HERBS FROM YOUR GARDEN FOR HOMEMADE REMEDIES.

Byline: Joan Jackson Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

When Louis Saso feels a cold coming on, the Saratoga gardener whips up a batch of his favorite herbal remedy - purple coneflower root (Echinacea) steeped in vodka.

After taking a few drops of the home-brewed tincture, he says, ``I feel better. It really works.''

Before colorful pills in child-proof bottles, before HMOs and drive-up pharmacies, there were people who tapped into the healing powers of medicinal plants. Now Saso and others like him are again using homeopathy and herbal remedies as an effective way to treat their aches and pains.

Just a reminder: If you feel ill or are running a fever, consult your doctor or home practitioner before treating yourself with herbal remedies. Many people use them in addition to - not in place of - modern treatment.

Having made that disclaimer, Saso says he wouldn't be without his feverfew for headaches and sage for sore throats.

``You can use the plants in your garden or buy capsules of these herbs. People have had good success with them,'' he says.

That interest - and success - has inspired a new book, ``Herbal Remedies in Pots: Growing and Making Herbal Remedies for Common Ailments,'' by Effie Romain and Sue Hawkey (DK Publishing; $16.95). If you've toyed with the idea of homemade herbal remedies - but never tried one - this is an excellent beginner's guide.

With container information, cultivation tips and remedy recipes, the nicely illustrated 96-page book focuses on 30 remedy pots for 30 different ailments, ranging from an upset stomach to menopause.

While waiting for scientists to find a cure for a simple cold, the Romain-Hawkey team encourages a combination of herbs that ``contain volatile oils that clear nose, throat and chest.''

Their ``sore throat-cold'' pot uses one purple sage, one hyssop and three lemon thyme plants from a garden center, plus one elecampane (Inula helenium) and one ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) from an herb specialty nursery. They should be planted in a 20-inch terra-cotta pot using potting soil and organic plant food.

What you want to grow for your treatment are the leaves and flowers of purple sage, hyssop, thyme and ground ivy, and the root from elecampane.

To put these things to use:

Sage gargle. Brew sage tea, add a little honey, strain out the leaves and gargle often with the liquid.

Decongestant tea. Make a standard tea (one cup boiling water poured over one teaspoon mixture of thyme, ground ivy and hyssop). Drink at onset of a cold or if you are congested.

Syrup for cough. Heat 12 ounces of sugar in 17 fluid ounces of water until dissolved. (Use a measuring cup that shows ounces). Add two chopped elecampane roots. Heat gently. When a menthol scent is evident, add a handful of hyssop. Cook for two more minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, strain and bottle. Take one teaspoonful three times a day.

Saso says his coneflower tincture boosts his immune system, and I thought this would be a good choice for my own late-season healing pot. I've had a flu shot, but I figured a little extra herbal insurance couldn't hurt.

The pot calls for two coneflower (Echinacea augustifolia), one false indigo (Baptisia australis), two hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannibinum), and three pot marigold (Calendula officinalis). All these plants are available from a herb specialist, and the calendulas are sold at garden centers. Plant them together in a 15-inch terra-cotta pot, using potting mix and organic fertilizer.

To use them, gather the winter-blooming pot marigold flowers as they open. Pick the leaves and flowers of hemp agrimony before the flowers open and harvest the roots of false indigo and coneflower in fall.

With this little arsenal at hand, my choices are:

Decoction for infection. This is made by boiling two teaspoons of finely chopped coneflower root and one teaspoon of finely chopped false indigo root in one cup of water. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain the liquid through a sieve and allow to cool. Drink a cupful three times a day.