Monday, May 23, 2016

New medicinal herbs in our garden

I've planted the seedlings I started this spring. Hyacinths beans (bai bien dou), and Job's Tears (yi yi ren) are annuals. I planted them in containers, with some Pinks (qu mai) thrown in as fillers.

Tree Peony (mu dan) was moved to the corner, with newly planted Astragalus (huang qi), Licorice (gan cao), and Codonopsis (dang shen). All three new herbs are perennials and are harvested for their roots 3-5 years after planting.

Both Agastache rugosa (huo xiang) and Agastache foeniculum are planted in the crescent-shaped bed beside Coburn Chiropratic entrance. With some western herbs, St. John's Wort and Yarrow, to keep them company.

Fritillaria 貝母

I put down some Bei Mu 貝母 fritillaria last fall. I couldn't find the commonly used medicinal varieties: 川貝母 Fritillaria cirrohosa or 浙貝母 Fritillaria thunbergii. I just put down the common garden center variety Fritillaria meleagris, sometimes called Checkered Lily. They've emerged just a little bit after the daffodils. I'm continuing my efforts on realistic botanical drawings.

Preparatory sketch then copy to a a watercolor pad.

After coloring and calligraphy.