CHARLEMAGNE'S COMPLETE PLANT LIST & MODERN GROWING GUIDE ~ No Email Sign-up Required
Cayenne (Capsicum annuum) read through Galenic eyes: hot and dry in the highest degree, a physic for the cold, phlegmatic body — circulation, digestion, topical pain relief, preparations and cautions.
If you want to know how to plan a herb garden, start where the monks did. Around the year 820, someone drew a plan for an ideal monastery on five sheets of parchment sewn together. It survives in the abbey library of St. Gall, in Switzerland, and it includes a small physic garden: sixteen straight…
Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) read through Galenic eyes: a cooling, drying sour tea for the hot constitutions and the hot season — blood pressure research, preparations, cautions and growing notes.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) read through Galenic eyes: the “Indian saffron” of the old apothecaries, a warming, drying, opening physic for the liver and digestion — joints, indigestion research, golden milk, and safety.
A national survey of American adults found that about one in six people taking a medication from their doctor were also taking an herb or other supplement, which is why herb-drug interactions matter.1 I suspect the number is higher now. I also suspect many of those people never mentioned the herbs to their doctor, because…
Seven herbal tea blends for sleep, digestion, colds, winter, spring, summer heat and aching joints — each balanced the old apothecary way, with a principal herb, helpers and a corrective, and matched to the four temperaments.
Calming herbs read through Galenic eyes: melancholic versus choleric anxiety, the old heart-cheering cordials, what the research shows for chamomile, lemon balm, lavender, passionflower and ashwagandha, two calming blends, and when to seek help.
Echinacea and elder (flower and berry) read through Galenic eyes: what each does, which suits whom and when, what the research honestly shows, how to make elderberry syrup safely, and the cautions.
Above: the garden Homer Kizer built for me in Kinde, Michigan. Some time around the year 800, Charlemagne’s court drew up a list of plants to be grown on every royal estate, and it is still a good guide to the herbs to grow in your garden. Sage, rosemary, lovage and fennel are all on…
