Yes­ter­day I count­ed 47 dif­fer­ent "must-have med­i­c­i­nal plants" across my pile of gar­den­ing books. FORTY-SEVEN.

Then I found Nana's index card tucked in her recipe box. Ten plants. That's it. The woman raised six kids through every­thing from scraped knees to win­ter colds with ten plants.

The relief I felt was phys­i­cal.

The Index Card That Changed My Garden

The card was water-stained and held togeth­er with tape. In Nana's care­ful cur­sive:

"The Only 10 You Need — Every­thing else is show­ing off"

I laughed out loud. Even from beyond, Nana was keep­ing it real.

Here's what hit me: We're drown­ing in infor­ma­tion. Every blog lists dif­fer­ent "essen­tial" plants. Pin­ter­est boards show gor­geous med­i­c­i­nal gar­dens with 50+ vari­eties. Mean­while, we're par­a­lyzed, grow­ing noth­ing because we can't grow every­thing.

Nana didn't have Pin­ter­est. She had expe­ri­ence.

The Master List (What Worked for Six Kids)

After using Nana's list for three years, I can share what these plants tra­di­tion­al­ly do and how our fam­i­ly uses them. Remem­ber — this is our expe­ri­ence, not med­ical advice!

1. Calendula — The Skin Soother

Tra­di­tion­al use: Minor skin irri­ta­tions, dry skin com­fort How we use it: Home­made dia­per cream, win­ter skin salve, scraped knee com­fort Nana's note: "Grows like a weed, gen­tle as a lamb" My expe­ri­ence: Even my black thumb couldn't kill this one Safe­ty: Gen­er­al­ly safe for exter­nal use

2. Chamomile — The Gentle Helper

Tra­di­tion­al use: Relax­ation, mild diges­tive com­fort How we use it: Bed­time tea for kids over 1, upset tum­my com­fort Nana's note: "For bod­ies and minds that won't set­tle" My addi­tion: The one tea my kids actu­al­ly ask for Cau­tion: Skip if aller­gic to rag­weed or daisies

3. Peppermint — The Tummy Friend

Tra­di­tion­al use: Diges­tive com­fort, men­tal alert­ness How we use it: After big meals, home­work time pick-me-up Nana's note: "Keep it con­tained or it owns your yard" Warn­ing: Seri­ous­ly, plant in a pot. It's every­where in my yard now. Note: Not for babies — too strong

4. Echinacea — The Cold Season Standby

Tra­di­tion­al use: His­tor­i­cal­ly used at first sign of snif­fles How we use it: Tea when we feel some­thing com­ing on Nana's note: "Pret­ty enough for the front yard" My take: We use it short-term only, as tra­di­tion­al­ly rec­om­mend­ed Safe­ty: Not for dai­ly use

5. Lemon Balm — The Calm-Down Plant

Tra­di­tion­al use: Mild stress relief, sleep sup­port How we use it: "Bad day" tea, bed­time blend Nana's note: "Smells like hap­pi­ness" Truth: It real­ly does smell amaz­ing **Gen­tle enough for chil­dren in tea form

6. Plantain — The Backyard First Aid

Tra­di­tion­al use: Exter­nal use for bites, stings, minor irri­ta­tions How we use it: Fresh leaf on mos­qui­to bites (wash first!) Nana's note: "It's already in your yard" She was right: That "weed" by my mail­box **Kids love this "mag­ic leaf"

7. Elderberry — The Winter Tradition

Tra­di­tion­al use: Cold sea­son sup­port in many cul­tures How we use it: Syrup dur­ing win­ter months only Nana's note: "Worth the effort to grow" Impor­tant: Only ripe, cooked berries — raw are not safe **Takes patience but worth it

8. Thyme — The Respiratory Helper

Tra­di­tion­al use: Cough and con­ges­tion com­fort How we use it: Steam breath­ing, throat-sooth­ing tea Nana's note: "Kitchen and med­i­cine in one" Bonus: Makes every­thing taste bet­ter **Safe for most peo­ple

9. Lavender — The Everything Calmer

Tra­di­tion­al use: Relax­ation, minor skin com­fort How we use it: Pil­low sachets, bath time, headache relief Nana's note: "If you can only grow one, grow this" My addi­tion: Keeps moths out nat­u­ral­ly too **Gen­er­al­ly very safe

10. Ginger — The Settler

Tra­di­tion­al use: Nau­sea relief, warm­ing How we use it: Car sick­ness, win­ter warm­ing tea Nana's note: "Grow in pot, bring inside for win­ter" Game chang­er: Fresh vs dried is night and day **Safe for most, but spicy for kids

What's NOT on the List (And Nana's Reasons)

Her card had a sec­ond side: "Nice but Not Nec­es­sary (or Tricky)"

• Valer­ian: "Too strong, espe­cial­ly for chil­dren"
• Com­frey: "Exter­nal only — peo­ple use it wrong"
• St. John's Wort: "Inter­feres with too many med­ica­tions"
• Gold­enseal: "Endan­gered and over­rat­ed"

This helped me stop feel­ing guilty about not grow­ing every­thing.

