Low-Maintenance Aronia

Low-Maintenance Aronia

Thank you, Aronia. I didn’t do squat for months, maybe years, and then I arrived to the greatest harvest one could imagine. A marginal fence, and nettles plants as tall as a high school basketball player didn’t deter this native bush from kicking out berries on every...
Jamaica: Botanical Sleuthing

Jamaica: Botanical Sleuthing

It started innocuously enough. “What a great flower year it’s been!” We were at a wedding reception, and a beautiful bouquet was in front of us. Collegially, we tried to identify the milieu. I blurted out “I think that’s a hydrangea,” though it might not have been...
Making Lemonade from Lemons (or Lemongrass)

Making Lemonade from Lemons (or Lemongrass)

It was almost the classic herbal error. I had harvested the plant and boiled water. My mug was ready to go. And, at the last minute, I said to myself that I should do some quality control. Heck, I lecture medical students to be completely sure about a plant species...
Calming Covid Herbs

Calming Covid Herbs

Foundations of health during Covid As we as a society/culture/world enter into, and possibly out of, quarantine, the idea of “new normal” is being batted around. What was normal before the arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 virus may be replaced in the short or long term with...