Culantro

Culantro is an herb I found this year at one of the big box stores and since I had never heard of it, I thought I would give it a try. The sign on the rack said it had the same flavor as cilantro and since my cilantro leaves only seem to be plentiful in the spring, this could be useful later in the summer. I usually use cilantro in salsas with fresh tomatoes or tomatillos or other salads made with fresh garden veggies. By the time the tomatoes are ready, the cilantro has gone to seed and is not very leafy at all. Culantro could very easily be used in place of cilantro in these instances. It would also be good with black beans. I am specifically thinking of a cooked black bean salsa that is served over cheesy grits. I haven't made it in a while but that may be just the thing to use some of this new herb I have.

Culantro is from the same family as cilantro and it does have the same flavor, although a bit stronger. It is indigenous the Caribbean, Latin America and the West Indies. The leaves are serrated and really quite sharp, so you must be careful. To me, this characteristic does not lend it to be useful for eating, but if they are chopped well enough or pulverized in the food processor it won't make a difference. I did read that it grows naturally in shaded, moist areas. So perhaps mine is so prickly because it is growing in the full sun. One advantage to the prickly leaves is that the deer have not eaten it, and it is one of the few successes from my garden this year. I have read that it is attractive to beneficial insects such as the ladybug. I haven't noticed any around it but I haven't looked for them either.

It looks like it has little flower heads, although they are not much to look at, but you can definitely see the jagged leaves in the close up photo.

I don't think this will over winter here in zone 5 but I would buy it again if I see it. Of course, I may get lucky and it will self-seed. I guess I will find out next spring.

Coffee Bean, Rose, and more Volunteers!

Look at what I saw while walking around the garden (in between weeding, of course).

Remember the Coffee Blooms ? Here's the first bean I've found. I guess I'll be able to make a baby doll teacup sized coffee.



Here is a pretty pink rose in bloom, with several more buds. This poor rose was once the queen of this bed, but now the Coneflower has taken over and the rose often gets lost and overlooked - not today though!



And look at this brave sunflower. It grew in a pot with a young maple that is waiting to be planted. And it did grow out horizontally like this.



And here is a Cleome a.k.a. Spider flower. We had one last year and it self-seeded, yeah! I found two in the bed where it was last year and one growing in another bed. Here it is early in the day, and then in the evening.



And my last volunteer for today is this Oregano plant. When we first moved into this house, six years ago, I brought an oregano plant in a container from my apartment. Prior to living in a container on the apartment balcony, it lived in the ground at my old house, where I grew it from seed. The second or third year we lived here, I planted the oregano in the back of the vegetable garden where it grows quite nicely. Before it found that home, however, it dropped it's seed, here in the crack of a stairwell and it comes back year after year. How it ever grew to begin with, and how it comes back year after year, amazes me. You see, there is no dirt. Right now there are some dead leaves/grasses covering the base and I have to make sure it's watered almost every day, but somehow it survives and thrives here, just growing out of a crack in the stair.