My favorite summer flower is Lantana. It loves the heat and we’re having a lot of heat. It loves the sun, too. It’s tough! Even a casual gardener like dumb old me can grow it. The butterflies, bees, and even the hummingbirds are drawn to it. My sweet Astrid bought this one for me. It won’t come back because it’s in a pot but in the ground it might. There’s a bunch of Lantana by the old Pope County Library that looks like bushes each summer. All parts of the Lantana are poisonous when ingested in high amounts.
Lantana has a dark side. All of us do…our old sin nature. It’s a Verlaine (Verbena) plant, the witches’ flower. In “The Vampire Diaries”, verbena is a rare herb serving as a defense against vampires. When touched or ingested by a vampire, it burns them, induces severe weakness, and causes high fevers. When used by humans, it blocks mind control (compulsion).
Even in the Middle Ages, Verlaine was often used in magicians’ and witches’ potions for protection and as an aphrodisiac. It was considered a cure-all for treating the digestive system and ailments of the abdominal region, as well as the lungs.
Verbena grows about knee-high in dry ditches and along roadsides. The Romans called it the most sacred plant in their civilization. So did the Greeks before them. So did the Christians after them. It was put on the alter for protection. Anglo-Saxon healers put it in their remedies. Across history, medical and religious tradition that encountered this modest herb reached the same conclusion: it was sacred, and it had to be gathered with ceremony.
2 comments:
Your Lantana is beautiful!
I absolutely love lantana and must have it every summer. I'm attracted to the tiny, multi-colored flowers and how well it grows. Your plants are doing much better than mine though! In fall, I switch over to another favorite plant, cyclamen. I find the leaves and different colors SO beautiful.
Post a Comment