The worthy weed. May 7, 2008
Posted by ourfriendben in gardening.Tags: ornamental pokeweed, pokeweed, weeds
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Our friend Ben is enduring quite a bit of abuse from Silence Dogood at the moment. In particular, Silence is wondering if three posts in one day are really necessary. (”Despite your aspirations, Ben, people actually have other things to do than sit here reading Poor Richard’s Almanac posts! Couldn’t you wait ’til tomorrow to post this and, say, get back to work instead?!”) Well, um, actually, no.
After all, our friend Ben just fired off a post, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger,” attacking weeds. So it seems only fair to champion an ornamental plant that most consider a weed, pokeweed (Phytolacca americana). Pokeweed is the source of the famous poke sallet, sometimes called “poke salad,” though it’s actually a cooked dish comprised of new leaves and shoots of pokeweed boiled, then drained and cooked with bacon grease or fatback. Now, poke sallet is supposed to be delicious, not to mention the ultimate spring tonic. But our friend Ben has never tried it. The knowledge that mature poke leaves, stems, roots, and berries are poisonous gives me pause. If I want cooked greens, I’ll stick to spinach, thanks.
However. Our friend Ben knows of no plant—no plant, hear me now—that is more decorative than pokeweed. The plants emerge from the ground a beautiful red-green about now in our corner of Pennsylvania. They grow into 4- to 5-foot-tall herbaceous shrubs, with lush foliage. Then they produce long, wild-cherry-like sprays of white flowers followed by delightful berries that are green, then rose, and finally a deep purple-black. As frost sets in, the foliage turns the most stunning red-purple. For three-season splendor, you could hardly ask for more from any plant. Once the stems dry and bleach blond in winter, cut them at ground level and compost them, then wait for the show to start again in spring.
Our friend Ben is not (mercifully) the only one who loves pokeweed for its decorative properties. Our good friend Nancy Ondra recently posted about the variegated pokeweed cultivar ‘Silberstein’ on her wonderful blog, Hayefield (see our blogroll for a link). Nan generously offered to share a plant with our friend Ben and I can’t wait to try it!
But variegated or plain, pokeweed deserves a place in the shrub border. You’ll never see a more beautiful plant.
I don’t think I’ve yet met pokeweed. But it does sound quite the 3 season plant. BTW, doesn’t ANYTHING taste wonderful when cooked in bacon grease?
It’s really gorgeous, but it is, let’s say, tenacious. And to answer your question in one word: yes. Or at least, I’ve never met anything that didn’t taste screamingly delicious when enhanced with bacon grease! (And then there’s the bacon itself…
I’ve never had the pleasure to meet a pokeweed either, but it does sound quite lovely. Anything growing in the wrong place is considered a weed, isn’t it? Even “weeds” can be beautiful if they’re growing in the proper place!
I can’t say much about three posts in one day, I did it yesterday! What can I say? I had a lot on my mind and needed to blow off some steam.
Right you are, Cinj! I love writing, so I often have to keep myself in check or I’d just keep going and going! And it *is* a great way to get something out of your system.