Benjamin Rush
, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and colonial Philadelphia doctor and civic leader, helped to found The College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1787. During his tenure, he urged College members to maintain a medicinal garden as a natural and cooperative way to replenish their medicine chests.
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In 1937 the Philadelphia section of the American Herb Society designed and planted the garden for the College's 150th anniversary. The current garden is named in honor of Dr. Rush and contains more than fifty different herbs, illustrating their historical and contemporary value in medical therapy.
designed and planted the garden for the College's 150th anniversary. The current garden is named in honor of Dr. Rush and contains more than fifty different herbs, illustrating their historical and contemporary value in medical therapy.  |
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The garden was recently restored with a grant from the Groff Family Memorial Trust. The grant money was used for new signage, brochures and an audio tour of the garden and other improvements.
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The garden on the College of Physicians campus near the Mütter Museum at 19 S. 22nd St. in Philadelphia is maintained by the women’s committee of the college and is open from 10-5 every day except major holidays. Benches in the shade of a magnolia tree offer visitors a pleasant spot to relax.
I visited the garden recently to view the layout and to get an idea of exactly what herbs were considered valuable to health professionals in colonial times. Although it was a cold and blustery day, and most of the herbs were not awake from their winter sleep, there was still plenty of green and beauty in the design of the garden.
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They had a lot of herbs I have not researched yet, along with some I am familiar with. There was a lovely hedging of germander, it was nice to see how it can be used as an evergreen border.
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This spot would easily be my favorite place to spend my lunch break. The garden also contains agrimony, celandine, columbine, lemon balm, bee balm, lamb's ear, rue, jacob's ladder, feverfew, lady's mantle, tansy, pennyroyal, meadow rue, wooly betony, marshmallow, foxglove, lavender, hyssop, wormwood, comfrey, southernwood, valerian, cranesbill, wild ginger, fennel, bugleweed, lovage, spiderwort, and many others.
, celandine, columbine, lemon balm, bee balm, lamb's ear, rue, jacob's ladder, feverfew, lady's mantle, tansy, pennyroyal, meadow rue, wooly betony, marshmallow, foxglove, lavender, hyssop, wormwood, comfrey, southernwood, valerian, cranesbill, wild ginger, fennel, bugleweed, lovage, spiderwort, and many others.
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