A bouquet of wildflowers

I picked myself a wonderful bouquet of flowers last night. All growing alongside the road and in the meadows everywhere right now.

It also transported me back to my childhood, remembering I had done this many times before. A way of being in the moment, time does not exist as you walk from flower to flower and creatively assemble a masterpiece as every flower is unique and complementing the next.

A very therapeutic and calming experience and yet so simple. Seeing the world with the eyes of a child is pure bliss.

Lots of Red Clover (Trifolium Pratense), Queen Anne’s Lace or Wild Carrot (Daucus Carota), Common Self Heal (Prunella Vulgaris), Ribwort Plantain (Plantago Lanceolata), to just name the few I collected. All of these have a medicinal usage or are edible – at least in parts.

You can use the leaves and flowers of the Red Clover as garnishes, the essential oil is used in aromatherapy, and the flowers can be used to make jelly and they have medicinal properties as well.

Queen Anns’ Lace is similar to our cultivated carrots and you can batter and fry the flowers and eat the roots when they are young. Also good as companion plants with tomatoes in your vegetable garden and with lettuce. It attracts wasps and butterflies for pollination, often with one or more coloured flower in the sea of creamy white.

Common Self Heal can be used in salads, soups, and stews. The Nlaka’pamux drank a cold infusion of the whole plant.

Ribwort Plantain is being used as a tea and also has medicinal properties for treating disorders of the respiratory tract, skin, insect bites, and infections.

Make sure if you are collecting wild plants for food or medicine that you know exactly what you are looking at and bringing home. Often there are look alike that could be poisonous. I found an incredible free app today, called British Columbia Wildflowers – that could be a start to find out more!

Pretty incredible what grows by the side of the road, mostly unnoticed!