July Herb Walk

Incredible sunshine and warmth this summer has brought everything on early. Blooms and fruits are racing ahead so we’re out of step with the old almanacs and typical timings for flowering, harvesting and seed collection.

The location for our July herb walk was selected to be able to bask in the fantastic scent of lime flowers, usually caught in the very early part of July. However the weather got the better of us. The flowers are only at their prime for a week or two each year, and this year that week hit in the early part of June, not July! We could still admire their heart-shaped leaves (a reminder of their ability to warm a cold heart) and the small fruits forming – more about them in another chocolate-themed blog!

Vale Hospital car park

We were in the carpark of the Vale Hospital which has been so thoughtfully planted there was oodles to hold our attention.

Herbal backdrop

Plenty of cornus forms a backdrop and solid base below the limes. While not quite a tree, this does provide a hard wood useful for making tools, walking sticks, arrows and skewers. It is used medicinally by Native Americans often to reduce fever, headaches or inflammation.

Buddleja was there too, again typically a ‘background’ plant, but comes into the fore at this time of the year when the sweet scent of their purple, nectar-stuffed buds draws in the butterflies. This is another anti-inflammatory and is also believed to have photo-protective properties (protects against UVA damage) which, along with its moisturising and anti-oxidant properties make it a good skincare plant, able to prevent break down of collagen and boost skin’s natural protective defences. It is so good at stimulating skin’s self-repair functions that in Korea it is referred to as ‘The natural DNA bodyguard’.

Floral foreground

For a municipal area, there are a wonderful number of flowers: more like a garden than a car park. Here’s a taste of what we found:

Daisy, daisy

Blue cornflowers, members of the daisy family (asteraceae). Their colour drew us in, though it’s really to attract the pollinators. A plant will often select between promoting their scent, or their colour in the evolutionary survival game, there isn’t energy for both to dominate. Cornflowers can offer up their blue as a dye. Attractive as bright blue eyes, a distillate of cornflowers can be used to make an eye wash, known in french as ‘Eau de Casselunettes’ (water of eye-breakers).

Sparkling ox eye daisies stand out from the crowd. Daisies are commonly known as ‘bruisewort’, they are as good as arnica for treating bruises, though best to use the little ones that pop up in your lawn rather than the big smelly ones.

Happy flowers

Bright orange calendula is always a welcome sight, softening and gentle to use in skincare and in teas. Hypericum too has one of the sunniest of flowers. Here it is in the cultivated form with big, glossy flowers. The wild form is much more delicate and fragile looking, though it contains the hypericin that is medicinally valued.

Useful flowers

It’s always lovely to see lavender at its prime in July, usually with bees buzzing round. This herb has the unusual benefit of being both calming and stimulating, depending on what is needed. A very useful plant to have nearby, and its essential oil is especially beneficial. The concentrated plant form of distilled essential oils cannot usually be applied directly to the skin, but lavender is an exception.

Colourful flowers

Peony’s have been described as ‘like roses the size of cabbages!’ That gives a good impression of the impact they can have in a garden. They have been revered for centuries in both Chinese and Japanese cultures. Their Chinese name is ‘mudan’, the same word as they use for the colour ‘red’ and also meaning ‘medicine’ and ‘healing’ as it has a range of medicinal uses. You can drink peony in tea, add the petals to salads or make a lemonade from them. The dried petals are delicately fragranced.

We have a traditional flower that shares its name with a colour too, our ‘pinks’. Also known as gillyflowers (because they flower in July). They are part of the carnation family, a name derived from coronation. The flowers were used in making coronets and garlands. They have a lovely clove scent so were floated in drinks to flavour them. Chaucer makes reference to ‘sops in wine’ in referring to this practice.

Impressive flowers

Phlomis is a very attractive plant. It has soft, sage-like leaves and its yellow flowers are arranged in clusters up a central spire. It was traditionally made into wicks for oil lamps. The name ‘Phlomis’ comes from the Greek word for flame and the plant has a common name of ‘lampwick plant’.

There is a good quantity of giant hyssop, also known as ‘holy herb’ there are so many mentions of it in the Bible. It is a healing plant, used on cuts and bruises as well as to combat nervous exhaustion. You could try it in the bath. It’s also good made into an infusion to use against acne and is commercially used in producing Eau de Cologne.

Gardeners’ Delight

While we were there, we couldn’t resist a look around the allotments too. These are all wonderfully maintained in raised beds and there’s a great assortment of herbs among the vegetables.

Two that particularly excited us were massive examples of marshmallow (with such soft leaves) and verbascum, also known as mullein, and also with distinctively soft leaves, like rabbit’s ears. Mullein is used in herbal medicine to help the respiratory system and marshmallow is valued for its demulcent property (good and gooey, meaning it can coat and soothe inflamed skin, internally and externally). I find a good remedy for a cough is what I call “M&M tea” – marhsmallow root and mullein leaf decocted (by steeping in hot water for half an hour) and sipped through the day.

Stay healthy with herbs

There is such an incredible array of useful and beautiful plants around the Vale Hospital it is certainly worth a visit, just to browse the car park beds. The more time spent around these health-bringing herbs, the less chance of ending up inside the hospital!

The summary here has only been able to touch on a splattering of the herbs we found, and gives a taste of the conversation we shared. To enjoy all the stories and finds, do come and join us on a walk. They take place on the first Saturday of every month, 10am.

August herb walk

September herb walk

Put a note in your diary for 6th September. This will be our anniversary herb walk having completed a whole year of monthly walks. Our intention in starting these herb walks was to get to know the plants that grow locally, see them through their seasons. We’re excited in September to return to the site of our first walk – the Rackleaze Nature Reserve in Cam – to see what this September brings. Please join us if you can.