Mullein is a biennial plant – that means it completes its growing cycle over two years. • And yes, it’s invasive. So uproot it if you are on a righteous mission to eradicate it from your environment. • Personally- it’s here- it’s medicinal- and it serves our pollinators- so I chose to work with it. • During the first year, as mentioned, it forms a rosette of fuzzy basal leaves, then during the second year, each rosette grows a tall flower spike (anywhere from 2 to 8 feet tall) covered with individual fuzzy green flower buds, that eventually open up, revealing five-lobed yellow flowers. • And after that it, it’ll seed itself and that plant will die. • It’s easiest to identify mullein when it’s flowering, because it has a very distinctive flower stalk. • The flowers of common mullein are sulfur yellow and have 5 lobes. • As with all plants you gather from the wild, if not from your own farm, make sure you have permission to gather from an area, and avoid areas sprayed with herbicides during the growing season or that can contain environmental contaminants from passing traffic. • From the first year plant- I gather the leaves when the energy of the plant is going into those- and NOT the flower stalk. • These make for the freshest- softest- most medicinal- and slowest burning leaves for smoking for respiratory ailments. • The leaves are soft and wooly on all sides, and rubbing a leaf feels similar to flannel. (Great for toilet paper in a pinch too!) • You can also make an infusion with the leaves, but be sure to strain the fine hairs out with a square of old (clean) t-shirt or a coffee filter. • The second year plant is where you’ll find the flowers- which is what we are after when making our beloved, and incredibly effective, earache oil! • Only a few flowers open on the stalk each day, so it’s helpful to visit your mullein plants every day or two during the flowering stage. • Always leave behind plenty of unpicked flowers too, for the pollinators to enjoy, and also to make sure the plants reseed and start the growth cycle again for next year! • We’ll be covering how to make these mentioned remedies in the next several weeks as well- so stay tuned!