On Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:41:28 -0500, balvenieman wrote:

General Schvantzkoph wrote:

My garden is full of these plants,
It would help to know where you are. Don't take it as gospel but,
if I saw that plant in my yard here in Florida, I'd call it "poke" and
know it to be edible until the stems and petioles turn magenta. Best
eaten young prepared as any other tender, mild potherb. Mature poke
leaves are often bitter. Poke is a tender perennial, the roots of which
survive sub-freezing temperatures but I don't know for how long. I have
a couple of pokeweeds in my "yard" that are at least 10y/o; one of them
is over 10' tall. This link will give you some idea what the climate's
like he
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?refer=&s=68437 If you
allow these to mature and make their berries, you will become legend
among migratory birds and poke will become more commonplace in your
neighborhood but even with the help of birds it is not particularly
aggressive. I allow volunteer poke plants to remain proximate the
garden as a trap for armyworms, "tomato worms", etc. until I get tired
of walking around them (they get pretty big, after a while).

I hope it's not Pokeweed, the Wikipedia article claims it's poisonous.