Herb Seeds Ordered From the Catalogues

The pictures below are of Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium). It's easy to see that they are part of the chrysanthemum family (albeit a less showy member of the family). Feverfew is a great addition to a medicinal garden.

I just received some of my herb seeds. I ordered these from Johnny's. I recently found a fantastic website for ordering all sorts of unusual medicinal herb seeds. The ones in the Johnny catalogue are fairly common but good ones to grow nevertheless. My interest in herbs has grown enormously, and I am going to build a bed in full sun to house some of the new herbs I plan to grow. The garden I have now is in partial shade. I cannot grow the herbs that require full sun right now, in particular the flowering herbs. The herb seeds I just received are as follows:

• Borage - ancient herb, the Greeks thought it instilled courage and they drank borage tea just before marching off to battle. It makes gorgeous blue flowers that bees love. Great for the vegetable garden to attract bees for better pollination. The flowers are edible and decorative. Tea from the leaves dispels melancholy. It soothes bronchitis, pleurisy, and rheumatism. It is a sedative. Eating the seeds stimulates lactation in nursing mothers. Borage slows the aging process. It has high levels of gamma linolenic acid which is effective against cancer. This is a great herb! The seeds are large and easy to grow.
• Feverfew - will reseed easily once established. It relieves migraines and fevers and muscular tension. The seeds are teeny tiny. If you order them, order LOTS of them the first time in order to get the plants established.
• Valerian - called nature's tranquilizer. It is used in teas (the roots are dug up for the tea) to induce sleep. It can become addictive. It doesn't taste good and the tea should be steeped with something tasty such as licorice or mint. Fragrant flowers, good as a backdrop plant in perennial borders. It is a perennial. Likes morning sun and afternoon shade. The seeds are large. I always like to know how big the seeds are. I have ordered packets of 50 seeds of certain varieties in the past assuming that was plenty and they were as small as dust. The germination success of seeds can be iffy sometimes, so if I know they are tiny I will order many hundreds in order to get a good show.
• Pyrethrum - makes a very, very powerful insecticide. The leaves, stems, and flowers are dried and ground into a powder then they are sprinkled onto plants. It is very toxic. The flower centers are the most powerful part of the plant for use as an insecticide. It has very pretty daisy-like flowers. The seeds are small, but not tiny. Full sun.