Spiderwort

We have a large pot filled with spiderwort. This plant is very colorful with purplish/blue flowers.  The clusters of flowers close up at night and reopen again the next last and if I keep it watered, the plant will continue to have flowers all summer. Other than the water, the plant needs no maintenance.

We plant different varieties of flowering shrubs and trees to encourage bees to visit the farm. Bumblebees are especially attracted to the sweet scent and the plant is covered with the bumblebees during sunny days.

When looking online, I came across many other uses for the beautiful plant at ediblewildfood.com.

The seed are edible when roasted and is ground into a powder (although they are somewhat bitter to taste). Leaves can be made into a tea or tossed into salads, soups, etc. The root can be collected all year round. The flowers can be tossed on top of a salad and eaten. (Dried, powdered flowers were once used as a snuff for nosebleeds.)Externally, this plant can be used as a poultice to help heal wounds and hemorrhoids. Internally the leaves and roots are a valuable alternative medicine used by medical herbalists for their patients as an antidiarrheal, analgesic, anthelmintic, antiperiodic, astringent, diaphoretic, emetic, emmenagogue, expectorant, sedative, tonic, vermifuge, and vulnerary. Also, drinking spiderwort tea is supposed to be a good for increasing breast milk (Galactagogue).