First, you ask, what do they taste like? To me they taste a bit like cranberries combined with cherries. Above all, somehow, they taste familiar, unlike some of the more exotic fruits currently popular and available – gumi berries, goji berries, honeyberries (which do not taste anything like honey). I like fruit that tastes a bit tart, so I pick my serviceberries when they begin to turn from red to purple.Serviceberries are about the size of currants or small blueberries, so picking is slow – nonetheless, you will soon have enough to brighten something edible. There are small seeds at the top that sometimes pull out as you pick the berries, but often don’t. I find them unobjectionable.
My multi-trunk serviceberry trees are still relatively small at ten to twelve feet tall. The birds get the berries at the top and on the upper branches, but have a hard time harvesting the berries hanging at the ends of the lower outer branches. Those berries are mine.
I made buckwheat pancakes with today’s berries, adding some berries directly to the batter while reserving some to make a sauce. I made the sauce by adding the berries to a bit of leftover raspberry/rhubarb jam brightened with lemon juice and cooking briefly (thicken slightly with corn starch if you wish). My spouse and I tend to like things to taste bright rather than merely sweet.
Other things you could do with serviceberries? I think pie made with serviceberries would be good if you had the patience to pick enough berries. The berries hold their shape well even when cooked. The richness of the crust would set off the sweet tartness of the berries.Add a dab of slightly sweetened whipped cream on top — mmmmmm. They would also nicely perk up bran muffins.
Meat eaters might find a relish of serviceberries appealing, particularly with pork or chicken.
In a couple more days the last of the serviceberries will ripen. I think I may try a variation on a dessert from my own Scandinavian background called Rod Grod Med Flod – which, properly pronounced, sounds like you are speaking with a golf ball in your mouth. For my variation of this summer fruit dessert (traditionally made with strawberries or raspberries) I will use homemade small pearl tapioca, the kind where you whip the egg whites to fluff and add them at the last minute to the custard. I like to sweeten my tapioca with honey. I haven’t yet decided whether to turn the berries into the traditional cooked sauce to spoon on top – I think I may just add them whole and raw. I think that might be interesting.
Warning: serviceberries eaten in quantity may be slightly laxative.
Folklore of etymology: Amalanchier is commonly known in various localities as shadblow, serviceberry, juneberry, saskatoon, and other local names, depending on where it grows. Shadblow comes from the Northeast coast where the amalanchiers bloom at the same time the shad (a migratory fish like salmon) ‘blow’ – i.e., swim up river to spawn… while the name Juneberry comes from the tree’s tendency to set fruit in June – it is actually a little late this month.
Wikipedia says: “ …a fanciful etymology explains the name ‘serviceberry’ by noting that the flowers bloom about the time the roads in the Appalachian mountains became passable – allowing circuit riding preachers to resume church services . A similar etymology says that blooming serviceberries indicated the ground had thawed enough to dig graves, so burial services could be held for those who died in the winter when the only way to deal with the bodies was to allow them to freeze and wait for spring.” Wikipedia continues: “Both of these fanciful etymologies are unlikely to be correct since the term is attested for both the English and New World species as early as the 16th century.”
Either way – enjoy your Serviceberries – both for their early spring flowers, so important to early spring pollinators, many of them native, and for the berries that follow in June. Why let the birds and chipmunks have them all?!
It’s Everything
I’m picking serviceberries to the sound
of seeththat sea sound of the wind high
in the rigging of the treeshundreds of
miles from ocean reminding meagain
howwithout water life could not exist
on this planet The sea flows through us all
even though we are far away—through our
salted blood through the birds’ blood (with whom I
by Catherine Feldman GARDENOPOLIS Cleveland is happy to advertise and recommend the12th Annual Gracious Gardens of Shaker Heights tour to take place on Fathers’ Day, June 19th from noon until five pm. As always, fantastic gardens will be open to the public: this year, six private gardens from all across Shaker and one community garden at Shaker Heights High School will be on display. Visitors may purchase tickets now for $20 at the Shaker Historical Society, Gali’s Florist and Garden Center, J. Pistone Market, Van Aken Hardware, Shaker Hardware, Juma Gallery and Bremec on the Heights. Tickets may also be purchased for $25 at Shaker Heights Historical Society and at each of the gardens on the day of the tour.
