Spring onion

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Warsaw: Solidarność, jam and juice

Jam session in pictures, ©Pixxe.org

Warsaw foragers were almost foiled (unintentionally) by Solidarność protesters before convincing several marchers to save the day. Don’t miss this great post by Pixxe on an eventful fruit-preserving party. The fruit — including dogwood cherries, apples, pears and mystery fruit — looks delicious.

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Mexico: Jimena Lascurain finds poetry in plants

“A branch of a plant that stuck into the wall. The rest of the plant grows in the opposite direction.” In San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. By Jimena Lascurain.

Mexico: I’ve never seen the country, or its plants, with my own eyes. I only know the Mexican-American culture and plants that permeated my youth in California, which I loved, such as seeing edible cactus leaves, fresh tortillas and corn husks in every grocery store and eating paper plates of takeout tacos covered in cilantro. I will visit in person some day. But today, let’s travel there visually, via these urban plant photos shared by Jimena Lascurain in Mexico City.

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Berlin: Restaurant plants before opening time

In this restaurant in Berlin-Friedrichshain the other day, in the morning before the restaurant had opened for the day, a crew of plants were chilling in the window, from oranges to orchids.

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Berlin: Bärlauch, or, cooking spring

As I’ve mentioned, spring has felt massively delayed to many Berliners this year. Maybe our expectations have been warped by global warming, but it feels like we’ve been waiting, shivering at near-zero temperatures, on the brink of spring for ages. We’ve watched reports on TV about Germany’s beloved spring crop, white asparagus, whose harvest has been delayed for more than four weeks by the cold rain. Same for my favorites, bright pink rhubarb and Bärlauch, the tender wild garlic greens that Berliners forage in city parks, which both have been nowhere to be seen… until this week!

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Kyoto: All that I can see is another yuzu tree

My host in Kyoto has a yuzu tree in her garden. I have tree envy.

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Berlin: Potatoes jump the gun

Lurking in a dark cupboard in my office, I found some potatoes, forgotten by a colleague. These spuds apparently want to skip winter and jump directly to spring planting time. I can relate.

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Berlin: Ice cream tree

Spotted this morning on Modersohnstraße, summer’s single last blossom on the ice-cream tree.

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Elderflower season draws to a close

It’s been a wonderful spring for elderflowers in Berlin, their huge creamy white sprays appearing by the dozen on the simple green trees and shrubs that, until then, nobody had paid any attention to, like this low-growing specimen obscuring some graffiti. They perfumed the air around them, and the food and drinks of anyone who took the time to stop and forage.

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Berlin: Seedlings take over kitchen counter

Not all urban plants sprout up uninvited on the mean sidewalks of the city. Indeed, in Berlin, planting the balcony is a spring ritual for many. Those without balconies, like myself, have adopted bits of land in community gardens. It’s still too early for many plants to be planted outdoors, but seedlings are being started in apartments around the city.

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