Herbal Lore

Easter Adventures and Wildcrafting

April 5, 2021 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

I was going to write a post up about how Autumn is the time to start tidying up your herb gardens. Cutting back spent flowers heads etc but the weather has gone from fairly horrid to even worse and I’m not going to go out there to take photos to support the write up. You’ll just have to read this post that I wrote up last year – that quite honestly, probably says the same as what I would say this year!

So what I will write about instead is our day out yesterday…

**_{So windy that rainbows were created on the water from the spray it was picking up. Beautiful.}**

Easter Sunday we took a trip down to Ocean Beach on the Wairarapa coast. The wind was so strong it was bloomin’ nuts, it was the type of wind where you had to turn your face so sand/grit wouldn’t peckle your face. The type of wind where you worry that your small child might fly like a kite. The type of wind that makes you slightly stumble, dig in your heels and lean in like a picture in a kids book. It was so fun ~ it felt like a real adventure!

Fennel seed heads to forage — _{Wild fennel seed heads ripe for the picking.}

Along the banks and hills of this coast is oceans of wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) – so much so that you couldn’t smell the sea air for the smell of fennel. I love the sweet aniseed-y smell but the kids didn’t (strange children!). I collected seed anyway as fennel seed is a wonderful carminative and excellent for sore bellies, for more info on identification and the medicinal uses of fennel go here, to The Wild Food Huntress. The seed is said to be good used in cosmetics as well, especially to help smooth out wrinkles (according to one of my old books ‘A Country Herbal’ by Lesley Gordon).

Wild fennel seed heads ripe for the picking.

Perhaps it would go well with all the gorgeous rosehips I also found on our adventure. Rosehips are most well known for their vitamin C content – made into a syrup and taken as a preventative for the common cold. There’s heaps that you can do with rosehips from jellies and rosehip vodka to nourishing moisturisers. Homegrown Botanica uses rosehips in one of her moisturisers and has a wee article here about rosehips.

Rosehips, foraging — **_{It’s a really crap photo I know, blame the wind!}**

Any rosehips can be used, if foraging you’re most likely to come across Dog Rose (Rosa canina) where the hips are smooth-ish and the sepals have fallen off the ends (Dog rose is what I had come across and collected). Sweet Briar Rose (Rosa rubiginosa) have pricklier hips, sepals attached (like a wee skirt at the end of the fruit) and fragrant leaves. Dog rose is much more pleasant to harvest!

Collecting Kawakawa — _{Kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum)}

To top off my surprise foraging adventure (I wasn’t expecting to find goodies, but fortunately I always have a pair of secateurs in the car!) was Kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum). Kawakawa is a bit of a family favourite as a tea – especially blended with Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citriodora) and Peppermint (Mentha x piperita). Relaxing but invigorating.

The holes on Kawakawa leaves are created by a caterpillar of a native moth and indicative of the choicest leaves. — ***_{Holes are a good sign!}***

Before harvesting Kawakawa always ask the bush if it is OK to take from they – if you know an appropriate karakia (prayer) even better. Harvest from the sunny side, never take too much, only what you need and if the leaves have holes in them (caused by the caterpillar of a native moth) they must be the tastiest so choose those! Dry as you would other herbs; in a warm dark space. Take care to not bruise the leaves in transit from harvest to drying space. And thank the Kawakawa plant before you go!

_{A bit of cuteness to end this post! My youngest didn’t fly like a kite but he did climb the Manukas’ like a monkey}

Let’s Talk About White Sage

November 1, 2020 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

White sage, Salvia apiana, is native to California U.S.A. There it grows wild on the desert plains; I would love to continue on to say “where they thrive and grow undisturbed” but sadly they are getting seriously disturbed.

With the advent of the new age trend of “smudge sticks” the plants are being un-sustainably harvested, or stolen, for profit. To the point where the people whom have used white sage traditionally (the Native Americans) and still use it for their smudging ceremonies, are not able to wild harvest it due to protection orders put in place to stop this indiscriminate harvesting. This article here will tell you all about it in more depth…https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7jkma/the-white-sage-black-market-v27n3

Fortunately, people are becoming aware and businesses like Mountain Rose Herbs are now sourcing their white sage from a sustainable source, read the article here. https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/procuring-organic-cultivated-white-sage There’s some pretty amazing photos of some pretty amazing bushes in there too!

Fortunately there are also people like you, whom grow your own white sage. Selling white sage for me, feels like I’m helping in some way, helping white sage’s ancestors stand strong again, unharmed, empowering people to grow and dry their own.

Which brings me to something else close to my heart… This is the cultural appropriation of the term “smudging”.

Smudging is a sacred ceremony practised by Indigenous Peoples of North America. It involves a group of people, a shaman, singing, chanting, praying – yes it involves burning white sage (or other herbs), to clear and cleanse an area and/or person- but it is not just that, it is so much more.

When you use white sage to clear negativity from your house, your aura or your crystals, it is totally fine and valid, but you are possibly not “smudging”, you are smoke cleansing. So it’s just a matter of changing your vocab. Instead of “smudge sticks” say “smoke cleansing wands” (I think it sounds so much prettier too!). Instead of “smudging”, “smoke cleanse”.

This article here explains it in depth, including the history of this practise and how it was used to repress the Indigenous people (by making it illegal). https://fashionista.com/2019/11/burning-sage-cultural-appropriation.

Burning herbs for spiritual purposes is not unique to Native Americans, in Scotland they call it “Saining“, Aboriginies in Australia have “Smoking Ceremonies”, Catholics have “censers”. And white sage is certainly not the only herb you can burn, do take mind that there are some herbs that are toxic to burn and others that frankly just don’t smell nice and you may as well burn some cardboard!

If you are not growing your own herbs do check where your herbs come from as sadly it is not just white sage that is in danger in its natural habitat, many medicinal herbs also fall victim to unscrupulous profiteers.

Other very interesting articles to read if you so desire… https://unitedplantsavers.org/what-is-going-on-with-white-sage/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smudging

About how to grow white sage read thi s article here..

A Balm for the Emotions

October 26, 2020 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

If you have lemon balm in your garden and have done for a while, you most likely have quite a few lemon balm plants in your garden, and then some!

If that is the case for you, it is easy to forget how amazing and splendid this plant is, or maybe you didn’t know? Or maybe you do! Then you may read on whilst nodding your head in a knowingly pleased fashion.

Lemon balm, sweet balm or just balm (or Bawne in olde English), Latin name Melissa officinalis.

Melissa is from the Greek word signifying ‘bee’. Bee keepers would (and still can) rub their hives with balm to attract bees and to keep bees together. Plus bees love lemon balm flowers (for more bee loving plants read this post here).

But medicinally and historically what lemon balm has been used for is melancholy and long life.

*_{Ruin of Carmelite Church in Famagusta, Cyprus}*

Carmelite Water, a closely guarded recipe made by monks in France (in the way back and when) has lemon balm as its main ingredient along with lemon peel, nutmeg and angelica root (ahh, don’t be fooled by the water part… ‘water’ is wine- as wine is water for some of us!).

Learning Herbs has a great article about Carmelite Water along with their recipe if you want to give it a crack.

Mrs M. Grieve reckons it is highly useful against nervous headache and neuralgic affections. Just steeping lemon balm with a bottle of white wine can “comfort the heart and driveth away melancholy and sadness”

Paracelus said that “essence of balm given in Canary wine every morning will renew youth, strengthen the brain, relieve languishing nature and prevent baldness” If that’s your excuse to drink wine every morning Paracelus you strike a good argument!

I’ve had days where I’ve felt a little blah, a bit dark… and I get a definite lift if I munch on a lemon balm leaf, well maybe not so much a lift but a forgetfulness as in “hmm, that’s right, I was feeling down before, ha! wonder what about?”.

You can dry lemon balm but I find that the scent doesn’t really remain and it’s better to use it fresh if possible.

Lemon balm also has wonderful anti-viral properties, particually effective against herpes simplex, more commonly known as cold sores.

Cold sore ointment diy — *_{Cold sore ointment/balm}*

I’m blessed to not get cold sores but my boys do now and again so I made up a balm that goes onto their cold sores at first tingle. Works a treat. Article and recipe can be found here (goodness, written back in 2015!).

To grow lemon balm it likes a shady to semi shady spot and plenty of moisture, though it’s pretty adaptable and can handle being neglected (as long as it’s in the right spot!). If you don’t want it to self seed all around the show then nip out the flowers as soon as you see them. Optimum harvest time is late spring and throughout summer.

So I hope you can now look at your lemon balm with new appreciation or you’re now well excited about getting lemon balm into your life! Click here to see availability of Lemon Balm.

