Search site

Stoney Ground Herbs

Beautiful, strong herbs for NZ gardeners and herbalists of all levels

  • Home
  • About
  • Herb plants
    • Basil, Sacred/ Tulsi SOLD OUT
    • Bergamot, Scarlet SOLD OUT
    • Bergamot, Wild SOLD OUT
    • Borage
    • Catnip SOLD OUT
    • Chives
    • Chocolate Peppermint SOLD OUT
    • Clary Sage
    • Elder, Black SOLD OUT
    • Feverfew
    • French Tarragon SOLD OUT
    • German Chamomile
    • Honesty
    • Lemon Balm
    • Lemon Verbena SOLD OUT
    • Mint
    • Mint- Basil
    • Motherwort
    • Mugwort SOLD OUT
    • Oregano, Greek SOLD OUT
    • Peppermint SOLD OUT
    • Rose Geranium SOLD OUT
    • Rue
    • Sage, common
    • Sage, Purple SOLD OUT
    • Sage, White
    • Self Heal SOLD OUT
    • Silver Tansy SOLD OUT
    • Soapwort SOLD OUT
    • Southernwood SOLD OUT
    • St John’s Wort
    • Sweet Violet
    • Thyme, creeping
    • Thyme, English Winter SOLD OUT
    • Vietnamese Mint/Rau Ram SOLD OUT
  • Dried herbs
    • Catnip, Nepeta cataria
    • German Chamomile
    • Lemon Verbena, Aloysia citriodora
    • Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca
    • Nettle (Lesser), Urtica urens
    • Peppermint, Mentha x piperita
    • Yarrow, Achillea millefolium
  • Products
    • Tinctures
  • Ordering Your Plants
  • Blog

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.

White sage, Salvia apiana

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.

White sage
White sage growing in my garden, about to flower

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

White sage smoke cleansing wands
White sage smoke cleansing wands

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 this article here..

Filed Under: Herbal Lore, Herbs in Use, White sage Tagged With: beautiful plants, cultural misappropriation, grow your own, respect, salvia apiana, smoke cleansing, smudging, white sage

Herb Pruning

September 5, 2020 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

Winter is the time to prune most of your fruit trees, your end game is healthy bountiful trees that’ll give you bushells of fruit.

Spring is the time to prune your herbs. For a lot of our herbs, their best harvest time is just before they flower or as they’re flowering. So we want to be pruning them for amazing leaf action and the best time to prune for that is Spring, just before they get their boogie on…

Pruning Southernwood
This is going..

Plants like Southernwood, Texas tarragon (Mexican marigold), french lavender and Lemon verbena can get damn right leggy and scraggly if left to their own devices. For these ones you can get right in there and prune quite hard – they’ll come back laughing, don’t worry.

Pruning Southernwood
Southernwood bud

Special note for Lemon verbena though, as she’s not a slave to the seasons you’ll find she may even be still holding onto leaves and not even considering to leaf up again til early summer. So wait til you see little buds of green on the stems before pruning. If you want to be careful about it, prune just above buds.

Pruning Lemon Verbena
Lemon Verbena, not in her prime! And not ready for a prune just yet.

For your tenacious herbs like mint or basil mint~ the ones that have kept on growing above ground through winter (so not peppermints) you can cut these right back to get lovely fresh spring growth. Old leaves can be a bit bitter or they might be getting rust or just not looking as amazing as usual, so cut’em all off. Cutting down to the base encourages new stems to come up too.

Basil mint asking for a haircut

If they’ve gotten really big, consider dividing it up. Especially true for your bergamots, every two years it pays to divide your plants or else the roots get so tangled that they don’t flower as well as they should and for bergamots, we want to see as many of those glorious flowers as we can!

Bergamot, monarda didyma
Bergamot, monarda didyma

If you’re looking for advice for your white sage, go to this post here; Cultivating White Sage Smoke Cleansing Sticks.

White Sage
White Sage

Culinary herbs… eat and be happy

If you want to prune your thyme’s, don’t take off more than a third or they’ll freak out and die.. to be blunt. The best way to prune your thyme and any and all culinary herbs is to use them, that’s why you’re growing them right? It is the secret to happy healthy herb plants, they want to be in your dinner or in your apothecary, use them, eat them, be adventurous and remember to give your thanks to the plant. They will thank you back many times over with their flavour and/or medicinal value!

Plenty of herbs I haven’t mentioned here, please ask in the comments if there’s something specific you’d like to know~ xx

Filed Under: Care and Maintenance, Herbs in Use Tagged With: basil mint, bergamot, herb gardening, herb pruning, how to have healthy herb plants, lavender, lemon verbena, mint, Southernwood, spring jobs, texas tarragon, white sage

A Thank You and Happy New Year!

December 28, 2019 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

Cornflower with Honeywort flowers

Well me oh my, I totally dropped the ball this December for writing here on my blog.

I’m still in existence!

Just been super busy with markets, kids, gardens, visitors, birthdays, Xmas and a massive dried herb order. And now it’s nearly the start of a new decade!

The side herb garden.

This time last year I was feeling a bit dark about the future of Stoney Ground Herbs. seems the universe was listening and responded with a “Hell no!”.

Amazing and fun opportunities have come come up for SGH this past year, and you, my fellow herb geeks and plant lovers are part of that. So thank you for reading here, thank you for buying my plants, thank you for being the wild crazy nature based spirit riders that a lot of you are (I’m not alone!) and thank you for the balancers. ✨

I hope your gardens are thriving, it’s been a funny season here at Plum Tree Cottage (we recently discovered our property has a name!). We’re about 2-4 weeks behind in usual flowering/ripening times.

