05/13/2026
Hawthorn is flowering right now ā and in North Alabama, that window is two to three weeks. Once it closes, it closes until next May.
This is one of the oldest heart medicines in the Western herbal tradition. Not a crisis medicine ā a tonic. Something you work with over months to strengthen and steady the cardiovascular system. It has been given to the grieving, the heartbroken, and the emotionally exhausted across cultures and centuries. The old name for May blossom is hawthorn. The month is named for the tree.
If you have access to a hawthorn in bloom this week, gather the flowers and leaves while they are open. Dry them gently on a screen in a shaded space. What you gather this month you will use through the winter.
The full monograph ā preparation methods, dosage, contraindications, and the full traditional history ā is in The Stillroom this cycle.
