How to Add Medicinal Plants to Your Garden

Want to add some plants that have been medicinally helpful through the years? This is the article for you. While this isn't all the medicinal use plants out there, its a good start for most gardeners.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Actaea pachypoda Ell. - white baneberry
   
   Perennial herb with 2 foot stems, this plant has showy white flowers blooming in May. It fruits July-August with 10-20 berry like fruits. Baneberry prefers partial shade. It's an old aborigine's medicine for rheumatism.

2. Ageratina altissima (L.) King & H.E. Robins. var. altissima - white snakeroot
   
   This 4-6 foot tall clump forming perennial will need to be spaced 3-4 feet apart in moist, alkaline, well drained soil. Erect dark purple/brown stems with white fluffy flowers from August to October; it is a great butterfly draw. Make sure that White Snakeroot is planted in partial sun to full shade. Historically it has been used as a medicinal treatment for colds, liver disease, and fever.

3. Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt. - black bugbane
   
   This perennial is excellent for borders with its tall spikes and white flowers. It is a member of the buttercup family and prefers deep shade. It will grow up to 8 feet and bloom May to September. Its root was an official drug of the US Pharmacopoeia from 1820-1926. Today it is a popular alternative to estrogen therapy.

4. Thalictrum thalictroides (L.) Eames & Boivin - rue anemone
   
   This lovely plant reminds me of a miniature Cherokee rose. A perennial herbaceous plant that grows to 9inches tall, it is prized in woodland gardens. It blooms white from late winter to early spring. Root teas by Native Americans was believed to cure diarrhea and vomiting, although it potentially toxic.

5. Tradescantia ohiensis Raf. - bluejacket
   
   This flower gets up to 3 feet high and prefers full sun or partial shade. Flowers are blue, lavender, or white and bloom from mid spring to early summer. It has blue hairs on its stamens even on the white flower variety. It is a low maintenence plant and drought tolerant. The Cherokee Indians used this for female and kidney problems, as a root poultice for cancer, as a tea for digestive issues, and as crushed leaves for bug bites. You can divide the clumps to propagate.