It seems like it's been forever and a half since I posted last, so here's some more stuff for y'all:
Wormwood:
This is the very close cousin of a previously covered plant, mugwort. Though they both don't like a ton of water and heat, therefore providing some challenges to me growing them, wormwood seems to have held up much better. My mugwort has completely died at this point, sadly. The floods just got too much for it last year, and I did not plant it in a good enough place to endure them. Lessons have been learned.
While they both seem to have a sort of reserved nature about them energetically, wormwood has a much more masculine vibe to complement the deep lunar impression I got from the mugwort. Almost like two sides of a coin, even if their traditional uses in magic overlap quite a bit. This is a perfect example of why I get so much mileage out of getting to know the herbs themselves before doing workings with them, because rote correspondences will never tell the full story. While two plants may technically be used to do the same thing, one can lend itself to a wildly different approach from the other. Each type of plant brings its own unique personality to the table, and the best magician is one that takes this into account. An even better magician is able to combine ingredients knowing how each component can work together, in a way that is more synergistic than just "This thing is for this, this one for that."
While I have had my one wormwood plant for a few years now, which is currently loving the intense dry spell that's been going on this year, I actually got myself a second one recently. There's this variety that was on clearance at work, called "Parfum d'Ethiopia'. It's got a very pungent smell, that I can only describe as a jar of green olives but more bitter. I actually kinda like it in a weird way, even though you can't use it culinarily as far as I know. With this plant being marked down for dirt cheap, my further justification for buying it was that I may be moving sometime next year. While it may be possible to root a cutting of my current wormwood plant to take with me, it is much easier to just have a plant that's already in a pot and ready to go. So for the time being, in a pot this one shall stay. It'll hopefully be much happier with the better drainage in a pot vs in the ground, anyhow.
I've read before that wormwood can be used as a moth repellant, so recently I used some of mine as a "DIY moth ball" for a drawer that's been getting suspicious holes in all the clothes. I did this by packing a bunch of leaves in to a coffee filter, and tying it shut like a bag. I bagged it up in a second coffee filter for good measure, and shoved it into that there drawer. For most of the clothes in this drawer, I don't really care too much about little moth holes appearing, so this was more just a fun little experiment than anything. Also a way to make some use out of what was left after cutting the plant back some, in order to keep it nice and bushy.
Gotu Kola
This is yet another one of the plant species that I did not know existed, until big flats of it got plopped right onto the tables at work. The sign had medicinal properties on it like "Helps body adapt to stress", "Helps with fatigue, joint problems, anxiety and depression." To which I immediately said, "Shut up and take my money!"
Upon further research, this is a tropical/subtropical plant that is very valued in Eastern medicinal practices. You can also use the peppery foliage like a leafy green, both fresh and cooked. Since I'm always looking for low-effort ways to not eat like my stomach is a garbage can, I've been shoving a bit of this bad boy in everything from red beans and rice, to curry, ramen and sandwiches. At least to me, it has a very versatile taste that can be "hidden" well with anything that has a reasonable amount of flavor. Like most of the weird edible shit that grows well here, my family has yet to take me up on the offer to try some. Oh well, more for me!
According to my research, this plant needs lots of water and does not stand up to any sort of freezing or near-freezing weather. However, it is also known to be invasive in my part of the country. Which makes sense, since we are hotter and wetter than a One Direction fangirl discovering online smut fanfiction for the first time. In order to keep this plant contained, I put it in a semi-shady area, in a bed that's already mostly taken over by milkweed. Though it seems to be alive and well at this point, it's not taking off like I anticipated. Though it may have done better with more sunlight, I believe the real culprit is the insane dry spell this area's been having for the past few months. We haven't had a proper wrath-of-God flood since March! Can you even believe that? At the same time, it's been over 100 F just about every single day for the past few weeks. This has created a recipe for disaster when it comes to things drying out faster than I can even turn my head, and overall I have been having to constantly water plants that haven't needed a human watering them in years. Almost everything is affected right now, and some plants like the basil are simply not growing as fast as they have in previous years, due to less water. I have been trying as much as I can to lug my sweaty ass out there with hose in tow, but you can only water so much. I swear you can't fucking win in this bipolar ass climate. Tailor everything to surviving constant floods, then along comes a drought.
Sorry about that little rant, y'all. This has a pain in my everloving ass as of late. Though supposedly a tropical storm is now forecast for later this week, so there may be relief on its way. Never thought I'd see the day where I wanted it to rain. XD