Your "Where Do I Start?" Reality Check

If you're over­whelmed, remem­ber:

• You don't need all 10 imme­di­ate­ly
• Start with just 3 (next arti­cle!)
• Many are in your spice cab­i­net already
• Use­ful­ness beats pret­ti­ness every time

The mon­ey real­i­ty:

Okay, let's talk actu­al num­bers because I'm all about trans­paren­cy:

• Qual­i­ty med­i­c­i­nal seeds (the right vari­eties): $70–100 for a good col­lec­tion
• Cheap "herb" seeds from the gro­cery store: $20–30 (that prob­a­bly won't ger­mi­nate)
• My failed attempts before find­ing good sources: $200+ down the drain
• Buy­ing dried ver­sions month­ly: $50–60, for­ev­er
• Hav­ing fresh herbs when the kids are sick at 2 AM: Price­less

Here's the truth — I balked at spend­ing $75 on seeds at first. Then I did the math:

• $50/month on dried herbs = $600/year
• Good seeds once = mul­ti­ple years of har­vest
• Plus, the cheap seeds I kept buy­ing? They didn't grow. So that "saved" mon­ey was just wast­ed mon­ey.

What con­vinced me: It's not just seeds — it's the right vari­eties (Greek oregano vs Ital­ian makes a dif­fer­ence!), from fresh stock (not 3 years old), with actu­al guid­ance on mak­ing them grow.

I spent more on my failed attempts than I would have on doing it right the first time. Clas­sic Abby move.

The Truth About "Complete" Medicinal Gardens

Insta­gram med­i­c­i­nal gar­dens are gor­geous. But Nana's gen­er­a­tion? They grew what:

• Actu­al­ly helped their spe­cif­ic fam­i­lies
• Would sur­vive their cli­mate
• They'd real­is­ti­cal­ly use
• Wouldn't require a botany degree

The pio­neer women weren't try­ing to impress any­one. They were try­ing to keep fam­i­lies com­fort­able with what they had.

Sound famil­iar?

What These Plants Do (And Don't Do) for Us

They DO help us:

• Feel more pre­pared for minor issues
• Save mon­ey on some over-the-counter stuff
• Con­nect with tra­di­tion­al knowl­edge
• Spend less time at the phar­ma­cy

They DON'T:

• Replace our doc­tor
• Cure seri­ous con­di­tions
• Work the same for every­one
• Solve every prob­lem

Plants are tools, not mag­ic. Use­ful tools, but still just tools.

Your No-Pressure Assignment

This week, just notice:

• Which of these do you already buy dried?
• What minor issues does your fam­i­ly face reg­u­lar­ly?
• Which plants might be use­ful for YOUR fam­i­ly?

Don't buy any­thing. Don't plan any­thing. Just notice. (Teacher habits die hard!)

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Ready for even sim­pler? Next week I'm shar­ing the "Just Start with 3" guide — which three plants give begin­ners the best chance of suc­cess (and why I wish I'd start­ed there).

What plants do you swear by? Are there more than 10? Let's share what works!

Off to check if my gin­ger sur­vived the cat,Abby

P.S. — Found anoth­er of Nana's notes: "A med­i­cine gar­den you won't use is just more yard work." Woman was prac­ti­cal to the core.

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📥 Get Nana's Prac­ti­cal Plant Guide

I orga­nized her index cards into a print­able guide:

• Grow­ing tips that actu­al­ly work
• When to har­vest (tim­ing mat­ters!)
• Sim­ple ways to use each plant
• Stor­age tips for your har­vest

[Email box] [But­ton: Send Me the Prac­ti­cal Guide!]

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Med­ical Dis­claimer: I'm shar­ing our family's expe­ri­ence with tra­di­tion­al plant uses, not giv­ing med­ical advice. These state­ments haven't been eval­u­at­ed by the FDA. Noth­ing here is intend­ed to diag­nose, treat, cure, or pre­vent any dis­ease. Always con­sult your health­care provider, espe­cial­ly before chang­ing any health rou­tines or if you have med­ical con­di­tions.