Salvia Show Off

June 2, 2019 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

The Salvia genus is where we find all our sages and it’s very easy to fall in love with this group of plants from the mint family. Take mind, it is huuge! So many members, ranging from annuals to perennials, medicinal, culinary, hallucinatory and ornamental. Something for everyone!

It’s a wet miserable often hailing day today. But I have a stash of photos put away here, so I’d like to introduce you to my wee collection, it’s by no means huge but I’m proud of it!

Let’s start with Salvia officinalis, common sage…

He that would live for aye
Should eat sage in May.
OLD ENGLISH SAYING

Salvia officinalis is a wonderful herb if not an essential herb to have on hand. Apart from its culinary uses I use it a lot in winter for sore throats, either as a tea/infusion or you can make a decoction and use it as a gargle. The volatile oils sooth the mucous membranes, useful for the inflammation of mouth, gums, tongue, throat and tonsils. Sage can also help women at various stages of their life; due to the tannins and estrogenic substances found in sage, taking the infusion frquently can help dry up mothers milk, lessen excessive bleeding during menses and reduce sweating during perimenopausal time. DO NOT TAKE SAGE MEDICINALLY WHEN PREGNANT. There are many other uses, but these are the ones that I have used sage for.

Salvia purpurea, can be used just like Salvia officinalis. Salvia Icterina, varigated sage, is more ornamental but can be used culinarily in a pinch as can the beautiful tri-coloured sage.

Unfortunately I must admit that both my varigated and tri-coloured sages did not survive the transition when we moved here over a year ago, very sad.

Next in the line up is the all time most popular herb that I sell.. Salvia apiana, White sage…

White sage, in New Zealand is mainly used for smudging, personally, I use it more as a “keep-me-calm-and-happy” tonic by putting a fresh leaf in my (or my kids, or all of us!) water bottle to sup on for the day. I’ve also used it in a headache balm I made with lavender and peppermint. For more info on white sage, go to the side bar to find my articles on growing and caring for your white sage plant. If you would like to grow your own, contact me and I’ll put you on my “White sage email list” to let you know when I have more in stock.

Onwards to Salvia sclarea, Clary sage. The particular clary sage I grow is “turkenstania” which is a powerful white flowering variety, it is amazing as an ornamental, back filler and/or fragrant herb.

Medicinally Clary sage is probably most well known as an essential oil which is made from the seeds. The seeds are also what give Clary sage its country name “Clear Eyes”, the mucilage that the seeds create can help soothe eye irritation caused by foreign bodies. I tried this with my husband.. don’t think I did it right… poor man!

Moving on… Another wonderfully scented salvia is Salvia elegans, Pineapple sage. Mmmm hmmm, this is one delicious smelling plant and because it’s the leaves not the flowers that are scented you’ve got it all year round.

A lot of salvias have flowers especially made for hummingbirds, Pineapple sage flowers give you a perfect example of tubes fit for a long skinny hovering beak (FYI seeing a real life hummingbird is on my bucket list). On a cultivating note, over the last two years I’ve noticed that my pineapple sage plants that are in semi shaded positions are doing better than the ones in full sun. This is something that I know other people have noticed with their plants that usually are “best” in full sun, basils for example, this will most likely come up more and more as our environment deteriorates.

Lets meet Salvia confertiflora now, sometimes known as red velvet sage, but I recently, can’t think where, saw a plant labelled red velvet sage and it wasn’t confertiflora. Knowing botanical names and ensuring plants you buy have their botanical names on their labels is really very important if you care about knowing what you’re talking about!

The leaves have a very pungent smell, not entirely pleasant but quite unique. I don’t know of any medicinal uses with this plant, but gives your garden a lovely tropical feel and wax eyes love their flowers. If you live in a frost free area they can grow quite tall.

Did you know that chia seeds, the super food that most people have heard of these days is a salvia? Yah ha, so I planted some this year!

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, it’s flowering now, glorious purple spikes a lot like the following photo. Next season I will sow earlier (I sowed in late November) because I don’t think I’ll have many seeds to harvest before knarly weather and frosts do their worst to the plants.

This is Salvia farinacea, Victoria blue. It was my understanding that it was an annual, but it’s still growing strong in its second year, I’m not complaining, the flowers are an amazing colour. This is a pure ornamental salvia, the leaves don’t even have a scent.

