8 Home Garden Plants You May Not Have Considered Cultivating

Your garden is an opportunity to do more than grow the same flowers and herbs every year. It’s a chance to experience other parts of the world or new and interesting flavors in your home cooking. Shake up your aesthetics and give your green thumb a challenge by planting some of these oddities from around the world.

Bamboo

Whether you choose a large stand of shoots outdoors or a simple potted lucky bamboo shoot, bamboo adds a unique aesthetic to your garden. This reed is both eye-catching for its shoots and plentiful leaves, but it also helps drained soil recover and replenish after cultivating more demanding plants. This means that most gardens in most climates can grow bamboo. When you are ready to remove the bamboo, the shoots can be used in arts and craft projects or home decoration.

Ginseng

This tuber originates from the Asian continent between Russia and China. Cultures from both nations have cultivated this plant for a variety of medicinal purposes. There are many ginseng uses. These include stress relief, improved cardiovascular function, and balancing insulin. You can grow ginseng in your home garden and prepare the mature root into teas, soups, or even eat it raw if you are feeling bold.

California Firecracker

This flower is renowned for how easy it is to grow and the bright red color of the bulb. Gardeners who grow it also value it for its ability to attract hummingbirds. As indicated by the name, this flowering plant is native to northern California and grows naturally along the pacific northwest coast.

Kohlrabi

This variant of the cabbage originates from central Europe and had been grown in Germany for generations. This is a great plant to add to your garden if you are looking for edible plants to include in a fresh, homegrown salad. Both the bulb and the greens are edible and rich in vitamins C and B. This crop prefers cooler temperatures but should be planted and harvested before winter frosts.

Blue Honeywort

This flowering plant originates from the Mediterranean and showcases one of plant life’s rarest colors, blue. As the season wears on and the plant matures, the leaves right around the subtle bulbs turn from green to blue. The bulbs attract bees and hummingbirds, so be ready to invite some of natures fauna to your garden when you choose to plant the blue honeywort.

White Alpine Strawberries

Most of us are familiar with the luscious red varieties of strawberry. So try growing one of its cousins, the white alpine strawberry. This variety lacks the coloration of other species but is packed with a unique flavor. Some produce the right mix of sugars and proteins to mimic the flavor of pineapples. And since the protein that generates the red pigment is largely missing in this variety of strawberry, people with strawberry allergies are likely to be able to eat this kind without issue. Do consult a medical professional before putting this claim to the test, though.

Chicory Flower

This blue-purple flower belongs to a plant used to produce chicory coffee. The leaves are also edible and are welcome in salads. Growing this plant requires dedicated care as it is sensitive to moisture and hostile weeds. If you’ve ever grown your own lettuce, you will find caring for chicory to be very similar.

Purple Triple Datura

Also known as the purple angel plant, this trumpet flower is native to the full range of the American continent. The large bulb on this flower makes it a distinct addition to any flower garden. However, take extreme caution before cultivating this flower. The whole plant is highly toxic to humans and most common home pets with no known safe levels of ingestion. Do not let rumors of hallucinogenic effects tempt you or anyone you know into ingesting any part of this plant in any way.

Your garden represents the opportunity to learn new things about the abundant variety of plant life in our world. Indulge your adventurous side and grow something out of your comfort zone. You will find that the Earth rewards your effort in cultivating new life.