Medicinal Herb and Pretty Garden Plant - Narrow-leaved Plantain

 

I fell in love with Narrow-leaved Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) when I first saw its cheerful blooms on walks at our West Virginia homestead. The blossoms would appear to dance in the afternoon sun, twisting and turning in the slightest breeze. I called them “Sparkle Flowers”!

They were so pretty, I didn’t recognize the little wildflowers as Plantains. I was used to the Broad-leaved Plantain (Plantago major), a well-known medicinal plant but a larger one that can look a little weedy. When I learned that my "Sparkle Flowers" were Narrow-leaved Plantain, with medicinal properties similar to Broad-leaved Plantain, it was a win-win for me – cute flowers on a medicinal plant that I could slip into my garden beds.

I grew plants from seed for our new Florida homestead this year. Seeds from Strictly Medicinal Herbs, started in January, were ready for a garden border by March. 

Hot Days and 'Forest Fire' Celosias

This year, instead of buying Celosia seed, I used saved seed from my 2020 'Forest Fire' Celosia plants. I had bought the 'Forest Fire' variety from Fedco Seeds in 2019. (Although Fedco didn't carry 'Forest Fire' seed this year, they do offer a similar Wheat Celosia variety, 'Ruby Parfait.')

Wheat Celosia plants thrive during our hot summers in north Florida. I love growing them!

Celosia's light-dependent seeds are easy to start when the weather is warm, and Celosias make great fresh cut flowers and dried flowers for fall arrangements. They can also be added to potpourri for a touch of color.

Celosia plants are big, and they grow somewhat loosely in the garden, so they can look a little wild. But, when the flowers are cut, they can be grouped closely together in a vase for a fun, dramatic look. 

To dry the flowers, I bundle several stems together with a rubber band.

I slip an opened paper clip under the rubber band to make a hook for hanging the bundle. 

Then I put the bundles inside paper lunch bags to keep them dust-free until they're dry. The bags also catch any seeds that fall off the flower heads.

Now I can enjoy my Celosias when the hot days of summer are done!

Bare-Root Babies

This week brought two groups of bare-root seedlings. The first, a group of Loquat seedlings, came as a gift from our friends, Alma and Agnes. The second, a group of Cherry Laurel seedlings, came in a delivery from Sharon's Florida.

The Loquats, or Japanese Plums, grew from seeds Alma planted and grew out. Her family and friends say that she can grow anything from a seed or cutting. I planted ten pots with the seedlings she brought.

Loquats, Eriobotrya japonica are 

also known as Japanese Plums

Loquats, or Japanese Plums, are originally from China and produce fruit similar to apricots. Seedling loquats take seven or eight years to produce fruit. Green Dean's Loquat article on Eat the Weeds tells the history of the Loquat and offers interesting recipes.

The University of Florida IFAS Extension article, "Loquat Growing in the Florida Home Landscape," gives information about Loquat care and some of the best named varieties. These Loquat seedlings may someday be rootstocks for named-variety scion wood.

Cherry Laurels, Prunus caroliniana, are native shrubs

The Cherry Laurels (Prunus caroliniana) were ordered on eBay from Sharon's Florida, a nursery in Brooksville, specializing in Florida native plants. A Cherry Laurel hedge is evergreen and will grow 25 feet tall in shade, providing privacy for the Homestead and food and shelter for the birds.

These fifteen pots of Cherry Laurels from the bare-root seedlings are doing well.

Coleus

Growing up in south Florida, I liked coleus plants. Having coleus there is easy - just root the plants you like in water when you want more. But in West Virginia, having coleus plants was a bit more of a problem. Even though they were inexpensive to buy, choices were limited to local sources, and keeping them over a long winter was a bit of a challenge for me as a new gardener.

When I read about buying coleus cuttings from mail-order sources in The 20-Minute Gardener,
I was intrigued and I kept the idea at the back of my mind to do later. I wondered whether I could grow coleus from seed but thought it would be difficult since I had tried once without success. That time, I probably waited too long before I tried planting my seeds.

This year, I bought 'Wizard Mix' coleus seed from Burpee and did not wait to get them started. As soon as the seeds arrived, I planted them in a 6" self-watering pot. That was on January 7. By January 11, tiny dots of green started to appear on the surface of the soil and by January 13, little leaves had started to form.

They are so cute! Now, I'm inspired to do more with coleus. Here's what I turned up from a search for mail-order coleus suppliers.

