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diygabl · 7 years ago

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PERENNIAL HERBS

Want to grow fresh herbs at home? There's no need to replant these herbs! They grow back year after year.

Angelica (Angelica archangelica) (A biennial but if you let it seed, it will be perennial.)

Zones 4-9 I call this a big babe herb. With flowers, can get six feet tall and four feet wide. Good for the back of a border

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Zones 4-9 One of my favorite edible flowers. Tastes just like a box of Good 'n Plenty. Probably a mid-range plant or front of the border.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

Zones 3-7 This herb is a summer tea favorite. Once you have this herb, you will have it forever. Cut down by a third throughout the summer if you don't want it to bloom. Once you have let it bloom, it will seed wherever. I was pulling out little lemon balms in the garden today! Put this one in the front so you can clip it and use it. Has a musky lemon scent.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Zones 3-9 If you have cats, you'll maybe want a fence around it to keep them off of it. They do love it. I have never grown this but I would say it would be a mid-range or front of the border herb.

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)

Zones 3-9 Janice already has this in her garden. It is a staple in my herb garden. Love those edible flowers in my omelet in the spring. This makes a lovely border especially when it is blooming. Cut down and chop up and freeze for winter use. Mid-range or front of the border.

Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)

Zones 3-9 The difference in garlic chives from regular chives is that garlic chives have a flat leaf and chives have a tubular or round leaf. Garlic chives have beautiful white flowers in August when you are looking for a flower in the herb garden. Just make sure you cut those flowers the minute they finish blooming or you will end up with a garden of garlic chives. Leaves are very good in stir-fries. Mid-range or front of the border.

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Zones 3-7 This is a good sugar substitute with an additional anise flavor. It reminds me of tansy. It does march along. Not super invasive and it does like the shade. It would be a good back of the border herb.

Bloody Dock (Rumex sanguineus)

Zones 4-9 This is a red-veined sorrel. It is very ornamental. It does not have the lemony taste of regular sorrel. Does well in water or by a pond. It has gently spread itself throughout my garden and/or its seeds were composted and it has been spread that way. Front of the border of your herb garden.

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Zones 3-10 Trying to give you herb flowers as well as just herbs. This flower is a favorite of butterflies and the seedheads are loved by the finches and other birds in my garden. They do get sown around by the wind and the birds. One of my favorite flowers in the mid to late summer. They are not just purple either. Lots of color choices, but the granddad is the purple one. Mid-range for an herb border. Two or three plants together make a nice stand of flowers.

Elecampane (Inula helenium)

Zones 3-8 This is another big babe herb. I have always wanted to grow this plant but haven't always been able to find it. It has leaves similar to the mullein and the flowers are small and resemble a double sunflower. It would be a back of the border herb. It is used for dyeing and the root is used in the manufacture of absinthe.

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Zones 4-9 I have trouble growing these flowers. They do need some shade. Although when I have grown them in shade, they reach for the sun. They are a poisonous flower and are a source of digitalis, the heart drug. They are a mid-range flower in the herb garden.

Johnny-Jump-Up (Viola tricolor)

Zones 4-9 Very front of the border. Many gardeners get these to reseed in the garden. I have not had that luck. Love these little faces in the herb garden. Need some shade to keep going into summer. An edible flower and easy to start from seed.

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare)

Zones 4-8 Horehound is a lovely little plant with gray pebbly leaves. Make cough drops to help soothe your cough. Front of the herb garden border.

Horseradish (Armorica rusticana)

Zone 3-10 Horseradish was the 2011 Herb of the Year and can be very invasive in a garden. You might make a horseradish garden on its own. It would be a perennial herb, but just be aware that it will take over the garden unless you control it either in a pot that is deep because you are harvesting the root or by exiling it to its own bed. Has a beautiful flower in the second year.

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)

Zone 3-9 Very aromatic and maybe not in the best way. Slightly bitter leaves used in soups or stews and with game meat. I do love the tiny blue or white flowers around July 4th. I would use it as a hedge in the front of the border. I need to use this herb a bit more often.

Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)

Zones 3-10 I have this in the back of the border. It is another big boy herb! It does alright in shade. It is a native of the eastern US. It has rosy purple flowers in the fall. Richters catalog talks of when the leaves are crushed the smell is vanilla. Another plus!

Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris)

Zones 3-8 This beautiful clumping herb is a beautiful addition to your herb garden. It has chartreuse flowers. The leaves are like little capes hence the name mantle. I would use it in the front of the herb garden.

Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina)

Zones 4-9 Wooly leaves that are a delight for children. Were used as bandages for wounds. Front of the herb garden for these. Silvery leaf color is a nice contrast for other herbs in the garden.

Lavender 'Hidcote' or 'Munstead' (Lavandula angustifolia)

Zones 4-8 These are two of the hardiest lavenders. These lavenders are the ones I would recommend you use to cook with. Any angustifolia cultivar would be edible. The other lavenders are too camphorous and not hardy in Zone 4. Mid-range or front of the herb garden for these.

Spearmint (Mentha spicata)

Zones 3-8 Most mints are invasive. If you don't want it everywhere in the garden, put it in a container. Spearmint is one of my favorite mints. Not as strong as peppermint. Delicious in tea blends. Richters calls it the best cooking mint. There are tons of mints not all of them are hardy to Zone 3 or 4 so make sure you check before buying it.

Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)

Zones 4-6 This is a bee magnet and very fragrant. It is beautiful with fresh flower arrangements and it dries very nicely. It can be used in the back of the border or mid-border. It does run but is not invasive like regular mints.

Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota)

Zones 3-10 I put this in because Janice loves this in the garden and Janice, I have good news that Richters in Canada sells seeds for a reasonable price. Check it out through the link above. I had this in my garden for quite a few years. A beneficial insect magnet. I would put this in the back or mid-range part of your garden.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare dulce) or Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare dulce 'Rubrum')

Zones 4-9 Both of these fennels can be used in cooking. Regular fennel has green fronds and bronze fennel has purple ones. I have had bronze fennel at various times. Just cut the flower heads before they seed everywhere! Use either of these in the back of the border.

Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Zones 4-9 I really love this species of herb. Garden sage is so versatile. It can be used for cooking or in potpourri or for an herb wreath. I love the gray-green leaves in contrast with other herbs. I would use this herb in the mid-range part of the herb garden.

Garden Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Zones 4-8 Mostly famously used in sorrel soup. It is a spring herb that has a bright lemony flavor. It has an interesting red flower spike that dries very well. The leaf is shield-shaped. We use the small early leaves in our salads. I would use this herb in the front of the herb garden.

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

I would find a place of exile for this herb. It is used to repel ants and a couple of summers ago it was a haven for the various stages of the ladybug. So it doesn't repel good insects! Don't be too quick to get rid of this herb. It has fern-like leaves and can be in the back of the border but it does run so it can take over a bed if not careful. Not for culinary purposes, but mothchasers can use a bit of tansy. It has very nice yellow button flowers and I have made a very nice wreath with tansy at the end of the season.

French Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus sativa)

Zones 3-7 This is the only tarragon to use in cooking. It is not propagated by seed. If you purchase tarragon seeds, you have the more inferior Russian tarragon.

English Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Zones 4-9 This is the one thyme to have for cooking. Silver Thyme (Thymus vulgaris 'Argenteus') Zones 4-8 I have some problems getting this through the winter. Sharp drainage is key. Lemon Thyme (Thymus x citriodorus) Zones 4-9 Can be creeping or upright. I really love the flavor of this thyme. Does it have anything to do with a lemon? Maybe. Mother-of-Thyme (Thymus praecox) Zones 4-8 A very robust creeping thyme. Used in cooking. All thymes are good in the front of the border.

Other thymes may be hardy. Need to check your zones.

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) Zones 4-9 Fern shaped leaves and white flowers that have a very fragrant scent of vanilla. I don't have this enough in my garden. It needs a bit of shade in the heat of summer.

#perennial #perennial herbs #organic gardening #gardening

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longtrade · 2 years ago

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Dark purple coneflower

Dark purple coneflower full#

Seed: Echinacea purpurea is commonly started by seed, in fact, it will typically self-sow seed in the landscape. It is best to propagate Echinacea by division or seed. They are also deer resistant, meaning that deer do not prefer to eat them. Coneflowers have a high degree of drought resistance once established, making them a great addition to a water-wise landscape. So deadheading should be delayed as seed heads are very attractive to goldfinches in the winter.Įchinacea species have strong, sturdy stems that require no staking making them popular as low maintenance perennials in the flower garden, as well as specialty cut flowers. Butterflies use Echinacea as a nectar source, and birds enjoy the seeds. Landscape UsesĮchinacea’s upright, coarse texture lends itself nicely to mass plantings in naturalized areas or the rear of perennial beds. Once Echinacea is established in the landscape, dead foliage and stems can be removed each year in the fall, winter or early spring. In the absence of a soil test, they can be maintained with an application of 12-6-6 slow release fertilizer at a rate of 1 pound per 100 square feet in late March or early April, just before new leaves emerge.įall is the best time for planting Echinacea for more information on planting, see fact sheet HGIC 1153, Growing Perennials. Proper spacing between plants will increase air circulation between plants to keep leaves dry and help prevent the spread of diseases.Ĭoneflowers are not heavy feeders. Coneflowers will reach up to 4 feet tall and 20 to 28 inches wide depending on species and growing conditions. They will grow well throughout South Carolina, except for the coast, due to their poor salt tolerance.Įchinacea has an upright habit and coarse texture. Coneflowers prefer evenly moist, well-drained soils however, they are drought and heat tolerant once established.

