Deer Proof Your Garden with these 10 Herbs - Herb of the Week

Gardening in Deer Country depends on a number of factors including weather, attitudes of neighbors, and the season.  If your neighbors feed the deer in winter, you will have more deer closer to your home.  They are creatures of habit and once they find someplace they like, they will keep returning. But having a fragrant herb garden is a confusing place for deer. They use scent to keep track of predators, so the scents in the garden can overpower that making them shy away.

Having a dog in the yard, even a small one can also deter deer.  Solutions with blood meal, urine, peppers, garlic, eggs and mint also keep away unwanted animals.  Applying these products around your property edge can work wonders.  However, they will need to be reapplied after rain or heavy watering.

If you have a floral landscape you many want to incorporate some of the plants in the following list to add the kinds of scents deer tend to avoid. Here is a list of 10:

1. Horehound (Marrubium vulgare) - A hardy perennial that grows to about 2 1/2 feet; deer generally dislike the foliage because of its bitter menthol-like flavor.  It will self-seed, so dead head the blooms.
   

2. Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) - This native plant comes in many varieties and any will work.  Blooming in the fall it will send out 3 foot panicles in late summer.  You can start form seed or plants.

3. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) - Grow this in a container so you can bring it inside for winter.  You want an upright variety that will be a deer nose level, as they dislike the scent.

4. Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) Another Native perennial in the mint family, the dense spikes of purple flowers are very fragrant on 3-to-4-foot stems.  Not only will it attract bees and other pollinators, the scent keep deer at bay.

5. French Tarragon (Artemesia dracunculus) This perennial can get to 2 to 3 feet in the second year it has bittersweet leaves with an anise scent deer dislike.

6. Poppy (Papaver orientale) - This reseeding annual has pretty blooms in a myriad of colors and forms.  It is easy to grow, just scatter the seed throughout the garden.

7. Lavender (Lavendula spp) - Many varieties and species to pick from choose the stronger scented ones for deer resistance and the lighter scented ones to cook with.  Start them from plants and stick to the ones hardiest in your area.

8, Santolina (Santolina spp) comes in both gray and green leaf forms, it is a small shrub with strongly scented leaves.  Only 12 to 16 inches tall is makes a nice evergreen edging that can create a nice barrier.

9. Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) another hearty shrub, it has bright red berries and sharp spines.  It is easy to grow as a hedge  and can reach 8 feet tall in ideal conditions.  Place it in the back of the garden where deer like to slip in and they will think twice.

10. Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) a hearty native milkweed, it has yellow, red and orange blooms that butterflies adore.

The key to making these plants work for you is allowing them to get to a mature size, so protect the young seedlings from rabbits and deer with small cages.

Coping with Seasonal Sore Throats with Herbs

I am not advocating self medication, but I wanted to share a few traditional recipes some of which are old and by old I mean hundreds of years.

One of my pastimes is to read old receipt books and historical herbals.  I have a great resource just around the corner, The Morton Arboretum.  They have a great library which focuses on botanical works.  From that library and a few others I have read several historical books about using herbs.

In the book the The American Frugal Housewife by Mrs. Child (first published in 1833) was a recipe for a poultice for the throat.  Growing up, my mother would smear my throat with Vicks Vaporub and wrap a towel around my neck, so this recipe struck me as immediately familiar.  I am thinking with the alcohol you got some of the same properties you get from inhaling the eucalyptus and mint in Vaporub. See below for my home made Vaporub recipe too!  And if you want an herbal tea for coughs, check out this previous blog post.

Mrs. Child’s Poultice

The pulp of a roasted apple, mixed with an ounce of tobacco, the whole wet with spirits of wine, or any other high spirits, spread on a linen rag, and bound upon the throat at any period of the disorder.

Horehound Lozenges

Horehound the herb has a long history of throat treatment.  It was detailed a book entitled Medical Botany by William Woodville, M.D., in 1790. And was mentioned as an ingredient in lozenges by Dr. Youman in his book A Dictionary of Everyday Wants from 1878. 

To make Horehound Lozenges: Put an ounce of horehound root powder in a bowl.  Slowly add honey, stirring constantly, until you have a thick paste.  Roll your paste into small balls.  Roll the balls in more horehound root powder.  Store in a tightly-closed tin. These will keep for up to ten years.

Drink a hot toddy

This is my husband’s favorite remedy for every winter ailment and illness.  He makes a tea, he will use a black tea or an herbal tea.  In one mug of brewed tea he squeezes in a lemon wedge, adds a tablespoon or more of honey and tops it off with a finger of whiskey or bourbon.

I think this may be a throwback to some family history as in the 1930s during prohibition; rye whiskey was sold as a medicinal liquor when made into something called Rock and Rye.  I found this recipe for a traditional Rock and Rye on the FingerlakesDistillery website. 

