We have been blessed with a fabulous start to May. While days of glorious sunshine are becoming a concern for water supplies, potentially stunting growth and yields from hay meadows, they have brought out the best in our hedgerow flowers. Many have commented on it being the most prolific mayflowers of a decade.
Our May herb walk was greeted with mayflowers. We gathered at the top of the path taking us into Wild Acres and gradually made our way along the track, through the polytunnel, past the productive garden beds and onto the meadow, surrounded by ancient woodland, ending with a herbal tea in the field kitchen.
Wild Acres is a Community growing and meeting space at Breadstone, a stone’s throw from Cam and Dursley. We were invited to take our travelling monthly herb walk there and delighted to take up the offer to be able to see some more deliberately nurtured and cultivated treasures alongside our normal clutch of wild and hedgerowy finds.
As Queen of the May, hawthorn was our starting point, discussing her long-held association with British hedgerows. The bursting out of May’s frothy white flowers against bright green leaves lifts the spirits as they indicate the turning of the seasons, Spring is well and truly here, and summer not far off. Mayflower creates similar emotional stirrings for those not currently in Britain too. Those who have grown up in Britain but leave to live abroad often cite the mayflower as one of the key things they miss about ‘home’. Almost as an antidote to that, hawthorn is a magical plant to take with you when travelling, just a little in a pocket or even the thought of it, can provide comfort or guard against homesickness. Plants have many secrets, and many ways to help us, if we listen.
While hawthorn is very well regarded and researched for its medicinal benefits – particularly in relation to the heart and blood pressure; it is less well known for its skincare benefits. Which is a shame, as it is, in my estimation, a superstar of the hedgerow skincare world. If you’d like to know about how hawthorn can help against wrinkles, boosting collagen and tackling oily skin, take a look at this video.
Hawthorn is a member of the vast Rosaceae family, whose most well-known member is the rose. In their wild form (aka, the dog rose) roses have five petals. This is the same formation as the hawthorn flower, and others, such as the apple blossom, another cousin in the same family are blooming now too. Keep an eye out for five petalled flowers in the hedgerow, they’re often related – have you seen how well the brambles are flowering this year?
On our way down the track we took the opportunity to divert through the polytunnel, not an environment we normally encounter on our herb walks so a treat to see plants advanced in their growth. A particularly cheerful welcome came from the calendula, blooming way in their sunny oranges and yellows. Martin, the inspiring leader of Wild Acres, has been regularly picking the flowers and setting them on newspaper to dry. This is a traditional practice which encourages continual repeat flowering and builds up stocks of dried calendula flowers.
One of the folk names for calendula is ‘pot marigold’ (not to be confused with the strongly smelling African marigold often used as an annual bedding plant). Dried flower heads would be one of the herbs tossed into the pot of whatever stew could be created through the winter for the much-needed boost of vitamins and minerals it could deliver. We have a modern ‘health’ focus on taking tablets and powders as supplements to our diet these days; its actually a very traditional practices to supplement diet, but was more simply done with whole herbs, with all the rounded benefits they incorporate.
Calendula is often used in skincare as it is gentle and soothing, very helpful when skin is sore, red or itchy. The best way to get its benefits is by infusing the calendula in oil. Pack your dried flowers into a jar, then pour on your choice of oil (sunflower, rapeseed or olive oil are all good for the skin and readily available). Prod a little with the end of a spoon to be sure there are no air bubbles, and top up with oil to be sure all the plant material is well covered. Then put the lid on, remember to label what’s inside, and leave it. Over about four to six weeks (I like to think of going through a whole moon cycle) the herbs will infuse the oil and then you’ll be able to strain it off for use. If you’d like to know more about this process, get all the tips and tricks, and ways to use your beautiful oil, come along to the Herbal Takeover try for yourself – 19th July, 10am – 5pm at The Engine, Silver Street, Dursley. More details here.
