27/10/2026
How about trying something a little different in your vegetable garden this season?
We tend to stick with what we know when it comes to leafy greens. Silverbeet, spinach and lettuce are familiar favourites, but there are so many other varieties worth growing.
This season we're trialling Stridolo (Silene vulgaris), also known as Bladder Campion, a perennial wild green that has been part of traditional Italian cooking for generations.
You may know Bladder Campion as a herb, or wildflower rather than a vegetable. It's named for its unusual, inflated, balloon-like flower calyx beneath its small white flowers.
In Italy, Stridolo is traditionally gathered in spring when the shoots are young and tender. The leaves have a delicate, slightly sweet, pea-like flavour and are used in risottos, pasta, frittatas and soups, or simply sautéed with olive oil and garlic. Young shoots can also be added to salads.
One of its attractions is that Stridolo is a perennial. Once established, it can return year after year and will also self-seed. It prefers a sunny position and free-draining soil, making it a useful addition to the perennial kitchen garden.
A few growing notes from Kings Seeds:
Sow August–November or February–April.
Germination: 7–14 days at 12–18°C.
Matures approximately 70 days from transplanting.
Grows to around 60 cm.
Perennial and self-seeding.
We're keen to see how it performs in our Central Otago garden, particularly how it copes with our cold winters.
The trick is to harvest the young shoots before flowering, while they're still tender. Older leaves and stems become tougher.
Why not join us in this little growing trial?
Let's see how Stridolo performs in our different New Zealand climates and experiment with using it in our summer dishes.
You'll find Stridolo on page 89 of the Kings Seeds catalogue, in the Herb section.
I'd love to hear if you've grown it before, or if you're going to give it a try alongside us.
