They're Everywhere!

[Pharmer Phil]

Herbs...They are everywhere, either cultivated or found in the Field.
Many of Us use the common Culinary Herbs and have a few in our garden, some, Have an entire Garden of Herbs to Itself.
I hope we Can Discuss the uses of all these wonderful Plants, for both our health and culinary applications.
The most amazing thing is that Nature has provided for all of our medicinal needs no matter where we live on this Earth. All we need to do is look in our own backyard.

[Songbird]

I couldn't agree more! It's just knowing what and how!

[Strongtower]

Thank You !, I am thrilled you made this board !! I have BOOKS and BOOKS about herbs but no one to "talk" to about them.

I have BIG plans for having them but of course only have a few at this time.

[Pharmer Phil]

Well Talk right away! feel free to add any info, I don't care if you compose, scan or copy and Paste, all info on herbs are quite welcome.
So share some of your knowledge, and or, reference Material!

[TennOC]

Hmmm. Not much herby talk here. I guess everybody was busy after July.....me too! I am a guy who likes to go out and collect lots of the wild things that grow here. (z6 TN) Anybody else here a "wildcrafter"?
There's lots of private timber tracts around, plus my own little patch of woods. I grow the culinary herbs I use, for the most part, but lots of the medicinals grow in shade, in the hardwoods here. We collect some ginseng and goldenseal for sale, as well as personal use. Then there's the Wild Yam, Black Cohosh, Bloodroot, Wild Geranium.
I have a small patch on the other side of the creek from the house where I put out all the seeds I collect on my forays, mostly so I don't have to walk so far when I need some herbal meds, anybody else do that? If so, what grows good for you?

[chickenfarmer]

Oh, keep this thread going...... Tenn you can't be far from me where do you sell your ginseng?

I'm always looking for herbs in the wild......

Anybody have any recommendations for Herb books?

Anybody have Herb seeds to swap?

Anybody find any culinary herbs that you would like to share in recipes?

Like i said i like Herbs!

[TennOC]

Well, I don't give out my sources, lol. If you have ginseng to sell, you can PM me about it. I have dealt with it for a long time, but it is getting tougher to sell wild roots due to all the screaming fanatics. Granted, it takes a long time but gees, it grows back. Now I have one guy that won't buy any root less than 10 yrs old. Legally it has to be a 3-prong top, so maybe that's 4 or 5 yrs old, or more, sometimes wayyy more. You want goldenseal seeds, I will have them in probably late June, ginseng seeds in early mid Sept. The reason I don't have them now is they can't be dried out at all. They HAVE to be planted fresh.

[TennOC]

www.lib.ksu.edu/wildflower/tephrosia.html This is a link to a useful plant that grows wild in a lot of the eastern states. Lots of it here in TN, growing out along the old dirt roads. The site is in Kansas, but it's name indicates it was first categorized in Va. Anyway, just wondering if anybody uses it for insecticide or ?? We call it "Goat's Rue" around here, Tephrosia is the 'real' name.

[Pharmer Phil]

I seen it before, I believe it had real pretty flowers, I don't know about The rue part, would hate to think it that pretty and smaell Like RUE, maybe some like the smell of rue, but personally, PEWeeee
as far as insecticide, of course, it's roots are a source of Rotenone, a very good organic insecticide.
I have it in an older herbal, and it has a myriad of different uses, but I believe that more recently, possibly on a PBS channel, I heard the name pop up in reference to some cancer studies, Suppose it would grow as an annual here in Mn.?

[Pharmer Phil]

Geez, don't I feel SiLlY , guess I should of went to the link, befer I posted the last post Sowwy
Ok, I'll Shut up now

[TennOC]

It DOES have pretty flowers, but they're usually kinda hidden by the habit of the plant. Here they are pink/white/yellow combination. It's not real common, but evidently self-sows pretty good, cause when you see one, you see several in that area. The plant kinda flops over, I don't think I've ever seen any quite as tall as the height mentioned on the link, could be the weather or ph or something, dunno. I have made a tea of the roots to use as a spray, was just wondering if anybody else had tried it. I'm trying to get away from all imported stuff completely, might accomplish that by the time I'm a hundred or so.

