Herbs for Wellbeing

Red clover is a cheerful, bright little native herb often found in meadows, pastures, and along roadsides and in lawns. Its vibrant pink to purple flowers and distinctive trifoliate leaves are hard to miss. A herb synonymous with luck, if you find a super-rare four leaved clover then go and do the lottery!  Red clover is a well-known natural remedy for the treatment of several menopause symptoms and it’s great for foraging, lending itself to a number of culinary uses. Easy to grow, it just needs a bit of space to spread. 

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French Tarragon has an unfair reputation as a problem - difficult to grow and quick to die. You just need to remember its more tender than most and hates overwintering in wet soil. Plant in full sun, in a herb bed or large pot with fertile, light, free-draining soil and you’ll be fine. It’ll grow vigorously when happy and should return again and again as long as it’s tucked up over winter or bought indoors (in pots).  Tarragon will be really happy growing in our pot on a sunny windowsill until it needs potting on. 

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Toadflax is a delightful, cheerful wildflower herb which spreads freely and can get a bit out of hand. It’s hard to complain at its profligacy because Toadflax flowers are a designed for bees and look simply gorgeous. Often called ‘wild snapdragons’ due to their resemblance to Antirrhinums, they’re actually second cousins or something and are certainly more useful! Unfortunately, Toadflax doesn't play well with cats and dogs - it can be toxic if eaten.  Historically, Toadflax was used as a natural dye for producing yellow hues. It was considered a “herb of the people,” appreciated for its medicinal properties and its association with purity and resilience.

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Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is a historic blue dye plant for UK gardens. Learn how to grow it, its uses, and buy young woad plants online. Often known as Dyer’s Woad or Blue Woad, it’s famous for producing a rich blue dye long before indigo reached Europe. Woad is a striking, architectural plant that also boasts a long history of medicinal use, folklore, and cultural symbolism. Often thought to have been used by the ancient Picts (and Mel Gibson) for tattooing their bodies with intricate blue designs, there is now some conjecture about this. Never-the-less, there’s no doubting it’s importance in the early textile industry when vast fields were sown with Woad and laws that laws were passed to protect its trade.

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Cardoon is a stately, statuesque perennial worth its place in any herb garden or wild meadow. It looks like the love child of a thistle and a teasel but is in fact the wild cousin of the globe artichoke. Considered a delicacy back in the day and is still enjoyed in rural Italy, the stems have a celery-like crunch and flavour of artichoke.  Cynara cardunculus needs a load of space and a sunny position in fertile, free draining soil. The striking foliage can reach 2m tall with beautiful thistly flowerheads which are a magnet for bees and pollinators. 

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Chicory with its latin name of Cichorium intybus might sound like a spell from Harry Potter (for making a weird coffee-like drink maybe) but it’s a herb with multiple uses and a rich history. People tend to think of Chicory as a war time coffee substitute or for using its peppery leaves to liven up a salad, but it’s actually a wonderful garden plant with beautiful blue flowers and a vigorous climbing habit.  Chicory is a sprawling perennial which can reach 1.5m tall, with some support. It’s hardy down to -10 degrees so is perfectly happy in most conditions. You can eat the leaves, enjoy the flowers (along with bees and butterflies) and at the end of the season, use the root for loads of things.

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