For avid, curious and sociable gardeners there is also a kickoff party on Friday, June 17th from 6 -10 pm. The party is special this year because it takes place in a 150+year old farmhouse that belonged to Rockefeller’s pastor and golf buddy, the Reverend William Bustard. The house has been lovingly maintained and furnished by hosts, Jude and Dick Parke. A raise the paddle auction will be held in honor of former Fire Chief, George Vild. In recognition of the Shaker Heights Fire Department centennial funds will be raised for renovation of Shaker’s first fire truck, the 1917 La France pumper. Tickets may be purchased for $150 until June 10th at the Shaker Historical Society. Party chairs are Jennifer Sullivan and Stacy Hunter; honorary chairs are Fire Chief and Mrs. Patrick Sweeney. For information, call 216-921-1201.
If you would like to volunteer for 2 ½ hours on the day of the tour, not only will you be able to chat with other gardeners, but also will receive a free ticket to tour the gardens. If you are interested mail Stacy at stacyshunter@gmail.com
The tour benefits the Shaker Historical Society, located in the Myers mansion at 16740 South Park Boulevard. Ware Petznick, executive director of SHS, is actively working to position it as a steward of Shaker’s past, and also it’s present and future. Ware explained to me, “The Van Sweringen brothers designed Shaker Heights on the garden city model in which the landscape was as important as the architecture. Their vision included beautiful winding streets with set back houses and deep gardens.” She added, “We are proud to present this garden tour with the help of our sponsors, particularly Liberatore Landscape Construction, Eastside Landscaping, Homestead Roofing and Aristotle Design Group.”
* In the interest of full transparency we readily reveal that co-chairs of the tour are Margaret Ransohoff, GC contributor and Catherine Feldman, GC editor 😉
As I drive about, during this busy time of the year, observing the annual riotous explosion of nature and the never-ending human need to keep nature in check (all those tightly trimmed gumdrops and bowling ball shrubs — all those landscapes of polka-dot plants adrift in a sea of mulch)
I wonder: how did our sense of what a landscape or garden should look like come about?
How much do the examples of traditional great landscapes and gardens influence us?– such as the naturalistic English landscape; the elaborate, contrived, formal estate gardens of the Renaissance and early enlightenment Europe; the elaborate, formal pleasure gardens of the Middle East and Asia; the naturalist seeming Japanese Gardens, that are actually deeply artificial –these all remnants of the gardens of the economic and political elite through time .The gardens of more ordinary people endure less well, alas– but, still, we do have a picture in our heads when we say cottage garden, herb garden, kitchen garden, commons (that small parcel of shared land around which a village grew).
What do these diverse examples of landscape and garden have in common? I believe that what informs them is a human need to order toward simplification what we see as disordered nature.
There are exceptions: we know (today) that the indigenous peoples of the Amazon River basin traditionally lived in what we now acknowledge as a food forest, which was and is – where it still exists – a place where these peoples live in accord with the seasonal productivity of the forest. The food forest is an example of a complex system (rather than a simple one), shaped (somewhat) by the people who lived/live within it. To western sensibilities the food forest as garden was and remains largely invisible because the organizational principles underlying it are not simple and thus not readily visible.
More often we see that he human need to impose order – to hold a thing quiet in time — is directly opposed to nature’s inherent mutability. We create outdoor spaces and then work hard and spend a lot of money (and endure a lot of noise) to keep them from changing one iota over time, in a climate (northeast Ohio) where garden or lawn, left untended for even one year, quickly begins the process of returning to forest. Nature is about fecundity.
Nature unchecked.
Gardening is about controlling fecundity, holding it in check.We want the garden to behave like architecture – a thing that once built and decorated, does not change. Hence the gumdrops, bowling balls, and polka-dot plants adrift in a sea of mulch. But, there are other options, ranging from naturalized to a careful balance of order and nature.
