Bane or Boon?

 

Another name is "fairy horns." Take one of the purple flowers and blow into the pointed end for 
nature's miniature kazoo. It works; saw a video of a woman doing just that.

For years I've considered this plant the bane of my gardening existence.

Henbit, Lamium amplexcaule, pops up everywhere. While it's considered a winter annual, germinating in mid- to late winter and growing and growing and growing through the spring, I continue to find little seedlings all over, usually where it was cleared just days earlier. So frustrating. 

In April, whole fields cleared of crops are awash in purple with the mass blooming of henbit. While this may seem like a problem, it doesn't seem to affect crops that will be planted later. As the henbit dies, the purple fields turn golden. Both phases are beautiful.

It completely covers some of my growing beds that didn't get a heavy mulch last fall or where I didn't get a good stand of a fall/winter cover crop established. Some even pokes up through mulch laid last fall. 

It's frustrating and lots of work to clear it away... But also lots of work to take down any established cover crop as I prepare to plant the vegetables.

Henbit seems like a mixed bag -- a frustrating weed on one hand, a free cover crop protecting the soil on the other. I've decided to look on the positive side, a free cover crop that deserves a little bit of respect and appreciation.

Respect for its hardiness and ability to germinate in winter to grow through the remaining cold. Appreciation for its beauty and the fact that it's edible and nutritious.

I had eaten it a little in some past years, but decided its flavor wasn't exciting enough to continue eating. This year, though, I decided that since it is so abundant I would add the tops to my lettuce salads. It's the first thing I can forage in late winter and early spring, other than dandelion greens. So I snipped off the tops and tossed them into my daily salads by the handful. The flavor adds an earthiness to the salads and when it blooms, perks up the look of the salad. You can also cook it. I haven't tried that, but there is still plenty out there, so I just might toss some in with some lambs quarters, which is growing rapidly now.

Making a tea from the flowering tops was one suggestion I did try. Not bad. It won't be my first choice, but I'll make tea with it occasionally. I like eating things that grow here, whether I planted them or they pop up of their own accord. I think that the wild, foraged foods are particularly good to eat for the different nutrients and enzymes they provide. I also believe that their hardiness in might rub off on me.

Apparently, henbit is rich in vitamins and minerals (particularly vitamins A, K, and C) and has for generations been used as a medicinal plant to treat fevers, body aches and joint pain, as well as to induce fever. 

Who knew?

My ancestors, probably.

Henbit originated in Europe, Asia and Northern Africa and was brought here as fodder for chickens -- hence the name hen-bit.

One of its nutritional/medicinal properties, some claim, is that it boosts energy. Who couldn't use some of that.

Bring on the henbit!