Chelsea Physic Garden at the 350th Anniversary

More than 350 years ago a 4-acre walled garden was established on the north bank of the Thames river by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. The garden was used for the production of medicinal herbs by the members of the apothecary guild. Prior to the guild, the walled garden had been in private hands - which at one time included Sir Thomas More, who eventually lost his head for his opposition to Henry VIII.

Three hundred years later the garden was finally opened to the public in 1987. In 2023 I had the privilege of visiting the garden shortly after the Victorian-era, teak-framed glass houses had been restored to like-new condition. Many of the plants were past-peak in September, but some color remained here and there.

Senna corymbosa, long used as a laxitive

St. John's wort, used to treat infections and inflammation

Wide-angle view of offices to the far left, and glass houses on the right. Chelsea mansions stand in the distance.

Plumbing and window crank detail in a glass house of desert plants

Begonia growing around an iron window crank

Benches with attractive wrought iron supports

Many of the plants are growing directly in the ground.

Clever informal trellis supporting a jasmine plant (Jasminum sambac)

Botanist Joseph Banks, who sailed with Captain Cook - the shell in the background is from one of Cook's voyages to Australia.

For a more about the history of the Chelsea Physic garden here is a link to a lecture by the director of education Michael Holland:

Comments

Thrip control: peppermint and clove

Here's a question: how many natural plant scents do you find repellent? The one that comes to the top of my mind is the scent of the newly blossomed corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum . It smells very much like the name implies. If I could produce a scratch-and-sniff blog post, I would be tempted. The odor is horrible to humans, but sweet to some flying insects which are also attracted to rotting flesh. But perhaps you cannot tolerate the scent of clove, or eucalyptus? Insect pests are like us in this respect. Pests in the garden and greenhouse Insects, arachnids, fungi, and viruses. Their numbers are legion. The battle is constant. The most effective weapon is vigilance. In addition to vigilance, there are biological controls made from natural compounds which are generally non-toxic to humans. Included in this category are essential oils. For example cinnamon, rosemary, sage, neem, clove, peppermint and many others. These oils are repellent, and even toxic, to many of the pests...

Remembering my former city garden

This post is more of a journal entry than a public blog post. It is interesting to me, but won't be too interesting to almost any other reader - except perhaps my partner who was there as a co-conspirator. I want to document my thoughts about the past, my backyard garden, and what we put in it. The size of our city lot was not large. At 100 x 50 ft, there was just enough room for the house, a small garage, and back yard. The driveway was shared with our neighbor. The style of the house was standard American Foursquare, built in 1903. We bought the place in the early 1990's and slowly, over the next 25 years, renovated almost every inch the house and garden. A dry stone wall was built, with terrace bed to break up the height of the wall Caladiums and dragon-wing begonias line the steps of the front porch Well-earned sit-down on the front porch after a busy day Front wall terrace with blue phlox, hostas, astilbe, snap dragons, and coral bells. Front wall terrace, brunnera "J...

Another routine spectacular day in the greenhouse

It has been a sincere pleasure for me to volunteer a few hours a week at the University of Minnesota Botanical Conservatory. After many visits over the last few years, exactly none of those days have felt ordinary or repetitive. If there is a routine , it is that the botanic diversity of the collection - with over 3000 species - is displayed in a spectacular way each day. The Conservatory is located on the St. Paul campus, and is free of charge and open to the public during typical weekday hours. For instance, today most of my allotted time was spent in just one of eight rooms, the room that houses the tropical collection. The chores included pruning, re-potting, spraying, sweeping, etc. As I moved through the room, in every direction, there seemed to be a stunning plant pleading to be admired. After the chores were complete, I had the opportunity to go back and photograph some of the beauties that surrounded me while working. Dendrobium tangerinum , Papua New Guinea Dendr...

City Gardener

Search This Blog