Native Medicinal or tea plants of the eastern U.S.

Hello gang! I'm looking for more native herbal and tea plants for sun this year besides wild bergamot, purple coneflower, mountain mint and others that we already know. Anybody heard of sweet fern and bearberry before? They were used medicinally for some time. I'm looking for ones that are uncommon and not been used often since the buggy wagon days. I also wanna learn how the native peoples use these plants to heal. I'm concentrating on the Miami, Illinois and Potawatomi peoples in my region and any idea how they use these in their gardens centuries ago? I want my gardens to model like them. If anybody who's from these tribes like I mentioned or native descent in general drop in to share some ideas! I also welcome non indigenous peoples as well to exchange ideas to help me improve my native healing gardens not just drawing creatures, but people as well. Take care!

Author and blogger Judson Carroll does podcasts and posts about herbal medicines and such things, which you will probably find very useful!

He mentions bearberry here: https://permies.com/t/168989/kitchen/Herbs-stop-bleeding

and sweet fern here: https://permies.com/t/170822/kitchen/Herbs-Rashes

Blake Lenoir wrote: Hello gang! I'm looking for more native herbal and tea plants for sun this year besides wild bergamot, purple coneflower, mountain mint and others that we already know. Anybody heard of sweet fern and bearberry before? They were used medicinally for some time. I'm looking for ones that are uncommon and not been used often since the buggy wagon days. I also wanna learn how the native peoples use these plants to heal. I'm concentrating on the Miami, Illinois and Potawatomi peoples in my region and any idea how they use these in their gardens centuries ago? I want my gardens to model like them. If anybody who's from these tribes like I mentioned or native descent in general drop in to share some ideas! I also welcome non indigenous peoples as well to exchange ideas to help me improve my native healing gardens not just drawing creatures, but people as well. Take care!

I mentioned several in yesterday's article and my Herbal Medicine for Preppers, Homesteaders and Permaculture people discusses the medicinal uses for hundreds of herbs, most of which can be used as teas.... some are quite tasty, too!
https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/02/herbs-for-diarrhea.html

Anybody grown sweet everlasting and pearl everlasting before on this board? I'm looking for some to grow this year in my gardens. If anybody has some, please reach me.

I collected wild seeds this past fall for pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) and a local species of sweet everlasting aka rabbit tobacco (Pseudognaphalium macounii but I think you are probably referring to Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium). Both are already sown, since they need to cold-stratify, so I can't send you seeds this year, but could send them to you late summer for next year. Otherwise, they are available online.

I didn't collect seeds from bearberry or sweet fern because they're easier to propagate by cuttings/divisions than by seed, I think. I do plan to get both in the spring and try to grow them at home from cuttings, but no big deal if I fail, since I can harvest from them in the wild. I already failed this past year with bearberry. Let it get too crispy and it didn't recover.

Some other good ones for sun that you could grow (depending on your soil) are yarrow, anise hyssop, self-heal, prairie rose, fireweed, evening primrose. If you have an area with partial shade, especially from the hot afternoon sun, nettles, lobelia, Solomon's seal, and wild ginger are nice. All of those and the ones you asked about are plants I've collected wild, but as far as growing them myself, I'm just starting to do more of that in recent years, so not a lot of experience. Yarrow is the easiest thing in the world, though, and so useful. I recommend that one for sure.

I think they're all available from native plant nurseries. Prairie Moon seems to have the widest selection for the upper midwest, and their prices are reasonable.

What about wild bergamot, mountain mint, hyssop and other simple plants that you can grow medicinally? Could we winter seed these plants to get a jump start this spring for quicker growing results?

Blake Lenoir wrote:What about wild bergamot, mountain mint, hyssop and other simple plants that you can grow medicinally? Could we winter seed these plants to get a jump start this spring for quicker growing results?

Yes. Wild bergamot and mountain mint don’t technically need cold stratification to germinate, but there is no harm in winter sowing them and it allows them to probably get an earlier start. It’s my understanding that anise hyssop actually does need that in order to germinate. They can be sown directly on top of the snow (or bare frozen ground, if that’s your situation) or in containers outdoors.

Hey, back again! Anybody used sweet flag and purple Angelica as healing plants in their gardens before? I'm looking for more places to purchase both of them as plants this year, any idea where?