Dark purple coneflower full#

#Dark purple coneflower

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greyssharing · 2 years ago

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Purple coneflower info

PURPLE CONEFLOWER INFO FULL

'Alba', 'Amazing Dream', 'Avalanche', 'Bright Star', 'Bright Star', 'Cheyenne Spirit', Echinachea purpurea 'Hot Papaya' - PP#21,022, Fragrant Angel, 'Glowing Dream', 'Harvest Moon', 'Hot Papaya', ‘Kim’s Knee High’, ‘Magnus’, 'Mellow Yellows', 'PAS702917' Powwow Wildberry, POW WOW, 'Purity', Ruby Star, 'Secret Affair', 'Sundown', 'Tiki Torch', 'White Swan' Echinachea purpurea 'Hot Papaya' - PP#21,022ģ' chili pepper red, double, drooping with pom pom center.

PURPLE CONEFLOWER INFO FULL

Profile Video: See this plant in the following landscapes: Round Garden Bed Mostly Native Vegetable, Herb and Pollinator Garden Bee Hive Garden, Wake Co Entryway Garden, Cabarrus County Extension Office Pollinator Garden- Full Sun Round Garden Bed Mostly Native Vegetable, Herb and Pollinator Garden Davidson County Demo Garden Sun to Shade Garden Pollinator Garden- Partial Shade Entryway Garden, Cabarrus County Extension Office Pollinator Garden- Partial Shade Pollinator Garden- Full Sun Walkway at the Park, Cabarrus County Pollinator Garden- Partial Shade Walkway at the Park, Cabarrus County Mostly Native Vegetable, Herb and Pollinator Garden Pollinator Garden- Partial Shade Walkway at the Park, Cabarrus County Mostly Native Vegetable, Herb and Pollinator Garden Crowder Park Prairie and Native Plants Garden Paul J Ciener Botanical Garden Cultivars / Varieties:

Ray flowers in 1-2 rows, often purplish, spreading-drooping.

Erect herb with terminal, brown-domed heads.

It is susceptible to aster yellows disease. Insects, Diseases, or Other Plant Problems: Japanese beetle and leaf spot are occasional problems. This is a popular and long-blooming plant for use in the native garden, meadows, pollinator gardens and naturalized areas. It is easily propagated by seed and will reseed itself in the garden. It is drought tolerant once established and can grow in full sun to partial shade. This plant prefers well-drained moist loams but is adaptable to various soil types. Leave some of the flower heads on to produce seeds for the birds. Several pollinators are attracted to the flower, especially butterflies. Many cultivars are available for varied sizes and colors. It may grow 3 to 4 feet tall and produce pinkish-purple flowers that mature in early summer through mid-fall. Purple Coneflower is an herbaceous perennial in the Asteraceae (daisy) family that is native to central and eastern USA. Phonetic Spelling ek-in-AY-shee-ah pur-PUR-ee-ah Description

#Purple coneflower info

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kevinscottgardens · 4 years ago

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29 June - 12 July 2020

This was a long week. By Tuesday I thought it should be Thursday. Thankfully I worked from home Friday. I also worked this weekend, which means another short week next week. My back is still in quite a bit of pain, though definitely improving. I haven’t been running in a few weeks either partially because the last few times I went I hurt a few toes and this week one of the nails fell off!

The weather changed from the glorious summer weather we’d been enjoying for weeks to very autumnal weather. Showers and sunshine with cool breeze make working nicer, however, bring back the summer heat now that I don’t have to work a weekend again until August then I’ll be on holiday!

I’m working in the tropical corridor again, which I love starting the day in the glasshouses. I spent Monday and Tuesday tidying up around world wood and the garden is definitely taking shape. Thursday I was in the dicotyledon order beds. There is a lot of grass seed going everywhere which means we’ll be fighting it for the next several years. The top of this photo shows all the grass before weeding, and the bottom is after weeding. Most of the bare earth here was just grass.

Thursday it took me half a day to clear the China and Japan medicinal bed. Things needed staking, dead bits removed, I potted up a Camellia sinensis (tea) that is on its last leg and other things needed to be reduced in size as they were spreading. It looks much better now. Nell worked in the India and North America beds.

I worked last weekend which was quiet. I was finally able to place some of the new labels in the garden that Mari has been printing now that the Gravograph is up and running again. I’ll be working again next weekend too.

Because I worked last weekend, this was a short week. Nell was on leave. Rob’s return to the garden has moved to August. Joe found a job to go to immediately after his contract with us ends at the beginning of August. We are making headway weeding the dicotyledon order beds. Slowly, order is returning. I finished this bed and the one to the right this week (compare to the photo above where there is a lot of grass about half way up the bed).

The weather was decidedly autumnal, cloudy, rainy, breezy, sunny, all in the same day, everyday this week. Summer returned this weekend.

I met Di, Vanessa and Richard for dinner in Di’s garden yesterday. It is so nice seeing people again. Di lives just a ten minute walk from Denis and Andre’s where I’m house-sitting over the weekend.

I’ve been enjoying eating courgette flowers. Denis and André have several plants all full of male flowers which taste great. I’m completely addicted.

Plant of the week 5 July

Ochnaceae Ochna serrulata Walp.

common name(s) - Mickey Mouse bush, bird’s eye bush, small-leaved plane, carnival bush (English); fynblaarrooihout (Afrikaans); Umbomvane (Zulu); iliTye (Xhosa) synonym(s) - Diporidium serrulatum Hochst. conservation rating - none native to - Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland location - glasshouse four, accession 1949-0013 leaves - elliptic, 13mm to 50mm long, occasionally narrow with blunt or rounded tips and a rounded base; margins are toothed with upright pointed teeth, and the midrib and the lateral veins are conspicuous above; young spring foliage is a beautiful pinkish-bronze, maturing to glossy green flowers - fragrant yellow blossoms in spring (September to November), each flower about 20mm in diameter; although the petals drop quite quickly, they make an excellent show while open; fruits are shiny black and berry-like, suspended below bright-red sepals (photo) habit - small, semi-evergreen shrub of loose, open habit, to 2m in height; slender stem with smooth, brown bark; branches are covered with small, raised, light-coloured dots habitat - subtropical (east) coast of southern Africa where it is widely distributed from sea level to 1,800m.; can be found on the margins of evergreen forests as well as in the forest, in scrub forests, on rocky hill slopes, in bushveld and it is common in the grasslands of KwaZulu-Natal and the former Transkei area; also found in the south-eastern part of Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Swaziland; often forms part of the understorey in the forest, although it grows in many different habitats pests - spider mites disease - generally disease-free hardiness - to 1ºC (H2) soil - with plenty of compost and mulch and watered regularly sun - full sun to part shade propagation - Seed must be very fresh - it does not keep at all, not even in the fridge. Pick the ripe black fruits, clean them and sow them immediately to achieve best results. Germination should occur within six weeks. It is a challenge to beat the birds to the fruits, and often the only ones left by them are infertile and the seed may be parasitised. Semi-hardwood cuttings may be taken in summer (December-February). Cuttings should be treated with a rooting hormone and set in the mist unit with bottom heat of approx. 24ºC. They take four to six weeks to develop roots after that they may be taken out of the mist unit and hardened off for two weeks and then potted up. pruning - lightly after fruiting to stimulate new shoots and keep it compact and shapely nomenclature - Ochnaceae - Ochna - an ancient Greek name, οχνη, used by Homer for a wild pear, alluding to the leaves that resemble those of the wild pear; serrulata - edged with small teeth, finely serrate, serrulate, diminutive of serratus NB - Zulu people use a decoction of the root to treat children suffering from bone diseases or gangrenous rectitis; is an invasive species in Australia and New Zealand.