[deb65802]

I am starting a new herb bed in a new home site. I want an old fashioned Victorian herb garden with lots of variety. I have abou 5 herb books with all kinds of goodies you can mek in them. Please do post your favorites.

three kinds of echinacea, lavendar, margoram, mugwort, four kinds of yarrow, comfrey, four kinds of basil, oregano, feverfew, fennel, black cohosh, chamomile, three kinds of dill, chives, 2 kinds of garlic, tansy, lemon balm, wormwood, bee balm, foxglove.... and several more

[jeanette]

we have echinacea growing in the ditches here.. do you think i can get it to grow.. i've tried several times.. once i got spouts, i put them on the steps to harden them off, the wind picked up while i was gone and blew them away..

i started some lavender, lemon basil, thi basil, and some cumin.

[deb65802]

I love herbs. I am beginning my beds at our new place here. I think I will grow them in pots for this year. I have mints, ginger, pineapple, apple, peppermint, I have several basil, lime, cinnamon, purple, lemon balm, orange bergamont, scarlet bee balm, mugwort, echinecea, yarrow, parsley, garlic, chives, garlic chives, rosemary, oregano, mullien, lamb's ears, chamomile,.....and a few more I can't think of right now.

[photodeb]

I am going to be doing an "herb intensive" garden this year too. My seeds from Bakers just came in - Feverfew, Anise Hyssop, slo-bolt Cilantro, Bee Balm-lemon. I also have some parsley & Dill that was sent to me from another gardener (Idig forum). Probably will order some more once I firm up what's going where in the garden....Any trades out there for some of what I've got so far? Have some more on order - but misplaced my order list, I know it's under some of these catalogs somewhere! Basil asst for sure, lavender & ?? I've read lots of good advice & tips from previous threads...Sure wish Mother Nature would settle down - oh well - more time to plan I suppose. Debra

[Pharmer Phil]

We will be getting some photos then Photodeb?

[photodeb]

Phil,
Sorry it's taken a while to answer, been busy.....but yes, photos will come (once growing can commence!)
Lots of great advice & pholks here from what I've read so far.....so glad I linked & linked again - Bakers - IDig - to here.....I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions very soon.
Have a great day
Deb
P.S. What's the deal with "Karma"?

[crazy1]

Hey photodeb, Karma is given to you by other members when you post a good thing or give good info to help someone. Here i'll help ya out

[photodeb]

crazy1,
ahhh, that's so sweet of you. Thanks so much!
Happy garden dreams to you
Deb

[photodeb]

crazy1,
ahhh, that's so sweet of you. Thanks so much!
Happy garden dreams to you
Deb

[gramar2]

Can anyone help me with this? A friend was reading about the weed (herb) purslane and how it is good in salads. She asked me what it was and since I didn't know I looked it up on google. It looks like it could be related to moss roses. Also the latin name is similar to the one for moss roses. Can I then use the leaves of the moss roses that I usually grow in salads? There must be someone who knows about this.

[trudy]

Its in the portulaca (sp?) family. Folks use the moss rose portulaca in baskets a lot. Blooms profusely and reseeds heavily. Very drought tolerant. Once started it hard to get rid of as one seed head can burst and send hundreds of itty bitty seeds everywhere. Purslane has the same reseeding habit. I pull it up all the time in the wrong places. Its all in my yard. Here I see the majority blooms are pink. I use to think they were pretty and wouldn't pull them up. Then its to late. Here are a couple links for you.

www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/purslane.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purslane

Here is the one that takes over my yard.
www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.asp?tx=Portpilo

[Pharmer Phil]

I'll get back to you with the phacts , but it is edible and medicinal...don't know what the taste is like.
Have to leave for work, but I have this info on file..Later
P.S. Remind me ifin I ferget!

