Herbs for a Shakespeare Garden

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.

"Here's flowers for you:

Hot lavender, mints, savory and marjoram"

- The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 4

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

 

Elizabethan Nosegays

Nonsuch Palace by Joris Hoefnagel

A garden “shall contain the herbs and flowers used to make nosegays and garlands.”

The Country Farme, 1600

Nosegays or Tussie-Mussies are small bouquets of flowers and herbs that were attached to lady's bodices and to gentleman’s doublet or mantle. The term nosegay is derived from the Middle English gay, meaning bright object or ornament or gay in the sense of happiness or joy, literally meaning an ornament that brings joy to the nose. The word Tussie Mussie or tusemose is first mentioned in 1440 and is derived from the word tuse meaning knot of flowers and mose referring to the damp moss that was wrapped around the stems to prevent the flowers from drying out. (Tussie-Mussies: The Language of Flowers, Geraldine Adamich Laufer)

How To Plant A Shakespeare Garden

Anne Hathaway's Cottage Garden by Richard Peat CC BY-SA 2

In his collected works Shakespeare refers to over two hundred species of plants, with twenty-nine scenes taking place in gardens or in orchards. Shakespeare’s references to flowers and plants not only gave his plays a sense of place, like the Arden forest in As You Like It, the fairy forest of A Midsummer Night’s Dream or the rugged Scottish landscape of Macbeth. They also served as extended metaphors for human emotions and the human condition.

To honour the talents of the Bard why not create a Shakespeare inspired garden. Here are a few ideas on the how to do so.