These Victorian Physic Gardens were originally called apothecary gardens, and many monasteries and large estates had physic gardens where plants were grown for cooking and healing.  They were also known as  "potagers".  Although potagers were mostly used as food and herb gardens.

A physic garden is a type of herb garden filled with medicinal and healing plants, and culinary herbs. Botanical gardens developed from these. A Physic and Herb Garden combination is desirable. An Ornamental Physic Garden containing medicinal and culinary herbs, ornamental flowering shrubs, plants and trees is beautiful. It can also include plants that create a habitat garden for pollinators and birds. 

The traditional physic garden is a layout where plants and herbs are grouped together in relation to their healing or soothing properties, affecting different parts of the body or medical conditions. In the 16th century, Italy developed the first physic gardens.

Physic gardens were closely related to botanical gardens, as both garden types encouraged the collection, documentation and study of different plant species. Beautiful and cheerful chamomile has its place in physic and ornamental gardens. Rosemary fits in with culinary and medicinal gardens. The primary difference between the two garden types was that physic gardens were principally concerned with growing herbs for their medicinal qualities.

Traditionally, medicinal gardens were grown in a walled courtyard. This resulted in a protected environment that most of the plants could thrive in. Spiral or circular designs work well.

Medicinal herbs and fruits are also ornamental - These are not only of medicinal value, but valued for beauty as ornamental plants, their fragrance and as food source. A physic garden's plants blend well with vegetables, too. You can have a garden with 3 purposes. Many medicinal and culinary herbs can be grown indoors. Several of these herbs attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators to your garden.

Bee Balm

Chicory

Aloe Vera

Purple Sage

Melissa

Peppermint

Thyme

Rosemary

Fennel

Echinacea

Lamb's Ears

Allium

Berries

Foxglove***

Lemon Tree

Damask Rose

English Lavender

Feverfew

St. John’s Wort

Marigolds

Yarrow

Lemon Balm

Ginger

Catmint

Witch Hazel

Cherries

Elderberry

Heartsease

Stinging Nettle

Mullein

Hops

Tansy

Butterfly weed

Horehound

Dill

Chamomile

Live Forever

Garlic

Fiddle Ferns

Grow any mints you like for food and healing - But remember....these are invasive, as are any plants of the mint family.
Grow these in pots to control them. Snip as needed for recipes, teas, lotions,  and digestive medicines.

***Foxglove was used to treat dropsy, or congestive heart failure. 
This is a tall and beautiful plant, but a dangerous plant with potential to do harm when ingested, if you're not well-versed in its use - do not use or ingest without a medical professional's advice. Keep children and pets away from it.

Feverfew is used today as a  remedy for migraine headaches and is an antiseptic.

Aloe vera is an important medicinal. It's used to regulate the digestive system, strengthen the immune system, and heal wounds and burns.

Thyme is antimicrobial, and valuable as a culinary herb. Creeping Lemon Thyme is beautiful between stepping stones and steps. It creates a fragrant, short, and tasty ground cover, and looks beautiful at the base of plants in pots, and in window boxes.

Hops was a common ingredient in medicines, used to help people relax. It helps with insomnia, anxiety and depression. Although commonly thought of as an ingredient in beer, it could be used to make tea. Simply breathing in the plant’s odor can be healing.
Lavender also had similar healing qualities as hops.

Tansy repels pests, and was used to remove parasites, and help with gas. It was also used to for inflammations, and as a wound wash

Mullein leaves and flowers are used as an anti-spasmodic. 
It helped with asthma symptoms, and the best way to get the effects of mullein was to smoke it. The stalks of mullein were used for cramps, fevers and migraines.

Butterfly weed was used for pleurisy. It is a variety of milkweed. Its root helps with influenza, pneumonia and other communicable diseases. Milkweed is essential for the protection of Monarch Butterflies, too. I have spotted several hummingbirds feeding among the clustered blossoms. Butterfly weed spreads, so it's best to grow in in containers or separate beds. Be sure not to let the fuzzy seedheads stay on the plants or begin to scatter. Your neighbors might not want it growing in their yards on their lawns.

Pokeweed was used to treat eczema, scabies and other skin diseases. It was also used for arthritis. 
Pokeweed can be poisonous. It is also on the list of invasive plants, so if you do grow it, grow it in containers and do not let it go to seed.

Chicory was used for jaundice, for liver and gallbladder ailments and to lower blood sugar. It's also used to eliminate the bitterness of coffee.

The herb ipecac was used to induce vomiting, especially in cases of poison. We still use ipecac today to purge accidental poisonings.

Elderberry has been promoted as a "super"food. It was used to make a fruity wine, and mixed into jams. Unripe elderberries are toxic. Use only ripe berries in recipes or as a supplement. Birds love it, too. I don't ingest mine, I don't trust the toxicity. I use mine as ornamental shrubs and in my Asian-style garden designs.

Edible Garden - Grow dwarf fruit trees and berry plants in pots. Ornamental, some are medicinal, and they are great for putting up jams and condiments, and to make bitter medicinal tonics go down better.. Grow a large planter or two of an ornamental or heirloom vine or bush. I use Delicata Squash, mini pumpkins and gourds. They don't take up much room and look stunning when their fruits hang from a trellis.

