Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Chicory

 

This beautiful blue flower lines the roadsides and lanes all summer here, and one single plant has established itself right in the middle of our meadow…

Chicory – Cichorium intybus

It is a bit too far in for me to photograph it properly, so the rest of my photos are from just beyond the garden fence on the lane up to the main road. The common name for Chicory in German is ‘Wegwarte’, which means guardian of the path. So apt!

They have been flowering for several weeks already now, and will continue flowering intermittently until the first frosts.

Chicory grows up to about a metre tall, but the stems tend to bend over making it seem shorter and untidy. In addition, the flowers usually open in the mornings, and close as the day warms up or if the sun is too strong. So the plant only looks pretty in the mornings or in half shade, although on cloudy days the flowers will often stay open longer.

Chicory has been used for various things in the past, including a coffee substitute. The roots are dried and ground for making coffee or tea, which is said to be good for the digestive system, and used externally it is supposed to make the skin look younger. 😉

I love seeing these blue flowers waving in the breeze at the side of the roads and I hope a few more will spread to my garden one day.

Does Chicory grow near you?

I am taking a couple of weeks off from these Wild and Weedy Wednesday posts, but I do have one or two more weeds to share in September, so until then…. Happy Weeding!

 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In a Vase on Monday: Lovely Jubbly!

Image
For readers not familiar with the term ‘Lovely jubbly’, made famous by the lovable Del Boy in ‘Only Fools and Horses’ back in the 80s, it simply means really lovely, fantastic, great! The origins of the phrase go back further apparently (see this article for more details) but I only know the more recent use of it. And that is the best way I can describe the Zinnias, Calendula, Dahlias and Echinacea I used for my vase this week. These colours, all put together, simply make me happy! The zinnias I planted out in the garden have struggled, since I rarely water the flower beds and it has been such a dry summer. But growing them (and dahlias) in containers or pots has worked extremely well; they were put next to my tomato plants which are given a drink daily, so I could not forget to water them too. And this is the reward. Lovely jubbly! The Echinacea (and Calendula) on the other hand are fine in the flower beds and have proved themselves to be extremely drought-proof. In ...
Read more

Filling the Gaps in the W&H Bed

Image
Regular readers will know that I created the Words & Herbs Bed this spring, using primarily aromatic or scented plants. If you missed the introduction to it, here is a link to the post I wrote on it back in July . Well, the seated area still hasn’t been done! However, the bed exceeded all expectations for its first year, partially due to the weather – regular rainshowers all through most of the spring and summer, which helped the new, small plants get established. (Most of them were in 9cm pots when planted). But also because of the annuals I sowed. So I will now share some of those to show what an impact they can make. First of all the Salvia viridis, which I have been growing for a couple of years now and absolutely adore. It is such a bee magnet, has lovely aromatic leaves, sets seed easily, lasts well in a vase, and has brightened up this bed for months on end. The pink seems far more rampant than the blue, and a white one popped up too, but was oddly not as attractive t...
Read more