If you are working in your garden and want to provide your family with a strong antibacterial bandage in case of emergency, then look no further than Lamb’s Ears. Stachys byzantina, more commonly known as Lamb’s Ears, is an easy-care herb with soft, velvet-like leaves that appear wooly.
Due to the reflecting nature of the leaves, the Lamb’s Ear can both have a dark green and light green color. Sometimes, the leaf’s color can be silver.
The plant’s foliage does indeed remind of a lamb’s ears, hence the name. The plant blossoms in the mid-summer and its flowers are a fantastic sight. Pinkish spikes are full of purple-colored flowers. The plant’s flowers are also a bee magnet.
Antibacterial properties
Lamb’s Ear has been used for its antibacterial properties throughout history. In times when medical bandages weren’t exactly a thing, the Lamb’s Ear was a replacement for wound dressing. And an excellent one, at that.
Due to the fuzziness of its leaves, the Lamb’s Ear can absorb blood and can help with closing the wound. Due to its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic properties, even to this day, it can be an excellent alternative to new bandages.
More Medicinal Uses
The Lamb’s Ear has a few other medicinal purposes. Firstly, you can use Lamb’s Ear to treat your pink eye. Just warm up a few leaves in a container filled with water. Then strain the mix and apply the infusion to your eye.
Next, you can use tea made out of leaves of the Lamb’s Ear to treat diarrhea, fevers, internal bleeding, sore throat, and heart and liver weakness.
Finally, you can bruise and squeeze the leaves to extract some nectar. You can apply the nectar on insect bites like bee stings to reduce the swelling. We can use this same method in the case of hemorrhoids.
Even More Uses
We can use the fantastic Lamb’s Ear plant for many other purposes.
Because they are so soft and absorbent, we can use the Lamb’s Ear leaves as cotton balls or menstrual pads. If a particular need arises, you can even use it as a substitute for toilet paper.
Are you interested in growing the Lamb’s Ear?
If you are not, then you should get interested. Start looking for it around your vicinity. If you can’t find this kind of plant locally, just buy some seeds and start growing them yourself.
Getting started with this plant is easy and pretty cheap. It can grow quickly in containers so plant as much as you can.
So how can I grow one in my backyard?
Growing a Lamb’s Ear from seed is straightforward. Here is how to do it.
- Find a container that can drain well and fill it up with either Seed Starting Mix or regular soil. In case you can’t find a proper container, take a yogurt cup and poke a few holes in the bottom.
- Carefully water down the soil. Make sure you do it thoroughly so that it’s well-balanced. And verify that the water is not treated with chemicals because they can harm the growth of the plant.
- Plan your seeds depending on your container. If you are using a yogurt cup, plant two seeds per pot. Else, if you use a larger pot, plant your seeds at a distance of six inches from each other.
- Until the seedlings begin to sprout, make sure to keep their soil well-moist, and their containers shield from direct sunlight.
- After the plants grow two or three leaves, you can safely replant them in your yard. Make sure you plant them in a place that is not too sunny. Spread the plants at least one foot apart from each other. Soon they will start multiplying.
If you enjoy in your garden and want to try out growing some useful medical herbs, then the Lamb’s Ear is a great herb, to begin with.
Once you complete planting the Lamb’s Ear in your yard, you can search for more medicinal herbs to grow. Many of them can grow almost anywhere!
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