A plant is a chemical producing factory using solar power to convert raw materials from the earth into some of the most potent pharmaceuticals in existence. For all our poking about in laboratories, Mother Nature is still the most creative bio-engineer of all.

Foxglove is often cited as a common plant with toxic properties. It produces a heart-affecting drug. Like most drug producing plants, sometimes it doesn't contain much and sometimes it can be so potent you should only touch it with gloves on to avoid absorbing any of its toxins through your skin. Which stage is which? There's no way to tell without chemically analyzing leaf samples. So just wear gloves and don't let the kids play with the flowers.

Feverfew grows in our yard, at first planted for my business partner, friend and editor Tomi McNaughton. She's been known to have a migraine headache now and then and feverfew has recently been found to be successful in relieving the pain. I advise you, as I was advised, that you should consult a pharmacist or doctor about taking it. Using a commercial product should ensure you are taking a regular, measured dose of the extract, which is to be preferred to brewing a tea from the backyard and hoping.

But even if you never brew a single potion, a garden is still a potent source of healing. We are made of this earth and we literally know it to the bone. We suffer when we pay no attention to it.

So if you're feeling blue and dismal, sick and sniffly, stressed and sorry, here's my totally unauthorized prescription for a garden cure. Go outside and stand in the sun and wind. Take your shoes off. Put the soles of your feet firmly in direct contact with the earth. Look at a tree. Keep looking till you feel better. It's the best herbal remedy of all.

Text and images Copyright 1998 Cyndi Kirkpatrick. All rights reserved