Solving the "Problem" with Lemon Balm!

Lemon Balm, Melissa officinalis

Wow! Equinox, the mid-point between winter and summer solstices has come and gone! Now, nature's full expansive force is an energy to reckon in the course forward...I love this time of year! The generative potency is palpable, especially for those who garden!

Yesterday, I was in the garden and found so many allies emerging. We are headlong into the season of divide and multiply...the garden being the one place that this type of math is exponentially enjoyed!

One plant in particular in the dooryard garden was ready to jump the container...

Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis. A frisky garden grower if there ever was one. A plant that garners the rage of many gardeners for her so-called promiscuity. You see, this plant incites the bees to ecstasy and while they dive deep into her open blooms they contribute to the abundance of seed that can and, I might add from personal experience, become a problem in many a garden! Melissa means "bee" in Greek. And, to this day, there remains a strong affinity between plant and insect!

Like most "problems" when one has more information different behavior can eliminate or at least manage the severity of the "problem"! Well, lemon balm proliferates primarily through seed unlike other mints that run. That is, some mints' habit is to push growth in the form of stolons, creeping horizontal plant stems or runners that take root at points along its length to form new plants. While Melissa has stolons of sorts, they are not wont to extend from the mother plant at a very fast rate.

Lemon Balm lifted and ready for dividing

Melissa prefers the bee aspect of the birds and bees pollination ritual. A clumping perennial, her roots stay closer to home. She prefers to scatter her progeny far and wide by seed, overtaking many an innocent's garden!

This can be a nightmare, as many of you may know from experience. Myself, being driven from more than one garden by unruly residents, I am happy to say, years ago I found the "perfect solution", "fix" "cure" to this mundane gardening inconvenience.

It goes like this...When your lemon balm is about to set seed, that is when in full flower, cut the plant to the ground. Not one or two inches from the ground. Cut the lemon balm all the way to the ground*. Bundle the stalks up, this may be an armful for an older plant and head for the shower! Yup, take that leafy green armload of herb into the shower with you. The delight in having a garden is the abundance of plant material one has and the extravagance in how many ways you have to engage the energies of those plants!

Now, turn on the hot water, get in there and STOMP! As the heat lifts the scent out of the crushed leaves into the air, be prepared to engage a mind altering, heart lifting experience! Upon performing this nuanced ritual of early summer garden control, a friend described his experience as psychotropic! This is natural scent therapy at its finest...Once this ritual was revealed to me in the grip of a wild moment of frustration with an unruly, innocuous plant...my appreciation for Melissa exploded exponentially.

A sleeper of sorts, neither flamboyant nor showy in any way in the garden. Almost invisible in her demeanor. You know, one of those plants that make every one else look good as the green foil but alone is quite invisible! This hot water ritual broke Melissa's secret chamber wide open.

After the lemony shower, I felt refreshed, mentally alert but not on edge. Upon further investigation, I found lemon balm is a favored herb for gently opening the surface of the body relieving heat. Mild enough for use with children and the infirm for cooling relief in fever. When my son had measles, we gently swabbed his skin with Melissa made as a short infusion. A short infusion can be drunk or used as a soothing wash. The scent alone brightens the countenance of one who is not feeling their best.

Melissa is known for improving immune function, calming distress, strengthening the nerves. A favored quote regarding Melissa's attributes: "Melissa officinalis dispels melancholy and uplifts the spirit". This language invites use. A short infusion, is an infusion made in a covered pot that only steeps 5-10 minutes before use. Remember, the essential oils in plants are intended to safe guard the plant from ingestion by other creatures. With this in mind, a short infusion serves to extract a small amount of volatile oil. By pouring the tea and allowing it to rest a bit before sipping or swabbing, the oils dissipate leaving a pleasant beverage or wash through which one can enjoy the health benefits the herb possesses.

This is an herb for every garden! Especially those with afternoon shade. We'll explore Melissa officinalis in more depth as we grow on...

Melissa divisions in their new home in the East Hedge
amidst black currant, elderberry and Josta berry

Lemon Balm: Melissa officinalis

Plant Class: Herbaceous perennial
Etymology: Balm or balsam -with sweet smelling oils, Melissa, bees
Propagation: by seed, summer cuttings and spring and fall division
Flowers/Fruit/Seeds: Clusters of small pale yellow flowers in the axils of the leaves
Parts used: Leaves and flowers
Leaves: Opposite, heart shaped leaves with serrated edges, give off a heady lemon scent when bruised and have a delicate lemon flavor
Flowering Season: June to August, can be harvested up to 3 times in long growing seasons
Distribution: widely grown in the Mediterranean and France and over much of North America. Prefers warm climates.