References, bibliography:

Gardenia [online] https://www.gardenia.net/plant/ochna-serrulata [2 Jul 20]

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [2 Jul 20]

Plant List, The [online] http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/tro-22800419 [2 Jul 20]

Plants of the World [online] http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:606778-1 [2 Jul 20]

SANBI [online] http://pza.sanbi.org/ochna-serrulata [2 Jul 20]

Wikipedia [online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochna_serrulata [2 Jul 20]

Plant of the week 12 July

Asteraceae Echinacea pallida (Nutt.) Nutt.

common name(s) - pale purple coneflower synonym(s) - Brauneria pallida (Nutt.) Britton; Echinacea pallida f. albida Steyerm.; Echinacea pallida f. pallida; Echinacea pallida var. pallida; Rudbeckia pallida Nutt. conservation rating - none native to - central North America location - Medicinal Americas, accession _____ leaves - narrow, parallel-veined, toothless, dark green leaves flowers - large, daisy-like flowers with thin, extremely-reflexed rays which almost droop straight down and very narrow, parallel-veined leaves which have no teeth and spiny, knob-like, coppery-orange centre cones habit - coarse, hairy, deciduous herbaceous perennial to 1.2m habitat - prairies, savannahs, glades and open dry rocky woods pests - slugs when young, otherwise generally pest-free disease - generally disease-free hardiness - to -15ºC (H5) soil - well-drained, humus-rich soil with protection from excessive winter wet sun - full sun propagation - seed sown at 13°C in spring; by division in spring or autumn although they resent disturbance; by root cuttings from late autumn to early winter pruning - cut back stems as the blooms fade which may encourage further flowering; flowers may be kept on the plant for winter interest nomenclature - Asteraceae - aster - star; Echinacea - Greek word echinos meaning hedgehog or sea-urchin in reference to the spiny centre cone found on most flowers in the genus; pallida - pale in probable reference to the pale pinkish-purple petals NB - adaptable plant that is tolerant of drought, heat, humidity and poor soils

References, bibliography:

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [12 Jul 20]

Missouri Botanical Garden [online] https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=c570 [12 Jul 20]

Plant List, The [online] http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/gcc-119485 [12 Jul 20]

Plants of the World [online] http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:202374-1 [12 Jul 20]

Royal Horticultural Society [online] https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/63244/Echinacea-pallida/Details [12 Jul 20]

SARS-CoVid-2 update

#Ochna serrulata

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tipsycad147 · 5 years ago

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YOUR MEDICINAL HERB GARDEN

by Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

One of the questions I get asked frequently is what herbs would I recommend for a small medicinal herb garden or for someone just starting out so they don’t get overwhelmed. So that’s what I’m going to cover today. Of course, I don’t know everyone’s specifics. I will have to make a few assumptions – there will be plenty of sun, access to water, and the soil is healthy. One other important point is that these are herbs I believe allow for a beginner herbalist to begin treating their family with, they are also good for more advanced herbalists (for instance, I use chamomile in many preparations because it’s good for so many things). I’m hoping this will enable more and more individuals to grow their own “farmacy”!

Matricaria recutita – Chamomile

Like I mentioned before, I believe Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) to be one of the most important herbs in our home. I use it for upset stomach, trouble sleeping, calming skin irritations, colic, teething issues, anxiety, and more. It is one of those herbs that I could not do without. Once it is growing (seed germination can be difficult) it can thrive in almost any type soil as long as it is well-draining, high clay content or shallow hard pan soil would not work here. It does require full sun, so don’t try to hide this in a corner! It’s PH requirement is also quite flexible growing well in the soil as low as 5.6 up to 7.5. Sadly this is not a perennial plant which requires replanting each year. I left much of my flowers and allowed them to go to seed last fall hoping to see some new sprouts this year.

Uses: upset stomach, gripping pain, IBS, calming skin irritations and reducing infection, colic, teething, hair rinse, anxiety, sleep aid

Soil: Well-drained

Sun: Full sun but will tolerate a little shade

Annual

Echinacea purpurea– Echinacea (Purple Coneflower)

I’ve always been fond of “Daisy” like flowers and Echinacea is no exception. Echinacea is not only beautiful to us but attractive to pollinators. So if you’re looking to attract more pollinators to your garden, this is an herb you want to consider. Being a perennial, as long as you are giving it space to grow it will grace your garden year after year. It does not do well with “wet feet” but, once established it will tolerate drought and heat due to its deep tap root. The best way to propagate is by root cuttings in Autumn.

For medicinal purposes, Echinacea flower can be used but will not be as strong as a preparation made from the root. If you are harvesting the flowers do it when the flowers are just starting to bloom, for the root harvest in the fall when all the energy has moved down (preferably after a frost or two). Don’t dig up the entire root, make sure to leave some to grow back in the spring. I left mine alone last year (besides clipping a few flowers) to allow it to propagate naturally.

In order for Echinacea to be helpful take it at the first sign of a cold, this is not a recommended herb to be used as a tonic. For internal use, I recommend three preparations: infusion or tincture (flowers) or decoction (root). Make sure to follow directions for preserving herbs if you want to use it over the winter./p>

Uses: Boost immunity

Soil: Well-drained

Sun: Full sun but will tolerate a little shade

Water: water well until established, after that it will tolerate very dry

Melissa officinalis – Lemon Balm

First, a word of warning…lemon balm likes to grow and will expand in your garden if you do not keep it under control. This should not stop you from growing it, just understand you’ll need to cut it back and ‘tame’ it!

Lemon balm is my go to for two specific issues: anxiety and cold sores because of its anti-viral properties, but it is good for many other things as well: eczema, headache, insect bites, and wounds to name a few. As a culinary herb, it adds a wonderfully fresh, lemony-mint taste to any dish, (it’s especially good in a fruit salad) and brews into a refreshing iced tea!

In my garden, it is one of the fastest growing plants I have. If I see it getting a little sad looking, I simply cut it down and it magically rejuvenates it – basically, It is another easy plant to grow and will grow prolifically if left alone! One way to control it is to clip it back several times in the summer and early fall to keep seeds from forming. Unlike mint, it does not grow underground “runners” so it makes it easy to pull any unwanted plants that might get away from you. On a side note, this makes amazing fodder for your chickens and goats. When our chickens got into my herb garden they decimated my lemon balm, of course, it grew back in a few weeks, but I was amazed at how much the chickens liked it. When I thin I just throw it over my fence and the chickens and goats fight for it!

Uses: Cold sores, anxiety, sleep aid, eczema, headaches, insect bites, wounds, colic, can help with ADHD

Soil: moist, rich and Well drained

Sun: Full sun

Water: does not tolerate drought very well

These are three great starter herbs if you are wanting to step into growing your own medicinal herb garden.

I need to mention here that my assumption, again, is that you’ve done your research and have prepared your soil for planting. So many problems with plants can be avoided by feeding your soil and ensuring drainage is adequate and biological soil life is thriving!

Truthfully I have a really tough time narrowing it down to just 9 because so many plants are useful to have in your medicinal arsenal. However, one of the criteria I am looking for is ease of growing, which does slim down the list, and the ones I believe are most helpful for family medical care.

Last time I covered Lemon Balm, Chamomile, and Echinacea. This time I will cover calendula, Garlic, and Arnica. Three very different plants but all great for a home medical kit.

Calendula officinalis (Pot Marigold)

This sunny, happy, orange or yellow flowered plant is part of the Asteraceae family. Not to be mistaken for the marigold in the

Tagetes family. Sadly, it is an annual (I always prefer perennials), but with all its many benefits I still think it earns a place in every medicinal garden.

Propagate

Calendula does best when directly sown into the soil once the last chance of frost has passed. You can start them inside and transplant but there is more chance of harming the taproot. Make sure your soil allows for adequate drainage and oxygen, especially during the beginning stages, to avoid “damping off.”Calendula will tolerate a wide range of soils but prefers full sun.

A little tip

If you pick the mature flowers regularly in the spring and summer it may continue producing more flowers, even into the fall. Picking flowers also reduce the chance of pests (blister beetles, cucumber beetles, and aphids). Never let the flowers go to seed or you will greatly decrease your harvest.

Harvesting

The best time to pick is in the heat of the day when the water content is the lowest. Dry the flowers as soon as possible. The petals dry quickly but the receptacle does not so you can expect a total drying time of 10 days or more at 90 degrees or so. Let them cool and sort them carefully when they finish drying, as they reabsorb moisture readily.

Uses

Calendula is a wonderful anti-inflammatory for the skin and is used in many lotions, creams, and salves. Apply topically for skin irritation: dry skin cracked nipples, eczema, wounds.

Taken internally it will help the digestive system: colitis, peptic ulcers, gastritis (infusion) and is cleansing for the liver and gall bladder (tincture). It also helps reduce menstrual pain and regulate bleeding (infusion).

Preparations: tincture, infusion, salve, cream, compress

TYPE: Annual

SOIL: Well-drained, aerated soil

SUN: Prefers full sun, will tolerate partial shade

WATER: Water well 1-2 times a week

Allium (garlic)

You can’t go wrong with garlic. It adds a wonderful, flavorful explosion to any fare and, if used correctly, can add nutritional benefits. Garlic is also a wonderful addition to your garden as a pest repellent.

