4 Garden Flowers to Grow for Incredible Herbal Benefits
There are a few beautiful flowers that you can add to your vegetable gardens that have dual purpose - they are beautiful and can be used in cut flower arrangements OR be used for their herbal properties.
I hope to introduce you to four of my favorite garden additions and easy ways to use them.
The herbal benefits of the flowers below can be contraindicated during pregnancy.
Calendula
Best known for it's intense healing properties, Calendula is used to soothe the skin. Calendula will heal burns, scraps, dry skin, and even promote skin repair.
It is safe for all ages! So much so that it is commonly found in healing creams for breastfeeding moms.
Easy ways to enjoy the herbal properties of Calendula:
- Infuse the petals with oil. Dry out the calendula and fill a jar of your oil of choice - jojoba oil, coconut oil, etc with the petals inside and leave it for a few weeks. Use the infused oil to create salves or lotion bars, or directly on your skin.
- In a bath for skin rashes add a cup of calendula blossoms to the water
Lavender
A common garden staple, lavender has so many functions. It is calming to the nervous system, antimicrobial and suitable for cleaning, and also as a soothing agent for the skin that can help with burns and insect bites.
Easy Ways to Enjoy Lavender:
- Facial steam by mixing a cup of lavender with hot water in a bowl, place a towel over your head to trap the steam and breathe in the infusion
-cloth satchets of dried flowers that you can place to enjoy the relaxing smell
Chamomile
Best known for its calming actions: it has the ability to ease tension, relieve muscle tightness, aid in digestion, and promote relaxation. Chamomile is also truly safe for people of all ages so it is a wonderful flower to grow in your family garden.
Easy Ways to Use Chamomile:
- Brew a cup of tea with a tablespoon or two of the flower heads, cover while it steeps for 3-10 minutes. Honey is optional to sweeten
- Enjoy in the bath
- For kids you can make homemade playdough with both chamomile or lavender
Echinacea
Also known as the purple coneflower, this is a perennial that will continue to come back. Best known as being an immunostimulant, when taken at the first sign of an illness it is known to reduce the symptoms and the duration of illness.
Easiest way to use:
-Fresh Juice of the flower
-Make a tincture. Fill a mason jar 2/3 of the way with fresh plant material and cover with an alcohol such as vodka, after about a month it is ready to filter out and use. While ill, you can take 3-4 droppers full of the tincture every few hours.
