Sounds wonderful. Would love to see some pictures 
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Thanks for sharing! Looks lovely! I can see lavender, yarrow, lemonbalm, elder and of course valerian very clearly. Anyone else in there I’ve missed?
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Yes all of them well spotted ,cannot wait for a allotment. Having some work done on the house,so all my plants are bunched up together for safety from the builders! My valerian is pink ,yours white. Is there a difference? Xxx
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Hi
Thanks for your wonderful posts and pictures @pamelaspence
This is going to sound very stupid to those who know their plants but I get confused about identifying the correct plant that I am looking for - valerian of course! I think it unlikely to find it anywhere at this time of year but forgive me when I say that it looks (to me anyway!) very similar to a plant I know as cow parsley!
I certainly don’t want others to pick the wrong plants and me too!
Please could you tell me if they are one and the same or if not, as I suspect, how to identify valerian and the most likely places to find it, habits etc?
I really wanted to be in the S1 trial, but of course willing to try anything natural that would help me get a chance of a decent night’s sleep!!
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Hello Oliver,
Sorry for the delay in replying, I have been away teaching at herb school since you posted.
No such thing as a silly question! 
It’s extremely important only to pick plants that you are sure of. Valerian is now returning to the ground after a big effort producing stalks and leaves and flowers all spring and summer. Actually now is when we harvest the roots which are the part used as medicine.
I see what you mean about the similarity of flowers to cow parsley but otherwise this plant is very different. Cow parsley is in the notorious carrot family and there is at least one of those which is deadly poisonous so best not to harvest from unless you are 100% sure and experienced (domesticated carrots don’t count here 
).
The valerian leaves are very unique and form in a basal shape around the bottom of the stalk with smaller versions as you go higher up the stalk. The plant tends to be about 2ft high. When I get home (still in transit right now) I will post a picture of mine so you can see what it looks like at the moment. I don’t find it growing wild around my area (SW Scotland) so I always plant my own.
Hope that helps!
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Hi @pamelaspence
Thank you for your detailed explanation, I will certainly be taking your advice and staying away from trying to find valerian myself as I suspect I would get it wrong and end up in A&E!
A picture would be great but I am still going to leave this to the experts!
Kind regards
Oliver
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