Posts Tagged ‘herb garden plants’
Lavender Herbs for Potpourri
May 22, 2010 | 
Author 
Lavandula species (Labiatae)
Appearance
Little greyish abundant leaves (evergreen in European herb gardens) form a rounded bush 90-180 cms (3-6 ft) high – and sometimes more in spread – which is populated with rigid stems of lilac-blue blossoms . The complete plant is not unlike a large pincushion. In America lavender isn’t regarded as a hardy evergreen because of the low winter temperature ranges; however, if grown inside containers in yards and covered up in the winter months its fragrance can be appreciated in summer.
History
The finest essential oil of lavender can be obtained from L. angustifolia, which botanists fairly recently appear to have included within the generic class L. spica. Gerard named it ‘spike’ which should settle the issue since the classic herbalists avowed that spike lavender was the best one for you to cultivate.
For centuries the effectiveness of its clean crisp and clean fragrance has been used to relieve ‘a light migrain’ or for the falling sickness or maybe giddiness of the brain as outlined by Culpeper. Long before the modern world produced deodorants and bath salts the Romans used lavender in their bath water; the name comes from the Latin lavare – to wash.
Usage
Lavender is among the most widely used plants in the modern herb garden and it is valuable in borders to pathways, internal hedges and on the top of dry walls. It can also be grown in large containers.
Lavender is not really regarded as a culinary herb, but the odd sprig may be added into rich game stews. The blossoms can be crystallized in order to spruce up appearance of sweets as well as confectionery. Its most enduring virtue is its fragrance, and it is a truly wonderful pot pourri component.
Cultivation
Propagate through cuttings of strong new growth in summer or autumn (fall), and once rooted plant most of them out in a nicely drained fairly poor soil. (It may be a good idea to keep a supply of adolescent plants for spot planting later.)
The established herb garden plants tend to take care of themselves and react well to an annual trim in autumn after flowering or otherwise in early spring.
Shrubs tend to straggle as they mature and it’s often important to cut back drastically in autumn (fall) to generate a strong growth the following spring.
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Posted in aromatic, herb garden plants, medicinal | 
Tags: aromatic, herb garden plants, Spike Lavender | 
3 Comments »
Showy Iris – Herbs For Sore Eyes
Iris pseudacorus (Iridaceae)
Herb Garden Plants – Iris.
Appearance
Iris is really a category of some two hundred and fifty-odd species of flowering plants with flamboyant blooms. Although Iris may not be generally seen as a ‘herb garden plant‘ it nevertheless fits both the definition and spirit of beneficial herbs.
It borrows its label from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide selection of blossom hues found among the numerous varieties. As well as being the scientific title,’ iris’ is also very widely used as a common label; for one thing, it refers to all Iris varieties, though a number of plants called thus fit in better with some other closely connected genera.
Throughout North America, the popular name for irises is ‘flags’. The true yellow flag bears compact, elegant, golden yellow flowers in summer, and it is a fairly widespread plant found in waterway borders and marshy terrain in Great Britain. Flowering stems and sword-like leaves reach a height of 60 to 150 cms (2 to 5 ft) and the plants can form extensive colonies. ln America this plant is known as a blue flag, the blossoms being violet azure and variegated with yellow, and the flower stems attaining 60 to 90 cms (2-3 ft) in height.
The particular name pseudacorus acknowledges its resemblance (when not in flower) to the sweet sedge or sweet flag, Acarus calamus. Nevertheless, the leaves as well as the root base of iris are typically odourless whilst sweet sedge is fragrant.
History
Two or three native European irises have been used in remedies, the best known, the yellow flag iris, is British and ended up being the type taken to America by the early settlers.
Universally known as fleur de luce, fleur de lys or fleur-de-lis, it was the heraldic logo associated with the kings of France and legends abound on that score.
Usage
- lris has long been grown in America for its roots which are applied in order to treat bumps and also bruises, and as iridin or irisin with regard to its action on the liver and bowels.
- The powdered root is an additive to snuff, and if chopped up may offer a cure for toothache.
- Culpeper extolled its use, when distilled, as a treatment for weak and tired eyes and asserted that a salve made from the flowers was beneficial for managing ulcers or even syphilitic sores.
- The flowers produce a very good yellow dye and the roots, along with the addition of an iron dye mordant, create a black dye.
Cultivation
Yellow flag can only be grown really successfully as a water plant. ln the ornamental herb garden it needs a marsh-like location where it can accompany watercress, water mints and sweet sedge. Settle the rhizomes straight into the borders of a muddy pool and, if needed, tie some rhizomes collectively in a string or wire basket which can be ballasted to avoid the clumps from sailing off.
