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Allium ursinum (Wild Garlic / Ramsons)

£4.90
Aspect:
Full Shade
Aspect:
Light/Partial Shade
Soil Type:
Most Types
Colour:
White
Allium ursinum (Wild Garlic / Ramsons)

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Plant Overview

This is our native wild relation to the onion and garlic. Milder in taste and smell than cultivated garlic, it is a useful addition to dishes and salads. Lovely white flowers adorn the plants from April to June. Perennial and fully hardy.

Good for underplanting trees and shrubs. Will slowly colonise an area to create a carpet. Like Bluebells, Wild garlic is an ancient woodland indicator species.

This is sold in a 9cm pot but is also available as in-the-green bulbs in winter here. 

Height: 25cm

Common names: Wild garlic; Ramsons; Badger's Flower; Cowleekes; Cows's leek; Cowleek; Buckrams; Broad-leaved garlic; Wood garlic Bear leek; Stinking Lilies; Eurasian wild garlic; Bear's garlic.

Ramsons is from the Saxon word hramsa, meaning 'garlic'. There is evidence it has been used in English cuisine since Celtic Britons over 1,500 years ago.

Cows love to eat them, hence the common names regarding cows. In Southern England, dairy farmers have occasionally had milk from their herds rejected because of the garlic flavour imparted to it by the cows after grazing upon the plant.

All parts of the Allium ursinum plant have culinary uses, including the flower which can be used to garnish salads.

The leaves of the Allium ursinum are the most popular part to be used in food. Leaves can be used in raw salads and carry a very subtle garlicky flavour similar to that of garlic chives. When picked the leaves bruise, making them smell even stronger. When cooked the flavour of the leaves becomes softer and sweeter.

The leaf is often chopped and used to replace garlic and other herbs in many recipes. The bulb can be used in a similar way to clove garlic.

Popular dishes using the plant include pesto, soups, pasta, cheese, scones and Devonnaise.

Please note: Wild Garlic is a spring bulbous plant. The foliage dies back to the ground in late spring and shoots again the following year. If you order it at any time other than early spring, the foliage will be either be dying back, or not showing. This is natural and not a problem!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 1: Adrian Pingstone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

All our plants are supplied in 9cm pots unless otherwise specified. Plants in this size pot establish quickly in the garden and often outpace plants in bigger pots planted at the same time. Our potted plants can be planted immediately, unless otherwise noted, or you can leave them in their pots until you are ready to plant.
The majority of our plants are grown outdoors. This means that they follow their natural growth patterns and are ready to plant at any time of the year. If you order the plants in winter, they are likely to be dormant and died back to ground level, ready to shoot again in spring - just like the herbaceous perennials in your own garden. Very occasionally, in winter and early spring, we may indicate on the packing slip that a plant needs to be hardened off before planting out. This will be because it has just come out of a polytunnel. If you have any questions about our plants or growing methods, please feel free to drop us an email.
We grow most of what we sell ourselves, in our nursery in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Our prices include VAT at 20%.
Please note: We do our best to provide acurate photographs of the plants we sell, but colours display differently on different screens, printers and in different light and we cannot guarantee that what you are seeing on your screen, or on the plant label provided, will exactly match the plant when it flowers in your garden. Plant dimensions are given as a guide only and the actual sizes reached may vary from garden to garden, depending on local conditions.
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