Lady's bedstraw (Galium verum) is a herb, related to the dye plant maddder (Rubia tinctorium), which has red toned dye compounds in the roots. Alizarin is the pigment which produces the red tones. Painter's are familiar with the color *alizarin red* which in the Middle Ages was the same pigment bound in an oil base for paint. The pigment is actually located in the root bark of the plant, but whole or powered roots can be used with no difficulty in dyeing.
Like most herbs transported to the US with immigrants, it has medical properties also. It can be used for kidney stones and as a wash for slow healing wounds. Its leaves can be j juiced and used to curdle cheese for the Farmer and Pot cheeses that our ancestors were so fond of. One can also stuff matresses with it as the name suggests.
To extract the dye from the roots they first must be dug. This is best done in the fall when the plant concentrates substances in the roots. Several methods of extraction will work just fine.
SUN METHOD:
Take the fresh or dried roots and place in a two to one ratio with water in a large pot or jar. Sit in the sun and make sun tea soaking the dyeplant for several days. Strain and dye.
SIMMER METHOD:
Take a two part plant, to one part water ratio, and simmer BELOW BOILING for an hour or so. Let sit over night to cool and then strain and dye. It is very important NEVER to boil madder, or bed straw as it will turn the color brown.
To dye wool, silk or other protein fibers mordant the fiber or yarn first in alum solution. Then place in the dye bath and sun soak for several days, or simmer under boiling for an hour and let cool overnight.
Some suggestions I've gleaned over the years is to use water with a lot of lime in it to get good color. A pinch of quicklime into the dye bath works. Or you can use water in which you've boiled eggs shells before tossing them into the compost heap.
Afterbaths tend to produce orange shades as does dyes produced at temperatures too close to boiling.
To get seeds contact: The Woolery www.woolery.com
RICHTER'S HERBS www.richters.com
or
Mountain Valley Growers www.mountainvalleygrowers.com
Or any other commercial herb seed supplier.
Lili
References: Medical Plants by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay
Colors From Nature by Bobbi A. McRae
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