Propagate

Garlic can be planted in the spring but you will likely deal with smaller bulbs when harvesting. I recommend planting in the fall, so put this on your list as something to do as you move into fall. You’ll want to plant garlic about a month before frost hits. Simply break apart the bulb a few days before planting but keep the husk on the individual cloves. Plant them with the pointy end up about 2” deep and 4” apart. Heavily cover with mulch. In the spring green shoots will begin emerging. As the threat of frost is gone, feel free to remove the mulch.

A little tip

Do NOT use garlic bought at the store, use garlic from a previous harvest or buy them from a local garden shop. Be aware that you need to pick a variety that is good for your zone. Garlic flowers are lovely but if you are looking for larger bulbs, clip back any flower shoots. Because garlic likes extra nitrogen fertilising with rabbit manure or manure tea would give it that added boost. Water well about every 3-5 days during the drier season.

Harvesting

Harvest when you see the tops begin to yellow and get droopy (usually late summer in my area). Pull them from the soil gently, using a spade, brush off the dirt and hang in a shady spot with plenty of air flow. You can bunch them together but make sure every side gets air. It is ready to use when the wrappers are dry and papery. You can either “braid” them (yes, even hard neck garlic which is what grows best here) or clip off the tops and store in a dry, cool area.

Uses

Garlic is one of those things that mainstream medicine has recognised. There’s really no way you can go wrong adding garlic to your life on a daily basis.

• Reduce risk of certain cancers • Positive effects on the cardiovascular system • Lower cholesterol • Antibacterial • Antimicrobial • Antiviral • Antifungal

The key to achieving the highest health benefits from this powerhouse is to make sure you don’t cook it, yes, add it to dishes, but try to add it near the end of cooking, it will provide the most intense flavor and won’t destroy all the enzymes (allicin). Press the garlic through a garlic press and let it stand for 5-10 minutes, this activates the allicin. At this point, you can add it to your dish, blend it with some honey and spread it on toast, add it to a batch of elderberry syrup (already prepared) for an extra immune boost, or, get crazy and just eat it straight up. Warning – you will have garlic breath J

Preparations: capsules, food, infused oil, powder

TYPE: Annual

SOIL: Well-drained, aerated soil

SUN: Prefers full sun

WATER: Water well every 3-5 days during the hot, dry months

Warning

Because garlic is such a warming food, it can be aggravating to people with a warm constitution. In high doses, it may irritate the digestive system, causing gas, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and burning of the mouth. In normal and moderate doses garlic acts as a pre-biotic, food for the good microflora in the gut. People with a known allergy to Allium plants should avoid garlic.

Arnica

A daisy-like flower with a happy, sunny disposition also part of the Asteraceae family. This is a beautiful and helpful addition to any medicinal herb garden.

Propagate

If you are fortunate enough to know someone that has arnica in their garden, ask if you can have a cutting or if they are ready to divide their plant. If not, starting with seeds isn’t that difficult but germination can be tricky taking one month up to two years so patience will come into play here! Sprinkle the seeds and lightly cover with soil. Keep moist. The other option is to start them indoors with plenty of light (preferably a grow light) you can transplant these in the spring after the threat of frost is gone.

Uses

• anti-inflammatory • analgesic (reduces pain) • vulnerary (wound-healing: fractures, sprains, contusions, muscular pain, varicose veins) • rubefacient (increases blood flow to an area helping speed healing)

Arnica should only be used topically on the unbroken skin. It is quite effective when used as a poultice, in a carrier oil or salve.

Harvesting

Harvest blooming flower heads in summer, June through August.

Preparations: poultice, salve, infused oil, wash ( Steep 2 teaspoons arnica in 1 cup boiling water, let cool and use)

TYPE: Perennial

SOIL: Prefers sandy, slightly alkaline

SUN: Prefers full sun, will tolerate shade in very hot areas

WATER: Not drought tolerant until established, keep the soil moist but not soaked – a good weekly watering should suffice except during very dry, hot months.

I love nettles, the leaves are filled with a plethora of vitamins (high levels of Vitamin A, C, E & K), protein, chlorophyll, and minerals (calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium) making it quite useful as a vitamin drink. Juicing fresh nettle, preparing a nourishing herbal infusion, creating a “pesto”, or even using it as the spinach in a vegetable lasagne are all great ways to enjoy this herb while benefiting from its nutritive power.

I am fully aware that nettle is available to anyone who wildcrafts, so why do I recommend growing it in your herb garden? Because you know how it’s been grown and where it’s been grown. You have worked to create healthy soil and you aren’t spraying it with harmful chemicals. Furthermore, it’s growing right outside your door making it quick and easy to harvest, whether you are harvesting enough to make herbal preparations or even if you just want a little for your dinner preparations. To me, keeping things simple is key.

But what about the sting? Well, it’s a small price to pay, and honestly, if you harvest them correctly (wear gloves here) and either dry or saute/steam them, the sting is no longer a threat. Interestingly, nettle actually contains juices in its leaves that can stop the pain of a nettle “sting”. I was out yesterday looking at some nettle, I wasn’t wearing gloves and just decided to grab a leaf, roll it up, and eat it. I didn’t get stung, I decided to do an experiment and just brushed my hand against the nettles, sure enough, I was stung. I immediately grabbed another leaf, worked it between my fingers until the juices were released and rubbed it on the sting. The intensity of the pain greatly decreased, I wasn’t that bothered by it so I didn’t keep the leaf on for long. A few minutes later, the sting seemed to begin intensifying again so I grabbed a plantain leaf, crushed it and applied it with total relief in a short time. The moral of the story here is grab it like you own it – nettles sense fear J

Nettle prefers rich, moist soil and full sun but will grow in shadier areas, the difference being that the plant in shade will produce less seed which can be harvested and used as well. Seeds are great for overwrought adrenals. The seed can be a little stimulating, if you dry it first this will decrease the effect.

As a nourishing herbal infusion, it can help with fatigue, building and purify the blood, and detoxify (it has a diuretic property). This is also a wonderful herb to include in your diet and herb regimen if you are prone to allergies.

Preparations: Infusion, Nourishing Herbal Infusion, Poultice, Tincture, Juiced, Food

Growing

TYPE: Perennial SOIL: Moist, rich SUN: Prefers full sun will grow in shade WATER: water well until established Propagation: Cuttings, Root transplant, seed

Lavender (Lavendula)

Lavender is a beautiful, highly aromatic plant that is not too difficult to grow in the right conditions. It is one of those herbs that almost everyone recognises by sight and smell. Who hasn’t enjoyed the scent of lavender in soap, lotion, or even in a room or body spray? Lavender is an antimicrobial which makes it a great choice for a room deodoriser with germ-killing capabilities. It is a calming herb that can easily be added to infusions and baths to help reduce stress and irritability and induce sleep. It also has wonderful anti-inflammatory properties making it a perfect herb when treating burns and bug bites. The essential oil has been used for many years to treat burns, eczema, reduce scar tissue and aid in healing infections (including fungal).

I don’t think you can have enough lavender growing so I choose a sunny spot that has soil that is well-drained. It doesn’t like to have “wet feet” so it really doesn’t require that much input. Watering once a week is generally sufficient during the driest months. Don’t put it in with something that prefers moist soil, it will not thrive and may not even survive.

Harvest the flowers when they are dry and make sure to dry them immediately to reduce the loss of the essential oils. The leaves can also be used but are not nearly as high in medicinal properties as the flowers.

Preparations: Get creative when deciding how to use this herb: floral bath, steam inhalation, infusion, oil, pillow, sachet for drawers, tincture, poultice, salves, lotions, & hydrosol (maybe you have a friend or know someone who makes essential oils like I do which gives me a great supply for hydrosols)!

Growing

Type: Perennial Soil: Rich, drier Sun: Full Sun Water: Water well once a week or so, let soil dry between waterings Propagation: Seed, Cuttings, Layering

Comfrey (Symphytum spp.)

Many people cringe when I recommend growing comfrey. They see it as an invasive plant that will eventually choke out the rest of the herbs in their garden. Though this can be true, with a little management you can keep this from happening while benefiting from the diverse offerings of this plant!

First, I want to mention the few obvious things that are not medicine related: comfrey leaves are wonderful mulch makers and, because of their large leaf growth, will shade out competitors like any unwanted weeds that may pop up in your garden. Because they are deep-rooted they pull up the minerals found in the soil and bring it up to the leaf. Chopping and dropping these mineral-rich leaves puts those minerals back into the soil and adds organic matter (thus aeration) to your soil profile. Additionally, bees and other pollinators love the flower and if you grow a blocking variety you won’t deal with it reseeding itself.

As far as medicinal use, there is virtually no competing herb that can heal skin the way comfrey can. As a matter of fact, it can heal so well and quickly that you need to make sure the wound is fully cleansed and there is no sign of infection, it could get closed up inside. Comfrey is also well-known for its ability to treat sprains, swelling, bruises and historically even mend broken bones! It can also help alleviate osteoarthritis and other arthritic type pain. Comfrey contains allantoin which stimulates tissue repair and cell proliferation. Which means it is also great in salves to use on areas that are troubled by irritation or rash.

