Rhubarb, asparagus, wild rocket and wild chicory are some I grow. And of course various herbs. I once grew nine star broccoli but it petered out after a couple of years. Jerusalem artichokes are a crop I used to grow but no longer due to the space they need and not eating them often. When I was looking up Turkish rocket I found this which you might find interesting. Edimentals and perennial vegetables | I guess when I put the sign in I disturbed a Turkish rocket root, thus creating some new plants | Facebook https://share.google/0G8mK8E92IsqIRoOm

Like floral I grow rhubarb and asparagus but I don't grow many perennial vegetables because they always seem to get in the way and then I have to move them, so I stopped planting anything that needed to stay in one spot for years.

Annie

I have a small asparagus patch which I'm debating removing entirely when I re-locate my vegetable garden. It grows well enough, but asparagus for me is meh -- I can take it or leave it, and the asparagus beetles are a constant battle. But DH thinks the asparagus is worth keeping so IDK.

Floral -- what do you do with chicory? I have chicory in abundance that grows freely in the meadow.

I only started growing wild chicory in the last few years after eating it in Rome. It is quite bitter, like dandelion. You need to boil it before sauteeing with garlic.

How to cook wild chicory or field chicory: an easy recipe https://share.google/Bxyq7Uh0T0IYKRlOU

"It is quite bitter, like dandelion."

I've never had dandelion, but If it's anything like arugula I'm out. I can't stand arugula, as Newman would say -- VILE WEED!

Seinfeld Clip - Newman And The Vile Weed

No, nothing like arugula. Chicory is bitter not peppery.

I have never grown chicory or any of those I'm looking for. Id like to try growing them though. I know chicory has medicinal benefits. I dabble in herbal medicine just for family purposes and I think it would be a good one to have. I wish I could grow dandelion as it's amazing in the herbal world.

"I wish I could grow dandelion as it's amazing in the herbal world."

I remember when I was a kid our next-door neighbors were Italians from the old country, and the wife could often be found walking on the roadside gathering dandelion. What she did with it, IDK-- dandelion wine, maybe?

I might try the chicory :0)

Dandelion wine uses only the flowers. The leaves are used as a cooked green vegetable or salad. The chicory I grow is not the blanched white chicons, nor the red salad heads, but the plain green wild chicory. It was very easy from seed and self sows. This is the one I have: Chicory Selvatica Da Campo Save 56p https://share.google/UZ093myHglDiY7hEu but there are several other varieties of green chicory.

I have made dandelion wine from the flowers and when I was a child Grandma would send me out to pick dandelion leaves in the spring, only the first ones, small and fresh, she said the bigger/older ones were too bitter. She'd cook those and serve them like spinach or any other green. We have wild chicory with the blue flowers growing here everywhere and I have dug roots and roasted them so I could grind them to mix with coffee, like they do in New Orleans. Definitely not something I'd do again, LOL, it certainly did not taste like the chicory coffee mix from the grocery store!

I also forage morels and ramps, but those aren't MY perennials, those belong to the forest.

Annie

I've just thought of another one, Cardoon. Looks like an artichoke plant but you eat the leaf stems, not the flowers. I don't grow it but my allotment neighbour has it. Even if you don't eat it it's an impressive plant. Oka (not okra) is another one I've seen growing in France. And then there's Chinese artichoke.

Do any of you know if valerian official is is easy to grow from seeds? I'm looking at attempting to grow it and lambs quarters. I've never seen these growing in my area but they may idk.

I have enjoyed this conversation and it's been a pleasure meeting all of you. I'm going to try and order some of these seeds/plants.