Home & Garden
Come view thru a window of everyday life, a period kitchen garden to further the study, use, and knowledge of herbs in early America.
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17th and 18th Century
Traditional Culinary and Medicinal Uses
Apple Mint - Mentha rotundifolia
A culinary herb with a distinctive apple and mint flavor.
Used in wine, cider, and tea.
Agrimony - Agrimonia supatoria
17th c. medicinal plant used for liver, gallbladder, gout, ailments, and stimulates digestion.
Medicinal herb that strengthens the digestive system. Also leaves yield a yellow dye.
“Early American Gardens” by Ann Leighton
Anise Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Culinary and medicinal healing herb. Taste of anise, used in teas and salads.
Balsam - Impatiens - Lady’s Slipper
Old fashion flower cultivated in American gardens since the 18th c.
Leaves were used as a tea by the Oswego native Americans, and the colonists after the Boston Tea Party.
Basil - Ocimum basillicum
Herb of the mint family, adds flavor to cooking, oil used as an anti-inflammatory.
Baptisa - Baptisia australis - False Indigo
Used by native Americans and early European settlers as a dye plant.
Borage - Borago officinalis
17th c. plant named from a Celtic word for courage.
Leaves and flowers used as a garnish in salads and herbal tea. Also, an anti-inflammatory herb used as a sedative, and digestive disorders.
Common White Lilac - Syringa vulgaris
Old common New England lilac.
Comfrey
An ancient herb, used for over 2000 years, in which the roots and leaves are a traditional medicine for muscle spasm, burns, and inflammation. Nicholas Culpeper, 17th c English Herbalist, “Comfrey is good for spitting blood and all inward hurts, bruises, and so on”.
Costmary - Chrysanthemum balsamita
Known as “bible leaf” used in books and bibles as an insect deterrent. From the mint family, also used as a culinary herb for tea. Found in every early American garden.
Dill - Anethum graveolens
Early culinary kitchen garden plant.
Echinacea- Echinacea augustifolia - Purple Coneflower
18th c. herb used by native Americans to treat pain, inflammation, and migraines.
Foxglove - Digitalis purpurea
Classic 18th c. garden plant. Imported early to America for its medicinal value as a heart stimulant.
Garlic chives - Allium sativum
Culinary and medicinal herb. Early settlers and sailors named this herb as a familiar wild plant that kills worms and used as a cough remedy.
Germander - Teucrium chamacdrys
Ancient herb historically used to treat gout, gallbladder, fevers, stomach issues, and as a mouthwash. Elizabethan periods used this herb for knot gardens.
Helenium - Helenium autumnae
18th c. native plant with daisy-like flowers. Used in powered form to treat colds and headaches. Leaves used as a medicinal tea, and infused stems used as a wash for fever.
Hops - Humulus Iupulus
Early settlers first used hops for raising bread and as a preservative.
Flowers gathered in late summer reserved for making beer as a wholesome drink rather than ale. Flowers stuffed in pillows are known to help with restful sleep.
Kingsley Ghost - Lonicera reticulata - Native Grape Honeysuckle
Unique foliage vine native to North America with eye catching blooms and foliage that resemble eucalyptus. The flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies.
Lavender - Lavandula augustifolia ‘Hidcote’
Early settlers first used distilled water of lavender flowers as a drink to help “panting and passion of the heart, for failing sickness, as a gargle for loss of voice, fainting, and swooning.” John Gerard, 17th c English herbalist. The oil of lavender is used for palsy.
Lemon verbena - Lillian citriodora
A strong highly fragrant leaves with aroma of lemon.
Culinary uses for jellies, salads, and refreshing summer drinks.
An infusion of lemon verbena used nightly, good for gums and teeth decay.
Lovage - Levisticum officinale
An early medicinal herb. Seeds used for digestion.
Distilled water of this herb is used as a wash for facial redness and freckles. Used as a bath herb, for cleansing the skin. Flavor of celery, hollowed stems are useful as a straw for Bloody Mary drinks.
Monarda - Bee Balm - Monarda didyma, Jacob Cline
18th c. Herb plant in which the leaves were used as a tea by the Oswego native Americans, and the colonists after the Boston Tea Party.
Parsley -
Old medicinal herb used in broths as a medicine for ulcers, comforting the stomach, and as a poultice for venomous spiders. Culinary uses to flavor meats and stews.
Rosemary - Rosemarinus officinalis
Historically associated with the Virgin Mary. Belief to quicken the mind and improve memory. Used as a strewing herb at weddings and funerals, thought to have disinfectant qualities. Medicinal and culinary uses. Aid’s in digestion and circulation. Flavors many a culinary dish.
Pot Marygold - Calendula officinalis
Early American colonists relied on its boosting health properties as a medicinal antiseptic. Early term used for any leafy herb cooked in a pot for use as greens. A “pot herb” used in soups to season foods. Also considered a magical herb of prosperity and wealth. The juice of the plant is used as a mouthwash, and a remedy for a tooth-ache.
Prostrate Rosemary - Salvia Rosmarinus
A trailing low spreading rosemary. Also known as creeping rosemary. Native to the Mediterranean region.
Rue - Ruta graveolens - Cotton Mathers
Early use as a medicinal herb for all pains and fevers.
The English named the “herb of grace” because it is the most wholesome herb. The seeds taken in wine, was an antidote against poisons. Believed to protect from the Plague.
Runner Bean - Painted Lady
Traditional English grown since 1596, named after Queen Elizabeth I, who was heavily made up with rouge and white chalk. Culinary use.
Sage - Salvia officinalis
A culinary and medicinal herb. Was called “the Holy Herb, because women with child if they like to come before their time . . . do eat thereof to their great good”. John Gerard - 17th c. English herbalist. Medicinal herb to strength memory and cleansing the blood. Makes a good body wash.
Santolina - Lavender Cotton - Santolina chamaecyparissus
Grown in early New England’s everywhere. To drink in wine as a good medicine. Used for ointments and colds.
Soapwort - Saponaria officinalis
17th c. household cleansing and scouring qualities of the leaves. Also used to treat poison ivy, and cure cuts.
Sorrel - Rumex acetosa
18th c lemon flavored culinary herb, popular as greens, soups,
and in spring tonics. Leaves will curdle milk and used as a rennet substitute. Medicinally used for stomach ailments and nourishing the blood. “Sorrel whey is made by boiling sorrel leaves in new milk. Cooling in fevers” The Family Nurse by Mrs. Child, c.1837 Author of “The American Frugal Housewife”
Sweet Woodruff - Gallum odoratum
Early colonial herb naturalized in America and used as a medicinal mild anesthetic and moth deterrent. In medieval times, the herb was said to provide soldiers protection during battle.
Thyme - Thymus vulgaris
Brought to the colonies at an early date. Thomas Jefferson recorded it in his list of “Objects for the garden” at Monticello in 1794. Cultivated for its culinary uses and to treat nightmares and short windedness. Medicinally used for coughs, sciatica, worms, and melancholy. Not commonly used as a culinary herb in early America.
Valerian - Valarian officinalis
17th c. herb valued for its fragrance and usually placed under the house windows. Scent is extremely strong in close quarters. Medicinally, an ancient reputation for health. The root is used for cuts, wounds, jaundice, and ulcers.
Wormwood - Artemisia absinthium
17th c. plant once used to flavor absinthe and vermouth.
Also, a stewing herb. Medically good for a weak stomach after heavy eating and drinking. Used for keeping moths from garments. Culpeper states that “adding wormwood to ink, will keep mice from destroying the paper on which it has been used”. “The Family Nurse” by Mrs. Child c. 1837 “A wine glass full is a common dose, taken early in the morning, will cleanse ulcerated sores”.
White Yarrow - Achillea millefolium
Ancient medicinal herb used from its roots to heal wounds and inflammation.
Nicknamed “woundwort”. Used in baths for women.