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Tag: flax

  • Blue Flax: How to Grow and Care for Linum Lewisii, A Wildflower Native to the Western States

    Blue Flax: How to Grow and Care for Linum Lewisii, A Wildflower Native to the Western States

    Blue Flax, Linum lewisii

    I can’t get enough of the blue flax in my yard, but it wasn’t always this way. With most other perennials, it’s a binary case of love or hate. With blue flax, though, it was more complicated.

    Above: Blue flax’s five-petaled flowers range from a pale blue to a bright cerulean. Photograph by Debbie Ballentine via Flickr.

    I’m newish to Central Oregon, where I relocated after a lifetime of living on the East Coast, and unfamiliar with the plants native to this high desert region. Hydrangeas, a landscape leitmotif on the East, are rarely seen in these parts, but Linum lewisii, another plant with vividly blue flowers, peppers the landscape. I see blue flax thriving in the wild on the trails; swaying in the wind next to the the chain-link fence that surrounds the local high school track; and growing in my own front yard, where it was planted by the previous owners.

    Once established, one blue flax plant can generate many, many petite flowers. Photograph by Philip Bouchard via Flickr.
    Above: Once established, one blue flax plant can generate many, many petite flowers. Photograph by Philip Bouchard via Flickr.

    While I was immediately smitten with the delicate blue flowers (measuring just 1 to 1.5 inches across) that float over thin stems, I was less than happy to learn that they wither by day’s end. I have always had a bias for durable, long-lasting blooms, and these ephemeral flowers, with an expiration date that measures in hours (not even days), offended my practical sensibility. The thing is, the spent flowers are replaced the next morning with a flush of new blooms. All summer long, this 24-hour cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is repeated.

    Above: This flower will die by the end of the day, but new buds are standing in the wings, ready to bloom the next morning. Photograph by tdlucas5000 via Flickr.

    I’ve come to admire blue flax. Every morning, like a child waking up to look for fresh snow, I eagerly grab a cup of coffee and peer out our front window searching for the new blooms. Throughout the day, I check on them. And early evening, I do one last inspection to see if, by some miracle, they’re still around, gently swaying in the breeze. They never are. But come morning, I fill up my cup again—and delight in their rebirth.

    Cheat Sheet

    Its stems can look messy and leggy, so best to plant them en masse or crowd them next to tall grasses and wildflowers. Photograph by George Wesley and Bonita Dannells via Flickr.
    Above: Its stems can look messy and leggy, so best to plant them en masse or crowd them next to tall grasses and wildflowers. Photograph by George Wesley and Bonita Dannells via Flickr.
    • Discovered by Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) in the Rocky Mountains, Linum lewisii is commonly known as blue flax, wild blue flax, prairie flax, Lewis flax, and Lewis’s flax.
    • The drought-tolerant, deer-resistant perennial is native to Western North America, growing wild in prairies and mountain trails.
    • Grows to 18 to 30 inches tall, with needle-like blue-green leaves.
    • Will readily self seed once established.
    • Exhibits a clumping habit; looks best en masse or mingling in a dense planting with tall grasses.
    • The cultivar commercially grown for its fibers, seeds, and oil is common flax (Linum usitatissimum), but blue flax’s seeds are edible, too, as long as you cook it first.
    • Its bloom period covers a long span, from April to September (though in Central Oregon, where the last frost date was in late spring, mine didn’t start blooming until early June).

    Keep It Alive

    Blue flax happily mingling with coast sunflower, California fuchsia, Sulphur buckwheat, California sun cup, and
    Above: Blue flax happily mingling with coast sunflower, California fuchsia, Sulphur buckwheat, California sun cup, and ‘Margarita BOP’ penstemon. Photograph by Debbie Ballentine via Flickr.
    • Hardy from USDA zones 5 – 8.
    • Extremely easy to grow, the wildflower is both cold-hardy and heat-tolerant.
    • Fairly shade-tolerant but happiest in full sun.
    • Drought-tolerant, it has low to medium water needs.
    • Best planted in well-draining soil; preference for rocky or sandy conditions, dislike of clay soil or wet conditions.
    • To prevent self seeding, prune almost down to the ground at the end of the growing season; if not a concern, leave them standing for birds to snack on during the winter and cut back in early spring.

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  • Getting Omega-3s From Plants May Help Heart Failure Patients

    Getting Omega-3s From Plants May Help Heart Failure Patients

    Oct. 25, 2022 — Including more foods rich in an omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) could help people with heart failure, a new study suggests.

    ALA is an omega-3 fatty acid found mainly in plants. Higher blood levels of ALA were tied to fewer deaths and fewer first trips to the hospital for heart failure compared to lower levels in the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.  Some of the best sources of plant-based omega-3s include flax, which can be purchased as seeds or oil and is often found in cereals, baked goods, and other products. Chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, soy foods, canola oil, seaweed, edamame, and kidney beans are also good sources.  

    “The most striking finding to us is the clear difference between patients in the bottom 25% — the lowest ALA levels — compared to the other 75%,” says Aleix Sala-Vila, PHD, of the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.

    The researchers studied blood samples from 905 heart failure patients. The average age was 67, and about a third were women. After a follow-up of about 2 years, 140 people died of any cause, 85 died from cardiovascular disease, and 141 people were hospitalized for the first time with heart failure.

    Patients with higher blood levels of ALA were significantly less likely to die or have a first heart failure hospitalization than those with lower levels, according to the analysis. 

    More research is needed to show definitively whether increasing dietary ALA can improve heart failure outcomes, Sala-Vila says. But for now, “including some ALA-rich foods such as walnuts in the diet might translate into cardiovascular benefits for anyone, whether they have heart failure or not. There is no evidence of any harmful effect of one daily serving of walnuts, not even on weight gain.”

    Diet Often “Overlooked”

    JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH, chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, called the study findings “promising.”

    “Diet is often overlooked as an important factor in maintaining good health and good heart health,” she says. “This study gives further support that a dietary factor may influence heart health, including heart failure. Until recently, most of the dietary emphasis has been on salt intake, which is very important, but not as much as some of these other dietary factors.” 

    However, the study doesn’t prove that increasing ALA blood levels will definitely improve heart failure prognosis, she says. 

    “It may be that the foods that are leading to this higher blood level of ALA make up the type of plant-based diet that’s been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, such as the Mediterranean diet. The findings also could be the result of other factors that aren’t fully controlled for in the analysis, or the study participants may be more compliant with their medications.”

    Nevertheless, she says, “It’s reasonable to recommend that people with a history of heart failure or who are at high risk increase their intake of ALA-enriched foods.” 

    It’s also good advice for everyone to follow a heart-healthy diet, including plenty of ALA, she adds. 

    “Have a large salad or a couple of smaller salads every day, add canola or flaxseed oil, and sprinkle on some walnuts,” she advises. “This will give you a high intake of ALA every day.” 

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