Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sneak Peek at NEW Herb Varieties


PASSION FLOWER  **Produces Fruit**

It's the perfect time of year to add more HERBS to your garden!  Whether it's for cooking or medicinal use, we have quite a few NEW Herbs available.  
Check out the NEW PASSION FLOWER seeds!

LEMON BASIL


Mary's Heirloom Seeds Newsletter
NEW Varieties of Medicinal & Culinary Herbs


Seed Combo Packs


seed pack combo


You can never plant "too many" herbs and flowers in the garden. This weekend we've added NEW Herb varieties. They're available now and ship out after 6/10/15.

Just a reminder...
JUNE is time to plant PUMPKIN

in time for OCTOBER - NOVEMBER


All NEW Herb Seeds!
Anise plants make lovely ornamental herbs with fern-like, finely divided leaves and small white flower umbels. Anise is originally from the Middle East, and it has quite a long history as a medicinal herb. The Greeks and Romans used it as a cough remedy and as a breath freshener.
The Anise herb plant is also highly used as a culinary herb. It is sweet, highly aromatic and has a flavor similar to licorice. The leaves are often used to garnish dishes and are added to salads. The seeds are crushed and the flavoring is used in fruit dishes, pastries, and cheeses. The oil is also used in making perfumes, soaps and other toiletries.


Lemon Basil herb plants are upright, bushy and grow 26 inches high and 10 to 14 inches wide. The narrow, ovate, light green leaves reach 2 inches long. Small blooms of white flowers are followed by lemon-scented seeds. Basil is at its most flavorful when fresh. The best time to harvest is just as the plant starts to set flower buds, well before flowers bloom. For harvesting, cut stems just before flowers open, strip leaves and use fresh, or dry on tray in dark, airy place. Leaves may be frozen.


Sweetly aromatic, Spearmint, can be used in both cooking and in potpourri and other fragrant decorative items. Spearmint herb is used to make mint jellies and sauces and of course, tea! Spearmint also has medicinal benefits as well. It is a wonderful addition for the garden that can easily be started with Spearmint herb seeds.
This perennial grows to 3 feet tall and spreads rapidly to indefinite widths. The 2 - 3 1/2 inch lance-shaped leaves are a unique wrinkled texture. Oblong terminal spikes of lavender-pink flowers appear all summer. Like other mints, Spearmint plants are extremely easy to grow. In fact, they grow so well, it is best to confine them to containers. 

As an herb plant, the oil in the leaves have been used topically for wounds, sunburns, and general aches and pains. St John's Wort herb has also been used to treat mild depression and insomnia with some success. St. John's Wort ground cover is often used to cover areas along side walks and driveways.
How To Grow Hypericum From Seed: St. John's Wort seeds are easy to grow. Plant the herb seeds indoors 6 - 8 weeks before the last frost, or outside after danger of frost has passed. Press the Hypericum seeds into the soil, but do not cover it as the seed will germinate better with light. Transplant the Hypericum seedlings when they are 2 - 3 inches tall. The plants will tolerate most any soil conditions but prefer moist and light soils. Fertilizer is only necessary in the poorest of soils, and water in prolonged drought times.

Delicious peppery flavor that is popular in beans and many other dishes; also has reported medicinal uses.
Summer savory is an annual, not to be confused with its cousin winter savory, a perennial. Summer savory can be grown in containers or the garden; it likes the same rich, well-drained soil as tomatoes, and makes a good companion to this vegetable in the garden; however, it also thrives alongside beans in leaner soil.
Very fast-growing, summer savory reaches about 18 inches high and up to 30 inches wide, with long, wiry upright stems bearing small, needle-like dark green leaves up to 4 inches long. Whorls of lilac-purple flowers appear in summer, and the plant may need staking if not pruned smaller. Cut the stems as needed for use in the kitchen; this will keep them shorter, prevent flowering (which diminishes the flavor of the leaves), and encourage new growth. 

The Verbena family of plants are perennials which can grow up to approximately 36 inches tall. Verbenas typically have woody stalks and are pale green in color with hairy stems.Flowers are very small and blue in color. They appear on a long, slender spike.
As with any herb, you should always consult a doctor before using it for any type of medicinal value. Traditionally, it is reported that Common Vervain is considered to be a very powerful relaxant, diaphoretic antispasmodic and emenagogue. It can be used in the treatment of depression, melancholia, asthma, migraines, insomnia and nervous cough. Some people consider it to be an effective remedy for infected gums, tooth decay, halitosis and tonsillitis. Some people apply Common Vervain to insect bites, sprains and bruises. As an ointment, it acts as a beneficial remedy against eczema, wounds, weeping sores and painful neuralgia.

Grown from Passion Flower seeds, this vining perennial can grow to 180 inches or more, and it produces large, 4 inch pale blue blossoms. Passion Flower fruit are egg-shaped, orange and edible but not very noteworthy. Passion Flower Vine is native to Southern Brazil and Argentina, and is popular all the way to the southern United States. This variety can be grown further north with moderate success and is hardy down to 10 degrees F. If it dies back due to a severe freeze it has been known to grow back from its deep roots. Many gardeners will bring their blue Passion Flower Vine indoors each winter. Passion Flower is an evergreen in tropical or semi-tropical regions, but as the winters become cooler it will drop its leaves. You do need to prune new growth occasionally to promote flowering. 
**PRODUCES FRUIT**


The perennial, FIREWEED, has slender upright spikes of flowers in shades of rosy pink in the months of June - September. It gets its name from the fact that it is often the first weed to colonize in an area that has been destroyed by fire. Other common names include: Willow Herb, Rosebay Willowherb, and Yanagiran. Native Americans used the Willowherb plant as a good source of vitamin C and pro-vitamin A. Medicinally, the herb seeds can also be grown to relieve inflammation, draw out infection in wounds, and to treat burns. Fireweed is very attractive to bees and butterflies, and Fireweed honey has become quite sought after. Fireweed seeds do best with a cold/moist treatment for 4 weeks prior to planting, or directly sow the herb seeds outdoors in the fall. 


Mary has signed the Safe Seed pledge.    
Most seed orders placed Monday-Thursday are shipped within 24 hours, except for holidays. 
*$10 Order minimum*
If you have additional questions please feel free to ask.  What will YOU plant this JUNE?
Sincerely,                                   
Mary
The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.
Thomas A. Edison 
 "The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway."
Michael Pollan 

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