There is another salvia that I have where the leaves have no scent, which surprised me and made me quadruple check that what I had (I had been given a cutting) was actually what I was told it was… Salvia divinorum. If you know what this is please don’t get over-excited, I’m still getting my own plant established (and learning how it grows best) before I can consider propagating off it to sell plants.

Salvia divinorum has psychoactive properties and Mazatec shamans have a long and continuous tradition of religious use of Salvia divinorum to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions (thank you Wikipedia). Considering it comes from the montane cloud forests of Oaxaca, Mexico, I might have a good chance of it growing well here in Eketahuna!

So not a massive collection but I love the diversity of it and hope to keep on finding new and interesting salvias to add to it. I’m not selling any plants at this time of year but I’ll be starting cuttings soon so let me know if you’re interested in any of these.

Keep warm and embrace the sun when you see it!

New Herbs and a Secret Herb!

September 23, 2018 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

Hey, how’s it going?

I’ve been celebrating sunshine by sowing seeds (albeit still with heatpads and glasshouses!). How are your garden plans coming along?

Black elder plants for sale, new zealand

Elder, Sambucus nigra

I have new herbs available for you this season.. I have Elder, Basil Mint and Pennyroyal, I have Greek Oregano, Rue is back and there’s more hopefully coming in (just waiting for those seeds to pop).

Rue, Ruta graveolens

Are you building a new herb garden or wanting to fill in some gaps? Looking for plants for your food forest or some companion plants for the vege patch? I very well will have the herb for you. Always pays to ask even if you can’t see it here on my website.

Now. There’s one herb that I’m not advertising on my website because I’m not actually sure if I’m allowed to sell it… So if you’re reading this and know the plant I’m going to be talking about, you’ll be as excited as I was when I clapped eyes on this plant in a friends garden…

It’s Aconitum napellus, AKA Monkshood, Helmet Flower, Turks-Cap, the Aconite in your homeopath kit..

Aconitum napellus

This is the quintessential plant of the occult. An infamous herb that the Christians of the 15th century loved to peg onto witches. “How is the ointment with which you you rub your broomstick made?” Seriously, this is one of the questions asked in a witches trial, the answer they’re looking for is “Yes sir, I made my flying ointment out of Aconite and Belladonna”. They (they being the witches of course) also made an ointment out of Aconite and other beastlies that would put witches in a “sabbatical” state in which they could leave their physical body to communicate with the spiritual world. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS!!

From the roots to the seeds this plant is poisonous. It is also quite gorgeous with tall spikes of purple flowers quite similar to delphiniums. If you’re at all interested (and I suggest you should be) here is a list of other gorgeous poisonous plants.

Unlike a lot of other herbs, Monkshood does best in rich soil and some shade. It’s dormant during the winter so make sure you remember where you’ve planted it. If you do have young children make sure they are well educated of its dangers or err on the side of caution and wait til they’re older and wiser before introducing this plant to your garden.

If you’re interested in this fascinating plant use the contact from on the right near the top to get in touch with me.

Right, I’m getting back out there whilst it’s still sunny; can you believe day light savings is next week already??!!

Sweet Dreams are Made of Mugwort

July 27, 2018 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

Dream away my friends and if those dreams aren’t big enough or bright enough maybe you need some mugwort…

Mugwort,

The name mugwort doesn’t seem very dreamy though does it (more beer-y), lets change it to cronewort, a name that some people whom work with the healing properties of plants prefer to call Artemisia vulgaris.

Use it in a dream pillow to encourage clear techni-coloured dreams, possibly prophetic (not recommended for childrens dream pillows!). Cronewort has a long history with magic; on one hand to ward off evil, on the other to divine the future.

“Being such a powerful herb, mugwort has long been thought to predict the future. If you want to determine the course of a relationship and don’t want to pay a psychic or fuss with tarot cards, test this old fashioned technique; Plant two mugworts side by side in well drained soil in full sun. Designate one as you and the other as your intended…If the plants grow toward one another, everything will be wonderful in the relationship. If they bend in opposite directions, problems will inevitably arise (staking is not allowed).

So as not to make self fulfilling prophecies and create a sense of doom in an otherwise happy relationship, it’s best to apply this technique to the lives of your friends and then boldly make predictions about them based on the results. Create a whole row of divining mugworts, and expand your focus to foretell the course of a business deal, predict whether a nephew will stay in medical school, and augur the possibility of a year-end bonus – anything that can be predicted negatively or positively by the plants growing apart or together. the law of averages states that you will be right at least half the time, and in the meantime you will have amazed your friends with your herbal prowess.” Mary Forsell author of Herbs.

Medicinally cronewort has similar actions as the other Artemisias (Artemisia verlotiorum Chinese Mugwort, Artemisia abrotanum Southernwood and Artemisia absinthium Wormwood)… bitter tonic, stimulant, anti-bilious and emmenagogue but also has the action of a nervine tonic due to its volatile oil (so don’t boil it!). This makes it a grand remedy to regulate periods, reduce period pain and PMS.

Artemisia verlotiorum, Chinese Mugwort, or Tree Mugwort

Mugwort has been used alongside acupuncture for over three thousand years in the form of moxa. I don’t know a heck of a lot about acupuncture aside from the basics and that my friend Nicky Walker in Kapiti is an acupuncturist (unabashed plug here http://www.nickywalker.co.nz/).

Here is a fascinating article about moxa/mugwort and acupuncture.

Here is an article about some of the other plants in the Artemisia family.

Artemis at Stonehenge

July 9, 2018 By SandRa Timmins 2 Comments

I don’t usually talk about the homeschooling part of our life and here I am mentioning another of our “field trips”. They’re just so interesting lately!

So this time we went to Stonehenge Aotearoa in Carterton for a guided tour with emphasis on Matariki. What a freakin’ cool place! Have you been there?

Our group about to go through the Sun Gate and into the ‘henge.

It’s not trying to be a replica of Stonehenge in Salisbury, England. It is our very own Stonehenge made to the specifications of our southern skies including sunrises and sunsets. Everything has been thought of, Kay Leather and Richard Hall have done a terrific job and have so much knowledge. Totally recommend going there and having a tour so you can get a full grasp of the amazing-ness of it all.

Kay Leather talking the talk

Any-hoo; why I am writing about this trip is because they have a beautiful statue of Artemis, which made me immediately think of Artemisia plants. plants which I’m just a little enamoured with at the moment. You know what’s funny though, is through doing some quick research, the plants associated with the Goddess Artemis are actually (according to Wikipedia) Amaranth and Asphodel, but amaranth comes from South America….hmmm, I dinnae know about that one. AND, that the Artemisia plants are actually named after this quite amazing woman from way ago called Artemisia ll of Caria whom was a botanist as well as an army commander and specialist in grieving for her husband/brother (yep, both one and the same). Here’s another article that is quite interesting about Artemis and Artemisia plants with a feminist bent. I think there’s a pretty valid reason why I love these plants!

Artemis Moonstone and the Seven Sisters of Matariki in the background.

What are these plants? There are approx 180 species and I’m not going to name them all even if I could. The most common ones here are Wormwood (A. absinthium), Southernwood (A. abrotanum), Mugwort (A. vulgaris), and French tarragon (A. dracunculus). There is also the annual Sweet Annie (A. annua) and Roman wormwood (A. pontica). All of which have some type of medicinal/household/culinary/spiritual use. There are many others that are just plain gorgeous; Marshwoods in Invercargill sells a few of these (the ornamentals).

I’ve written about Southernwood here and French Tarragon here.

I’ve only just acquired Wormwood and Mugwort this year. The more I learn about them the more excited I get about having them available to use and to sell. (Which unfortunately won’t be this season- they aren’t big enough to propagate from yet).

Wormwood is a bit dime o dozen, if you look for it you’ll see it at the front of driveways in its big blazing silver glory. I’ll bet in many gardens (not all!) little is known of its history and uses…

Artemisia absinthium

According to ethnobotanist Murdoch Riley (author of Maori Healing and Herbal) Wormwood was brought to Stewart Island (Rakiura, Aotearoa) from Australia in the 1860’s by a Scottish captain William Sherburd. “Captain Wormwood” as he was affectionally referred as, introduced it to The Neck solely for the relief of consumption (TB). All the families were given slips of Wormwood to grow with the recommendation of chewing a bit before every meal or to make the bitter tea (with the exception of Rue Ruta gravelons, wormwood is the bitterest of herbs).,

Wormwood slowly inched its way up New Zealand; a plant was recorded as being found in Canterbury by a botanist in 1871 and in Wellington in 1877.

Of course New Zealand is a young country and Wormwood has been used since way back when. In the 14th century it was recommended to be strewn in the chamber to keep the fleas away (you can still do this but perhaps the dog kennel or chicken coop would be more useful). It was also laid among “stuffs and furs” to keep away moths and insects. Seems most Artemisias can be used to keep moths away from stored linen etc.

