black nightshade (garden huckelberry)
shortarse_hedgewitch
18 years ago
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Comments (17)
jannie
18 years agoCA Kate z9
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Sunberries or some other poisonous nightshade berries?
Comments (12)loribee2 and pippimac - thanks for looking and for your feedback! Most people (here on gardenweb and readers of my blog) seem to be in agreement that I have the weedy/wild variety, which according to some people can be poisonous. Fortunately, I have felt zero ill-effects after eating these berries today. Perhaps I didn't eat enough of them, or maybe the berries weren't poisonous after all. I have read documents that argue on both sides of poisonous/non-poisonous nature of the Solanum nigrum species....See MoreNightshade identification
Comments (3)Well, the most common and likely species for small-flowered plants is Solanum ptychanthum; but, there are also less well-known, and sometimes poorly documented species such as S. americanum, S. sarrachoides, S. douglasii, and S. interius that are often overlooked. And trying to sort this group using Internet photos is pretty much impossible, because of a lack of decent photos, and/or misidentified photos....See MoreBlack Nightshade, Solanum nigrum
Comments (3)The plants of the cultivore do make an attractive background with their umble like display of black berries, but it is the fruit that I dearly love. Possibly it is because I grew up with them, and my mother always blanched them in baking soda water before making pies. They impart a beautiful purple color to pies also. They have a bite, sort of like that in pineapple that makes them stand out, but I don't care for them raw off the bush. My daughter eats the wild ones that are sweeter. The cultivores won't grow well in the Texas heat and stink bug onslaught we have every spring. The flavor (and the bite) the tame ones give to apple pie is wonderful. Try using more apple and less wonderberry, and use the baking soda blanch. I have never noticed any difference in the plants, whether they are called Garden Huckleberry or Burbank Wonderberry. I think they may be a tetraploid of the wild Solanum nigrum....See MoreHi, I'm Levi...a Goth, and I am new to gardening.
Comments (10)Try to get Karen Platt's book called 'Black Magic & Purple Passion'. It is full of awesome photos and descriptions of divine black or almost black plants. Daylilies, iris and asiastic lilies are supposed to be able to withstand neglect and the daylilies and iris in particular have many gorgeous black beauties! Stay away from poison ivy - that's one really great thing about living in northern Alberta - no poison ivy and the other is no snakes! I don't have a guillotine but I am getting my husband to weld me up a gothic arbor seat out of antique harrows. Our terraced gardens, patio etc. have to be cattle and horse proof as we use those critters to 'mow what lawn' there is - I'm probably the only gardener with an electric fence neatly attached to my log home, patio and terraced gardens with horsehead shaped plastic insulators! And believe it or not even the critters are fascinated by my stainless steel gazing ball in it iron stand - just another neat 'Goth' touch in the 'Goth' or black terraced garden. I have a 'Moon' or terraced White Garden complete with feature rocks from the ranch and a mugo pine. The last terraced garden is my 'Pink Garden'. Our terraced gardens are made from recycled railway ties and we built our own home out of logs. Our north entrance is finished with recycled pebble cement and smooth river rock is being used in hilly areas to make dry stream beds. All I need is some Round-Up on those rocks placed over heavy plastic and I'm set to go. I do have some features set in or on the river rock (a huge rusty iron gravel grate and a rusty old gear from a large piece of equipment.) Smaller pebble gravel will be used for the pathways and where we park the vehicles - but no worries - along the north veranda we'll also have a horse tying rail just like in the westerns. We farm so we don't have a lot of extra cash thus we are using unique iems and/or stone found on the ranch. This is keeping our costs to a minimim. I can' wait until next year to see thos terraced gardens as I've planted tulips, iris, crocus, daylilies, asiastic lilies, and few other perennials. I've purchased poppy, hollyhock and a few other intriquing perennial seeds to start this spring for top off each garden....See MoreHerbalynn
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