Plant · P-352

Caucasian Spinach

Hablitzia tamnoides

Caucasian Spinach is a perennial climbing vine grown as a spinach substitute - once established, its mild leaves and young shoots are cut fresh for years instead of resowing a spinach crop every season. It is a cool-woodland plant from shaded ravines and riverbanks, needing shade and consistently moist soil to survive; full sun and dry heat are what kill it, not cold. It takes two to three years from seed before it is worth harvesting, and its growing season runs from late winter through early summer before it dies back for the rest of the year.