The Ultimate Secrets of Wild Herbs

The ultimate secrets of wild Herbs were originally all wild plants; in fact many of the plants now grown in gardens are wild plants in their native countries, and are not the result of many years of plant breeding and hybridizing under cultivation. The blue morning glory for instance with its exquisitely shaded blue trumpet flowers is a rampant invader in its native south Africa as the British white funneled bindweed is an obstinate and recalcitrant colonizer of herbaceous borders shrubs and roses.

Beneficial Weeds!

Another name for wild plants which appear unwontedly in gardens is weed but many if not all of these so called weeds once had considerable value medicinally to say nothing of their household and domestic merits. Practically any plant seen during country rambles by the path side, in pastures and meadows growing in hedges and at the side of streams and ponds probably had some significance to the infirmarers and physicians of the past.

Mugwort Artemisia vulgaris is one once used to flavor all sorts of drinks particularly homemade juices to ward off moths and as a cold preventative it is a common weed of wasteland. Eyebright, Euphrasia officinal is another small unremarkable plant, easily trampled underfoot on paths and with tiny white and lilac tubular flowers. It is a member of the Scrophulariaceae,. It was thought by Arab physicians to cure all evils of the eye, and Gerard said that it preserves the sight and being feeble and lost it restores the same.

Cowslisp (Primula veris) were used to remedy restlessness insomnia and in general act as a sedative or corn poppy of Flanders (Papaver rhoeas) is still a remedy for many ailments including tonsillitis, anxiety and coughs. Various species of thistles have been employed for all sorts of needs for making paper, curdling milk as a tonic and diaphoretic and so on. Weed herbs in the descriptive list of herbs include dandelion, nettle, elder, horsetail, marshmallow, mullein and valerian.

Couch grass; that curse of the gardener and nightmare amongst shrubs and herbaceous perennials was formerly much used for a variety of ailments including cystitis and rheumatism, has a diuretic effect and is still a urinary antiseptic. Ground–elder is another invader bent on taking over the whole garden, but its other name of goutweed gives the game away. It is too was once a valued herb supposed to have great affects on gout and sciatic though even in Elizabethan times was often regarded as a nuisance. When it hath once taken root, it will hardly be gotten out again, to the annoyance of better herbs. It could not be better described its very commonness is indicated by the number of vernacular names it has at least sixteen amongst which is “bishop’s weed” because it was so often found near ruined places and similar building having been introduced by a mediaeval monks as a herb of healing.

Even the ubiquitous bramble or blackberry had its place; apart from its delicious jelly and fruits. The jelly was once used to good effect in cases of dropsy. The bark and roots were considered of much value in treating diarrhea and dysentery. The leaves are still recommended as a decoction for treating external ulcers and as a gargle; they are thought to have an anti-diabetic effect, though this is not yet proven.

A country walk then can easily turn into a voyage of discovery if you take a modern herbal with you. The alternatively make notes in advance from a herbal or wild plants which used to be herbs. And take a flora for identification. If you have no herbal take a notebook to enable you to put down details of the plants found, together with sketches or photographs. These will enable you to check with a library copy whether the plants discovered have a history of ancient use. It perhaps a modern one but you will find  the old dye plants those used for shampoos and hair coloring, for skin cleansing, healing poultices an endless number for human needs and remedies.

Bergamot, growing wild in a Michigan landscape, as it is native of North America and also known as “bee balm” because both bees and humming birds are much attracted by its blossoms. Hemlock one of the most common poisonous plants, is often found growing in roadside ditches and on waste ground and bears a dangerous resemblance to cow parsley. Socrates is said to have been killed with the juice of this herb. Cowslip is a common plant in fields, meadows and hedgerows it was once used medicinally for restlessness insomnia and in general as a sedative.

Poisonous Herbs:

But a word of warning, there are also some wild plants once used herbally asemetics, purgatives and laxatives, which are not known to be poisonous. Don’t experiment too far with flavors’ of berries or leaves if in doubt, don’t try it. The Following are poisonous wild plants commonly found growing in Britain and North America. Atropa belladonna, deadly nightshade; Bryonia dioica, white bryony; Colchicum autumnale, autumn crocus; Aconitum anglicum, monk;s hood; Conium maculatum, hemlock; Datura stramonium, thornapple; Helleborus niger, Mandragora officinalis, mandrake; Mercurialis perennis, dog mercury; Solanum dulcamara, woody nightshade; Solanum nigra, black nightshade.

