Post #80 Plant Profile: Longevity Spinach and Okinawa Spinach (Gynura crepioides and Gynura bicolor)
Let’s talk about more delicious tropical spinach choices available here in our little corner of paradise. We’re talking edible perennial leaves that look great in a salad or wrap alike.
If you are like us, ever on the search for raw greens to consume year round in our climate, you have found the right place. Throughout our Plant Profile series we highlight all of our favorite perennial, tropical greens.
For those of us who are native to the area, we grew up eating many of these varieties. For those who have migrated here from up North, it may take a little getting used to, but you’ll be swapping your traditional lettuces and cooking greens for these heat-resistant alternatives in no time.
We recently covered the delectable and dependable Malabar spinach, so to follow up in this post we are going to get into two more tropical varieties.
Also not “true spinaches”, these plants provide tender leafy greens through the hottest seasons when true spinach varieties would bolt and go to seed. Hurray for the variety of life!
Malabar, okinawa, and longevity spinach can be tossed with a base of coromandel leaves and any other leafy green you’ve got out there in your yard that strikes your fancy, to create a truly satisfying height of summer season salad.
Both longevity and okinawa spinach boast robust, bright green leaves. Longevity spinach vines, while okinawa bushes a bit and produces a vibrant, deep purple underside to its leaves.
How do you eat them?
Both Longevity and Okinawa spinach have a mucilaginous property that may seem slightly slimy to some, and tantalizing to others. In a salad they will both present as tender greens with bold flavors. Okinawa has a bit of a resinous bite. Longevity is milder.
The tender new growth of Okinawa spinach can be eaten raw; it can substitute lettuce or celery in a salad. The older leaves are best when boiled, steamed, or tossed in a stir fry. They also do well in a hearty soup or stew. stir fry.
Longevity spinach can be substituted for most anything you would use true spinach for. Consider a berry or avocado smoothie with a handful of young, raw leaves. Or make a pesto by mixing the young, raw leaves with fresh basil leaves and lemon juice.
How do you grow these spinaches?
Although closely related and seemingly quite similar, the two varieties vary a bit when it comes to growing them in your garden.
- Longevity Spinach
- Harvest year-round
- It grows as a trailing vine, and most often it becomes a groundcover as its nodes root into the ground as it spreads.
- It grows in most soil types but it can be finicky about impacted or low-nutrient soil. Aerated, well fed soil should keep it happy.
- A good layer of compost, 1-2 inches spread out, on a seasonal basis should keep it happy.
- Okinawa Spinach
- Harvest late spring (best) into fall
- You can eat the new growth raw by harvesting the top 4 inches
- The older leaves should be cooked for best flavor.
- Grow this plant from cuttings as they don’t produce seeds
- Grows exceedingly well in containers
They do have a few things in common, though. They both do exceedingly well as understory plants, growing upwards or sprawling across the ground. They do well in full sun to partial shade, allowing their space in the garden to be quite versatile. And regularly harvesting the leaves increases the plants’ production.
Pesky Considerations
Pests are rare, another reason to love these varieties of tropical spinach. An occasional aphid infestation may require removing a plant here or there for the good of the harvest. Beetles will occasionally chomp away at the leaves; a good foliar spray down with neem oil should send them packing. Same thing with whiteflies. Lastly, if leafminers take an interest, simply remove the leaves they attack and dispose of them in the garbage, not the compost where they can potentially wreak more havoc.
Weeds aren’t much of a bother. Longevity and Okinawa spinach are hardy enough that they generally out compete weedy competition, making them an ideal groundcover.
Where can you find these spinaches for sale?
You may find them locally around town, or even in your neighbor’s backyard – how’s that for local?! Keep an eye out at the farmer’s market too, if you want to try it for dinner (or breakfast) before growing it.
Check local nurseries for starts or find seeds online when you are serious about growing this hardy perennial.
I prefer to eat Longevity over Okinawa because of the taste. Longevity is milder, having no resinous flavor. Okinawa is a little more exciting to look at because of the purple undersides of its leaves, but flavor is more important to me.
Both are easy to grow and will do alright in sun or part shade. Okinawa might be a little easier. It hasn’t done well for me to plant either and walk away. It’s better to give them some attention or they may disappear. But these plants are very valuable additions to a perennial forest garden, and among my top picks.
Do you agree? Disagree? What is your favorite way to prepare either? Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments below!
Until Next time,
Happy Gardening,
Mary