The earth was my bed, the wind through the leaves in the trees my lullaby, and the breeze caressing skin my blanket. Then I woke up to a lovely surprise. The Mullein and Henbane in my sky terrace garden had bloomed! I have never grown Henbane before nor seen it before now. The blooms are beautiful and covered in pollen. The leaves are soft and fuzzy despite their prickly appearance. I’m so happy as I was hoping to get seeds so I could grow it again next year. Henbane grows fast here and really seems to like the climate of my hot terrace beaten by the sun all day. In a dream I received a recipe for a sabbat mead which includes Henbane as one of the three ingredients. Henbane used to be used commonly in beer recipes in Europe, but as it can be very poisonous in high amounts, I shall have to be very careful of the dosage. It is also found in a couple traditional spirit work incenses as well as flying ointment recipes. It’s one of those plants that brands you as a witch when seen in your garden.
My Mullein shot up a foot or more and suddenly bloomed these gorgeous egg-yolk flowers. I don’t understand how anyone can consider this a weed. It is just such a beautiful, soft, and impressive plant. I hope to collect the seeds from this one and plant a whole family of Mullein next year. I just took these pictures in the sunlight, but the wind is raging and bringing a storm in.
After you mentioned awhile back that mullein is a chthonic plant and appropriate for dark moon ritual, I made an immediate connection to Hekate, since She is connected with both the dark moon and torches. Then I noticed a mullein plant growing by the creek I pass on my walk to work each morning. Sure enough it was in full “torch” mode by yesterday, the dark moon, and then this morning I walked by and the flower part had kind of cracked and partially fallen, which seemed appropriate.
Oh, and… you may already be familiar with it, but in case not, there’s a great book on brewing with herbs, including somewhat poisonous ones, called Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Buhner.
Ooo, I forgot about that title – thanks!
What beautiful pictures!
Well, I must say, I am glad that the heat is gone, lol! We live in an attic, and man, did it get hot up here!
But that is besides the point,
.
I loved the opening to this post… very dreamy
How big are the Henbane flowers? They look delightful and happy.
I can’t wait till my little potted garden is blooming, and I just sowed the
seeds last night!
A quick question: Have you noticed the “gross” smell coming from the henbane flowers? A lot of growers I’ve spoken to said the flowers smell of rotting meat.
Mullein is a native here in my neck of the woods. And it doesn’t even attempt to hide it’s head. There’s one that’s got to be close to twelve feet that I’m eyeballing for seeds this fall.
The only problem is that since they die back completely each year you can end up with -pounds- of material to dry. And mullein-leaves, when dry, are just about the most irritating thing in the world to handle.
They don’t really smell very strongly at all. They smell faintly of onions to me – a little like asafoetida. Not pretty and floral, but not disgusting either.
Twelve feet! Nice! Hmm, I’ve found mullein to be just as soft when handling dry. Do you dry while they’re still green and alive? Or is it a repetitive touching when processing that causes the irritation?
I dry green, yeah. It’s the fuzzy hairs. If I’m handling the dried leaves without gloves, those fuzzy hairs will irritate me to no end.
They seem to shed off in a silky, almost graphite-like fashion… but continuing to work with them? Those little hairs start to go from silky to prickly, to “OH MY GOD MY HANDS ARE ON FIRE!”
I fell in love with Mullein as a child when I suffered from many ear infections. It feels a bit… immortal to me, which is fitting I suppose considering its seeds can be viable for something like 100 years!
Your henbane is beautiful! I have grown it but haven’t worked with it in any significant way. I’m eager to see how your mead turns out!
Oh wow, your mullein looks amazing. Mine is doing well, but I’m still waiting for it to torch (and hoping it happens this year).
Just wanted to stop in and let you know I’ve been enjoying your blog for a few weeks now. Time to make a point of commenting from time to time, I guess!
Hello and thanks for stopping by to comment!
This is a beautiful post, Sarah! Your henbane looks incredible and you have inspired me to start growing some at my new home. Thank you for the wonderful pictures.
Beautiful post! When we moved into our current home, my next door neighbour informed me that they had done some “weeding” for us before we moved in. I was devestated to see that they had ripped out the mullein that had been growing in the back garden. One day I’ll grow another
I remember a decade or two ago when I first saw henbane. I was living at my parents’ while doing archaeology for the forest service. I looked out the kitchen window, and there were a half-dozen odd looking plants that had sprung up overnight. I am not exaggerating. Over one night, and they were in full bloom. I knew they were some kind of medicine plants. They reminded me of Lily Munster from “The Munsters”..the shape of their leaves, the color of pale yellow and purple flowers. I did not know what this plant was, or how it could grow 3 feet in one night. (I went in the back yard every day, so I know it was overnight). I didn’t know what to do with them. I didn’t know what they were. I looked them up in the museum library and learned they were henbane, and that during WWII, the government actually paid people to gather them here for medicine used in the war. I went away for over ten years. When I returned a couple of years ago, I saw two more had grown in the backyard. Right next to them was woody nightshade. Talk about a Message in a Bottle.