The irises tend to be such a large family that growing conditions and garden soil needs vary substantially. Numerous types have adapted to regional conditions when transported afar. I remember visiting a long-deserted farmhouse where the only visible flowers were purple irises growing happily in hard dry soil.
For most typical irises though, position your rhizomes just below the surface of the ground with the roots well spread out below so the rhizome is within reach of the heat of the sun’s rays while the roots beneath tend to be in damp (not soggy) soil.
Work your dirt properly to a depth of 25 to 30 cm. In the event that your soil is heavy, incorporate sand so that wetness drains quickly. Irises will develop in the majority of garden soils.
Be certain to firm the earth snugly about every rhizome when planting. Follow the ordinary good gardening procedure of applying water and settling soil on newly set plants.
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Calamintha, Bees and Butterflies
Calamintha nepetoides (Labiatae)
Appearance
A small, upright, bushy little herb garden plant 30 to 60 cms (1-2 ft) tall, calamintha produces a haze of tiny bluish flowers with long purple bracts from June through to September. Flowers are studded on short spikes between the leaves in mid-summer. This may slowly spread to make a compact patch. Calamints are near cousins to the garden mint, but without the nasty spreading habit. When crushed, the oblong, dark green leaves give off a spearmint-like fragrance and the blossoms can be a magnet for bees and butterflies.
History
Despite the fact that the correct herb is C. ascendens, which is indiginous to Europe and previously the officinal plant and dubbed C. officinalis for some considerable time, the most popular plant found in the majority of herb gardens is actually C. nepetoides. The two types seem to have been used in days gone by without distinction between them.
Usage
The scented leaves are similar to the fragrance associated with thyme but with pennyroyal nuances; calamintha seemed to be primarily employed in days gone by to help relieve wind. The volatile oil, rather minty in taste, enhances a tea made from the dried leaves and which Gerard deemed to take away ‘sorrowfulness which cometh with melancholie, and maketh a man merrie and glad’.
Useful towards the front of the garden border, or in a woodland location among ferns. Also appealing in mixed containers. Eliminate any all-green shoots as soon as they are noticed, since this plants has a tendency to revert.
Culpeper referred to it as having ‘an fierce and quick fragrance’ and called it as mountain mint and recommended its use for a wide variety of complaints ranging from shortness of breath, cramp, liver and spleen problems, mixed with salt to remove worms and also as a contraceptive.
This plant should be placed where its delightfully fragrant foliage can be touched and brushed.
Cultivation
Try this lovely catmint in a warm, sunny spot in the garden, among herbs or Mediterranean-style plants. It is tolerant of hot and dry conditions.
Division of plants in early spring, cuttings in spring or propagation via seed are all ways to start calamintha in the herb garden. Select a dryish alkaline soil for the best results.
Lift and divide congested colonies in spring.
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Posted in aromatic, herb garden plants, medicinal | Tags: Bees And Butterflies, calamintha, Garden Mint, herb garden plants, Little Herb Garden | 1 Comment »
Beautiful Bergamot Brings Bees
Monarda didyma (Labiatae)
Appearance
The flower stalks of this aromatic herb garden plant grow to around 50 to 90 cms (1.5 to 3 ft) and flower for many months from the middle of summer . The whole flower is usually impregnated with an enchanting fragrance even when the top growth has died all the way down and the roots remain gently perfumed with a suggestion of citrus; for this reason it’s gained the name of bergamot, similar to bergamot orange. The flowers are a flamboyant red color and they are carried in crowns with red bracts in between each floret, suggesting an exploding fire flower.
Dependable cultivars can be obtained with pink, mauve and white-colored blooms, all of which maintain the aromatic characteristics that cause them to be valuable in the herb garden. A handsome plant native to South America as well as the eastern parts of North America from New York to West Virginia, bergamot is an inhabitant of swampy stream edges around hilly areas.
History
Bergamot was introduced into Europe in the 16th century and became well known by the mid-18th century, primarily for its fragrance virtues. Bergamot is currently well established as a good looking perennial, which is the offspring of numerous cultivars.The genus Monarda commemorates Nicholas Monardes – a Spanish physician who wrote about the New World flora in the 16th century.
Usage
- The aromatic leaves dry out well and keep their scent so they may be incorporated into pot pourri.
- A tisane made out of the leaves used to be drunk by the Oswego Indians – consequently the parochial title of Oswego tea. This particular infusion is endorsed as a digestive as well as being useful when you are treating instances of an abnormal or painful monthly period.
- The blossoms make a cosmetic addition in fruit cups, but need to be steeped in water first to wash the insects that hide in the little round flowerets.
- Valued by beekeepers for their ability to attract bees.
