![]() ![]() If you don’t want the plants to spread, then cut them back before they go to seed and mulch the crowns with the leaves. You can also sow seed directly into a fertile bed in the spring. Grow the seedlings out in pots for about 3 months, then transplant to the garden. If germination does not occur after 3–4 weeks, a 30 day period of cold, moist refrigeration followed by warm conditions will speed germination appreciably. Sow the seed just under the surface and tamp in securely. It is just about bullet proof to pests, diseases and neglect, and makes a good container plant.Ĭomfrey is very frost hardy. It can also tolerate poor, infertile or difficult soils including clay, acid or alkaline, and put up with competition from tree roots.Īnd it is probably not a good idea to put it in prime, fertile positions where it can easily become too much of a good thing. Plant Comfrey in Part Shade to Deep Shade, where it is resistant to dry periods. ![]() It is wonderful for binding difficult banks Decorate tricky spots While it is not recommended today to ingest Comfrey, nothing can change it’s ability to grow in difficult places and decorate tricky spots. So it has gathered many common names along the way, including Bone-set Knit-back Backwort and Bruisewort to testify to its use as a poultice. Symphytum officinale has a long tradition of being used as a popular healing herb, since at least the 12th century. While rabbits and deer avoid eating it and probably dislike the hairy leaves as well as the taste Ancient Boneset However bees and other valuable insect friends love to forage in Comfrey flowers, and will flock to the rich nectar, live and pollinate in your veggie patch or orchard. But it is it’s ability to thrive in Dry Shade that I find very useful, where the Comfrey’s large leaves make an excellent groundcover in a difficult shaded back corner under old trees. In the decorative garden the trusses of nodding bells in shades of purple, lavender and blues are pretty enough to win a place. Handy in a difficult flower cornerīut it is also a great asset to the decorative garden, to the veggie plot, or the orchard. A few leaves tossed in the compost with each layer is a great accelerator to hasten the heap. While the eating of Comfrey comes today with warnings of possible ill effects, it certainly remains as an essential for making good compost heaps. ![]() Symphytum officinale is the true Comfrey, the original healing herb of myths, legends and folk-lore. ![]()
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