Amy Maria

My new favorite perennial green is sochan. Also called cutleaf coneflower (rudbeckia laciniata); sochan is the Cherokee name. It is my first edible green to emerge in the spring in New England. I use it like spinach in stir fry, soup, or on its own (I've never eaten it raw, and it occurs to me that I don't know if it can be eaten raw). It's a hardy perennial, and I use the greens early in the season. It puts up tall flower stalks that flower late in the summer, and the pollinators love the flowers. Big win all around!

I second the hosta and low growing herbs like oregano and thyme (which double as pollinator food). As far as dwarf sunchokes - in my experience, the "dwarf" sunchokes I planted ended up being 3 to 5 feet tall (as opposed to the regular ones, which grow about 8-10 feet here).

Interesting - those bulbils look exactly like my walking onions!

I love purslane - more nutritious than most of the veggies we grow! I mostly grow an improved variety from Experimental Farm Network called Mithra. It grows much more upright, with relatively large leaves, which makes cleaning it much easier.

Yarrow and plantain come to mind - maybe with a little clover mixed in for some nitrogen fixing. Lightly mulching the seed with grass clippings or even hay will retain moisture to help germination.

I learned that I definitely need more garden beds.  
I learned that at this age, I need to pace myself.
I learned that I really, really like growing things that have minimal storage requirements like potatoes and winter squash.
I learned that there is such a thing as true potato seed, and I'm looking forward to trying it out.
I learned that I am always learning. Always.

I'm enjoying the new flower forum, and seeing some of these older posts I never happened across before!

An edible-flower rite of spring I miss now that my kids are grown is dandelion fritters.  Yes, the dandelion flowers are edible!  The posse of neighborhood kids would gather a huge bowl, and I would dip them in a thin pancake-type batter, fry them, and then sprinkle them with powdered sugar.  They would then march the tray around to each house in the neighborhood and give samples, because it was very important to them that everyone discover that you could eat dandelions!  

LOL, I hadn't thought of this in years.  Maybe next year I'll harvest a big batch of dandelion flowers and attempt wine instead.

I like white clover as a cover crop, especially as a lawn replacement.  It's low growing and attractive, fixes nitrogen, and can serve as a living mulch if you want to plant something right into it.  :)

I don't know the other ingredients of BlueKote, but Gentian violet is something we use in the hospital for neonates, including premies, for thrush (I'm a NICU nurse).  I think if it's safe enough to paint inside a premature baby's mouth, it's probably pretty safe for wounds. ;)

I love elderberries!  I also use the dried ones for tea to combat respiratory illnesses in the winter, and am planning on growing plenty of my own.  The Black Lace are beautiful plants - mine are tiny ones purchased this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing them grow.  I also have a volunteer plant from a few cultivars my husband accidentally cleared a few years ago (thought they were weeds).  They are ridiculously easy to grow from both hardwood and softwood cuttings, either in soil or in water.  I had never tried the water rooting thing before, but it worked beautifully.  So, once your two plants are established, you will have lots of plant material to propagate as many as you want!  Good luck. :)