Ivydene Gardens Adder's Tongue to Borage Wild Flower Families Gallery:
Bog-Myrtle Family

Click on Underlined Text in:-

Common Name to view that Plant Description Page
Botanical Name to link to Plant or Seed Supplier
Flowering Months to view photos
Habitat to view further Natural Habitat details and Botanical Society of the British Isles Distribution Map

Bog-Myrtle Family:-

Bog-Myrtle Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Wild Flower Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

Bog Myrtle

Myrica gale

April-May

A small shrub which suckers to form dense thickets. It grows in organic soils in base-poor bogs and moorland, lowland raised bogs, wet heaths and acid carr; in all its sites, moving groundwater is a constant feature. It tolerates light shade and is not grazed. Generally lowland, but reaching at least 520 m in the Forest of Drumochter (Easterness).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage from New Forest on 21 July

Form from New Forest on 21 July

Rare Plants is a small, UK company based in Wrexham, in North Wales.

"We were founded originally in 1972, by Paul Christian, at the time a student of Botany at Liverpool University. The original business was a part-time enterprise until 1980. Having completed his studies at Manchester University, with a further research period for a Ph.D. again at Liverpool University, the now Dr. Christian took on the running as a full-time business.

In 1985 the nursery moved from its original mountain home at Minera, above Wrexham, to a lower altitude on the alluvial plain to the north of Wrexham, a site more suited to bulb cultivation. Presently we run this, and two other sites, for bulb production.

Dr. Paul Christian is still the director and the company has now traded continuously since 1972, for some 38 years.

Our aim is to supply noteworthy plants that you will not find in your local garden centre. In particular we specialise in growing and supplying rare and unusual species bulbs. We also specialise in Trillium.

Although bulbs are our particular forte, we also grow other tubers, rhizomes, perennials, tender and even a few alpine plants, for the collector.

We are exclusively a mail order operation and from our office and nurseries in North Wales we are able to export our bulbs and plants to virtually the whole world."

Wiggly Wigglers "is an award-winning, natural gardening company. Based on Lower Blakemere Farm in rural Herefordshire we're here to help you compost your waste with our bestselling wormeries, bokashi systems and garden composters; feed your garden birds with our home grown birdfeeds and mealworms; bring your garden to life with wildlife friendly wildflowers and native hedging; grow your own fresh salads and vegetables.

We get lots of visitors here at Lower Blakemere Farm so, back in 2002, we decided to rebuild the farmhouse’s old walled garden to show off our products in their natural environment. The idea was to to create a lovely garden for visitors to look round and let them see for themselves our recycling philosophy in action. So, with a design commissioned from the leading organic gardener and RHS Medal winner Bridget Evans, we set to work."

The Wiggly Cinema contains very informative 2 minute videos about their products.

Myrica Gale "website is the start of a 5 year web project started in 2004.
It is a sister site to bogmyrtle.com which will describe its current uses,
and sweetgale.com which looks at its place in history (Vikings) and folklore.
One of its many traditional uses is a midge, flea and other insect repellent,
and we've developed and sell our own very popular midge repellent."
 

TRUE GRUIT HERBS: Gruit was a mixture of herbs, used widely throughout Europe before the coming of the hop. Its actual composition was subject to local variations, and in many cases a closely-guarded secret, but consensus reveals that bog myrtle (Myrica gale L.), yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) and marsh rosemary (Rhododendron tormentosum). Gruit ale is historically linked with these 3 herbs and delicious and satifying beers can be brewed from either of these on their own, but a true gruit will usually contain all three.

The recipes are meant as a starting point for anyone interested in brewing herbal beers.

Plant a Backyard Beer Garden
by Author Kristin Grant in Brew Your Own Issue Mar/Apr 2006
"Spring is here and for many homebrewers, it’s time to plant a beer garden. You won’t find lederhosen or German oompah bands in this type of beer garden. What you will find are fresh ingredients to spice up your homebrew. Brewers throughout history have added herbs and spices to beer. “For thousands of years people made perfectly wonderful beer out of whatever was available,” says Randy Mosher, author of “Radical Brewing” (2004, Brewers Publications). 

The obvious choices for a brewer’s garden are hops (Humulus lupulus) and barley (Hordeum spp.). For instructions on growing hops, see the March-April 2005 issue of BYO. And, if you’re up to the challenge of malting the barley you grow, see the May-June 2002 issue of BYO. In this article, I’ll focus on herbs and spices that are relatively easy to grow and use. "