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. 

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.

Beginnings

We've had a busy two days here at the Homestead. Yesterday, we drove through Tazewell, Virginia, looking for businesses related to sheep or wool. Tazewell is a lovely small town and we look forward to making another trip (armed with more specific address information) soon. Today, we ordered Red Oak, Black Cherry, and American Plum trees from the West Virginia Division of Forestry. The trees will be used to create a wind and noise barrier and bird habitat on the Homestead borders. The WV Division of Forestry offers great values on trees for reforesting. We continue to research sources for Choke Cherry, American Silverberry, and other shrubs to add to the native plant borders. Our Cornell Lab of Ornithology Birdwatching Kit should arrive soon. Christmas will be a bountiful time for the Homestead wild birds. The outdoor Christmas tree will be decorated with suet cake, orange, and raisin ornaments. Watching the birds' feast will be one of our special presents to everyone who visits!