Is there anything more soothing for the mind than a beautiful garden at home? Smell the wonderful fragrances, enjoy the visit of butterflies and bumblebees and just simply enjoy the beautiful sight of colorful flowers.

If you plant the right flowers and herbs, you’ll also be able to enjoy the luxury of homemade skin care. You can avoid harmful chemicals and save tons of money.

Plant flowers and herbs that benefit your skin type, and say goodbye to expensive mass-produced skin products with unknown ingredients in plastic containers.

Aloe Vera

The almighty of Aloe Vera – A remedy for most ailments

Ever since ancient times, Aloe Vera has been prized as a healing herbal remedy. It’s an incredibly useful plant that can be consumed to nourish your body from the inside out, as it boosts your immune functions, helps your digestion and provides healthy nutrients.

The benefits you get from consuming Aloe Vera are not the only reason why we love this plant so much, we also love the impressive list of things it can do to improve your skin.

The most common use of Aloe Vera is in skin care, to help heal sunburned skin, as it has anti-inflammatory and cooling properties. There’s not much you want more than a tube of cooling Aloe Vera when you realize that your skin is bright red after falling asleep in the sun.

It’s also great for every day skin care since it’s moisturizing without clogging your pores and does not give you that greasy feeling that some other skin care products do. This is especially great for people with acne, but it works wonders even for mature skin, thanks to vitamin C, E and beta carotene which have anti-ageing qualities.

Except from making your skin look and feel great, it’s also amazing for you hair! Massage the gel into your scalp to help fight and prevent dandruff, nourish your hair and scalp and help promote hair growth. Here are 20 Aloe Vera Recipes for your face, skin and hair.

Problems with acne? Plant these powerful flowers and herbs

Purple Coneflower

This absolutely beautiful flower is a pleasure to look at, and at the same time it helps you reduce inflammation in your skin to treat acne. A decoction of its roots infused in your tea, or as a toner or in your lotion will give you the effect.

Comfrey

Soothe and heal both acne and psoriasis by infusing your toners and lotions with these leaves. The flowers also help with treatment of inflamed skin.

These flowers tend to self-seed and grow out of control, if you don’t want to have Comfrey growing wild in your garden, go for Bocking 14. This is the sterile variety of Comfrey, developed in the 1950s.

Comfrey is often consumed as tea for a variety of internal illnesses, but drink it in moderation. Consult your doctor before drinking this tea regularly.

Green tea leaves

Green tea is well-known for being rich in antioxidants, which has many great abilities. The tea can control oil production, improve aging skin, help inflamed skin and reduce bacterial growth.

Use the tea infusion in toners, creams or lotions. And don’t forget to enjoy a nice, healthy cup of green tea! Homegrown always tastes better.

But can you really grow green tea at home? Well, if you live in a temperate zone where the plants get plenty of sunlight and a bit acidic soil, you can grow your own green tea right at home in your garden. Both your taste buds and your skin will thank you.

Lavender

Could this be the best herb in the world? All of your senses will love lavender. It’s beautiful to look at, it smells amazing, tastes great and is a great sanctuary for the endangered bumblebees.

Make an infusion of fresh or dried flowers and put it in your facial toners, lotions or creams. This will give your skin relief from irritation and inflammation, due to its anti-inflammatory and antiseptic abilities. It also helps to balance oily skin.

You can use lavender oil to help skin heal faster, after cuts and burns for example, or just use it to smell incredible.

You can even plant your lavender inside, although you might want to use a terra-cotta pot that prevents moisture from leaving the pot and protects the roots from drying out.

Burdock Root

Make yourself a nice cup of Burdock-infused tea, or enjoy it in stir-fries, raw, or as a broth. This will give you benefits as lowering your blood pressure, relieving headaches and constipation and treating colds and the flu.

The burdock root contains antioxidants and detoxifying properties, which gives you a clearer skin. It can also help with issues like hair loss and dandruff.

This is a root with a lot of great benefits, but keep in mind that there can be some side effects, such as allergic reactions. You should consume it carefully and consult a doctor first, especially if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding or are taking other medicine.

A garden that will help you nurture mature skin

Helichrysum

Use toners or creams infused with the anti-inflammatory helichrysum to get advantages such as reduced redness and skin regeneration. This will help aged and damaged skin and make wrinkles and fine lines less visible. You can also use a helichrysum oil to keep your skin smooth and moisturized.

Lady’s Mantles

This one is an amazing herb for women. Except from its anti-aging and pore diminishing abilities, it can also help regulate menstruation and help strengthen the uterus to prepare for childbirth. Drink it as a tea or infuse it in your skin care products. The tea will also help sore throats.

Lady’s Mantles love to self-seed and take over you garden, to prevent this, simply pick the flowers before they set seed and dry them for your tea.

Roses

Who doesn’t love a rose garden? It might be one of the most beautiful flowers, associated with love. Show you aging skin some love too, by giving it a daily cleanse with rose water.

This is great for moisturizing every skin type, but it also boosts regeneration of the skin, hence why it’s extra good for aging skin.

Except from skincare, roses are also very popular for making perfume because of the wonderful smell. Make your own rose perfume by simply stirring crushed rose petals with water!

Moisturize dry skin with the power of plants

Violets

Beautiful name, beautiful flower and amazing fragrant. As if these weren’t reasons enough to plant violets in your garden, they’re also great for making your dry skin soft once again.

Use both leaves and flowers in water or oil, to make an infusion to put in creams or toners. Or make a massage oil and enjoy a relaxing moment. Violets will also help your skin to heal wounds and cuts.

Marsh Mallow

Sugars, pectin and mucilage that moisturize and soften your skin are found in the flowers, roots and leaves of the Marsh Mallow. Infuse it in your skin care products to add a silky texture that will make your skin feel really smooth.

Keep in mind that this plant grows really tall, so think twice before planting it.

There are countless types of herbs and plants that have amazing health and beauty benefits, for example garlic, chamomile and mint.

A lush, beautiful garden is soothing for the mind to look at, just having it in your home is a health benefit itself. If you don’t have a garden or balcony, there are still many plants and herbs that you can grow at home in your window.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vicky Taylor is the founder of Taylor Literary Creations, a small online business specializing in English and Swedish content writing and translations. TLC cares about the planet and is passionate about working and collaborating with partners that feel the same. Check out their Instagram or Facebook to find out more about the team and what kind of services they can offer you.