We often get the question: “What part of the plant is asparagus?”

To answer this question, we prepared a set of photos below that demonstrate the annual growth arc of an asparagus plant (or field of plants!).

But, for those that need to be on your way, the simplest answer is that those familiar asparagus stalks are the first emerging shoots of the asparagus plant in early Spring. When we harvest the asparagus, we are basically trimming off all the initial flush of growth of the mother plant. We stop harvesting when we feel that the mother plant has enough energy reserves that can sustain growth over the rest of the year. After we stop harvesting, the next set of stalks grow into very large ferns that prosper over the Summer and into the Fall. By late fall, the ferns die off, but over the full growing period have made and stored plenty of nutrients and energy in their roots. These energy stores lay dormant in the deep soil over the winter, until it is time to push up new asparagus stalks into the early days of Spring, ready for harvest again!