Hyssop

If you're like us and your trying to get the most out of the space you have for gardening, you'll probably looking for plants that are good for companion planting and if they do double duty then that's all that much better.

Image from Amazon.com

Hyssop falls into that category. It's a member of the mint family and loves sun as well as being an evergreen. All great attributes in my book, Historically it was used as a cleansing herb in temples and other sacred places as well repelling insects. It's also been a favorite in European gardens for it's beauty.


He has been used medically from Roman times, as a protection from the plague to modern times as an aid to the immune system. Used in a warm tea it acts as a herbal expectorant and to break up congestion in the sinuses. It is a diaphoretic, which means it promotes perspiration, so it also used for reducing fever and eliminating toxins. It is also classified as a nervine, which means it can be used to calm anxiety naturally. This leads to it's uses for children's digestive and respiratory issues.

All parts of the plant are used for herbal remedies; a brew of the flowers can speed the healing of burns and skins inflammations, Fresh bruised leaves promote healing of bruises, and insect bites. As a tea or bath additive it has been shown to help kill head lice, which is a much better alternative to some of the extreme products for sale today.

Adding Hyssop to your garden as a companion plant to cabbage and others in the Brassica family because it attracts those little white butterflies, we call them cabbage moths..lol, that love to lay eggs on your cabbage, which then turn into worms that eat your cabbages and broccoli. The Hyssop attracts them with a camphor like scent so they spare your Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts and other Brassicas. The aromatic blooms can be various colors from blue to rose to white and are a favorite of bees, which are attracted to your garden and help with the pollination. So think about planting them not only in your garden but also around grapevines and fruit trees to increase the chance of pollinators visiting your vines and tress which will lead to larger harvests.

Check out Baker seed company or other sites  for your seeds. There is still time to get them started this year if your in the south and if the climate is still cool where you are they are easy to start indoors. The plants do best kept a bit dry and will reseed easily.

Thanks for wandering through the garden and the woods with us. I is next on the list and I'll be using it to talk about Indigo, which can be used as a natural dye. This is a post in the A to Z Challenge, where we use the alphabet as inspiration for blogging, 1900 people signed up to the challenge so there is something for everyone!