…and it’s buttery perfume will be missed.

I always hate cutting down flower stalks, I usually leave them up for seeds for birds….but I don’t want all those seeds dropping in the garden this year, I would like some but not all of them. Last year, I did not contain it and had to remove quite a few baby plants.

Let’s just say, valerian is a prolific plant and so its best to at least remove the flower heads so it doesn’t take over…too much.

Butterflies, native and honey bees love this plant. And after watching them adore these blooms for a couple of years I know why.

In the last several weeks, my hollyhocks have taken a serious fall 3 times.

It started when the triumphant cottage blossoms were all but trampled by an unexpected afternoon storm on Memorial Day weekend.

I went outside to gaze at the garden in twilight, to marvel over all those blooms…

. . .and was astonished to find my elegantly 6 feet tall champagne hollyhocks fallen, broken and strewn by the storm earlier that day.

It didn’t even sound or seem that windy, I thought.

i know this sounds dramatic, but epic beauty leads to epic tragedy…

I was just stricken, and started to cry. It was a tough weekend mentally because of anniversaries, deaths and birthdays of my late grandparents…so I couldn’t help but do so. I had waited 2 years for these plants to be established and really bloom like a fairytale. And it truly was a fairy tale while they bloom, the little puffs of pink with illuminated golden centers are just amazing,

After the shock, and the with the sun light quickly fading – I grabbed some cord and stakes and quickly went to fix them back up. I have several groups of them along the fence line as well as the house, and so I began with the closest to the garden.

As I was fixing what at first seemed certain destruction, was actually very pleasant and serene with a much more calming somatic experience than when I first had walked outside.

But why? What had changed? It was truly devastating to the blooms, and many stalks were broken but – I was unusually calm and hopeful or even almost certain even, that it wasn’t that bad.

I realized then – the valerian! The valerian was in peak bloom.

Valerian is a special flower I have been wanting to write about for some time, but I was discouraged by the APA of it all citations, and such. And so, when this experience happened I decided to write it just as that – how I have experienced and learned from Valerian.

Its scent in bloom is like no other. I truly feel a calming effect just from being around the essence of the flower.

Starting in early May through the first of June, my garden smells like the most beautlfuly buttery floral incense you’ve ever experienced.

Valerian is a perennial, I planted it for the first time in 2019, The original plant gets smaller by the year, the second year being the ideal time to harvest the roots – but I also love the leaves.

I honestly use the leaves more than the roots, personally – but the root is the powerful medicine. Eating the fresh leaves is a wonderful way to use the herb. It seeds and spreads so well, when you have to prune, or stroll through the garden – having a few leaves as a snack is pretty great. It is slightly bitter but the leaves have a wonderfully pleasant texture when young.

You can also dry the leaves for a less potent decoction than the root tea, yet still effective for sleep and relaxation similar to its root.

I would go so far as to say the aromatherapy of the blooms does for the conscious mind what the root does for the dream mind.

Buttery, floral and soft – just a kiss of perfume. You can tell the butterflies and the bees have a similar affinity for the smell, and I frequently find them resting on the blooms.

I planted valerian for the first time in 2019, initially for a friend and family who had issues sleeping. A cute orange kitty kept coming to my garden, and my leaves kept going missing! I found out due to this that, cats loves valerian; as catnip is in the Valerian family and they are related. A cute orange kitty kept coming to my garden, and my leaves kept going missing!

I learned when I worked for Saje Wellness, an essential oil company out of Canada, that Valium was actually developed from the constituents of Valerian – thus comparable it has a sedative, calming effect.

Saje sells a Sleep Well blend that contains valerian essential oil, and for myself, it worked wonderfully well.

The root is what typically is used for this, dried. It is very very stinky when it’s is dried. Fresh root, I learned from Matthew Wood writings that you can use the fresh root on skin eruptions or problem areas, but that is just a PSA i don’t have any personal experience to report on.

I did include valerian root in several topical applications for sciatica / back / musculoskeletal relief, as it is a nervine. I found it helpful. The recipie also included cramp bark, black cohosh, blue vervain.

My somatic state while staking the hollyhocks was truly an ah – ha moment. I knew from morning watering and walk throughs, that the aroma of the valerian is very much a nervine. I had observed a physical change in my state from a severe panic, to the polar opposite – go with the flow, everything is fine – without even a thought. Which is really really amazing for someone who is emotionally charged.

I got them all tied-up and staked, and now it just was a new garden scape. Still just as beautiful, honestly i kinda felt like some of them were even more beautiful falling over eachother in the twilight, like some impressionist painting.

A couple weeks later, it happened again. It wasn’t as bad the second time around, they survived and kept on blooming.

This last week, they came down hard. Most of the blooms are spent. The leaves are starting to get rust because anything in the mallow family doesn’t like humidity….and so I finally decided that…

It is time to cut down the valerian and hollyhock stalks.

I personally believe, after having this experience, that valerian helps to let go, to move on. To accept what it is, how it is and why it is. To accept your peaceful sleep that you so unconditionally deserve, to accept your current state, to observe and detach and be present.

So for the past few days, that’s what I have been doing…although I have saved the valerian for last.

What can I say, I do have a hard time letting go of wonderful things.