Wild and medicinal plants in my garden right now

As I went outside just before dinner this evening, I noticed that so many new wild and medicinal plants are in flower in my garden. They looked gorgeous in the light of early dusk and I couldn’t help but take a few photos and write them up for this blog.

The garden has been a flutter with butterflies lately and no wonder really when you see what wonderful plants are growing there. I love that my garden is a bit of an ecosystem where wildlife is welcome and can flourish. Gardens make up 10% of land in England so if we all do our bit to encourage wildlife it can make quite a bit of a difference overall.

I’ve been gently curating my garden for a few years now, using some of the principles of permaculture, forest gardening and rewilding to inform my slightly ecclectic process which in all honesty involves minimum intervention, basically no digging and no watering in the main part of the garden (one of the many benefits of using wild and native plants!). I do water my pots on the patio, but I’ll write another blog about that!

Below I share which plants are growing at the moment and also how they came to be there. I’d love to hear if you have any of these in your garden! Please let me know by leaving a comment.

Wild and medicinal plants in my garden

1) St John’s Wort

St John’s Wort

As you can see from the above this one is almost at the end of its flowering period! I ordered this as a young plant last year - it’s the medicinal kind (you can tell as there are tiny holes in its leaves) and is meant to be great for combatting depression and low moods.

One day I’d like to make an oil from its flowers or drink it as a tea but I haven’t gotten round to it yet. I’m also breastfeeding so have to be incredibly careful about what I consume!! Still I’m pleased to have it in the garden and it has spread loads.

2) Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne’s Lace

I foraged some seeds from a local park a few years ago - I mean literally just a handful - and how this beautiful plant has spread all over my garden. Man do I feel lucky!! I absolutely love it. I find the delicate white flowers with the dot in the middle so pretty and enchanting, and the birds nest seed structure just mesmerisingly beautiful.

I just wrote a blog on Queen Anne’s Lace if you want to check it out online here. I explore how this fascinating plant can teach us about curiosity - and also how it came to be bred to be one of the most consumed vegetables in the world.

3) Mugwort

Mugwort Standing Tall

I don’t have favourites but boy is this one my pride and joy!! I grew it from seed (and I’m hopeless at growing things!!) in a tiny takeaway Tupperware and here it is going strong in its second year.

It has grown incredibly tall (taller than me!) which is unusual for mugwort - and takes a cental place in the garden. Its perennial so hopefully I have some more years left.

Mugwort is a fascinating herb, linked to lucid dreaming! I once added it to a wild tea once and wow were my dreams whacky.

It is also linked with the goddess Artemis (its botanical name is Artemisia vulgaris) who is the goddess of wilderness and childbirth. That said I can’t consume her at the moment because I’m breast feeding and there is insufficient safety info. I’d like to do a wild incense burning one day though.

4) Tansy

Tansy with a Ladybird

Oh my - this was the one I was most excited about!!! I have wanted tansy in my garden for years ever since seeing some growing in a pot on holiday in Brittany a few years back. I kept taking cuttings of some growing in someone’s front garden nearby (sssh!) - but I didn’t realised I had any in my garden til today. If I’m honest I think this must have come from some seeds I ordered a few years back and forgot about. I’m not sure really. But anyway it’s here now and growing strong.

Fun fact about tansy: It used to be consumed at Easter to symbolize the bitter herbs of Passover and to help "purge" the body of worms believed to be caused by eating fish during Lent. Lovely!

4) Teasel

Teasel

I personally find teasel to be one of the most beautiful plants out there - particularly in the height of summer when it turns brown and stark. I love it!! There’s just something so .. striking about it.

I believe these came to be in my garden from some foraged seeds.

Fun fact : teasel heads were once used as a combing tool in the wool industry!!

And a second fun fact: the plant's structure collects rainwater, which can be a source of drinking water for birds and insects.

5) Yarrow

Yarrow

Last but certainly not least, yarrow. I absolutely love this plant! Legend says that I was used by Achilles to heal his soldiers wounds after battle and hence it takes its botanical name: Achilles millefolium

From its look you’d be forgiven for thinking it was in the umbillifer / carrot family along with Queen Anne’s Lace but in fact it’s an asteraceae (daisy family)

Its leaves smell great when crushed and its a diuretic, helps to break fever and stops bleeding really quickly. That said, it’s another I must avoid while breastfeeding. I nonetheless love admiring it and whenever she has a cut my daughter runs to the garden to pick some.

Concluding thoughts

This has just been a mega quick whistle stop tour of my garden at the moment. If you want more inspiration on where to get plants from you can read the blog I wrote last year on gardening with wildflowers where I explore the reasons to take a more wild plant driven approach as well as give you the sources I use for my plants.

What’s growing in your garden?? Let me know by leaving a comment. I’d love to hear from you!!

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