Home Herbs A to Z Southernwood / Lad's Love (Artemisia abrotanum)
Southernwood / Lad's Love (Artemisia abrotanum) Print E-mail

keep the mozzies away...

In the Garden | Fragrance | Medicinal use

Popular garden varieties

Southernwood

Southernwood

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In the Garden

Growth Characteristics:

  • Perennial, Evergreen, Frost tolerant,
  • Height: ±1.5m; Spread: ±1.5cm,
  • Attractive as a neatly clipped hedge and the silver leaves are stunning when reflected in moonlight,

Cultivation:

  • Full sun; Well drained, composted soil,

     

Harvesting:

  • Pick fresh leaves and flowers throughout the year,
  • The leaves and roots produce a yellow natural plant dye for textiles,

     

Companion Planting:

  • Vegetables and fruit:
    • Deter onion and carrot fly with branches laid between onion and carrot rows,
    • Grow near cabbage to deter cabbage moth, and near fruit trees to deter fruit tree moth,

Repellant for:

  • The leaves make one of the best natural fish moth and mosquito repellant,
  • Hang bunches of leaves in a chicken coop to deter fleas, lice, and flies,
  • Ants: Chopped and sprinkled around holes, or a strong infusion poured into holes,

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Fragrance
  • Pungently, aromatic leaves,
  • Use in sachets to repel moths and fleas,
  • Infuse to make a strong domestic disinfectant,
  • Will help to retain fragrance in pot-pourris,
  • Use soft silver foliage colour for bouquets, wreaths and tussie-mussies,

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Medicinal use

Southernwood may be beneficial in the following cases:

General
  • Taken internally and applied topically to stimulate hair growth,
  • Infuse as a tea for a general tonic,
Liver
  • Improves Liver function,
Digestive system
  • Poor appetite and digestion,
  • Threadworm in children,
Reproductive System
  • Delayed or painful menstruation,
  • WARNING: DO NOT TAKE WHEN PREGNANT

 

Preparation and dosage:

TEA:

  • 2 cups per day.
  • Only use consecutively for up to 2 weeks, give a break of a week before resuming.

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Featured Herb

Three uses for Lemon Thyme:

1. Try using it sparingly as a tea herb with ginger and mint,
2. Stuff the cavity of a roaster chicken with 1/2 a lemon, 1/2 peeled medium size onion. Several sprigs of the lemon thyme and a couple sprigs of rosemary.
3. For something special, put lemon thyme in salsa.
Salsa

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