Sea buckthorn is also known as Seaberry and Siberian pineapple. I really wanted to start growing my old sea buckthorn plant this year. But it’s a bit too late now, so I’ll have to wait until spring of next year.

Here is a small sea buckthorn plant at the International Fruit Orchard. I think it’s about 2-3 years old. Maybe in a few more years there will be bright berries on them.

I picked a handful of leaves from the bush to make tea. I used the dried leaves and steeped them in hot water for about 5 minutes. It tasted very pleasant, reminded me of raspberry leaves tea. I wouldn’t mind making tea from my own sea buckthorn plant soon enough.

The Republic of Tea has green tea mixed with sea buckthorn berries. Starting at $10 for 3.5 oz tin.

“Sea Buckthorn is native to the shores of the Northern Baltic Sea in Germany where locals consume the berries to ward off cold and flu. Sea Buckthorn berries are mildly tart, like an apricot, and rich in vitamin C and E.”

Not to mention, sea buckthorn is also grown naturally in Siberia and Mongolia.

Sea buckthorn is more popular in Europe, where they make them into fruit drinks and jam. Here in the U.S., they are showing up more in the natural health and beauty department.

Since it’s a very labor intensive harvest, the cost for both oils (berries, leaves, and bark) of this plant is still very expensive.

This spring I will attempt to grow nasturtiums (again).  Nasturtium is native to the South American Andes from Bolivia to Columbia. Some consider them to be herbs as the leaves and blooms are edible. The leaves have a crisp peppery taste that ’s great as salad greens.

I especially love the cheerful crinkly flowers of orange, red and yellow. And the leaves remind me of small lily pads. Photo from Hume Seeds.

They are suppose to be some of the easiest flowers to grow. Yet when I attempted to grow them last spring, I didn’t have much luck at all.

This is all that grew in 4 weeks (photo from last spring). When I decided to transplant it, the whole thing just died a few days later.

I must not have seen this helpful tip from the seed packet:  “Does not transplant well.”  This year, I will be sure to plant them in a large pot or just straight into the ground.

A few more tips:

* Garden nasturtium enjoy sandy soils.

* Too much water and fertilizer could result in more leaves then blooms.

* It also enjoys full sun or light shade and prefers some shade in the summer sun.

* Nasturtium are somewhat drought tolerant but enjoy regular watering.

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Vines are some of my favorite plants, and if the vines have beautiful fragrant flowers and edible fruits, then it’s even better.

Schisandra or Chinese magnolia vine is a twining climber plant with both.  The plant is native to the Russian far east and northern China. It is similar in appearance to a clematis and can easily grow 10 to 20 feet in a season.

The leaves have been described to be slightly heart shaped with a citrus lemon scent.  The fragrant white flowers appear in spring and by autumn produce bright clusters of red fruits.  The leaves also turn a beautiful yellow in the fall.

These bright red berries remind me coffee berries and grapes at the same time. I would love to try growing one of these vines. They could start to bear fruit in 3 years. Photo from Fair Life.

Backyard Gardener’s website listed the following requirements for successful planting.

USDA Hardiness Zone: 7 to 9
Light Range: Part Shade to Full Sun
pH Range: 5.5 to 6.5
Soil Range: Sandy Loam to Clay Loam
Water Range: Normal to Moist

Since I am in Zone 9, this plant would do well.  I mainly want to harvest them for the berries. As the dried berries are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

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When I think of cinnamon, I usually think of cinnamon rolls rather then the actual spice. But this winter, I’m starting to think of cinnamon with much more appreciation. As cinnamon is not only tasty, but very beneficial for your health too.

Cinnamon cassia also known as Chinese cinnamon. Image source.

Cinnamon is native to India. The three commercially cultivated cinnamon include Ceylon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), Indonesian (Cinnamomum burmanii), and Chinese cassia (Cinnamomum cassia). Many of the commercial cultivation of cinnamon are cassia. Countries that process cinnamon include India, China, Vietnam, Madagascar and Sri Lanka.

This is what a Ceylon cinnamon tree looks like: it can grow up to 15 meters high.  Photo from Pukka Herbs.

The harvesting of cinnamon is an interesting process. Cinnamon barks are harvested by cutting back two year old trees.  When the tree stems are chopped, new stem start to sprout around it. The process is call coppicing.  Then new stems can be harvested and the inner bark extracted for use.  That is what you see as the curled cinnamon sticks.

Cinnamon is usually sold in powder form or as cinnamon sticks (quills). The cinnamon commonly found in the market is cassia, which is Chinese cinnamon.  It’s difficult to tell between true cinnamon.

The sweet aroma is really what makes cinnamon special. It just reminds you of the holiday and can warm you up from the inside out. This special aroma comes from the cinnamon barks, which has volatile essential oils.

I have been tempted to add cinnamon oil to my handmade soap, as cinnamon oil is antibacterial. But I’ve heard about too many people being allergic to it. May be better used as a natural household cleaner instead.

The sticks make great Christmas decoration, as seen from Nye Noona’s beautiful photo of her Christmas tree. Photo graciously borrowed from Nye Noona.

The folks at World’s Healthiest Foods has a neat background about cinnamon. You can read more about it here.

One that I found interesting is that the scent of cinnamon oil can boost your brain activity. “Specifically, cinnamon improved participants’ scores on tasks related to attentional processes, virtual recognition memory, working memory, and visual-motor speed while working on a computer-based program.” -Research study from 2004 by the Association for Chemoreception Sciences, in Sarasota, FL.  I personally would think it’s peppermint oil, citrus oil, or the smell of coffee!

According to Gaia Herbs, cinnamon is not just good for digestion, it is also vital to promoting overall health.

“The bark of the preferred species (zeylanicum and burmanii) contain up to 10% volatile oil content in which the constituent Cinnamaldehyde is found. It also contains mucilage, tannins, carotenoids, and phenolics. Cinnamaldehyde has antioxidant properties and helps support fat and cholesterol levels in a normal range. The phenolic compounds especially the polyphenolic polymers have been studied for their effects to support insulin and blood sugar levels within a normal range and promote healthy blood flow. Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is vital to promoting healthy vision, heart, circulation, kidneys and a healthy nervous system.” - Gaia Herbs

In traditional Chinese medicine, cinnamon can provide relief from the cold or flu. Just make tea using fresh ginger and cinnamon powder. Even if you are not sick, it still makes a good herbal drink!

Recently I saw a beautiful flowering plant at Target’s garden center and recognize the leaves right away. Growing up , I remember seeing these plants grow all over our backyard.  Except these had more colorful and pretty flowers.

Photo of “Purslane:  Portulaca Umbraticola”.

My dad was the one who first told me these are edible herbs.  They are really a succulent herb as the leaves are fleshy.  Dad said purslane are great for joint health too.  I also remember my dad and I collecting the purslane from the yard. We gave them to mom to wash and she prepared them for dinner. We had steamed purslane with grilled meat and hot sauce.  I thought the purslane was a bit slimy (but not strange slime). It was actually very good.  It had a lemony-tart taste and the leaves were fleshy.  But since then, I really haven’t had any purslane at all.

This is the type of purslane we had for dinner. They are considered to be weeds.  Photo from Calfora.net

Purslane is known throughout most of the world as both a beneficial and tasty plant.  And it can be eaten raw too.  But in the U.S., they consider it a weed and appropriately named it “pigweed” or “hogweed”.  I think that is just too bad!  In California, they also consider it an invasive plant.  I really don’t think it’s a problem, as you can always pull them out once it gets out of control.  And it’s not full of spike or has strange smells either.  Just bring on some hungry goats to clear them out!

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This interesting looking flower comes from the perennial climbing vine that also has a sturdy woody stem.  They are commonly refer to as Passionflower or Passionvines.  It’s name originated from the Spanish Christian missionaries as the flower resembles the crown of thorns worn by Jesus during the crucifixion.

But in other parts of the world such Japan and Israel, it is refer to as the “Clock Plant.”  I can see the resemblance to the clock here too.

A good description of the origin of the name “Passionflower” by Kew Botanical Gardens:

They called it the passion flower because they thought that it symbolised the death of Christ. The five sepals and five petals of the flower, which are similar in appearance, represent the disciples without Peter and Judas. The double row of coloured filaments, known as the corona, signifies to some the halo around Christ’s head and to others the crown of thorns. The five stamens and the three spreading styles with their flattened heads symbolise the wounds and the nails respectively. The tendrils resemble the whips used to scourge Christ and the lobed leaves look similar to the clutching hands of the soldiers.

There are about 500 species of this flower, but only 55 species of Passiflora are grown for their edible fruit.  There are also many that are not edible, so you have to be careful not to eat the wrong one.

I once bought some passion fruit at the Santa Barbara farmer’s market.  I don’t see them anywhere in Northern California, as they grow in warmer areas.

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Since I am on the subject of guavas this week. I thought I would add the benefits of drinking guava leaf tea. There doesn’t seem to be too much info on this subject in Westernern society or health news. But in Asia, making teas out of fruit leaves are common.

Such leaves include loquats, pomegranate, and guava. Loquats are good for coughs. Pomegranate good for stomach problems, it is also used as a dieter’s tea. Which means it could help suppress your appetite.

My favorite is of the guava leaves, since it is loaded with vitamins, good for your skin, helps lower your cholesterol, and burn fats.

Below is some information on a study made by Bizen Chemical Company in Japan.

MULTIPLE BENEFITS OF GUAVA LEAF EXTRACT POWDER

Guava leaf, anti-oxidizing effect, makes you healthier

Guava is the origin of a tropical America and South-East Asia. Its leaf has been used as health tea. Guava Leaf has a character of strong Superoxide-dismutase-like activity. Because decreasing of free radicals makes anti-oxidizing effect in the body, it can prevent arterial sclerosis, thrombosis, cataract and inhibit senescence of body and skin (1). Also, polyphenolic compounds contained in Guava Leaf have an effect to suspend proceeding of peroxidation reaction in the living body which can be expected to prevent various chronic diseases (2).

Guava leaf, anti-allergic effect, improves atopic dermatitis.

One of factors for atopic dermatitis and other allergies are histamine release from cells. So that it is believed that the inhibition of histamine release from cells can cure atopic dermatitis and other allergies. Guava leaf has an inhibitory effect for the release of histamine from cells (4).

Guava leaf, a-amylase inhibitor, reduces body fat

Obesity is a phenomenon of over-accumulation of body fat and is said to be a risk factor of chronic diseases. Guava leaf has a function to inactive a-amylase as an its inhibitor and to inhibit digestive absorption of lipid as hpase inhibitory effect. However, Guava leaf does not inhibit protease (5). Therefore, because of Guava leaf’s inhibitory activity of decomposition of starch to glucose, it inhibits absorption of glucose into body and inhibits conversion of glucose to body fat. It is believed that Guava leaf is effective for weight control and reducing body fat.

Guava leaf, anti-diabetic effect, reduces blood sugar

Guava leaf has been used as a folk remedy for diabetes and there are studies of Guava leaf for anti-diabetic effect. Guava leaf inhibits the increase in the plasma level of blood sugar, but not to effect on the plasma level of insulin (3).

See also Herb:  Banaba Leaves at Cambree Notes for diabetic tea.

To make your own guava leaf tea Infusion:

Pour 1 cup of lightly boiled water into 1 - 2 teaspoon of herbal leaves in teapot or heat resistant glassware. I like to use a French Press to brew my herbal teas.

Let it steep for 3 - 5 minutes.
For medicinal usage, steep longer for 15-30 minutes.

It should be kept in refrigerator and good to drink the next couple of days.