* When cutting mint family plants, the stubble left behind (by those refusing to cut to the ground) are sharp needle-like stalks which inflict painful, penetrating wounds! Trust me on this! Cut your mints at ground level...they will grow back!

Dancing the Round in the Merry Month of May

An hawthorn hedge in the Snoqualmie Valley, WA

What a luscious May week. Rain and sun, hot and cold, perfect in every way, so reminiscent of maiden energy! Long underwear on one day, barefoot the next! 

This week, I followed blooming hawthorn up and down the Snoqualmie Valley. Seeing the persistence of remnant hedges brings to mind a once thriving agricultural activity that prospered people here. After years of agricultural decline, it is uplifting to see a return of vibrant young farmers and hungry eaters eagerly growing a new world from the ground up. This enthusiasm is a heartfelt match for the bounty and medicine of the many crataegus gowing in our valley. Although the week was filled with rainy days, one fine, sun filled day opened to the possibility of harvest. After morning rounds, I put my kit together and set off for a ramble in the hedge.

Over the years, I’ve found much medicine in visits and tendings of trees, shrubs and perennial wild herbs engaged in my rounds. Over time, I’ve found visiting plants as deeply nourishing, if not more so, as their constituents. These plants are friends, when we see one another after a long spell, there is mutual greeting and sweet remembrance of who we are. Some offer themselves in harvest, others offer solace and comfort just in their presence, some give shape and form, color and fragrance to life which feeds a deep place; a place reflecting the same beauty the plants offer in the practice of a lemniscate life. I’ve come to know this way of plants as the order and flow of an ever changing, growing universe and am reassured through these long term relationships, that, “all is well in this world”.

Local Diversity in Hawthorns

Haw Thorns, Serious!

This week I was amazed by the diversity in the hawthorn trees I met along the way. A wide range of leaf forms from serrate to deeply lobed, resembling mittens or paws. So many different flower clustering habits. And, unique thorn forms from short 1/2” piercing mechanisms to thorns over 1 1/2” in length. Thorns, those sharp, woody spines, modified branches, function mechanically as a deterrent to herbivory, which, I admit, I was wont to do! Even the shapes of hawthorn trees differed greatly. 

Many years ago I read about this in a book by Alan Watts. A sameness enough to recognize the trees as their genus, yet, seeing each tree’s individual difference referred to as li, ‘“the underlying reason and order of nature as reflected in its organic forms.” Zhu Xi, in the Neo-Confucian period in China “held that li, together with qi, or vital material force, depend on each other to create structures of nature and matter”.  It was during this period of history that Buddhism became more integrated into Confucianism. Some now embrace a further philosophical shifting as seen in a westernized version of tao, or watercourse way and recognize patterns of li as patterns of flowing water. I was so moved by the possibility this perspective offered, my youngest son carries the name Li.

What, you ask, does this have to do with hawthorn, medicine, or you? Given the engaging transitions our world is currently experiencing set me on a quest through space and time looking for patterns and morphologies of culture that may currently serve our personal and collective transitions.  

Hawthorn: Keynote Heart Remedy

Crataegus monogyna, Snoqualmie Valley, WA

Hawthorn stands out as a keynote medicine for strengthening heart and is a perfect tonic for the times. Crataegus spp. is a genus comprising some 200-300 species worldwide, being used in many cultures through centuries for a variety of therapeutic purposes. The World Heath Organization, WHO, lists cardiovascular disease as globally the number one cause of death and the American Heart Association cites heart disease as the number one killer of American adults. Personally, my father had 3 open heart surgeries in the last 30 years of his life. I have experienced the toll a troubled heart can have on a family’s well-being in many ways. I’m sure his experience spurred me toward a better understanding of natural health, herbal remedies and spirit healing in matters of the heart. 

We live in challenging times. In keeping with the wise tradition of using hands-on accessible medicine, I am delighted to see so many Hawthorn in our NW region, along with its global distribution and long term use. Various species of hawthorn are found locally on roadsides, in hedges, in public and private gardens and in the wild. You might find Crataegus monogyna, C. oxycantha, C. douglasii, C. laviegata and frisky as these trees are at calling in their allies, i.e. the birds and the bees, the squirrels and the breeze, you’ll find innumerable natural hybrids! Again, perfect medicine for our times and abundantly available.

