This fabulously
instructive talk was given by Susie White. In her Gardener's World
featured garden (2014), Susie has planted her new Northumbrian garden
using drifts of contemporary and heritage / antique plants. Here
extremes of temperature have been recorded, -18c to 30c!
Before 2010, Susie and
her husband gardened at the walled garden near Chesters and ran the
Old Potting Shed Shop. The Chesters site contained national
herb collections of which one was thyme.
Below is a record of
thoughts about some of Susie's favourite heritage plants.
Roman herbs were used
in a variety of ways:
dyes / culinary /
spiritual / household
(fig leaves being used
as loo paper)
Marshmallow –
Althaea officinalis
Mallow was an edible
vegetable among the Romans; a dish of marsh mallow was one of their
delicacies! It also has soothing properties and has been used for
lozenges. It was also used in the development of the sweet by the
same name.
Chives
- Allium
schoenoprasum
Susie reminds us that
the flowers themselves have a wonderful strong flavour and are
decorative. Her favourite varieties are Pink Perfection & Black
Isle Blush.
Marjoram
- Origanum
majorana
The Romans used
marjoram in cooking when it's strong aroma could disguise inferior
meats. It was also used for dying.
Ground
Elder / Bishop's Weed - Aegopodium
podagraria
Another Roman
introduction! It is edible and was used to treat gout using an external
wrap. Susie sees merit in this plant as a foil for roses, if you can
contain it!!!
Woodruff
/ Baby's Breath – Galium
odoratum
Woodruff indicates the
presence of ancient woodlands. It contains coumarins which are
present in hay. This gives the sweet smell which persists with
drying. The ruff has been linked to the shape for rose windows in
churches.
Lungworts / Mary's
Tears – Pulmonaria officinalis
The
plant has been cultivated for centuries as a medicinal herb, the
ovate spotted leaves held to be representative of diseased lungs,
following the Doctrine of Signatures. In the Middle Ages, Christian
doctors believed that plants similar to any body part could be used
to treat illnesses in this part since God put his signature in the
plant to guide mankind.
Sweet
Cicely - Myrrhis
odorata
This is a tall (6')
herbaceous plant that is softly hairy and smells strongly of aniseed
when crushed. It was used as a natural sweetner. Beware not to
confuse it with hemlock which is poisonous. (Hemlock has a mousy
smell).
Lady's
Mantle - Alchemilla
mollis et
al
This is an invasive
species but has wonderful foliage & flowers. To control it, cut to ground level before flowers go over. In ten days new leaves
appear.
Water
beads on the leaves collect in the rain. These beads of water were
considered by alchemists to be the purest form of water. They used
this water in their quest to turn base metal into gold, hence the
name Alchemilla.
St.
John's Wort - Hypericum
perforatum
Referred to as
“nature's prozac”; some studies have supported the efficacy of St
John's wort as a treatment for depression in humans, but have not
concluded it as a replacement for more studied treatments and proper
medical consultation.
The
leaves are
yellow-green in colour, with scattered translucent dots of glandular
tissue. The dots are conspicuous when held up to the light, giving
the leaves the 'perforated' appearance to which the plant's Latin
name refers. When flower buds (not the flowers themselves) or seed
pods are crushed, a reddish/purple liquid is produced.
Thyme
The
spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the
Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an
aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs". In the Middle Ages,
the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off
nightmares. In this period, women also often gave knights and
warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, as it was believed to
bring courage to the bearer. Thymes are best cultivated in a hot,
sunny location with well-drained soil. Susie's own experience is
that Thymus
longicaulis can
survive in -18c
Bergamot
/ Scarlet Beebalm - Monarda
didyma
Not
to be confused with Bergamot Oranges used in perfumes and Earl Grey
Tea. Bergamot is a decorative plant. It is also the natural source of
the antiseptic thymol, the primary active ingredient in modern
commercial mouthwash formulas.
Remember
new plant discoveries often come from the wild
e.g. Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing'
This cow parsley was
discovered by Hexham botanist, John Richard.
It bears clusters of tiny, cream-white flowers in
contrast with
lacy, dark purple foliage.
It's
perfect for growing in a large informal border or cottage garden
scheme, and
in meadows among ornamental grasses.
in meadows among ornamental grasses.
e.g.
The Apothecary's Rose - Rosa
gallica officinalis &
Rosa mundi
As
it sometimes happens, Henry II had a mistress named Jane Clifford,
later renamed (according to legend) The Fair Rosamond. Henry's wife
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine got wind of this affair, concocted a
poison to give her husband’s mistress, and disguised the deadly
potion with the oil of the Apothecary’s Rose and R. alba.
After Rosamond’s death, so the legend goes,
a new rose sprouted outside the castle
one of both red and white stripes , called Rosa mundi.
one of both red and white stripes , called Rosa mundi.
About Susie...
Susie
is a freelance garden writer, photographer and author. A lifelong and
passionate gardener, she spent 23 years at Chesters Walled Garden on
Hadrian’s Wall making it a place much loved by visitors. Here she
developed her free flowing planting style, which owes much to herbs,
wildflowers, childhood plants and unusual perennials.
With
her husband David Oakley, she has made a new garden in a hidden
valley in Northumberland. Each step was shared with readers of the
English Garden magazine, in a two year long series on making a garden
from scratch – featured on Gardener's World 2014.
Susie contributes to a
variety of garden and travel magazines. She is the garden columnist
for My Weekly magazine and has been the garden columnist for
the Northumbrian magazine for eleven years.
Written by PMR
Various reference sources used
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