Tag Archives: medicinal
Ground Ivy is an aggressive perennial weed
When gardeners talk about weeds the word vine usually makes them cringe. Their anxiety increases when the word mint is added to the conversation. Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) is guilty on both counts. Sometimes called creeping Charlie, this perennial can … Continue reading
Plants can’t get much more unique than the ginkgo tree
Some botanists call them living fossils. Ginkgo biloba is the only species remaining from a Division of plants that went extinct thousands of years ago. It is one of the most primitive plants still in existence, but it thrives in … Continue reading
Bedstraw is an interesting and clingy winter weed
Have you ever entered an otherwise empty field in late winter or early spring and left with uninvited sticky stems clinging to your clothes? They are bedstraws and often find you before you find them. They find your pets too. … Continue reading
Rosemary – A shrub of many uses
There is probably not a more versatile plant in our landscape than rosemary. It makes a great hedge, tolerates salt spray, dry sandy soils, smells great, has medicinal properties and is a tasty spice. This fragrant shrub lends itself to … Continue reading
Chaste Tree
In northern climates lilac makes a beautiful large shrub to small tree. It has showy cone-like fragrant inflorescences in spring. Lilac struggles in our climate but we have a great alternative in Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus). Also called chaste tree it … Continue reading
Goldenrod
When I was a kid my father told me that once the goldenrod bloomed summer was over. I always associated goldenrod with the start of school. In general this is true, but the genus Solidago has over a hundred species … Continue reading
More blue for our future?
Right now it’s not one of the more common roadside plants in eastern Carolina. That might change in the next few years. If you take a drive north or west for any distance you’ll begin to see more of it. … Continue reading
Yarrow – A versatile medicinal herb
A couple weeks ago I wrote a column about Queen Anne’s lace. Someone brought in a sample the other day and inquired if it was the wild carrot or maybe the poisonous water hemlock. I smiled and told her it … Continue reading
Wild Passionflower – Friend or Fiend
It’s funny how you can look at some plants in the wild or in the domestic landscape and want to have them in your own backyard. Wild passionflower or Maypop (Passiflora incarnata), is a prime example. The flowers are so … Continue reading
Nature’s Aspirin
Nature’s Aspirin I enjoy harvesting plants from the wild and we have numerous useful plants. Black Willow (Salix nigra) is our most common willow species. Willows are one of the most common trees used in making baskets, because the stems … Continue reading
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