Rock and Rye

1 bottle McKenzie Rye
1 ounce dried cherries
1 orange peel
1 lemon peel
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
2 6-inch lengths of rock candy
1 tsp dried horehound

Combine the McKenzie rye, cherries, orange and lemon peels, cinnamon stick and one length of the candy in a bowl with a cover and let sit – at room temperature – for 3 days.

Add the cloves, other piece of candy, and the horehound wrapped in cheesecloth for two additional days. Use a strainer lined  with cheesecloth and pour into a jar or the empty McKenzie rye bottle.

Then get lots of rest.

Marcy’s Homemade Vicks substitute

10 drops peppermint essential oil
5 drops eucalyptus essential oil
2 drops tea tree oil
2 teaspoons almond oil


Combine these natural ingredients. This will be more concentrated than Vicks Vaporub (which was originally made with petroleum jelly). You can dip a cotton swab in it then dab it on chest, feet or outside the ears. Place the dipped swab in a plastic bag and bring it with you or keep by the sick bed.  One dipped swab will last all day.

Cough Relief Herbal Tea - Weekend Recipe

Coughs are very common in the winter months.  A cough remedy or cough drop is always a good idea, but in a hurry a cough relief tea is also quick and easy.  You can blend up this recipe of cough relief herbs way in advance and use just 3 tsp. per cup of hot water.  Allow the tea to steep for 5 to 7 minutes.  Drink this tea as often as needed.

This blend makes a strong tea to help relieve your cough as well as make coughs more productive to rid the body of toxins and heal quicker.  This recipe will make 5 1/2 cups which should be enough to get you through the winter.   Enjoy!

Cough Relief Herbal Blend

1/2 cup each:
Red Clover Blossoms
Horehound
Mullein Leaf
Nettle Leaf
Echinacea Purpurea Leaf
Marshmallow Root

1/4 cup each:
Thyme
White Pine Bark
Elecampane Root
Echinacea Purpurea Root
Wild Cherry Bark
Licorice Root

1 cup:
Peppermint Leaf

Combine and store in an air tight container.

Irish Herb Lore for St. Patrick's Day

Nearly every country and culture has its own herb lore – native plants that that were long believed to promote good health, and even good luck, to those who ate, drank, or carried them. My family and especially the family of my husband are both German and Irish.  In celebration of my husbands Patron Saint, St. Patrick, I thought today would be a great day to focus on special herbs of Ireland.

Ireland has a wealth of herbal lore passed on by local healers.  Unlike much of Europe that turned away from herbal remedies and healing methods with the start of the Industrial Age, Ireland held onto those herbal traditions.  So here is a quick look at some herbal remedies passed down by the “fairy doctors” of old Éire.

Herbs of Ireland

Comfrey Root: Used for healing minor cuts, scrapes, and burns, battling inflammation from diaper rash, varicose veins, and arthritis, and reducing swelling from bruises, sprains, or pulled muscles.

Dandelion Leaves: Used externally on wounds as an antibacterial, and to remove corns and warts. Used internally to promote healthy kidneys, prevent gallstones, fight jaundice, ease constipation, and soothe edema, joint pain, gout, eczema, and acne.

Eyebright: A solution of eyebright was used as an eyewash or compress to reduce inflammation from conjunctivitis, eyestrain, styes, and general eye irritation. It was also taken internally for allergies, bronchitis, colds, and sinus infections.

Feverfew: Used as a remedy for headaches, arthritis, fevers, skin conditions, stomach aches, and asthma. Also used to promote more regular menstrual cycles and ease childbirth.

Garlic (wild): Used to soothe coughs, asthma, and shortness of breath.

Horehound: Used as a cough expectorant and mild laxative, and to bring on menstruation.

Marshmallow Leaves: Used in dressings to soothe sprains and swelling.

Meadowsweet: Used to treat arthritis pain. (Contains salicylic acid, which is chemically similar to an active ingredient in aspirin).

Mullein

Mullein: Used as a decongestant and expectorant for respiratory illnesses. Also used to soothe sore throats, treat diarrhea, and cure earaches.

Nettles: Used to treat rashes, eczema, arthritis, gout, and diarrhea. [unless your allergic!]

Sphagnum Moss: Used to dress wounds.

Vervain: Used to promote a healthy liver, fight fatigue, reduce fever, prevent insomnia, soothe asthma, and promote more regular menstrual cycles.

Willow Bark: Used to treat arthritis pain. (Contains salicylic acid, which is chemically similar to an active ingredient in aspirin).

Yarrow: Used to reduce bleeding in wounds, ulcers, hemorrhoids, etc. Also used to reduce inflammation and treat aches and pains. (Contains salicylic acid, which is chemically similar to an active ingredient in aspirin).