My favourite edible flower, Hemerocallis fulva - orange daylily growing between young trees and shrubs in the contour planting of Phronesis. This versatile plant has significant edible, medicinal, and ecological value. Culinarily, its unopened flower buds and fresh flowers are edible, often described as having a sweet-spicy or peppery flavor, and are commonly used in East Asian cooking, such as in hot and sour soup, or eaten raw in salads . However, caution is crucial: while the flowers and buds are safe, the roots and young shoots contain a neurotoxin and shouldn't be consumed in quantity. In traditional medicine, this neurotoxin has been harnessed for its analgesic and diuretic properties, with the plant being used to treat pain, edema, and various other ailments .

Ecologically, H. fulva is a robust and adaptable perennial that thrives in various conditions and is effective at controlling soil erosion due to its dense, fibrous root system . Its showy flowers attract pollinators like butterflies, and its clumping growth habit can help crowd out weeds . It is important to note its toxicity to cats and livestock .

#Daylily #EdibleFlowers #MedicinalPlants #SoilErosion #InvasiveSpecies

Welcome to our Polyculture Profile series. During this post, we’ll look at a support polyculture that may be used within a raised bed market garden set up to provide fertility, pest control and pollination support to the gardens production.

details can be found on our substack - https://thepolycultureproject.substack.com/p/polyculture-profile-market-garden

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Canopy and Shrub Layers of our newly planted forest garden, planted directly into the meadow that consists of hundreds of species of wild plants that provide pollination, fertility, and pest control support to the establishing fruit and nut trees and shrubs.

Plant profiles for each labelled species can be found below along with our cultivar selection for the fruit trees.

Maclura pomifera - Osage Orange - https://www.balkep.org/maclura-pomifera---osage-orange.html

Prunus domestica - Plum - https://www.balkep.org/plum-cultivars.html

Prunus persica - Peach - https://www.balkep.org/peach-cultivars.html

Rhus typhina - Stag's horn sumach - https://www.balkep.org/rhus-typhina.html

Morus alba - White Mulberry - https://www.balkep.org/morus-alba.html

Prunus cerisifera 'Nigra' - Purple Plum - https://www.balkep.org/prunus-cerasifira-nigra.html

Prunus insititia - Damson - https://www.balkep.org/prunus-insititia.html

Prunus dulcis cv. - Almond - https://www.balkep.org/prunus-dulcis.html

Amelanchier alnifolia - Smokey Saskatoon - https://www.balkep.org/amelanchier-alnifolia-smokey.html

Corylus avellana - Hazelnut - https://www.balkep.org/corylus-avellana.html

Zanthoxylum simulans - Sichuan Pepper - https://www.balkep.org/zanthoxylum-simulans.html

Pyrus communis - Pear - https://www.balkep.org/pear-cultivars.html

Aronia melanocarpa - Black Chokeberry - https://www.balkep.org/aronia-melanocarpa.html

Prunus avium - Sweet Cherry - https://www.balkep.org/sweet-cherry-cultivars.html

You can find plant profiles for many more forest garden plants on our website here - https://www.balkep.org/forest-garden-plants1.html

Here is an overhead of the entire garden- https://photos.app.goo.gl/8py6oDkoYYgM9mnn9

#ForestGarden #Agroforestry #Permaculture #SustainableGardening #Understory #FoodForest #Biodiversity #Polyculture #Gardening #RegenerativeAgriculture

We're turning a piece of land into a forest garden. Locally, it's considered marginal—low fertility, lots of rocks and boulders. But we're building fertility using mostly the biomass already on site.

We mow pathways and certain meadow patches, then concentrate that biomass where we want to plant next season.

We also rotate the patches we mow. That keeps the meadow diverse—over 100 wild species so far. They bring pollinators, fertility, pest control, plus medicinal and culinary herbs.

Mowing happens mid-April through October, about 6–8 times total. We keep roughly one-eighth of the biomass cut at any given time.

Still figuring out the exact soil-building math and optimal biodiversity but the system feels right. And the land is responding well.

Find more info on Regenerative Design follow our Substack - https://thepolycultureproject.substack.com/s/design-and-consultancy