Any Maine woodland garden user here????

I am so very interested in Maine woodlands-Plants that are edible,or herbs or plants used for tintures.
Are there any one here from Maine?Are any of the plants that are in woodland do we have here for our zone 3-4
I am learning alot I didnt know you can use violets till just recently,when a contracter came to my home said I had self heal on my property,and my violets are edible.I am interested in learning which are so i can go in my woods and id them.or any Perennials that I grow would be good for herbs,tintures,salves etc...

I'm in Milton NH, we share the border with West Lebanon, ME. I'm a newbie to gardening but I want to keep to natives. I like the idea of growing my own herbs for personal use and to grow native healing herbs from this area is very intrigueing. My experience so far is that many natives I've read about are not readily available at the local garden centers. I've had good luck ordering from Prairie Nursery.

Flowers, I spent years in the woods (Winterport) identifying all the wildflowers I had growing on my property :) If you can find a copy of Marilyn Dwelley's book, Spring Wildflowers of New England, http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Wildflowers-England-Marilyn-Dwelley/dp/0892720085/ref=pd_sim_b_1 you'll find it extremely helpful for identification purposes. It was my "bible" for 25 years and I just recently gave my well worn copy to my daughter to help her identify the plants at her new home :) Her illustrations were more helpful for ID purposes and used in conjunction with National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers - Eastern Region http://www.amazon.com/National-Audubon-Society-American-Wildflowers-E/dp/0375402322/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1248856539&sr=8-4 you'll have plenty of information to get you started! Marilyn Dwelley also wrote guides for Summer Flowers as well as Trees and Shrubs. I never read either of these but I'm sure they're just as good!

If you scroll down on this page, this site lists some excellent references for Flora guides http://www.mainenature.org/documents/handbook_list.html. Although I wasn't specifically interested in the medicinal uses of the plants you might find these helpful! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811734935/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1/192-9534880-9583265?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=1W9KWYKX5ENS2M01R9M4&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=304485901&pf_rd_i=0811720764
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Medicinal-Plants-Andrew-Chevallier/dp/0789410672.

If you have access to your local library you'll probably find more than enough information to keep you busy for hours! I visited the Bangor Public Library regularly when I started gardening and would return home with armloads of books :) Good luck!

rcn48 some intersting books I need to get for sure.thank you so much with all that infomation that will help me I am sure.

Some interesting but, perhaps, not altogether palatable options are: chewing the hardened resin of the spruce as gum, sucking the fruit off from bunch berry, and eating the cambium layer of white pines.

Otherwise, make "lemonade" from the flowers of staghorn sumac, eat blueberries and cranberries that grow wild throughout the state, cook the inner part of newly emerging cattails in the spring, and bathe in the restorative, if bracing, ocean water. There's some more to get your juices flowing.

I've got staghorn sumac, so I'm going to try to make "lemonade". I'm going to give it try next spring.

I found the staghorn but it was to late in the season I am cant wait till spring will try these

For adventurous cooks, one can buy sumac as an herb from specialty food stores. It's used in Middle East cooking.

wow awesome good to know thanks for sharing that