So far, the earliest Ozark spring flowers I’ve noticed have been the endemic Ozark witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis). Wriggly tendrils of yellow and orange add little splashes of color to the otherwise barren winter landscape, usually in February …
Category: Native Medicinal Plants
Posts that mention any of our native Ozark medicinal plants.
-
Ginseng Unfurling 2024
This year the ginseng is unfurling a little earlier than it has in recent years. I was surprised to find it already coming up when I checked yesterday. Here’s a blog post I just made over on my nursery website:…
-
What is Nature Farming? What does a Nature Farmer Grow?
I originally wrote this post back in 2018, but I need to update it to show how Nature Farming applies to what I’m doing nowadays, too.
What I mean by ‘Nature Farming’ is not the same as ‘natural farming’, ‘organic …
-
Ginseng and Art at the Alpena Studio
I’ve got the car packed up with plants and my art supplies, ready to head over to the studio/gallery in Alpena tomorrow. If you don’t know where it is yet, the address is 214 Hwy 62 W, in Alpena, Arkansas. …
-
Hermit Diaries | May 2, 2020 | Wild Ozark
With the nice weather we’ve had for the past few days, I’ve been working in the garden. My hermit diaries really don’t reflect a life much different than ordinary life out here at Wild Ozark, though. The only real difference …
-
Wild Mountain Mint – Whiteleaf Mountain Mint
Wild mountain mint grows in abundance here at Wild Ozark. This particular variety is called White-leaf Mountain Mint. While this post was originally created in 2016, I still enjoying seeing and using these aromatic plants. My own use of them …
-
Lousewort, Bumblebee Food and Medicinal Herb
Lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis) is an interesting plant. It’s a medicinal herb said to be effective at muscular pain relief. The bumblebees love it!
Rosy colored variety of Pedicularis, with a bumble bee visiting. 
A pale yellow-colored lousewort. …
Some lousewort, showing -
Vernal Witch Hazel Flowers and Hazelnut too!
Today I went out to take cuttings from the Ozark Witch Hazel in the hopes of rooting them. I wasn’t looking for an American Hazelnut, but that’s what I found! I found the Witch Hazels, too. But I already knew …
-
Virginia Creeper Seedling in my Ebony Spleenwort Fern
There’s a Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) seedling creeping up toward the light in my spleenwort fern (Asplenium platyneuron) container. I watched it for a few days with a suspicious eye as it unfurled, because I thought it might be a poison …
-
Ginseng Jelly – A Delicious Wild Ozark Luxury Product
Oh, my … GINSENG JELLY!
I love medicinal herbs, especially those that grow right here at home, and most especially ginseng. This year’s ginseng jelly comes in two varieties:
- Ginseng Gold (4-oz, $25)
- Ginseng/Apple (8-oz, $25) Soft-set: thicker than syrup,
-
Driveway Flowers in September
It’s been bone dry lately. This morning I brought my camera with me so I could take pictures of the driveway flowers.
Ordinarily this would have been an “exercise walk” and I wouldn’t have brought the camera because that would …
-
Elderberry Flowers Oil Infusion
Elderberry flowers have a light, sweet fragrance and all manners of pollinators love them.
Which Elderberry Flowers?
The variety I’m using for this is Sambucus canadensis, which is the native elderberry in our area. Black elderberry (S. nigra) is …
-
Watching for Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch hazel flowers are an interesting sight to behold. The petals on the small flowers are thin and wild. The shrub blooms during the most unlikeliest time of the year.
It is one of my favorite plants …
-
Join me at the 8th Annual Agroforestry Symposium in Columbia, MO
January 26, 2017
We’ll be there representing Wild Ozark and I’ll be participating in the discussion panel for medicinal plant growers and entrepreneurs. Come out and meet us, talk about ginseng and the new habitat garden, or just say hello.…
-
Ginseng Habitat Demonstration Garden
Announcement: The garden will NOT be open during May 2019. It will be open during April, and from June through September.
The Wild Ozark Ginseng Garden
This is a restored habitat where you can see and learn about American ginseng …
-
Ginseng Growing Season is Winding Down, Digging Winding Up
Ginseng Growing Season
The ginseng growing season is winding down now. The plants set berries earlier and most of them have ripened and fallen to the ground already. Some of the plants will soon begin turning yellow most years. We’ve …
-
Slugs and Dragons and Ginseng, Oh My! Wild Ozark Creations
I’ve been working on a few new Wild Ozark creations lately. This creative streak seems to have no end in sight, either, because ideas just keep coming and I keep feeling compelled to follow them through.
Slugs
This is the …
-
Photos of Plants – Medicinal & Useful plants down the Wild Ozark Driveway
I’m still mostly stuck in the house because of my knee (dislocated it a little over a week ago) but I took the four-wheeler and camera down the driveway to get a few photos of plants unfurling or coming into …
-
Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) Unfurling
The blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) is awake early this spring. I found some the other day, in three different stages of unfurl.
The one completely unfurled is in a pot in the nursery area, the other two are in the …
-
Did you know Osage Oranges evolved with wooly mammoths?
Osage
Maclura pomifera, also known as Osage Orange, Bois d’Arc, Hedge-apple, or Horse-apple, the osage tree is native to our area. Even so, there aren’t very many of them in our particular neck of the woods.
…
A bedraggled osage tree. -
Ginseng in November and a Witch Hazel, too
On a whim, I went out to see how the ginseng looked now. I knew it would be dead and wasn’t sure I’d find any. But the four-prong that grows in the nursery plot was still identifiable, at least.
You …
-
Gathering Lobelia inflata Seeds
Looking for Lobelia
Today I donned a surgical mask to go out and gather the seed pods of Lobelia inflata. Why the mask?
Well, it’s the time of year when ragweed tries to assault me when I go outside. I’m …
