Essential Medicinals, 16 full color medicinal herb seed packets, organic
$39.95
Consists of 16 full-size 100% organic color illustrated seed packets in a bundle, a kind of “Lifeline Light” in color! These are some of the best choices for an all-around useful and beautiful medicinal herb garden. This collection makes an inspirational gift for your favorite herbalist, and will be appreciated. It is the gift of life, the gift of light, a true connection to the healing ways of our ancestors.
Astragalus (Huang-qi)
Orange Calendula
German Chamomile
True Comfrey
Echinacea angustifolia (Narrow-leaved Coneflower)
Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower)
Elecampane
English Lavender
Feverfew
Hyssop
Marshmallow
White Sage
Self Heal
Temperate Tulsi (Holy Basil)
Valerian
Yarrow
16 full-sized color seed packets, Certified Organically Grown
In stock
Question
Jason Allison –
Where can I find information on the number of seeds of each variety? Might need to order more of certain ones, would rather get it all at once and save on shipping.
Thanks!
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Richo Cech –
Hi Jason, Thanks for writing. You’re right, collections are counted as packets for the free shipping option. These are full-size packets and when you go to buy extras you can check the seed count. You might not need to, though, the numbers are generous enough for most applications. Richo
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Robert Jon Rowe –
Tall plants in the back row and a gradual descent spread like a peacocks tail.
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Question
Angie –
What zone will these herbs grow in?
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Richo Cech –
hi angie, these are chosen for wide applicability in the temperate north, zones 3 to 9, almost anybody can grow them successfully. Feel free to access the individual monographs for each herb in the collection for more exacting info. r
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Question
Carla –
These packs do have seeds in them right. Can you send me a catalog. Thank you
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Richo Cech –
hi carla, thanks for contacting! yes, the seed packets have seeds in them. Please use the catalog request link to request a catalog, https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/catalog-request/
or if you’re buying seeds request a catalog to be sent along with your order.
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Question
Alison Golwick –
I live in Zone 9 Central Florida, will all of these grow in that zone? Thank you.
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Richo Cech –
Hello Alison,
Thanks for getting in touch. Yes, “Essentials” have been chosen to grow in a wide range of environments. Zone 9, so lucky, plant on! r
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Question
Holly –
I did not see this question asked, so here goes. I am an experienced vegetable/ flower gardener, but have never ventured past basil and rosemary for herbs. I want to create a medicinal herb garden, but I am thinking different soil and lighting conditions would determine what can be planted where. This will be a new garden area. Would you please give me some guidance on location and soil prep. I was thinking along the east side of our house. The west side is shaded most of the day, but that is available too.
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Richo Cech –
Hello Holly, Medicinal herbs are simply flowers with powers–the growing conditions for calendula are really not much different from the growing conditions for cosmos. I do think the sunnier side of the house would be good, and recommend starting most of the seeds in flats prior to transplanting to their ultimate position. The species-specific environmental preferences and seed sowing recommendations are printed right on the packet. Richo
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Jean Harrison –
Meadowsweet?
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Richo Cech –
Hi there, Meadowsweet is in Glorious Garden not Essential Medicinals. Feel free to just buy the packet, it is not expensive and I do remember picking meadowsweet seed this year and having the new crop packaged up. richo
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Question
Michelle Locher –
Hi Richo,
I am in zone 5b in northern New Mexico. I think i may be able to grow all these outside in the garden except for the white sage which I probably should grow in a pot so I can bring it indoors in winter as we have pretty cold winters with a lot of snow sometimes? I also read somewhere that white sage dorsn’t do well in a hoop house. IOs that correct. Please advise… thank you in advance…:)
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Richo Cech –
Hi Michelle, i do think this is quite possible and as with any gardening endeavor I’m sure it will have its ups and downs. (we revel in the ups and learn from the downs!) As for White Sage, it doesn’t do well under snow cover and this would not be typical to its native habitat. Anybody can have trouble growing it anywhere, really, so if somebody said it didn’t grow well in a hoop house that is undoubtedly true, but certainly shouldn’t be extrapolated to say the plant doesn’t like hoop houses. Anything of that nature can be very helpful (keeps the snow off for one thing) and you really have to concentrate on the substrate. If you’re not providing good drainage and a thick mulch of coarse, sharp sand then your plant will suffer. I often grow these as annuals, starting seeds right after winter solstice, transplanting to sandbeds after last frost and harvesting prior to first frost. I get very large plants in a field grow-out situation. richo
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Jennifer –
Hi! I want to add to this, I started my white sage seeds from SMS roughly 3 years ago, I keep them in an unheated greenhouse and they have done very well! They are approximately 2 1/2 ‘ tall and just as wide and beautiful! I am in western Maryland zone 6, hope this helps!
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Question
Barbara –
What zone are these for? I am 6A
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Richo Cech –
Hi Barbara,
Zone 6 is really good for most of the standard herbaceous perennial medicinal herbs, which is mainly what comprises “Essential Medicinals.” These were chosen not only out of utility but also adaptability and ease of cultivation. You can check the individual monographs for zone recommendations. They all differ a bit.
Richo
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Hannah (verified owner) –
Do you think you can grow these without a greenhouse? I am in 6b, southern Indiana.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Hannah, None of these need to be grown to maturity in a greenhouse–they are all temperate species that do best when grown outdoors. Greenhouses will help protect seeds while they are getting started, and many of us work up plants in the greenhouse before transplanting out to the garden, but if you’re used to sowing seeds directly in the garden, and you have a good weed-seed-free seedbed, then of course you can just start them directly in the garden. It makes sense to use the nursery bed technique, where you sow the seeds in close rows in a bed and work them up to seedling size and then transplant into the final location. For more info on this, read my book “the medicinal herb grower.” richo
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Question
Sasha –
Hi I very much want to grow a medicinal garden. I grow some herbs now but want to add some specific ones. Unfortunately I’m way south in Florida zone 9b-10a is it even possible to grow these different seeds here? Also, I was wanting to try some of them like the echinacea in a pot until I move is that possible as well? if you recommend any others that would grow good in my region let me know please! Thank you!
