Okra
Not only good to eat, okra is pretty enough to display with flowers in the garden, including how to use dried seed pods in floral arrangements and picking and preparing okra.
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Burgundy' okra has attractive red stems and pods and grows to 4 feet tall.
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By Brook Elliot
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Wow!" a recent visitor exclaimed. "Those are pretty
enough to grow in a flower garden." She was right. With its
elegant hibiscus-like flowers and spiky pods, okra is as
showy as any edible plant can be. The tall plants look
great in the garden, and the dried seed pods are often used
in floral arrangements. The young pods are the part you
eat; they have a tender, chewy texture and earthy green
taste.
Call it gumbo, bamya, lady's fingers,bhindi,
quingombo or a half-dozen other names, okra is an
annual vegetable usually thought of as a Southern plant.
Reflecting its host of common names, okra even has two
scientific names: Abelmoschus esculentus and Hibiscus
esculentus.
A basic ingredient in the Cajun dish filé gumbo,
okra is actually much more versatile. It can be breaded and
fried, steamed, baked, grilled, stir-fried, pickled, or
used in numerous soups and stews.
Originating in Africa, okra is thought to have been brought
to America by slaves, along with that other Southern
staple, cowpeas (aka black-eyed peas). In colonial days it
was more universally popular than now and was being sold in
Philadelphia markets as early as 1781. In his classic 1863
book, Field and Garden Vegetables of America,
Fearing Burr lists four varieties, which indicates okra was
a widespread market crop by the middle of the 19th century.
As recently as 1998, there were 43 varieties being offered
by commercial seed houses, according to the Seed Savers
Exchange's Garden Seed Inventory.
Depending on variety, okra grows from 2 feet to as much as
10 feet tall, and usually produces green pods and yellow
flowers with purple centers. But there are many variations
on this theme, including plants whose stems, foliage and
pods range from burgundy to scarlet. My favorite is an
heirloom variety called 'Betty's White,' which produces
ivory flowers with claret centers and white to very
pale-green pods.
As the plant matures, a single flower forms in the crotch
between branches and the stems of leaves. These flowers
last only one day and are immediately followed by pods.
Unharvested, the pods can grow as long as 10 inches. Okra
prefers hot weather, but it's a misconception that it
requires a very long growing season. Some varieties will
begin forming pods just 50 to 60 days after planting. If
your hot summer season is short, be sure to use one of
these early-yielding varieties, such as 'Annie Oakley,'
'Dwarf Green Long Pod,' 'Blondie,' 'Burgundy' or 'Clemson
Spineless.' Once the plants start setting pods, they will
continue doing so until frost.
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