Ode to Comfrey
the deep rooted fixer
Comfrey - from Latin confervere, to ‘heal.’
A member of the Borage family.1
A plant that is ‘all in.’
A dynamic Accumulator,2
it makes nutrient rich mulch and ‘green manure’ when you chop & drop.3
Even if a bit prickly to touch, pure elegance.
Year after year, I’d follow its progress,
melting back into the soil and attracting pollinators again the next season.
It’s a source of Comfrey Tea (for the garden, not you)…4
and a fabulous compost activator.5
Planted under fruit trees, comfrey contributes to a healthy food forest.6
“They” say it can be Invasive…But it doesn’t spread through rhizomes. It just grows tall and can appear a bully…but what’s not to love if, when you cut the bully down, it nourishes the soil?
What’s not to love, when those bell-shaped purple flowers re-appear each year, such a delicate companion for the strong and powerful leaves.
I long for the comfrey in our old garden. I miss the seductive leaves flowing in early morning or late afternoon light; I miss knowing that its roots, deep beneath the soil, are hard at work, adding nutrients, loosening the soil, and feeding hungry flyers.
But what a gift to celebrate this plant, one stitch after another as it now grows on my wedding dress.
With each ancestral name (Boundaries & Women’s History) and each beloved plant woven into its fibers, this gown is connecting me not to a specific place, but to the spirit of rootedness and perennial strength.
Like a grandfather holding his grandson’s hand, grounding him at a rally for “No Kings,” the stitches unite, heal and fix.7
Thank you for sharing your time and this space with me.
With gratitude to comfrey and for you being you,
Lyn
And how cool to see some comfrey in my aunt’s compost pile, mixed and mingled with colorful flowers of the season. And this lupine, which, like Comfrey, can be considered invasive because it’s a bit bossy…but I say, in this time of fear and anger, let whatever is beautiful and fills you with joy do its thing.8
Happy Summer, my friends.
May you follow the light, colors and spirits that keep you rooted and fill you with joy.
Ok, so here’s some info from Wikipedia - - I’ve read about Comfrey in so many different books over the years, I couldn’t possibly site where I originally learned all that I know about this plant. But here’s a place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphytum
There’s also a wonderful book called The Illustrated Plant Lore by Josephine Addison which offers some additional information about Comfrey…It was published in Great Britain 40 years ago in 1985, back when books were the primary source of information.
Comfrey’s deep roots access nutrients unavailable to shallower rooted plants and bring them to the surface through its leaves. As I said above, I’ve known all of this for a long time. If you search in Google, AI will offer most of this information for you.
You can chop the leaves at least three times a season to use as a nutrient rich mulch or to integrate into the soil as a ‘green manure.’
Soak the leaves in a 5 gallon tub and you’ll get a nutrient rich fertilizer for your garden.
In the compost pile, Comfrey accelerates decomposition and adds nutrients.
The deep roots loosen the soil, ensuring water stays in the soil while the plant, as described above, offers mulch and so much more.
In permaculture, Comfrey is often called a Nitrogen ‘fixer’ because its roots also add nitrogen to the soil.
There is so much that needs fixing right now. I wish it could be as easy as planting some comfrey and letting it do its work naturally. But given all that we do having going on, it does seem that the more we plant with strong roots, the better off we’ll be.
I’ve been staying with my aunt in Maine this week. I’m taking a workshop at Maine Media Workshops, which is so much fun. More on that another time.
Oh Lyn I needed this grounding! Thank you! Comfry is my new loyal, hardworking, and always dressed to impress gardening partner too. Her royal purple bells flirt shamelessly with the pollinators — Truly the ultimate garden partner — beauty, brains, and benevolence in one deeply rooted, forgiving, leafy flowery friend. 🌿💜👑
Lovely