the oldest cultivated plants, ac- 

 cording to The Encyclopedia of Herbs 

 and Herbalism, edited by Malcolm 

 Stuart. It has a mucilaginous prop- 

 erty and was used as an anti-in- 

 flammatory, as a tisane for chest 

 complaints, and as a mouthwash. 

 A problem with hollyhocks is its 

 tendency to have rust, but treat- 

 ing this early in the season seems 

 to help, and it doesn't seem to as 

 severe in cooler zones. It grows 

 fairly well from seed and, now 

 that cottage-garden look is be- 

 coming popular, some nurseries 

 are even carrying the old-fash- 

 ioned single types along with the 

 doubles and "powderpuffs." 



There are some shrubs to con- 

 sider. Bayberry {Myrica pensyl- 

 vanica), also called candleberry or 

 wax myrtle, is hardy to zone 2 

 and is known for its fragrant wax 

 used in candle-making. The bark 

 and roots were used as an astrin- 

 gent, a tonic, and a stimulant; and 

 the leaves had medicinal uses as 

 well. The plant is shrubby, with 

 glossy green leaves and hard 

 grey-blue berries that hold onto 

 the branches for many months 

 It's the berries that provide the 



wax The shrub will grow in sandy 

 well-drained soil as well as near 

 marshlands and can take sun or 

 partial shade. Then there is 

 sweetgale {Myrica gale), a two-to- 

 four foot high bushy shrub grown 

 for the sweet fragrance of its foli- 

 age. The leaves were used to fla- 

 vor a home-made herbal beer 

 called "gale-beer." This interesting 

 shrub is hardy to zone 1. 



juniper is another worth men- 

 tioning, luniper berries have been 

 used for hundreds of years in 

 medicines, teas, varnish and lac- 

 quer, and for flavoring an alco- 

 holic beverage known as gin. To 

 this day, these berries can be 

 found in recipes for venison, pork, 

 and lamb. The plant, along with 

 being very hardy, has many useful 

 cultivars. 



Other herbs that can handle 

 zone 3 include angelica, loveage, 

 tarragon, chives and garlic chives, 

 sweet cicily, sweet woodruff, and 

 comfrey. Of particular note is 

 lady's mantle {Alchemilla vulgaris), 

 which has many uses on the 

 herbal landscape, mainly because 

 it can pretty much take care of it- 

 self. 1 recently learned that the 



small spring leaves from this 

 plant are boiled and used as a 

 spring tonic — there's always some- 

 thing new to learn. 



Herb gardening can be any- 

 where — even North of the Notches 



Tanya ]ackson, a well-known area herbal- 

 ist, can be reached at 603-431-6774 



(Note: Five-leaf akebia [\kebia 

 guinata] fascinated me when I 

 read about it in several respected 

 sources and I talked about it in 

 the April/May The Plantsman. How- 

 ever, since then I have had occa- 

 sion to talk about it with Virginia 

 Chisholm, who cares for the gar- 

 dens at the Moffat-Ladd House in 

 Portsmouth. "Don't plant it unless 

 you want to be forever digging it," 

 she said; "It grows at the Moffat- 

 Ladd House and invades the lawn 

 at every opportunity." She agrees 

 that it's beautiful, but there's no 

 better advice than that of some- 

 one who really deals with it So 

 perhaps it's a vine not to be in- 

 troduced, regardless of the kudos 

 handed to it by Alan Lacy and 

 the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.) 



Les Entereprises Dolbec Cookshire Ltee 



TREE PLANTER 



Characteristics 



■ Each tree planter supplied with its own trailer 

 " 16 "-30" diameter disc 



■ Adjustable shear and disk 



• Made by "Beloit Woodland" model ™ 



• $1,200-2,400 Canadian funds 



506, Chemin Dolbec, Birchton, Ouebec 

 Tel: 819-821-4188 Fax: 819-875-5372 



New Hampshire Fairs 



(A// area codes in the fairs listing are 603 | 



lULY 27-30 North Haverhill Fair. Fred C. Lee Memorial Field, 

 N Haverhill; for information: David Keith at 787-6696. 



|ULY 28-30 Stralham Fair, Route 33 (formerly Route 101), 

 Stratham; David Noyes at 431 -GAME. 



AUGUST 2-6 Cheshire Fair, Route 12, N Swanzey; John 

 Thurber at 357-4740. 



AUGUST 15-20 Lancaster Fair, Route US 3, Lancaster, Paul 

 Thurston at 788-4531. 



AUGUST 18-20 Cornish Fair, Town Hall Road, Cornish; Bob 

 Bladen at 542-4622. 



AUGUST 19-20 Belknap County 4-H Fair. Mile Hill Road, 

 Belmont; |o-Ann Shattuck at 435-8788. 



AUGUST 31 -SEPTEMBER 4 Hopkinton State Fflir,Contoocook 

 Fair Grounds, Contoocook; Alan Hardy at 746-4191 



SEPTEMBER 6-10 Plymouth Stale Fair, Plymouth (take Exit 

 26 off 1-93); Russell Merrill at 536-1690. 



SEPTEMBER 8-10 Hi//s&oro County Agricultural Fair, Route 13, 

 New Boston; |ohn Robertson at 588-6500 or Marge Rowe at 

 673-2510. 



SEPTEMBER 14-24 Rochester Fair, 72 Lafayette Street, Roch- 

 ester; Jeffrey Taylor at 332-6585. 



SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER I Deerfield Fair, Route 43. 

 Deerfield; jane Boucher at 463-7924. 



OCTOBER 7-9 Sandwich Fair, Center Sandwich; Earle 

 Peaslee at 284-7062. 



26 



The Plantsman 



