Pardon my Yiddish. These are the Jerusalem artichokes that grow in front of the garden shed. I planted them there many years ago and they come back every year. Despite their name, the plants have nothing to do with Jerusalem nor are they related to artichokes. The English-language name comes from a deformation of the Italian girasole (tournesol in French), which means "turns with the sun," the name for sunflowers. I read that the artichoke part of the name came from the flavor of the tubers (called topinambours in France) which reminds people of artichokes.
These have a long way to grow before they start to flower later in the summer.
The weather has not improved. We had rain most of the day on Sunday and are expecting scattered showers for the next few days. And it's not warm. Oy gevalt!
Your rain is unfortunate but don't wish too hard for hot and dry weather like 112F in Oregon yesterday.
ReplyDeleteOy gevalt! You should head down here. The sky could not be a brighter shade of blue.
ReplyDeletehave you ever dug out the chokes? they are tough little rascals, I do like to eat them but they are really hard to come by.....also like them pickled.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you will have a bumper crop of sunflowers this year. I hope they and you see the sun soon.
ReplyDeleteAre those the kinds of sunflowers from which you can get seeds for eating? Or would you have to fight the local birds for them?
ReplyDeleteoy vey indeed !
ReplyDeleteandrew, I won't. I'd rather be a little chilly than roasted alive!
ReplyDeletemitch, sometimes the clouds part and we get a little blue. :)
melinda, I have, to transplant them. This variety doesn't have tubers big enough to eat. I buy the eating tubers at the store.
bettyann, us, too!
emm, no. They look more like tall yellow daisies.
michael, :)