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The Boska. I'm googling to find out what this great bulb with green leaves is called in English. We have one hanging on our front gate.
They grow wild in the fields around us, disappear completely in the summer heat and sprout leaves with the first rains.
Our friendly garden man and wood supplier gave us one of these at New Year. They are supposed to bring good luck. My daughter says she has one, encased in tinfoil, hanging in their office. It has been there for years. She says.. that they never water it or do anything to it but it sprouts new leaves every year.
So I have decided to leave ours on the front gate and see what happens. It survived the snow.
It is their ability to retain water, survive and sprout again and again which symbolises strength and longevity... and hence the good luck I suppose. What it's english name is I did not find out.
Another survivor this winter. A pot of mint. My garden is full of mint in the spring and summer. I love the greenery and that sharp fresh smell. The garden mint disappears with the first rains and temperature drop but this little pot is surviving and thriving. I haven't moved it to shelter but it too survived the snow. It's my winter miracle.
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What an intriguing plant. Wonder what it is?
ReplyDeleteWish I could find the English. Boska is it's common name here. Don't even know its proper one
DeleteNever seen anything like your Greek onion, The Mint would go well with new potatoes.
ReplyDeleteI love mint. It goes well in so many dishes!!
DeleteI thought of you yesterday Linda when I was watching the amazing young New Zealand snow boarder win the gold meda. Fantastic. xx
ReplyDeleteI didn't even see it. I hope we get a rerun. My daughter said he was pretty good
DeleteIt was a girl.
DeleteIt is some type of onion, but I had no luck finding one online that looks like yours. I have been warned against planting both mint or rosemary in anything other than a pot, or it will take over :-) I do plan on some mint in a pot or two.
ReplyDeleteMy mint does grow strong in the spring but it has never taken over, unlike the nasturtiums.
DeleteMint would be my favourite herb, although I use parsley more. I love the tang of fresh mint in a summer salad :)
ReplyDeleteI have a pot of parsley too. That's doing extremely well this winter.
DeleteI’d only ever grow mint in a pot it would take over everywhere if I grew it in the ground
ReplyDeleteIt’s nice when you have your own private little miracle
I'd love my mint to take over the garden but although it progresses a little each spring its got a long way to go before it gets invasive. I've heard that before. Must be the climate though ours are similar.
DeleteNot totally sure, but my mother used to walk me back to a small wood lot with a pail and shovel to dig up wild leeks. I seem to remember the leaves looking like those. They were extremely pungent and were almost like a spring tonic. Perhaps yours are kind of like that?? -Jenn
ReplyDeleteNooo. I just went out and sniffed and tasted a bit of a leaf. No smell and certainly no leek like flavour. A pity.
DeleteI found several of those 'Onions' growing wild on my favourite island of Formentera. I tried to dig one out, but couldn't.
ReplyDeleteIve mentioned these before on the blog and remembered you had come across them. Our next door neighbours field is full of them but I've never tried digging them up.
DeleteWe have seen stalls of those onions over the festive season, and saw similar growing in the wild and wondered if they were the same - so no flowers then? We had kind of thought they might be like hyacinth. Our mint disappeared so we will take hope from you blog that it will come back.
ReplyDeleteNo flowers that Ive seen or heard of but maybe in the wild they do have some sort of bloom. Ill keep an eye on those we'eve got around us.
DeleteMy mint in the garden itself dies out every winter and comes back with vigour in the spring. I have a couple of pots where I grow mint and they are just dead stalks except this one. I'm surprised it survived and thrived.
This site talks of a plant called Boska - you have to scroll down a bit. Interesting (long) read
ReplyDeleteWould help if I gave you the link
Deletehttps://www.cwis.org/2020/07/medicines-of-the-land-sami-reflections-on-the-role-and-use-of-indigenous-medicine-today/
Cathy, I'll go over there now and have a look. Thanks
DeleteI did actually come across this when I was googling but the plant looks completely different. I did come across something greek which mentions it in ancient times. You may hear more about that 'onion'.
DeleteGreat tradition, hope the Boska thrives on your gate. Mint here is in a pot otherwise it take over everything!
ReplyDeleteI love mint and it thrives here but doesn't take over. I wouldn't mind if it did
Deleteoooh I haven't seen the Boska before but mint is so prolific here that people grow it in pots instead of straight in the garden. btw your Christmas card arrived today, thank you.
ReplyDeleteYe gods and little fishes that card took a long time!! I've had Xmas cards in February before but this year they all arrived by the end of January.....I think
DeleteInteresting about Boska plant. It would be interesting to see a picture of the flower. I remember seeing something similar growing wild at Petra in Jordan. It reminds me about my trip to Israel. My mother asked me to get something for her there associated with the Rose of Sharon. When in Israel I was asking locals about it. They had never heard of the Rose of Sharon but looked up the biblical reference online in English and then in Hebrew. Turns out in the Torah it refers to some type of onion like bulb plant. (Sharon is the coastal plain area near Tel Aviv). Maybe connected? I will go check out the website Cathy gave. Aloha
ReplyDeleteNope....another plant that is called by the same name. Your Greek plant is definitely not Angelica.
DeleteI would have said from the leaves its wild garlic or what would have been called Ransoms. But I have read above that isnt the smell. What do the bulbs look like?
ReplyDeleteFOUND IT LINDA! ha ha its called a Squill and it was a gift from Pan as it is thought it has magical properties! Also called a sea onion, it comes from Crete originally. Latin name is Urginea maritima
ReplyDelete