Egypt Sherrod: Her Secrets to Real Estate Success After 100 House Flips

A few weeks ago I received a press release from Waitrose about their new Alan Titchmarsh gardening range. It’s a fairly routine set of offerings, all nicely packaged up. The one that caught my eye was their ‘Broadfen’ horseradish thong, which they said is a “heritage variety first grown by the Egyptians (1500 BC).”

Part of my dissertation involved immersing myself in the history of plants that have been adopted as crops outside their country of origin – novel crops, as I referred to them. It’s a long history, with recorded attempts to move plants from one place to another going back as far as the ancient Egyptians. Even before that, probably for as long as we’ve been human, we have been moving plants around, whether by accident or design.

Throughout history, herbs and spices have been extremely popular, used as medicines and aphrodisiacs as well as making their way into dinner. A plant that the Romans (and ancient Greeks and Egyptians) would have been familiar with was Silphium. They thought it was the finest of all seasonings, as well as a top notch medicinal plant. The Romans got a taste for meat from animals fed on Silphium, and it seems that the herb may well then have been grazed into extinction. It never seemed to make it into cultivation. Another possible explanation of Silphium’s disappearance is that a change in the Mediterranean climate meant it could no longer thrive, and died out naturally. According to Pliny, the last known Silphium plant was given to Emperor Nero as a gift.

The lotus is a remarkable plant. I’m referring to Nelumbo nucifera, which is native to Asia and sacred to both buddhists and Hindus. (It’s related to the American lotus, N. lutea, but not to the lotus that appears in ancient Egyptian images – that’s Nymphaea lotus. Plants in the Nymphaea genus are more commonly referred to as waterlillies in the UK.)

Hello, and welcome to Gardeners Off World! I am writing this from lockdown, and you’re probably reading it from lockdown, too. The good news for UK gardeners is that it’s still OK for most people to do some gardening – and that includes people who grow their food on an allotment.

Klas Flärdh, Lund University and Paul Becher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Aquaculture is farming in water. Can we do that in space? Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond!

If you're looking to buy a new home right now, chances are you've spent plenty of weekends attending open houses. It can be an exciting, albeit anxious time, but it's important to be on your best behavior—especially when the seller's agent is on site.

We’re visiting Catherine’s Dickerson’s garden today in San Diego. We’ve visited before (A Little Slice of Heaven in San Diego), and it is always a pleasure to see what is growing there.

Collaborative post

Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.

Collaborative post