Some Women Buy Shoes Others Buy Plants
I love shoes as much as the next gal. There’s nothing like finding a cute pair of new shoes and wearing them all over the place. However, would I buy new shoes every spring and spend two hours looking for them at the store and spend hundreds of dollars? No. Would I do that for plants? Absolutely. (Note: I only spend $50 on these herbs but had I bought trees I would have!)
There’s a great whole sale nursery a few towns away from me. They have herb and vegetable plant sales every spring. What I love about their herb section is that they have exotic things some times that I want try out but don’t want to buy the seeds for. Or they have seedlings of herbs I find it difficult to get started.
This weekend I went down to the nursery and found some fantastic things! Some of which I needed, others I totally don’t, but it never hurts to learn about a new plant. In my tray you’ll find:
two types of rosemary (you can never have enough)
tangerine sage (new to me, holy moly it smells fantastic!)
tulsi or holy basil (old favorite, but I’m out of seeds)
lemon thyme (which I already have but want way more of!)
Roman chamomile (new to me)
citronella (new to me)
Monarda fistulosa (bee balm)
hyssop (new to me)
peppermint (need this for both my teas and your soaps)
ginger mint (I have this already, but you can’t have enough, seriously!)
mexican oregano (new to me)
Ok, that’s quite a list right? It would seem I really have a thing for plants in the lamiaceae family. What’s really going on is that the mint family is ENORMOUS! And all of the best resinous and aromatic herbs belong to that family.
So tangerine sage, no idea what I will do with this. It’s more like mint than sage. I think I will make sun tea from it. Maybe I can experiment with making a hydrosol out of it and make body spray. It smells a lot like the soap I have curing right now oddly enough!
Lemon thyme is awesome. If you can find some at your nursery definitely get it. I love using it in baked goods. Of course it’s also great as a decongestant herb.
Roman Chamomile, I’m not sure if my German chamomile made it though the winter. We’ve had quite the winter.
Hyssop, this one I knew about, but heard wonderful things in the Evolutionary Herbalism podcast. So I thought I would add it to my collection.
Ginger mint, hands down my favorite mint for tea. It’s cooling and soothing and great for nausea and stomach aches and generally making you feel happy!
Mexican Oregano, this one I thought I would try since I make a lot of Mexican inspired dishes and often just use my good old oregano that I happened to find wild.
Citronella, as a plant this smell awesome. It is not crazy overwhelming like bug spray is. I’m very curious to try making a hydrosol from it or maybe an oil your could rub on like bug spray but more hydrating. I can’t wait to experiment.
We one last big storm coming this week and then it’s supposed sunshine for days. I’ll get out then and take stock of all the herb plants and take you on a little tour of where are these new friends will find a home!
Do you love plants? Have you bought anything new lately? Leave comment down below!