See naturalized gardens below:
See a balance of natural and man-made below:
Underlying the need to hold time quiet is the fact that simple landscapes are easier to maintain for the non-gardener, and I include as non-gardeners most of the landscape crews to whom we outsource the maintenance of our gardens, who, largely untrained, can only repeat what they see and are given or told to do. We do not hire gardeners: that word implies knowledge about the plant world. Instead we hire maintenance crews – most of whom have no specialized knowledge beyond how to mow, trim and edge in a flurry of action and noise (none of it carbon neutral), and as quickly depart.
Some friends of mine recently sold their large house in its richly complex landscape which had been developed over a decade of time. When the realtors came to take a look at the property before putting it on the market, they said no one would want that landscape, and urged that the landscape be simplified (meaning, rip a bunch of stuff out and replace with mulch), the implication being that no one wants a visually and ecologically complex landscape.No one, of course except the birds and the bees and the butterflies and all the other beneficial insects.
There is naturalistic, and then there is something that is just too much like real nature. What do you think? We’d like to hear from you.
The great plant grab is on! Suddenly it’s May, and the best and freshest of plants are offered in all corners of our region. There’s always a sense of urgency about getting around to the various sales (many on the same weekend) and making your selections before they sell out. My best advice: 1) look at offerings online ahead of time (when available) and make a realistic list 2) Plot a route that lets you visit several on one day 3) Go early 4) Bring cash (and set a budget) 5) line your car with a tarp or old shower curtain.
This is a list of 2016 plant sales by not-for-profit groups in Northeast Ohio. Some of them emphasize annuals and vegetables, others focus on native plants, perennials or shrubs, others offer some of everything. Despite my best efforts, this list is not comprehensive, so additions are welcome in your comments. Please do keep it to promotions to not-for-profit organizations, though.
(Sat May 20 and Sun May 21 are scheduled pickup days for Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s member’s only native plant sale. There’s still time to join and pre-order. More info at https://www.cmnh.org/native-plant-sale)
The trees I especially enjoy this time of year are serviceberry, Canadian red chokeberry, yellow flowered magnolia, and American larch.
Amalanchiers – our native serviceberries – are usually among the earliest trees to bloom; its fragile flowers are almost as ephemeral as our native ephemeral wildflowers, the Spring-beauty, and Cutleaf Toothwort (the latter the host plant to the West Virginia White Butterfly), both of which bloom at about the same time as serviceberries. The delicate filigree blossoms develop in pale shades of grey, pink, and green, but unfold and open white, resembling clusters of particularly light and airy snow. Alas, they do not last long if the days are warm, while cool weather prolongs their stay, and soon the tiny white petals drift down like a particularly gentle snow. I love serviceberry, especially in its multi-trunk or clump form, which, judiciously internally opened up, makes a very nice semi-transparent screening tree. This also allows one to appreciate its silvery ‘skin’.
Our native Canadian red chokeberry, Prunus virginiana, is often mistaken for its cousin, prunus cistena, a lesser creature, which also bears small pale pink flowers in spring and has red-purple leaves. Canadian red chokeberry can also be found as a multi-trunked tree, and, opened up the same way, also makes for a pleasant screening tree. The delicate pale pink blossoms flower just before and as the red-purple leaves emerge. The berries, edible, juicy but tart, should be cooked into a jelly, for example, and not eaten raw. The roots and bark, although toxic, have medicinal uses.
The yellow flowered magnolias are another of my springtime favorite small trees because they are late bloomers that usually escape being destroyed by those flower-devastating late freezes (like the one we recently experienced).There is something about their buttery yellow strappy flowers opening that is just so cheerful and fresh! – ( and not as lurid as the late blooming magenta magnolias). These magnolias also tend to be densely branched and multi-trunked, with smooth grey bark in their youth.
