Herbs.

 

from Urb Apothecary

A drawing to remember their use.

From awayto-garden.com

Cold damage on shrub.

When low temperatures are associated with high level of humidity, shrub like Sage or Lavander suffer till to die.

The water inside of branches cannot evaorated and become ice and when this physical phenomenon happens the volume increase till to hurt the wood itself.

Here some photos of this irreversible event on a Sage:

 

To avoid or prevent this damage it’s important to have a well drained soil without water collect.

Useful it’s to put plants little elevated, compared to the ground level, and, in any case, choosing plants in according with our area, temperatures and humidity.

Pineapple sage is flowering.

Here photos of Pineapple sage or Tangerine sage full of flowers.

Its flowers are deep red and tubular shaped. They are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies and offer drops of  nectar to insects before winter arrives.

 

Salvia ‘Ananas’.

Detta anche “Salvia elegans”, le  sue foglie sono verde scuro con un caratteristico profumo che ricorda quello dell’ananas.

I fiori sono rossi, disposti su spighe e ci regalano la loro presenza dalla primavera all’autunno.

Come tutte le Lamiaceae esige un terreno sciolto e drenato. Soffre i ristagni sia in estate che in inverno.

L’esposizione in pieno sole favorisce fioriture più abbondanti.

Non teme il gelo, al più rispunterà nuovamente dal terreno la primavera successiva.

Il suo impiego in cucina prevede che si abbini bene a piatti di carne, pesce e formaggi, nonchè alla preparazione di bevande rinfrescanti.

Caratteristico aperitivo è rappresentato dalle foglie fritte accompagnate da una leggera salsa allo yogurth.

Possiede anche peculiarità terapeutiiche: tonico ma, come tutte le Salvie, favorisce la digestione e diminuisce i dolori dovuti a gastrite. Impiegata sia come tisana che masticandone direttamente le foglie fresche.

 

Sage.

Here in my photo the difference between a pruning part (after flowering) and a part (rigth side) without pruning but with dried ears carrying seeds.

After pruning new leaves grow.

It’s important this operation so sage offers us new and soft leaves for our recipe, and doesn’t show the typical aspect of ‘empty’.

 

Sage.

This is the period when sage has finished flowering and starts to produce seeds.

In the first photo seeds are green and then not ready because not sufficently ripe.

In the second they are turning in brown-black and are ready to pick up and storage in a well dry place till next end of february for new sowing.

In a few places (where winter is not very frost) it’s possible to sowing them in this period and have new plants before winter. In any case it’s better keep them in pots till next spring, so to have more probabilities of success.

Sage is a great spice for cooking, its flowers attract benefical bugs and butterlflies and it has balsamic, anti-inflammatory and digestive proprieties.