Stepping outside again, we highlighted a useful comparison between cow parsley and hemlock. It is very common to struggle to clearly identify the different umbellifers. Distinguishing features to look for include their height, the purplish colouration to stems and leaves, and the form of their flower head or seed head – but getting clear on these differences requires seeing the plants in each season, and being able to compare and contrast between different plants. Don’t rely on just one distinguishing feature, always look for at least three things that confidently identify to you the plant you’re looking at.
We’ve created a quick check-sheet for features, so if you’d like a copy, drop an email to hello@cotswoldherbcentre.uk and we’ll send it along. We’re never able to see all the defining features at one time, so experience and caution are both necessary. Especially as in this case one (the cow parsley) is a food source, while the other (the hemlock) is a potentially deadly poison.
We were also able to compare likenesses within the Asteracea family – that’s daisy’s to most of us. Alongside the classic white-flowered and yellow-centred ox eye daisy, there are chrysanthemums, cultivated here for their use as dye plants. They’re also pretty edibles to scatter on food. The plant arnica (often taken in tiny capsule form) is well known for treating bruises, it reduces inflammation and helps minimise pain and discolouration. However, arnica mostly grows in Alpine regions (not here) and is somewhat rare. Our alternative, which is just as good – some say better – for treating bruises, is the common little daisy. Make your daisy oil in the same way as the calendula oil described above.
Wherever you get fertile soil, you’ll likely find nettles. They’re great colonisers of waste land with plenty of nutrients. Naturally, they’re drawing all this goodness up from the soil and so their leaves, roots and (later in the season) seeds, are packed with energising goodness. Many have been taught from childhood that to minimise the impact of a nettle sting, you should rub the area with a dock leaf. Unfortunately, this is one of the most well-repeated cases of mistaken identity. Somewhere back in the mists of time, a confusion of names led dock to be the go to plant, when in fact, the real cure comes from plantain. Next time you’re stung, look for the ribbed leaves of plantain – either the long thin ribwort or the fatter leaves of greater plantain, both work the same – crush it, or ideally chew it a little, then rub on the area that has been stung.
At Wild Acres there are nettles, docks and plantain a-plenty. The dock is cultivated in their dye garden for its roots. While often used by herbalists under the name ‘yellow dock’ for both respiration and constipation, here the roots are used to provide a olive-yellow dye.
Other plants in dye-bed at Wild Acres include lady’s bedstraw (yellow from flowers, red from roots), coreopsis (orangey yellow) and weld (bright yellow). Generating natural dyes from plants is a fascinating area for experimentation and learning, with seemingly endless variations relating to the plants, part of the plant, the mordant (fixative) used and the type of fabric or yarn. We’ll be featuring plant dying too at the Herbal Takeover, hope to see you there – July 19th, pop it in your diary!
One surprising colour comes from another family of plants we encountered at Wild Acres. This time the colour is in the essential oil, and it’s a brilliantly vibrant blue. A few drops of the oil added to a cream all balm will bring a bluish tinge to the whole product. The dye comes from a constituent called chamazulene, which is valued for bringing anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy properties. The plants it is found in include chamomile and tansy. Extraction of the essential oil requires distillation, but other benefits of these two plants include a calming tea from chamomile and helpful fly deterrent properties of tansy.
With an hour of strolling and chatting done, we wrapped up the herb walk and found ourselves a comfy seat in the field kitchen ready to sample some freshly brewed herbal tea. Can you guess what we were itching to put in the pot and sup? Yup, those fresh leaves and flowers of the hawthorn. Our mayflower tea was delightfully fragrant, deliciously fresh tasting and delectably green in hue. Recommend.
Do come and join us for a herb walk, they take place on the first Saturday of every month and are usually in and around Cam and Dursley (our field trip to Wild Acres was an extra special extended excursion for us!).
For June’s herb walk we’ll start right in the centre of Dursley, join us at the place visitors to Dursley begin their adventuring: Long St Car Park – see you there at 10am on Saturday 7th June.
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