My potager garden is a small garden on the island of Resarö, Resarö is situated in the inner part of the archipelago outside of Stockholm. Tyra´s Garden is mostly an ornamental vegetable garden, potager. But flowers are of course an important ingredience, for beauty and pollination.
Tyra's Garden is a small garden on the island of Resarö situated in the inner part of the archipelago near the small town Vaxholm, outside Stockholm. Tyra's Garden is mostly an ornamental vegetable garden, my potager. But flowers are of course an important ingredience, for beauty and pollination. The climate in these parts is quite demanding as the northerly winds can be strong and cold. THIS BLOG 'Tyra's Garden' is not entirely a gardenblog it contains much more. About me: Enthusiastic amateur gardener and photographer from Vaxholm, Sweden. Designed and built my Greenhouse and Potager in Tyra's Garden 2003. Love the outdoor life, gardening and sailing especially. View my profile

Thursday

I Bought the Crown Jewels




Chia - Crown Jewels


What little did I know?…

and when I entered the world of Chia.



I have just received a few seed packets from Baker Creek Heirlooms Seeds for my potager. I always want to know a little about the plant I’m going to grow, consequently I looked up my Chia - Crown Jewels and entered a new world, most fascinating. I landed in American history, health, ancient food and future ‘super’ food. Amazing, do you know... I’ve bought a miracle! Perhaps that is why they are called just Crown Jewels or it could be because the flower in its simplicity yet beauty look like a small crown with precious blue-purple stones in it.

Wikipedia Salvia columbariae



Chia - Crown Jewels

(Salvia columbariae ) A different Salvia species with a long history, this heirloom Salvia was grown as a staple food crop by Native Americans years ago. It has a high nutrition value. In cultivation, it needs good drainage, sun and dry weather to grow to its fullest potential. Called Chia in Mexico and other Central American countries, it is also a special ornamental plant with decorative grey-green leaves and pretty colourful light purplish blue flowers.

Chia as Health Food

Chia seeds are now a popular natural health product. William Anderson writes about it


This amazing picture is from EOL Encyclopedia of Life.
The beautiful seeds of Salvia columbariae.


Interesting? Want to try it out?


Chia Seeds - The RAW Food World
Chia Seeds - My SEEDS


Here you can buy Chia seeds and a lot of other interesting food.




Anthropology – about Chia Salvia columbariae


NCBI* Writes about the Chia seeds, how it has been used as food and continues to be used as such, how you can still buy the seeds in stores. Read the interesting story about the Chumash messenger who ran 30 km or perhaps more in a day to deliver messages between the villages. Consuming Chia seeds to maintain the energy right through the run. Read more about the Chumash and Chia “ How the plant was used to ‘wake the dead’ is unknown. However, it may have been the root that was used. Probably the people who were treated with this plant had suffered from strokes or heart attacks and appeared to be nearly dead.” NCBI




Books about Chia (Salvia columbariae)





Another book that awoke my curiosity as I browsed the net was this +300 pages book
The New Book of SALVIAS, hm...I would love to read it.





Common Sage Salvia officinalis in my potager.





That's All Folks!

It is Blooming Friday at Katarinas place
I wish you all a great weekend/ Tyra


*NCBI - National Center for Biotechnology Information


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28 comments:

Luna said...

It's very interesting!!
Happy Blooming Friday...Luna

Carol said...

Fascinating post Tyra!! Lovely photos! I am curious about the waking of the dead aspect of Chia... will have to do further research on this! ;>)) Carol

Gela said...

Vad intressant. Den kanske kan komma in till min trädgård. Hm.. Ha en riktigt fin helg/Gela

andré said...

Intressant läsning! Det verkar vara finfina frön du fått tag på. Ha en god helg.

Anjas Hill said...

Även jag tycker att det är roligt när man får läsa lite mer om en växt. Salvior är mina favvon och jag tycker att du saknar en salvia i dina "samlingar" som jag har...
Maila mig om du är intresserad av att veta mer..../Anja

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Anja va spännande!...

Lena/isklockan said...

Jag har bara en salvia i min " samling ", stäppsalvia. Hoppas mycket på den....Kram

foto CHIP said...

Inte visste jag detta men salvia har jag faktiskt - finfina bilder och underbar blomfärg :)

Moa said...

Vilken härlig form den salvian har.. mycket vacker.. =). Sen blev jag nyfiken på vad Anja har.. hmm.. Hoppas du får en ny fantastisk variant.. ha en skön helg..Moa

Ruben said...

Hej Tyra,
Salvia är ett trevligt släkte. Skulle också väldigt gärna vilja läsa boken du skriver om. Om det blir några fröer får du lova att spara ett åt mig till nästa år.
Har du sett att Claus Dalby skrivit en kommentar hos mig efter att ha hittat min blogg på din sida? Mäkta stolt är jag!
/Ruben - your favourite blogger

Hanneles paradis said...

Alltid roligt att lära sig mer.

Ruben said...

"The New Book of Salvias" finns på Adlibris.se för 160 kronor.
/Ruben

Eva Linnea said...

Ååååå, här får man lära sig! Det är alltid så lärorikt att titta in hos dig.
En skön helg önskar Eva Linnea

Glädjekällans Trädgårdsblogg said...

Kul! Massa med ny kunskap.
Är dålig på det där med salvia men har en planta från Anja, en med stora ganska mörkt blå blommor, som jag försöker hålla liv i. Den står under belysning i källaren.
Trevlig helg
Birgitta

sweetbay said...

I had never even heard of this plant before -- it sounds fascinating.

Katarina said...

Så intressant! Nya upptäckter om växternas hälsoeffekter ger odlandet ytterligare en dimension. Utöver den rent dekorativa - för blomman ser onekligen tjusig ut!

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Det är ju ett riktigt bra pris Ruben, jag tror jag slår till :-)

Angel.Pearls said...

Salvia..spännande! Gillar när växter är något mer än 'bara vackra'! Ha en fin helg//Eva

Mia said...

Salvia i alla former har så vackra blomster, den vanliga kryddplantan smakar ju dessutom underbart i köttfärssåsen :)

*Ulrike* said...

That was very interesting! I have a Bakers Creek catalogue, don't you just love that one?!!! I need to get busy ordering now!
Ulrike

easygardener said...

Very interesting post. That Salvia is new to me. I like the shape of the flower head. I would never have guessed it was a food plant.

Inger said...

Hej Tyra!

Tack för titt hos mig.
Lycka till med dina salviafrön, ser väldigt vacker ut.

Inger

Anonymous said...

That looks like an ornament! I've only seen the simpler looking salvias!:) Fascinating post...and the seeds are so pretty.

Marie said...

Flott innlegg :)
Ja nå er det tid for å så :)

Winnie said...

Hi Tyra,
Very nice blog and lovely photos too. Where do you get the seed from especially the ornamental cabbage?

Kristen said...

Are you able to harvest the seeds from the crown jewels? I am interested in doing this for home use. Do you have more info about how I can try this? Thanks so much,

Kristen

Anonymous said...

This is a very interesting plant indeed. I love reading everything I can about it.

Chia Seeds

cattfrancisco said...

I grew Chia Crown Jewels for the first time last year and was very happy with the plant. I live in Kentucky, and the plant does very well here, even in hot, dry conditions. I am planning on growing Chia Crown Jewels again this year. Many different kinds of pollinators like this plant. I paired it with Purple Opal Basil and Anise Hyssop in a large container on my patio, and the combination of colors was beautiful!