Broom Corn - Decorative And Useful
Posted on 16 September 2008
© 2007 Andrea Anderson
Sorghum sp. bicolor or “Broom Corn” is currently used in the creation flower arrangements, basketry and brooms, due to its color and structure. Although broom corn stems dry to be of a straw like color and consistency, the seeds can be quite colorful, ranging from different reds, oranges, yellows, purples to black. If you are lucky, you may be able to find a commercial broom with some of the seeds still left in it, they are quite the decorative enhancement.
However, sorghum was not always used for brooms. In fact, it has its origin in the grain family. In Africa, Sorghum has been used historically throughout the ages to feed the masses. In fact, even today, sorghum is still one of the top four grain producing crops in the world. It has also been used for its sugar content, in the making of molasses and as feed for livestock. However, its uses became diversified and a new type of sorghum began a sweeping revolution when farmers began to collect the taller plants with the longer tops to produce an entirely different type of sorghum which we now know as broom corn.
Before broom corn was cultivated, brooms were made rather ineffectively with twigs and corn husks. Broom corn changed all that, within a couple of centuries. With the natural material produced through broom corn, you could sweep in tight spaces and even in cracks and crevices which other materials before broom corn could not. Soon, this broom corn sorghum became the standard material for all brooms, allowing it to hold its own against its original counterpart.
This year was the first year we planted broom corn sorghum in our garden. We were quite pleasantly surprised at the result. The colors were vibrant and the plant did quite well even in the heat. Sorghum is drought tolerant so it needs very little care once germinated. It is easy to grow and is both decorative and useful therefore we highly recommend it!
Look for our “How To” create a broomcorn broom, in future posts!
© 2007 Andrea Anderson