Comfrey is a pretty flexible plant and can grow almost anywhere. However, it does prefer moist, rich, loamy soil and dappled sunlight. We have found that once it is established it grows really well, even in imperfect conditions. If you are wanting to control the spread I would suggest two things: do not disturb the roots. Every small root piece will grow into another plant. Make sure you are going to keep it where you plant it and don’t till the soil. Second, reduce its growth by chopping the leaves at least twice in a growing season, and dead head any flowers that appear. If it is growing in an area that you don’t want it, the best way to get rid of it is to keep its leaves so low that it loses all ability to continue growing. Do not go pulling the roots because you will likely not be able to get the entire root system out.

Preparations: Poultice, salve, infused oil, infusion

Growing

Type: Perennial Soil: Moist, Rich, loamy Sun: dappled sunlight Water: occasionally, once it’s established it can tolerate drought much better because if its deep roots.

https://crookedbearcreekorganicherbs.com/2017/06/12/your-medicinal-herb-garden/

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karlsauraus · 5 years ago

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Somehow this made it into my garden plot. A cultivated sport of a wild plant, Rudbeckia subtomentosa or sweet coneflower (known as such for its leaves which can have a faint vanilla scent). This quill flowered sport was found in southern Illinois and is propagated by root division because only 15-20% of seedlings retain the quilled petals. Makes me wish I hadent pulled up the other seedlings over the past two years not realizing what they were. I left this one because its younger self did remind me of rudbeckia and I wanted to see what it did. There must be a plant in someone’s yard near by, transferred by birds. My plot has a ton of bird and rabbit visitors. Cats too

#rudbeckia #wild native

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peonies-and-nettle · 7 years ago

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Describe your room with just 5 words.What types of things would you plant in a garden?Favourite attraction at a carnival? Happy Answering :)

Never done anything like this before, but here goes nothing!

Describe your room with just 5 words.

Cluttered, peaceful, mine, eclectic, sanctuary

What types of things would you plant in a garden?

I actually have a garden! I have comfrey, yarrow, lavender, coneflowers, and mint planted. I want more herbs next year. I want more mint and basil, and I want to propagate the comfrey and yarrow. :-)

Favourite attraction at a carnival?

Hmmm … I’m not a big carnival person. I really like the shows though. And the food. Most of the rides make me motion sick lol~

Thanks for asking!

#asks #about me

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Julia Watson fills New York's Rockefeller Center plaza with native American meadow plants

Biodiversity and effects of climate change can be significantly affected by small-scale rewilding projects argues designer and environmentalist Julia Watson, who has temporarily covered New York's Rockefeller Center plaza and ice rinks with native plants with planting designer, Marie Salembier.

Named Rewilding the American Meadow, the project covers the North Plaza and Ice Rink of the Midtown Manhattan complex with wooden pots containing plants from the northeast of the United States.

The designer's landscape and urban design studio Watson Salembier chose plants with a wild American meadow in mind like native grasses, perennials and trees indigenous to the north-east region.

Rewilding the American Meadow has temporarily covered the Rockefeller Center plaza and ice rink with plants

The designers call the scheme a rewilding, which aims to allow natural habitats to recover with minimal human intervention, as a nod to the fact that the area where the Rockefeller Center stands was formerly home to the Elgin Botanic Garden. Watson said at the time it contained 2,000 native and rare exotic species.

She believes that urban rewilding is an example of how to improve biodiversity in cities, bolster pollinators and help provide clean air.

Watson Salembier chose plants with a wild American meadow in mind

"Rewilding the American Meadow at Rockefeller Center's North Plaza and Summer at The Rink are part of an idea we have that envisions entities with significant global property portfolios becoming catalysts for mitigating climate change in our urban environments," Watson told Dezeen.

"By matching indigenous, rare, and threatened plant species to local property portfolios around the globe, these urban rewilding projects could replace the homogenous and predominantly ornamental urban landscapes that form the backdrops of our cities today," she continued.

"By thinking of this as a multi-scalar global project, we can conceive how these ideas become mainstream and could have that explosive, emergent impact towards increasing global biodiversity that we need, while also celebrating local ecosystems, cultures, colours and identities."

They are intended to bloom at different times during the installation, which runs up until November

Watson Salembier chose a range of plants that would bloom at different times over the duration of the installation from July until November.

"I was onsite for both of the installation days and before the gardening team had finished transferring the plants from pots to the planters, we had pollinators like bees and butterflies already feeding on the blooms," she said.

"That's honestly the highest form of appreciation."

Watson said the project will help with pollination of surrounding environments in the city over the next year

While the temporary project is relatively small scale, Watson argues the plants will have many knock-on effects. For example, they will attract animal and insect species like birds, bees and butterflies that will help with pollination of surrounding environments in the city over the next year.

"If you think of these temporary planters as seeding the growth of next year's indigenous plants within the local radius that the pollinators move throughout, that means the summer gardens will have that unknown and cascading effect on the local ecosystem of Central Park and other larger landscape patches throughout the city," she explained.

"These blooms provide the energy for the pollinators needed at this time of the year and another stopping point for the pollinators as they make their way through the city landscape," she continued.

"We will then indirectly effect next year's populations by providing for this year's colonies so that when we design these gardens again next year, we'll provide the same support systems for new colonies."

Watson added that it is these effects of rewilding that make it far more beneficial in comparison to conservation projects.

"Rewilding is so important because it takes an active, rather than passive approach to ecosystem conservation and regeneration," she said. "It works to introduce systemic change that leads to cascading effects that are emergent and open-ended. This is a really fascinating design approach, and one that I bring to my work."

Watson argued that the effects of rewilding make it far more beneficial in comparison to conservation projects

Watson teaches urban design at Harvard GSD and Columbia GSAPP, and is author of LO–TEK Design by Radical Indigenism, in which she argues that tribal communities, seen by many as primitive, are highly advanced when it comes to creating systems in symbiosis with the natural world.

She said the Rewilding the American Meadow shows how these philosophies can be used to change how we design cities.

"This project really speaks to a core concept of LO—TEK, which is, as a species, the vast majority of humans on this earth need to foster a more nature-based culture," she said.

"In my book LO—TEK, I discuss designing with biodiversity and document indigenous technologies from the scale of the module, to the structure, system and infrastructure," Watson added.

"This really means that biodiversity literally becomes the building block for these technologies, just as it becomes the building block for the design at Rockefeller Center and in the processes of rewilding."

Read on for our full interview with Watson:

Marcus Fairs: How did the project come about?

Julia Watson: Rewilding the American Meadow at Rockefeller Center's North Plaza and Summer at The Rink are part of an idea we have that envisions entities with significant global property portfolios becoming catalysts for mitigating climate change in our urban environments.

By matching indigenous, rare, and threatened plant species to local property portfolios around the globe, these urban rewilding projects could replace the homogenous and predominantly ornamental urban landscapes that form the backdrops of our cities today.

In Rewilding the American Meadow, we used tree species like Cercis canadensis or Eastern Redbud, which offer colourful fall flowers that attract honeybees; Oxydendron arboreum or Sourwood, which has a honey that is considered a delicacy; and fruit that persists throughout winter, which is attractive to birds and helps them survive through the winter.

We hope the design of rewilding gardens as forming part of a larger ecosystem

These native trees were underplanted with Asclepias incarnata or Swamp Milkweed, Echinaceae purpurea or Purple Coneflower, and Achillea millefolium or Yarrow, which is a classic but great for a long blooming season and for pollinators.

We hope the design of rewilding gardens as forming part of a larger ecosystem encouraging on-site programmes that would include local seed banking, on-site propagation, farmers markets with educational programs, and seed exchanges.

By thinking of this as a multi-scalar global project, we can conceive of how these ideas become mainstream and could have that explosive, emergent impact towards increasing global biodiversity that we need, while also celebrating local ecosystems, cultures, colors and identities.

Marcus Fairs: How does it relate to your other projects and your book?

Julia Watson: This project really speaks to a core concept of LO–TEK, which is, as a species the vast majority of humans on this earth need to foster a more nature-based culture. The tenets of that culture could be universal, but the manifestation should be inspired by the diversity of local cultures.

In my book LO–TEK, I discuss designing with biodiversity and document indigenous technologies from the scale of the module, to the structure, system and infrastructure. This really means that biodiversity literally becomes the building block for these technologies, just as it becomes the building block for the design at Rockefeller Center and in the processes of rewilding.

This is all part of a grander scheme to champion the regeneration of threatened plant species

In LA I'm working on a project for the City of El Segundo to redesign the Gateway to the City, where we're taking that idea of the spectacle of LAX airport and enhancing that sensory experience by introducing an ecological runway, for butterflies and other photoreceptive insects, to the Pacific Ocean.

The ecological runway will manifest as a diurnal photoreceptive pollinator corridor designed to regenerate the indigenous habitat of the threatened, native El Segundo Blue Butterfly. While in the Cotswalds, we're working on a rewilding master plan of a sheep farm that's be regenerated and will house an artist's residency program in Warwickshire.