Seeds:

• Burpee Seeds and Plants (has 9 varieties of coleus seed)
• Swallowtail Garden Seeds (has 43 varieties of coleus seed)

Cuttings:

• Glasshouse Works (has 126 varieties of coleus cuttings)
• Rosy Dawn Gardens (specializes in coleus - offers many varieties organized by types and colors)

Transplanted

It's hard to transplant a fully grown tree - and hard for us to move now that we are older. We left Camp Creek, West Virginia, in the summer of 2016, for our new home in Monticello, Florida, and are just now starting to establish our roots - and regain our balance.

Gardening is different here - challenging in new ways, but with a longer growing season (265 days compared to 143 days at our West Virginia home) it will be possible to have really productive spring and fall gardens. Growth will slow down in the hottest part of the summer (but sweet potatoes and okra should flourish) and in the coldest part of our zone 8b winter (but collards and kale should last until spring).

In 2016-17, we started just a few seeds: calendulas and alyssum, chamomile and sage. The calendulas and the sage did well. The alyssum and chamomile did not survive the heat.

We used a small "lasagna garden" space, last spring, for new strawberry plants, and transplanted rosemary and sage, and they continue to do well. We plan to add to the strawberries, and to prune the rosemary and sage, soon. We are growing five varieties of rosemary: Tuscan Blue, Blue Lagoon, Arp, Barbeque, and prostrate rosemary. Two varieties of strawberry remain from last year: Ozark Beauty and Mara de Bois.

Six little boxwoods, started from cuttings and grown on in the herb border, made the trip with us and three have survived. Other transplants included a Chinese juniper, a tough little 'Wyoming' canna, our indestructable cast iron plants, a small flowering quince, some horseradish root, a blueberry bush, and a special rose with sentimental value - all are doing well.  The little sedums, the sweet woodruff, and the mountain mint that we brought may have disappeared but we're still holding out in hope to see them in the spring.

Last fall, we added an eastern red cedar, a rhododendron, an Indian hawthorne, a 'Klein's Hardy' gardenia, and in the spring, some lilies of the valley, two more cannas, two Asiatic lilies, and some liatris. We also found a chinqapin chestnut and southern red cedars at Native Nurseries in Tallahassee.

For Christmas trees this year, we decided on two orange trees, an 'Eversweet' and a 'Cara Cara Red' from Just Fruits and Exotics, in Crawfordville. While there, we just could not resist two beautiful sweet olives (Osmanthus fragrans) that reminded us of North Carolina, and a loquat seedling (6' tall!).

A walk through our garden before Christmas dinner turned up parsley and bunching onion plants, still green and growing - proof of the love that surrounds us.

Winter sowing has begun for 2017-18. After we inventoried and ordered, the first six groups of seeds went outside! So far there are calendulas, maypops, redbuds, yarrow, hyssop, and bunching onions. (A great resource to learn about winter sowing is Trudi Greissle Davidoff's (the originator of winter sowing) WinterSown website. The winter sowing forum members on Garden Web have also shared some great ideas.) We also started clatonia (miner's lettuce) and a Mesclun mix in two window boxes.

All of this planting was just in time for snow! Here's the view from our front deck...

The headlines today read, " Snow falls in north Florida: schools, theme parks closed." Too funny!

Back to My Roots

I'm thoroughly a West Virginian now, but my roots are in south Florida. I grew up outside of Homestead, Florida, where a short bicycle trip would take me past fields of strawberries. My friend and I used to stop for icy strawberry milkshakes at a farm stand. I think that's where my interest in farming began.

In addition to amazing farms, south Florida has amazing wild spaces. Frances, an Ashwood Homestead contributor, sent this lovely image of a sawgrass wildlife sanctuary close to her south Florida home.

Those of us in other parts of the country can support the preservation of wild spaces in south Florida. These unique habitats are a national treasure.

Contributor's Poem

Frances, one of the friends of Ashwood Homestead, sent this poem to be shared:

Empress Dowager

Cold green clean
Blue on gold porcelain
Cream meshed
Out like flaked fish
Served for Lent
Platter adorned with bells
In silver caster salt canister
Shaken star light

Sifting, drifting
In the deep veins
No uplift but drowned
Darkness filtered rays
Made luminous
Like pearls hidden
Bidden but coyly
Driven into the sand.

Thank you, Frances for this beautiful image for a winter evening.