Merlin’s book, for I am determined to revisit the Otherworlds of my youth, and there I find some of the answers I seek. A plan begins to form in my mind, but first I need permission from the prioress.
“You wish to create a new garden of your own design? But why? There is already a herbarium attached to the priory.”
“I have some knowledge of the healing power of plants, and I also know much of their other uses,” I explain. “There is a far greater variety of plants that may be grown to provide the priory—and also the abbey—with everything we need, from medicaments to food.” I cannot tell the prioress what other purpose I have in mind for the garden. I can only hope that my argument is compelling enough. “I’m prepared to choose the plants and see to their placing myself,” I tell her. “And I’m prepared to pay workmen out of my own funds to till the soil and do any rough work that is needed.”
Perhaps the prioress senses the urgency of my need, or perhaps she is persuaded by my argument of self-sufficiency; whatever the reason, she gives me the agreement I need, with an added boon: the promise that the lay sisters and even the nuns will help me in their spare time.
Designing and constructing the garden becomes a popular pastime at the priory. I think we all welcome the chance to be outside in the open air, creating something beautiful. Working on the garden gives me some measure of peace and a sense of self-worth, while the hard physical labor that accompanies its creation means that I fall into bed each night too tired to brood or do anything other than sleep.
I am proud of my design, which is unlike any I have seen elsewhere. The garden takes the form of an enormous wheel within a square, divided into triangular segments, each housing plants for a particular purpose. Many of the herbs and flowers I plant have more than one use, so the same plants are to be found in more than one segment, all blending into a harmonious whole. In the center of the circle I devise a flowery mead, lush grass spangled with sweet violets, primroses, cornflowers, wild strawberries, poppies and other colorful wildflowers. At its heart is a fountain, its cool splashing water providing refreshment on hot, thirsty days. There are benches of turf close by, so that the sisters may rest their weary bodies and aching feet.
Having discovered how important fruit and vegetables are in the monastic diet during the time of Lent, in the largest triangle I plant an abundance of such things as leeks and a variety of coleworts, fava beans and peas of various types; root vegetables such as onions and turnips; and savory pot herbs including rosemary, thyme and parsley.
In the physic garden segment are all the herbs I already know about, for I plan to help pay for my lodging in the priory by treating the sick and the injured with my medicaments. Time has proved that I have some talent in this, and besides, I enjoy experimenting. I know that I shall find a sense of achievement while creating my lotions and brewing my decoctions.
In another segment, I put in plants of use about the household: alecost and several other herbs for brewing and flavoring ale; dyer’s bugloss, chamomile and others for dying cloth, along with pot marigold, which is also used for coloring food; there are tansy, rosemary and other pungent strewing herbs to sweeten floor rushes and repel insects; soapwort for cleansing; flax for sewing and making cloth, plus many others besides.
In the four corners left outside the circle, and for the benefit of the nuns and the prioress, I create small spaces dedicated to the Virgin Mary, for I have discovered how very important she is in their life and worship. I seek out those bushes, like May, and the flowers that once were sacred to the old gods and have been renamed and dedicated to Christ’s mother, such as the Madonna lily; the blue “Eyes of Mary” that the common people call forget-me-nots; “Mary’s crown” or
“You wish to create a new garden of your own design? But why? There is already a herbarium attached to the priory.”
“I have some knowledge of the healing power of plants, and I also know much of their other uses,” I explain. “There is a far greater variety of plants that may be grown to provide the priory—and also the abbey—with everything we need, from medicaments to food.” I cannot tell the prioress what other purpose I have in mind for the garden. I can only hope that my argument is compelling enough. “I’m prepared to choose the plants and see to their placing myself,” I tell her. “And I’m prepared to pay workmen out of my own funds to till the soil and do any rough work that is needed.”
Perhaps the prioress senses the urgency of my need, or perhaps she is persuaded by my argument of self-sufficiency; whatever the reason, she gives me the agreement I need, with an added boon: the promise that the lay sisters and even the nuns will help me in their spare time.
Designing and constructing the garden becomes a popular pastime at the priory. I think we all welcome the chance to be outside in the open air, creating something beautiful. Working on the garden gives me some measure of peace and a sense of self-worth, while the hard physical labor that accompanies its creation means that I fall into bed each night too tired to brood or do anything other than sleep.
I am proud of my design, which is unlike any I have seen elsewhere. The garden takes the form of an enormous wheel within a square, divided into triangular segments, each housing plants for a particular purpose. Many of the herbs and flowers I plant have more than one use, so the same plants are to be found in more than one segment, all blending into a harmonious whole. In the center of the circle I devise a flowery mead, lush grass spangled with sweet violets, primroses, cornflowers, wild strawberries, poppies and other colorful wildflowers. At its heart is a fountain, its cool splashing water providing refreshment on hot, thirsty days. There are benches of turf close by, so that the sisters may rest their weary bodies and aching feet.
Having discovered how important fruit and vegetables are in the monastic diet during the time of Lent, in the largest triangle I plant an abundance of such things as leeks and a variety of coleworts, fava beans and peas of various types; root vegetables such as onions and turnips; and savory pot herbs including rosemary, thyme and parsley.
In the physic garden segment are all the herbs I already know about, for I plan to help pay for my lodging in the priory by treating the sick and the injured with my medicaments. Time has proved that I have some talent in this, and besides, I enjoy experimenting. I know that I shall find a sense of achievement while creating my lotions and brewing my decoctions.
In another segment, I put in plants of use about the household: alecost and several other herbs for brewing and flavoring ale; dyer’s bugloss, chamomile and others for dying cloth, along with pot marigold, which is also used for coloring food; there are tansy, rosemary and other pungent strewing herbs to sweeten floor rushes and repel insects; soapwort for cleansing; flax for sewing and making cloth, plus many others besides.
In the four corners left outside the circle, and for the benefit of the nuns and the prioress, I create small spaces dedicated to the Virgin Mary, for I have discovered how very important she is in their life and worship. I seek out those bushes, like May, and the flowers that once were sacred to the old gods and have been renamed and dedicated to Christ’s mother, such as the Madonna lily; the blue “Eyes of Mary” that the common people call forget-me-nots; “Mary’s crown” or
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