Cichorium intybus

Bloom Color: Blue.
Main Bloom Time: Early summer, Early fall, Late summer, Late spring, Mid summer. Form: Upright or erect.

Cichorium intybus is a PERENNIAL growing to 1.5 m by 0.5 m at a fast rate.
It is hardy to zone 3 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from July to October, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The species is hermaphrodite and is pollinated by Bees. The plant is self-fertile.
It is noted for attracting wildlife.
Suitable for: light , medium and heavy soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic soils and can grow in very acid and very alkaline soils.
It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil.

Prefers a sunny position in any moderately fertile well-drained moisture retentive soil. Prefers a pH 5.5 to 7. Tolerates a pH in the range 4.5 to 8.3. Chicory grows on any type of soil but, when cultivated, grows best on mellow, deeply tilled, fertile soil or sandy loam.. A cool weather crop, it tolerates only moderate summer temperatures and requires well-distributed rainfall, with good drainage, or some irrigation in drier areas. Chicory roots deeply in relatively short time;soil too wet for beans and small grains is not suitable. To insure proper root-growth, apply lime or marl to acid soil to neutralize acidity. Chicory is reported to tolerate a pH in the range of 4.5 to 8.3, an annual rainfall of 30 to 400 cm and an annual mean biotemperature of 6° to 27°C. Chicory is an excellent winter salad. It is often cultivated, especially in Europe, for its edible leaves and for its roots which are used to make a coffee substitute. There are many named varieties and, by careful selection of cultivars and sowing times, fresh leaves can be obtained all year round. There are three main types of chicory grown for their leaves, there are many cultivars of each form:- A bitter-tasting loose-leafed form is grown as a green winter vegetable, especially in southern Italy. A narrow-leafed, witloof or Belgian form has a compact elongate head which is blanched for use in salads or cooked dishes. A broad-leaved form produces cabbage-like hearts, these are generally less bitter than the other forms and are eaten raw or cooked. These forms are often used as a winter salad crop. Although a perennial, chicory is usually cultivated as an annual crop, especially when being grown as a winter salad. The winter salad cultivars are usually sown in early summer to make sure that they do not flower in their first year of growth. By late autumn they have formed an overwintering rosette of leaves rather like a cabbage. These leaves can be harvested as required during the winter and the plants will then usually make some new growth that can be harvested in late winter or early spring. The plants run to flower in the following summer and fail to make an overwintering rosette of leaves for that winter. Chicory can be grown successfully in a meadow or even in a lawn so long as the grass is not cut too short nor too often. It often self-sows freely when well-sited, especially if it is growing in a dry alkaline soil. A good bee plant. A very ornamental plant. The flowers open in the early morning and close around midday. Special Features:
Edible, Not North American native, Invasive, Naturalizing. The plant is heat tolerant in zones 8 through 1. .
At this temperature, many plants begin to suffer physiological damage. Heat Zones range from 1 to 12 .
For example Heat Zone. 11-1 indicates that the plant is heat tolerant in zones 11 through 1.) For polyculture design as well as the above-ground architecture information on the habit and root pattern is also useful and given here if available. The plant growth habit is a clumper with limited spread . The root pattern is a tap root similar to a carrot going directly down .