Common Home Landscaping Plants with Medicinal Uses

When we bought this house seven years ago, I suspected that the sellers were prepper-types, even though it was never discussed.  They had already moved most of their belongings out of the house before putting it on the market, but the very large water tank and the shipping container (neither of which were included in the sale, sadly) as well as the sizable generator (which was included), suggested the possibility.  They didn't have a garden or fruit trees, which I found odd and which we immediately added, but they kept chickens and had previously had a few goats.
One thing I didn't realize at the time was that almost every plant in the landscape could be used medicinally.  They were ordinary plants commonly used in residential plantings.  No one would ever suspect that the overwhelming majority of plants in the very small landscaped area at the front of my house are medicinal.  They're just herbs, shrubs, and trees that normally grow here.  The point is, if I have such an array at my house, in the desert at that, you probably have a good selection at your home or in a nearby park in your area.

The following medicinal herbs were planted by the previous owners.  I've already written about the medicinal uses of most of them.

• Blackberry
• Catnip
• Dogwood
• Japanese honeysuckle
• Pine
• Rosemary
• Russian Olive 
• Russian Sage
• Spearmint 
• Wild rose
• Yarrow

The native plants already growing here:

• Brigham Tea
• Juniper, part 1
• Sagebrush 
• Usnea

The weeds:

• Dandelion
• Mallow
• Plantain
• Purslane
• Red Clover 
• Russian Thistle   

The point of listing all these herbs was not to show off, believe it or not.  Besides, they won't even be my medicinal herbs for much longer as I'll have to start over in our new location.  These are the medicinal herbs growing around me without any investment on my part.  We all have medicinal herbs growing around us.  We just have to look--identify them and study their uses.  If a person just learns ten or so herbs, he can manage a lot of problems.  Twenty would cover just about everything.  In those lists above, I've got 21, and that's in a desert.  I imagine the selection would be significantly broader in more conducive climates.

You don't have to range far and wide to find medicinal plants.  Many extremely beneficial herbs are growing right outside your door.

Links to related posts:
Tinctures
How to Make a Salve   
Most of the herbs listed above are linked to posts about them

27 may 2024