Author: Laura P
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Mother of Herbs
Mugwort, Artemesia vulgaris When running a herb stall at the market, I’m often asked for mugwort, she is a much sought after herb. Though I’m never sure which use she is intended for. There are many applications, let’s look at a few. Who is mugwort? But first of all, getting clear on identifying the plant…
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Wintering on the windowsill
Our green fingered herby gardener, Angela, has some great advice for keeping fresh herbs to hand through the winter. She says: ‘You need not miss out on fresh herbs in the cold days ahead.’ I’m going to try dividing off some lemon thyme, which I haven’t tried before. I’ll let you know how I get…
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October Herb Walk
I’m often asked ‘do you do the herb walks all year round?’. The answer is ‘yes’. There are plants around us all year, we’ll simply see different things as the seasons progress. Those who’ve attended our spring and summertime walks will know there can be more around than we’re able to talk about, we have…
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September Herb Walk
The start of September 2025 brought our Anniversary Herb Walk. The first Cotswold Herb Centre herb walk took place on the first Saturday in September, 2024. Twelve months, and twelve herb walks on, we are able to see how things have changed through this past year. We now have official confirmation that 2025 was the…
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Yarrow
Gardens, fields and hedgerows always look a little straggly by late summer. Conditioned from an early age to start anew in September, we seek out freshness, bright sparks, inspiration. Among the yellowed grass and withered stalks, one summer plant still shines with its white frothy tops and feathery leaves, yarrow. With luck, she’ll be flowering…
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Wort of the Week
Anyone who’s been on a herb walk with us will know how excited we get about worts! A ‘wort’ is simply an old term for a plant, typically a purposeful plant. At Cotswold Herb Centre we define herbs as ‘purposeful plants’ so its worts and all for us! In particular, though, we love the plants…
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August Herb Walk
With the promise of fair weather and good views we headed to the top of Stinchcombe Hill for our August herb walk. A little stretch up from town, but people were able to join us by driving to the top of the hill where there’s a car park making it a much flatter walk. We…
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Lavender
Lavender is one of the most quintessential plants in an english herb garden, and deployed way beyond the herb garden too for scented borders and in flower beds. Those with a lavender-lined path are lucky enough to be daily skipping over a treasure trove of scent. Though, as a relatively common and well-known plant, lavender…
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Linden Chocolate
The limeflower season is so brief, no sooner have you sniffed the honey-sweet air and found your foraging bags, and the flowers have gone over. Lime flowers need to be gathered when newly open and dried quickly, then you can enjoy them in teas and skincare all year. There’s more about this very special time…
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Who Smells Best?
Smell is critical to our appreciation of, and learning about, herbs. On initially encountering a new plant we may first look, but before we taste, we sniff. Nose blind The power of smell, and our olfactory systems, have been appreciated much more since covid. The ability to detect and identify smell is one of the…