Collies and Colors of Summer, and Vervain
"Blue" vervain, they call it. And they say dogs are color blind.
Vervain is a wonder herb
with a very versatile set of magical uses. It clears stagnant energy and can be used for cleansing and consecrating a sacred/ ritual space and to cleanse the auras of the participants. It can be used to conduct and direct magical energy and intentions and also to open the psychic channels.
Star Child Herbs: VERVAIN - Organic - Verbena officinalis
Vampire Diaries,
the novels and TV show, used vervain as the anti-vampire weapon of choice.
Vervain is a potent herb and a vampire's most well-known weakness. If a vampire makes physical contact with vervain in any form, it will burn them.The Vampire Diaries Wiki
10 Wonderful Benefits of Blue Vervain - Organic Facts
Apr 2, 2018 - The most important health benefits of blue vervain include its ability to stimulate the liver, soothe the nervous system, detoxify the body, reduce depression and stress, eliminate pain, lower inflammation, protect the immune system, and alleviate chest congestion.
There's more, lots more,
if you just surf the net for "blue" vervain or hoary vervain or Verbena hastata.
Hello @carolkean!
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I love vervain, and all the verbenas.
Funny story, years ago, when my friend and colleague (an amazing interior designer) was having serious back pain, I gave her a bottle of an herbal muscle relaxant I had been using, distributed by Publix, which contained among other herbs, skullcap, valerian, passiflora, and vervain.
When I spoke with her later, she handed me back the bottle, and said that while it helped marginally with her back pain, her math brain went skipping through the woods without her. ;-)
As you may or may not know, interior design, like picture framing, is heavily math intensive. And, as she said, there's no way in hell she could have gotten behind the wheel of her car safely when taking the stuff.
Herbs can be a lot more potent than people often realize.
Great photo, by the way. Lolo likes to hang out near the flowers as well. ;-)
Herbal remedy helped only "marginally with her back pain" - sad to hear that; I'm eager to ditch Rx for holistic cures from my backyard (not brave enough yet to gather stinging nettles for tea). Love this: her math brain went skipping through the woods without her. ;-)
Nettles for tea, absolutely, brave them, the tea is fabulous, and highly nutritious.
And while you're at it, grab some more and sautee them, or throw them in some soup, as the stinging hairs are destroyed by cooking, and they are delicious. Just wear gloves and long sleeves when you pick them.
BTW, garlic mustard is also supposed to be delicious sauteed or in soup, so at least there is a use for them until you get them eradicated. I've also read that you can ferment them, as sort of a sauerkraut, which I'd love to try.
Funny thing, I thought I'd spotted some garlic mustard on our place, but it turned out to be a small lookalike native. So to date I've yet to find garlic mustard, nettles, jewel weed, sunchokes or Maximilian sunflowers on our place, even though they're all supposed to be rampant everywhere around here.
And the elderberries we spotted when we got here are evidently no longer around either. We had several big bushes, surrounding a black walnut just outside the barnyard, but when the sinkhole next to them enlarged, it exposed their roots and killed them. But the black walnut is still going strong, exposed roots and all.
We also had elderberries in several places along the river, but I haven't seen them for the past few years. The deer may have overgrazed them to death.
I'm currently starting a bunch of elderberry cuttings that I hope to interplant among the young black walnuts we planted near the road. These are all from some bushes that volunteered near our waterfalls, about a mile from us.
I recently discovered a vacant field with LOTS of them, so hopefully I'll finally be able to replenish our stock of homemade elderberry syrup. I had a massive bird-planted bush in my back yard in Florida.
elderberry syrup? My mom used to make elderberry wine, because, being German and frugal, she had to think up SOME use for the things. She doesn't even drink wine. Oh those Depression era people!
We have mulberry trees, but mosquitos are so thick, I rarely collect more than a handful at a time. Beware when mowing! One fell behind me and stained my shirt, and of course, I had accidentaly donned my NEW white shirt, not the old lookalike that I wear only for outdoor work (never in public; too stained, worn, mended, and torn).
I have jewel weed!
I have Maximilian sunflowers!
Wondering if I could send you seeds...? (I've never looked for seeds on jewel weed)...
https://www.cookinglight.com/food/in-season/what-are-sunchokes
I'd love seeds for jewel weed! And for nettles!
I've purchased seed for Maximilian sunflowers a couple of times, but so far haven't had any luck getting them started.
I did luckily find a seller with sunchoke roots this spring, so I have four happily growing in a large pot on my porch, but I really need to get them in the ground ASAP.
I've never made elderberry wine, though I understand it is delicious, and I have sampled elderflower cordial, which is light and lovely. I've yet to make that either.
Marek's dad turned us onto an elderflower syrup made in Poland, with which he made an absolutely lovely liqueur, and we promptly bought four bottles to bring home, and used the last of it about a week or two ago. Time for a trip to NYC. ;-)
I bought a pair of elderberries years ago, Adams and Johns I think were the varieties. And I had a largish unknown bush that had started between two of our grapefruit trees, and was starting to really take off.
I was strongly considering mowing it, until I noticed that the leaves were the same as on my two tiny elderberry plants, so I kept it . . . and it thrived for years, producing like mad, while the other two never took off, and ultimately died. Ah, well.
I miss having them close at hand, because they were a favorite treat for my doves. They won't touch most fruit, even if I cut it into small pieces.
I also want to try elderflower fritters, which are supposed to be delicious. Hence my reasoning in taking even more cuttings when possible. ;-)
I have a couple of black mulberry trees that I grew from cuttings from a friend's tree, but although they are surviving, they're not growing much, and I need to seriously mulch their bases to give them an extra boost.
Her tree is massive, shades a large portion of her roof, and she collects literally gallons of fruit each year, which she freezes and uses all year long. Wonderful fruit.
We have several native red mulberries on our place, including a couple that are near the house, but we rarely get fruit because they are in the woods, and the birds and squirrels get there first.