Sweet cicely looks like a lace curtain, is edible AND grows in shade! Likes moist soil and cool temperatures. From the roots to the seeds – all parts are edible. The flowers are white and look like lace. Delightful anise flavour with mild sweetness. This plant could be confused with the deadly poison hemlock!
My peppermint-scented geranium grew to two meters across in Katoomba. It has some shade but gets afternoon sun. The herb has a sprawling habit and looks nice cascading over stone walls. The soft-haired leaves smell deliciously of peppermint. Delightful in a potpourri for tea or in cooking. Can be grown in the garden, in a … Read more Scented Geranium Peppermint, Pelargonium tomentosum
I have got three trays of ocimum canum or th e Kivumbasi Lime basil. I cannot say for sure whether this plant is annual or perennial, please advise me! All basils are frost-sensitive that’s for sure and they do decline once the cold weather sets in. Last year I overwintered some basils (tulsi vana and … Read more Kivumbasi Lime Basil, Ocimum canum var. ndimu (Ocimum americanum)
This is the berry you find in every health food store, is a staple in the American thanksgiving dinner and was used by the Indians to make the first health food bar pemmican. They are native to the native to northeastern and northcentral parts of the United States and Canada. Cranberries are evergreen low growing … Read more Vaccinium Oxycoccus, Cranberry
What a pretty plant is that! It looks great in a rocky site similar to its natural habitat. I seriously run out of sunny sites otherwise I would plant a lot of them and try to cook the edible roots and shoots and flowers. The lore goes that the roots of the asphodel are best … Read more Asphodeline lutea, King’s spear, Yellow asphodel
I’ll write something about that plant soon. So far, easy to grow, not terribly pretty but a good nervine.
This is the classical Dan Shen herb of Chinese medicine. Cultivate as any other salvia, full sun, average soil, good drainage. Dan Shen is not as pretty as other sages, this one is grown for medicine. Danshen is used for heart and blood vessel health, cancer, and many other conditions. Other names: Ch’ih Shen, … Read more Dan Shen, Salvia multiorrhiza
Jjiaogulan herb palnt at Mountainherbs in Katoomba
Shatavari is a woman who has a hundred husbands, a very important woman’s herb in Ayurvedic medicine. Apart from it’s use as an aphrodisiac there is a myriad of medicinal uses: tonic, alterative, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, demulcent, diuretic, galactogogue and refrigerant. It is used for infertility, loss of libido, threatened miscarriage, menopausal problems, hyperacidity, stomach ulcers … Read more Shatavari, Asparagus racemosus
This is the famous adaptogen herb of the Ayurveda medicine. Ashwagandha is used for a myriad of issues from improving immune system as a potent adaptogen, aphrodisiac, for impotency, cancer, frequent miscarriage, uterine weakness, infertility, asthma, anemia, cancer, arthritis (osteoarthritis, gout, rheumatoid arthritis), anxiety, stress, depression, ADHD , cerebellar ataxia, diabetes, high cholesterol, infertility, Parkinson’s … Read more Ashwagandha, Withania somnifera, Indian Ginseng