This is Cassava SM150. @bluesgirlbecsta and I have inherited a collection of Cassava varieties from the Monash University Botany Department (story for another day). Meanwhile SM150 is very unusual with beautiful, distinctive foliage. Cassava is a heat loving perennial which grows optimally between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius so it thrives in summer and then it dies when outside in Melbourne at the faintest hint of a cold night 😑. It’s the staple carb crop for about 1 billion people globally who eat the starchy roots. I’ve managed to keep them going in an unheated polytunnel by ruthlessly droughting them for 4 to 6 months from autumn through spring. They’re so robust that they’ll happily sit in pots as dried sticks for this period and then come back to life when re-watered in October. So root production is limited in our climate but some communities love eating the (thoroughly cooked) leaves. So the aim here is to have Cassava at least available for leaf production in summer and to look good shimmering in the sun on 40+ degree day #cassava #manihotesculenta #cassavaleaves #tropicalplantsinmelbourne #polytunnelgrowing #perennialcrops #novelcrops #panc #plantsofsouthamerica #indigenouscrops #edibleornamentals #urbanagriculture

via People Plants Landscapes https://ift.tt/2JtNbyy