Finally, there is American Larch, a deciduous evergreen one does not often see. My family had one in our ‘yard’ (40 acres) and every year in the fall, when it turned strong yellow and the needles fell, my grandmother would say “That tree’s dying – we’d better cut it down”. But in the spring time when the new bright green needle buds began to open – oh! how fresh and soft they were. I liked to run my hands down them. They felt so alive. This tree did very well for us and eventually got quite large. I often wonder why is not used more.
Shaded areas of our gardens have been one of the most under-utilized parts of our landscapes for many years. For too long, these areas have been relegated to the category of ‘space that needs to be filled’.
It is recognized that trees are a critical component of our landscaping, and provide us with many benefits. They provide critical food and nesting habitat for our native wildlife, and they make our yards and gardens places that we want to spend time in by blocking out the heat of the sun during the summer months. However, it seems that choosing plantings for the shaded areas beneath these trees is a significant struggle for many gardeners, and in many cases these areas end up being very one-dimensional and uninspired, lacking in both interest and diversity.
For decades, there was a feeling that if an area of your yard was too shaded to plant grass, then it should be planted with ‘ground-covers’ to eliminate areas of bare soil where weeds and other undesirable plants could become established. A ‘triad’ of non-native ground covers quickly became dominant fixtures in the landscape. This triad consisted of English ivy (Hedera helix), pachysandra (pachysandra terminalis), and myrtle (Vinca minor). These ground covers fulfilled their intended purpose, and they quickly covered ground! Quick to establish, aggressive in nature, and pleasantly evergreen, these three plants became one of the most dominant plantings in the American landscape.
Unfortunately these ground covers rarely ‘play nice’ with other plantings. In many cases, gardeners are often stuck with single-species plantings or ‘monocultures’ in these areas. Even if gardeners try to diversify the space by adding additional plantings, myrtle and pachysandra will quickly choke out other plantings with their carpet-like fibrous root systems. They hog space and draw out moisture and nutrients from the soil, aggressively competing with other plantings in the landscape. English ivy is even worse, and it will climb over and up other perennials, shrubs, and even trees. Forcing English Ivy to co-exist with other plantings often involves a tough regimen of regular trimming and pruning to keep the ivy in check. These plants also escape our garden boundaries and out-compete native vegetation in our parks and natural areas.
This is not to say that gardeners have not tried to integrate additional plant diversity in to their shaded landscapes! If anything, the selection of shade perennials that are available for purchase from local garden centers has expanded over the years. New varieties and cultivars of shade perennials and shrubs are constantly being developed which underscores the demand for shade plants in the landscape industry. Endless selections of popular shade perennials such as hostas, coral bells, and astilbe have been developed, which feature dazzling foliage color variations. There is now ample choices for creating striking foliage contrast and vivid flowering in our shaded landscapes. There is also an exciting trend towards utilizing native plants in shade gardens. Native wildflowers such as wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), trillium (Trillium sp.), spring beauty (Claytonia virginica), and Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum) have garnered significant interest from gardeners in recent years.
However, too many of these plantings (native or non-native) quickly fall victim to the heavy level of deer browse in the urban and suburban landscape. With deer now fully integrated in to residential neighborhoods, the efforts of gardeners to ‘diversify’ their plant choices are rarely rewarded. As gardeners, we are all too familiar with the sight of perennials ‘mowed to the ground’ amidst a smattering of hoof prints in the soil. Its important to note that deer generally do not browse pachysandra, myrtle, or English Ivy. So it is understandable that many gardeners choose to ‘throw in the trowel’, and stick to the traditional ground cover plantings of our forefathers.
But with adversity comes opportunity! The scourge of deer browse in our gardens have forced us to examine overlooked groups of plants and to seek out the landscaping potential in plants that we have taken for granted in the past. When choosing plants for our gardening projects, the ornamental characteristics now often take second seat to a plant’s ‘deer resistance level’. After all, what good is a perennial or shrub that promises vibrant flowers and benefits to pollinating insects if the plant is eaten by the deer before it ever reaches that stage? When it comes to shade landscaping plants that are deer resistant, perhaps two of the most overlooked and under-appreciated groups of plants are the ferns and the sedges.
