The 3 Plants You Need To Welcome Summer

The temps may have already risen to sweat-worthy heights, but the summer season won't officially arrive until this Thursday, June 21, with the summer solstice. If you don't have plans to get outside on the longest day of the year, you may want to make time for a little seasonal gardening — or, depending on your yard situation, a little plant-store-visiting.

It can be spiritually satisfying to bring elements of nature into your home whenever the seasons change (think about all those decorative gourds you bring home during autumn or the evergreen boughs we associate with December), and the summer solstice is no exception. But, considering just how much plant life is growing and blooming during this time of year, choosing the right plants can be overwhelming. Luckily, Deborah Hanekamp, seeress, shaman, and founder of Mama Medicine, says that the most spiritually significant plants for the solstice are also some of the most common.

In fact, the first two that come to mind for her are probably available at your nearest grocery store: strawberries and roses. Not only do both naturally flourish in June, but strawberries are associated with the June full moon and roses have long been part of solstice rituals within nature-based faiths. In order to reap their seasonal benefits, Hanekamp says you can use rose petals or oils in your next bath, or simply bring home a basket of strawberries from the farmer's market and snack away.

If you're looking for a slightly more obscure option, Hanekamp suggests picking a bouquet of linden flowers. They aren't as commonplace as roses or strawberries, but linden trees are easily found in city parks and you can buy your own to grow at home from an online nursery. This sweet-smelling plant shares roses' longstanding connection to the summer solstice and many of their spiritual properties, so feel free to let your linden blossoms mingle with your roses — if nothing else, they'll look pretty together.

If you can't find any of these plants, don't stress. Bringing anything that's locally in season into your living space can be a tribute to the summer solstice. Just surround yourself with the same abundance that's present in nature and you'll be good (pollen allergies notwithstanding).