June, 2023 - COMFREY

Comfrey

The three pictures are my comfrey plants (I have 2). The flowers are a different color - one dark purple and the other a pink. The first picture is March 1, coming back from being chopped almost to the ground in the fall. The second is March 28 and it is taller and full of flower stalks. A week later, even taller and more flower stalks. As of June 1, when I made a batch of comfrey tea, they were about 2.5 feet tall and numerous flower stalks.

Comfrey, Symphytum officinale L., is a herbaceous perennial member of the Borage family. (Love me some borage too!) And it does well in clay soil! Loving full sun, it can do well in partial shade. But it does like a bit of moisture. 

Large hairy leaves and stems, comfrey has been used for both medicinal and gardening purposes for centuries. This is going to concentrate on the gardening purposes for the most part. It is recommended to wear gloves when handling (but I don’t). 

Growing 3-5 feet tall, with flowers ranging from pink to purple to blue or white. Considered by some to be invasive, it will regrow if you leave a part of the root in the ground. It is recommended you plant it where you want it to be. It will also self-seed (but that hasn’t happened to me). There is a variety, Russian Comfrey, which is sterile and does not self-seed and the most common variety grown in the U.S. 

For the garden, comfrey is high is nitrogen and potassium. A couple of uses is to either harvest leaves and drop them straight into the compost pile or in the garden itself as a green mulch. You can also make a ‘tea’ by filling a bucket with leaves and then adding water, letting it set for about 5 weeks with a top on the bucket. Note - it will stink! But dilute with water and apply it on your plants. A few good and inexpensive organic fertilizer. 

I cut one of my plants back to about 2 inches, chopping up the stalks and leaves and starting another bucket of ‘tea’. The plant is already about a foot tall. 

It is also a favorite with pollinators. My comfrey was up and blooming in March, making it an early source of pollen for bees. Even cutting it back to make tea, including the flower stakes, and it regrows quickly. 

As far as medicinal uses of comfrey go, oral products/uses are banned in the U.S. and many countries in Europe. However, ointments, lotions and salves are fine. Comfrey is used on bruises, pulled muscles and ligaments, and helps with osteoarthritis, as it helps to reduce inflammation.  However, do not use it on broken skin. 

While it might not be the showiest plant in the garden, I have come to love this hairy beast. While this is the first year I am using it as fertilizer, I can’t personally testify to its success. However, the number of gardening shows out of Britain assume everyone makes comfrey tea. There is more comfrey planned in my future. 

Sources: 

https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/herb/comfrey

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/symphytum-officinale/

https://www.mastergardenersmecklenburg.org/comfrey---a-controversial-herb.html

 

By Judy Hudgins