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Old July 5, 2017   #18
NewWestGardener
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 564
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Clio is similar but different than the wild dandelions. A chicory is what it is.
The flowering stalk is a few feet tall with multiple branches, very different from dandelions. Seeds are more like those of poppies', no umbrellas. The leaves are similar, but much bigger, upright and a lot sweeter than the wild ones. The offsprings of Clio is no different than the original F1s.
I grew up in the cold cold north, wild dandelions are the first thing to collect from the wild after snow melts, for salads. So local people all ate plenty of them. We also collected chicories, much later in the fall.
Locals also eat a lot of fiddle heads, wild rose shoots when tender, wild chives- a surprise for me to see them in people's gardens here, and day lily flowers-- again grown here in people's gardens. We had wild blueberries in swampy grasslands. And orchids! Super hardy of course, considering our winters were 6 months long.
Shallots and garlic always grow well, as well as all kinds of onions in those cold climates. Soy beans, patatoes, sorghum , and corns are the main crop.

Wild hazelnuts were abundant in the fall. So there's a suggestion for hardy nut trees.

Last edited by NewWestGardener; July 5, 2017 at 11:43 PM.
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