Apothecary Gardens

Historically, the first cultivated apothecary gardens were grown in the Middle Ages by Benedictine monks who studied plants and their therapeutic uses; they were also called “Healing gardens”.

Throughout these Dark Ages, no decent monastery was without an apothecary garden filled with plants the monks could administer to villagers as either preventatives or remedies for a variety of symptoms. Although medicine itself was thoroughly in the dark ages as well, many of the plants used at the time had true healing properties. Today there has been a resurgence in herbal medicine. Many drugs used by the Western world are, in fact, derived from many simple garden plants once used by medieval apothecaries.

Many medicinal herbs such as lavender, chamomile, and mint are easy to grow in the Pacific Northwest, and planting your own apothecary garden can provide for true medieval charm as well as function.