Month: November
plant details - Ginger, a root with a whitish colour. I powdered it for my use.
common uses - medicinial and culinary
personal use - I have bad chillblains on my toes. I saw a remedy in which ginger is used. Therefore I used ginger. It helped so much. Ialso like gingerbread men. Ginger is such a useful item for me.

plant details - Chamomile, looks like a daisy with white petals and yellow middle
common uses - Medicinal (great for those Muggles with Chicken Pox and it is a sedative and calm abdominal pain and infamation) and it makes a nice tea
personal use - I like to have Chamomile tea before bedtime. I have a hard time falling asleep and it calms me down.

Both these herbs above I use for medical uses more then the other herbs. From this I realize that herbs are not just for food but also for medicines. For example I like to eat Gingerbread men yet ginger is also good for my toes

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Month: December
plant details - Rosemary, Evergreen, needle like leaves with white, pink purple or blue flowers
common uses - culinary, Decoration, To improve memory, medicine, The leaves are sometimes used to flavor various foods, like stuffings and roast meats.
personal use - As it contains a lemony, pine-like aroma my mother sometimes adds it to grilled fish, roast and vegetables... it combine well with garlic

plant details - Thyme, woody stems with leaves whose colour caries from greyish green to green. Flowers are two lipped and come in colours that range from pink to purple.
common uses - scent, insect repellent and culinary, especially as a condiment
personal use -My mother uses when she roasts chicken as she says it adds a subtle, yet present flavor. She also sometimes uses it to enhance meats, poultry, sauces and vegetable dishes, when I asked my mother about this versatile popular herb she said that it has a fragrant, lemony and delicate flavour

Both herbs I recorded this month I remember its use in the kitchen more then all the other uses. Both of them have a lemony taste... is this just a co-incidence or are they connected in some way?
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Month: January
plant details - Parsley, is bright green, hairless, thin stem and small leaves
common uses - Culinary, garnishus, can be used as a breath freashener and has lots of health benefits
personal use - After having garlic or onion my mother usually makes me have parley as it makes the breath nicer.

Plant Details: Aloe Vera, a spiky, succulent green plant, looks similar to Cactus.
Common Uses: Has many medicinal uses, as well antibacterial properties. Also used in cosmetics. I once saw a wall garden that had aloe vera on, so I guess it can be used for decorations too
Personal Use: One time I fell and scraped my head. Not wanting it to scar and wanting it to heal properly I placed it on my head every day. It helped with the healing. (although being in the sun has made my scar still slighty visible.)

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Month: February
plant details Sunflower-rough hairy stem, 3-12 feet high, its leaves are rough and are 3-12 inches long. The petals are yellow and BRIGHT yellow and in the middle is either brown or orange.
common uses - Culinary- sunflower oil is often used in food and sometimes sunflowers are used to make animal feed. Medicinal- there are diuretic and expectorant properties which are used for coughs, colds and bronchitis. It is also a great soil improver to have a sunflower growing and they are used also as pretty flowers in a garden. Bees also take pollen from it, making honey and wax.
personal use - My father is a healthy eating fanatic and therefore my mother only cooks with oils such as sunflower oil and olive oil. My brothers love to eat sunflower seeds and we have sunflowers growing in our garden!

Plant Details: Lavender a small shrub with grey downy linear leaves and flowers that range between blue and violet. I like the violet ones better though!
Common Uses: Medicinial - its essential oil is very good, in fact it was even used in hospitals during WW1! It is a great anti septic as well and relieves stress! Scent-at home we have lavender scented soap and there are perfumes made out of Lavender! Culinary-some people use it for tea and things.
Personal Use: When I first wanted to grow a flower, my father, nervous that I could not take care of it well got me a Lavender Bush as lavenders are considered to be especially hardy! I was very responsible with it and it looks very pretty and smells divine.

As February is my birthday month, I decided to do some pretty herbs and my favourite ones. I did not even know that a Sun Flower was a herb until I was reading a book which stated that it was a herb! Lavender is also an amazing herb and it is also the favorite colour of Nessie and I!


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Month: March

Plant Details: Taraxacum (Dandelion), leaves are 5-25cm long or longer. simple and basal, entire or lobed, and they form a rosette above the central taproot. The flower head itself are yellow to orange coloured, open at day yet closed at night. Each head has its own hollow stem that rises about 10cm above leaves. When broken it gives off a milky sap. A rosette may contain a few heads and the flower heads are about 2cm in diameter have mainly have ray florets. The flowerhead is surrounded by bracts, the outer bract always reflexes downwards while the inner bract is erect before seeds mature and then flexes downwards to allow seeds to disperse.
The kind I saw in South Africa looked different; they are the T. Officinale variety. After flowering is finished, the dandelion flower head dries out for a day or two. The dried petals and stamens drop off, the bracts curve backwards, and the parachute ball opens into a full sphere. Finally, the seed-bearing parachutes expand and lift out of it. The parachute drops off the achene when it strikes an obstacle. After the seed is released, the parachutes lose their feathered structure and take on a fuzzy, cotton-like appearance, often called "dandelion snow”.
Common Uses: Is a beneficial weed that is a good companion for gardening, as its tap roots will bring up nutrients for shallow rooted plants. It also attracts pollinating insects. Culinary - Dandelion leaves and buds have been a part of traditional Sephardic, Chinese, and Korean cuisine, and in Crete the locals eat them raw or cooked in salads. Can be used to make wine, root bear and in Victorian times they were often eaten. They also have many vitamins in it. Medicinal-dandelion is used in herbal medicine to treat infections, bile and liver problems.
Personal Use: When I visited South Africa, I had a lot of fun blowing it. When I returned to England, I visited a bee farm that has a lot of dandelions to attract bees.

Plant Details: apium graveolens or celery grows to 1 m tall. The leaves are pinnate to bipinnate leaves with rhombic leaflets 3–6 cm long and 2–4 cm broad. The flowers are creamy-white, 2–3 mm diameter, produced in dense compound umbels. The seeds are broad ovoid to globose, 1.5–2 mm long and wide.
Common Uses: Medicinial, yet mainly culinary. I like eating celery stalks.
Personal Use: In my house we love celery. It is what we snack on! It is also great for dieting, my mother is on a new diet and she eats a lot of celery

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Month: April
Plant Details: Apple, a small tree that when ripe its fruit are either red or yellow and measure about an inch across.
Common Uses: Medicinial - an apple a day keeps the doctor away and apples provide energy to the body and also it the easiest vegetable for stomach to digest. Also eating rip apples before going to bed cures constipation and poultice is an old Lincolnshire remedy for sore eyes that uses rotten apples. culinary – cider, pies, cooking and eating plain, scent of apple blossoms is really nice.
Personal Use: I went to pick apples in the orchard now, as they are ready for picking as it is spring.

Plant Details: Peppermint- herb with smooth, squareish stems; broad, dark green leaves with reddish veins and both stems (30–90 cm) and leaves (from 4–9 cm long and 1.5–4 cm broad) are slightly hairy; has purple flowers (6–8 mm long) that bloom in late summer
Common Uses: used as a flavoring in teas, ice creams, candies, chewing gum, and toothpaste and also had medicinial uses such as treating of nausea and stomach cramps. The aroma is said to enhance memory
Personal Uses: My aunt grows peppermint and I once ate it plain yuck. My mother made us pepper mint flavoured ice cream when I went home. I prefer the chocolate kind though. Peppermint chewing gum was eaten by me last night

I went apple picking this month in the fruit orchard