Are the plants trying to tell you something? Mid May 2026

Did you ever take a walk in your yard and found it had more dandelion's than usual? Maybe an abundance of a strange weedy plant that you've never seen before in your yard, but have decided to take up residence your garden bed for some reason?

Back when I first started my practice, I became a bit obsessed with what herbalist's have known as the "Doctrine of signatures".

An ancient belief which dates back to before the 16th century, and was used as a way to identify what the plants can be used medicinally, as well as for what part of the body they work with.

My grandmother Bradford always belived that everything we needed to heal oursleves was already growing on this earth.

Take for instance the innocent little violet. We see them growing in clumps in our lawns in early spring, but did you ever stop and take a look at the heart shape of the leaf? Did you ever pick a leaf and notice the deep red vein running through it?

Violet, throughtout history has been used as a heart tonic and blood purifier, as well as having the ability to support, and improve blood circulation.

They are loaded with heart healthy antioxidants, which can help lower blood pressure and help protect against arteriosclerosis.

A tonic was given to someone as a way to ease heartache and grief from an emotional heartache or loss in their life, giving it the name, "Heartsease".

With it's "signature" of the heart shaped leaf and the red vein running through its stem, it gives us the hint of what it helps in our bodie's.

The common dandelion, which were all so quick to spray and get rid of in our lawns, may be trying to tell you something about the health of your lawn.

Dandelion is a survivor, coming up between cracks in sidewalks, in hard compact soils where nothing else grows.

Dandelions are there to try and heal the soil.

They're long tap root shows you that the soil needs aeration, and is too compact for healthy grass to grow.

Compact, nutrient deficient soil is normally low in nitrogen, and has a lower pH level.

The soil may also be low in vitamin K and calcium, two very important elements to a green healthy lawn.

Dandelion is high in both and will, with its long , beautiful, but stubborn tap root, try to amend the soil for you.

If we look at the signature of it, its bright yellow flower shows us that it's wonderful when used to promote healthy bile, and act as a liver cleanser and protectant.

People that have had their gallbladder removed will have a harder time absorbing and digesting fats from the foods they eat, as well as absorbing certain vitamin nutrients like the essential vitamin D.

Dandelion functions as a bitter due to its specific compounds, which will aid in both the digestion and absorption of fats that the body requires.

For those of us that have our gallbladder still, dandelion's leaves and roots can help to promote healthy bile secretion which will help breakdown the fats for digestion.

It can also act as a liver cleanser, and "decongest" the liver from a build up of toxins.

Have a wart? Snap the stem of a dandelion flower and apply the white milky latex that runs out, to the wart directly. Do this a couple times per day, and within a week or two, your wart should die off.

Its high content of antimicrobial properties and specific compounds can help kill off the virus causing it.

So before pulling out the bottle of "Herbicide", stop and think twice and maybe introduce yourself to the common little weed with so much knowlege, that is mearly trying to help us. Don't forget to thank it for all its efforts.

Do the plants know us better than we know ourselves?

I wanted to share a story that touched me personally.

Back in my late 40's I was diagnosed with stress induced autoimmune Grave's disease, which showed as HYPERthyroidism in my body.

It seemed to come out of nowhere, and hit me dramatically with a high heart rate, resting at 120 BPM, and active at 168 BPM. Along with, massive weight loss, tremors, cognitive issues, sleep disruption, cytokine storms, and list goes on.

My body felt as though I was running a marathon everyday.

I saw an endocrinologist and they put me on the typical medications that came along with Grave's disease.

At first it all seemed to be working, but after several weeks I noticed a flip in my symptoms and I had started to go in the opposite direction. HYPOthyroidism.

My metabolism seemed to stop. I started to gain weight, while still maintaining a healthy diet, I became short of breath due to being on a beta blocker for my heart, which also made me dizzy. My glucose went up, which I have never before had an issue with.

I became fatigued, still had the brain fog, and also developed digestive issues along with a handful of other side effects.

During a check up with my endo doc, I had asked her why I went from one extreme to the next, and her response was simply, "I just took you too high, we can lower your medication and correct that."

I think it was the casual response that bothered me the most.

Now, please don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for doctors. I know they can't monitor each patient individally ALL of the time. They'd never have a life.

What bothered me is knowing that this could happen and there was never any warning about it.

The statement, "I took you to high", resonated with me, and made me realize that my body was synthetically being manipulated and it wasn't being allowed to naturally heal itself and stabilize.

The second shocker was being told that I would have to be on this for the rest of my life, and if the medication didn't work, they would just remove the thyroid. WHAT??!!

Isn't it there for a reason??

When this began to happened to me I was going through a very stressful time in my life.

My cortisol levels were through the roof and I was only sleeping four hours per night.

If I did this to my body through stress, then why couldn't I undo it?

My brother, the medical research mind behind my vitamin regimen at the time, came up with a combination of single supplements that I took daily.

OK, I'm getting to the "amazing plant part,"so bare with me.

I was not yet in herbal practice and still in the process of learning. My garden was wild with plants. Some of which I planted, and some volunteer that just showed up.

I made the personal decision to cycle myself down off my medication and begin to introduce a natural protocol to help and try and stabilize my thyroid and attempt to put my Grave's disease into remission.

* I by no means recommend doing this without consulting your medical practioner. I told my doctors what I was doing and they were not happy with me, but respected my choice.

I also did follow ups with them every three months to make sure it was working.

Please also keep in mind that this choice is not right for everyone. I was very early into my diagnosis, and knew the root cause of why my body was doing what it was doing.

Each journey is an individual one.

My brother mentioned the use of lemon balm with Grave's, and at the time I was just starting to introduce medicinal plants to my garden. I was learning usage methods and creating tinctures and teas for my apothecary.

Lemon balm wasn't one of the plants I had planted , but did show up as a volunteer plant in my garden and I had assumed it came from a neighbor's garden.

I started with the tea, and then once the tincture was ready, switched over to that.

While out tending to the plants one day, I noticed that the tiny lemon balm plant that found its way into my garden, began to grow to the size of a small shrub. Not only that, but others started to show up closer and closer to my back door.

Walking out to the car one day, I noticed they were coming up in the gravel driveway and growing in front of my car.

Tiny little seedlings showing up everywhere.

I laughed and actually asked them if they were trying to tell me something?

The hint couldn't have been louder.

I had, overtime worked with a formula I created, which included the lemon balm, along with hawthorne, motherwort, bugelweed and skullcap. With that and my handful of supplements, as well as a whole food diet, able to put myself into remission.

My body, and metabolism began to regulate, and stabilize, and before I knew it, I was able to wean off of the herbs completely and get on living my life.

I've lived my life Grave's free for the last 10 years.

The thing I noticed about my beloved lemon balm shrub is that is didn't come back the following year.

None of them did.

Even with my efforts to try and reintroduce the plant to my garden, it never really thrived the way it once did.

I think its must have sensed I didnt need it anymore.

Which brings us to date...

Within the last few months I have been going through alot of extremely stressful life events, and just recently started to notice some old familiar symptoms rearing their ugly head. Heart rate speeding up, with a bit of unexpected weight loss, and YES, the reappearance of the lemon balm shrub I once had. Not just one, but eleven throughout my property. They're everywhere!

I went and had a blood lab done, and, sure enough, my number's were trending down again, leading me back toward hyperthyroidism, and Grave's.

This time my eyes were affected more than anything else.

Along with the my labs I noticed I was lower in D than I should be, so I started my supplements once again.

I noticed prior to this onset I have been having a crazy craving for oranges. Where I was once having two per week, I began eating two per day.

Now with Grave's eye symptom's, selenium can play a big part of turning it around.

Vitamin C can help in the bio-accessibility of the selenium, by helping to increase it. ie: Why I may have been having the orange craving.

Another magical plant encounter...

Yesterday, when out puttering around my plants in the garden I noticed I had an overabundance of a weedy plant known as "garlic mustard." It too was everywhere.

I was taking a rest and just staring at it, debating if I should remove all of it, or just let it be.

I've never had it in the garden before, and once again wondered WHY it decided to show up? It wasn't a plant I was familiar with and had never had it in the garden before.

I opened my phone and did a quick google of garlic mustard medicinal benefits:

“An edible early Spring green. Rich in selenium and vitamin C, which improves transport of the selenium into the thyroid. Helps to suppress pro-inflammitory cytokines.

Supports liver function and metabolic health.

Used for thyroid health and can be beneficial for Grave's disease. Should not be consumed in large amounts.

Protects thyroid cells from autoimmune attack.”

I shut my phone, laughed, shook my head, and realized that somehow, as if by magic, the plants seem to know what I need better than I do.

It's amazing what you can find out about yourself when you actually pay attention and listen to what mother earth is trying to tell you.

Here's to another speedy remission!

Hope this finds you all doing well!

Blessings!

-Kat