Viewing comments posted by janelp_lee

Purple vienna kohlrabi can be so cold hardy that it lives through our zone 6 winter. In spring the plant grows more tender leaves as a leafy vegetable and will set flowers and seeds after.

To those gardeners who love to grow this plant, you can go to your local Asian supermarket to get the large taro bulb. They cost about $4-$5 dollars each. Each bulb is about 2+ to 3+ pounds in weight. You can cut the peel (keep the peel thick for propagation use) and cook the flesh in rice soup or in sweet syrup as dessert. The small bumps on the thick peel will grow into a small plant if planted in moist soil and kept in warm location. If not eating the flesh, just keep the bulb planted and it will grow several plants soon. If you purchase a bulb from garden center/nurseries, the price usually will be around $10 for a fist-sized bulb.

This plant has many different varieties. If you are growing for possible eating, be sure you like them before you grow them since some of them can be quite large. The large ones make an amazing statement in planters.

In Asia, people eat the ripe fruit raw (sweet enough, but some people think the taste is bland) and eat the tender shoots and leaves cooked (not including the green fruit, which is toxic).

This plant grows like a weed. I have seen this plant reach 3'-4' in height and 2'-3' wide.

Very beautiful and cold-hardy flowering shrub/small tree with flowers that change color before they wilt. Plant growth is rather slow, so be patient when you grow it from seeds.

This viviparous waterlily is super easy to grow from a leaf node. If planted in full sun and kept warm for enough days, it can flower the same year. Lovely fragrant flowers. It also can be grown in an aquarium indoors or a big bucket outdoors if you do not have a pond.

Easy to grow from seeds or cuttings. Small, single, fragrant white flowers in late spring in huge numbers. Good for cut flower use, the flowers also attract bees and butterflies. The pea-sized rosehips turn from green to vibrant orange-red in late summer and last throughout the winter until the next early spring. The twigs with red fruit are excellent as cut flowers in outdoor winter planters as filler or indoors as cut flowers in vases. The twigs with red fruit also can be used dry as gift wrap decorations. The smooth, thornless canes are very friendly to gardeners. Fast growing, so it can be invasive.

Easy to grow from seeds, but seeds do not stay viable long. Plant can grow very large in a tropical climate. The one I grow does not have deep-cut leaves, so the dinner-plate-sized leaves are used for food wrap or disposable "plates" in tropical areas, which is very environment-friendly.

This is easy to grow from seeds. I bought seeds and I am growing the baby plants. Now the small true leaves are just starting to show the burgundy stripes. This tropical plant is not cold tolerant, so be sure to keep the plant warm and bright.

It is a very common medicinal plant in Asia. People often pick the leaves, clean and chop them, and make omelettes, or dry the leaves, crumble them into powder, and then use this dry powder to mix with flour to make dumpling wraps. The dumpling can be filled with meat or a sweet filling, and the wrap with this powder will show the brown-black color. The look is odd, but still tasty and medicinal. Asians eat this plant particularly when kids are growing tall. The medicinal effects help them.

I have heard that the vine can be steeped in hot water and used for bath water later to keep negative energy away from you.

The roots are also used for medicinal meal. When cities develop, the land with them is gone, so it is hard to find them in Asia except where they are still growing in the wild. Bees really love the flowers.

This variety is from Italy. People mainly buy and eat the cone, the early developing stage of the flower stems near the base. Each young flower stem looks like asparagus, which is why it is also known as asparagus endive. The green leaves taste bitter, the flower stems are hollow but rather crisp. Easy to grow from seeds in full sun location.

Broad-Leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) is now common in Toronto residents' gardens. This invasive native orchid self-seeds successfully, although the seedlings do not flower for the first 1-3 years.

When the plant is older, taller flower stems emerge and each flower stem bears many flowers. They are noticeable only when they are growing under a big tree canopy instead of by themselves in shade.

They don't like full sun and they root quite deeply under the tree canopy.

This is a pretty variety, although the pretty double flowers do not set seeds; only the single flowers do. I would advise gardeners to pick the tips off when the seedlings are old enough so the plants can branch more. Otherwise, they will be skinny long vines. This variety blooms late in my zone 6 region, so seed production is very low, but buying a seed packet is not a big deal.

I have a few small trees that I grew from seeds. Most of them did not make it through our zone 6 winter outdoors, but a few survived. I am hoping these trees will produce flowers and seeds that are much more comfortable with zone 6 winters. The tree is lovely when it flowers in spring. The flowers attract bees and butterflies, and birds feed on the ripe fruit.

Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata) is a great, cold hardy perennial that has many flower stems, each stem with many very fragrant flowers in late spring. Good for cut flower and attracts bees and butterflies. Great for woodland garden or rock garden.

This variety has bicolor flowers with a strong, lovely, sweet fragrance. Nice for cut flower use.

Viviparous. Super easy to root from leaf cutting. Can be grown in a small glass vase/porcelain bowl or even a bucket. Loves full sun, warm environment, so it can be invasive as well in a big pond or in wetlands. Be responsible to contain it.

This wild native ground orchid is easy to grow under big tree canopy. They like to root deep. Self seeds.

Love this variety! This tall variety flower has strong, nice fragrance. Reliable.

This plant is easy to grow and propagate from cuttings. I tried several times to pollinate but failed. Loves partial shade woodland environment.

This expensive variety only looks nice in flower bud when almost blooming. Easy to get damaged. Personal opinion is this variety is not worthy to grow.