Rambling with Hawthorn

"Enjoy the day a bit," they intoned.

While on my Hawthorn ramble, I had the good fortune to visit a dignified group of old trees in a remnant hedge. As I began to harvest, they encouraged me to pause and sit a spell. “Enjoy the day a bit”, they intoned! The cool, tall grass was a tad more than slightly damp and smelled fresh and green as I settled in under the trees. I felt tension held in my body give way, melting into earth. Simultaneously, I felt earth energy moving up into the empty space recharging my body with a refreshing vitality. 

So many connections weave a life

The clear blue sky marked with wispy, white clouds made a brilliant, saturated backdrop for the profuse white blossoms adorning the trees. An energetic hum filled my ears as honey bees busily burdened themselves with bluging saddle bags of pollen. A butterfly slowly opened her wings and then just as slowly closed them. A fragrance, somewhere between earthy and heavenly, rich and fertile, filled the air wafting into my nose and settling down into deep consciousness. It is easy to imagine why she is called Mayflower and how it happens that fertility rites are part of this season in the northern hemisphere. Birds flitted and darted around the trees, chasing one another in the reckless abandon of the season. Recharged from my dreamy, restful meander, I picked up the loppers and began the harvest. So many flowers, so few needed to abundantly fill the tea cupboard at home for a winter of nourishing infusions. 

Health Benefits

Knowing each leaf and flower is filled with antioxidants, bioflavonoids, vasorelaxants and vitamins which increase blood flow to the heart and brain, strengthen the contractions of the heart, tone the circulatory system by strengthening cell walls in arteries, normalize blood pressure, improve exercise capacity and duration and reduce the need for the body to create plaque on arteries brings great impetus to get to know this herb well. We are now beginning to recognize the health building value of bee-song, butterfly whispers and myriad unknown constituents that will be released into densely nutritive infusions brewed from the flowers and leaves of the simply amazing hawthorn as well.

Harvest 

Harvest by removing 3’ long pieces of branches with a pair of strong loppers. Remove crossed branches to open the canopy for air flow, ones hanging too low and, generally, use the pruning/harvest to improve the structure and health of the tree. Over time trees improve in vigor and health with careful tending. Heap onto a cloth for transport back to the car. 

Ready for transport

Occasionally, branches are still filled with the hum of a hitchhiking bee, enjoy! At home, flower and leaf clusters are deftly plucked by hand from the short spurs, mind the thorns or they’ll mind you! 

Plucked branches and drying baskets

Then, flowers and leaves are laid out on cloths and in baskets to air dry. Depending on humidity the herb may take from a few days to over a week to completely dry. Dried flowers and leaves are then placed in paper bags, put in the freezer 3-5 days to inhibit unwanted larva lingering in the material from hatching in storage and, finally, store bags in a dark, dry closet or cupboard.

Making Hawthorn Herbal Vinegar

Hawthorn vinegar basking in the sun

1. Fill any size jar with fresh hawthorn flowers and leaves lightly packed, you know, so a fairy jumping in neither bounces out or sinks to the bottom

2. Now, fill the jar again with apple cider vinegar, watch out for decoys labeled as apple cider flavored vinegar, which is distilled vinegar flavored like apple cider vinegar, no apples no health benefits!

3. Enjoy this earthy vinegar in any recipe calling for a sour taste, on salads, as a condiment on beans, greens or grains 
It delivers flavor and a stiff dose of heart health with a side of courage! 

Can You Find a Hawthorn Close to You?

Hawthorn tree alive with honey bees and a butterfly!

Now, go outside, take a look around. What kind of  trees are blooming in your neighborhood right now?  Find the nearest hawthorn to your home. If you miss leaf and flower harvest, watch for the berries, which are botanically pomes, like apples, both being in the grand family of Roses and prepare for another harvest come fall. Please note! A possible side effect of an increasing awareness of plant life around you is a condition known as 55 MPH botany. Bee warned! 

Stay Tuned...

There’s more coming on this delightful hedge medicine ally. More remedies and recipes, folklore, cultural uses, magick and crafts! 

And, if you will, comment with your natural discoveries, rambles and recipes in search of the ubiquitous hawthorn.

Until next time... Be Well, go outside often, enjoy the meander...

A hybrid cross between Hawthorn and Mtn. Ash in the S. hedge at RavenCroft