Ground elder... The perennial weed that (along with bindweed and horsetail - both of which are very much at home in the garden, thank you), when he was asked on BBC Radio 4's Gardener's Question Time how to deal with them, prompted Bob Flowerdew to advise, "Move house!"
That option not viable, for the past three weeks, I 've been bottom up in a flower bed, grubbing up the tall green stalks (which had reached a rather unexpected 24 inches high) and long white stringy roots. It's given me plenty of time to consider the extraordinary properties of the clay soil in which they are buried and the relationship between them (but more of that below).
It's Sod's law that, as a blogger, the moment you decide to go "off-duty" and leave your camera at home, you find something you really want to post. (Yes, I know there are phones with cameras. No, I don't want one.)
Leafing through the Garden Design Journal, Husband caught sight of an advert for The Plantation (who says print advertising is dead?) and half an hour later we were on our way to Weybridge, Surrey, to check it out. A ghastly journey put us in the mood to be disappointed. Instead we were wowed.
You know you're in for something special the moment you arrive. Trees in enormous tubs line the drive and exotic foliage tempts you through the nursery gateway.
My favourite spot had to be the shady plant section, covered in green shade netting and warmly humid. We entered through a small forest of fatsias, cooed over hydrangeas, brushed against the lovely Hauttuynia cordata, and admired a plantation of tree ferns.
Where did the time go? Can't believe I haven't posted yet this month. To come back with a bang, I thought you'd enjoy this film. It's priceless. And all power to Claire, who produces the lovely Claire's Allotment videos.
There's more about electric buttons below, but first, let's see how Claire braved the unknown, all in the name of blogging. As far as the rest of us are concerned - there's a lot to be said for vicarious experience!
So, rather Claire than me! Apparently, they can also make you produce a lot of saliva, which must be quite fetching with all that anaesthesia going on.
Electric Daisies are enjoying a bit of publicity at the moment, and are also known as Electric Buttons and, in the States, as Szechuan or Sansho Buttons. This is what James Wong says on his website about what them:
This fizzy 'space dust'-like effect - which my mates liken to licking a 9 volt battery - is produced by the pain-relieving agent spilanthol, which has meant that the plant has been traditionally used to treat toothache, mouth ulcers & sore throats for centuries. Spilanthol's muscle relaxing effects have even meant that an extract of the plant has found it's way into high-end face creams that claim to have a natural 'botox' effect.
In fact, the plant Acmella oleracea (syn. Spilanthes oleracea) is indeed known as the Toothache Plant.
I can't help feeling that the main application is medicinal, and herb expert Isabell Shipard gives instructions for use on toothache, mouth ulcers, cuts and acne. (No one mentions whether they'd be useful for anyone with Sjorgen's Syndrome, but it sounds possible.) But that hasn't stopped bright sparks thinking of ways to inflict them on the public.
In an NPR broadcast from 2009 Keith Dusko, director of operations for Haru, a chain of restaurants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, described how he'd added them to cocktails, and a Washington DC chef was about to add them to a curry dish. A gimmick, if ever I heard one. But if he hasn't already, I'm willing to bet that our own Heston Blumenthal will experiment with possibilities.
Here's a chance to listen to what happened when programme presenter Robert Smith decided to have a whole one, and the explanation of spilanthol's effect on the trigeminal nerve.
Incidentally, if you actually do want to grow these little electric zingers, you can get them from Suttons.
...Landscape Juice Network
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