RE: [gardeners] houtania

Terry King (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 7 Jul 2001 07:46:59 -0700 

Well that got me curious Margaret, since I just bought one.  I hadn't
noticed a strong ordor so I went out and tore a leaf, smell a lot like
cilantro to me.  I found this on a website.

" The gingery taste and herbal scent are good in oriental cooking and good
for
medicinal purposes too!"

Also found this:
 "Perennial to 60cm tall. Flowers early Summer.
Requires a moist to wet soil and will also grow in shallow water. It does
not like full sun and will grow in deep shade. A fast- growing plant, it can
be used as a
ground cover.This is one of our favourite edible plants. The leaves have a
distinct flavour and aroma of orange peel and make a delicious flavouring
for salads and
cooked foods. This cultivar is also very attractive to look at with
multi-coloured variegated leaves. The root can be eaten cooked."

I'm tempted to taste mine but since I've only had it a week and I don't know
what chemicals may have been used on it at the nursery I'll wait until I get
it in the ground and let it grow awhile.

Here is a nice website I just found with photos and blurbs about herbs
including houttuynia. (takes awhile to load all the photos)

http://www.lazysusanranch.com/herbtour.html

Terry

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardeners@globalgarden.com
[mailto:owner-gardeners@globalgarden.com]On Behalf Of Margaret
Lauterbach
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 6:14 AM
To: gardeners@globalgarden.com
Subject: Re: [gardeners] houtania


Are you talking about houttuynia? It's edible, isn't it, "bad" odour or
not? Margaret L

At 04:15 PM 7/6/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Quite a few Penny,  And I hate to pull them as I find they have a "bad"
>odour when cut or broken.  The leaves are pretty thought:))
>Jill
> > ground cover on the berm!  First of all, they resist pulling. Secondly,
> > I can barely reach most of them. Thirdly, they look kinda cool where
> > they are .....   question is:  if I leave them, wonder how many hundreds
> > will come up next year...???
> >
> > Penny, NY