We have selected 108 plants with healing properties for our herb garden. We intend to photograph the plants and post information about their uses on the website. This garden is intended more as a display garden, but we will use certain herbs planted in the garden in the production of herbal teas. Herbs we need larger quantities of will be planted in rows separately in our vegetable garden. We have selected several types of plants for this space. 1) Western medicinal herbs 2) Indian Ayurvedic herbs 3) Native Virginian herbs 4) herbs popular in colonial times. We had thoughts of planting separate beds for different types of herbs but have settled on organizing herbs by flower color instead. Many tropical Ayurvedic herbs can only be grown here as annuals and so that bed would have become completely empty in the winter season. Grouping the herbs according to color allows us to group annuals, herbaceous perennials, and evergreen herbs together so that there is often something blooming and always something growing in each bed. The diagram below shows the layout. There are 7 beds in total. Two containing pink flowering herbs, one for white flowers, one for red, one for blue and one for purple. The photo may be enlarged by clicking to see in greater detail.
Specific Plants
Each of the seven beds will be surrounded by a hedge of herbs. The entire garden will be surrounded by a hedge of boxwoods. Special Ayurvedic herbs will include ashwagandha and bala which can both be grown as annuals and which both have roots which strengthen all tissues in the body. Native herbs include cancer weed (lyre-leaf sage) and cranesbill geranium both of which we dug up from the lawn and have diuretic properties. European herbs include sage and rosemary which are both good for the mind, in the mint family and also used in cooking. Special colonial period herbs include Clary Sage and Rose campion, both of which have been used to treat bites from scorpions and spiders. With 108 varieties of herb and several hundred individual plants, this garden is a massive undertaking to plan and plant. We are starting most of our herbs from seed as seeds are very cheap and pants are very expensive. Seeking sources for the many rare herbs has been a challenge, but we have secured sources for most.
Each of the seven beds will be surrounded by a hedge of herbs. The entire garden will be surrounded by a hedge of boxwoods. Special Ayurvedic herbs will include ashwagandha and bala which can both be grown as annuals and which both have roots which strengthen all tissues in the body. Native herbs include cancer weed (lyre-leaf sage) and cranesbill geranium both of which we dug up from the lawn and have diuretic properties. European herbs include sage and rosemary which are both good for the mind, in the mint family and also used in cooking. Special colonial period herbs include Clary Sage and Rose campion, both of which have been used to treat bites from scorpions and spiders. With 108 varieties of herb and several hundred individual plants, this garden is a massive undertaking to plan and plant. We are starting most of our herbs from seed as seeds are very cheap and pants are very expensive. Seeking sources for the many rare herbs has been a challenge, but we have secured sources for most.
 the garden hardscaping |  our first group of seeds |
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