Plants I shouldn't like, but do

[conuly]

This is pretty self-explanatory, it's a list of plants I probably shouldn't like, but really do.

First up, ornamental porcelain berry. It's a nasty, invasive plant. It's all over the Island, which means it's all over my yard, which means that when I bother to care I spend a lot of time yanking it up.

But it's so pretty, and the girls love eating the berries. (Every time they find out about another edible plant, they fall in love with it.)

Pokeberry. It's not invasive, but it sure does like to spread. I know that it's almost impossible to grub up out of the dirt. I know that the plant is toxic (the leaves are "non-poisonous" only on a technicality, and I sure am not boiling them a dozen times!) and that it's a carcinogen. And you can be sure I know it stains! But it's so pretty in the fall with its black berries on bright fuchsia stems, and the neon green leaves. It's a nice change of pace from brown and orange and red and yellow. It's purple!

Nightshade. Jenn seems to think it's amazing that I know what it looks like. I think it's amazing nobody else does, it's another plant that's all over the place. We've got this type, and the type with the black berries as well. I *do* pull this up when I see it, but I stop and admire the flowers first. They're so small and dainty.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I was just coming in to say, pokeberry makes a lovely magenta ink. You can eat poke greens in the spring when they're very young and tender, but in all honesty, they don't taste good enough to be worth the trouble if you have better stuff to eat.

I love the flowers of woody nightshade. The berries can be used to make an analgesic salve, but, again, it's a lot of bother to make something that isn't as good as the readily-available alternatives.