Useful plants grow all around us. It’s time to start building your herbal armory of plant allies now.
My book, 10 Common Plants worth Knowing in a Long-term Survival Situation, will introduce you to ten at a time. I’ll …
Category: Plants
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How Ginseng Stewardship Also Benefits the Landowner
Someone asked me yesterday about how ginseng stewardship benefits the landowner. It stumped me at first, because I’d never considered it from that angle.
What is Stewardship?
To steward something is to manage or take care of something. The short …
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Ginseng Jelly – A Delicious Wild Ozark Luxury Product
Oh, my … GINSENG JELLY!
I love medicinal herbs, especially those that grow right here at home, and most especially ginseng. This year’s ginseng jelly comes in two varieties:
- Ginseng Gold (4-oz, $25)
- Ginseng/Apple (8-oz, $25) Soft-set: thicker than syrup,
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Driveway Flowers in September
It’s been bone dry lately. This morning I brought my camera with me so I could take pictures of the driveway flowers.
Ordinarily this would have been an “exercise walk” and I wouldn’t have brought the camera because that would …
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Orange Spotted Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)
In keeping with the “spotted” theme of my last post, here’s an orange spotted jewelweed flower. I’m always trying to get the perfect photo of this flower.
A dream set-up would be when the sun is shining just *so* on …
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Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) at the creek’s edge in late August. It’s one of the showiest Lobelia species that grows in the Arkansas Ozarks.…
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Tall Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana)
Thimbleweed is a graceful, interesting native Ozark plant that grows along forest edges (also native to many other areas of the eastern United States). It is most often found in the dappled shade of liminal spaces between forest and clearing.…
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Don’t Pick the (Hemlock) Flowers
Take it from our grand-daughter. Don’t pick the hemlock flowers.
A couple of weeks ago, Karter’s bouquet caused painful blisters. She picked wildflowers on an outing with her mom and friends down by the river. All the grandkids always love …
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Elderberry Flowers Oil Infusion
Elderberry flowers have a light, sweet fragrance and all manners of pollinators love them.
Which Elderberry Flowers?
The variety I’m using for this is Sambucus canadensis, which is the native elderberry in our area. Black elderberry (S. nigra) is …
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Woodland Flowers of June at Wild Ozark
It’s been awhile since I’ve wandered with the camera, but this morning on my way to town I brought the camera just so I could capture some of my favorite woodland flowers blooming along the driveway and county road.
The …
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Wild Ozark’s Plant ID Challenge: May’s Mystery
This month’s Star Plant Guesser is Janet Webb, who correctly identified May’s Mystery plant as Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum).
Each month, around the middle of the month, I’ll post a plant ID challenge for readers to test their identification …
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PawPaw Seedling Hiding in the Hickories
There’s a hickory hiding in there with the pawpaw seedlings. PawPaw seedlings look a lot like hickory seedlings. In the photo you can see who’s who, but without the labels it’s easy to mistake one for the other. One way …
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Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes? Companion Look A-Likes
Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes?
Trying to differentiate between black cohosh and doll’s eyes before they come into bloom, has been frustrating. It’s very easy to tell once they begin the blooming process as the flower stems originate in different …
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Earth Day Festival in Bella Vista, AR at the ARC
Saturday April 22, Wild Ozark will bring the Nature Boutique to the Earth Day Festival in Bella Vista (Arkansas) at the Artist Retreat Center otherwise known as “The ARC”.We’re sorry to say the flood has torn up the driveway …
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April Spring flowers in the Ginseng Habitat
Lots of flowers in the ginseng habitat right now. The following are just a sample.
Wild Ginger
If you don’t mind getting down on the ground, you can see the wild ginger (Asarum canadense) blooming.
Flowers are usually just below …
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Early Spring Plants of the Woodlands in Madison County Arkansas
I got a late start photographing the early spring plants this year (2017). They started without me and I’ve already missed some of them.
These are some of the plants unfurling and blooming on April 1 in the woodland habitats …
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Watching for Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch hazel flowers are an interesting sight to behold. The petals on the small flowers are thin and wild. The shrub blooms during the most unlikeliest time of the year.
It is one of my favorite plants …
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Join me at the 8th Annual Agroforestry Symposium in Columbia, MO
January 26, 2017
We’ll be there representing Wild Ozark and I’ll be participating in the discussion panel for medicinal plant growers and entrepreneurs. Come out and meet us, talk about ginseng and the new habitat garden, or just say hello.…
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Ginseng Habitat Demonstration Garden
Announcement: The garden will NOT be open during May 2019. It will be open during April, and from June through September.
The Wild Ozark Ginseng Garden
This is a restored habitat where you can see and learn about American ginseng …
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How to Identify Plants in the Wild, How to Search and Find Clues
Earlier this year I surveyed my newsletter members for their top questions. Here’s one about how to identify plants found in the outdoors.
Top Questions
It’s more of a comment than a question, but I’m creating this post in response to …
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Ginseng Growing Season is Winding Down, Digging Winding Up
Ginseng Growing Season
The ginseng growing season is winding down now. The plants set berries earlier and most of them have ripened and fallen to the ground already. Some of the plants will soon begin turning yellow most years. We’ve …
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Mushrooms are Rising and Fall is in the Air at Wild Ozark
With all the rain we’ve been having, and the cool mornings for the past couple of days, the fungi are loving above ground life. This morning there were mushrooms galore!
Fall is Coming
Have you noticed fall in the air …
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Slugs and Dragons and Ginseng, Oh My! Wild Ozark Creations
I’ve been working on a few new Wild Ozark creations lately. This creative streak seems to have no end in sight, either, because ideas just keep coming and I keep feeling compelled to follow them through.
Slugs
This is the …
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Mailbox and Back in Under an Hour
Yesterday I brought my camera with me when I went to the mailbox. If I had walked, I know it would have taken more than an hour because I would have seen so many more opportunities to stop and take …
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Top Questions from Readers: Healing Herbs
Healing Herbs: the first of the Top Questions and Topics of Interest from Readers
Healing herbs and using the wild plants for medicine was one of the most often mentioned topics in the recent survey results.
In case you’re just …