The Sweet Cicely ( Myrrhis odorata ) flower attracts and provides nectar for this syrphid fly, which hopefully will stick around the farm, because syrphid fly larva eat up to 40 aphids a day. It is nice to know I have all these helpers flying around , I’ll give them a special “two thumbs up” in this weeks IPM report. Sweet Cicely is not just about bugs, people use the sweet aniseed flavored leaves as a low-calorie sweeter.
Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is one of the most common plant species found in New Zealand. This pioneer plant loves to grow in deforested land. It is prized for it’s red hard wood and used in North America as an ornamental. Manuka’s claim to fame is the amazing medicinal properties of the honey that bees (Apis mellifera ) produce from it’s blooms.
Chelidonium majus has a long history of use in homeopathy and Chinese medicine for a large number of medical complaints. It grows in several unused corners of the farm and whenever I have to cut it down it instantly makes me sneeze. I am thinking of renaming it to Brian’s Sneeze-weed ! Speaking of plant names, the name Tetterwort seems to apply to a few different plants used for treating Tetter which is an old English term for skin disease.
Elder ( Sambucus spp. ) was the ” Herb of the Year 2013″ and could be the ultimate permaculture plant, ” a fantastic attractor of beneficial insects and hummingbirds, can be used as a windbreak or living fence, provides food and shelter for wildlife (especially birds), and is a great pioneer species.” (John Kitsteiner Temperate Climate Permaculture ) Click on the picture to read John Kitsteiner’s complete article on Elderberry.
Bay laurel is another culinary super-star, but also it is claimed to be an important herb for public safety…… “neither witch nor devil, thunder nor lightening, will hurt a man in the place where a bay-tree is. ” ( Nicholas Culpeper , Culpeer’s Complete Herbal, and English Physician 1826 ) Vancouver Island gardeners should remember that even with all these virtues, Bay is a tender perennial and should be protected during the coldest months of the winter.
Woad ( Isatis tinctoria ) has a long ethnobotanical history dating back thousands of years. In addition to being an important source of blue dye, it had many traditional medicinal uses. Click on the image to learn how to extract the blue dye from woad leaves.
It’s raining on the farm today and even moderate rain on the poly covering on propagation greenhouse sounds like a thunderous downpour. So I found a nice bright flower to cut through the gloom. Coltsfoot ( Tussilago farfara ) was smoked as a cough remedy as early as AD23, it is still an ingredient in herbal tobaccos and is used for curing some pipe tobaccos. ( ref. Deni Brown, 1995, Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses )
Lungwort ( Pulmonaria sp. ) is nice example of an interesting twist in the history of herbal healing. In the 1500 & 1600’s an idea called the “Doctrine of Signatures” was very popular. It stated that healing plants resemble or give a visual clue to what disease they cure. The leaves of Lungwort were said to resemble a diseased lung, so it was used to treat lung disorders.
The Pasque flower has many famous ( and infamous ) relatives in the Buttercup family Rannunculaceae … Columbine, Black Cohosh, and the deadly Monk’s Hood to name a few.
Even this beauty has a few tricks up it’s sleeve – “Anemone contains depressant alkaloids and can be dangerous ” (JOHN LUST)
Here is another photo of Bloodroot, notice the way the petiole extend from the base of the plant, also the plants in the top left of this early morning photo have their leaves and flowers folded still waiting for the morning to arrive to their section of the bed.
I caught this flat of V. odorata peaking out at me from under a greenhouse bench. Click on the image and a link will take you to a wonderful page of poetry about violets.
Wasabi ( Wasabia japonica ) is another early spring bloomer. In Japan it grows in shaded areas along streams, on the farm we keep it happy by growing it under shade cloth.
Compared to the pollen producing catkins, the flower of the Corkscrew Hazel (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’ ) is very small…. less than 5mm wide ! Hazel nut trees are in the Betulaceae (Beech) family.
Vancouver Island Gardening Adventures 