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
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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
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