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Open Source Apothecary At Home / Growing it
Elderberry, hawthorn and rose are planted once and harvested for decades. Aloe and tea tree never survive the winter here without help.
growingThe woody plants are the long-term investment: planted once, they yield for decades, and they need almost nothing from you after the first two years. The container plants are the opposite — they need help precisely because this climate is wrong for them.
Elderberry is the best value woody medicinal for this location. It is native, it grows fast, it tolerates wet ground that kills other things, and the evidence for elderberry in influenza-like illness is real. It is also the one where the safety rule matters: elderberries must be cooked and must be ripe. Unripe berries and other parts of the plant contain cyanogenic glycosides, and cases of poisoning from raw or unripe elderberry are documented.
The elderberry nuance worth knowing. Two species get sold interchangeably — European Sambucus nigra and American Sambucus canadensis (often treated as a subspecies). Cultivar selection in the nursery trade is largely about berry size and yield rather than medicinal content. Elderberry also needs a second cultivar for good pollination in many cases, which is the detail most single-plant purchases miss.
Hawthorn is grown for flower and berry, both used for cardiovascular support, and it is a long-lived, tolerant, thorny shrub that makes a good hedge. It has randomised trial evidence in heart failure, as an adjunct — which is important: hawthorn is an adjunct to cardiac care, never a replacement for it.
Rose is grown for hips (vitamin C, and genuinely high in it) and petals. Rugosa roses are the practical choice — tough, disease-resistant, large hips.
Willow is the historical source of salicin, the compound aspirin was derived from. It grows easily here and it is worth knowing about, but the cautions are the same as aspirin's plus more, and the bark is harsh on the stomach.
The container group. Aloe vera is a houseplant in this climate and needs bright light, free drainage and little water. Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) is a subtropical Australian tree that will not survive a West Virginia winter outdoors — grown as a potted plant it needs to be brought in, and even then it rarely yields enough oil to be worth distilling. For tea tree, buying the oil is more sensible than growing the plant; for aloe, growing it is easy and the gel is genuinely useful fresh.
Establishment is the whole job. Water woody plants through their first two summers and they will look after themselves. Skip that and you lose the investment.
Finally, this review provides information about the response to abiotic stress in major European crop plants-wheat, sugar beet, maize, potatoes, barley, sunflowers, grapes, rapeseed, tomatoes, and apples.PubMed 37047573 ↗
These findings present an alternative to antibiotic misuse for upper respiratory symptoms due to viral infections, and a potentially safer alternative to prescription drugs for routine cases of the common cold and influenza.PubMed 30670267 ↗
These results suggest that there is a significant benefit in symptom control and physiologic outcomes from hawthorn extract as an adjunctive treatment for chronic heart failure.PubMed 18254076 ↗
The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the evidence from rigorous clinical trials of the use of hawthorn extract to treat patients with chronic heart failure.PubMed 12798455 ↗
This can aid in the efficient and long-term optimization of cultivation techniques under ambient environmental conditions in order to maximize the quality and quantity of SMs in plants.PubMed 34533273 ↗
(hawthorn) monopreparations are predominantly used for treating congestive heart failure.PubMed 16752934 ↗
Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis / S. nigra)
| | Details | |---|---| | Light | Full sun to part shade | | Soil | Tolerates wet ground better than most shrubs | | Planting | Bare-root in dormant season, or potted in spring/autumn | | Pollination | Plant more than one cultivar for reliable fruit set | | Spacing | 2-3 m | | First harvest | 2-3 years after planting; then annually | | Harvest | Whole umbels when fully ripe and dark | | Life | Deciduous shrub; 20+ years |
Hawthorn (Crataegus species)
Rose (Rosa rugosa and others)
Willow (Salix species)
Aloe vera — container, indoors in winter
Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) — container, subtropical
Planting and establishment — the whole job
Long-term management