Visiting Medicinal Herb Gardens!

Yes, you should visit Herb Gardens, there are actually a lot around the USA, just look online for one in your area.  Its a great way for you to get to know and recognize the herbs in person.  Yeah, its still the middle of winter, but now is a good time to search the web and find out where it is, then plan a visit for the spring or early summer.  I will make such visits a part of this journal, with photos and personal observations.

I learned from one quick search that there are tons of medicinal herb gardens around my area.


College of Physicians Medicinal Herb Garden

I live in Philadelpiha, Pennsylvania, and I already know of two herb gardens in this city.  The first is located downtown and belongs to the College of Physicians, I visited it ages ago and have learned from its web site that it was recently renovated. That's great, and if you live in or near Philly, come down and see this little garden some time, its free and open to the public.  It's not large and should not take you longer than five minutes to look at the whole thing, or 30 mins to actually study the plants.

Morris  Arboretum  Herb  Garden

The other herb garden is located in the Morris Arboretum in the Chestnut Hill section of the city.  I'm kicking myself right now.  I used to be able to get in this place for free as a perk from my previous employer. But like a dummy I never took advantage of it.  Oh well.  Regardless,  I've decided to spend the money and join the Morris Arboretum since I plan on visiting it a lot this year, and they have some great classes coming up, too.

Not far from Philly is The Fragrant Garden at the Tyler Arboretum, in Lima, PA.  It was originally designed for the visually handicapped and was one of the very first gardens in this country to be designed primarily for the blind.   In selecting herbs for the garden, emphasis was placed on the fragrance of each plant in foliage and the blossoms. Since herbs provide such interesting shades of grays and greens, and such varieties of leaf shapes and textures, it is was easy to provide a garden with such lovely herbs.

The 18th-Century Medicinal Herb Garden at Historic Yellow Springs in Chester Springs, PA is also not too far from Philly and on my list to visit this spring.  The garden was researched, designed and planted by the Philadelphia unit of the Herb Society of America, and was dedicated in 1987 on the site of the first Colonial Army Hospital funded by the Continental Congress in the colonies in 1777.