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Hi Wanderer

:welcomeish:

I'm afraid I've got no idea as to the times of leaf loss etc... but I am intrigued as to what you will do with the leaves? I've done a quick google and come up with the following.

Coltsfoot Seems like it's autumn when this one loses it's leaves.

Our hawthorn doesn't have any leaves on it now...

mullein - says that the leaves are collected in summer before they turn brown.

Can't say about bearberry as I have no idea what it is - do you have a latin name for it? (do you mean barberry?)

Colts foot - locally (we're in the south east) ours still has its leaves on at the moment, but I wouldn't recommend collecting old growth, young foliage is always the best.

Hawthorn - likewise, some have lost most of their leaves by now, while others still have a few of them, but for example for culinary use you want young spring growth and buds anyway.

Mullein is as you say a biennial, so a 1st year plant will still have it's leaves, but it could be difficult to id a plant you're unfamiliar with by leaf alone. It's easier to note a plant during flowering and then go back and observe it throughout the season so that you remember how it looks at different stages.

Of course, I don't know what it is you have in mind for any of these though? Are we talking medicinal, occult or culinary uses?

Wanderer wrote:I think I should spend the winter reading some good plant and tree identification books and leave my leaf gathering until the spring and summer.

You could spend some of it chatting to us on here :)

I am pretty sure that I've seen the bearberry on my travels up here in Aberdeenshire.

Thanks for the latin name, I can go and look that one up now - being a southerner, I've never come across it before!

I'd recommend any of the books by Roger Phillips, as you can see from the amazon list he's been responsible for an extensive array of excellent photographic reference works - all of them very clear and beautifully photographed, although hardly pocket sized, sadly.

I think the penny's just dropped - is this a herbal smoking mix you're considering?

In that case, have you read the brandy & coltsfoot 'tobacco' recipe in Richard Mabey's Plants with a Purpose? Sounded so nice I was almost tempted to take up smoking.

I love foraging, and usually try to get out and about myself at least every couple of days - I think it's definitely addictive! It always seems a shame that it goes a bit quiet at this time of year - there's still lots of interesting stuff to be seen out there (and edibles to be found, if you're lucky) and as you say, you can also be looking for likely spots to go back to later in the year when the season's ripe.

Hmm.... I feel a walk coming on!

http://www.cloudnet.com/~djeans/FlwPlan ... ullein.htm

My neighbor had mullien growing wild in his yard and gave me ONE. Now they are everywhere! They are very useful and if you can get them, not on your property, that would be great. Once you plant them you will be forever plucking them up. I have sandy soil and a hot, humid climate and they grow about 6 foot tall. I've never smoked it, but you do need to filter out the hairs in tea, not sure if you would need to to smoke it.

Good luck quitting. It was tough, but it's been 14 years smoke free for me! You can do it!

I'd fully recommend getting the food for free gem edition, i've got it. it is definitely pocket sized, and very clear.

I got mine from www.abebooks.com.

I'm interested in this brandy and coltsfoot tobacco!
And herbal smoking mixtures.

I looked up a version of that recipe for you fee.fairy. This is from 'The Countryside Cook Book' by Gail Duff.

'Coltsfoot smoking mixture
Find several long, pointed sticks and thread coltsfoot leaves onto them. Hang up in a warm, dry place until the leaves are yellow/brown and leathery. Take them down and wrap the leaves in a damp cloth - leave for 24 hours. Tear out the mid ribs, pack them tightly into a plastic container, sprinkling in, as you go, a little rum or brandy, or a mixture of 4 parts water to 1 of molasses or honey. Press the leaves under a heavy weight for 24 hours, by which time they should have become a block.

Remove the block from the container and shred the leaves. This can then be smoked in a pipe or made into hand rolled cigarettes.'

Another mix, also from this book is 'British Herbal Tobacco'. The recipe is as follows:
take 15g each dried Buckbean*, betony,eyebright, rosemary, thyme, lavender and chamomile and mix them with 100g of dried coltsfood leaves (shredded?). Roll into cigarettes.

*I'm not familiar with buckbean - no latin name is given so it's hard to say what it might be but I'll see if I can find out.

A bit of digging reals that Buckbean is likely to be leaves from Bogbean - Menyanthes trifoliata. Other commercial 'herbal' mixes I've been looking at seem to contain stuff like coltsfoot, nettle, red clover, pineapple weed, plus aromatics like lavender, mint, sage, etc. But you may need to take care with what you choose to experiment with, and also check to see if they're safe to use in this way.

Pfaf has this on Bogbean:

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php ... trifoliata

There are also some useful bits of info on herbal smoking mixes in these sites:

http://www.henriettesherbal.com/archive ... oke-1.html

http://www.woodlandherbs.co.uk/acatalog/smoking.html

http://home.teleport.com/~howieb/smoking/smoke8.html (American, so some of the plants might not be obtainable here)

On a horticultural slant, some of these plants should be available to plant in your garden. Mulleins are Verbascum, there are hundreds in cultivation, the one you need according to my Reader's Digest wild flower book is Verbascum thapsus, Colt's foot is Tussilago forfara, the seeds can be bought from several sources, for all annuals and biennials I suggest you get hold of an excellent book called The Seed Search by Karen Platt, it lists 40,000 seeds, where to buy them and also includes 7,000 vegetables too! an absolute must - as is the RHS Plant Finder (www.plantfinder.com) for anything perennial or woody, where you should be able to find an Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. Buck bean is Bog bean, Menyanthes trifoliata and is usually available at all garden centres that sell aquatic plants, you could always grow it in a bucket
Hope this helps!

have u tried the allan carr book? I smoked for 15 years my hubby for 25 we've both quit with his book. u don't even have to "want" to quit smoking. I didn't. I read the book because I heard so much about it and didn't believe it worked. it did. like a charm. guid luck.