[gramar2]

Thanx Trudy,
That nasty weed looks related to the moss roses that I grow. I suppose it is too cold up here for the weed one to live. We do have a nasty weed called Creeping Charley that takes over. They have pretty purple flowers, but they take over yards and kill the grass. I have been to the Northern part of your state and seen the Kudzu. thought that was pretty til I was advised that they kill stuff. I saw a bottle of Kudzu in a health food store. One of the things it is good for is to somehow curb an alchoholic's urge to drink. I don't know if it was in a pill form or a powder. (Didn't buy any) Lol

[trudy]

For some reason I want to think that moss rose when it reverts back to its orginal state would be purslane. Reckon cause they are so much alike. But what do I know. Kudzo, what a nightmare. I've heard folks make jelly out of the blossoms and its quiet tasty. I've never tried any, I sure as heck ain't gonna go gathering any blooms to make any either. To snakey looking to me, lol. I've seen on HGTV where a lady somewhere makes baskets out of the vines, more power to her. They were pretty.....but. I've been told Kudzo can't survive your cold winters and is an annual in the north, doesn't have the long growing season there therefore isn't invasive and fairly easy to control. I know deer love eating the leaves, a good friend of mine killed a huge 10 pt. buck years ago while eating some in a field lined with it.trudy

[deb65802]

another invasive plant is yarrow. It can take over too but I grow it anyway. the bees and butterflies love it. I just weed eat and mow down what I don't want. it does not bother me if it spreads. prettier than grass for sure. it i so good for so many medicinal things.

[Garden Happy]

purslane(portulaca) is good as a stew and soup thickner too,can be used in salades,soups,stews,and the seeds can be added to homemade bread dough,the entire plant is edible. We use it most camping in soup and stews to help thicken them.It is 92 % water before cooking .
Our fanoly also loves to add,broad leaf plaintain and ribbed leaf plaintain to salads,Lambs quarters are another really good safe wild plant and if you take the pods of wild day lilies and saute them in olive oil and onions,YUM<YUM taste kind of like corn the kids like to make toothpicks out of wild sasafrass limbs the little new guys,i love to get wild sumac( red) and put it in a lage enamel pan bring to a boil and them let steep for 1 hour squeeze all the berries,makes the best lemonaid!!!!!!!!! We put the juice thrugh musslin to get all the little hairs out,we make enough to freeze because it's afamily favorite(white berries are poison),man i could go on and on but i will stop and let someone else talk,but just think of wild berries,we freeze and dry them,elderberry flowers are so nive for a body wash and bouncing bet and soapwort rubbed between your hands soaps up and the pime needle tea,rose hips and wild rose pettal and violet jelly,so beautiful rose is pink and violets turns out lavendar!!wild garlic and ransoms and onions..... Here are some great books:
(Nettles-healers of the wild,Claire Swann),(Instant guide to medicinal plants-pamela foreyand ruth lindsay,) The Nature Doctor-Dr. H.C. A. Vogel,readers digest BacK To Basics

[abirdseyeview]

What's everywhere?
Ya, herbs. We've got some. In fact, I've got a kid brother by that name. Garlic, fennel. Does horseradish count?
Make a great day,
Abirdseyeview

[nmlalba]

Hi deb65802......

i envy u sooo much... have tried unsuccessfully to grow yarrow...from some seeds friends from another forum sent me.... but up to date... i dont even have a tiny plant!! Could it b yarrow wont grow in the hot n humid Malaysian climate..... ?

Would really really love to have yarrow in my garden... but i dont have anymore seeds.... got only some n sowed all..... sadly none came up....or r there any critters that could have wiped 'em out clean soon s they germinate...

[Pharmer Phil]

nmlalba said:

Hi deb65802......

i envy u sooo much... have tried unsuccessfully to grow yarrow...from some seeds friends from another forum sent me.... but up to date... i dont even have a tiny plant!! Could it b yarrow wont grow in the hot n humid Malaysian climate..... ?

Would really really love to have yarrow in my garden... but i dont have anymore seeds.... got only some n sowed all..... sadly none came up....or r there any critters that could have wiped 'em out clean soon s they germinate...

Biita, yarrow should grow well there, some varieties are touchy to some extent with high temps, yet many will tolerate our US zone 10, which is very warm and humid. Humidity will brimg on the possibility of disease.
How did you plant the seed?
It's best to plant Yarrow seeds on the soil surface. Yarrow requires light and between between 10 and 100 days for germination to occur at a temperature of 15 to 18 degrees (Celsius)?
They like light and should be grown in full sun. They like poor soil.