Medicinal plant gardens are a delightful way to immerse yourself in nature, and get to know natures medicine for yourself. Here we list our favourite gardens around the UK for you to visit.
Introduction
We have always lived in close connection with the greatest healing garden of all – Nature. The forests, savannahs, mountains and meadows have long been the source of our healing medicines. Ethnobotanists now think around 30,000 of the 300,000 or so flowering plants have documented nutritional and therapeutic uses. Our ancestors knew Nature. As we started to cultivate food and gathered in cities, we needed to find a way to bring these traditionally wild healing plants to the burgeoning concentrations of people. And with this early trade there naturally arose a need to better understand and be able to identify the correct species, how to select the best quality, and in time how to scientifically assess the efficacy of the plants.
Early on in our agricultural adventure, we probably would have harvested those opportunistic medicinal plants that occurred naturally in the freshly turned land. Over time we established small herbal plots at the edges of our culinary fields. We have been taking herbs from the wild, cultivating them and trading them since time began.
Some of the earliest knowledge we have of cultivating therapeutic plants is from Mesopotamia and the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon where over 64 types of plants were grown from the milder fennel and roses to the powerful opium poppy. Also the Egyptians established herb gardens near their temples with frankincense, myrrh, mandrake and chamomile all featuring for the potent ability to heal wounds and soothe pain. Across China, India, the Americas, Arabia – in fact the whole world – our knowledge of how to identify and grow medicinal plants flourished until today about 500 species are grown commercially.
From around the Middle Ages dedicated Healing Gardens started to spring up in Europe; known first as the Garden of Simples (a ‘simple’ being a medicine made from one plant) and later, as interest in the global breadth of botanical diversity flourished, Botanical Gardens. The Botanical Gardens of today are really the legacy of these early Physic Gardens that were started in monasteries. The priests and monks, in line with their commitments to serve the poor and sick as well as care for their own community, appear as early centres of medicinal plant collections. Prior to them, we had largely been dependent on the knowledge of local wild harvesters – and for many species we still are today (of around 3000 species commonly in trade, some 75% come from the wild, amounting to a fifth of all volume).
Healing and Botanical Gardens hold a special connection with the local healers, plant collectors and sum total of the human knowledge we have gathered about our plant world. From Padua and Pisa in Italy, Jardin des Plantes in Paris, Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam, The Linnaeus Garden in Sweden, Nanjing in China and beyond through the main cultural centres of the world, the Healing Garden thrive as centres of academic, artistic and spiritual upliftment.
Here in the UK, there are a host of fantastic botanical gardens and these are some of our favourites with a heritage in herbal medicine.
The Chelsea Physic Garden, London
The Chelsea Physic Garden is the perfect representation of a Healing Garden. Smack bang in the middle of London, it’s the city’s oldest botanic garden. It was established by The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London in 1673, as an educational garden to train the apprentices in identification, cultivation, harvesting and making medicine. Its favourable climate by the Thames river and wind-dissipating walls keep the environment perfect for growing over 4000 edible and medicinal species from ashwagandha to zanthozylum.
There are different themed areas within the garden, offering a ‘Historical walk’, ‘Edible plants’, ‘Medicinal plant s’ areas – including beds dedicated to Dioscorides (the Greek herbalist), an Officinalis bed of recognised medicinal species, traditional medicinal species of the British Isles. A must visit.
Dilston Physic Garden, Dilston Mill House, near Corbridge, Northumberland
This is a gem of a garden tucked into the side of the Northumbrian shire. Established in 2007, inspired and run by two neuroscientists focusing research on how plants can improve memory, focus and attention. Brimming with over 700 species of well-signed herbs, attractively laid out and filled with quirky corners. They also serve a delicious cup of herbal tea. Well worth the detour.
Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden, University of Bristol Botanic Garden
The inspiration of the Register of Chinese Medicine Chinese and the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, this is one of the best places in the world to immerse yourself in diversity of Chinese herbs. Tucked into a corner of this fascinating garden you are transported to the healing potential of one of the longest medical traditions in the world. With over 180 species used in Chinese Herbal medicine it is the largest collection in Europe where you can meet such favourites as the medicinal paeonias, polygonums and panax. The Botanical gardens themselves are a delight of phlyogenic classification beds, a western herb garden – and even an Evolutionary garden. The tropical glass houses host a range of Ayurvedic herbs including ginger and turmeric too amongst the remarkable lotus house. Bristol Botanical Gardens are a veritable herbal feast.
Oxford University Botanical Garden
Recently celebrating its 400th Birthday, Oxford University established its own medicinal garden in 1621, making it the oldest Botanical Garden in the UK. Laid out in a formal design its brimming with taxonomic beds, a medicinal collection and glasshouses with various temperate zones. A long-standing centre of medicinal knowledge, botanical insight and art. A place to soak up some serious knowledge.
Mount Grace Priory, North Yorkshire
English Heritage has recreated the herb garden at Mount Grace priory established in 1397. Worth a visit to see what a monk’s life would have been like and their connection with growing medicinal herbs such as wood betony, clary sage and hyssop.
Poyntzfield Herb Nursery, Scotland
Nestled between the Scottish Highlands and the sea in the Black isle, sits this picture perfect herb nursery. Lovingly created since the late 1970s the nursery has a huge range of native, naturalised and international medicinal herbs.
The Queen’s Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
A true classic of Botanical gardens. Established in 1759 it is entwined with early plant-hunting and the evolving science of Botany. With over 50,000 plants and 3 million herbarium samples, Kew is a definitive destination for all plant-lovers. A leading global centre of plant expertise, scientific enquiry and artistic inspiration – you need a whole day to explore the varied arboretums, beds and glass houses.
The Secret Herb Garden, Scotland
Just a few miles south of Edinburgh at the Secret Herb Garden, this serene garden holds a bounty of treats. With over 600 different species, including over 50 types of mint, you will be sure to find many of the most important medicinal herbs. It’s a place to soak up both the beauty and the practical side of the plant world.
Whilst these Healing Gardens developed to grow medicinal herbal species, they are also a good example of how just being in Nature, even in its most managed and curated human-form, can lift your mood, calm your nervous system, and bring a moment of joy to your life.
If you have any favourite herb gardens do let us know at info@herbalreality.com. We’d love to visit them and share with our community too.
