part do you use? Just chunk the whole plant in with the roots in water for a few days? No boiling required?

I see what you mean. Are they okay with using non-native species to hybridize with the native ones? Or are they strictly native? It’s really sad Nature lovers have been finessed into spraying Glyphosate & Triclopyr (I Would’ve never thought defenders of Nature & Herbicide Companies working together, it’s a very odd tag team).

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I’ll start a thread about common mallow, so we can discuss it more there. :wink: