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JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR. LIBRARY
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION
P. O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, Virginia 23187
GeddYGarden News
ROSEMARY
June —1998
Issue 51
Mist in May and Heat in June
Bring all things into tune.
The garden is thriving. I' ve harvested the lettuce and last night I
ate my first white potato from my garden.
It was delicious!
rudbechia is blooming and our scarecrow is guarding
The
it all. There are
quite a few herbs in the garden and I have decided to focus on one of
those herbs each month.
As we concentrate on the Headline Events we
can appreciate the important role that the herbs played in this place at
From the practical point of view and in an effort to be
politically correct herbal teas also known as liberty teas became the
that time.
drink of the day in the colonies.
In this issue I begin my herbal profiles with my favorite herb,
rosemary.
Aside from its many attributes it was also my mothers name.
Herbs were valued early on. The herbalist Harrison
wrote, "
They
are to be cherished and God to be glorified in them because they are His
John Parkinson in
good gifts and created to do man help and service."
Paradiso, 1629 wrote, " The herb without all question is an excellent help
to comfort the heart as the very smell may induce any so to believe."
Petrus Crescentius in the 13th century wrote about herbs in his
Treatise on farming and gardening, " according to the pleasures they
afford to the mind, consequently preserving the health of the body as
the state of the body affects the mind."
In 1656 William Coles in the Art of Simpling put herbs in an
honorable place in time when he wrote, " Herbs are more ancient than
the Sunne, or Moon, or Starres, they being created on the fourth day
whereas plants were the third."
�Most herbs are easy to grow and serve many purposes. They
were grown for centuries medicinally, as remedies for ailments,
cosmetically and of course for culinary purposes to spice and enliven the
taste of food.
to
Another use of the herbs was aromatic.
Most herbs are at their best for practical uses when they are going
flower. Young leaves have more virtue than old -coarse leaves. They
should be picked after they dry from the morning dew and before the
hot sun is upon them. If you dry them, do so in a cool, dry, dark place,
to preserve flavor and aroma, never in sunlight. Rosemary is easy to
grow from cuttings. When taking cuttings it is important to take soft
cuttings from strong side shoots or from the tops of the branches and
folklore tells us rosemary cuttings should be set on Good Friday. There
is a great amount of folklore that relates to rosemary. Although
take these legends seriously I love to learn about them.
I don' t
The Spanish traditional legends credit rosemary with having
power against magic and the evil eye.
Another ancient belief suggests
that by putting rosemary leaves under the bed, evil dreams will be
driven away and if the leaves are put into wine the body is rid of evil.
Rosemary is so rich in folklore, it carries the name Mary' s Mantle
due to another Spanish legend in which the Virgin Mary changed the
color of the flowers from white to blue by draping her cloak over the
rosemary shrub as she fled from King Herod' s soldiers with the baby
Jesus.
Rosemary is well known by many cultures and civilizations as a
memory -strengthening herb. William Shakespeare wrote, " There' s
rosemary, that' s for remembrance, pray you love, remember."
In Banks' Herbal of 1525 he wrote, "
In the back bed in my garden
I am growing the remembrance herb."
It was for the idea of remembrance that rosemary became a
traditional sight at weddings.
Bunches of rosemary were given as New
Years gifts and sprigs of it were thrown on graves for remembrance.
Rosemary is a pine like perennial herb with leaves like needles.
likes full sun and grows well and tall against a wall. If you wish to be
2
It
�creative you can train it on ready- made wire frames available at garden
centers and nurseries.
tree.
A cone form can create a miniature Christmas
By simply pinching off the tips the plant becomes bushy and fills
in the form of the cone. This is a nice idea for your Christmas
decorating or even for a special Christmas gift.
There was a gilded rosemary which was a gold variegated
rosemary mentioned by Parkinson in Paradise in Sole in 1629 which was
often given for a new years gift. Small bunches of this remembrance
plant seems to me to be an appropriate gift for any occasion.
In Tudor times the gilded rosemary branches were given by the
h
bridesmaids to the bridegroom. In the 16` Century Hampton Court
garden walls were completely covered with it.
During Charles II time the price of a small bunch of rosemary
rose due to the belief that the plant had the power to ward of infection
and they were suffering from the great plague in England.
The medicinal uses for rosemary varied greatly.
that it was a remedy against, "
Serapio wrote
the stuffing of the head, that cometh
through coldness of the braine, if a garland be placed about the head."
He also suggested that rosemary with water be taken morning and
evening to, "
taketh away the stench of the mouth and breath."
In the Complete Housewife we find the instructions for making
stocking garters which contain chopped rosemary leaves to be worn day
and night as a remedy for leg cramps.
In France another name for rosemary is incensier because it was
sometimes used as a substitute for incense when the cost of incense was
too high.
It was burned in sick rooms and carried at funerals in early
times.
It was used to make dye, and the wood of the plant was used in the
le century to make carpenters rules and lutes and other similar
musical instruments.
Its culinary uses ran from being ingredients in stews to jellies and
cakes and bread.
Of course rosemary tea was one of the many herbal
3
�AIIVIISPI ' NCH
S, I.H NO1fDJfl
N111IV14i H11fl
teas enjoyed by the Virginia colonists. It was often mixed with other
herbs like peppermint. To make rosemary tea place fresh chopped,
rosemary leaves into a teapot. Pour boiling water over them. Steep for
five minutes in a covered pot and add honey if you wish.
It will relax
you, taste good and serve as a cough medicine as well.
A favorite use of the rosemary plant was for its aroma.
The
colonists believed to stay in perfect health, herbs should be smelled
continually.
The felt herbs contained the sweet scent of sunshine which
contribute to giving one a state of perpetual joy.
It is from the leaves of
the herbs more than the flowers that the fragrance is drawn.
Leaf odors
are permanent, where as the flowers odors are evanescent.
In a colonial home rosemary was often strewn on floors to give the
house a fresh odor and to protect against infection. Often bunches of
rosemary could be found in a container on a table.
To enjoy the scent from the rosemary leaf we must coax it from
the leaf by pressing, bruising or touching the leaf. Flowers on the other
hand presents their odor whether we choose to smell them or not. For
that reason rosemary makes an excellent gift for a sick patient in a
hospital.
Sometimes flowers scents can be overwhelming but with
rosemary the patient is in control and if he chooses to lift his spirit with
the fresh fragrance of rosemary it is within his power to do so.
paoee leaktie
4
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Geddy Garden News
Description
An account of the resource
The Geddy Garden News was a monthly newsletter produced by employee Janet Guthrie who worked for many years as a garden interpreter at the James Geddy House. The Library holds a partial run of this newsletter (issues 33-114 with some gaps) for the years 1996-2003. The newsletter ceased publication in 2003 upon Guthrie’s retirement.
Subjects covered most often in the newsletters are 18th century gardens, gardening publications, gardens of the Founding Fathers, plant uses, early and pre-Christian folklore, and seasonal customs. Much good and interesting information is found within these newsletters, but current users should be alert for some now archaic interpretive sources, Latin errors, and cultural generalizations, especially with Native peoples/nations of North America which are often treated as one culture instead of many.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Guthrie, Janet
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Geddy Garden News, no. 51, June, 1998
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Guthrie, Janet
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation