This past summer, friend and colleague Jay Rich visited and gave me a lovely indigo plant, Persicaria tinctoria he had grown from seed. Not having a green thumb, I hesitated, yet found a spot in the yard to place the travel-weary plant. It grew into a beautiful bushy mound, without one iota of attention from me!

Always interested in experimenting, I harvested the leaves last week (before our first frost) and found a very simple way to use fresh indigo leaves in ice water at Botanical Colors.

It worked wonderfully! It was so satisfying to pick, soak, and blend the leaves into a lovely green mush. The silk became a glorious azure blue, and all in about an hour!

I also dried some of the leaves and will process those in a traditional method, in order to learn what is involved in making the powdered indigo I usually purchase*.

Next year, this non-gardener is going to grow more of this marvelous plant and have a fresh indigo party for kids big and small!

*Suppliers I’ve used:

Slow Fiber Studios

Aurora Silk

Stony Creek Colors (I’m excited to try this US-grown indigo!)