Category Archives: Plants

Crotalaria 2026-08-31

Rattlebox, so called because its seed pods, when ripe and dried, rattle in the breeze.

[Crotalaria spectabilis]
Crotalaria spectabilis

Pull up any Crotalaria spectabilis you see before it make seeds. Get all of them if you can, including the small ones that have not yet flowered.

This invasive exotic pest spreads rapidly, and every part of the plant is poisonous to livestock, wildlife, and dogs.

Fortunately, it’s easy to spot, due to its bright yellow flowers.

It was introduced from somewhere in the tropics as a nitrogen-fixing legume. Only then was it discovered to be toxic.

If you can, remove the plants after you pull them up.

-jsq

Smilax root 2026-08-05

Re-opening the old woods road after Hurricane Helene, many Smilax roots turned up.

[Gretchen with a big Smilax root]
Gretchen with a big Smilax root

There are about six Georgia species of Smilax, known variously as Catbrier, Greenbrier, Saw Greenbrier, Lanceleaf Greenbrier, Roundleaf Greenbrier, etc. You can see a theme: viny briers.

Underground they have extensive roots, including these large nodules. I don’t know which species this one is.

You can prepare Smilax roots as a starchy food, as native Americans did. That’s a lot of work. Continue reading →

Banana plants after the freeze 2025-11-23

Banana plants do this when frozen.

[Gretchen with her banana plants]
Gretchen with her banana plants

Not to worry. They’ll come back in the spring.

Meanwhile, Gretchen will lop their heads off with a machete. She says that makes them grow back better.

We did get some bananas to eat with breakfast.

-jsq

Two kinds of persimmons 2025-10-09

Evidently we’ve been mis-identifying our persimmons.

[Two kinds of persimmons]
Two kinds of persimmons

The prolific persimmon tree has acorn-shaped fruit like the red one here. Those are apparently Hachiya persimmons.

The younger tree with only a few fruit not yet ripe has flat-bottom persimmons like this yellow one. Those appear to be Fuyu persimmons.

See, for example, this GrubMarket blog post, Fuyu vs. Hachiya: How to Use California Persimmons.

They’re both varieties of the Oriental persimmon, Diospyros kaki.

-jsq

Persimmons to eat and to dehydrate 2025-10-05

Still picking those persimmons.

[Picked Fuyu persimmons]
Picked Fuyu persimmons

One was so ripe we went ahead and ate it.

The rest, we picked deliberately still orange, not red ripe, so Gretchen could slice them up and put them in the dehydrator. Continue reading →