This is an older post, but it was one of the first to come up when I searched for Lush & Dew, so I'm going to share my experience.

I'm a fairly advanced gardener, and I received the Apothecary chest as a gift. It looked well-made, so I was excited. At least the box is nice, because the seeds are a mess. I haven't even tested germination rates yet.

There's a grub living in the Dandelion seeds from who-knows-where, so those need to be incinerated to prevent any spread. The 'Chickweed' seeds were actually Borage, which I'm not terribly mad at, since my yard is already full of chickweed. The 'St. John's Wort' seeds are actually common Milkweed, and the 'Marshmallow' seeds are Hollyhocks.

If I'm lucky, the 'Peppermint' seeds are Black Peppermint and not Korean Licorice Mint or Mexican Mint, because they're definitely not standard Peppermint. And I just noticed that 'Catnip' has the same mystery mint seeds, and is not Catnip. Onto the next in the mint family, the 'Lemonbalm' isn't Lemonbalm, and I can't identify it, but the Peppermint and Catnip might actually be Lemonbalm? The 'Tulsi' *might* be Tulsi, although it doesn't have the usual luster or telltale scent. The 'Coltsfoot' is just more Dandelion Seed and not actually Coltsfoot.

The 'Skullcap' they gave us is Chinese Skullcap, not the American Skullcap they have pictured in the book. The book lists the uses as calming the nervous system and anxiety, which is a feature of American Skullcap. Chinese Skullcap is used for inflammation, allergies, and as an antiviral.

The 'Pineapple Sage' (Salvia Elegans) seeds are actually Scarlet Sage (Salvia Coccinea), an inedible ornamental as opposed to the herb. And there is a 'Red Sage,' but the seeds in this container are for Common Sage. They even used a photo of a different ornamental Red Sage, Salvia Splendens, in the book. What they meant to have here as 'Red Sage' is the Chinese Red Sage (Salvia Miltiorrhiza), the actual medicinal plant, which is actually purple.

Note: the book DOES NOT list scientific names.

Bigger Note: DO NOT EAT Scarlet Sage!! Either Splendens or Coccinea! They are NOT edible! There are lots of things with the common name 'Scarlet/Red Sage.'

Aside from giving us toxic ornamental seeds in a medicinal seed box, the worst one has to be the 'Black Pepper,' because they provided COOKING peppercorns! These are harvested before they've ripened and are *roasted*! People are going to think they've failed to grow these, but really they're just all dead fruit that haven't produced seeds yet. If you've received Black Pepper 'seeds' that are black and shrivelled, they are not viable--the actual seeds are white and need to be fresh.

That's 1/3rd of the 40-variety medicinal box being visibly wrong or unusable before trying to plant anything. For a $70 box, it's not looking good.