I wasn’t actually walking in my garden when I saw the Comfrey. I was making my way to the laundry room. Diminutive fuchsia and pink conical blooms were pushing their way from under the center of the plant. The flower’s color stood out brazenly against the green veined leaves. They signaled me to come closer. My heart opened.

Before the drought, morning garden walks were a daily routine. It was a long-time habit I abruptly halted last summer. Emergency water conservation required all outdoor watering cease. I couldn’t tolerate watching my herbs, fruits, veggies and flowers dry up and fade. I stopped walking in the garden and let Nature take her course.

By fall everything was dead. Beds and containers held barren soil or dried plants. With winter, came rain. But with spring, came Comfrey and her beautiful beckoning blooms. The verdant leaves and beautiful blossoms steered me to other areas filled with buds and tender leaves. Comfrey was my tonic, the nurse that opened my eyes and heart to the returning plants and my garden walks.

The Comfrey plant is known by some as the ‘garden nurse’. The leaves have been used for centuries for internal and external traditional medicine. It is valued for coughs, cuts, bruises, broken bones and more.

Growing in the garden, it’s considered a tonic for other plants and soil. Comfrey accumulates calcium, phosphorous and potassium. It is a first-class composting plant, helping the rapid breakdown of other compost materials.

Comfrey is a ‘super green’ that is delicious chopped in salads, steamed like spinach or dipped in batter and fried for Comfrey leaf fritters.

Thanks for stopping by,

MaryGo