Angelica archangelica
Garden angelica, herb of the angels, herb of the Holy Spirit, root of the Holy Spirit: its name comes from a medieval legend according to which the archangel Gabriel revealed it to humanity during an epidemic. Its immense green-and-white umbels, rising more than 2 metres high, make it one of the most imposing aromatic plants in the garden.
Characteristics:
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Monumental silhouette: over 2 metres tall, with large, highly architectural spherical green-and-white umbels.
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Entirely aromatic: its stems, leaves, roots and seeds all give off the same powerful, sweet fragrance.
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Biennial to triennial: native to Northern Europe and Siberia, it flowers in its second or third year, then dies after producing seed.
Precautions:
- Its sap is photosensitising: after contact with the skin and subsequent exposure to sunlight, it can cause redness and blisters. Wear gloves and long sleeves when harvesting or pruning it, preferably in overcast weather.
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Beware of confusion with other plants: like all large umbellifers, angelica resembles dangerous wild species, particularly hemlock. Only harvest plants that you have sown yourself and can identify with certainty—never collect umbellifers growing in the wild.
Sowing advice:
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Position: sunny to partially shaded; it appreciates cool partial shade in hot regions.
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Soil: fertile, deep, rich in humus and, above all, consistently moist—it is a plant of riverbanks and the damp woodlands of the North. It dislikes dry, scorching soils. Adding compost and applying a thick mulch genuinely benefits it.
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Method: its seeds quickly lose their germination capacity: sow them fresh, between July and September, on the surface, as they need light to germinate. Winter cold naturally breaks their dormancy; otherwise, apply cold stratification.
Planting advice:
- Allow plenty of space: a mature plant can easily occupy 1 metre in diameter. Plant it at the back of a border or beside a pond or other water feature.
Care advice:
- Keep the soil moist through watering and mulching. Staking may be useful to support its tall stems in windy locations.
- Tip: cut off the flowering stems before flowering to extend the plant’s life by several years—otherwise it dies after producing seed.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest the young, tender stems in spring of the second year, before flowering: these are the stems used for candying. Pick the leaves as needed.
Beneficial combinations:
- It shares the moisture requirements of marsh mallow and garden valerian, with which it creates a beautiful bed of tall moisture-loving perennials.
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its immense flat umbels are real landing platforms for short-tongued insects: hoverflies, beetles and beneficial micro-hymenopterans gather there by the hundreds.
- Like all umbellifers, it is a host plant for swallowtail caterpillars.
- Its seeds feed seed-eating birds in autumn.
Uses:
- Its candied stems flavour loaf cakes, pastries and confectionery—it is the green angelica used by confectioners, a speciality of Niort. Its seeds traditionally flavour certain liqueurs.
- A historic medicinal plant of monastery gardens. See our medicinal plants to sow.
Symbolism:
Considered a gift from the angels in the Middle Ages, angelica was grown in monastery gardens and reputed to protect against all ailments. Its very name preserves this legacy.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Allow one umbel to ripen fully and harvest the seeds as soon as they turn brown. Sow them immediately: their germination capacity declines very quickly, within just a few months. Angelica also readily self-seeds. See saving your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Add a touch of grandeur and fragrance to your garden with these garden angelica seeds.
