SUN | SOIL MOISTURE | HEIGHT |
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Full Partial |
Medium Medium Dry Dry |
from 6' to 10' |
BLOOM | USDA ZONES | BLOOM COLOR |
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3.5" square pots - Nursery Pick Up or USPS Location: Greenhouse 2, central benches, north side, bench 2 |
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Price: $8 | Available: 7 |
Jerusalem Artichoke is a delightful sunflower species native to the central US. It is cultivated widely across temperate regions for its edible root tuber. While not a true artichoke, Jerusalem Artichoke is actually a member of the Aster family as are true artichokes. Aside from the sunny yellow flowers this plant is important to wildlife for seed production. Finch species love the seeds and will pick the seed heads clean before too long. Small mammals will benefit from the dropped seeds as well.
The flowers are a very bright orange/yellow held high on the stems.
An easily grown plant that can become weedy so choose your planting area carefully. The edible tuber is actually rather brittle and can break apart if you try to remove the plant. These bits and pieces of remaining tuber will grow into new plants.
Our friends at the Missouri Botanical Garden provided this information about the plant, its history and use as food:
Jerusalem artichoke was an important food plant for native Americans for many years prior to 1600. The French explorer Samuel de Champlain reportedly found this plant growing at Cape Cod in 1605. Tubers were brought back to Europe where they were widely planted, with the tubers becoming a common vegetable food crop in a number of areas by 1650. Plants are still grown today for harvest of the tubers which begins about 2 weeks after the flowers fade. Each plant typically produces 2-5 pounds of tubers per year. Raw tubers have a nutty flavor. Tubers may be grated raw into salads, boiled and/or mashed somewhat like potatoes, roasted or added to soups. Unlike potatoes, tubers do not contain starch. They do contain inulin which converts into fructose which is better tolerated by people with type 2 diabetes than sucrose.
Unreported | |
Unreported (Absent for area) | |
Native | |
Native in state (NA Native and Present in state, but not Present in county) | |
Native in state and Present in county (NA Native and Present in state, and Present in county) | |
Rare in state and Present in county (NA Native and Rare in state, and Present in county) | |
Extirpated/Historic in state/Native (NA Native and Reported in county) | |
Adventive or Introduced state (NA Native and Adventive in state, and Present in county) | |
Exotic Occurrences | |
Exotic in state (Exotic and Present in state, but not Present in county) | |
Exotic in state and Present in county (Exotic and Present in state, and Present in county) | |
Other | |
Noxious in state (Noxious in state, and Present in county) | |
Questionable Presence (cross-hatched) |
An easily grown perennial for a wide variety of locations provided it is not too wet or too dry. Staking may be required if grown in a windy area. Here in the nursery we have it planted in an area that has at least a little bit of protection from the wind and it does very well. For us it is one of the first fall flowers to announce the changing of the seasons.
Please note that Riverside Native Perennials (RNP) only ships our potted “35” product via USPS. We generally can have your plants boxed up and ready to go within two or three days. All other products including our flat of plugs, 1-gallon and 3-gallon containers are only available for nursery pick up in Delaware, OH. For large orders of any of our products we can arrange shipping at an extra cost. Please contact the nursery for additional information.
It’s important to note that when we send plants to you, presentation is everything! We recognize that you’re expecting healthy plants to arrive safely on your doorstep ready to be planted and that is what we’re selling. Further, we want you to know that while we are a fully licensed and inspected perennial nursery in the state of Ohio…we are in Ohio! That means we are subject to Ohio weather. The average frost-free date for our area is May 15. So even though you may live in Florida or California your plants are growing under Ohio conditions and we do not heat our greenhouses due to the expense. Our plants may be slightly delayed but again it’s because we’re in a Zone 5 area. Because we ship nationwide, we ship plants at all times of the year. If it’s winter in Ohio, you’ll be getting dormant plants. If it’s spring or summer in Ohio, you’ll be getting plants of various sizes that are actively growing. Plants shipped during fall in Ohio may be dormant or may be heading towards dormancy. This is all natural and we do not try to modify or prolong the growing season other than to grow them in an unheated greenhouse. Even in an unheated greenhouse our plants are much further along and growing well early in the spring than if they were planted outside in Zone 5. If you would like additional information about sizes for a particular species, please contact us via email.
In 2021 RNP partnered with a shipping professional to design and develop a shipping system that could reasonably be expected to survive the USPS mail room and transportation process. After several design sessions and going back to the drawing board on more than a couple of occasions we created a shipping box system that, to us, is bulletproof. It is strong, lightweight and, to date, has not failed in shipping nearly 150 packages of plants to all corners of the country.
Once selected from our greenhouse benches, your plants are placed into a small plastic bag to maintain moisture during shipping. To keep the soil in the pot we created a cardboard insert that perfectly fits into the top of our 35 containers. The insert has a cutout that surrounds to plant stem without damaging it. The plastic bag and insert are secured by two rubber bands. Each bagged plant is then placed into an individual corrugated cardboard box which perfectly fits the 35 container, and which locks it in place so that it will not move during transit. Four individual boxes are then placed into another, even heavier duty corrugated cardboard master shipping box. The whole effect is that of double boxing your plants. They are safe and secure for the long trip to your home landscape!
The system only works with 4 individual boxes being packed into a single master shipping box so we encourage you to buy four plants or a multiple of four plants. You can buy less than four plants but we will need to send all the cardboard for four plants in order for the shipping system to succeed as designed.