Dye plant seeds ‘East’

• 5 packets of organic dye plant seeds
• Grown by Botanika
• With sowing and growing user guide
• Color harmony: The rose (safflower), the yellow-green (yarrow), and the awakening warm-yellow (saw-wort) are the carefully unfolding, patient complement of  ‘East’ in the dreamy, leaded contour of deep blue (woad) and reddish-brown (wild oregano).

Woad / isatis tinctoria /
The “queen of the dye gardens” is a biannual European, traditional field crop related to mustard. Its cultural impact, especially in British history- from the very first Celtic tribes to Victorian England – are richly documented. The troops of Boudicca warring with Rome, the southeastern iceni and the pict tribesmen painted their faces and bodies with paste pressed from the whole plant before going into battle to glaze themselves ritually ferocious. Not just to deter the enemy, but also relying on the disinfecting properties of the plant. From the sacral beginnings onwards, the processing of woad, which has been in continuous cultivation, has been perfected by increasingly complex processes. From the early Middle Ages, harvested leaves were ground to a pulp in a horse-drawn dry mill, and were then kneaded by hand into a ball shape. The balls were left to dry for a month, to the hardness of wooden planks, then pulverized again, wetted, kneaded into balls again and further fermented. When it dried out for the second time, the balls were stuffed into stout barrels, which were sold off to the impatient dyers in a matter of moments. Unwavering from his goal, the dyer placed the precious woad balls with great care in a tub and then boiled them with potash water and urine. After another three-day fermentation of the bath, he was finally able to immerse the first pre-wetted fabric in the coveted dye. The whole process was accompanied by a horrible, pungent stench. The nauseating smell permeating from the dye houses popping up all over the now flourishing London crept across the lawns of the palace of the Tudors so much so that I Elizabeth forbade the processing of woad within 5 miles of Hampton Court with the imposed punishment of beheading for the never ceasing disturbance of the nobility’s feasts. But even Her Majesty could not go any further, because until the appearance of the eastern indigos, woad remained the most important blue colourant and a common crop for a long time to come throughout Europe.

Safflower / carthamus tinctorius /
The ‘poor man’s saffron’ is an ancient Egyptian crop, but may have been grown in the Euphrates Valley too. It prefers sunnier soils, it does not require special care, and grows up to a meter in height. It is an important oil crop plant, its seeds are rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Safflower’s dried pistils can replace the noble saffron, nicely colouring and flavouring our favourite dishes. Dried petals yield an intense yellow with the traditional dye process, however safflower’s unique feature is that with a two-fold colour extraction process very clear pink can be obtained on cellulose fibres. After depleting the water-soluble safflower yellow dye and then drastically turning the pH the water-insoluble safflower red – with shades of rose, coral, pink and orange – emerges. The Egyptians also dyed mummies’ cloths with this shade of orange and also added it to the embalming ointments. Even on the oldest, four thousand years old, tomb drawings, the ritual depiction of the safflower can be recognized. Safflower flowers were woven into the wreaths adorning the mummies and the seeds were offered to the Gods.

Saw-wort / serratula tinctoria /
The “dyer’s saw grass” is a perennial native to Europe. During the summer, it opens thistle-like purple flowers. It prefers wetter soils, and thrives nicely in areas with a sunny and semi-shady orientation. A popular dye plant since the Middle Ages, but for three shades of green; – sea, apple and celadon green – saw-wort is the best yellow plant base available. Dyeing takes patience. It is only worth harvesting its saw-shaped leaves from the second year onwards to give the plant enough time to strengthen. A less-researched herb, although its dye composition is similar and, in fact, its color fastness rivals that of weld, so much so that where weld had a scarcer yield, it was held in equal esteem, especially in the fertile cradle of the Renaissance in Tuscany during the 14th-15th centuries.

Wild oregano / origanum vulgare /
‘Mountain joy’ is known to be a valuable medicinal plant and spice herb but also has a place in the dye garden. Its color palette is extremely rich. Its floral, leafy shoots dye black, gray and reddish brown. Oregano is a perennial plant, often forming smaller shoot colonies and gradually “migrating” over the years with its creeping roots. Very resistant, oregano requires little care. In folk medicine, it is a natural antibiotic and an appetite and digestion enhancer. Oregano is the most abundant dye in the traditional Transylvanian woven wool so-called ‘dyed rugs’. Among the Székely peoples of the Kászon Valley, the word for oregano still also means plant dye.

Yarrow / achillea millefolium /
The ‘dye garden’s quill’ is not only a useful herb with a camphorous fragrance; – but also, less known, a grateful textile dye too. With its flowering stem tips and inflorescences, it can be used to dye shades of fine sand, bright ochre, clear yellow and chartreuse. Its leaves are feather-like, delicately lobed, as if a hundred or a thousand of them were dangling from its stems. In permaculture, it is a nutrient-fixing, excellent ground cover plant that prefers a sunny position. It tolerates dry, harsh weather conditions well and flowers for long periods in the summer months. The stems of the plant are the sacred sticks of the ancient Ji Qing divination in China. The medicinal properties of its blossoms have been revered since antiquity. According to the Roman scholar Pliny, the yarrow is the scattered ashes of Achilles, which heal all wounds inflicted with iron.