Gothic Gardening: Theme Gardens

The Witches' Garden

Of course, we all know witches don't exist. Neither do vampires. But once upon a time, there were strange old women who lived on the fringes of society, and practiced herbal 'medicine', and not always for good. Normal, decent folk, who wanted to protect themselves, made sure they found out just what sorts of things a witch would grow in her garden, so that they could identify her with ease....

Witches' Thimbles

Foxglove, which has large tubular flowers. It's also the original source of digitalis, a heart medication. This plant was used for 'trial by ordeal' in medieval Italy.

Love Apples

Tomatoes. The name, and the supposedly aphrodisiacal effect, resulted from a mistranslation of the name by the French. Since these are related to belladonna and several other poisonous plants, people were still arguing about whether too many tomatoes could be deadly as late as the 17th century. Perhaps a nice black variety would go well in your witch garden...

Hemlock

ah, root of hemlock, "digg'd i' the dark". Not the tree, but an herb that's a member of the carrot family, and a deadly poison. This is also known as Fool's Parsley.

Monkshood

Supposedly the 'quintessential plant of the occult'. It has beautiful purple flower spikes. It was used in combination with belladonna to make a flying ointment, and in combination with water parsnip, cinquefoil, belladonna, and soot to make an ointment of the imagination, that allowed witches to contact the other side. It contains the deadly poison aconitine, which slows heart rate, decreases blood pressure, and numbs pain. The ancient Greeks believed monkshood sprouted from the spittle of the hellhound Cerberus.

Wolf's Bane

Closely related to monkshood, this is often confused with it. This plant, which has small yellow flowers, is often just referred to as Aconite. One recipe from 16th century Naples has a mix of aconite and English yew, with powered glass, caustic lime, arsenic, bitter almonds, and honey, formed into pills.

Mandrake

A plant with many fables surrounding it. The twisted, elaborate root was thought to look like a man, and people thought it screamed when it was pulled out of the ground. Dogs were used to pull roots up, because supposedly the dog always died afterwards. This root has a narcotic effect.

Vervaine

Better known as verbena, this was used for love potions. It had to be dug up with a piece of gold or a stag's horn on the Saints Days, June 27 and July 25. Often used with endive seed.

Opium Poppy

This isn't illegal to grow, unless you havelarge fields of poppies. Shakers used to give an opium syrup to high strung children. This poppy is the symbol of sleep and dreams. My favorite quote is from Jean Cocteau: "Opium is the only vegetable substance that communicates the vegetable state to us."

Yarrow

Used for a wound poultice with plantain leaves. This was still used during the Civil War. This was considered one of the devil's favorite plants, and was known as Devil's Nettle.

Dill

Dill water was used to soothe baby's colic.

Cumin

Used extensively for love potions.

Deadly Nightshade

Not to be confused with the non-deadly variety, this one(Atropa belladonna) is related to the potato, the tomato, and many other poisonous plants, and is also known as Belladonna. It's the source of the drug atropine, which has wide ranging nervous effects. It has purplish-red flowers and poisonous berries. Once ladies would use belladonna extract too dilate their pupils.

Poplar trees

I'm not sure why witches had such a fascination with the tree, except that they used it in combination with monkshood, hemlock, and soot to make a deadly poison. Some other trees they had an affinity for are alder, larch, and cypress.

Feverfew

useful for relieving migraines, this is used extensively today.

Tobacco

Witches supposedly used it for a soporific effect.

Thorn Apple

Known now as Jimson Weed, this plant has hallucinogenic effects. The name derives from the prickly fruits, and the juice from these fruits was applied to the mothers' nipples to kill unwanted infants.

Henbane

A close relative of Thorn Apple and the nightshades, henbane was also used in the preparation of "flying ointments"

Parsley

Supposedly parsley seed goes nine times to the devil and back before it comes up, which is why you never get 100% germination...

Meadow Saffron

This is not the same as culinary saffron. This was used for gout and arthritis, and too much can cause head pain and vomiting. Witches used it for its supposed soporific effect.

Alkanet

This is used to make a red dye, and it was believed that if it was applied to the 'privities' it would draw forth a dead child.

Witches would have three or four rows of red flowers (geraniums, nasturtiums, red-hot pokers) surrounding her garden as a defense against witch hunters. These flowers were known as "witch soldiers". Herbs for black magic had to be gathered during certain phases of the moon, and they had to be gathered from a spot that the sun had not touched, since witches' work cannot stand the light of day. It was best to collect an odd number of sprigs, and best was 7 or 9. To make potions, three kinds of wood had to be used to boil the water. Witches would also keep a variety of different flowers growing in the garden, so that she had flowers from every group in her flora chart. This would allow her to have power over people with every birthsign.

A Witch's Flora Chart

Now you have enough to plant a nice size witches' garden. However, if you don't want witches coming in and using all your plants, you could plant a border around it that bloomed in yellow or green flowers. Witches will never cross a hedge such as this, since it reminds them of the sun, which they abhor.

Note: I am using the term 'witch' only in it's folklorish sense. No pagans or modern witches were harmed in the creation of this segment of Gothic Gardening, so don't get offended. Don't write me and tell me you do exist, since folklore witches don't exist. If you want a garden more inclined toward the modern pagan, try the Wicca Garden.