Ellen Mary Gardening lives and breathes gardening. Her love of plants started when she was just 18 months old and the experience has given her plenty ofopportunitiesy to experiment with natural ways to help common health issues. She now travels around the world to inspire everyone to enjoy the benefits nature has to offer us for our own wellbeing. She will join us at Bloom at the Garden Expert Stage to inspire gardeners to use plants not just for visual attraction but also for common health issues, with a focus on women.
Ellen Mary’s Top 10 Plants for Wellness
- ECHINACEA – Nature’s antibiotic – great for tonsillitis, acne, cystitis & for times in life when you are generally run down. It also helps to prevent infections, heals insect bites & stings, boosts the immune system, cures colds and helps mouth ulcers. It’s a great all round medicinal plant and beautiful in cottage gardens borders.
- WITCH HAZEL – The familiar remedy – it’s an anti-inflammatory & astringent which can help to stop bleeding, bruises, sprains, rheumatism, eczema, psoriasis, varicose veins and hemorrhoids plus it’s a beautiful addition to Winter gardens for both its colour and fragrance.
- CHAMOMILE – Relax – its anti-allergy properties can help skin rashes, sunburn and anxiety, relive painful periods & birth pain along with stomach pain and sleep problems. It’s also a natural way to reduce Colic and teething pain in infants.
- ALOE VERA – My favourite – soothes burns, cuts, acne, redness, itching, promotes hair growth and can be used as a shaving foam. Plus the big bonus is it can be used to treat stretch marks & CELLULITE! Everyone should have an Aloe Vera!
- ROSE – Nature’s loveliness – a soothing, calming aphrodisiac which can also relieve stress and depression, hemorrhoids, acne. Plus a rose balm can lighten lip colour, provide moisture and plump up that pout!
- OREGANO – A great herb – detox your body with Oregano plus it helps vitality, aids internal healing and along with its high levels of antioxidants, it helps to protect the body from chronic conditions, boosts the immune system, aids digestion and chronic fatigue. A powerhouse herb, easy to grow and great in cooking as well!
- LAVENDER – The traditional one – particularly good for chickenpox itching, relaxing our minds before bedtime, headaches and can even chill out testing teenagers! Plus it’s a beauty for the garden and the bees love it.
- CALENDULA – Nonstop flowering – a bright burst of colour for any garden, not to be confused with Tagetes, its anti-fungal and anti-bacterial making it great for sore throats, blisters and even some cancers. Plus grows really well even in poor to average soils.
- COMFREY – Healing heaven – make into a salve and it will help sprains, broken bones, aches and pains plus arthritis. Not to mention its powerful goodness as a plant feed. Massage those aching muscles after a hard day working in the garden.
- LEMON BALM – The uplifter – uplifting antidepressant, lift the spirits, calms anxiety, nervousness & even panic attacks even treats insomnia & headaches. Apparently, its healing properties promote longevity. Amen to that gardeners!
