Ivywood - The Apothecary at Ivywood

Steps Towards a Sustainable Dispensary - Growing Medicinal Plants For Your Practice

Many of our colleagues ask us how we manage to grow and process most of the herbs we use in our clinical practice. The idea of having a sustainable dispensary certainly is appealing to most herbalists. Having the time, space and additional skills to achieve this may seem daunting to any practicing herbalist but we know there are always ways in which any herbalist can add to your repertoire of remedies without taking the full plunge into herb farmer!

Valerian Growing and Harvesting

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) has to be one of my personal favourite herbs. It has an alluring airy yet extremely grounding soporific nature to it. No wonder I love it for bringing on the deepest yet dream filled sleeps. It’s allure is also felt by our cats, who tend to claim their own Valerian plant in the garden each year and over the season they play with, nibble at it and generally fawn all over the poor plants half unearthed roots. The frenzy of cat excitement that follows is nothing other than remarkable! Of course, we have many plants that

Autumn Woodland Root Medicinal Harvest in the Ivywood Gardens

As the growing season begins to fold inward on the approach of the Autumnal Equinox it always brings that big shift in the energies of the plants and a welcome exhale from ourselves. Equinox happens to be the anniversary of the day we moved our plants and young family to Ivywood and now to add to this commemorative time it is our third baby Ivara’s birthday. Yes, September 21st is a special time of reflection and gratitude for us in the gardens and the home.

Sowing Medicinal Seeds - St. John's Wort

New Moon just passed and with much excitement we began this seasons seed sowing.
Each year we sow thousands of seeds to produce herbal babies for our own apothecary garden and for others through our herb nursery.
Over the years of teaching others how to grow medicinal plants we have come across the many common mistakes people make when sowing their herb seeds.
Although the specifics of each of the 250 species of medicinal plant we grow at Ivywood does vary BUT we have some top tips to share. Plus some specifics for sowing St. John’s Wort seeds with success. Here are some of our top factors to consider that will help you along your seed sowing journey.

Native Anthyllis at Ivywood

This beautiful native wild plant appeared a couple of weeks ago at Ivywood. I’ve been enjoying watching it spread around a dry grassy area near the young apple trees.
It name is Kidney Vetch - Anthyllis vulneraria or Méara Muire in Irish.