Sometime over the last few days, the Jerusalem artichoke have started to produce pretty yellow flowers. That’s interesting. Without all this warm, way-past-normal- frost-date weather, what would they have done? They did go in a little late… And why do they look so…familiar? A couple of minutes online and it’s apparent that flowering is optional, largely dependant on location and conditions. And, no wonder, they—Helianthus tuberosus, aka sunchoke, sunroot, topinambour—are close relatives of the majestic sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Small world…
I have them in my back yard where they’ve spread from an old compost heap. Though they are delicious, my soil produces very small tubors. They are very thuggish and push their way along and when you pull them they re-grow from the tubors. We also have an invasion of morning glories. The combination was really pretty: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2455/3967109909_f64dbfa604_m.jpg