When everything revolves around the goose today on St. Martin’s Day, organic gardener Karl Ploberger takes a look at the plant kingdom, where the “goose” also appears in many plant names.
Of course, most people immediately notice that daisy a. Wherever people tend to nature, the little flower spreads out, on meadows, on lawns or even on road embankments and railway embankments. Bellis perennis, as it is called botanically, can be found in central and northern Europe up to the alpine meadows. The rosettes of leaves that grow flat on the ground cannot be destroyed by the sharp blade of the lawnmower or by the beak of a goose. On the contrary – as soon as it is cut off, the plant starts to produce new flowers again. Some species of the plant genus Bellis are found in the Mediterranean area.
The Bellis annua is known as a spring bloomer in flower beds and has double flowers in white, pink and red.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the daisies that we have at home Spanish Daisies (Erigeron karvinskianus), which has very similar white flowers. It is ideal for very dry, well drained locations – perfect in pavement joints. In the balcony box you will find the blue flowering one Australian Daisies (Brachyscome iberidifolia), it is a very pretty hanging plant.
A lush and particularly easy to care for ground cover is the goose cress (Arabis). From April to May, the plant wraps dry stone walls and flower beds in a cloud of white flowers. Prune vigorously after flowering to keep the plant compact.
Of the White Goosefoot (Chenopodium album) is better known as a weed than a crop. It is often called field, manure or even boar orchard. It grows in fields and gardens, you can find it along paths and often on rubble heaps. Many caterpillars find food here, and the seeds on the dried plants provide them for birds in winter.
It is, as they say, lady’s herb of the first choice cinquefoil. The leaves can be used to prepare teas and wild salads, dried they are used as a scented herb for the home. In herbal medicine, a few leaves in milk are recommended for menstrual cramps.
The “goose” can also be found in the German name der goose rocket, the goose mallow as well as the sowthistle, where locally very different names are often used for these plants.
Source: Nachrichten
