Boost Your Immune System with Echinacea!
We're back on our medicinal garden journey, and so far we are halfway through with the plants that we are going to plant for this year. We've decided that instead of overwhelming ourselves, we were going to start small this year and choose some medicinal plants that will grow to expand in our garden. Doing so will allow for a nice backdrop for next year and we will see exactly where we need to fill in.
So far, we've planted these medicinal plants (we've linked to previous or future blog posts below that feature these plants for your reading convenience):
- Lavender
- St. John's Wort
- Echinacea (YAY for today's feature post!)
- Bee Balm
- Speedwell
- Chives
- Black Eyed Susan
- Marigolds
You can see that there's not a ton of medicinal plants, but many of these medicinal plants grow to be 18" or higher and some up to 3 feet wide. All of these medicinal plants are perennials except for the marigolds. I'm figuring out that I love gardening, but I don't want to have to go through a "start from scratch" mode every spring, so I've decided that the way to get myself an established garden is to have a base of perennials.
Today, I'd like to focus my attention toward Echinacea purpurea, or more commonly known as Purple Coneflower. These beauties remind me of daisies with their delicate petals. Since my favorite color is purple, it's only natural that I chose more than one purple plant for our medicinal garden! Bees and butterflies love them too. Aren't they pretty?!
Echinacea purpurea is more common than some of the other medicinal plants we've featured thus far.Several people choose to take Echinacea purpurea in the form of a supplement to boost immune system. You can purchase organic Echinacea purpurea seeds to grow at home! You can find them on Amazon.
To give you a little personal history, I learned about the powers of Echinacea purpurea from my paternal grandmother. She suffered many years with bronchitis. It was so bad it was like clock work and she was down for several weeks with the illness. Looking for a more natural alternative medicine, she decided to try Echinacea for its immune boosting properties. She religiously took the supplement daily per the recommended dosage and when the next year came, she miraculously didn't suffer from bronchitis. She's been taking it ever since and swears by it.
Obviously, her results are not typical of everyone who takes Echinacea purpurea, but it's definitely worth adding to your regiment if you feel you often find yourself with a cold. As always, before you take any type of supplement, please consult your primary health provider to be sure the supplement is right for you and will not have adverse affects to other prescription medications you may be taking.
Research on Echinacea
Unfortunately, there have been limited medical studies done on Echinacea to really sway this herb one way or another in the medical field. The research that is out there is somewhat conflicting, so I don't have any great articles to share. Of our reading, the most positive study was done by researchers at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacology. The abstract from that study can be found here.
Benefits Of Echinacea
Tinctures
Like dandelions, Echinacea purpurea plants can be used in their entirety - the leaves, the petals, and the roots. If you're specifically looking to use the entire plant, check out this tincture at Reformation Acres.
What is a tincture you ask? Well, a tincture is made by taking a medicinal plant and concentrating it with alcohol, typically vodka. The mixture for a tincture is typically 3/4 of a container (jar) filled with the herb and 1/4 container filled with the liquid. Tinctures were largely used in apothecaries and should be taken by the drop to treat common ailments. We don't suggest giving tinctures to children or young adults due to the alcohol content.
Can you guess our next medicinal form for Echinacea purpurea?....TEA!
Of course, like most medicinal plants, Echinacea purpurea can be dried and used to make herbal tea. Many people drink Echinacea tea when they are suffering from a cold or as a prevention method during cold and flu season. This tea is probably the tea I'm most excited about making our of all of our medicinal plants.
Throat Spray
Because Echinacea purpurea is an immune booster, most of its benefits are by taking the herb internally. It's benefits to helping common colds can only be enhanced by having a throat spray if you are suffering from a cold, which sometimes includes a sort throat. We found this recipe at Wellness Mama for an herbal throat spray that includes Echnicaea.
We hope you enjoyed our post today! Until next time.
Be Natural. Be Honest. Be Healthy.