Gardener’s Friends:

It is also worth remembering that herbal weeds may well do well to one’s garden plants provided they can be kept under reasonable control. A light weed cover will keep the soil moist for longer, and provide shade for roots. Hoeing such a cover in before it flowers and seeds provide a kind of instant green manure which improves or maintains a good soil structure. Chamomile is said to be the plants doctor in some way the secretions given off by the roots help unhealthy young plants to recover.

Red clover, Trifolium pretense, will add to the nitrogen content of the soil, and pieces of the hollow stems of angelica will trap earwigs. Compost material can be encouraged to rot down by adding nettle tops to it, and valerian, dandelion leaves chamomile and yarrow leaves mixed together with nettles form a readymade accelerator used in thin layers as the heap is built.

Create your Own Nature Reserve !

So, if there is enough space to spare in the garden from growing ornamentals and fruit and vegetable crops. It is a good idea to turn it into a kind of controlled nature reserve, in which weeds or wild herbs can be left to grow naturally, without any particular plan of planning. Naturally, the more rampant varieties such as bramble bindweed, nettle, ground-elderand horsetail will need cheking but if these are likely to be a problem, don’t introduce them. Stick to the smaller herbaceous and annual plants, such as scarlet pimpernel, corn poppy, chickweed (Stellaria media), wild marjoram, alexanders, burdock, wild chicory, foxglove, meadowsweet soapwort, teasel, and dyer’s weld to name just a few.

You can have a pretty nature reserve without much difficulty paths in it could consists of clover, yarrow and chamomile, clipped occasionally or even mown and the flowering plants could be mixed with various grasses for a completely natural effect. Such a mixture is what has come to be called a flowering meadow, which is left untouched except for cutting immediately after the majority of plants have flowered, usually about the middle of midsummer. This ensures speeding for next year and encourages the greatest number of species. The cut material should be left to lie.

But you can alternatively just grow the flowering wild plants and be a little more formal, and at the same time more decorative, by planting them in beds, so that the contrast between this section and the rest of the garden is not so great. Some of the prettiest varieties are yellow archangel, Lamiastrum galeobdolon; bellflower, Campanula trachelium; bluebell, Endymion non-scriptus; broom, Cytisus scoparius; dyers greenwood, Genista tinctoria; bugle, Ajuga reptans; meadow buttercup, Ranunculus acris, red campion, Silene dioica; greater celandine, Chelidonium majus; lesser celandine, Ranunculus ficaria; wild chicory Cichorium nintybus cowslip, Primula veris. There are also dandelion, evening primrose, foxglove, harebell, heart’s ease, herb Robert, purple loosestrife, mullein, ox-eyes daisy, field scabious, devil’s bit, sea holly, tansy, teasel, thistles, thrift and yellow rattle, practically all of which have had or still have some herbal use.

Birds Bees and other Fauna !

You will also find that, by growing all these native plants you will attract a good many other living species, representatives of the insect, animal, bird and aquatic orders, particularly butterflies moths, pollinating insects generally such as bees, hoverflies and lacewings. So, species of birds perhaps may have never seen in the garden before, as they discover seeds or berries which are part of their essential diets. However the frogs and toads, newts if you sink a pond, water snails, beetles and other aquatics. A heap of mown hay and leaves will encourage hedgehogs to hibernate; voles field mince and perhaps even dormice will appear.

The average suburban garden is something of a nature reserve in its own right, and insects alone that can be seen in it may consist of over 200 species of moths, more than 80 sorts of bees and wasps, and nearly 2 dozen butterflies. Hoverflies also called flower flies, in particular may be abundant getting on for 100 different species, and these not only do no harm but do a great deal of good partly by pollinating and partly by the larvae feeding on greenfly. Moths mostly fly and feed after dark, in particular at dusk and dawn, and the  garden or nature reserve which contains an abundance of scented plants especially those whose  perfume comes out at night will attract moths in quantity and of course their larvae the caterpillars.

A patch of garden of meadow devoted to this kind of plant may cause visitors to wonder why you have allowed it to revert to a wilderness. However the good that it will do to the rest of the garden in restoring and maintaining a natural balance, and the fact that  native plants are being conserved and increased more than justify its presence. Indeed in the modern world, such areas are now essential if plant, animal and insects species are not to disappear forever.