Was also the herb to have on hand if biting sea dragons were a problem in your area… I believe they the Ancients are referring to the Weever fish which is still an issue today. Other poisons that Wormwood was reputed to counteract were/are; hemlock and toadstools.

The leaves and flowering tops of Wormwood are used medicinally. It’s primary use these days is that of a bitter, which has the effect of stimulating and invigorating the whole of the digestive process which in turn helps the whole body. Which is particularly relevant for todays diets which are more sweet and salty than bitter. Go here and here for more info as to why we need more bitters in our diet.

So as well as being a bitter tonic, Wormwoods other actions are; carminative, anthelemintic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bilious, anti-microbial, emmenagogue, heptatic, stimulant.

If you hadn’t guessed from Wormwoods botanical name… Artemisia absinthium was used to make absinthe and vermouth.

In the nineteenth century it was banned from alcoholic drinks due to all those crazy artists in Paris – nahh! Not just them, everybody else that drank loads of absinthe too.

The oil of Wormwood is a psychoactive and when mixed with alcohol it stimulates the cerebral cortex, causes havoc on the neural system and if taken in large doses can lead to coma and convulsions. Now that would bring a bummer to the party.

It was also used instead of hops in the making of beer but the Artemisia most well known for that purpose was Mugwort, Artemisia vulgare.

Mugwort, artemisia vulgare

This post for some reason has taken me ages though so we shall continue with Mugwort in the next one…

Breath Deep, it’s Chamomile Time

February 6, 2018 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

It’s a busy time of year for me right now, the beautiful sunshine here has been perfect drying weather and I’m a harvesting as much as I can and putting the herbs through their drying routine.

One of my herbs that gives and gives the more you take and take is german chamomile (Matricaria recutita). I hand pick the flower heads every couple of days, it’s a lovely job, if not slightly tedious but at least it smells good! But no matter how much you take, when you dry it, it looks like nothing, so you’ve got to harvest all those multiple times to actually get a decent amount!

Pick me! Pick me!

German chamomile is the preferred chamomile for herbalists as it is less bitter than roman chamomile (Chamomillia nobile), though they both have the same therapeutic effects.

Differences; Roman chamomile is low growing and can be used for scented pathways and/or ground cover, doesn’t even mind the odd mow. Smells like apples in the nicest way!

German chamomile can get quite tall, up to about a meter in light dry soils, in heavier soils and if it gets maybe too much water for it own good it can fall over and get a bit sprawly. In a dedicated spot this is ok but not if its going to fall over plants that would rather have a bit of space to shine.

The flowers are both classic daisies but on closer inspection quite different from each other.

Roman is bigger and flatter.

Roman chamomile flower

Whereas Germans’ yellow centre turns into real dome and its white petals will rise more obviously with the sun.

German chamomile flower

There is also a non-flowering chamomile called trenague chamomile that you find mentioned in gardening books as a good ground cover without bee stings. So far I have not found it outside the pages of a book or magazine in New Zealand. Because it doesn’t flower you won’t be able to get seeds so it would have to be grown from division.

Out there in the wild countryside (or your garden) you may notice a plant that looks a helluva like chamomile. And it is! But before you get out there with your harvesting basket, take a smell… does it smell nice? Reminiscent of apples or some other pleasantness? Ahh, it doesn’t does it? That’s because it is Matricaria inodora, Scentless chamomile. Won’t make a nice tea.

Matricaria inodora, chamomiles look alike but not the same!

There’s also chamomiles bald cousin Matricaria matricarioides, Rayless chamomile – again, just leave it on that old gravel driveway you found it on.

Matricaria matricarioides, Rayless chamomile

Ok, so you’ve got the right chamomile for your garden or you’ve bought your already prepared dried chamomile flowers from me; what is it good for?

Well, me oh my, what is it not good for!

For those in the know, chamomiles actions are; Anti-spasmodic, carminative, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiseptic, vulnerary, aromatic, bitter, diaphoretic, emmenagogoue, nervine, sedative, tonic.

Which means for the lay person that it is very very relaxing for mind body and soul.

As a tea or a tincture chamomile can help cramps, pain and discomfit. It can calm anxiety and nervousness – for a double banger have a cuppa in a bath that also has a cuppa in it – failing that, put the children in the bath with said cuppa and have something else!

