Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The connection between religious order and herb garden is an ancient and honorable one. When the Romans came to Britain they introduced around 40 herbs; pot herbs, sweet herbs, salad herbs and their important medicinal plants. They also introduced the system of cultivating plants in enclosed gardens and the idea of a vegetable medicine garden. When they left, only the hardiest herbs survived were reintroduced during the Anglo – Saxon invasion. Credit goes to the monks for restoring and maintaining the gardens of England and the herbs they contained through several bleak and troublesome centuries. They grew healing herbs in the physic garden and provided an area to sit and convalesce in the cloister garden. And in the Paradise gardens were the herbs and flowers for the altar to glorify God. A monastery garden could include the widest range of herbs. It would also be the perfect place for a central, stone water fountain, a vine-covered walkway, a bee hive and the statue of a beloved saint.
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