Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum) is up! Hooray! A great bee plant, medicinal plant, and mulch provider.
Nettles! Nettles! Everywhere! Pick them now while tender and fresh! Dehydrate what we can't eat now for nourishing teas next winter. (Urtica dioica)
Lovage, Levisticum officinale, has a strong celery flavor, but is great when it is young. And I love the "lovage forest" that it makes.
Over-wintered chard is a reliable standby in early spring. And who can resist that beautiful red!
Turkey Rhubarb, aka Da-huang, Rheum palmatum tanguticum: This important medicinal plant likes rich, damp, soil in somewhat shady areas. It grows huge! I am happy that it made it through the winter (along with regular rhubarb)
Cardoon, Cynara cardunculus: I mostly grow this for the blooms, which look like giant artichokes. The bumblebees love them. The early stems are edible.
