• About US & Thistle Dew Books
  • Book Shoppe
  • COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  • Emporium
  • Farm Photos
  • Historic Interpretation
  • List of Articles on TheHistoricFoodie’s Blog
  • Motorcycles are Everywhere, Please Drive Safely©

Thehistoricfoodie's Blog

~ An enjoyable ramble through the world of Historic Foods and Cooking to include Gardening History, Poultry History, Dress, and All Manner of Material Culture.[©]

Thehistoricfoodie's Blog

Tag Archives: cottage garden

“THE OLD POT-HERBS IN THE FLOWER GARDEN”©

07 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by thehistoricfoodie in 17th century food, 18th century food, 19th century food, flowers, gardening, homesteading, Self-sufficiency, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

cottage garden

366px-Illustration_Phaseolus_coccineus0

I envision a combination of beauty and function with regard to my principal flower garden this year as I intend to tuck herbs here and there into corners and bare spots transforming the existing garden into an old fashioned cottage garden.  The herbs will add to the floral fragrance wafting through the night air while they add beauty and grace through their own leaves and flowers, and, I ask you, who could not love stepping into the flower garden for a few pot-herbs to flavor the evening’s dinner?

20663865_10210256290183362_736045856052341194_n

While I have seen it quite clearly in my head through the dreary winter months, I am, after all, Thehistoricfoodie, so is there any historical basis for this co-mingling of flowers and herbs?  Yes!  I’m delighted with my plan and that it mirrors the author’s description in the article below just adds to my gardening giddiness!

I already have seed orders in for most of the flowers and herbs discussed below and intend to transplant some existing herbs.  Having found this article shortly after my second seed order went to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, I see I was remiss in not ordering hyssop.

My seed stash already contains lovage and sorrel, which, due to their size will grace the outer edges of the garden and purslane that will go into its own bed as it self-sows so readily.  Lacinto kale will add color and form to the garden and its leaves will certainly find their way into the soup pot.  Nasturtium is the epitome of beauty and function as its leaves and flowers are beautiful garnishes or salad ingredients and the buds can be pickled like capers.

The plants already at home in the garden include heirloom fragrant roses, daffodils, iris, daylilies, Echinacea, rudbeckia, phlox, verbena, blackberry lily, spider lily, rosemary, hollyhock, Sweet William, snapdragons, hyacinths, etc.  I love the following article because it so beautifully described what I have envisioned my garden will look like after I mix the herbs in with the flowers.

“The Old Pot-Herbs in the Flower Garden.  Some of these pot-herbs are beautiful things, deserving a place in any flower garden.  Sage, for instance, a half shrubby plant with handsome gray leaf and whorled spikes of purple flowers, is a good plant both for winter and summer, for the leaves are persistent and the plant well clothed throughout the year.  Hyssop is another such handsome thing, of the same family, with a quantity of purple bloom in the autumn, when it is a great favourite with the butterflies and bumble bees.  This is one of the plants that were used for an edging in gardens in Tudor days, as we read in Parkinson’s ‘Paradisus,’ where Lavender Cotton, Marjoram, Savoury, and Thyme are also named as among the plants used for the same purpose.  Rue, with its neat bluish green foliage, is also a capital plant for the garden where this colour of leafage is desired.  Fennel, with its finely-divided leaves and handsome yellow flower, is a good border flower, though rarely so used, and blooms in the late autumn.  Lavender and rosemary are both so familiar as flower garden plants that we forget that they can also be used as neat edgings if from the time they are young plants they are kept clipped.  Borage has a handsome blue flower, as good as its relation the larger Anchuss [?].  Tansy, best known in the gardens by the handsome Achilles Eupatorium, was an old inmate of the herb garden.  Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) has beautiful foliage, pale green and Fern-like with a good umbel of white bloom, and is a most desirable plant to group with and among early-blooming flowers.  And we all know what a good garden flower is the common pot Marigold.  From Elgood’s ‘Some English Gardens’.”  – The Garden.  Jan. 7, 1905.

Archives

  • October 2020 (2)
  • August 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (4)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (3)
  • April 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (7)
  • February 2018 (1)
  • December 2017 (3)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • September 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (1)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (2)
  • August 2016 (5)
  • July 2016 (2)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (7)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (8)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • July 2015 (1)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (1)
  • November 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (6)
  • July 2014 (8)
  • June 2014 (8)
  • May 2014 (11)
  • April 2014 (4)
  • March 2014 (5)
  • February 2014 (4)
  • January 2014 (4)
  • December 2013 (3)
  • November 2013 (2)
  • October 2013 (4)
  • September 2013 (8)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (10)
  • June 2013 (2)
  • May 2013 (3)
  • April 2013 (10)
  • March 2013 (4)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • January 2013 (13)
  • December 2012 (13)
  • November 2012 (4)
  • October 2012 (1)
  • August 2012 (3)
  • July 2012 (12)
  • June 2012 (5)
  • May 2012 (5)
  • April 2012 (4)
  • March 2012 (8)
  • February 2012 (1)
  • January 2012 (5)
  • December 2011 (10)
  • November 2011 (2)
  • October 2011 (3)
  • September 2011 (4)
  • August 2011 (7)
  • July 2011 (10)
  • June 2011 (6)
  • May 2011 (1)
  • March 2011 (1)
  • December 2010 (2)
  • November 2010 (2)
  • October 2010 (3)
  • December 2009 (1)
  • June 2009 (13)
  • May 2009 (10)
  • April 2009 (9)
  • March 2009 (1)

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 517 other followers

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy