Imagine you're on a ship transporting every herb known to man to a new place, something goes wrong and you have to leave the ship, bound for a desert island.  You only have room to take 5 herbs with you. The ship is heading for rocks and will be destroyed so you can't go back for others. Which five would they be and why?

No wrong or right answers, the point of the poser is to see which herbs others wouldn't be without and why?

Debs

What a thought provoking question.

What surprised me was that the ones that immediatly sprung to mind were all really common ones ,not an exotic among them.

Dandelion
Nettles
Lavender
Rosemary
Lemon balm


Linda

Bliss, a desert island with no xxxxx herbs!

But then I have just rushed back from a twenty four hour wedding party to make sure my relief has managed to cope with our little green friends OK. So I am naturally feeling somewhat jaded about the day job. Of course she is highly competent and everything went perfectly but herbs are like children and one fusses over them when they are out of sight.

I suppose in sad reality, I would be crawling through the sand on my hands and knees looking for xerophytes within ten minutes of being washed up. Oh never mind, perhaps a large keg of brandy would be washed ashore with me then all would be well

Anthony

Hi Debs,
Interesting.For me:
Dandelion
Nettle
Hawthorn
Garlic
Saw Palmetto.

The only exotic is saw palmetto.Although with the nettles I should have the use of nettle root,personal experience over a number of years has shown me the great value of saw palmetto.I never leave home without it.

Kevin

I suppose this is all about what can't you live without?

For me -

St John's wort - because I love it and use it for so many different things
Yarrow - because, as Henriette says, if you take it for long enough it will help anything
Nettle - again it is so versatile and supportive and provides such a vast amount of minerals
Hawthorn - our heart is so important and this tree supports the heart
Elder - because you can use every part of it, including the branches to make jewellery and penny whistles.

Sarah

For me it would be:

Chocolate Peppermint
Lemon Verbena
Lavender
Rosemary
Rose Geranium

I found it rather hard to pick 5, and if it came down to it in reality maybe my choices would be different. What this is actually showing us is what people do with their herbs, the herb medicine peeps are picking medicinal herbs, the cooks culinary etc. I guess I picked the ones I use the most which are the culinary herbs. With only 5 I'd be lost without my calendula, myrtle and pineapple sage, chives and thyme and a whole host of others, but I'd survive.

Debs