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| Alien landscape? |
To start this post off, we're going to play a game. The game is this: can you identify what's in the picture to the right? Okay, this might be a bit too easy, but play along anyway. I'll even give you some hints.
- It's a plant. A plant that I can say with about 99% certainty you have seen before, and that you know its name.
Hmm... if it wasn't obvious before that hint, it should be pretty obvious now. I'm going to forge ahead regardless.
- The plant was once known for its beauty. It is the subject of many poems and works of art, and entire horticultural societies formed around it to enjoy its beauty and develop new varieties.
Wait, did it just get a little less obvious? How about these:
- It is one of the most nutritious plants you can grow in your garden. More vitamin A than spinach, more vitamin C than tomatoes, and a great source of iron, calcium and potassium. The entire plant is edible, and it has been known for thousands of years as a healing plant. It was likely brought to North America on the Mayflower specifically for those medicinal benefits.
- The dried, ground root is sold as a coffee substitute at higher prices per pound than prime rib, lobster and swordfish.
- Speaking of that root, it can reach a depth of 15 feet (4.6 meters) and in pulling nutrients up from that depths aids nearby plants by making the nutrients available. The roots loosen and aerate the soil.
Still confident in your guess? I mean, this wonder plant must be grown everywhere, right? Well, as a matter of fact, it is, though not in the way you might think.
