Learn to concoct simple home remedies with these easy-to-grow medicinal herbs.
Labels on store-bought herbs rarely reveal how plants are raised, nor how long the dried and processed ingredients are exposed to light and high temperatures while stored in their plastic containers. To ensure quality and potency in your herbal remedies, why not grow your own?
“The primary benefit is being able to develop a relationship with that herb,” says Jen Bredesen, herbalist and teacher at the California School of Herbal Studies. Even novice gardeners can begin to concoct simple home remedies like teas and salves with the following list of Bredesen’s top nine easy-to-grow medicinal herbs.
Calendula—also known as pot marigold—is a centuries-old antifungal, antiseptic, wound-healing ally. It’s the petals of these cheerful yellow and orange daisy-like flowers that lend their skin-soothing properties to many natural cosmetics and diaper creams. A freely reseeding annual that blooms all season long, Calendula makes a lovely addition to a cottage style gardens with full sun. Harvest the petals fresh, or dry entire blooms—which close in the evening—before they’ve formed seed.
Cilantro boasts a unique flavor you either love or hate. The leaves often garnish Mexican and Thai dishes, and the seeds—known as coriander—are a prime ingredient in Indian curries. Few think of this plant as a medicinal herb, but it’s a powerful digestive aid and cleansing agent capable of removing heavy metals and other toxic agents from the body.
Cilantro grows best in a cool, moist garden and will quickly bolt in hot weather. Look for slow bolt varieties from seed companies.
Try this: Cleansing Cilantro Pesto
This calming and uplifting perennial makes a pretty patch of bright green in the garden. The oils, tannins, and bitters in lemon balm’s fragrant leaves and flowers have a relaxing antisposmatic effect on the stomach and nervous system and help fight off viruses like herpes simplex (when used topically). Lemon balm is tasty and gentle enough for children when prepared in teas or tinctures with a glycerin base. It’s a great plant to grow and use fresh, as the dried herb loses some potency after six months.
Try this: Lemon Balm & Peppermint Infusion
Familiar flavors in toothpaste and chewing gum, both spearmint and peppermint pack a powerfully refreshing zing. Peppermint makes stronger medicine than its more culinary cousin, readily relieving digestive discomforts like indigestion and vomiting when brewed as tea and soothing sore muscles in liniment recipes applied topically. All mints spread rampantly in a moist garden, so consider growing each plant in its own large pot. Harvest leaves just before flowering; after that, they begin to taste bitter.
Try this: Cooling Peppermint Foot Soak
Rosemary is the great reviver. This perennial woody herb stimulates energy and optimism and sharpens memory and concentration by bringing more oxygen to your brain. A wonderfully stimulating alternative to caffeine when you need that second wind! A row of these long-lived and drought-tolerant plants makes a beautiful, bee-friendly, evergreen hedge; but you may only need one plant in your garden, as a little bit goes a long way.
Try this: Rosemary and Spearmint Tincture
Give this handsome and stately biennial plenty of space, and stand back in wonder as the sturdy yellow-flowered stem emerges from within a rosette of thick hairy leaves, reaching skyward nearly six feet! The leaves are commonly added to cough formulas where mullein’s emollient and expectorant properties help heal bronchial respiratory infections. A well-strained infusion of leaves alone will ease and loosen a stubborn cough.
This groundcover’s delicate stems and tiny leaves belie the tremendous power attributed to it by Europeans in the Middle Ages. Many believed in the herb’s ability to heighten bravery and ward off nightmares and other harm. Modern herbalists rely on this herb’s strongly antibacterial and antiseptic oils to support immunity from and help heal winter colds and flu. Tannins in the plant also help relieve mild diarrhea. Many cultivars exist beyond the straight species, including sweet-tasting citrus varieties perfect in tummy remedies for children.
Long recognized for its sweet perfume, lavender also boasts medical benefits as a nervine and mild antidepressant. Add to the bath to alleviate stress, tension, and insomnia. It's also used in creams to treat sunburns and acne.
Woody lavender plants prefer hot, sunny, and dry environments. The fresh flowers are tasty in small doses when added to salads, honey, butter, lemonade, and even shortbread cookies. If you’re crafty, try sewing up a herbal heating pad or eye pillow with the fragrant dried flowers.
Try this: Chamomile-Lavender Body Cream
Delicate apple-scented chamomile demonstrates that gentleness does not mean ineffective. Primarily grown for its small yellow-bellied flowers, chamomile is one of the best children’s herbs for treating colic, nervous stress, infections and stomach disorders. In fact, it was chamomile tea that Peter Rabbit’s mother fixed for him after his stressful chase in Mr. McGregor’s garden!
Try this: Chamomile-Lavender Body Cream
These easy-to-grow herbs bring health benefits to your garden as well as your family. Many attract beneficial insects, including bees, and help repel harmful pests from more sensitive plants nearby. Be sure to locate plants with their preferred conditions for light, water, and temperature in mind. For example, rosemary, lavender, and mullein thrive in warm, dry spots in full sun, while cilantro and mint prefer rich, moist areas with shade.
See also: Simple Steps to a Gourmet Garden