Unfurling Christmas frond
As gardeners we have learned the painful lesson that the deer will eat any plant if they are hungry enough. However, ferns and sedges are about as close as we can get to a ‘sure bet’ on deer resistance. It has been observed in both our gardens and our parks and natural areas, that ferns and sedges are one of the last plants to fall victim to deer browse. They are generally only eaten when all other food choices have been exhausted.
The gardening public has become increasingly aware of the benefits of choosing native plants for their gardening projects. These plants tend to better adapted to the unique climate conditions of our region, require less in the way of fertilizer, and provide food and shelter for native wildlife that have co-evolved with these native plants. Also, native plants do not escape in to our parks and natural areas and out-compete our native wildflowers, the way that other more traditional ground covers such as English ivy, and myrtle tend to do. Many of the ferns and sedges that are available in the nursery trade are native species or selections of native species. There are also non-native (but non-invasive) species of ferns and sedges that can be considered as additional plantings for these shade gardens.
Ferns and sedges have sometimes been considered to be ‘boring’ groups of plants by many traditional gardeners. However, anyone familiar with the variation of foliage color and texture in the groups, will understand that belief is simply not the case.
Carex-nigra (above)
Carex-flagelifera (above)
Carex Silver Sceptre (above)
The typical gardener is familiar with the lush foliage of ferns, but in many cases is less familiar with sedges. Sedges while grass-like in appearance and habit, are not true grasses. They are also stunningly diverse with more than 160 different species of sedges native to Ohio alone. Sedges grow in a variety of different conditions, but many are very well-adapted to shaded locations, both wet and dry.
The foliage contrast and variation amongst species and cultivars of sedges, both native and non-native, is outstanding. The sedges are prized for their ornamental foliage, although they also have brown-to-black grass-like blooms which can be ornamental when viewed up close.
Carex-plantaginea
The wide evergreen leaves of the native plantain sedge (Carex plantaginea) (above)
The cheery grass-like lime-green foliage of the native Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica) is another welcome addition to the shade garden, especially in moist areas. If you have drier conditions, the Appalachian sedge (Carex appalachica) is a good choice and is somewhat similar in appearance to Pennsylvania sedge.
There are a number of interesting cultivars of the non-native broad-leafed sedge (Carex siderosticha), which can add striking foliage contrast to your shaded landscapes. Cultivars include ‘snow cap’ with bright cream and green variegated foliage, and ‘banana boat’ with bright yellow foliage. The more wiry foliage of Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii) can also offer noteworthy foliage contrast options including the green and yellow variegated foliage of the cultivar ‘variegata’, and the delicate white and green variegated ‘ice dance’ is particularly showy.
Lastly, the unusual copper and dead-brown foliage coloration of the non-native weeping brown sedge (Carex flagillifera) can be an interesting foliage play and an unusual conversation piece! The most intense copper and brown foliage color is shown when the plant is placed in a sunnier location. But the plant takes on an interesting copper-orange hue when planted in shade. If planting brown sedge, make sure that a cultivar is chosen that is cold-hardy, as some of the selections of brown sedge are borderline-hardy.
The lush, lacy and finely detailed texture of fern fronds is a welcome addition to shade gardens. There are species of ferns that will grow to a wide range of different heights which enables layering in the perennial landscape. There is also something primeval and enticing about an established fern-laden garden.
Ferns such as ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) (below)
will quickly multiply as they spread by rhizomes and will create a pleasant natural effect in the garden. Ostrich fern tolerates moist to average soil. If you have a poorly-drained area in your shade garden, royal fern (Osmunda regalis) can be an excellent choice. Both of these species are among our largest native ferns, reaching mature heights of up to 4-5 feet. Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) with its conspicuous cinnamon-colored fertile fronds, is another tall and beautiful choice for moist areas.
Many native ferns have the added benefit of being evergreen plants.
Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), (above) has thick leathery fronds that stay green year-round. Christmas fern is a medium-sized fern, reaching mature heights of up to 2 feet. Another evergreen fern is the marginal wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis) that grows to 1.5 to 2 feet. Both of these ferns will thrive in average moisture conditions. The non-native but non-invasive autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) is another interesting choice, especially in dry to moderately-moist conditions. The cultivar of autumn fern, ‘brilliance’ is an excellent choice for adding foliage contrast to the landscape. This evergreen fern produces new fronds that display vivid shades of red and orange.
The delicate and lacy native maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) (below)
is another interesting choice for the shade garden. Its black wiry stems and olive green foliage is a standout in the landscape, especially when planted in mass. Maidenhair ferns have long been considered popular house plants, and gardeners will enjoy that there is a hardy member of this genus as well that can survive our winters. Maidenhair fern can grow to mature heights of 2 to 2.5 feet.
Smaller ferns such as the native rock polypody (Polypodium virginianum) can also be interesting additions to the shade landscape. This small fern only reaches mature heights of 18 inches and is at home on shaded rocky slopes or rock gardens. The native lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) is another smaller fern that grows to about 2 feet tall in moist to average conditions. The cultivar of lady fern called ‘Lady in Red’ has distinctive red stems and is very ornamental. Hybridization between native lady fern, and Japanese lady fern (Athyrium niponicum) have produced extraordinary selections including ‘Ghost’, which has brilliant silvery fronds. A selection of Japanese lady fern known more commonly as Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. ‘Pictum’) contains foliage undertones of silver, pink, and green.
The list of ferns and sedges goes on and on! Suffice it to say, they open up a world of deer-resistant opportunities for shade gardeners. Ferns and sedges work well when planted amongst native woodland shrubs such as spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Other native deer-resistant perennials such as wild ginger (Asarum canadense), black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), and Allegheny foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) can also be planted amongst ferns and sedges with exciting results.
Hopefully the exploration of these under-appreciated and under-utilized groups of plants will open doors for gardeners, allowing us to move past the traditional ‘triad’ of invasive ground-covers that have dominated our landscapes in the past. In so doing, we will be able to incorporate more interest and more diversity in to our shaded gardens, transforming them from ‘spaces that need to be filled’, to artistic places that beckon us to spend more time amongst the trees, and that contain exciting examples of our region’s native plant species.
Submitted by Cathi Lehn on behalf of the LEAP Native Plant Promotion Committee
The Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership for Biodiversity (LEAP; www.leapbio.org) is a consortium of forty-five (45) conservation-related organizations located in the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau ecoregion.This ecoregion is defined by a common glacial history and climate and includes northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western New York.LEAP member organizations are dedicated to the identification, protection and restoration of biodiversity in the region and to the increased public awareness of biodiversity.Current LEAP members represent park districts, conservation organizations, universities, and governmental agencies in Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
The LEAP Native Plant Promotion Committee (NPPC) was formed in 2008 in response to the threat of invasive plants to our natural areas.The mission of the NPPC is to educate the public about the many benefits of native plants in the LEAP region and to join the nursery and landscaping trade in promoting the purchasing, selling, propagating and planting of our area’s native plant species.In 2011 the Committee initiated a Native Plants of the Year campaign providing the gardener with three choices each year through 2022 of recommended native plants which are easily found in local nurseries.
Using native plants in public and private landscapes and gardens can help reduce the threat of invasive non-native species to the region’s biodiversity.The LEAP Native Plants of the Year campaign highlights native species that can make exceptional additional to area landscapes and gardens.Native plants in the garden offer the following benefits:
Attract native wildlife
Reduce soil erosion
Require less fertilizer and watering
Promote native regional biodiversity
Thrive under natural conditions
Connect people to nature
LEAP Native Plants of the Year 2016
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Spicebush is a deer-resistant shrub with early-season nectar for butterflies and bright red berries for migratory birds.The common name refers to the sweet, spicy fragrance of the stems, leaves and fruits when bruised.
