Tag: Gardens
HSA Webinar: Tea Blending: Creating Herbal Tea Blends with Balanced Flavor
by Angela McDonald
Most of the teas that we drink these days are blended at some point. Even teas that seem simple such, as ginger or English Breakfast. The reasons for blending teas are varied but the most important one is this: blended teas taste good. My favorite reason is that when blending teas, the possibilities are endless!
There is nothing magical about the process of tea blending. Just like cooking, it mostly takes experimentation and creativity. Though big companies have whole departments dedicated to flavor experimentation and precise tea blending, there is no reason that we cannot all do this in our home kitchens. The hard part is knowing how to start.
Here are a few tips for blending:
Know your ingredients – not all herbs taste the same even if it seems like they should. Taste each ingredient individually so you can understand it before you start blending…
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Embracing the Magic of the Summer Solstice in Your Herb Garden
The summer solstice is a time when the natural world is ablaze with life, when the energies of light and warmth are at their peak. This celestial dance of light and shadow held profound significance for our ancestors. It was a time of celebration and thanks for the coming harvests, and a time to relax for a bit and play. Still today, some cultures celebrate by kindling fires, symbolizing the transformative power of the sun, and many communities gather to dance, sing, and rejoice in the abundance of the season.
Within the realms of folklore, the summer solstice is a moment in time when the veils between the human world and the realm of faeries grow gossamer thin. It is said that on the summer solstice eve, you may catch a glimpse of these ethereal beings, frolicking amidst the meadows and woodlands, their presence evoking a sense of wonder and…
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Love That Lovage
By Maryann Readal
Lovage, Levisticum officinale, is The Herb Society’s Herb of the Month for June. It can be a difficult herb to find in nurseries where I live in Texas. This spring, though, I did find a nice-looking lovage plant and decided to give it a try. After doing some research, I learned that lovage is native to the Mediterranean area and Southwest Asia. It is an easy-to-grow perennial that can reach a height of six feet and a width of three feet. Needless to say, I had it planted in the wrong place, and I had to move it to give it more room to grow. It dies back in the winter, but returns in the spring. It can be cut back in midsummer to control its height. Lovage thrives in sun or partial shade and needs well-watered soil. If it does not receive enough water during the…
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Strawberry Rose Cake: Ushering In Summer
Roses for Beauty, Flavor, and Fragrance
By Beth Schreibman Gehring
From as early as I can remember, I have been completely smitten by the beauty and versatility of roses. As I have mentioned before, my father was a passionate gardener who loved heirloom roses. Being a trained biologist, he knew the value of gardening organically, and he promoted the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi in the late 70s to strengthen the roots of his garden plants. Instead of using fungicides and pesticides, he planted fragrant herbs among the roses, knowing that many common rose pests would be deterred by the essential oils that they released. He would always tell me, “Remember Beth Ann, feed the roots first and forget about the flowers, because if you feed the roots, the flowers will always be healthy and beautiful.” This is a piece of advice I have followed to this day with real success.
Like many artists for centuries before…
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Perennial Herbs for the Garden
By Peggy Riccio
I love being able to step out into the garden and snip fresh herbs whenever I need them. Yesterday, I was making ham and bean stew in the crockpot. I was inspired to add thyme so I cut off a few sprigs from the thyme growing in the front of the house. I looked around and snipped even more herbs: cutting celery, oregano, sage, and rosemary. Except for the cutting celery, these are perennial herbs that should be in everyone’s garden. They can be tucked in the ornamental bed just like any other perennial plant. In the spring, you can purchase the small plants from a nursery or you can ask a friend for a cutting or division. Once you have them in your garden, you can enjoy them year-round and nothing will bother them, not even deer.
Cutting Celery
Botanically speaking, the cutting celery is a…
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HSA Webinar: Fairy Gardens Throughout the Ages (and How to Make Your Own)
By Julie Bawden-Davis
Long before humans roamed the forests, fairies are said to have taken up residence in the cavities of trees, forming fairy houses where they took refuge. Dating back to the Middle Ages, fairy folklore says that these little beings possess supernatural powers.
Many believe that fairies come from the elements—in fact, from Mother Nature herself. For that reason, it makes sense to add fairies to your garden. Even better, adding fairy gardens to your landscape elevates the magic and mystery of your landscape.
How to Make Your Own Fairy Garden
Whether you believe in fairies or not, anyone can make their very own fairy garden. A wide variety of herbs work well in these mini wonderlands. In fact, the diminutive nature of some herbs, like thyme and oregano, makes them fairy garden favorites.
To create your own container fairy garden using herbs and fairy garden accessories, keep…
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Uncanny Fruits, Autumn Foraging & Chocolate Bundt Cake — Gather Victoria
From quince, medlar to barberry, I love to forage for the odd fruits which abound this time of year. The following recipe for this intensely moist almost pudding-like bundt, however, is filled with two strange-looking fruits I’ve not cooked much with before. It’s adapted from the Chocolate Cherry Samhain Bundt I just posted on Gather…
Uncanny Fruits , Autumn Foraging & Chocolate Bundt Cake — Gather Victoria
To Squash Or Not To Squash: Musings On Invasive Species
| The devil was on one shoulder. An angel on the other. Both were telling me how to proceed, but I couldn’t decipher which voice belonged to which entity. “Cut the bag open,” one voice instructed.” Leave it alone,” said the other. Apparently, my former sense of good and evil was blurred. Who was the devil, and who was the angel? It all started when I was driving on a backcountry road in Pennsylvania. I encountered a stand of tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) whose trunks were adorned with plastic contraptions. “Spotted lanternfly traps,” I thought to myself. Curious to see how effective the contraptions were, I pulled over. The traps were constructed 5 feet from the bases of the trees. Each trap was clearly occupied. I decided to take a closer look. The first trap held dozens of spiders and beetles — some of them alive, many of them dead. The number of spotted lanternflies within this trap equaled exactly zero. I then checked trap number two. Like the first trap, this one also held dozens of spiders and beetles. The number of spotted lanternflies within this trap also equaled exactly zero. Every trap was like this. None contained a single spotted lanternfly. All imprisoned spiders and beetles. Thinking what my role in all of this should be, I soon found myself accompanied by two supernatural advisors — one on each shoulder. Cut the bags open? Or walk away? Cutting them open — or at least permanently disabling the traps — would release the living insects and ensure that no more would perish. Doing so, however, would benefit spotted lanternflies — insects that are deemed invasive and destructive in North America. What was the right thing to do? Questions on the topic of invasive species weren’t new to me. They had materialized before. What was right? What was wrong? What was good? What was bad? Who belonged? Who didn’t? After much pondering over the years, I’ve come to realize that questions will always be plentiful. In a brand new video, I ask several questions on the fascinating topic of invasive species. Few of these questions have simple answers, but all are deeply considered. If you are interested in hearing my thoughts, you can watch the video here. Thank you for your support. — Adam Haritan |
Paths I Walk 
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