Today, I'm quite proud to tell that my third article here in the US just came out. In it I dove into the history of monkeypuzzles as garden plants. And what a journey it was - from a dinner table in Chile where its seeds were served as a dessert to Captain Vancouver's expedition (they had been up in the Pacific Northwest trying to find the Nortwest Passage), via Victorian England where it fast became a trophy plant for the rich, and then back to North America where gardeners took after most trends popular in England.
Today, these architectural, prickly conifers are seldom planted in gardens. But their delicious, large seeds remind of giant pine nuts, and as "edibles" are today included in all parts of a garden from flowerbeds to meadows, monkeypuzzles might be heading towards a renaissance...
No comments:
Post a Comment