Choosing Plants for Your Woodland Botanical Garden-Are You a Purist?

When we talk about shade medicinal herb gardens, I find there are two distinct groups of gardeners: those who will only use native medicinal plants and those who like to "mix it up a bit". As I wrote in the new home garden section of my book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals (you can order it by clicking on one of the "Add to Cart" buttons on the right sidebar of this blog) "As you make your shade garden plans, consider what kind of plants you want in it. Do you want to grow only native plants? Do you want mostly native plants with some exotics thrown in for color and interest? Do you want to plant only medicinal plants? What about designing a garden of medicinal and edible plants? Are you trying to create a particular garden that will need some specific trees and plants, such as Spanish moss hanging from tree limbs for a Southern garden ambiance? Don't take this all too seriously. Have fun. Collect plants from friends, festivals, and herbalists. If a plant is not a medicinal herb but you really like it, so what? Put it in your garden. And don't be afraid to make mistakes. You can always move plants!" 

Further along in that chapter, there are cautions about introducing invasive plants or potentially toxic plants, but I go on to describe a large number of medicinal herbs, vines, shrubs, small trees, big trees, ferns, berries, mosses, and non-medicinal plants to consider. The bottom line is this is your garden. You can make it whatever you want it to be. If you want it to look like a botanical garden with metal identification tags with common and scientific names in front of every plant, go for it. If you want it to be a whimsical fairy land with beautiful medicinal, edible, and decorative plants with gazing globes, a small waterfall, and wind chimes included, I love those, too. Gardening should bring us pleasure and make us smile-embrace it, have fun, and remember to share your pictures!

My ginseng and goldenseal book is now available as an ebook!

In 2005, wild-simulated ginseng expert, Scott Persons, and I published the book "Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals. It sold out fairly quickly and so we did a minor revision and another printing in 2007. All those copies are gone now, too. Unfortunately, our publisher Cynthia Bright of Bright Mountain Books, is retiring and we have to look for a new publisher. In the meantime, she arranged to have our book released in an ebook version so it is still available (thank you, Cynthia!). You can now download the book to your Nook, Kindle, computer, smartphone, or tablet. Instant gratification!!!  I love it. It is the complete book for only $15.  It is available through the links above and through a number of other online ebook retailers.  Be careful, we have already found two illegal download offerings for pdf versions but Trend Micro gives a "dangerous" warning if you click on the links.

In addition, Scott and I are negotiating with a new publisher to produce an expanded new version of our book. We will update all the information in the current book AND I will add a chapter just for home gardeners. The demand for me to give workshops and presentations to home gardeners has exploded, so it's time to put that information in print. We expect that book to be available in spring 2014.

UPDATE July 2013: Scott and I signed a contract with New Society Publishers in Canada and plan to release the new book next summer.  Until then, the ebook version of the current book is good. There will be some broken links on some URLs, but you can search for updated ones and the prices shown for some herbs will be out of date, but still give you a good idea of what herbs are selling for.

Jeanine Will Be Speaking at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on Nov. 4 and 6

Photo from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens website

This weekend I'm prepping for my presentations at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on November 4 and 6, 2010. 

On Thursday evening, I will be giving a lecture entitled "Exotic and Edible: Unusual Plants and Fungi for Home Gardens".  My objective is to get my audience of gardeners to "think outside the box".  Often when I talk to people about growing something new and different in their gardens, they mention new varieties or unusual forms of a common vegetable, e.g., purple cauliflower or white tomatoes.  In this presentation I want to introduce people to crops they might never have heard of or never thought about growing themselves.  Some of these plants or fungi are easy to grow, but others are challenging and only a few gardeners will be successful producing them.  But what fun, huh?  Wouldn't you like to be the first in your neighborhood growing wasabi, hops, or truffles?

Free Alston Lecture, Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 7 p.m.  No reservations required.

Then on Saturday, I will be offering a full-day workshop on "Growing Your Own Pharmacy".  This will be directed at home gardeners, but people who are interested in perhaps doing this commercially will also gain a lot from the workshop.  There will be several colorful Powerpoint presentations illustrating 20 or more medicinal herbs to grow in the sun and shade and how to grow, harvest, and dry herbs.  There will also be two hands-on activities.  One on making simple tinctures and another on propagating medicinal herbs.  All attendees will go home with "tinctures in process" and several potted plants.

Workshop is Saturday, November 6, 2010 from 10 am to 3 pm with lunch included.  $75 ($65 for garden members).  Reservations are required.  Contact the Botanical Garden directly for that information.

Atlanta Botanical Garden

Now, off to the stores to buy some of my supplies!  This is going to be so much fun!!!