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Asparagus officinalis

 
Asparagus officinalis
Common name asparagus
Family liliaceae
Life cycle perennial
Flowers green (summer)
Size 7'
Light sun
Cultural notes ordinary garden soil
From seed we grow a sterile form

One of only two perennial vegetables we grow (the other being rhubarb), asparagus makes quite a statement in our vegetable garden. Once it starts shooting up in spring, we typically get only a few meals out of our patch, because invariably, we forget to check on new growth for a few days, at which point the shoots are two feet tall and no longer fit for eating. And they don't stop there - soon after, they are blooming, and reaching to the sky. By mid-summer, our patch resembles an enchanted forest of green upright trunks, with weeds representing the undergrowth, and bindweeds the vines climbing up the trunks. Quite a picture!

asparagus
In November, our forest even sports fall foliage!
Asparagus officinalis
Close-up, it's easier to see the lily family resemblance. Also posing here is the larva of the asparagus beetle, Crioceris aspargi

This plant used to grow in our garden, but it slipped away...

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