Here is a list of herbs to include in a Shakespeare garden. Not only are they beautiful and fragrant they are also very useful, practical plants to grow. Add them to stews, soups and salads, or use them as the Elizabethan's did and make your own Strewings, Nosegays and beauty salves. You could even create your own Shakespeare fragrance or perfume.
Herbs for a Shakespeare garden include: Lavender, Mint, Savory, Marjoram, Marigold, Wild Thyme, Chamomile, Parsley, Rosemary and Fennel.
Herbs for a Shakespeare garden include: Lavender, Mint, Savory, Marjoram, Marigold, Wild Thyme, Chamomile, Parsley, Rosemary and Fennel.
"Here's flowers for you:
Hot lavender, mints, savory and marjoram"
- The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 4
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
Lavender’s botanical name is derived from the Latin lavo or lavare, meaning "to wash". Since ancient times it has been used in soaps and toiletries, noted for its refreshing scent and cleansing and anti-bacterial properties. The Elizabethans used to place the dried flowers among their linen and on warm, sunny days ladies would spread their undergarments on lavender bushes to dry them and absorb the sweet fragrance. The distilled essence was used to relieve headaches and nervous tension and pots of the herb were placed on balconies and windowsills to perfume the air.
Lavender was also added to nosegays, a poem from 1584 entitled A Nosegay Always Sweet for Lovers to Send for Tokens of Love, had this verse:
“Lavender is for lovers true,
Whichever more be saine,
Desiring always for to have,
Some pleasure for their pain.”
Type: Perennial EvergreenWhichever more be saine,
Desiring always for to have,
Some pleasure for their pain.”
In folklore Lavender was the herb of love. To give or receive Lavender was symbolic of devotion and placing Lavender flowers within the bed sheets was thought to inspire conjugal passion. If a young lady wished to identify her true love, on St Luke's day she would sip Lavender tea and recite
"Saint Luke, Saint Luke, be kind to me,
In my dreams let me my true love see."
Height: Up to 20 inches
When to Plant: April and May
Flowers: June and July
Mints (Mentha)
Armando:
I am that flower
Dumain:
That Mint
Longaville:
That Columbine
- Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2
There were many varieties of Mint available to the Elizabethans including Spearmint (Mentha spicata), Water Mint (Mentha aquatic), Garden Mint (Mentha sachalinensis), Horsemint (Mentha longifolia)
and others known as White Mint and Red Mint. Mints were used in
cooking, in toiletries and as medicinal aids to refresh the mind and
strengthen the memory. Their flowers come in shades of white and purple.
Type: Perennial
Height: 1 to 4 feet
Flowers: Summer
Savory (Satureja montana) and (Satureja hortensis)
Savory was introduced into Britain by the Romans, in Anglo Saxon recipes it is referred to as Savorie. It was primarily used as a culinary herb and was added to sauces, meat stuffings and puddings.
Type: Annual and Perennial
Height: 6 to 16 inches
When to Plant: Spring
Flowers: Summer
Marjoram (Origanum Marjorana)
LEAR:
Give the word.
EDGAR:
Sweet Marjoram
LEAR:
Pass.
- King Lear, Act IV, Scene 6
“Indeed, sir, she was the sweet Marjoram of the Salad,”
- All's Well that Ends Well, Act IV, Scene 5
“The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol'n thy hair”
- Sonnet 99
Marjoram is related to the Oregano and was used as a food seasoning and a
strewing herb, it was also added to nosegays and washing waters. In
ancient times it formed part of the garlands of newly married couples,
as a symbol of honour, love and happiness.
Type: Annual and Perennial
Height: 12 to 18 inches
When to Plant: Spring, once there is no longer threat of frost
Flowers: Summer
Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
“The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ th’ sun
And with him rises weeping”
- The Winter’s Tale, Act IV, Scene 4
“The purple violets, and marigolds,
Shall as a carpet, hang upon thy grave
While summers days do last”
- Pericles, Act IV, Scene 1
“And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:”
- Cymbeline, Act II, Scene 3
The Marigold has always been a favourite of poets; Chaucer refers to them as “yellow goldes”.
Their symbolic value comes from the fact that they are almost always in
bloom and that they follow the course of the sun, opening and closing
their petals at the beginning and end of each day. The “weeping” mentioned in The Winter’s Tale
no doubt refers to the dew that would appear on the flower in the early
morning. It is for these reasons that the Marigold became an emblem of
constancy and affection. However, in Tudor England it also had another
meaning, sometimes it was said to represent a fawning courtier, who
would only be loyal when everything was bright and looked favourable.
The Marigold was both a decorative plant and an edible herb, it was
added to salads, broths, soups and pottage, hence its common name of Pot
Marigold.
Type: Annual
Height: 12 to 30 inches
When to Plant: Spring, in warm soil
Flowers: Spring to autumn, it can also flower in winter if it is kept away from frost.
Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum)
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows.”
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene 1
Wild Thyme has a strong aromatic scent and beautiful pink and purple
flowers. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) said that if your garden had alleys
then they should be planted with fragrant flowers like “burnet, wild thyme and watermints”, that when “being trodden upon and crushed”“perfume the air most delightfully” The Romans used Wild Thyme as a remedy for melancholy and nervous tension. Wild Thyme differs from common garden Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) which is smaller and less fragrant.
Type: Perennial Evergreen
Height: Up to 8 inches
When to Plant: Spring, try to avoid the frost
Flowers: Summer
Chamomile/Camomile (Anthemis nobilis) or (Chamaemelum nobile)
"For though the camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears."
- Henry IV, Part 1, Act II, Scene 4
Chamomile or Camomile derives its name from the Greek Chamaimelon, meaning earth apple, because its flowers were said to have the smell of apple. It was very popular in Elizabethan gardens favoured for its medicinal qualities and its scent. In A New Orchard and Garden (1648) William Lawson wrote "Large walks, broad and long, close and open, like the Tempe groves in Thessaly, raised with gravel and sand, having seats and banks of Camomile; all this delights the mind, and brings health to the body." In the quote by Falstaff in Henry IV Shakespeare appears to be mimicking John Lyly's Euphues, or the Anatomie of Wit (1523), a fashionable book of the period in which he writes "the camomile, the more it is trodden and pressed down, the more it spreadeth."
Type: Perennial
Height: Up to 12 inches
When to Plant: Early spring
When to Plant: Early spring
Flowers: Summer
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
"I knew a wench married in an afternoon as she went to the
garden for Parsley to stuff a rabbit."
- The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene 4
Garden Parsley is not indigenous to Britain, according to the eighteenth century botanist Carl Linnaeus it was first brought to England from Sardinia in 1548. It was used as both a culinary and a medicinal herb. The Elizabethan herbalist John Gerard (c. 1546 - 1612) said "It is delightful to the taste and agreeable to the
stomache,' also 'the roots or seeds boiled in ale and drank, cast foorth
strong venome or poyson; but the seed is the strongest part of the
herbe."
Type: Biennial
Height: 12 - 18 inches
When to Plant: Spring
Other Herbs to include are Rosemary and Fennel.
Recommended Reading
A beautifully illustrated book with many different designs and ideas, including a chapter on a Shakespeare Herb Garden. It also includes a comprehensive list of herbs, their hardiness zones and their sun and moisture needs.
Available at amazon.co.uk and amazon.com
Available at amazon.co.uk and amazon.com