Lemonbalm (Melissa officinalis) is springing up from its perennial roots. This little patch, which will become half a meter tall in a couple of months time, has a treepit as its home.
Many people know how refreshing and uplifting a pot of Lemonbalm tea can be. Not so many use it as an antiviral. It’s very easy to make an infused oil from this herb and then to turn a little of that into cold sore healing lip balm, just with the addition of a little beeswax.
Ground Ivy is a useful evergreen herb from the mint family.
Here it is creeping throughout the now bare undergrowth of Park Frankendael hedgerow.
Not edible violets but edible Campanula, beneath a bike rack.
Grape hyacinths, just in flower.
Edible flowers (and later fruit) of Japonica / Japanese Quince.
Wormwood – the first time I’ve seen it outside of my street!
Viola, edible and medicinal just like their wild sisters the Violets.
It’s great to see the sun on my way to work this week – it had been dark at that time of day for many weeks. As we feel more energetic due to the increased light so too
do our plant neighbours.
This is the herb garden of park Frankendael, seen from Hugo de Vrieslaan, this morning. It doesn’t look much at present but give it a few weeks and it will be green, lush, medicinal and tasty. I don’t pick from that garden – it’s for everyone but I do look out for escapes which have naturalised close by. Skullcap is one such favourite from that patch.
And here’s a herb which also grows in that planted herb garden but which loves Amsterdam! Greater celandine, toxic but very useful for some skin conditions (if used appropriately) such as Herpes. I wouldn’t put it anywhere near lips or delicate skin. Benign moles are also sometimes treated with the sap.
Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacae) today, near the bus shelter on the corner of the park, where I start my working day. I stepped into the waste land there, to look for early signs of Mugwort. Too early for that but this Ground ivy stood out due to it’s large leaves. It looks almost like the first leaves of Garlic mustard and that is always a welcome sight. Ground ivy has been used a lot over the years. It is an interesting aromatic evergreen Labiate which has varied uses. I like it as an occasional salad leaf or chopped up in a soup or stew. It also makes a tea that can refresh winter sinuses.
Here is a tasty, nutrient packed, flowering patch of Chickweed (Stellaria media), snuggling around the base of some planted Bamboo (young shoots are edible) in a plant pot on the Middenweg. At the foot of the pot is a very pretty little herb Geranium.
And here is Hairy bittercress, a very tasty little plant, closely related to Chickweed and very easy to identify and eat in salads or cooked food.
More snow in Amsterdam today so a pleasant but chilly walk in park Frankendael, to collect a few Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) leaves.
I gathered nine leaves, that’s enough to see my family through the week, with a garlicy meal a day. I preserved them in a tiny jam jar of olive oil, after chopping the leaves finely. Storing them in this way, at room temperature, makes using Ramsons in cooking as simple a possible.
Dandelion in a pavement crack today.
See how their teeth point downwards? That’s a useful way to help identify the plant.
Today a photo of a plant that takes me right back to my childhood on the outskirts of Bristol.
This is Aubretia and soon it will form cascading blue carpets of flowers on walls and plant pots throughout the UK. I see it far less in the Netherlands but wonder if it’s edible or not. It is a member of the Brassica family, which are generally edible plants. I’m going to try a flower or two when they form this spring. It could be a useful plant, if it is edible. It I’d already known to provide excellent ground cover and grows quite easily.
I visited the design studios at Spike Island in Bristol today and found some tree pits and earthy spaces which would benefit from herbs,
And others which already host the usual wintery urban suspects; dandelion, chickweed, hairy bitter cress and more.
It would be great to create some sort of living weed art around this centre.
Urban Herbology 