Perennial Greens You've Grown

Great topic!

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:I'm fond of purslane. It works well as a lemon substitute in a lot of dishes.

I remember my first encounter with purslane. It was in 1970 and I finally had a garden, but near Vesper [WI], it was heavy clay and not fun at all to keep free of weeds.
One that grew particularly well was purslane. As I was picking them out of the alleys, I picked a piece an ate it raw. It was OK kind of piquant and lemony and I decided to grow it, so I put it in a pot.
My brand new hubby [at the time, we were newlywed] took a look at it and said: "Just don't tell the neighbors you are growing purslane. Its a real infection around here".
So I didn't grow it. Now, I moved further south in an area where they grow lots of potatoes. It's extremely sandy. Hubby #2 doesn't have a farmer's bone in his entire body and doesn't even know what it is, and there are a few timid ones, so maybe I'll try again.
Another one I'm planning on isn't exactly a perennial, rather a biennial, like carrots. It is witloof chicory, AKA Belgian endives.
You grow the root the first season [it has dandelion leaves]. In the fall, you harvest the taproot and put it standing in a bucket of sand. When you feel like it, you bring it out of the cold cellar and 'force it'. [Or,,, if you want some seeds, plant it in the garden]
A particularity of this plant is that even though it looks in the first season like a dandelion, when you force it [in the dark!!!] it makes a beautiful ogive or bullet shaped head of "lettuce". I have it with pickled beets. Yummy! and healthy too
I say "in the dark" because if you put it on the windowsill, it will turn green and be quite bitter.

I don't have a true perennial green that I like more than the collards, sprouting broccoli, Italian mustard and others that choke out the weeds here, and Mitsuba that rules the shade zones. Although it is the mildest tasting carrot family green I have ever eaten, I do like it. I also have a great French Parsley (flat leaf type) that is naturalizing, delicious, and biennial, so pretty close to perennial.  Most other perennial greens are a bit strong to my tastes

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:...
Another one I'm planning on isn't exactly a perennial, rather a biennial, like carrots. It is witloof chicory, AKA Belgian endives.
You grow the root the first season [it has dandelion leaves]. In the fall, you harvest the taproot and put it standing in a bucket of sand. When you feel like it, you bring it out of the cold cellar and 'force it'. [Or,,, if you want some seeds, plant it in the garden]
A particularity of this plant is that even though it looks in the first season like a dandelion, when you force it [in the dark!!!] it makes a beautiful ogive or bullet shaped head of "lettuce". I have it with pickled beets. Yummy! and healthy too
I say "in the dark" because if you put it on the windowsill, it will turn green and be quite bitter.

I love 'witlof'! But I don't plan to grow it myself. I can buy it easily (here in the Netherlands, like in Belgium, it's a common vegetable).

You probably don't want to plant it but maybe forage a bit if in an area that appears not to have been sprayed, kudzu.  The leaves are supposed to be edible and the roots are sweet but the seeds & pods are toxic.  Supposedly leaves are eaten a lot in Japan & the root is processed to obtain a sweet starch.  

Dale Nute wrote:You probably don't want to plant it but maybe forage a bit if in an area that appears not to have been sprayed, kudzu.  The leaves are supposed to be edible and the roots are sweet but the seeds & pods are toxic.  Supposedly leaves are eaten a lot in Japan & the root is processed to obtain a sweet starch.  

I am one to strongly encourage folks, if they can't get rid of something, to try and find some use for them. Then advertize and see people bring it to extinction [maybe]. For example, in the great lakes we have invasive mussels. I would love to have a few bushels to pound to a pulp and give to my chickens/ ducks in their pond.
So, with this in mind, perhaps we ought to encourage folks to forage Kudzu, if it is as edible as mentioned. It doesn't grow at all in central WI, but my understanding is that it has large, deep and contorted roots that make it impossible to get rid of.
It is extremely invasive. However, goats can forage it... Maybe goat growers could 'rent' their goats to clean up an area?
https://catawbalands.org/kudzu-eating-goats-arrive-at-our-seven-oaks-preserve/