Chamomile is wonderful for children, not just in the bath for those fractious times but also on a teaspoon for teething babies or in a bottle/sippy cup for restless or hyper-active toddlers. Chamomile is also great for healing skin, making a balm out of the flowers makes a great gift for a new baby and his/her mama, go here for my recipe.

Externally it can sooth and relax smooth muscle (muscles you have little control over like your digestive muscles) think colic, wind, general sore puku, nervous indigestion and heartburn. Can I just say here though, don’t brew your tea too long hey, 5 minutes does the trick in my book or it can taste a bit eughh, like green tea brewed too long. Onwards!

It’s anti-inflammatariness (did I make that word up??!) Helps relieve gastritis and pepetic ulcers, colitis and IBS.

Ladies listen up..

The name matricaria comes from matrix meaning mother or womb. Chamomile for all stages of your life… Daughter; helpful for restful sleeps, absent periods due to stress or psychological problems such as anorexia nervosa… Maiden; relax and relieve painful periods, premenstrual headaches and migraines… Mother/midwife; digestive remedy for morning sickness, drunk throughout labour it can relax tension and lessen the pain of contractions, help relieve mastitis… Amazon; can help reduce menopausal symptoms… Crone; rheumatic and gout pains, its anti-inflammatory properties help resolve conditions such as arthritis.

This is really just a brief over-view (nor complete) of how Chamomile can make your life better and I haven’t even gone into its wonderfulness as a flower remedy, aromatherapy oil or homeopath! Feel free to comment below on how you use chamomile in your life~

Go get a little ray of sunshine!

The Elusive Pyrethrum..

August 12, 2017 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

I have been steadily updating my list of herbs that I’m going to be selling this year as I have quite few new ones (wahoo!). And because I’m a bit of a herb geek I really enjoy looking through all my books and sometimes the internet, researching the herbs to give you as much info as possible (hmmm, well I probably edit that info to what I find interesting and miss some useful bits!)

Anyhoo, there was one herb that was evading me in my quest for knowledge and that was Pyrethrum Chrysanthemum cinerarifolium. I guessed that because it doesn’t have any medical benefits that I knew of it wasn’t in any of my herbal medicine books and at that very time I didn’t have access to the internet. So I moved on with my research to Pelargoniums…

Flicking through Mrs. M Grieves Modern Herbal I noticed that the entry below Pelargonium was Pellitory Anacyclus pyrethrum and under Synonyms was Anthemis pyrethrum, Pyrethrum officinarum, Pyrethrum, Pyrethri radix…….Pyrethre, Matricaria pyrethrum.

Bingo!

I thought…

On reading its description and its medicinal action it didn’t sound like what I have.

But the next entry was Pellitory, Dalmation with the botanical name Chrysanthemum cinerarifolium. A-ha! That’s more like it.

But no information.

Next entry, Pellitory, Persian Chrysanthemum roseum with synonyms Insect flowers, Insect plants. And finally we get to the history of the plant we’re actually after….

So back in the day the Insect Powder of commerce was first known as Persian Insect Powder or Persian Pellitory and was made from the closed flowers of Pyrethrum roseum and P. carneum, natives of Northern Persia (that’s Northern Iran to us now). The flowers are beautiful shades of rose and crimson.

Tanacetum coccineum Pyrethrum, Pyrethum daisy, Persian Insect Flower, Painted Daisy

But then along came a species frrom the Dalmation region of Croatia. Turns out Chrysanthemum cinerarifolium was made of stronger stuff and the Dalmation pellitory took the insect stupefying throne out from under the pretty Persian pellitory flower petals.

Chrysanthemum cinerarifolium

I’ve yet to find out why we now call Dalmation Pellitory (Chrysanthemum cinerarifolium) pyrethrum. Pyrethrum was actually a genus name for several plants which are now classified as Chrysanthemum or Tanacetum.

C. cinerarifolium is well tolerant of coastal conditions and grows best on stoney dry sites with plenty of sunshine – and if you have it, on a hillside. Just like its home ground. Apparently the higher the elevation that they’re growing the stronger the flowers are in pyrethene, the active constituent that affects the nervous system of insects. If you’re interested, Kenya is actually the biggest commercial producer of pyrethrum for insecticidal use.

The flowers are harvested at various times of development., the most active are flowers collected when they are fully developed but before they’ve expanded. they’re then dried and ground into a fine powder.

