Sally Munoz

Agreed, I adore snowdrops! I watch every little growth they attain daily in early spring.
After years of having just one clump next to the front door, last fall I planted more and plan on doing so again this fall.
I love all the spring flowers but snowdrops are extra special after winter.
Indoor amaryllis are pretty wonderful as well, and I love my tulips, daffs, and hyacinths. Another favorite is elephant garlic. The greens come up extra early and are a nice addition to most meals. I have some extra early green onions that are appreciated too, and of course the walking onions.
The thing I really like about elephant garlic is that it's so pretty in flower later in the year too. I've got a few ornamental alliums that are blooming now (zone 7a) and they are pretty but the elephant garlic is just as pretty later in the year and also edible, multiplies super well in mediocre rocky clay soil and is drought resistant so a definite shout out to it!

Barbara Simoes wrote:I'd have to say snowdrops!  After a very long and dark winter, they pop up  in February, emerging through ice and snow.  The idea of renewal keeps me going until  everything has thawed out. I have some tiny vases and I'll go out and pick some and bring them in.  They smell like apple blossoms and last a remarkably long time.  They bridge the time until mini iris and crocus and the whole parade of bulbs and flowers begin in earnest.  I feel most grateful to them and they seem to self-seed around the property.

There are so many plants, edible and not, in my garden that I consider indispensable, but I do especially adore figs and I am a bit of a peony addict.
Regret is salad burnet, as it's not really that tasty to me and I've seen it establishing itself off of my property in wild areas near my home and I think it came from my garden, oops! Elecampane comes in second, with lemon balm holding a solid 3rd place, or maybe fennel...haha.
Blackberries, ivy, and vinca weren't my fault but goodness they are tough!
It would be neat to be able to grow pomegranate, avocado and coffee, as others have mentioned, but if it was warm enough for those, I wouldn't have so many of my other favorite things that need a cold winter, so I really don't mind buying those items at the store.

This one is the most pleasing to my eye, Nicole, you undersell yourself haha, it's gorgeous!


Nicole:

a very quick and dirty photoshop for the general idea. I'm sure Andres would do a much better job!!

I'm also a sucker for flowering trees, my peach trees are in bloom and I'm in heaven. We snack on black locust flowers and while someone told me they were toxic, I haven't observed any ill effects.

I agree with all of what's been mentioned, the herbs, legumes, the beautiful greens.
Scarlet runner beans and purple magnolia peas top my list, along with favas.
Other favorites that I haven't seen mentioned are salsify, walking onions and a variety of mache called Doucette d'Algers.
I also adore my hops and fennel.

Heather Staas wrote:Sochan is right up there.  Earliest productive spring green and then loads of very tall yellow coneflowers.

I had no idea this was edible,  how cool, thank you for sharing!

Very cool, howdy neighbor! :)

I'm interested! I live in Stevenson, WA so maybe a Portland group isn't a perfect fit but we do shop in the city every so often and while I run the Skamania County permaculture group, nobody out here seems to be doing quite what I'm doing, except one other person (my bestie in Carson) and we could carpool. We met in Portland over 25 years ago when we both lived there, so Portland remains special to us both. We have some unique issues being out in the gorge but we're just an hour away and I'd like to be in this conversation.
We've been on our 3 acres for 10 years and while I read and study the heck out of permaculture principles and apply so many, i really had no idea what I was getting into buying property on the side of a rocky gorge that had been logged in the 80s and not cared for since (yeah it was a blackberry jungle and still is in many areas). My biggest challenge right now is water and I'd love to exchange ideas with others.

The other issues mentioned here are certainly possible too though, depending on your location. So many variables growing food!

Same with mine this year, nothing. It bloomed amazingly but no baby fruits at all. I've read that some fruit trees produce every other year if not thinned because the tree is overworked one year and then takes a break the next. I didn't think we had too many last year but it was a decent crop and I did not thin so it's likely that's the cause. We have lots of other plum trees so it's getting cross pollinated and it was a nice mild winter and spring so no late frosts. I'm inclined to believe the every other year theory for some varieties if not hand thinned. Our old homestead plums produce every year but do their own thinning (we call it the June drop). I do know some of these newer varieties (and by new, I mean last hundred years or so) don't self thin well enough or at all. I read that was the case with apples, specifically Fuji, really needing hand thinning. This was from Michael Phillips,
who I believe to be very knowledgeable on the subject.
I'd be willing to bet we need to thin our Santa Rosas.