• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Herbalism Classes
    • Indoor Herb Gardening
    • Books by Jeanne
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

Growing Motherwort: Herb of Longevity

August 7, 2021 by Kathleen Marshall

Growing motherwort herb yourself is a wonderful way to attract pollinators to your garden, as well as to stock your medicine cabinet. It’s not difficult to grow either, considering many people know motherwort as a common weed. Of course, I have to disagree with that viewpoint because motherwort herb has been my favorite herb for many, many years. 

Confession Time

Before I tell you how to grow your own motherwort plants, I have to confess, the thought of intentionally growing motherwort didn’t occur to me until a few years after I had already started working with the plant. Where I lived at the time, motherwort herb grew wild and free, all over my property. Hence, it’s reputation as a weed.

I used to spend way too much time just observing motherwort. The uniquely shaped, ragged-looking leaves inspired the name “lion’s tail”. The tiny purple clusters of flowers with the prickly sepal underneath them. And especially, the way bees just love to frequent these plants. Oh, how I love watching the bees.

Thus began my love affair with this amazing plant. My hope is that you will learn to love it as much as I do.

About The Motherwort Plant

Motherwort plants grow about 5 feet tall. It’s a member of the mint family, and as such, it has a square stem that is a distinguishing mark of mint. You’ll find motherwort blooming from mid-summer through early fall along roadsides as well as damp areas like sound streams and riverbanks. Neglected farm fields often have an abundance as well.

The Latin name, Leonurus cardiaca, tells us a bit about this medicinal herb. The genus name Leonurus means ‘lion’s tail’. This comes from the shape of the leaves and is a good clue to help you remember how to identify motherwort plants growing wild. The species name cardiaca means ‘for the heart’, which gives us a hint of what this herb is most commonly used for. 

In parts of Asia, motherwort is considered the herb of longevity. According to legend, long ago there was a town whose spring ran through a patch of motherwort. All who drank from the spring lived to be over 100 years old.

Motherwort herb can be grown in pots or containers, or in the garden soil.

Growing Motherwort Herb

The motherwort plant is a perennial herb that is easy to grow from seed and is hardy to zone 3. It isn’t a picky plant, but for the best results, you’ll want to select a location that is well-drained with rich soil for planting.

Some people prefer to cold-stratify seeds before planting. This is simply soaking the seeds for 24 hours, and then putting them in a bag in the refrigerator for 10 days, keeping them moist. You can skip this step if you plant seeds in the late fall and allow them to rest underground through the winter.

However, often the seeds you purchase have already been cold stratified, in which case you can direct seed outdoors when all danger of frost has passed. They should germinate in a week or so. If you like, you can thin the seedlings to about two to three feet apart. 

To get an early start, consider planting seeds in seed trays or pots in late winter. Seeds should be planted about an eighth of an inch into the soil. Keep them moist and they should germinate within two to three weeks. 

Once seedlings reach around six inches tall, you can begin hardening them off so they can adjust to the climate change from your growing area to the outdoors. Depending on your weather, this could take a week or two. Then you can plant your motherwort herb directly into the garden.

Motherwort Care

Once established, motherwort plants need little care. You will want to weed around them and water them as they are getting established. After that point, they really only need to be watered if there is a bad drought. 

Motherwort herb will self-sow, but they also spread through rhizomes. Rhizomes are horizontal underground stems that continually grow and send up new shoots. This means you may find that your motherwort bed is getting overcrowded at some point. 

To prevent self-seeding and keep your plants from taking over, you can cut it back about three to five inches to keep the seeds from maturing and falling to the ground. Rhizomes are not so easily tamed so some people prefer to plant their motherwort in pots. Fortunately, you can also dig up and divide the rhizomes, to relocate them to other areas of your garden or share with friends. This is best done when motherwort plants are dormant in the late fall or early spring.

Enjoy Motherwort Herb

Once established you will find that motherwort plants are effortless to care for, and are typically avoided by deer and rabbits. On the other hand, pollinators love this herb, making it a wonderful addition to your garden. There are many uses of motherwort, and motherwort can be made into a tincture or tea.

I hope you enjoy it!

Indoor Herb Gardening Online Class

Love herbs? Learn how to grow herbs indoors! Summer savory is one of the many herbs you can easily grow in pots on a kitchen windowsill. This course will show you how.

Easy Indoor Herb Gardening

woman cooking and cutting fresh herbs
Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen Marshall is a master gardener, herbalist, and self-sufficiency expert. She has spent most of her adult life pursuing homesteading and gardening . Now she is learning to be self-sufficient on small acreage, working with the woods to provide.

Tweet
Share
Pin2
Share
2 Shares

Filed Under: Growing Herbs

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « Why Choosing Dutch Tulip Bulbs Matters for Growing Great Tulips
Next Post: Beet Kvass: What Is It and How to Make It »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

HGJ Channel

https://youtu.be/u9KR-0oQivI

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

Quick and Easy Vegetable Gardening Tips and Tricks Anyone Can Do

17 year cicada

Do the 17 Year Cicadas Hurt Gardens?

strawberries are great for vertical gardening

Vertical Gardening Hacks to Expand Your Space

rosemary growing in containers for space saving gardens

5 EASY Space Saving Vegetable Garden Ideas

The Herbal Academy (Affiliate)

Herbal Academy Online Courses

Mountain Rose Herbs (Affiliate)

herbal extracts and a candle

Mountain Rose Herbs, source of dried herbs, extracts, DIY herb products.

Footer

a street corner and mailbox - the corner is planted with abundant wild flowers

Wildflowers for Pollinators

I’ve noticed this little street corner on my dog walking route where wildflowers for pollinators are abundant. When the county mows the grass along the road edges, the mower politely moves around this corner. The wildflowers are abundant, attracting butterflies, pollinators, and insects of all types. And, whoever planted this corner for pollinators also loves…

Read More

blak bean, corn, and tomatoes in a black bean salad in a bowl

Confetti Salad – Black Bean Salad

I made this black bean salad last night and it was a hit! I dubbed it “Confetti Salad” because of all of the beautiful colors. The black beans, corn, pepper, onion, and tomatoes made a hearty, filling meal. By using no-salt added canned beans and tomatoes, along with frozen cooked corn, I was able to…

Read More

a close up of lettuce growing in a container window box

Growing Lettuce in Containers

Growing lettuce in containers is easy! This year, to maximize the food we grow at home, my husband and I planted our front window boxes with lettuce – a veritable salad garden. Here’s what you need to know about growing lettuce in containers. Our Window Box Salad Garden Our window box salad garden began after…

Read More

a plate of Sicilian pasta sauce with cauliflower

Vegan Cauliflower Recipe: Sicilian Sauce

I adapted this vegan cauliflower recipe for Sicilian sauce to my family’s low salt, plant based diet – and got great results. It’s easy to make, tastes wonderful, and gives us another meatless meal for Lent. If you are a Christian seeking Friday dinner ideas for Lent, or simply have a head of cauliflower you…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme