Herb garden at Kew

Anyone who’s visited at historic homes in the U.S. or abroad has probably seen those herb gardens many of them feature.   In the back, beyond the decorative flowers usually lies a garden that holds a collection of medicinal and flavorful herbs.

At Kew Gardens outside of London, one of the homes that has been kept up from the royal family that lived on the grounds has an herb collection labeled in the old style for its uses.  I was delighted to note that several of the herbs had features that were purely sensual.   The viagra of olde tymes was evidently much appreciated.

Herb gardens were a nearby source of folk medicines, and many elements needed in a household that didn’t have easy markets available.

Early settlers brought herbs to America for use as remedies for illnesses, flavoring, storing with linens, strewing on floors, or burning for their pleasant fragrances. Some herbs were used to improve the taste of meats in the days before preservation techniques were developed. Other herbs were used to dye homespun fabrics.

Herb gardens were almost an essential feature of pioneer homes. They were placed in sunny corners near the house to be readily available to the busy homemaker. As the population of the new country grew, people from many nations brought herbs with them. This resulted in an exchange of slips, seeds, and plants.

Many herbs familiar to settlers from other countries were found growing wild in the new country. These included parsley, anise, pennyroyal, sorrel, watercress, liverwort, wild leeks, and lavender. American Indians knew uses for almost every wild, nonpoisonous plant, but they used the plants chiefly for domestic purposes — tanning and dyeing leather and eating.

In Colonial Williamsburg, when I was in my teens, I had visited herb gardens before, and sometimes in other historic sites.   I seriously suspect that the gardens had been censored, as I don’t recall seeing any herbs that contributed to lust before.

There are many uses for herbs that we could use today, especially in cold season.

Hyssop is good for expelling mucus at the end of a cold, and a general sedative.

Elder is another all-rounder: a tea made from the dried flowers is great for warding off colds, while the berries (1kg berries to 250g sugar, with a grating of ginger root and four cloves) can be stewed into a ‘rob’ to fight coughs, colds and ‘flu.

Comfrey is known as “knit-bone”, with chopped leaves used as a poultice for wounds and the tea as a cure for gout.

We grow herbs at home now, but with our mobile society, we can get many varieties at the store that we just can’t grow successfully there.   Still, I do depend on a quick snip from the front yard of my own parsley and my garden for garlic.