Herb Garden
Dr Darwin’s Medicinal Garden & Mrs Darwin’s Culinary Garden
With the opening of the new Herb Garden on 20th May it is important to recognise the work and people involved. The garden has a lot of history and what follows is a report on how the new garden interpretation was achieved.
oOo
Our Garden at Erasmus Darwin House has been a joy to wander through or sit in on a summer day for many years thanks to the unceasing commitment and botanical knowledge of John Tilt with occasional assistance from a handful of other volunteers.
It was in 2007 that I visited Kew Palace Garden. I couldn’t help but be impressed by the Physic Garden where, in addition to plants in fine condition, were interesting labels such as – Anemone nemorosa wind flower “Used to eate out the corns in the feete” or Male fern Dryopteris felix-mas “The roots being drunk in mede driveth forth long flat worms from the body”. Many of these were extracts from Culpeper’s Herbal of mid C.16th.
It struck me that whilst we could not accommodate labels giving all that information at EDH we could improve our plant labelling. This suggestion was put to the Executive Committee and I was asked to come up with some plans for the Garden with fellow committee members Jenny Arthur, Alison Wallis and Tony Barnard. The education departments at Chelsea Physic Garden, the RHS and Birmingham Botanical Gardens were contacted for help on garden interpretation. It was Simon Gulliver of BBG who suggested that making contact with Kate measures of Botanic Gardens Education Network might be very useful.
Kate Measures’ infectious enthusiasm and expertise encouraged our sub committee tremendously. At a brainstorming meeting in June 2009 chaired by Kate she helped us to crystallise our ideas. We wanted to lead people from the Garden into the House and to help them discover the many talents of the amazing Dr Erasmus Darwin. The brainstorm also helped allay fears of local residents that we were about to dig up the whole garden and start again.
It was decided that we would provide some new literature for both adults and young people and improve the plant labelling together with signage generally. Initially our booklet would feature just 12 culinary and 12 medicinal herbs although a number have both uses. The gardens would more formally become Mrs. Darwin’s culinary herb garden and Dr Drawin’s medicinal herb garden.
In January 2010 Jon Ensell, a lecturer at Rodbaston Agricultural College was visiting the house and met Jenny who soon had him on board! In March we had two very useful visits by groups of his students to help with some heavy work. Earlier this year Jon changed job to work in the Prison Service at Brinsford near Wolverhampton. We now have a mutually beneficial arrangement whereby the prisoners using their heated greenhouse for propagation are providing batches of plants for display in the garden, plants for educational use by school parties and plants for sale. (They can also recycle plastic pots!) We hear that the prisoners are keen to replicate our garden within the prison and to have an illustrated talk from JA and CL.
It was following a conversation with the local representative of the National Garden Scheme (we now advertise in their West Midlands brochure.) that Brother labelling machines came to our attention. Now nearly 100 plants in the gardens bear a clear label plus the Darwin logo. These should be durable but are cheap enough to replace if damaged or pinched.
New signage leads people through the gardens. A new ‘A’ board in the walkway advises people of the availability of our new information leaflet. It also bears a gusset which contains a Plant of the Month laminated A4 size information sheet.
Although not a hugely expensive project, there are significant costs eg. the new booklet printing, the labeller, and new signage. At the suggestion of Founder Council Member Dr. Dennis Gibbs, Tony put together an application to The Getty Foundation which was successful to the tune of £3.5k. With some input from our funds the costs of the Garden improvements will be covered.
As I re read this article it is evident how fortunate we have been in coming to know the right people. The success of this project is very much a result of these sometimes chance meetings. We are still very grateful to them.
Sourcing and editing the text for our new booklet has been an interesting exercise and the final proof reading a phenomenally protracted business. For the text we should be especially grateful to Jenny Arthur and her extensive library. If you would like a copy of this new booklet (£2.50) please contact Alison Wallis at EDH. It is now our intention to produce a leaflet for use by young people accompanied by a parent/grand-parent. We would also hope to provide more information about the other 60 or so plants in our garden but will await the comments on our first effort.
Just as the House had its ten year makeover in 2009 the Gardens are not exactly made over but now present, with the help of the new booklet, a more academic front for those who enjoy that approach whilst not losing any of their charm for others who just wish to wander through and muse.
We would like to formally thank:
Chris Lockwood for chairing this project
Jenny Arthur for her contributions to the booklet
Tony Barnard for his editing skills
John Till and Michael Fox for their outstanding gardening skills
Tom Hobbs for helping with the erection of the new fencing
And…
Ishbel Curr, Kate Measures, Simon Gulliver, Jon Ensell, Julian Lines & Chris Machell
Useful links -
oOo
Plant of the Month - Snowdrop
Galanthus nivalis Family: Amaryllidaceae
Galanthus (Snowdrop; Greek gála “milk”, ánthos “flower”) is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous herbaceous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. Most flower in winter, before the vernal equinox (21 March in the Northern Hemisphere), but certain species flower in early spring and late autumn.
Distribution: Galanthus nivalis is the best-known and most widespread representative of the genus Galanthus. It is native to a large area of Europe, stretching from the Pyrenees in the west, through France and Germany to Poland in the north, Italy, Northern Greece, Ukraine, and European Turkey. It has been introduced and is widely naturalised elsewhere. Although it is often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it was probably introduced around the early sixteenth century and is currently not a protected species in the UK.
Snowdrops are sometimes confused with their relatives, snowflakes, which are Leucojum and Acis species
Conservation Some snowdrop species are threatened in their wild habitats, and in most countries it is now illegal to collect bulbs from the wild. Under CITES* regulations, international trade in any quantity of Galanthus, whether bulbs, live plants or even dead ones, is illegal without a CITES permit. This applies to hybrids and named cultivars as well as species. CITES does, however, allow a limited trade in wild-collected bulbs of just three species (G. nivalis, G, elwesii and G. woronowii) from Turkey and Georgia.
Description All species of Galanthus are perennial, herbaceous plants which grow from bulbs. Each bulb generally produces just two or three linear leaves and an erect, leafless scape (flowering stalk), which bears at the top a pair of bract-like spathe valves joined by a papery membrane. From between them emerges a solitary, pendulous, bell-shaped white flower, held on a slender pedicel. The flower has no petals: it consists of six tepals, the outer three being larger and more convex than the inner series. The six anthers open by pores or short slits. The ovary is three-celled, ripening into a three-celled capsule. Each whitish seed has a small, fleshy tail (elaiosome) containing substances attractive to ants which distribute the seeds.
Uses An active substance in snowdrop is called Galantamine, which can be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, though it is not a cure; the substance also occurs naturally in daffodils and other narcissi.
Ref Wikipedia