Photos courtesy of Judy Semroc
Swamp Candles or Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia terrestris)
This showy perennial blooms vivid yellow in mid-summer adding color to rain gardens and wet areas.Its sturdy stems make it an excellent cutting flower.Native pollinators, like this syrphid flower fly, are attracted to the flower’s nectar.
Photos courtesy of Bill Hendricks (top) and Cheryl Harner (below)
Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
A colorful native prairie grass with striking blue-green foliage and pink overtones.In the fall, its foliage takes on a coppery hue. It works well in areas prone to deer damage.
Photos courtesy of Bill Hendricks (top) and Roger Gettig (below)
Also found on this page is a Native Plant Nurseries map created by Cleveland Metroparks that provides information on nurseries that sell native plants to our region.
Brief Biography
Cathi is the Sustainable Cleveland Coordinator for the City of Cleveland Mayor’s Office of Sustainability which is a member of LEAP. Cathi serves as the Chair of the LEAP Native Plant Promotion Committee and the LEAP Wildlife Conflict Committee. She has recently revived the Sustainable Heights Network and serves on the Composting Committee. Her true passion is in addressing the threat of plastic pollution to our waterways and hosts the Great Lake Erie Boat Float each year at Edgewater Park.
If there’s one thing I do that consistently lifts my spirits all winter long, it’s making tea with herbs I’ve grown myself.
There’s almost no end to the number of friendly, easy to grow tea herbs that can thrive in an Ohio garden. I can harvest a whole winter’s worth of heartwarming flavors, colors and aromas from a handful of personal favorites grown in a very small space. The following are perennials that are planted one time, and return year after year.
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) similar to Peppermint, less intense
Nettles (Urtica dioica) grassy flavor, rich in iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium
Lavender (Lavandula, various types) aromatic, soothing – and pretty!
Annuals Calendula and Chamomile have been re-seeding in my garden for years, moving around at will. I just move the ones that come up in awkward spots.
I purchase the following as plants each year, because they’re frost-tender. If you have a greenhouse or very sunny window (I do not) they can winter over in a pot:
Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) sweetens non-calorically – just a teaspoon per pot is plenty for me!
Holy Basil (Ocimum sanctum) earthy, clove-scented and warming
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) fragrant, stimulating and soothing to sore throats (sometimes survives outdoors in zone 6, but it’s not a sure thing.)
As a gardener I appreciate these herbs for their seeming imperviousness to pests, drought and disease. Some of them, like nettles and chamomile, contain so many healthy minerals and nutrients that they support the growth of neighboring plants, and are great for adding to the compost pile, too. A lovelybook about growing, harvesting and using herbs from your garden is How to Move Like a Gardener, by Deb Soule of Avena Botanicals; Under the Willow Press, 2013. I purchased my copy on-line at fedcoseeds.com.) Illustrated with gorgeous photos and poetically yet practically written, it’s a book to warm you with thoughts of summer gardens while sipping a cup of homegrown tea.
Harvesting the way I do it is pretty simple: I cut whole leafy stems before the plant flowers, bunch them and hang in an airy, shade place until dry (usually 7-10 days). Then I gently strip the leaves over a sheet of newspaper, and slide them into a glass jar. Flowers are picked in the morning after the dew dries, as soon as possible after they open, and hung up or dried on an old window screen, for a week or until crisp. That’s it, no fancy equipment, no fossil fuels, fans blowers or kits.
I keep each herb in its own separate jar, to use singly (peppermint, lemon balm) or blend at will. Just a tablespoon of lavender, mint or holy basil added to a pot of regular black tea adds a new sensory dimension. Lemon balm, chamomile, nettle and spearmint make a relaxing, restorative bedtime blend. I’m headed to the kitchen for a cup of calendula, rosemary and nettle – reviving after a couple of hours spent behind a desk!
My multi-trunk serviceberry trees are still relatively small at ten to twelve feet tall. The birds get the berries at the top and on the upper branches, but have a hard time harvesting the berries hanging at the ends of the lower outer branches. Those berries are mine. 
