Organic Gardening Magazine

Your complete guide to gardening - naturally!

Grow your own cures

Anna Parkinson continues her series by looking at the health benefits of garden plants.

Welcome to the second part of this series where I explain how to get the most out of some unusual plants in a modern herb garden.

Last month we talked about some of the major players to give year-round beauty and form to your herb garden. This month I’ll introduce some elegant candidates to fill your beds with. Some are not often seen in our gardens today, and one is very familiar. But I guarantee that you’ll be surprised at their versatility, and the difference they can make, not just to your garden, but to your health.

My inspiration for rediscovering these plants is this country’s first official Royal Herbalist, John Parkinson. He was appointed herbalist to Charles I in 1640 after a long career devoted to the loves of his life; the beauty and properties of plants. He was an apothecary, or pharmacist, who wrote the first book in English about decorative gardens, a handsome volume called the Paradisus Terrestris which was based largely on his own two acres in London’s Covent Garden.

My father maintained that John Parkinson was a direct ancestor, so I’ve known about him all my life, but I didn’t actually read his book until after my father died. When I did, it changed my life.

First, I felt compelled to find out who this man was and why plants were so important to him. Eventually I pieced together his fascinating story, which is told for the first time in my book, Nature’s Alchemist.

Secondly, I realised quite how much our ancestors have to teach us about how to get the best out of plants. We are accustomed to think of ourselves as immeasurably more medically advanced than the doctors of the 17th century. And of course we are. But it is striking how many of the ailments that a good herbalist in those days would use plants to treat are still with us today, untouched by modern medicine.

• For the full story, see this month's issue, available to buy online!

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