Marcus Fairs: Why is it important to use native plants in projects like this?

Julia Watson: With my design partner Marie Salembier, a horticulturist and planting designer, we've been envisioning ways to bring the language of botany and biodiversity back to the city as an educational experience.

This is all part of a grander scheme to champion the regeneration of threatened plant species, which are connected to habitat loss and the mass extinction of our pollinator populations, which form the basis of our food webs.

Marcus Fairs: How has the project been received by both people and local wildlife?!

Julia Watson: Tishman Speyer has been a great Client and everyone has commented on how fantastic the greenification looks. The Rockefeller Center gardening team is incredible and they're been very gracious through-out this collaboration and receptive to new ideas. The local tenants of the restaurants around North Plaza have been featuring the rewilding in their social media and people seem to really appreciate the beauty and biodiversity, which isn't always the case when using natives.

Rewilding is so important because it takes an active, rather than passive approach

I was onsite for both of the installation days and before the gardening team had finished transferring the plants from pots to the planters, we had pollinators like bees and butterflies already feeding on the blooms. That's honestly the highest form of appreciation.

Marcus Fairs: Rewilding is becoming a hot topic – in your view why is it important?

Julia Watson: I've been outspoken in my criticism of Conservation in LO–TEK. Rewilding is so important because it takes an active, rather than passive approach to ecosystem conservation and regeneration.

It works to introduce systemic change that leads to cascading effects that are emergent and open-ended. This is a really fascinating design approach, and one that I bring to my work.

Landscape architecture is a unique design profession in that it offers the ability to interact with ecosystems by opportunistically amplifying specific conditions, creating symbiosis, or catalyzing interactions that set up an evolving scenario. As a designer, I can envision parts of that evolving scenario and the alternative future, but not all of it.

We redefine rewilding as a radical revision of urbanism's taming of nature, towards a new wildness in localism

In working with dynamic and living ecosystem interactions, there is a wildness and a beauty in the unknown of a future that's still to evolve that you've helped to create. It's that richness and potential that is nature, which we as designers are still trying to understand and grasp in our work.

Elizabeth Meyer wrote a fantastic essay a couple of years ago about finding that beauty in the design of sustainable landscapes. I feel we're having a revival at this moment, in which we're re-exploring traditional, technical and ecological aspects within design that are redefining our conceptions of beauty along the way.

Marcus Fairs: Can this kind of project really be considered as "rewilding"? Can the term really be applied to temporary projects with plants in containers?

Julia Watson: Typically defined as restoring an ecosystem, in our studio we redefine rewilding as a radical revision of urbanism's taming of nature, towards a new wildness in localism. We envision biodiversity as becoming the building blocks of diverse, local symbioses between species, peoples and place.

As for temporality, that's a cyclical phenomena that's characteristic to nature.

The planting palette for the summer gardens at Rockefeller Center is designed with a staggered flowering cycle, so different blooms will be continuously present from July to October.

Pollinators have their own life cycles geared towards the spring summer and autumn seasons. These blooms provide the energy for the pollinators needed at this time of the year and another stopping point for the pollinators as they make their way through the city landscape.

Think of these temporary planters as seeding the growth of next year's indigenous plants

We will then indirectly effect next year's populations by providing for this year's colonies, so that when we design these gardens again next year, we'll provide the same support systems for new colonies.

We're also indirectly increasing the life supporting systems for ourselves. This happens as native flora attracts the native fauna essential for pollination. In turn, these species assist in the reproduction cycle of the plants.

If you think of these temporary planters as seeding the growth of next year's indigenous plants within the local radius that the pollinators move throughout, that means the summer gardens will have that unknown and cascading effect on the local ecosystem of Central Park and other larger landscape patches throughout the city.

The plants we are bringing to the summer gardens are also assisting mature in cleaning the air we breathe and the pollinators they attract are helping to grow the food we eat.

Marcus Fairs: How can architects and designers help increase biodiversity and tackle climate change through their work (particularly in urban areas)?

Julia Watson: When we ask these type of questions we're really directing our responses to a few urban environments that we're very familiar with, have probably lived in or travelled to. For those, we have a modest set ideas for how we can tackle climate change. But our profession is informed by a legacy of industrialization and modernism.

This legacy limits our understanding of what technology is, what innovation is, and what our cities could become. For so long we have all believed that high-tech and fast growth is the future. I don't think many of us have really, deeply negotiated a radically different alternative future.

Seriously and strategically tackling biodiversity and climate change at a global scale is not going to happen by applying a one size fits all approach designed by affluent cities to be applied to the diversity of ecosystems across the globe. This approach is inconsiderate of the resource availability and economic feasibility of individual cities and their communities. In looking for solutions for the whole planet, we cannot follow the current mythology of technology that calls for a scaling of costly, high-tech, and hard infrastructural strategies.

Designers will have the most impact on climate change by collaborating with local communities

Designers need to look elsewhere – at effective responses that are symbiotic with specific environments and the availability of resources. Communities in developing countries can still leap-frog the typical model of progress that ends in the displacement of indigenous diversity for the sake of homogenous high-tech.

In LO–TEK, we find nature-based systems that symbiotically work with the environment. These nature-based systems act multidimensionally, for example not only for the purpose of food production but also as resilient infrastructures that may survive industrial agriculture, as seas rise and climates change.

They are ecologically-intensive, rather than energy-, chemical-, or capital-intensive. They are technologies that already embody the construction techniques, climate, soil quality, precipitation levels, and seasonal understandings of the local culture and the ecosystem that evolved them. They amplify ecosystem services rather than erase them.

Designers will have the most impact on climate change by collaborating with local communities and taking the time to understand the intelligence of local knowledge, practices and technologies. They can assist in the scaling and systematic expansion along with development of these LO–TEK systems.

In return, the profession will also be expanding the toolkit of available resilient technologies that could be adapted, hybridised, innovated in consultation with these communities. As we look for ways to design resilient technologies in the face of climate change, we must look at systems that are proven to work, as Dr Eugene Hunn puts it, "tested in the rigorous laboratory of survival".

Marcus Fairs: How can cities help encourage biodiversity and mitigate climate change?

Julia Watson: Cities can explore nature-based infrastructures that are active, adaptive, and productive, involving co-existences of many species, and using biodiversity as a building block - thereby harnessing the energy and intelligence of complex ecosystems. This is how humans have been dealing with the extremes we now face for millennia.

Nature-based technologies align with today's sustainable values of low-energy, low-impact, and low-cost. Climate change is showing that our survival is not dependent upon superiority, but upon symbiosis - and cities must shift how they develop in their second and third growth rings towards integrating these symbiotic technologies.

Marcus Fairs: What do you think will be the long-term impacts of Covid-19 on the design of cities?

Julia Watson: Historically pandemic has transformed cities. The bubonic plague led to the Italian Renaissance, one of the greatest epochs of art, architecture and literature in human history. The Spanish flu championed the City Beautiful Movement, introducing parks, wide streets, and clean water, remaining at the forefront of urban design for many years. But the current pandemic in the context of climate change is different.

The response to Covid-19 must displace the homogeneity and monoculture of globalism and urbanism

Hopefully today's response will not be limited to sanitation and beautification because there are ecological explanations that connect reduced resilience to pandemic. These include habitat encroachment causing zoonotic transfer, reduced biodiversity causing single species dominance leading to increased incidence of human contact, and reduced environmental resilience in the face of climate extremes, leading to poverty, risky behavior, migration which all increase the incidence of viral transmission.

So the response to Covid-19 must displace the homogeneity and monoculture of globalism and urbanism that is crippling our cities and agricultural landscapes and making our systems vulnerable. Design must lead us toward the rediscovery of resilient localisms.

The pioneers of nature-based design and technology are indigenous communities, whom are often seen as primitive, but in reality are highly advanced when it comes to creating systems in symbiosis with the natural world. Having studied indigenous communities across the globe for twenty years while training as an architect, landscape architect and urban designer, the evolution of design towards integrating these nature-based technologies and the eventual change this integration could have on the way we design cities, is now within our reach.

Photography of Rewilding the American Meadow is courtesy of Rockefeller Center.

Project credits:

Project team: Watson Salembier, Anna Karlin Studio, 2x4 Workshop

The post Julia Watson fills New York's Rockefeller Center plaza with native American meadow plants appeared first on Dezeen.

#Architecture – Dezeen

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gardeninghowto-blog · 5 years ago

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Tips to make butterfly garden

You’ve planted things with the word “butterfly” in the name: butterfly bush, butterfly weed, and the pincushion flower ‘Butterfly Blue.' A few butterflies do seem to flit by, but what if your garden is still more of a stopover than a destination? By learning more about butterflies, the plants that attract them, and their survival needs, you can increase your garden’s butterfly allure considerably.

