Garden Gossip Oct02

Your own Herb Garden

Sunday, 01 January 2006 00:00 Jean Barnett

Steeped in antiquity, the Herb Garden ranks amongst the most popular gardens of today. The earliest known record of herb gardening dates back to 4000 B.C. to the Kingdom of Sumeria in the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Mesopotamia. Cuneiform records reveal that the Sumerians surrounded their temples with herbs and plants, grown specifically for food and medicinal purposes. They were administered by the priests. They also grew crops of barley, onions, vegetables and large date orchards. The ancient Assyrians and Egyptians extracted oils from almonds, lettuce, olives, radishes, safflower, castor and sesame seeds.

Garden Gossip

Thursday, 14 October 2004 18:00 Jean Barnett

The fragrant WALLFLOWER (Gilliflower), originally found in Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the Himalayas, was naturalized in Britain and became the parent of a wide selection of garden varieties with multi-colored flowers. Poet Robert Herrick ascribed the name Wallflower to the tragic story of a maiden who fell off a wall and died while attempting to escape from prison to marry her lover. He wrote:

Garden Gossip

Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:00 Jean Barnett

The vast compositae family embraces some of the most common and most loved flowers we enjoy today. MARIGOLDS (calendulas), one of the most popular of the compositae family, are also called pot marigold because it is used in various ways in cooking. At one time the dried petals were in demand as a cheap substitute for saffron. Herbalist Gerard tells us that they were used in stews and broths and to impart rich flavor and color to cheese.

Garden Gossip Jan02

Tuesday, 14 January 2003 18:00 Jean Barnett

The ORCHID originated in Greece. Historians tell us that Greek women thought that if the father of their unborn child ate large, new orchid tubers, the baby would be a boy. If the mother ate small new tubers she would give birth to a baby girl.