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Richo Cech –
Hi Sasha, Since “essential medicinals” are chosen for temperate gardens and you’re for all practical purposes in the tropics, then it would make sense to buy single packets of the things that work well in hot and moist climes. Yes, almost all of us start plants out in pots and work them up over time and eventually, usually, plant to the garden. Some of the plants that will work well for you (better for you, actually, than for someone in the temperate states) would be Ashwagandha, Spilanthes, White Sage, Tulsi and Passionflower. These any good gardener can grow from seeds. If you want to buy some plants, get Gotu Kola and Brahmi. These will work well for you. Richo
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Question
Kat –
Where are these seeds being sent from & by which company. Approximately how long to reach Margaret River, Australia please.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Kat, You are on the Strictly Medicinal website. It is us, the Cech family, growing, packing and shipping seeds from Southern Oregon in the USA. We give fast turnaround and AUS customs usually doesn’t hold shipments for too long. Could take 2 weeks total, more or less. Richo
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Question
Megan –
Are these beginner friendly herbs?
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Richo Cech –
Hi Megan, Yes, it is one of the hallmarks of herbalism that the easiest herbs are the best herbs. Richo
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Megan –
Thank you for the reply, I’m in zone 6b as well, is it still a good time to plant?
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Richo Cech –
Hi Megan, This depends on your facilities. If you have a greenhouse, even an unheated one, you can start all these in pots now and they will get big enough to overwinter (dormant) in the greenhouse. If you have access only to a garden plot, then seed them in the spring.
Richo
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Nathan Jamerson –
I am new to this and like a phrase I once heard, “I don’t know enough to say, ‘I don’t know’ “.From watering, to lighting, to anything else that I wouldn’t know or think to ask about, what would I need to do to start growing in my basement? Or would I even want to, for that matter? Ahead of time, thank you for any and all help.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Nathan,
Thanks for contacting. From humble beginnings almost anything can grow. I suggest you find a community garden or other outdoor plot of soil to grow on. That will be much more self-explanatory and less equipment-dense than growing in the basement. In the meantime, you might read “The Medicinal Herb Grower.”
Richo
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Michelle VALDEZ-CLENNY –
I am in zone 8b. What kind of seeds could I plant and when is a good time to do so?
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Question
Natalie Mathews (verified owner) –
Hi Richo!
My calendulas from this pack have grown very well! but i do have a question – why is each plant making slightly different flowers? the seeds, leaves and plants are identical, but some have more petals/larger centers/etc, and are different colors of orange and yellow (as expected). Some look more like marigolds, others more like gerber daisies. this is totally fine, as the tea i make from them doesn’t need to be perfect or exact. I was just wondering if you included many varieties in the same package? If so, which ones?
Thank you so much!
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Richo Cech –
Hi Natalie, I think what you’re describing is just healthy variation in an open-pollinated calendula population. Richo
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Question
ddchey –
Can you tell me which Hyssop is included in this Essential Medicinal Collection?
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Richo Cech –
Hyssopus officinalis
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Question
Sienna S So –
Hi Richo, I’m looking at ordering medicinal herbs. I’m in Zone 7a. is it too late to start perennial medicinal herbs? Thank you in advance 🙂
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Admin Richo Cech –
Well, as someone who lives in a Zone 7 and plants medicinal herb seeds in every month of the year, I would say it is never too late. Planting times for annuals are perhaps more critical. Always satisfy the stratification requirements of the perennials–any advice on this is given right on the packet–and good results are sure to follow. Essential medicinals are all very easy germinators. Richo
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Diane Early –
Richo, I’m in GA zone 8a unless zoning has changed. Will this collection work?
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Richo Cech –
Hi Diane, Yes, this is our most core set of medicinals that is good throughout the temperate USA. The seeds are grown here in Williams, Oregon which is the same Zone that you are in.
Richo
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Question
Chanel A. Miller –
I am looking to start an herb garden. I live just outside of Cortez, CO would u recommend this or your Lifeline medicinal seed pack to start with?
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Admin Richo Cech –
Hello Chanel,
Both collections have plants that will do fine in Colorado. I think its more about which species you’re interested in. Essential Medicinals really is a good start, though. Richo
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Jessica –
Hello Richo,
I’m hoping to start my own medicinal herb garden but am limited to container planting right now. will all of the packets included work well in a container? Thank you.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Jessica, I think all of us tend to start mother plants in containers and keep them there, or introduce them to the garden when opportunity arises. Essential Medicinals do well in containers–I always start them that way. If one desires to keep the plants on into maturity in a container, one to 3-gallon size containers will be needed, and potting soil should be changed out every 6 months or so (obviously not right when the plant is flowering, but rather in spring, and then again after cutting back in summer). I do get a ton of inquiries about container gardening of medicinals, and have seen some significant successes with doing this (like Saint John’s Wort flowering from a pot on a fire escape in Chicago). Plants are happiest when growing in the dirt, though. If you have to keep them in containers, make sure to have good air flow and as much sun as possible. The larger containers are good, but start small and work up, as the laws of backpressure are often relevant. Water deeply, and only after the surface becomes dry.
Richo
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