Early Duffs plums, a little late in ripening
These plums are usually ready by Christmas day, another week or so to go this year

I’m still getting used to this cool climate gardening, still finding out what works and what doesn’t, more often than not, the hard way! Ironically the sun is becoming a challenge as well. I’ve briefly mentioned this before and it is something I intend to go into further. But for now, briefly again, a lot of the herbs that traditionally thrive in full sun are starting to find it a little tu meke (too much) with its intensity.

Luckily, herbs are incredibly adaptable and we too are adaptable~ if we have to change our gardening styles or ideas and beliefs, or even just move our plants around, so be it.

We Must Grow!

The year 2020 astrologically wise seems to be focused on transformative energy, ‘destruction and rebuilding’. **

Tūngia te ururua kia tupu whakaritorito te tupu o te harakeke

Set the overgrown bush alight, and the new flax shoots will spring up.

A whaktaukī about clearing away what is bad so that the good can flourish.

Stay grounded, keep your hands in the earth, listen to your song, peace, grow.

Image by Jan Bett

Happy New Year!

xx SandRa

**For full astrological forecast for 2020 go here to Forever Conscious.

Filed Under: SGH updates, Uncategorized Tagged With: astrological predictions for 2020, clary sage, cool climate gardening, Cornflower, happy new year, honeywort, thank you, whakataukī for renewal, white sage, wild crazy nature based spirit riders

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
Common sage, Salvia officinalis
Common sage, Salvia officinalis

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.

Purple sage, Salvia purpurea
Purple sage, Salvia purpurea
Varigated sage, Salvia icterina
Varigated sage, Salvia icterina
Tri coloured sage
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…

Salvia apiana, white sage
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.

Salvia sclarea and bumblebee
Salvia sclarea and bumblebee
Clary sage foliage
Clary sage foliage

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.

Salvia elegans, pineapple sage
Salvia elegans, pineapple sage

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!

Salvia confertiflora
Salvia confertiflora

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!

Salvia hispanica, Chia
Salvia hispanica, Chia

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.

Salvia farinacea, Victoria blue
Salvia farinacea, Victoria blue

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, the diviners sage
Salvia divinorum, the diviners sage

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!

Filed Under: Herbal Lore, Herbs in Use, Pretty Pictures, White sage Tagged With: Chia, clary sage, commonn sage, pineapple sage, purple sage, salvia apiana, salvia confertiflora, Salvia divinorum, salvia elegans, salvia farinacea, Salvia hispanica, salvia officinalis, salvia sclarea, the diviners sage, tri-coloured sage, turkenstania, varigated sage, Victoria Blue, white sage

It’s-a-seed sowing time!

August 17, 2015 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

….and working out what new seeds you need, almost more exciting than when you see the first leaves emerge….almost!  My white sage (salvia apiana) and clary sage (salvia sclarea) have just popped their heads up and I’m pretty excited!

clary sage seedlings

Look closely!

I sow my seeds onto damp seed raising mix.  Note, “onto” not “into” I’m dealing with herb seeds which are notoriously small.  I then lightly cover with vermiculite and pop ’em into the hot water cupboard.  They’re in a box with a glass lid on top (ie. old fridge shelf).  I check them everyday and give them a misting of water if need be and whip them out into the light as soon as I see any plant emergence.  I don’t want any leggy seedlings!

So Clary Sage and White Sage are on the go.  I’ve also sown Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) , Common sage (Salvia officinalis) Genovese basil, Sunflowers, Chilli and Zucchini.

stevia rebaudiana, seedling

Look real close, it’s Stevia rebaudiana!

Salvia officinalis hasn’t germinated yet, the seed I sowed in a tray outside a couple of months ago has just started to come through looking really strong.  So I’m intrigued as to how well and how fast my my indoor lot will germinate.

From the 18th August to the 27th is optimum time according to the moon calendar to sow seeds for above ground plants.  I’m going to need to make more space in my hot water cupboard for all the tomatos’ and more herbs I’ll be sowing over the next week or two.  I don’t strictly follow the moon phases for gardening but they come in handy as a guideline.

Plum Blossom

Plum Blossom

I’ll be updating my website soon with what seedlings I’ll have available for sale this year… I might work out the whats’ and hows’ involved in being able to send seedlings to people.

Is there any interest out there outside of Kapiti?

 

Filed Under: Care and Maintenance, Gardening Styles, White sage Tagged With: clary sage, gardening by the moon, sage, salvis officinalis, seed sowing, stevia, white sage

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Stay up to date with blog posts and announcements here!

You can also follow me on…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Beautiful, strong herbs
for gardeners
and herbalists
of all levels.

Grown
with passion
and persistence.

Categories

  • Animals (4)
  • Care and Maintenance (37)
  • Gardening Styles (37)
  • Herbal Lore (18)
  • Herbs in Use (21)
  • Indoor Plants (1)
  • Kokedama (2)
  • Moving Gardens/New Gardens (12)
  • Pretty Pictures (15)
  • Recipes (8)
  • SGH updates (36)
  • Tomatoes (9)
  • Uncategorized (29)
  • White sage (8)

Contact/Inquiries

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Message

    Friends

    Industrial Furniture Design NZ
    Becoming Healthy Ltd NZ

    Supporting Busy People Becoming Healthy

    · Copyright © 2021 · Great websites for great ideas - Help Me Net NZ ·