Herbs For the Upcoming Season

[covenrochester]

The Passionflower, Passiflora incarnata

Well, late start or no, I have ordered some plants to grow from seed this year.

My choices were:

ARNICA, Arnica montana: I have not grown this for a couple of years. I make a topical liniment out of it, but I think I will try to make a lotion or a gel out of it this year.

BLACK COHOSH, Cimicifuga racemosa: A medicine that my father takes. The root is the medicine. I usually purchase it for him, but it would be nice to grow enough to make a quart of tincture from the fresh root.

BONESET, Eupatorium perfoliatum: A flu remedy of the indigenous peoples of New York. I have a bottle of it on hand made by a Wise Woman from the Northwest, but I would like an increased stock.

GRINDELIA, Grindelia integrifolia: One of my teachers had a list called "11 Plants to Change Your Life." Comfrey was first on the list, and rightly so. Grindelia was second. It is antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and accelerates healing just as Comfrey does, although not as strong as Comfrey. But with such strong properties, it is an important plant to have on hand -- bladder and gastrointestinal infections can be treated with it. It is excellent for bronchitis and asthma. It is expectorant. It will stop muscle spasms. I never tried to grow it, so I will try this year.

MARIGOLD, Calendula officinalis: I grew these a couple years in a row and made medicine from them. I think it is time to replant. The Hypericum plants kind of pushed them away. This is also on the list of the 11 (as are Plantain and Dandelion, by the by)

MEADOWSWEET, Spiraea ulmaria: One of the plants of the Gods. When St. Patrick was chasing the last holy goddess out of Ireland---the goddess of love, in fact (and there's a lesson in itself)---She decided She could evade him no longer. She cast Her perfume over a field of Meadowsweet as Her final gift to humanity before She ducked down into the World of the Sidhe. So, the scent of this plant is the perfume of that goddess. And, later, when it turned out that Christianity was nothing more than a huge headache for Ireland, the Wise Women there discovered the goddess had left them another gift in this plant: pain-relief. It is the plant from which "aspirin" comes. A-spiraea = from the Meadowsweet. The coven I grew up in was dedicated to this goddess. :D

PASSIONFLOWER, Passiflora incarnata: Like opium poppy in effects on pain, but not addictive.

SKULLCAP, Scutellaria lateriflora: I grew this successfully one year. I was too busy to harvest it, and thought, oh well, it is in the Mint family, so it will come back next year. Well . . . you guessed it . . . it did not come back the next year a'tall. Excellent pain reliever and against insomnia.

If you are a Witch, what are you growing this year?

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester