The power of flowers

Invest in a few staple herbs that double as gorgeous edible flowers. Or simply grow herbs for cooking! I enjoy both, so I have provided a list of my power players.

Learning what these plants are and how they work is best explained in the series "Books for Self-Reliance." Herbs for Long-Lasting Health by Rosemary Gladstar.

I hope I have enough landscape to introduce more healing plants to the "Salsa Garden" as my kids refer to our fresh patch of potential. Their superfluous aim is to grow a garden that will make a lot of not-spicy salsa.

Since I've learned how to identify and use a few herbs I'm interested in exploring a more botanical approach. 

Dandelion

A common weed and a powerful digestive aid. This is an edible plant, but a poor tasting one. It is that bitterness that makes this plant useful in getting things moving, so to speak. The brave can utilize the leaves, tops and roots, I have not tried but I do buy tea made from the roasted roots.

Next time time you pass by a dandelion, remember everything has value.

Greek oregano presents small leaves in beautiful flower form. The stems grow up two two feet tall and flower in the fall, making them optimal open-pollinators. This power plant spreads like a novel coronavirus, keep it pruned before it eats your garden real estate, or grow it in a container for ease of use when cooking. 

The Greeks have used oregano as far back as the roots of their civilization. The Greeks still use oregano as a fragrant cooking spice, and as a mystical protection from evil. I cannot attest to the latter, but if joy is what you seek, you will be stoked to learn that the Greek word "oregano" translates to, "the brilliant joy of the mountains."

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Looks familiar!  In Herbs for Long-Lasting Health by Rosemary Gladstar echinacea is listed forefront for infection fighting assistance, for external and internal uses. For immune support the leaves can be eaten directly off the plant without disturbing the root. Allegedly  the leaves have a numbing sensation and are helpful for healing wounds. 

 Fast Fact:

 Echinacea is native to North America. Sadly, echinacea has endangered varieties, but e. purpurea can be cultivated. 

I haven't planted echinacea yet because I can't locate seeds! 

Perhaps volunteers will emerge since this is a common plant that goes unrecognized by amateurs like myself. The hype around this herb is not due to commercial use. Legitimacy resides in native cultures who have used this plant for thousands of years.

Lemon Balm curiously resembles other herbs. I first mistook it for basil and basil does come in many flavors. My house came with a patchy herb bed, and in six years I have not seeded or planted more lemon balm, it's a perennial delight.

Lemon balm is a type of mint! When added to steeping tea it infuses an unmistakable, refreshing essence.

When added to salad, lemon balm lends a little excitement to the mundane.

Another mint relative, lavender can be planted in containers or directly in soil. The seeds can directly sow once the soil is workable.  

She's a hardy seed who loves sweater weather and long walks on the beach. 

Lavender is a challenge to sow from seed, and woody plants take time to mature. It's worth the wait, lavender in bloom is bright purple, fragrant and edible. 

It's an easy maintenance bush, wintering over and regrowing on deadwood in the spring. To prune lavender, wait until it blooms in the spring and then cut off the dead wood. 

Garlic chives are successful at self-seeding, I learned as I raked my bed and unearthed fresh stalks that smell like heaven. Be cautious and plant sparingly, these can quickly become invasive. They grow like flat blades of grass, as opposed to the onion chive which grows a tuberous stalk.

They're a different flavor than onion chives, and they're stronger in taste, not to mention fragrance.

Sit next to my garden and be amazed at the wafting scent. 

Love it or leave it, but don't yuck someone else's yum! 

 This is a new edition to my herb bed. Cilantro fights free radical oxidative cell damage as an antioxidant but the studies are still vague about cilantro's full suite of benefits. 

The seeds of the cilantro plant are called coriander. I don't know what to do with coriander, but

the leaves of the plant are used in...

Salsa!

Cilantro is a sweater season start, get busy sowing!

Dill is diverse, not only does it season fish like canned tuna (COVID-19 bunker food), dill also serves in canning as a seasoning for magically turning cucumbers into pickles. Dill has health benefits in digestion, and the flowers can be harvested for bouquets or seed collecting.

Let us not forget that dill is great on potato salad, casseroles and my favorite: popcorn! 

There's joy to be had in movie and popcorn night.

I sow dill early, as it's not particular to warm soil. Dill is a sweater weather seed!