I spent unfortunate number of my gardening years dismissing the idea of planting flowers. There were some exceptions: Calendula, rose, lavender — because those are all medicinal, too. But flowers just for pretty? What gardener has enough room for that? As you know,...
When I was a tiny baby, I’m told that one of my uncles decided to be mischievous with me. “I’m going to make the baby make a face,“ he determinedly said. He cut a lemon and put it in my mouth. Defying expectations, I just smiled. And thus began a life-long love affair...
Over the last weekend in January, I spent some quality time in mine, doing winter-garden things like clearing blackberries, mulching paths, trimming branches of my olive tree, marveling at the green that’s surviving the season and the new life starting to think about...
In late July 2020, a friend invited me to pick newly ripened elderberries in her Portland yard. She’s got two — just two! — of the shrubs growing, and she can’t keep up. Knowing how coveted they are as medicine, she didn’t want them going to waste. I eagerly...
My med-school bestie is starting her first(ish) garden this year. She’s mostly growing veggies in pots, mostly on the porch of her Seattle apartment. She’s found gardening to be a positive thing in her current pandemic reality, soothing and exciting and rewarding....
Yes, I love all the plants and their medicines. So it really is never fair for me to call one plant/medicine my “favorite.” Still, artichoke is one of my top-tier favorites. It started when I was a kid: My mother is always very proper, eating (and...