Plant Butterfly Friendly Flowers

The flowers you choose to install in your butterfly garden are likely to be classics that your parents or grandparents grew. Growing these heirlooms preserves genetic diversity, honors old-fashioned garden style, and connects you to your ancestors. It also allows you to propagate your garden by saving seed. How to Revive An Air Plant https://www.justhomegardening.com/how-to-revive-an-air-plant

Traditional flowers that you will see repeatedly in butterfly gardens include brightly colored plants with shallow blossoms that allow easy nectar access. Popular butterfly perennials include milkweed, coneflowers, hyssop, asters, and liatris. Shrubs add a structure to the landscape while nourishing butterflies, so include some viburnum, sweetspire, and elderberry. These plants and shrubs all thrive in full sun, which butterflies need to maintain their metabolism.

Use a mix of annuals and perennials to prolong blooming time. Flowering containers allow you to exchange plantings during low-blooming lulls in the garden, like late spring and late summer. Use a combination of window boxes, patio containers, and hanging baskets to help create staggered blooming heights in the butterfly garden. Stick to nectar-rich flowers like pentas, cosmos, lantana, petunias, and zinnias instead of sterile hybrid flowers to ensure a steady supply of nectar.

Include not only a variety of colors, but plants of differing heights to attract more butterflies. A short row of flowering bedding plants may look attractive to homeowners, but it doesn’t satisfy the needs of some butterflies. In nature, butterflies fill specific feeding niches by focusing on flowers at certain heights. By including flowers that grow at a range of heights, you can not only achieve a professional-looking border, you will attract a greater variety of butterflies. For example, Tiger Swallowtails seek tall flowers like Joe Pye weed and honeysuckle vines. The Least Skipper and Little Yellow butterflies prefer flowers closer to the ground, like lavender, dianthus, and asters. How To Get Rid Of Bugs In Houseplants Soil https://www.justhomegardening.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bugs-in-houseplants-soil

Add Plants for Butterfly Caterpillars

Many butterflies are very specific about which host plant they will lay their eggs on. Sometimes they seek out plants in a particular family, and sometimes their caterpillars will dine on one plant and one plant only. If you intermingle attractive host plants with nectar rich plants in your flower garden, you may find yourself fostering one butterfly generation after the next. Don’t worry about extensive caterpillar damage on your host plants; unlike some caterpillars that are voracious garden pests, butterfly caterpillar feeding rarely causes death or stunted growth on healthy host plants.

Aster flowers are an important source of nectar for migrating butterflies in the fall, but before that, the larvae of the pearl crescent butterfly feed on its foliage. Monarchs depend on butterfly weed and other plants in the milkweed family to provide them with the toxins that make them unpalatable to birds and other predators. The showy zebra butterfly, a Florida and Texas resident, feeds its babies exclusively on the foliage of the passionflower. If you reside in the Eastern half of the United States, you may attract the iridescent Eastern tailed-blue to your garden with a host planting of sweet peas. Gardening Tool Set for Mom https://www.justhomegardening.com/best-gardening-tool-set-for-mom-delightful-gift-for-mom-gardener

Include Butterfly Shelter Areas

Butterfly houses look like wooden blocks punctuated with tall, narrow slots, presumably to shelter butterflies from predators and bad weather. Have you ever seen a photo or video of swarm of butterflies emerging from this butterfly apartment house in the morning? Probably not. Unfortunately, a prefab butterfly house is more likely to become the future home of a paper wasp colony than it is to shelter butterflies. Butterflies do need shelter from wind and rain, but you don’t need a fancy shingled house to protect them. Take your cue from nature, and provide them with a simple log pile in a corner of the yard. Butterflies will use this natural shelter to roost at night, or even to hibernate over the winter. In addition to the spaces between logs, small butterflies can creep between gaps in the bark. If you wish to make the shelter more cozy than a rustic log pile, you can cover the pile with a tarp, which will help the insects stay dry during downpours.

Offer Alternative Butterfly Foods

In spite of your best efforts to maintain a garden that blooms from spring until frost, there will inevitably be some times when a butterfly’s favorite flowers are scarce. You can continue to draw butterflies to your garden during this time by focusing on species that spend little time seeking nectar. Hackberry butterflies in particular relish overripe fruit, so you can attract them with dishes of peaches, pears, and bananas that are past their prime.

Fermented beer or molasses can act as the condiment on the fruit main dish, proving irresistible to species like the Question Mark and Red-Spotted Purple. Replace the fruit frequently to discourage wasps and ants from taking over the buffet. You can also cover the fruit with a window screen, which butterflies can bypass with their proboscis but will block wasps.

Provide Butterfly Puddling Stations

Butterflies seek shallow puddles in the garden not only as a source of drinking water, but also as a way to obtain vital minerals. In fact, the Cloudless Sulphur and the Sleepy Orange butterfly may congregate en masse in muddy areas or bog gardens. Look for this puddling behavior in the hottest part of the day, and keep your soil free of chemicals that can harm sensitive butterflies. A shallow dish filled with pebbles or sand and water can act as a valuable drinking station on hot days. dr pye's scanmask https://www.justhomegardening.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bugs-in-houseplants-soil

Avoid Pesticides That Harm Butterflies

When it comes to pest control, butterfly gardeners must tread lightly. Most pesticides will harm or kill butterflies (as well as other beneficial pollinators like bees and parasitic wasps). Even organic pest control options like insect soap or neem oil can kill butterflies or disrupt their feeding and mating habits. However, this doesn't mean you have to hand your flowers over to the aphids. Minimize pesticide effects by shielding flowers from sprays and powders. Only use pesticides to treat insect outbreaks, not as a preventative treatment. Finally, try non-pesticide insect controls, like floating row covers, jets of water to blast away small insects, and hand-picking for large insects like beetles.

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diygabl · 7 years ago

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PERENNIAL HERBS: WHAT TIME ZONES ARE BEST

PERENNIAL HERBS AND THEIR TIME ZONES

Angelica (Angelica archangelica)

(A biennial but if you let it seed, it will be perennial.) Zones 4-9 I call this a big babe herb. With flowers, can get six feet tall and four feet wide. Good for the back of a border

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Zones 4-9 One of my favorite edible flowers. Tastes just like a box of Good 'n Plenty. Probably a mid range plant or front of the border.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Zones 3-9 If you have cats, you'll maybe want a fence around it to keep them off of it. They do love it. I have never grown this but I would say it would be a mid range or front of the border herb.

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)

Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Bloody Dock (Rumex sanguineus)

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Zones 3-10 Trying to give you herb flowers as well as just herbs. This flower is a favorite of butterflies and the seedheads are loved by the finches and other birds in my garden. They do get sown around by the wind and the birds. One of my favorite flowers in the mid to late summer. They are not just purple either. Lots of color choices, but the granddad is the purple one. Mid range for an herb border. Two or three plants together make a nice stand of flowers.

Elecampane (Inula helenium)

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Johnny-Jump-Up (Viola tricolor)

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare)

Zones 4-8 Horehound is a lovely little plant with gray pebbly leaves. Make cough drops to help sooth your cough. Front of the herb garden border.

Horseradish (Armorica rusticana)

Zone 3-10 Horseradish was the 2011 Herb of the Year and can be very invasive in a garden. You might to make a horseradish garden on its own. It would be a perennial herb, but just be aware that it will take over the garden unless you control it either in a pot that is deep because you are harvesting the root or by exiling it to its own bed. Has a beautiful flower in the second year.

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)

Zone 3-9 Very aromatic and may be not in the best way. Slightly bitter leaves used in soups or stews and with game meat. I do love the tiny blue or white flowers around July 4th. I would use it as a hedge in the front of the border. I need to use this herb a bit more often.

Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)

Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris)

Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina)

Zones 4-9 Wooly leaves that are a delight for children. Were used as bandages for wounds. Front of the herb garden for these. Silvery leaf color is a nice contrast for other herbs in the garden.

Lavender 'Hidcote' or 'Munstead' (Lavandula angustifolia)

Spearmint (Mentha spicata)

Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)

Zones 4-6 This is a bee magnet and very fragrant. It is beautiful in fresh flower arrangements and it dries very nicely. It can be used in the back of the border or mid border. It does run but is not invasive like regular mints.

Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota)

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare dulce) or Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare dulce 'Rubrum')

Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Zones 4-9 I really love this species of herb. Garden sage is so versatile. It can be used for cooking or in potpourri or for an herb wreath. I love the gray green leaves in contrast with other herbs. I would use this herb in the mid range part of the herb garden.

Garden Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Zones 4-8 Mostly famously used in sorrel soup. It is a spring herb that has a bright lemony flavor. It has an interesting red flower spike that dries very well. The leaf is shield shaped. We use the small early leaves in our salads. I would use this herb in the front of the herb garden.

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

Used to repel ants and a couple of summers ago it was a haven for the various stages of the ladybug. So it doesn't repel good insects! Don't be too quick to get rid of this herb. It has fern like leaves and can be in the back of the border but it does run so it can take over a bed if not careful. Not for culinary purposes, but mothchasers can use a bit of tansy. It has very nice yellow button flowers and I have made a very nice wreath with tansy at the end of the season.

French Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus sativa)

Zones 3-7 This is the only tarragon to use in cooking. It is not propagated by seed. If you purchase tarragon seeds, you have the more inferior Russian tarragon.

English Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Zones 4-9 This is the one thyme to have for cooking.

Silver Thyme (Thymus vulgaris 'Argenteus')

Zones 4-8 Sharp drainage is key.

Lemon Thyme (Thymus x citriodorus)

Zones 4-9 Can be creeping or upright. I really love the flavor of this thyme. Does it have anything to do with lemon? Maybe.

Mother-of-Thyme (Thymus praecox)

Zones 4-8 A very robust creeping thyme. Used in cooking. All thyme's are good in the front of the border.

Other thymes may be hardy. Need to check your zones.

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) Zones 4-9

Fern shaped leaves and white flowers that have a very fragrant scent of vanilla. It needs a bit of shade in the heat of summer.

#organic #organic gardening #gardening tips #gardening #perennial #herbs

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ntrending · 6 years ago

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Here are 10 animals that might have gone extinct without the Endangered Species Act

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Here are 10 animals that might have gone extinct without the Endangered Species Act

Last Thursday, the Trump administration announced a proposal to cut provisions in the Endangered Species Act (ESA)—the law that for almost half a century, has protected plants and animals at risk of extinction. The law has broad and bipartisan support across the country, with around 80 percent of Americans expressing their support for the law.

Announced jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—the two agencies that govern the ESA—the proposed changes aim to “improve collaboration, efficiency, and effectiveness,” but those opposing the proposal argue that it may leave some plants and animals more vulnerable.

For conservationists, one of the most concerning changes is striking out language that previously prevented economics from factoring in on decisions to protect species. As the act stands now, how to best preserve a vulnerable habitat is based purely on scientific data, not cost. Some worry that removing this rule could give businesses the go-ahead to develop near protected habitats. In addition, the new proposal means threatened species would no longer be extended the same protections as endangered ones—threatened species would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

“Species are literally of infinite value, they’re priceless. It shouldn’t be a question of cost,” says Bob Dreher, senior vice president for conservation programs for the nonprofit organization Defenders of Wildlife, regarding the allowance of economic consideration into the fate of a vulnerable plant or animal.

“Although a number of these regulatory changes may be fairly minor and may make sense, there’s virtually nothing we see in this package that actually enhances protection of endangered species,” he says. “And there are a number of provisions that may leave species exposed to threats. It really isn’t a package of regulations an administration that really cared about endangered species would be putting out.”

Right now, the ESA protects more than 1,600 plants and animals at risk of extinction, or at risk of becoming endangered. The act has been criticized in the past for delisting animals who still may be in need of protection, but the act has also helped more than 50 endangered or threatened species recover by protecting and restoring habitats, monitoring at-risk species, creating captive breeding programs, and reintroducing animals into the wild.

Here are 10 plants and animals the ESA has helped pull back from the brink.

These wide-winged birds of prey were plentiful in 1782 when the U.S. first adopted the animal as our national symbol. But the bald eagle population plummeted after World War II when the highly toxic DDT pesticide was introduced. Birds were inadvertently ingesting DDT, weakening adults and causing them to produce feeble eggs. By 1963, only 417 breeding pairs were left in the lower 48 states.

The bald eagle was one of the first species protected under the Endangered Species Preservation Act (a precursor to today’s ESA). In 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT. The ESA was officially in place the following year, and the federal regulations protected nesting sites and helped repopulate the species through captive breeding programs. Bald eagles were taken off the list of threatened and endangered species in 2007. There are now almost 10,000 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states today.

It’s hard to imagine a predator at the top of the food chain threatened by anything. But in 1975, grizzly bears living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho—were listed as a threatened species.

Decades of logging, mining, and land development destroyed bears’ habitats, and the great creatures were often hunted for sport or killed when spotted on human land. By 1975, there were less than 200 bears left. Conservation efforts have brought the grizzly population in Yellowstone National Park back up to 700. After 42 years on the threatened species list, the bears were officially deemed recovered and delisted in 2017. But with no protections outside national parks, critics of the delisting have argued bears will be susceptible to all the same dangers that cut down their population in the first place.

Like grizzly bears, gray wolves struggle to coexist with humans. At one time, wolves were as common as domestic dogs are today—sadly, these pack animals were always considered villains, not man’s best friend.

Although wolf attacks on humans were rare, the yellow-eyed canines would pick off unsuspecting livestock during the night, infuriating ranchers. Wolves were trapped, poisoned, or shot, hunted almost to extinction. By 1920, there were less than 40 left, and only a few packs persisted in Minnesota and on Isle Royale in Michigan. The species didn’t receive protection until the ESA was enacted in 1973.

By the ‘90s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had brought wolves in from Canada to begin reintroduction. Wolves were delisted in 2008, but a surge of wolf shootings in the Rocky Mountains just two months later resulted in a federal lawsuit to put wolves back under the act’s protection. The courts ruled in favor of the wolves, and by fall of 2008, they were back on the list of endangered and threatened species. In 2017, the wolf population was considered recovered, and delisted for the second time.

Known for their melodic whale songs and beautiful breaches, the openness of these colossal creatures may have led to their demise. Because of their massive size and tendency to lounge near the surface of the water, humpback whales were easy prey.

The commercial whaling business almost wiped out these sea creatures completely, leaving only a few thousand alive worldwide. In 1966, hunting humpback whales was banned, and a few years later, the species was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act, another law that preceded the ESA. Humpback whales were delisted in 2016, and around 20,000 are singing under the sea today.

When we think of endangered species, it’s easy to focus on all the beloved animals that roam the earth. But there are many wild plants at risk, too. In 1997, Helianthus eggertii—a bright, yellow flowering plant indigenous to Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina—was listed as a threatened species.

What jeopardized this tall flower’s survival is also a threat to human habitat: wildfire. Because these plants grow in such barren environments, they rely on wildfires to propagate. But of course, raging outbursts of flame are no good for humans, and fire suppression efforts made it difficult for these already rare plants to persevere. Put under the ESA’s protection in 1997, the species was able to recover through restorative burns in secured areas. Now 287 populations of the rare sunflower exist, and the plant was listed as recovered in 2005.

Alligators managed to survive and thrive for millions of years—until humans came along. Like wolves and whales, alligators were almost hunted to extinction. Found in the swampy, southern states, the alligator population was almost decimated due to unregulated hunting. In 1967, alligators were listed as an endangered species, and alligator hunting was prohibited under the newly formed ESA in 1973.

Twenty years later, the alligator recovered, making one of the act’s quickest comebacks. Now a species of least concern (there are around five million gators in the U.S. today), alligator hunting has been made legal again.

Tennessee purple coneflower

This striking daisy-like flower was the second plant (following the evening primrose) to be put on the endangered species list in 1979. It only existed in one place in the world: a 14-mile stretch of limestone cedar glade (also an endangered ecosystem) near Nashville, TN. Ripe with aromatic red cedar trees growing atop a bed of limestone, this otherworldly area is full of fissures where the purple coneflower grows. As Nashville developed, the species and its habitat became threatened. A conservation plan was implemented, and through protections of the ESA, the plant was recovered in 2011. This plant is now plentiful, and you can even buy seeds and try growing it yourself.

The story of the fastest bird in the world parallels the one of the bald eagle. Falcon numbers were already on the decline due to loss of habitat, hunting, and egg collecting, but it was the pesticide DDT that really did in these kings of the air. By the ‘60s, no peregrine falcons existed in the eastern U.S., and in 1970, the species was listed as endangered.

Protected under the ESA, the birds were successfully bred in captivity and reintroduced into the wild. The peregrine falcon was delisted in 1999, and there are around 3,000 breeding pairs in North America today.

It’s not just animals on American soil the ESA has helped recover. Found in Australia, the red kangaroo is sought after for its meat and hide. Now, the mammoth marsupials are so plentiful that kangaroo hunting in Australia is considered sustainable. But in 1974, excessive hunting put the them on the endangered species list. Shortly after, the ESA aided conservationists overseas by putting a ban on all imports of kangaroos or kangaroo-derived products. The species moved from threatened to recovered, and was delisted in 1995.

It seems like squirrels are always just a stone’s (or perhaps peanut) throw away, but those that fly through the air at night are rare. There once was no shortage of coniferous tree tops in the Appalachian Mountains to glide between, but deforestation quickly pushed the squirrel species to near extinction.

Put on the endangered list in 1985, the flying squirrels were thought to have recovered in 2008, but were put back under protection in 2011. In the months after its reinstatement, conservation efforts made to regenerate forests led to a restoration of the species, and by 2013, the flying squirrel was officially declared recovered.

Written By Anna Brooks

#Animals

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