Directions:

Dilute clove essential oil 50/50 in olive oil to carry with you to treat in transit. 

Put carrier oil like olive oil on a Q-tip with a drop of clove essential oil and put directly on affected mouth areas.

Clove buds

Clove is an evergreen tree with red flowers. It is one of the five noble spices along with cinnamon, nutmeg, black peppercorns and ginger.

Clove is one of the ingredients in the Indian spice blend garam masala and masala chai, which is a tea beverage drink. 

Clove comes from the Latin word ‘clavus’ meaning nail, because the dried clove buds look like little nails.

Chives

Chives are an onion tasting herb that are hardy and are grown in pots or in the ground and come back every year bigger and better. The purple flowers which bloom in spring are edible and make a great garnish in soups. Garlic chives have white flowers that bloom later in the summer and they taste more like garlic. They have flat leaves instead of round tubes like purple flower onion chives.

Thyme

There are many varieties of thyme that are hardy and easy to grow. Thyme is a sturdy sub-shrub and there are creeping and hanging varieties. There are different flavours of thyme and many chemotypes to choose from.

This is my planter I took out of the garage and I haven’t added annuals yet or done anything to it, and the thyme and chives keep coming back every year. This is the second year for this pot.

Partner herb combo:

Plant chives or garlic chives in the middle of the planter pot, and place thyme around it. You can plant a hanging thyme, a creeping thyme and a regular thyme or leave some room for annuals to fill in during the growing season. This planter keeps coming back every year even when I overwinter it in the garage. This herb planter is (dare I say) easy to grow by anyone anywhere.

Enjoy fresh herbs! 

Essential oil Thyme

There are many varieties of thyme and they are all hardy and easy to grow. Thyme is grown in pots year round for culinary, medicinal or ornamental purposes or grown directly in the ground, where it comes back bigger and better every year. There are creeping varieties that grow close to the ground or hanging varieties that hang over and trail down the sides of pots. Thyme is a sturdy sub-shrub and the creeping varieties are a great alternative to lawn grass or to put under other bigger shrubs. Put thyme around walkways or in cracks to keep other weeds out.

Coltsfoot grows all around Georgian Bay and prefers to grow near water in wetter areas near stream banks and ditches. It looks like dandelion flowers and it is from the same Aster family. The flowers resemble a bent horse leg before and after flowering because they nod.

The leaves appear after the flowers have gone to fluffy seed that fly through the air in puffy white little clouds.

The leaves look lung shaped and treat lung conditions helping to reduce inflammation and spasms. It is mildly bitter, demulcent, astringent and cooling.

It was so hot this year it was the first time in May I dipped in Georgian Bay. I have seen the most stunning sunsets on Georgian Bay and I wish I could post them all on here.

Around Tobermory is where Georgian Bay meets the rest of the Great Lakes and thousand-year old cedars grow on windswept cliff sides. There is camping, diving, hiking, biking, swimming, a natural grotto and all around beauty to take in.

I love Georgian Bay!

]]> http://earthelixir.ca/2012/05/22/georgian-bay/feed/ 0 earthelixir http://earthelixir.ca/2012/05/16/bleeding-hearts/ http://earthelixir.ca/2012/05/16/bleeding-hearts/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 23:38:41 +0000 Earth Elixir http://earthelixir.ca/?p=1502 ]]> Bleeding hearts ~Lamprocapnos spectabilis (formerly Dicentra spectabilis)

are an ornamental perennial flower that bloom every springtime.

They are woodland plants that prefer shade and well-drained soil.

This is the pink fringed bleeding heart.

This is a white bleeding heart variety.

Bleeding hearts are easy to grow but plant some summer plants like hosta beside it to fill in the gaps when they finish flowering in spring.

Wisteria is the Latin Genus name and then a variety of different species fall under the Genus name.

They are woody vine climbers from the pea family (Fabaceae).

Wisteria perfumes the air with its delicious smell and some varieties are edible and made into wine.

I have grown vines from seed but they take over 7 years or more to bloom so propagation by cutting is faster. The long hairy seed pod has 2-3 or more seeds. When it dries it curls and pops the seeds out the pod with a loud bang which woke me out of a sleep one time.

Wisteria grows fast and needs strong support to climb on.

Wisteria needs a bit of pruning into shape by cutting the curly spiral ends off, but it is well worth the effort!

I wish you could smell this right now, it is intoxicating!

is another wild nutritious edible green food that has A, some B and C vitamins in it.

Garlic mustard is an alien invasive weed that displaces native plants so pick as much as you would like to eat. It is a biennial that flowers in the second year.

Eat it raw in salads or use it as a herb, the stem cut be cut like chives or use the leaves. Garlic mustard is also steamed, sautéed or cooked in soup and stews, eaten as a side green or made into pesto.

Plant Tulip bulbs in the fall for bursts of amazing colour in the spring time and they come back every year!

Happy Mother’s day to all Mothers and all women who nuture! <3