Propogation
The plant is quick to develop and forms bunches with a number of runners. Bergamot loves a moist soil or any decent gardening soil to which moisture retentive material has been added and it likes the sun. It is very adaptable to somewhat of a shaded position provided the roots stay damp. Chalky garden soil does not go down well and it dislikes damp winters since the yearly growth routine is impeded.
A portion drawn from the outer edges of an established bunch in spring will soon establish itself in any herb garden and cuttings could be obtained at the same time.
The clumps should be split up and divided every 3 or 4 years.
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Posted in aromatic, herb garden plants, medicinal | Tags: aromatic herb, herb garden plants, medicinal herbs | No Comments »
Medicinal Witch Hazel – Witching Wells
Hamamelis Virginiana (Hamamelidiaceae)
Description
No description of Witch hazel would be complete without mentioning how the seeds from the American plant, In contrast to those of the European hazel, are ejected with enough force to spray passers-by – this kind of clownish quirk has acquired for it the title of snapping hazelnut.
Witch Hazel is a herb garden plant which grows to a height of 2.5 to 3.5m (9 to 12 ft). The leaves are more intensely veined than those from the European hazel, and when they have fallen in autumn the flowers show up on the naked wood within a month. These particular flowers are lovely small fluffy pods of yellow, which upon examination prove to be bundles of tiny paddle-shaped petals with a rather weak perfume. Seed matures the following summer, the nuts containing two black palatable seeds.
History
The witch hazel belonging to the woods of America’s Atlantic shore offers much in common in aspect with the European hazel – Various theories are bandied about as to why the pioneers called this plant witch hazel. Perhaps the most acceptable is that they used the twigs for water divining in much the same way that they had employed hazel in Europe for centuries – commonly described as ‘witching a well’.
Usage
As an astringent with the ability to stem hemorrhaging, and as a treatment for bruises and lumps was renowned. The Native Americans used the bark as the basis of an infusion which they applied to painful eyes. Today witch hazel still holds sway as a household treatment, as an ointment to soothe sprains and bruises and as an extract that may be acquired through drug stores for use as a skin tonic.
Both leaves and bark possess the astringent qualities for which the plant is renowned. The classic Pond’s Extract depended upon witch hazel for its usefulness as a household panacea utilized in cases of burns and bruises.
Cultivation
The appealing foliage and interesting petals will withstand the severest autumn. Propagation is by cuttings taken in spring. A herb garden plant that makes a successful inclusion in the garden in areas exempt from an early freeze.
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Posted in herb garden information, herb garden plants, medicinal | Tags: herb garden plants, medicinal herbs | 2 Comments »
Valerian The Real Pied Piper
Valeriana officilanis (Valerianaceae)
Appearance
An ideal plant for the rear of a herb garden, the flower stems achieving a height of 1.5 m (5 ft) and having attractive dark fernlike leaves at the base as well as grouped heads of pink (and sometimes white-colored) flowers in the summer.
History
The historic label was initially phu (or phew); a label that mirrored the evil smelling newly-lifted root. lt is often credited with being the enchantment which the Pied Piper of Hamelin employed to lead the rodents away.
Valerian was formerly cultivated because of its root, which was initially introduced into America in the eighteenth century. lt was grown broadly in eastern Europe, the Netherlands and in America in New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
Usage
Valerian can be taken as a painkiller and is especially useful in soothing nervous ailments and in dealing with sleeplessness.
Cultivation
Valerian is indigenous to the temperate climate zones of Europe and parts of asia and is usually pretty indifferent to the soil and position it chooses. It is often present in dampish glens and also on dry and stony elevated fields.
When cultivated for the root, the flowering stems are taken off to promote development of the rhizome.
Propagation is achieved by splitting of roots or runners around autumn (fall) or spring. Place these in a good moisture—retentive soil to obtain luxurious decorative vegetation. ln The united states, where seed sets easily, the valerian seed can be sown in spring by just pushing it in to the ground. Most gardeners purchase their first plant, after that depend upon the seed for a continued crop.
Harvesting
Roots are removed in autumn (fall) of the second and third season and are heavy and grouped. Following washing and cleaning they should be be unravelled prior to drying out in a shady sheltered spot.
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Posted in herb garden plants | Tags: herb garden plants, medicinal herbs, medieval herb | No Comments »
This Article Banned By Ezine Articles.
The following is the comment from Ezine Articles regarding why they blocked a post on Opium poppies and my reply to them. Read the article and please comment if you think the banning was legit or just uninformed.Hi Pete,
Thank you for your email. Your article “Opium Poppy – Soul Stealer and Great Healer – Herb Garden Plants” was placed in Problem Status because it promotes growing opium poppies and contains details on opium use. This goes against our editorial guidelines so we would not be able to accept an article with this type of content. You may edit your article to remove any promotion of the drug opium, and once this is done, you may re-submit your article for approval.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Thank you,
xxxx
And my reply:
Xxxx, calling a plant a “soul stealer” can hardly be called promoting its virtues. It is a legitimate and widely grown herb garden plant, which is what my blog is about.
