• Monthly Columns

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Snowberry   Snowberry, or Symphoricarpos, is the name for 15 or so shrubs that boast gorgeous white berries. The plant is part of the honeysuckle family, and is also known as waxberry or the beautifully evocative name, ghostberry.     The inspiration to write about this plant came from my 13-year-old, who sent me this cute WhatsApp message on his way home (pictured). It’s lovely to be the “go-to” person for plant info, and nice to be able to give some fast advice on a potentially toxic plant! The interesting thing about snowberries is that, while they can be toxic, they’re also used medicinally in some…

  • Interviews,  Reviews

    Book Review & Interview – Green Witchcraft: Discover how to use Herbs, Flowers, Woods, Crystals, and Essential Oils to Naturally Heal, Increase Abundance, and Align Yourself with the Magic of Mother Earth by Madeline Silvy

    Book Review Green Witchcraft: Discover How to use Herbs, Flowers, Woods, Crystals, and Essential Oils to Naturally Heal, Increase Abundance, and Align Yourself with the Magic of Mother Earth by Madeline Silvy Publisher: Self-Published 233 Pages Release Date: September 12, 2023       Some books feel like a conversation and visit from an old friend, one that you enjoy very much. Green Witchcraft by Madeline Silvy brought the comfort and companionship of sisterhood to my heart and home. Being brought up in a family of all men, it took me a while to discover the beauty and truth spoken, Women need Women. Green Witchcraft delivered the fulfillment of that…

  • Monthly Columns

    Notes from The Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Petunias   Petunias: Both a beautiful garden flower and a star of the RNA-focused scientific community. Way back in the 1990s, scientists tried to create deep purple petunias by inserting the gene associated with this colour. Instead, the flowers just came out white! Further studies into this led to big discoveries concerning RNA interference and gene silencing, for which scientists Andrew Fire and Craig Mello received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. But it all started with the petunias. Petunia is not a single species, but a genus of flowers that contains around 35 distinct species. They’re all in the Solanaceae family, which also includes…

  • Monthly Columns

    Living the Oily Life

    Tea Tree Oil Tea tree oil is another main stay in my oil arsenal. Tea tree or melaleuca is known for its cleansing and purifying properties. The plant tea tree oil is derived from is found in Australia. Aboriginal people would apply the leaves of the plant directly to their skin to help cool it in the scorching sun. The oil is extracted from the leaves of the plant and for purposes of collection steam and pressure distillation are used to gather the oil. This oil is used world wide in everything from cleaning, to hair and skin care. Having issues finding a toner that works well on your skin?…

  • Monthly Columns

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Anemones   Whenever you hear the word “anemone” you’ll either imagine a gorgeous yet shy sea creature or a beautiful flower found both in the wild and in gardens all over the world. Of course, here in the Apothecary, we’re excited about the flowers! There are well over a hundred species of anemone, including Anemone blanda and Anemone nemorosa, both often referred to as wood anemones or the more evocative name, windflowers. Anemones are in the same family as buttercups (Ranunculaceae) and grow from bulbs or rhizomes, usually coming back year after year. In Europe, anemones are keepers of living history, in a way, as large…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – The Green Witch’s Guide to Magical Plants & Flowers by Chris Young and Susan Ottaviano

    Book Review The Green Witch’s Guide to Magical Plants & Flowers by Chris Young and Susan Ottaviano Publisher: Skyhorse 280 Pages Publication date: June 6, 2023     Plants are my bag, so any book aimed at “Green Witches” is going to be hitting my shelves, sooner or later. The subtitle for this one is, “26 love spells from apples to zinnias,” which startled me a little, as the main title seems to indicate it’s a general guide, rather than a book specifically on love spells. Oh well—as with all things, I approached it with an open mind! First impressions, this book is gorgeous. The artwork from the cover design…

  • Monthly Columns

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Asparagus June is the final month for harvesting asparagus in many places, which makes it an ideal plant to look at for our Summer Solstice edition of Notes from the Apothecary. This unusual vegetable crops up in plenty of mythology and folklore throughout the ages, and is used by many modern witches and pagans for love, lust, and luck magic, among other things. Asparagus, or Asparagus officinalis, is a perennial which means it grows back year after year. It’s a flowering plant, and, if left to mature, may produce small white or yellow flowers and orange berries. It’s one of those plants that looks wildly different…

  • Monthly Columns

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Wild Garlic     Wild garlic or Allium ursinum is a fragrant perennial plant with tiny clusters of white flowers atop long, lush green leaves that don’t grow any higher than most people’s ankles. It’s also known as ramsons in Europe and ramps in the United States. Other related plants such as Allium canadense and Allium tricoccum are also called ramps or wild garlic, and just to be more confusing, you might also hear them called wild leeks or wood leeks. Whatever you call them, there’s no escaping the fact that these plants are one of the most delicious smelling harbingers of spring. In the woods…

  • Monthly Columns

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Blackberry The humble bramble or blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) is a common sight in British and Irish hedgerows and wild places. Blackberries are also found all over the United States, and may also be called caneberries. Blackberries grow on thick, fast-growing branches covered in thorns, making picking the fruit perilous – use gloves! Each berry is a collection of tiny balls called a drupe, and the taste ranges from sweet to mouth-shrivelling and sour if you pick the tiny, hard ones. In the woods near my house, once you venture away from the paths, the spiky branches trail riotously between tree trunks, making it impossible to create…

  • Monthly Columns,  Spells & Rituals

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: The Beech Tree   The common beech, or Fagus sylvatica, is a majestically large deciduous tree, native to North America and Europe, and a vital part of the ecosystem thanks to being home and food to many forms of wildlife. There are other beech species, all in the Fagus genus, with some native to Asia, including Fagus japonica, the Japanese blue beech, and Fagus engleriana, the Engler or Chinese beech. In the U.K. where I live, we often see “Copper Beeches”, which have distinct, purple-bronze leaves and look like they’re straight out of a fantasy tale. Interestingly, this isn’t a different species, but a carefully cultivated…