Feverfew

If you suffer from migraine, like I do sometimes, this plant could help you. Best taken in tablet form, available from the health food shop, the properties in feverfew can help. If you prefer to use the actual plant, eat two or three leaves (washed) daily. You can even freeze the leaves for use in the winter.

It is an easy plant to grow and in fact it was the very first plant I grew in my garden when first we came to live here in 1985. I bought a packet of seeds and planted them in Spring, March is best if sowing in seed trays. Alternatively you can sow the seeds outside in April, in shallow drills. Nearly all of them took that first year and soon the garden was full of small, pretty daisies bringing cheer to a neglected space. Each year the plants seeded themselves until soon I had (nearly) too many. The plants grow to 18 inches so form a nice globe in the border providing a foil for other more colourful plants.

If you wish you can take stem cuttings throughout the year, but they will take better in the Spring.

If you want to keep the plants for later use, gather the whole plant and dry it off in a shed or outbuilding during June/July.

I don't think you can have too much of a good thing but gradually as other plants, shrubs and trees were planted, the feverfew receded into places where it could thrive and be left undisturbed.

Other plants which could be helpful in relieving or preventing migraine are:

Wood Betony, Vervain, Cayenne, Rosemary and Lavender.

If you use aromatherapy oils, Lavender and Chamomile are effective