Friends —
The hawthorn cracked open this weekend. Tight pearls last Tuesday, full white blossoms now, with that faintly fishy smell the old books warn you about. (It passes once they dry... and if you keep reading you’ll see why I still think it’s worth it…) The yarrow is up to my knee, feathery leaves and no flower stalks yet — exactly the window I want for leaf harvest. And the ground ivy is doing what ground ivy does, which is taking over.
Three plants, three very different medicines, all peaking the same week. I read through the studies, including a 2024 cohort out of Germany on 4,550 patients that put hawthorn in a different light. Here's what I found, and what I'm doing with mine.