Sunchokes Are for the Birds

[ysabetwordsmith]

I grow sunchokes. These are Native American perennial sunflowers that produce many small flowers with small seeds, and a lot of edible tubers about the size of baby potatoes. The plants are enormous -- they get up to about 12 feet tall and form a small forest of stalks with big leaves. Although often listed as wildflowers because they're native and now do run wild, they are actually the escaped agricultural crops of lost civilzations. Sunchokes make fabulous bird plants for a lot of reasons...


* They are as close to drought-proof as any plant I've seen growing in the Midwest, and they grow over most of North America. I have seen them blithely dancing in the sun while dandelions and chicory are wilting. Unlike most drought-resistant plants, they also seem to survive some amount of soggy soil. Mine are in the prairie garden which is among the wetter parts of the yard.

* They make a great shelter patch in summer, and a tall fast visual screen. Small birds and other wildlife like to hide in there. They do need plenty of growing room, but make a great addition to a prairie garden.

* In late summer, they put out bunches of cheerful little yellow flowers that wave in the breeze. These are very popular with butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.

Note that sunchokes are often propagated by cloning; if you plant a tuber, it will grow, like a potato. But they won't breed with themselves or close relatives. If you want those flowers to set plenty of seed for your birds, then you need unrelated sunchokes. Either look for someone selling seed, tubers from seed, a mixed bag of different clones, or just buy several clones separately. Conversely, if you want to discourage them from spreading, you can plant only one clone.

* In early fall, the petals fall off the flowers as the seed sets, and the small seed-eaters like finches cling to the heads to peck out the seeds.

* In mid-fall, the stalks begin to die. Any plant that makes hollow woody stalks tends to attract insects, and that attracts insect-eating birds, particularly woodpeckers. My downy woodpeckers are going nuts over these things. Other plants with hollow woody stalks include cup plant, goldenrod, and the many other kinds of sunflowers. If you like, you can harvest these stalks in fall and bundle them into little insect hotels, or make them into little tipis as with cornstalks.

* Sunchokes store their energy in tubers underground, which come in various colors, sizes, and shapes. Once the stalks have died, the tubers have formed. You may harvest them by digging any time when the ground is unfrozen from fall through spring. Mine make far more tubers than I could ever use. Digging up one plant gave me enough for a crockpot, must have been at least a pound of the things. Enjoy some recipes. You may occasionally find these at a health food store or farmer's market. If you have wildlife that enjoys roots, they will probably like sunchokes.

* When the new shoots form in spring, they draw energy out of the tubers, so that's your signal to make a last harvest if you want one. The tubers tend to disappear during the warm season when the plant is busy aboveground, but the huge root system can still store and reach water far underground. Sunchokes are as close to a climate-change-proof plant as I have found to grow.


Shopping for Sunchokes

20 JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE Sunchoke seeds

Jerusalem Artichoke Seeds (Helianthus tuberosus, Sunchoke) 15+ Seeds (Canada)

Sunchoke Jerusalem Artichoke Helianthus tuberosus 50 Seeds


Sunchokes -- Nuts & Bolts Nursery Co-Op

Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes) Organic Tubers (Canada)

Sunchokes Jerusalem Artichokes (multiple varieties including an assortment)

Top Star Jerusalem Artichoke


Jerusalem Artichoke Plant

Sunchoke or Jerusalem Artichoke (quart pot)