Echinacea is growing slowly
Aristotle here again and my echinacea is growing slowly. I’ve grown it from seed. The plan was to have a whole line of it at the back of my new herb patch. Unfortunately ,some of the first batch of plants died. We’d grown some spares so we put those in instead. Unfortunately, some of the replacement plants have died too. I’m not a dog to be thwarted. As a breed we don’t give up. I’ve asked Mum if we can plant some more next year to fill in the gaps. The plan had been to have alternate purple and white flowers. I got everything mixed up and as they won’t flower until next year it will be a lovely surprise to see what the pattern is.
Echinacea Boosting immunity
They are all echinacea purpurea which is good for the immune system. You can turn the flowers, leaves and roots into a herbal tea – although it’s going to have to grow quite a lot before there is enough to do that with.
Sage
In front of the echinacea I’m growing sage. Again the colours were going to alternate. That plan didn’t work either and I’m now alternating the sage with lavender, except where the plants switched round when I wasn’t looking.
I’d got sage in a number of places around the garden, but for some reason, despite watering it, lots of it has died. Thankfully the plants next to the echinacea are starting to do quite well.
Mum likes using sage in cooking, but that’s not the only thing it’s useful for. It’s very good for digestion. However, it also has anti-bacterial properties so can be used as a cleaner and can work to naturally repel insects. It’s a pretty good all-rounder.
Lavender
Because I didn’t end up with enough sage plants I alternated it with lavender. We love lavender in our garden and have lots of it. The bees really like it, so having it near the fruit trees helps to attract them as pollinators. Mum loves the smell of it too. It is good for helping you relax and is also good at discouraging clothes moths. Mum is currently harvesting our lavender to refill the lavender bags that can then go in amongst her clothes to protect them.
You can also make lavender ice-cream, but Mum has never done that for us.
A sharing dog
I should just finish by saying I’m in trouble with Dad. We have a pear tree which had four very healthy looking pears on it. Yesterday I decided they were ready to eat and Dad wasn’t here. It seemed a shame to let them go to waste, so I reached up and took one down for me and another which I gave to Wilma. Mum saw me do it and was astounded. She was more shocked than anything when the next time she looked we’d had the other two as well. Dad is cross as he says they would have been fine on the tree until he comes home. Hopefully he’ll have forgotten by the time he seems me.
Have a great day
Love Aristotle