Linden trees

[silverseeds]

does anyone here know much about linden trees?
the site below has five different species of them. That say they have small edible nuts, the flowers are also edible and used for tea, the leaves are edible early in spring, even in salads, and they can be tapped like a maple, for syrup..... sounds like a winner to me.....

My wife has had the tea, and said it is real tasty.

On gardenweb, there was some people from wyoming, and some from colorado, both representations of different aspects of my climate, and they did well for them.

so has anyone grown these? are they any good?

www.richfarmgarden.com/setuptrees.html

[flowerpower]

I have an American Linden in front of my barn. It was planted in 1976 for the bicentennial. I have never seen nuts on it. I personally don't care for the smell of the flowers. I find the scent too overpowering. I see new trees pop up from the roots. My poor tree is right on the road. It takes some very harsh conditions with very little damage.

[plantsnobin]

The company you linked has a terrible reputation-I would avoid them completely. I don't grow a linden tree, so can't really comment on that aspect.

[paquebot]

American linden is American basswood. They aren't supposed to bear nuts. It's the Asian and European types which have nuts. If you have Japanese beetles around, don't plant the Asian ones. They completely defoliated about 50 of them planted along some streets and in parks here.

Martin

[flowerpower]

I've never seen another basswood in the area. I may have the only one for miles around. I've never seen berries on it either.

[ottawagardener]

We have a little leaf linden in our front yard that produces lots of flowers in the spring followed by little green ball like nut/fruits. It smells heavenly in spring. Around here it is a very common tree used in city plantings along the street. I have heard that consumption of linden flower tea in great quantities can cause cardiac problems but have never looked into it in great detail. I have also never tried the nuts, nor did I know they were edible. As for the sap, I live in Sugar Maple country so I might be considered a 'sap' snob

Ours is a beautiful, pyramidal tree whose lower branches keep getting lopped off so people can walk along the sidewalk beneath them. Otherwise, they would nearly touch the ground. It is about 50 ft. tall and generally covered in aphids which provides a constant food source for tonnes of ladybugs so I don't mind too much. One drawback to planting them is that, at least our tree, has a dense network of hungry surface roots.

lib.oh.us/tree/fact%20pages/linden_littleleaf/linden_littleleaf.html

[flowerpower]

I'm going to guess I have the Large Leaf variety. The leaves can get a ft across. Luckily, no one has to walk under ours. It does have very low branches for such a tall tree. But the surface roots are a pain in the butt.

[raymondo]

Tilia cordata is said to have edible leaves. I don't know how palatable they are. Certainly stock like them. Michael Crawford, the British food forest guy, uses the young leaves as a lettuce in salads.

[toad]

I like the leaves of Tilia cordata too. I eat them full size but young, good stuffed in a sandwich, and at hand before I have any lettuce in my garden. Also the flower in herbal tea is good, used a lot in France. I even like the tea cold :-) as it is very sweet.

[Hristo]

Ah, linden tea! The linden trees are very common here, especially T. tomentosa. And the tea is among my favourite tasting herbal teas. Actually I prefer to "eat" it (like a soup) than drink it! It's GREAT with crumbled white brine cheese in it (you know this type of cheese under it's greek name 'Feta'). As far as I know there is a difference in the aroma/taste of the tea depending on the Tillia species used, and there are many species. I'm familiar only with the tea of T. tomentosa. I have seen here only a few trees of 2 other species - T. platyphyllos and T. cordata, but never tried them.

[atash]

No native Lindens in my part of the world, but there are 2 European species very common as street trees as they are tolerant of urban stress. Their flowers are inconspicuous but very very fragrant. The fragrance is pleasant and very distinctive.

I've heard of eating Linden leaves and I'm curious to try them some time, but I don't have one of my own nor do I have the room for one.