Wild asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) and garden asparagus are the same plant.   In our area, asparagus can be found in a number of spots in the valley where the soil is moist.   We encounter it on sidehills, in seep gullies, in low spots, and in flood zones.   Most have become naturalized, descendants of garden plants in both rural areas and green belts near the cities.

Foragers go out in late spring to harvest the young spears.    As hikers, we most often spot the green fernlike foliage in spring and summer.  Smaller bell-shaped (male or female) white/yellow flowers bloom and berries/pods form in summer (on female plants).    The asparagus berries (seed pods) start as green, but as they age they turn yellow, and then red in the fall.    The pods/berries are toxic to eat, but can be collected to plant out in the spring.   The green foliage turns to yellow later in summer and by fall the bright yellow asparagus plants are easy to spot in the grasslands.

Asparagus is a perennial which grows stems from rhizomes.    The stems are unbranched when young (that’s when we harvest them).   As they age branches form and scaly branch-like leaves form fern-like clusters.

The whole plant turns yellow in the fall.

We have found a large cluster of asparagus plants in the grasslands in an out-of-the-way spot so we will be visiting the spot to harvest some young spears, then to return again when others are in flower.    A post will  report on the result.