As wonderful as it is to have an organic biodegradable insecticide it unfortunately doesn’t have the discrimination to leave our dwindling bees alone. Pyrethrum is catergorised as level three in terms of its toxicity to bees. Read this article here for more info, take mind it is presuming you’re looking at using a commercially produced pyrethrum insecticide that contains other chemicals. But if you make your own using your own flowers (dried and ground) then carefully dusted onto your plants or applied as a spray very early in the morning or early evening and avoid the flowers it might be ok eh. Could it help in the battle with pysilid??

There are other ways to use pyrethrum in its natural state though….

~the plants can be grown in the garden as a companion plant to keep the insects away from susceptible plants. Apparently it grows well with broccoli.

~a tincture of the flowers can be made then diluted with 10 parts water to be dabbed on your skin as an insect repellent – it is harmless to human beings.

A lot of potential there folks! Get it here.

Right, now I ought to start updating what tomatoes I’ll have available this year!

Marjoram vs Oregano

June 20, 2017 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

They look different, they smell different, they taste different they even grow differently, so why does oregano and marjoram often get thought of as one and the same? Well we’ve got the science community to thank for that by giving them the same genera name origanum. Marjoram is Origanum marjorana (it used to be Marjorana hortensis). Oregano is Origanum vulgare. They are part of the mint family (Lamiaceae).

Origanum is derived from two Greek words, oros (mountain) and ganos (joy), meaning they looked real pretty growing on the hillsides!

Marjoram looked pretty on the hillsides of Portugal where it is a native and Oregano looked pretty on the hillsides over Asia, Europe and North Africa.

Also to confuse matters Oregano has been and can be, called Wild Marjoram whereas Marjorams full (common) name is Sweet or Knotted Marjoram. Then there is also Pot Marjoram Origanum onites a species found in Sicily, Greece and Turkey. Now lets twist the confusion a little more with Winter Marjoram Origanum heracleoticum which is now known as Origanum vulgaris hirtum commonly known as Greek Oregano and thought of as the one to have for flavour. I could go on, there are quite a few species mostly ornamental but still interesting, I have a compact marjoram that I was given a cutting of last year from a customer. It’s cute but it’s flavour is pretty mild.

Compact Marjoram

Soo, how do you know which one you’ve got and/or how do you identify that you’re buying the right plant for your purposes (I’ve seen plants mislabeled, tut tut).

Oregano Origanum vulgare

Origanum vulgare

If you want to have medicinal benefits with your plant this is the one that you want. Origanum vulgare can be used for coughs, fevers and tension headaches. The antiseptic properties (thymol and carvacrol) make oregano useful for inflammations of the mouth and throat and used externally for infected cuts and wounds. The aerial parts of the herb is gathered and dried as soon as it flowers and here is where we can identify O. vulgare from the others as its flowers are a pink colour. The leaves are a dark green colour, roundish with pointed ends and it grows with a creeping habit, in the ideal spot (good sun and good drainage) it can get a bit OTT! But it’s easy to curb it as it creeps along; unlike mint that dives down and comes up wherever it can. If you can’t find Greek oregano this one is fine as a culinary herb. Some contest it but I personally have found that it has a good strong flavour if grown in a well sunny dry position.

Marjoram origanum marjorana

Origanum marjoram

Sweet marjoram grows upright with reddish stems, the leaves aren’t as hairy as oregano vulgare and during the flowers come out of little knotted balls~ hence its other name Knotted marjoram. It looks quite cool. The taste is entirely different to oregano, oregano is described as balsamic thyme whereas marjoram is a sort of sweet salty lemony minty flavour (that description is with the help of my daughter whom is the ‘nose’ of the family!). Marjoram isn’t as hardy as oregano and in particularly cold places is treated as an annual. Plant it in a sunny sheltered spot and it should see the winter through or even pot it up and bring it indoors during winter~ it is a perennial.

Greek Oregano origanum vulgaris hirtum

origanum vulgare spp hirtum by Dimitrios Zervas

Image from Dimitrios Zervas

Now, how to tell the difference between true Greek oregano and your jo schmo oregano.. The flowers are white, not pink or purple and the flavour is so strong it will make your tongue go numb or at least tingle! It has a similar growth habit as origanum vulgare but not quite as invasive.

It’s a confusing world out there, because there are so many mix ups and it’s one persons word or image against anothers…so you’ve just got to find what you can, taste it, smell it, if you like it-grow it! But hopefully I’ve helped clear up some differences between the plants and you feel a bit more enlightened!

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