More Healing Plants!

A year ago, my son and sweet daughter-in-law sent me a ginger root so I could perhaps get a start of a new type. This was supposedly one that makes red flowers, I only had the white. I happily planted the root in a large flower pot so I could keep it separate from the other. I was elated to receive the root since I use so much ginger in cooking and for herbal remedies. The red-flowering type is supposed to be stronger than the white, so I was eager to try to grow this plant! For an entire year, the roots sat in the dirt and did nothing...not sprout..not rot..nothing, just sat. I had given up on the root ever doing anything. "Dumb root." I thought, "This thing is not going to ever do anything." My youngest son told me to have patience..leave it be. Well, now something has happened in that pot. There is something growing..I am not sure if it is the ginger root or some stray plant but there it is growing wild and free! I am wondering if this is the ginger or if by some chance, I stuck another plant in the same pot..I have been known to do that! Anyway, whatever is growing in the pot is getting rather large. It does not even remotely resemble the other ginger. Those have tall leaves that sort of remind me of Canna Lilies..this has small, heart shaped leaves that flare out from the base like a hand. I know there are many types of ginger and this very well could be one. I guess I will just have to wait and see if it blooms before I will know for sure..or I could just pull off a piece of the root and take a sniff!

Down the hill near the marsh edge, the Sawtooth Palmettos are blooming! This palmetto is one of the "fan" palms that grows wild all along the Coast. There are several large clumps of the palmetto growing wild around the property. The blooms are large clusters of yellowish gold and these will later produce "dates". This fruit is the same that is purported to have many medical uses. I have always been curious as to the taste of this fruit but have never had the courage to just grab one and pop it in my mouth. For that matter I doubt that I will ever see any ripen as the critters around here have a tendency to eat any and everything that even remotely resembles a food source! Maybe I should stick a large cage over one of the blooms just to see if I can safekeep one "date".

While we are on the subject of healing plants..both the ginger and palmetto fall in this category..I learned something quite remarkable the other day! It seems that the Old South favorite, Mimosa..is not mimosa after all! This beloved tree is not what it seems! The actual name is Albizia! AND..it is a "healing" plant as well. It, too, is purported to have medicinal qualities! In some herbal manuals it is said to help relieve respiratory problems due to allergies and also can be used topically to relieve allergic reactions to different plants such as the nettle. The bark, flower, fruit and leaves are all used in herbal remedies. Hmm, I wonder if this might be a treatment for poison ivy and sumac?? I really need to experiment with that a bit! And all this time, I just thought this tree was just another pretty flower!

It is amazing to me just how many healing plants there are right in our own backyards. It almost seems that for every ailment there is a natural cure. Backyard or bayou remedies!