I note that my articles on aconite – a truly deadly poison – was OK’d for publishing. Was this because I did not “actively” promote it as a potential weapon in the article?
The article will be removed – I hope you do not mind if I post your comment on my blog and on Twitter.
Regards, Pete
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Herb Garden Plants – Opium Poppy – Soul Stealer and Great Healer
Papaver somniferum (Papaveraceae)
Appearance
The flowers vary substantially in physical appearance; they are occasionally double, often single with flimsy coloured petals — occasionally white or pink. When the buds open up the petals are like crumpled tissue paper which very rapidly unfold; this is usually a feature of the flower. The plant attains perhaps 1 m (3 ft) in length, the green/greyish leaves sitting directly upon the stem and kept away from, with ragged undulating edges.
History
Opium was initially a medicine known to the Greeks and Romans and the Egyptians previous to them, and the farming associated with the poppy spread to China more than a millenium past. Poppies had been taken as seed to America by the Pilgrims.
Native to the Middle East and the Mediterranean rim countries, the bluish flowers have always been a roadside characteristic of several southern counties of England.
Usage
Although Opium is a dangerous as well as addictive toxin it remains unsurpassed as a botanical sedative administered for the purpose of the alleviation of serious pain – a result of its pair of significant alkaloids, morphine and codeine.
Once the petals fall the seed head matures into the well known smooth brownish ‘poppy head’ together with its crown of radiating ribs as well as little holes around the top via which the seeds leak out. Opium is a form of latex which oozes out of the unripe seed heads whenever they are slit. Green poppy heads were steeped to bathe inflamed and sprained joints, and a concoction made using hot barley meal as a fixing medium was used in related circumstances to alleviate suffering.
There are numerous types of poppy seed; the blue-grey little circular ones are usually used in European countries and America in order to decorate and flavour breads and confectionery, and the smaller creamy ones are used in India in curries. Poppy seed oil, though a culinary oil, is frequently created for the commercial market and in the blending of paints.
Cultivation
Propagate from seed sown in spring, although when launched straight into the your herb garden these plants will seed themselves. Lovers of sunshine, light warm soils the opium poppy ought be in every single representative collection of medicinal herbs.
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Posted in esoteric, herb garden plants, medicinal | Tags: herb garden plants, medicinal herbs, opium poppy | No Comments »
Monkshood or Aconite – Beware the Pretty Blue Plant
Aconitum napellus (Ranunculaceae)
Description
A majestic plant sporting unforgettable blue blossoms which bloom in mid summer season. This stately garden perennial achieves a height of 60 cms (2 ft) with unique green firm leaves placed horizontally and deeply separated. One of several garden cultivars really worth developing with regard to herb garden beautification is ‘Bressingham Spire’, reaching a height of 90 cms (3ft).
The specific title napellus means ‘little turnip’ and represents the particular form of the underlying tuber. Every root lasts just 12 months; a new child produced alongside the parent tuber preserves the plant. Every aspect of the plant is utilized; the top level growth is usually gathered in summer season and the root during autumn or fall.
History
A very poisonous plant native to mountainous areas throughout northern temperate areas, monkshood was grown as a therapeutic plant for many years. Monkshood provided a toxin employed for tipping arrows as well as baiting wolves around medieval Europe, therefore earning them the name of ‘Wolf’s Bane’. Afterwards it became referred to as ‘monkshood’ and also ‘helmet flower’ in recognition of its hooded blossom. Winthrop’s seed order from America in 1631 calls it ‘munkhoods’.
Usage
It’s toxicity necessitates that it always be prescribed exclusively under professional medical supervision. Homeopathic products are utilized in the treatment of sciatica as well as neuralgia since the drug acts on the central nervous system.
Cultivation
Plant the seed the moment it is ripe, while taking care not to assume impressive results since the plants tend to be sluggish to set up via seed. Separating a new child tuber and planting it out in the autumn (fall) is going to be faster and most likely more profitable.
Planting may be performed relatively late into the winter, nonetheless it needs to be done prior to the stem bud bursting into emergence – which takes place quite soon in the spring. Pick a well spaded moisture-retentive environment someplace where you can find dappled shade.
Monkshood prefers the less humid zones and it is winter season hardy, but it may require overhead shelter in low temperature locations.
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Posted in herb garden plants | Tags: herb garden plants, medicinal herbs, medieval herb | 2 Comments »
Herb Garden Plants Identification
This video shows some of the very popular culinary herbs. If you need something exotic or not included here, please use the ‘Search’ box.
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