Comments for My Herbal Notebook

Comment on A Botanist Tackles Spurge Nettle for Lunch by E. K. Sommer

E. K. Sommer — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:35:28 +0000

Thanks Nevil! That great to know because the stuff is ubiquitous and awfully difficult to get rid of, so it good to learn to live with it and make it a create part of garden. Hope you enjoy the “potatoes.”

Comment on A Botanist Tackles Spurge Nettle for Lunch by Nevil Parker

Nevil Parker — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:32:09 +0000

Spurge nettle also makes a pretty landscape plant in the native garden, although it’s hard to transplant. Your best bet is to go for the very young plants that haven’t yet developed the long tap root. Last year, I dug up a number of straggling ‘tread softly’ youngsters in my yard and transplanted them next to a trio of Baptisia alba (white wild indigo) plants under a lone black cherry tree (Prunus serotina). The white flowers look pretty against brown fallen leaves, and the fuzzy leaves sparkle with condensation when the air is moist. I had no idea, though, that the root could be eaten. (With butter no less.) I’m going to try it!

Comment on Wild Fermentation by Light

Light — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:54:15 +0000

Did he mention anything about coherent light therapy on plants? I know a lot of studies talk about how it regenerates organic cells, might be a healthy CAM way to keep plants living longer...

Comment on Winter Colds and Christmas Tummies by E. K. Sommer

E. K. Sommer — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:44:39 +0000

Depending on where you live, look for berries to form in the late summer or early fall. That is if you want to make it from scratch!

Comment on Winter Colds and Christmas Tummies by Paula

Paula — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:19:06 +0000

Thanks so much for the elderberry cough syrup. My kids always get these bad, hacking coughs that cough syrup does nothing for. In fact, I don’t give it to them and haven’t for years. This may be something that would at least give them a bit of relief.

Too late for this year, but I’ll use it next year. Thanks!

Comment on Growing St. John’s Wort in Florida by E. K. Sommer

E. K. Sommer — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:15:29 +0000

Here in the southeast, the sun can be brutal on a lot plants that thrive in up north. I have planted my comfrey in a place that gets dappled shade most of the time and full shade in the afternoon in the summer. It seems healthy.

The Hypericum has been a disappointment to me as well, and I am resigned to wildcrafting (or enjoying the wildcrafting fruits of my friend’s when they travel to up the coast to Virginia and North Carolina. I only wish I knew the reason it won’t grow here. Is it the soil? The sun? The humidity? Maybe someone will figure it out.

Comment on Growing St. John’s Wort in Florida by jeanne

jeanne — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:04:13 +0000

well, that explains it. i’ve got it half in and out of the sun in atlanta, and it’s been growing and spreading for the 3 years i’ve had it, but i’ve never gotten even a bud out of it. i wonder if i should put it more in the sun, but i’m thinking it will crisp up and die if it gets more than morning sun. great plant, tho, but disappointing to my herbal expectations. (how strong the sun is – i put a comfrey plant just a foot farther into the sun from where i put the hypericum, and it died in the sun, but still thrives in a shadier spot in the same garden)

Comment on Green Allies in the Garden by Cathy DeWitt

Cathy DeWitt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:55:13 +0000

Hi, Ellie! How nice to see your lovely website! I’m going to send the link to a few other people. I love it, but I think you should include more pictures of you–maybe working in your garden!
Birthday greetings to you, my dear–
To help you celebrate, please check out the new video of my song Everybody’s Somebody’s Child, at my website, posted above.
Love,
Cathy

Comment on A Gift of Cooling Purslane by E. K. Sommer

E. K. Sommer — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:11:41 +0000

So glad to be of help! Native purslane is rather small, but the more robust cultivated variety should grow well in a garden in your area. Watch out for those wet rainy seasons though, when purslane can succumb to soggy weather.

Comment on A Gift of Cooling Purslane by Ted

Ted — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:57:49 +0000

Thanks for this info. I ate a fair amount of purslane on a peach-farm near the Mojave Desert, and I was so fond of it, I have been thinking of it for years after, though neither knowing the correct spelling or how to identify it. Now I can begin enjoying this great and abundant gift here in Bradenton Florida. Thanks again!