There’s real value in growing comfrey, beyond its pretty looks. Just ask the many crafters, DIY health-and-beauty fans, and permaculture gardeners already cultivating and using comfrey for a myriad of purposes. In this article, I’ll share more about this useful plant, how to grow it, and touch on the wealth of ways it can be used. I’ve been growing comfrey for years and find it’s flowers both beautiful and prolific and it’s foliage large and majestic. Read on to learn more about the many perks of this perennial plant.

On the health-and-beauty front, comfrey plants are used to make natural dyes and this tough perennial herb contains potent medicine for reducing muscle aches and sprains. Comfrey-based topical cream and other preparations have been shown to have skin-soothing properties. Comfrey has utility in the garden, too. When growing comfrey, some gardeners chop up green comfrey leaves to jumpstart flagging compost piles. They also swear by comfrey compost tea for a quick mid-season nutrient boost. Also attractive to pollinators, comfrey can be a great addition to your landscape.

Introduction to comfrey

Known as common comfrey or true comfrey, Symphytum officinale originally hails from parts of Europe and Asia. It’s related to borage and, like borage, comfrey has an upright growth habit and dangling, bell-shaped flowers. Comfrey flowers can range in color from creamy white to pinkish-purple, and its foliage is slightly hairy or prickly to the touch. Diving several feet down, comfrey also has an impressive tap root. Above ground, common comfrey can grow three to five feet tall.

It’s worth noting that there are a few different types of comfrey, including the even more vigorous hybrid, Russian comfrey. And at the other end of the size spectrum? You can find smaller, ornamental comfreys like Hidcote Blue Comfrey. This dwarf comfrey cultivar will grow to just over one foot high and about two feet wide and features pretty, blue flowers. One of my favorites is a variegated comfrey variety known as ‘Axminster Gold’.

Choosing a location for growing comfrey

When choosing a location for growing comfrey, you’ll want to consider the plant’s specific needs, but you can also use comfrey to fix certain site-specific challenges you may be having. For instance, if you’re growing comfrey in heavy clay soil, the plant’s deep tap root can help to break it up.

Comfrey typically thrives in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3 or 4 through 9. It does well in full sun and also can tolerate partial shade. The plants take up quite a bit of room so be sure the location you select has ample space for the plant to thrive unrestricted.

Preparing the soil for growing comfrey

Comfrey can handle a range of soil types from heavy clay to sandy soil. The ideal soil for growing comfrey is moist and nutrient-rich with a neutral or near-neutral pH. If you aren’t sure about your soil quality, it’s worth testing. Then, you can amend with organic matter like finished compost, manure, or worm castings as needed. Comfrey is also reportedly tolerant of juglone, the allelopathic compound produced by black walnut trees that may inhibit the growth of other plants growing beneath them.

Growing comfrey from seed, root, or plant

When it comes to comfrey propagation, you have a few options. For common comfrey, you can always sow seeds. (Note: seeds require 30 days of cold stratification before they’ll sprout. Put them in a plastic bag in the fridge for at least a month before planting.)

For common and hybrid varieties, you can make new starts during spring or fall by taking comfrey root cuttings. Simply harvest a live root, cut it into one- or two-inch sections, and pot them up. Each of these root cuttings will grow into a new plant.

You can also dig up, divide, and replant live plants in the fall. It’s a super easy process.

Caring for comfrey plants

Pests like slugs and snails may go after young comfrey plants, but once established, these perennials are very sturdy. Look for evidence of leaf-chewing and hand-pick and remove any slimy visitors you happen to see. (You might need to go out early in the morning or later in the evening to catch them in the act.) Organic slug baits are an option, too.

Also, be sure to leave about three feet between your newly planted comfrey seedlings. In time, they will fill in the gaps. Once they do, you’ll be glad you allowed room for adequate air circulation which can help to prevent the spread of certain plant diseases.

Watering and fertilizing when growing comfrey

You’ll want to keep comfrey plants moist but not waterlogged as they establish. Once they’ve got their footing, they’re fairly drought tolerant. During the growing season, you can get away with watering them about once a week in the absence of sufficient rainfall.

As for fertilizer? Sometimes newly growing comfrey can use a little extra nitrogen, but this shouldn’t be an issue if you amended your soil with nutrient-rich organic matter ahead of planting. In fact, once your comfrey really takes off, the plant itself can help to enrich your soil a little from season to season. In the case of Russian comfrey, research has shown it to be a dynamic bio-accumulator of potassium. (Russian comfrey also accumulates nutrients like calcium and phosphorus but not at levels that are significant enough to count in the dynamic bio-accumulator range.) Chop up the leaves at the end of the growing season and let them decompose on the garden’s soil or in your compost pile, and those nutrients will be returned back to the earth.

Pruning and harvesting

If you don’t have a dwarf variety, you’ll likely want to prune your comfrey plants during the growing season to keep them looking neat. (Left unchecked, comfrey can grow so large that it flops over or crowds neighboring plants.) Depending on your desired use, these leaves can be part of a large comfrey harvest. They’re suitable for chopping and composting, using as a mulch, or in natural dye preparations.

If you’re interested in health-and-beauty uses, you’ll want to harvest the parts of the plant that are highest in a chemical compound called allantoin. During the growing season, you’ll find it in the newest comfrey leaves. In winter, you can get it from plant roots.

Uses for comfrey

Occasionally, you may hear comfrey called “knitbone.” Comfrey leaves and roots naturally contain allantoin, a protein which acts on cell growth. Historically, comfrey has been used to speed wound closure and help to heal broken bones. Herbal medicine enthusiasts still make poultices and compresses from comfrey to soothe aches, sprains, and bruising, and comfrey is also a popular ingredient in DIY foot soaks, beauty creams, and skin preparations.

Healthy-and-beauty applications aside, comfrey can help to improve your soil quality, and it is sometimes used to create natural dyes, too. Different parts of the comfrey plant combined with different color-fixing ingredients, yield shades of green, greenish-gold, or brown.

Aside from potential human uses, comfrey is also used as a nectar and pollen resource for many different pollinators. My plants are buzzing with bumble bees all summer long and the hummingbirds are also found flitting around the plants on a frequent basis. Even if you never use the plants for medicinal or composting purposes, their beauty and pollinator prowess make them well worth including in the garden.

Comfrey considerations

Not everything about comfrey is necessarily healthy for us, however. Besides its beneficial allantoin, comfrey also contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids. When ingested in large amounts, these compounds can contribute to liver damage and other potential health problems. So, if you’re considering growing comfrey to ingest internally, to apply to broken skin, or to help heal a broken bone, you might want to reconsider those particular uses and conduct further research.

Feelin’ comfrey

Think it’s time to start growing comfrey? You can propagate common or true comfrey from seed. You can also start it through simple plant division or via root cuttings. A fast-grower, comfrey’s good for your soil and, once established, it requires little from you. (That said, unless you’re growing dwarf comfrey, you will need to prune it periodically to keep its size and shape in line!) You can chop up all of that extra comfrey growth to use as mulch or mix in with your compost. Of course, you can safely use the comfrey you harvest on unbroken skin for aches, sprains, and bruises as well.

Want to grow more useful plants in your garden? Check out these additional articles:

• Growing chamomile for tea 
• Grow your own saffron 
• Homegrown catnip
• Herb gardening for beginners 
• Harvest lavender for bouquets, crafts, and more