Plant of the Day: Okra
Photo of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)

Photo by Mark Kane


Eat Your Hibiscus


Okra is closely related (same genus, different species) to hardy hibiscuses like ‘Disco Belle’ that bloom with flowers the size of dinner plates. The kinship shows when an okra plant blooms. The flowers are small and trumpet-shaped, not giant and flat like ‘Disco Belle,” but they have the same flamboyant pillars of stamens and pistils in their throats. Domesticated long ago in Africa, okra is an annual that produce large, edible seed pods, which are cooked young before they turn woody.


Okra pods are mucilaginous (or less politely, slimy). Some recipes, like gumbo, embrace the mucilage as a thickener. Other recipes suppress it. A few drops of lemon juice, or a different acid ingredient, breaks it up. A pod sliced in rounds and fried also works. The result is slightly crisp and firm, without the mucilage. By the way, okra is Hibiscus esculentus (esculentus means edible) and ornamental hibiscuses are Hibiscus moscheutos. Close kin, different breeding.


By Mark Kane - the Groundskeeper, YourGardenShow.com

Copyright © 2011 YourGardenShow.com

Want to read more about this plant and other varieties? Click here for the Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) Plant Page!

Plant Photo Tagging - How it Works

Video by Tom Finerty, founder YourGardenShow.com

Plant Photo Tagging allows you to turn any garden photo into a rich tapestry of what you have planted. It’s fun, informative, and helpful to others visiting your garden. As you photo tag, you can easily add plant names from our database and/or make notes about anything you’d like. To get started, sign-in and go to your Garden.


Click on any image in your garden's slideshow Carousel to get to full-view mode. Click on the “Tag” icon just below your photo and you are ready to tag! Simply click and drag your mouse over a plant or area you’d like to highlight or tag. A pop-up box will appear and ask for either a plant name or a note - add one or both, then click “tag” and you’ve just tagged your garden!


Write and tell us your suggestion for a "How it Works" video:
how-it-works@yourgardenshow.com


For more info contact: help@yourgardenshow.com

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Plant of the Day archive

Siberian squill

Snowdrop

Douglas fir

Norway spruce

Common Lilac 'Marie Frances'

Common Lilac 'Wedgwood Blue'

Manchurian lilac 'Miss Kim'

Red mulberry

White spruce

Striped squill

Scotch pine

Frazier fir

Colorado Spruce

Hardy Pecan

Asparagus

Beet

Brussels Sprouts

Globe Artichoke 'Imperial Star'

American Hazelnut

Black Alder

Seven-son flower

European larch

Maidenhair tree

Butterfly weed

Creeping Zinnia

Garlic 'Spanish Roja'

Garlic 'Georgia Fire'

Garlic 'Persian Star'

Garlic 'Asian Tempest'

Aster 'Monch'

Aster 'Purple Dome'

Chrysanthemum

Beans

Corn

Pumpkin

Gourd

Sargent crabapple, Sargent

Gooseberry

Dwarf pear

American chestnut

Parsnip

Black walnut

Potato

Smooth Sumac

Juniper

Clematis - Nelly Moser

Clematis durandii

American elderberry

Russian arbor-vitae

Resurrection lily

Sweet Potato

Sedum

Blackberry

Cucumber

Mache

Japanese falsecypress

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Japanese Anemone

Carrots

Hot Peppers

Cilantro

Okra

Peppers 'Cal Wonder Orange'

'Cherry Pink' Tomatoes