Herbal Gifts
Homemade
gifts and crafts delight the mind and spirit of both the giver and the
receiver. Try your hand at some of these gifts and bring an unexpected joy to a
friend, loved one or even yourself!
Apothecary's Garden:
If you
have friends or family that are 'into' medicinal herbs, this would make a great
gift. Fill 4-inch terra-cotta pots with a selection of Calendula, Thyme,
Feverfew, Lavender and Rosemary.
First, use a marker to write the
botanical names of the plants around the rims of the pots...then plant the
herbs into the pots. Fill a clay saucer, 14 inches in diameter with clay
granules or gravel, and arrange the pots in the saucer. Instant
gift!! |
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Blooming
Borage:
There is an old country saying that "a garden without
borage is a garden without courage", which refers to the old herbalists' belief
that borage has the ability to lift the spirits and gladden the heart.
Recently, borage has become an important crop as its oils have been found to be
as potent as those of evening primrose and fields of its stunning blue flowers
are a more common sight in the countryside. In addition to their
medicinal properties, borage flowers floating in a glass of summer punch have
the ability to gladden most hearts. And anyone would be delighted by the gift
of a flower-decorated bucket complete with a borage plant. Take a galvanized
bucket, 7 inches in diameter, paint some medium-blue borage flowers onto the
bucket. Put some gravel on the bottom of the bucket and place the borage plant
in the bucket.
Bouquet
Garni:
Buy a wooden crate, approximately 10 x 8 x 6
inches....drill two holes in each end of the wooden crate. Thread an 8 inch
length of sisal rope through the holes at each end from the outside and knot
the ends to secure. With a permanent marker write "Bouquet Garni" on each side
of the crate. Line the crate with moss....plant the herbs( small bay tree,
thyme, and two parsley plants), using a mixture of three parts potting soil to
one part coarse grit. Press in the plants firmly and tuck more moss around.
Water thoroughly. To give the crate a weathered appearche, paint it with a
mixture of one part seaweed plant food and one part water. This makes a great
gift for those who make homemade soups, stews and sauces.
Chef's
Herbs:
Take an old saucepan, fill the bottom with
gravel....and add a collection of culinary herbs in pots. These are
simple, but great gifts!
Live Herbal
Wreaths:
Here is another great idea for a gift! Or, keep
for yourself...as it is a great way to grow herbs after the weather becomes too
severe to enjoy them outdoors. You can have the live wreath as a centerpiece by
itself or used as a surrounding decoration for a punch bow, fruit bowl or
candle. What I do is go to rummage sales or second hand shops and buy different
sized plates and round trays. The round trays work well for bigger wreaths,
saucers make good containers for wreaths made to surround candles. The plates
will be the base for your living wreath. A box-wreath frame(the double-wire
type made in two layers), slightly smaller than your plate is ideal. You fill
the box from with sphagnum moss, or wrap pieces of sphagnum around a
single-wire frame, and the moss loosely with heave thread to hold it in place.
For a candle wreath, you can use a macramé ring or a plastic coffee-can
lid with the center cut away...the ring base will be completely covered, so it
doesn't matter what that looks like. Do not pack the sphagnum too tightly.
Gather the herbs, I prefer those with soft stems that propagate by layering,
such as the creeping thyme. The base can be supplemented with stems of
rosemary, boxwood, ermander, lavender, mint, marjoram, savory and sage. Begin
with the thyme, or whatever soft-stemmed herb you have...try to have some roots
on the plants. Press the roots or the stem ends into the moss as firmly as
possible, winding the herb stems into the shape of the wreathe. Save the
herbs with larger leaves for last and use them as accents.
If you have small plants,
such as basil, chamomile and even violets or small salad burnet, you can tuck
their roots, with a small ball of potting soil still attached , into the
sphagnum. Small-rooted, scented geraniums work great for me. These plants, will
continue to live in the moist sphagnum. When your wreath is the way you like
it, fill the base plate or tray with water and set the wreath in it. After a
few hours, check it. If the plate still has water in it, but the sphagnum is
not wet through, leave it another few hours...if the sphagnum is completely
wet, pour out the excess water, and if there's not water in the plate, but the
moss still isn't wet, add more.
You can make live wreaths in late
October and early November and they will still be lush for the holidays. But,
keep the freshly made wreath out of direct light for the first few days. A
rooting hormone used with the cuttings as well as frequent mistings are
beneficial. Then, gradually move the wreath under more light..in a sunny
window or under lights. At this time apply very weak feedings of fertilizer
when watering. Do these things, it will prolong the life of the wreath, because
the sphagnum moss is a sterile soil and any rooted plants will have the same
requirements inside as they do outside.
If you have some fresh
flowers available you can push the stems in a few inches into the
moss.
If you give it as a gift, enclose a tag stating that some things
in the wreath will grow and need to be pruned or woven back into the wreath,
others will wilt and need to be replaced, and enclose care
instructions.
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