Plant · P-285

Good King Henry

Blitum bonus-henricus

Good King Henry is a perennial spinach relative harvested four different ways off one plant - young leaves as a potherb, thick spring shoots cooked like asparagus, flower buds as a gourmet vegetable, and seed ground into flour. Its useful season is short: it thrives in the cool of spring and stalls, turns bitter and bolts once sustained heat sets in, so for most of the year it simply holds its ground rather than producing. The leaves wilt within hours of picking, so it has to be cooked the same day rather than stored or sold. Once established from seed or division it settles in slowly but can persist for decades in the right spot.