Herb garden

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Herb garden is a garden or part of a garden that has been specially created for kitchen herbs , aromatic herbs or medicinal herbs . Even the term herb is unspecific and defies an exact definition. It does not coincide with the botanical definition of herbaceous plants . Most herb garden plants are perennials or dwarf trees, they often, but not necessarily, come from the Mediterranean region and are often fragrant. But annual plants such as dill , borage and savory are also called herbs.

Since the quantities required were small, most of the aromatic, medicinal and aromatic plants were grown in gardens, not fields. However, there are exceptions, such as saffron .

history

Paradise garden , around 1410, depicting numerous herbs and rose plants

It is just as difficult to give information about the age of this type of garden. Frequently made claims such as "[...] some of the oldest gardens were herb gardens" hardly ever substantiated. Many of today's culinary herbs are archaeophytes , but they can also have been unintentionally introduced with other seeds since the Neolithic .

A list of species has been preserved for the herb garden of the Babylonian king Marduk-apla-iddina II (ruled 721–710 and 703 BC): Most of the plant names cannot be translated, but the garden contained dill, coriander, leek, onions, Garlic, cress, onions, shallots , purslane, beetroot (?), Mint (?), Oregano, thyme, rocket , rue (?), Beets, cucumber, fennel, Greek hay and a tamarisk , i.e. a mixture of vegetable and aromatic plants.

Since the Iron Age, and increasingly the Roman Age, herbs have been imported for culinary purposes in Central and Western Europe. Some of these were also grown locally. At Longeuil-Sainte-Marie , France, a large enclosure was excavated that was divided into small beds that may have served as garden beds. A burnt pumpkin remnant indicates the plants grown. Savory, dill, fennel, coriander, marjoram and celery were also grown after the Roman troops withdrew.

Many medieval monastery gardens were mainly herb gardens; the border to the pharmacy garden is fluid. The garden laid out by Abbot Benedict von Aniane after Charlemagne's Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii also contains mainly herbs. The Liber de cultura hortorum by Walahfrid Strabo in 444 hexameters is another important source on the structure of medieval herb gardens. The St. Gallen monastery plan from the early 9th century also includes a herb garden. Abandoned herb gardens can sometimes be identified by relic plants , as the example of the Kells Priory in the Irish county of Kilkenny shows. However, herbs could also be grown for symbolic or sentimental reasons, as shown in Thomas More's garden in London. Rosemary symbolized memory and friendship here.

The songbook by Clara Hätzlerin describes a herb garden in detail in the poem Von dem Mayenkrantz from around 1471 .

In modern gardens, herbs are often planted primarily for their scent. Plants such as chives or fennel are used purely as ornamental plants. In his Daily Telegraph garden at the Chelsea Flower Show 2011, Cleve West also used blooming parsley as a decorative element, which is now being imitated in Dixter, for example. At the moment, herb gardens are often created for ornamental purposes in the form of a herb spiral . Herbal gardens as part of ornamental gardens became fashionable in the early 1980s. The Hollington Nursery exhibited a herb garden at the Chelsea Flower Show and won a silver medal, followed by gold medals. Color varieties of traditional herbs are now grown for ornamental purposes, especially sage and thyme, but also white-flowered borage and chives. Flamed melissa and meadowsweet and red garden melissa (Atriplex hortensis var. Rubra) are also popular.

Historic and reconstructed historic herb gardens

Herb gardens are often part of botanical gardens . Original herb gardens from the Middle Ages or early modern times have not been preserved. However, there are a number of gardens which attempt to recreate historical herb gardens (or plans for the same) or to showcase plants that were known or in use at a particular time.

Germany

Switzerland

  • Gessner Garden in the Old Botanical Garden Zurich

Great Britain

New plants

See also

literature

  • Hans-Dieter Stoffieri: The Hortulus of Walahfrid Strabo: from the herb garden of the Reichenau monastery (with a contribution by Theodor Fehrenbach). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1978.
  • Corrie Bakels, Stefanie Jacomet (2003): Access to Luxury Foods in Central Europe during the Roman Period: The archaeobotanical Evidence. World Archeology 34/3 (Luxury Foods), 542-557. JSTOR 3560203

Web links

Commons : Herb Gardens  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Wiktionary: herb garden  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marijke van der Veen: Gardens and fields: the intensity and scale of food production. In: World Archeology. Volume 37, 2005, No. 2, pp. 157-163.
  2. ^ Richard Bird: The Kitchen Garden Book. Hermes House, London 1999, p. 211.
  3. ↑ http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3066115&partId=1&searchText=Merodach-Baladan+II&view=list&page=1
  4. ↑ Tom Stobart : Spice Lexicon . Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1990, ISBN 3473432512 .
  5. ^ Corrie Bakels, Stefanie Jacomet (2003): Access to Luxury Foods in Central Europe during the Roman Period: The archaeobotanical Evidence. World Archeology 34/3 (Luxury Foods), 552. JSTOR 3560203
  6. ^ Corrie Bakels, Stefanie Jacomet (2003): Access to Luxury Foods in Central Europe during the Roman Period: The archaeobotanical Evidence. World Archeology 34/3 (Luxury Foods), 554. JSTOR 3560203
  7. ^ Corrie Bakels, Stefanie Jacomet (2003): Access to Luxury Foods in Central Europe during the Roman Period: The archaeobotanical Evidence. World Archeology 34/3 (Luxury Foods), p. 555. JSTOR 3560203
  8. ↑ Claudia Richter: herb garden (of the monasteries). In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 787.
  9. ↑ Ingelise Stuijts (2000): A Prior's Herb Garden. In: Archeology Ireland 14/3, pp. 12-14. JSTOR 20558925
  10. ^ Mavis Batey (1987): Basing House Tudor Garden , Garden History 15/2, p. 96. JSTOR 1586948
  11. ^ Carl Haltaus (ed.): From the song book of Clara Hätzlerin (ad manuscripts of the Bohemian Museum in Prague). Quedlinburg / Leipzig 1840, p. 234.
  12. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenstovisit/10130928/Great-Dixter-opens-the-garden-gate-to-wildflowers.html
  13. ↑ Simon and Judith Hopkinson: The Herb Garden. In: Celia Haddon: Book of Designer Gardens. Jarrold, Norwich 1989 (photos by Roy Botterell), pp. 128-137.
  14. ↑ Simon and Judith Hopkinson: The Herb Garden. In: Celia Haddon: Book of Designer Gardens. Jarrold, Norwich 1989 (photos by Roy Botterell), p. 130.
  15. ^ The small herb garden of Charlemagne in Aachen in the Forum Classicum
  16. ↑ Hans-Dieter Stoffler, review of: Klaus-Dietrich Fischer, The Hortulus des Walahfrid Strabo, from the herb garden of the Reichenau monastery; with a contribution by Theodor Fehrenbach. Sudhoffs Archiv 66/2, 1982, p. 207.