A Garden Tour

Gardening is very beneficial for your health, being outside, moving around and performing a skill are all good for well-being. Picking your breeds of plant is most fun and educational. Have an ailment? Grow a medicinal herb. Have a favorite color? Choose the flowering plants that please you. I am fond of purple and pink, perennials are great for returning every year. Let’s go for our garden tour!

Ginger also called Zingiber officinale is a flowering plant whose rhizome, which is the ginger root is used as a medicine and spice. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of rolled bases of leaves) about one meter tall bearing narrow leaf blades. From the family Zingiberaceae, it originated in Maritime Southeast Asia. Used in the spice trade the Romans and ancient Egyptians used it in everyday life. Ginger produces clusters of white and pink flower buds that bloom into yellow flowers. It is a perennial reed like plant with annual leafy stems, about a meter (3 feet) tall. Ginger can treat nausea, weight loss, lowers blood sugars and improve heart disease risk factors, osteoarthrosis and indigestion. Try it out next time you’re at the grocery store!

Hibiscus, genus hibiscus is part of the herbs, shrubs and trees in the mallow family. They are native to warm temperate and tropical regions. The leaves are often lobed and may be smooth or covered in trichomes 9plant hairs0. The flowers can be borne singly or in clusters and the flowers of many species last only a single day. An epicalyx (whorl of leaf like bracts that surrounds the sepals) is particularly common. The stamens are typically fused into a tube. Members of the genus characteristically have spiny pollen, and their fruits are capsules. Chinese hibiscus may reach a height of 4.5 meters (15feet). It is grown for its large somewhat bell shaped blossoms. They have varieties of red, white, yellow or orange flowers.

Juniper, genus juniperus, genus of about 60 to 70 species of aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs of the cypress family, cupressaceae. It is distributed throughout North Hemisphere. A number of species are cultivated as ornamentals and are useful for their timber. The leaves of a juniper a needlelike at first, and are arranged in pairs or in whorls of three. Some species have small scale like leaves often bearing an oil gland, which are pressed closely to the rounded or four angles brachlets. Male and female reproductive structures usually are borne on separate plants. Medicinally juniper berries are used for digestion problems, heartburn, bloating and loss of appetite.

Marigold, genus calendula are common marigold also called pot marigold, ruddles or scotch marigold. They have showy usually yellow, orange, or maroon flower heads. There is also Cape marigold, desert marigold, march marigold, corn marigold and tree marigold. Middle English is marigolde, marygoldye from Mary referring to the Virgin Mary. They are in bloom from June to October. The major medicinal applications of marigold are skin conditions of all kinds, including contusions, bruises, varicose veins, minor skin injuries and inflammation can be treated. Marigold ointment promotes wound healing for eczema and sunburns. The fresh flowers must be preserved in olive oil and then stored in a cool and dark place. After three weeks the filtered oil can be mixed with wax to make the ointment. Decanted into a jar the, ointment can set and will now last several months. In a tea it will relieve cramps and aids digestion and nausea. It can also relieve headaches and facilitate sleep.

So now that you have a few options of what to grow, start your seed hunting journey at your garden center or even on line. With some hard work in the dirt you can have a plentiful summer of fruits and veggies.