All around where I live Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) grows like a weed and is in full bloom at the moment. The cheery yellow buttons that are its flowers can easily be spotted from quite a distance away.

Tansy has a rather interesting history as an herb and its uses date back for centuries. At one point in time it was used medicinally as a bitter herb and a way of ridding the body of parasites. These practices are no longer used as the herb in recent times has been found to be too potent for consumption.

In the Middle Ages, Tansy was quite popular as a strewing herb. It was dried and sprinkled about as it was believed to repel pests such as ants and flies. In many a home, one would find bouquets of Tansy hanging to dry. The leaves were also rubbed on meat in attempts to preserve it longer.

In the modern day herb garden Tansy is a welcome- if not somewhat invasive- pretty flower to grow with lacey, fern-like foliage. In bloom, Tansy attracts beneficial insects like no other plant seems to be able to. The flat and tiny blooms appear to be irresistible to our garden allies.

Today Tansy is mostly used for its ornamental purposes both in and out of the garden. Dried, the flowers are excellent in arrangements. One could also place the dried leaves in sachets to be used as an insect repellent. If it grows a bit out of hand, as it does spread by underground rhizomes, it can be pulled and added to the compost head for its potassium content.

My main interest in Tansy is for a completely different reason than the ones stated above. I grow it not only for its historicalness but also for the fact that it makes an excellent dye for wool. I have used Tansy in my dye baths multiply times and have yet to be disappointed. I have been able to yield gorgeous shades of green and yellow from this one simple herb. I recently gathered a large amount for dyeing and was able to produce the results shown in the photos below.

I love herbs that have history behind them and Tansy is no exception. To some, it might be considered too weed-like for their garden but to me it is one herb I would never leave out. After all, if it gets too out of hand I just toss it in the dye pot!

*EDITED:   There appears to be some confusion over the Tansy I am referring to in this post. Please do not mistake the Common Tansy I write about, Tanacetum vulgare, for the dangerous and harmful Tansy Ragwort or Senecio jacobaea.  Below I have supplied a few links to help clear up some of this confusion.

• Why you should definitely avoid Tansy Ragwort if you have horses and why Common Tansy should also be kept from them.
• Information on Tansy Ragwort
• More useful information on Tansy Ragwort
• Oregon Department of Agriculture’s info on Tansy Ragwort
• Google image search for Tansy Ragwort for identification help
• Google image search for Common Tansy for identification help

Mystery Squash June 25, 2009

I was hoping for today’s update the flowers on our Mystery Squash would have bloomed but unfortunately they have not. They are however, getting quite big and numerous. I am sure it will be any day now and they will be blooming. Maybe by next week’s update?

We have had cool and gloomy weather this past week and my garden has been crawling along consequently. In fact it feels more like autumn today rather than the first week of summer! I find it horribly frustrating to say the least. It is summer and I want it to feel like summer.

This next picture for today’s update comes with a warning: do not click on it to view larger if you are afraid of spiders. This guy seems to love hiding out in and amongst the sunflower leaves and is finding the sunflower in the old compost pile quite a nice place to call home. I see him out there sitting on the sunflowers leaves everyday but when he spots me he hides down into the center of the plant. I don’t know what this type of spider is but he is pretty interesting looking.

Hopefully next week will yield some more summer-like weather and our Mystery Squash will put on a lot more growth. Until then happy gardening everyone!

In the picture below you can find creeping caraway thyme (Thymus herba-barona) in full bloom. Next to the thyme is a dwarf hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis var decumbens ‘Nana’) that is just about ready to begin flowering. When the hyssop does flower it sends up spikes of a gorgeous deep blue and is just covered in them.

Behind the dwarf hyssop one will find a clump of variegated oregano (Origanum majorana ‘Variegata’). I am not the biggest fan of variegated plants. In fact they really have to be something for me to consider them. This variety of oregano is fantastic in my opinion. Not only is it very pretty with its golden foliage but it is also more well behaved than your common oregano. I have found that oregano can tend to be a little unruly in the garden if it is not contained. I learned this the hard way years ago as my oregano decided to take over the entire herb bed. These days I keep it happy in a nice container all to itself. This variegated oregano however is now three years old and still maintaining this tidy size. The leaves are also edible and not quite as strong as your typical oregano.

Another tidbit of news from the herb garden right now is the German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is once again bursting forth with apple scented blooms. I started a few seeds of chamomile three years ago and now the rest is history. As long as a little bit of chamomile is allowed to go to seed each year I will never have to plant it again. It is a very prolific self-sower and volunteers can and will come up everywhere. I actually love this as it is such a pretty little flower that is also very useful. Chamomile can be pulled up very easily too just in case it happens to come up in an area I do not want it to grow. This year I am using it as a filler plant in the vegetable garden. Chamomile will set its flowers and go to seed rather quickly no matter how much you harvest it’s sweetly scented blooms. By midsummer I yank the spent plants that are starting to be crowded out by other garden neighbors.  This is what I am doing with the Tomatillos I am growing this year. All around them you will find chamomile beginning to bloom. Once the tomatillos start to get large it will be time to send the chamomile to the compost heap (which happens to have chamomile sprouting all around it).

With this much chamomile in bloom right now you will find me out every morning after the dew has dried plucking the white daisy-like flowers and dropping them into my colander. I like to collect the blooms in my colander because the little holes give an escape route for the little critters that also find the blooms so enticing. Chamomile in bloom does an amazing job of attracting beneficial insects to the garden.

Once I have gathered all I can (or all a two year old little girl will let me) I bring the flowers inside to dry. I have mentioned on here more than once that my preferred method for drying herbs is in the oven with just the light on. I have found chamomile retains it’s lovely scent very nicely this way.

The herb garden is my absolute favorite spot in the entire garden. I just love how useful as well as beautiful herbs can be. I think the combination at the beginning of today’s post does a good job showing just how pretty a herb garden can be. I just cannot stop looking at that combination! Are there any combinations in your garden right now that you cannot take your eyes from?

All photos from this post can be clicked on to enlarge.