SC - Period Potatoes

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 97-10-28 20:42:48 EST, you write:

<< My question is this:  Were the potatoes that were grown as a court 
 garden novelty more decorative than the modern varieties.  I have a hard 
 time picturing modern potatoes and tomatoes decorating anything but a 
 kitchen garden.  None of the nightshade family is anthing much to look 
 at-all things considered.?
 thanks!
 
 Ivy~ >>


Potatoes and tomatoes can be decorative and bushy if kept pinched back like
you would take care of any other decorative plant. The tomatoes used in
Elizabethan borders were white tomatoes, in all probability, and if kept
pinched back the large grren then white fruits would have been
extraordinarily awesome to the eye. 

I would suspect that the novelty of the potato was in the end product, with
blue, red, striped, yellow , pink and a myriad of other colors being the norm
for the color of the wild spuds found in Peru.

By the way, pinching plants back is where the term "green thumb" came from as
any who spend time in the garden can attest to. :-)

Ras
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