One of the most visually interesting plants in my garden is lungwort, Pulmonaria officinalis, in the borage family, Boraginaceae; the flowers are both red and blue and the dark green leaves have white spots, making it an easy plant to recognize. It is low-growing and has spread as a pretty ground cover. Lungwort is native […]

It is winter across North America and gardens are frozen. Yet we eat vegetables, not all of them imported from warmer regions. Squashes are traditional winter vegetables, with dozens of distinctive varieties. The word squash is from the Narragansett tribe of Rhode Island. European settlers had never seen squashes before and had no name for […]

Lettuce is one of the most common and recognizable vegetables. And, surprisingly, one we under-use.  Lettuce is Lactuca sativa, an annual plant in the daisy family (Asteraceae). Since we eat the leaves before it flowers, we rarely notice the small yellow flowers or the seed heads with whitish wind-carried seeds. The name lettuce is derived […]

A lot of people take their respiratory health for granted. Sometimes, it’s normal considering that we’re constantly surrounded by car gases, cigarette smoke and other harmful things that can cause our respiratory health to deteriorate with time. Therefore, quitting smoking, staying away from toxic air quality (if possible), and eating and drinking healthily are all […]

This is the time of year that people with maple trees (genus Acer, maple family Aceraceae) are the envy of their neighbors. Maples, especially American and Japanese maples, turn bright red in the fall. The Many Maple Offerings But, maples have more to offer than that. If the maples are sugar maples (Acer saccharum), of […]

Dandelions, Taraxacum officinale (sunflower family, Asteraceae) are perhaps the most widely recognized  U. S. weed. Huge amounts of money and time are spent killing dandelions. How the Dandelion got its Name No one knows why the scientific name is Taraxacum. In 1600 pharmacists called it Taraxacon, but whether that word is based on the  Arabic words […]

Tulsi, also known as Holy basil or Tulasi (Ocimum tenuiflorum, Ocimum sanctum),  grows abundantly in temperate regions of India through the Southeast Asian tropics.   Tulsi is India’s most sacred and powerful plant both medicinally and spiritually. Its species name, “sanctum”, refers to this sacredness. In Sanskrit, tulsi means “beyond compare.”  Indeed, the leaves smell and […]

As noted in part 1, we eat only the leaf stems of rhubarb, not leaves, flowers, fruit or roots. Disclaimer: Rhubarb leaves are quite poisonous. They contain dangerous concentrations of oxalic acid compounds. In low concentrations, oxalic acid tastes good to people, but the concentration of oxalic acid compounds in rhubarb leaf blades is much […]

Various species of rhubarb have been used as medicines. The garden rhubarb we eat is a hybrid of murky origin. Other species are grown as attractive perennials.

What are adaptogens? Adaptogens are herbs that help us adapt to changes and stress caused by physical, biological, emotional, and environmental factors. They can assist in restoring balance within the body and help us defend against both chronic and acute stressors. One of my favorite adaptogens is astragalus. Astragalus (Astragalus Membranaceus) Astragalus is an adaptogenic […]