🌱🇳🇿 Lavender is in the mint family, alongside rosemary, sage and basil. Many plants in that family have aromatic oil glands, which is why crushing a leaf releases that sharp, familiar scent.
@gardeningfriend.com
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Lavender is in the mint family, alongside rosemary, sage and basil. Many plants in that family have aromatic oil glands, which is why crushing a leaf releases that sharp, familiar scent.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 A single teaspoon of healthy soil can hold billions of microorganisms, as many as the people on Earth by some estimates. Most of what makes a garden thrive happens where we can't see it.
@gardeningfriend.com#ad 🌱🇳🇿 Some seeds, like echinacea, germinate better after a cold period called stratification. A few weeks in the fridge mimics winter, so the seeds "wake up" when planted. Echinacea is one of 10 in this kit → medicinalseedkit.com/kit/#aff=kij...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Early North American colonizers learned about echinacea's traditional use from Indigenous peoples, who used it more widely than any other plant on the continent for a range of purposes.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Calendula flowers track the sun throughout the day, a behavior called heliotropism, the same trick sunflowers are famous for, just on a smaller, less dramatic scale.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Chamomile belongs to the daisy family, and its name comes from the Greek "chamaimelon," meaning "earth apple," a nod to the faint apple-like scent of its crushed flowers.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 California poppy was declared the state flower in 1903, partly because it was so widespread that entire hillsides would turn orange every spring, early settlers reportedly used the color to navigate by.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Dried yarrow stalks were traditionally used in the I Ching, an ancient Chinese divination text, long before the plant found its way into gardens. Small, old-world skills like this fill this book → independentbackyard.com/my-book/#aff...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Feverfew's older English name was "featherfew," a nod to its soft, feathery leaves, it's since drifted into the name we use today. One of 10 plants in this kit → medicinalseedkit.com/kit/#aff=kij...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Calendula petals were once called "poor man's saffron" because cooks used them to add a similar golden color to dishes, at a fraction of real saffron's cost.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Marshmallow root contains mucilage, a gel-like substance that's been used traditionally for centuries to soothe sore throats, one of the many small, low-tech skills covered in this book → independentbackyard.com/my-book/#aff...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Companion planting dates back centuries, the "Three Sisters" method (corn, beans, squash) used by Indigenous peoples in North America is one of the oldest documented examples. This kit's 10 plants work the same logic → medicinalseedkit.com/kit/#aff=kij...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Echinacea's name comes from the Greek word "echinos," meaning hedgehog or sea urchin, a nod to the spiky, cone-shaped seed head at the center of each flower.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Chamomile is nicknamed "the plant doctor," old gardeners believed tucking a few plants throughout a bed, instead of grouping them in one spot, boosted the health of everything nearby. It's one of 10 in this kit → medicinalseedkit.com/kit/#aff=kij...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 California poppy closes its petals at night and on cloudy days, a trait that gave it the nickname "the copa de oro" (cup of gold) among early Spanish settlers. One of several low-maintenance plants worth knowing about → independentbackyard.com/my-book/#aff...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 The candy "marshmallow" is named after this exact plant, early versions were made by whipping the root's sap into a foam. Modern marshmallows haven't contained any actual marshmallow root since the late 1800s.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Yarrow's genus name, Achillea, comes from Achilles, who was said to have used it to treat his soldiers' wounds at Troy. Thousands of years later it's still one of the plants most associated with first-aid gardening → independentbackyard.com/my-book/#aff...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Roasted chicory root became a coffee substitute during the Napoleonic Wars, when blockades cut off coffee imports to France. Still mixed into coffee in parts of Louisiana today. It's one of 10 plants in this kit → medicinalseedkit.com/kit/#aff=kij...
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Feverfew has been used for headaches since at least the 1st century, Greek physicians wrote about it. Modern clinical trials show modest results at best, but the plant itself has outlasted most remedies from that era by a long shot.
@gardeningfriend.com🌱🇳🇿 Lavender's scent comes from oil glands on tiny hairs covering the whole plant, not just the flowers. That's why brushing against the leaves on a walk releases almost as much fragrance as the blooms themselves.