Design ideas:

In designing this garden, begin to do it as you would any garden design, and plant in spring or fall. Avoid planting and transplanting in the heat of summer. If you are installing a new garden, rather than using an existing area, begin your digging and add soil and amendments as soon as the ground is workable, to prepare for the later plantings.
Pick your plants according to hardiness zone, color, height, healing properties. Mix in a few well-behaved culinary herbs, and pretty ornamental and flowering plants that were popular in Victorian and English gardens.

For pathways, use grass, moss or creeping thyme, old brick or mis-matched cobblestones. You can use flagstone or other dark and flat stone, or natural-looking stepping stones without a pattern. Don't opt for the usual patio pavers. unless they're plain black or terra cotta flat floor tile or pottery types. Dark brown rubber mulch looks nice as an outline, weed barrier throughout the garden, or as a path, and it lasts forever. Avoid the use of white tile. They stand out too much and reflect the sun and heat into the garden, and sometimes frying your plants.

Plant Nasturtium in and around the garden to keep away insects. It's pretty, and its flowers are delicious in salads. 
Pansies and daisies add a whimsical and cheerful touch.

The Victorians were absolutely obsessed with ferns and ferneries to showcase them. They arranged fern hunting parties and trekked to the forests with friends for ferns to grow in and around their homes. For your garden, add hardy and uniquely shaped or colored, dwarf varieties in urn-shaped pots, in ferneries, ornate receptacles, and add taller ones to outline or fill the back of your garden, or grow against a structure or fence. Do not gather from the forests. Those wild ferns can take over your yard or deplete the forests, if you are not familiar with them, or their habitat. 
I recommend planting ferns in pots, because most ferns spread via underground rhizomes, and they're hard to pull out completely without digging. Fiddle ferns were used in the kitchen - the young, curled "fiddles" were cooked and seasoned.

If you collect medicine and cure-related bottles and cosmetic jars, you can incorporate your collection into the physic garden. Put a little sand inside or little pebbles in in the unsteady ones, and cluster or place among your medicinal plants. Talc and cosmetic tins, along with metal medicine tins are colorful and make nice accessories on side tables or on wide pedestals. Add an old granite, marble, or metal mortar and pestle in any cluster of plants. An old and ornate tea or coffeepot work well in the design, too, displayed on a table or chair. 

Old granite or enamelware wash basins, pails, and sickroom supplies from the flea market or yard sales look awesome in the physic garden, and weather doesn't bother them. Add a spray of outdoor varnish or weatherproofing if you're going to leave these items outdoors in winter. An old water pump is beautiful among the plants.
Place an old metal vanity chair or stool in the garden for seating or decoration. If used as decoration, place a potted medicinal plant on the seat when not in use.

There's a treasure trove of vintage and repro bath, medical, medicinal and cosmetic accessories at flea markets, antiques auction and yard sales. You can design your entire garden inexpensively. The Victorian era was known for it's excesses and elaborate decorating themes and customs. They were not very attentive to size and space limits, boundaries or straight lines, and were fine with the ostentatiously gaudy. 
Create away!

As a finishing touch in any area or section of the garden, use solar pathlights or solar fairy (string) lights for ambience and magic in the evenings. Victorians were in love with the idea of garden fairies, and many believed that the fairies lived in theirs, and came out to play after dark, if not disturbed or frightened. The subtle glow of teeny lights in clusters here and there, or hanging from branches is beautiful and magical. Do not set the lights to blink. They should glow dimly. The addition of a few solar coach lanterns on walking paths is also very attractive. These glow with a realistic-looking golden yellow candle light inside. Try not to put them in defined lines, make them meander.


Sources:

Smithsonian
Digital Public Library of America
Archives of American Gardens
Mary's Garden

Buddha Serenity Garden

Native American 
Three Sisters Gardening

USDA National Cold Hardiness Zone Map
Plan Before You Plant

Easy Butterfly Garden

Veggies in Shady Spots

Medieval and Castle Gardens

Mediterranean Diet Garden

Easy Square Foot Gardens

Easy Native Plant Garden Plans

Dwarf Fruit Trees In Pots Raised Bed Square Foot Gardens

Natural Path of The Green Witch

Canning Fruit and Preserves

Download
 Free
Garden Design Plans

Foraging The Wild in Pennsylvania
African American Heritage Botanical Mythology
and Nature Folklore

Pa. Vegetable Planting and Harvest Guide
Zones 5-7

Yoga, Prayer and Meditation Gardens

The Original Victory Garden Growing Baby Melons
Design an Authentic 
Sacred Mary Garden
Free .pdf Downloads
 -
Vintage Garden and Canning Publications
Pennsylvania Native Plants
Zones 5&6
Ornamental Gourd
 and Winter Squash Gardens

Quick Guide-Storing Your Harvest

Grow A Native American Medicine Wheel

Design, graphics, articles and photos ©2008+ marysbloomers.com
All rights reserved.