Wild Ramps (SE Pennsylvania Ecotype)

Allium tricoccum Origin: Southeastern Pennsylvania Improvement status: Wild Seeds per pack: ~45 BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED Life cycle: Perennial Ramps are a much-treasured harbinger of Spring. Often the first green vegetable to sprout after the long winter — and a healthy one at that — they are so beloved that many towns up and down Eastern North America celebrate a "Ramp Festival" upon their arrival. They have recently become a highly sought-after luxury item too, available for sometimes $25 per pound at high-end greengrocers from Brooklyn to Chicago (which actually got its name from the Algonquin word for ramps!) — leading to major fears of over-harvesting. Yet for generations these were considered "peasant food," and they are typically foraged from the wild rather than cultivated. The main reason they are rarely grown is simply a lack of patience: like other perennial vegetables, ramps from seed take years to reach full maturity — and need a deciduous woodland habit