The Herb Garden at Historic Christ Church & Museum - 2026
CULINARY
*Sweet Herbs eaten raw in “sallets”
*Pot Herbs’ oils flavor in the heat of the pot.
Burnet - Leaves used in English “Sallets”
Calendula - Pot Herb, flavored soups and stews
Chives - Sweet or Pot Herb, then an indispensable seasoning as it is now
Collard Greens – Highly nutritious, primary dish of African Diet. Broth produced called potlikker. Cornbread dipped in potlikker was the first African Baby food.
Fennel - Sweet or Pot Herb, leaves used for flavoring fish
Lemon Grass - Dried and used in teas
Lovage - Sweet, Flavor like celery in English “Sallet’s”
Marigold - Colonials Candied Flowers such as Marigold and ate them as a delicacy
Marjoram - Pot Herb
Mustard - Brought from Africa, pot herb.
Okra – Africans introduced to the Colonies, used in Soups and Stews
Primrose - Leaves used in English “Sallets”
Rosemary - Pot Herb, used in soups and stews
Summer Savory – Form of Thyme, Pot Herb
Tansy. Colonists celebrated Easter with Tansey Cakes. It was thought to purge the system after a long winter of salted fish.
Thyme - Pot Herb used widely in soups and Stews
Wild Bergamot- akin to Bee Balm, the Colonists used Bergamot for tea when the English stopped tea exports after the Boston Tea Party. (NR)
(The Powhatan did not use herbs in their diet. It is believed they ate for texture over taste.)
MEDICINAL
Amaranth (Red Garnet) – Based on the Doctrine of Signatures, it was thought to help the bloods because it was red. Modern RX confirms is helps the heart and cholesterol issues.
Pale Indian Plantain – Called Englishman’s foot. The Powhatan believed it grew everywhere an Englishman stepped. Antibiotic Antimicrobial elements in the leaves, the Powhatan used it to heal wounds.
Chamomile- Used to settle the stomach and calm the nerves
Comfrey- Applied to wounds for healing. Phillip Vickers Fithian in his diary, notes healing his injured horse with comfrey.
Dandelion- Helps one to see further without spectacles
Elecampane – Treats Cough, Shortness of Breath, Tennant recommends elixir of Hyssop and Elecampane
Feverfew – Also called Feather few, Gerard said “dried and made into pouder, and two drams of it taken with hony or sweet wine, purgeth by siege melancholy and flegme…it is very good for them that are giddie…”
Horehound – Brought to Virginia by the Africans, Horehound assists with cold and congestion and remains in some modern cough medicine.
Hyssop- Treats Cough, Shortness of Breath, Tennant recommends elixir of Hyssop and Elecampane
Indian Plantain – Brought from Europe, got its name from its similarity to Plantago. The Powhatan adopted it as a salve herb to treat wounds, called it Englishman’s foot noting it grew wherever Englishmen had stepped. Colonials drank the tea of a boiled leaf good for urine suppression.
Iris Virginica – Tennant calls it Highland Flag or Bellyache Root. For “Suppression of the Courses” Recommends young women take it one week before…
Lemon Balm- (“Bawm”)-Helped pain and wind in the stomach, had a calming influence
Marshmallow- Tennant recommends a tonic of Marshmallow and Peach Blossom for “Quinsey” (throat infection)
MINT: Used to settle the stomach, some drank mint tea after dinner to assist with digestion
Mullein- To prevent blind piles permanently, boil a handful of leaves in a pint of new milk, sweeten with syrup of violets. Drink every night for 6 weeks, John Tennant.
Pennyroyal- Tennant recommends a plaster of Pennyroyal with some Indian Pepper for Pleurisy.
Red Garnet Amaranth-Because it was red, English believed it helped the blood. Modern research confirms it assists with cholesterol, and other blood issues.
Rue - A drought taken helps with agues and boiled in oil helps with colic.
Rustica Tobacco – An analgesic, smoke blown up the ear and nasal canal helped with pain.
Sage-Stops Bleeding and assists with foul ulcers and sores. Africans used it to assist with sleep and cramps, taken as a diaphoretic or tonic
Thyme-Treat hot swellings and warts, helps spleen, kills stomach worms
Valerian-Headaches, trembling, heart palpitations and vapors. Powhatan used to treat wounds.
Yarrow-Stanches bleeding. known as carpenter’s weed.
Domestic
(Includes Fragrance and Dye)
Bee Balm-Used to make soap/perfume; Blossoms have a pungent lemon smell.
Carnation-Housewives valued cutting flowers to adorn their homes and tables and in the New World it was grown more for its garden bloom.
Celandine Poppy- Used as a yellow dye by Native Indians
False Indigo- Source of Blue Dye.
Germander- Strewing Herb, also used as a border plant in colonial gardens
Hyssop- strewing herb
Lavender- Name from Latin word Lavo meaning “to wash”, soap, air freshener.
Lemon Balm-Oil distilled and used in perfume and furniture polish
Marjoram- Plant tops were used for purplish dye
Peppermint- English used mints interchangeably. Furniture polish, ingredient in the Vinegar of the Four Thieves
Pokeberry- Powhatan and English used as a blue dye.
Rosemary- Cologne cannot be made without it; also used in hair and tooth washes.
Peppermint– English used mints interchangeably. Furniture polish, mint was an ingredient in The Vinegar of the Four Thieves which was an air freshener used in sick rooms.
Spearmint- English used mints Interchangeably. Furniture polish, ingredient in the Vinegar of the Four Thieves which was an air freshener used in sick rooms.
Sweet Woodruff- Has a sweet odor making it one of the best of the strewing herbs. Used for Festivals, Sundays, Weddings, and Funerals. Africans called it Master Root. Carried it in their pocket to be “the master” of what they wanted.
Tansy- Makes a yellow dye with leaves boiled before it produces its yellow blooms.
Thyme- Valuable, fragrant strewing herb.
Worship
Aloe– Numbers 24:6. “Like Palm Groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted…”
Carnation (Pink)- Flower symbolizes a mother’s love
Dandelion- Exodus 12:8 “That same night they are to eat meat roasted over the fire along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast.”
Daylily- Matthew 6:28-30 the “lilies of the Field”
Dill- Matthew 23:23. The verse uses the word Anise, but the Greek word translation is closer to Dill
Hyssop– Exodus 12:22: The Israelites used a bundle of hyssop to apply the lamb’s blood to their doorpost.
Lemon Balm- Genesis 37:25” they lifted their eyes and looked and behold the Israelites came bearing spider and balm.”
Lily of the Valley- Our tears Lady’s Tears Associated with the Virgin Mary, “purity”
Mint (spearmint)- “Woe unto you ye pharisees for you pay tithe in Mint…” Matthew 23:23, Luke 11:42
Mustard– Matthew 17:20. “Faith of a mustard seed can move mountains”
Rose- Isaiah 35:1 “…and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose.”
Rosemary- Herb of Remembrance
Rustica Tobacco– Powhatan worshipped their Gods with burning tobacco. The smoke was believed to connect them from earth, with the Gods in heaven
Thyme– Luke 2:7 Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger. Thyme was a common feed in the Holy Land and likely lined the lowly manger.
Violet- In medieval flower symbolism signifies the humility of our Lord
Yarrow- Lore has it that Jesus gave Joseph, his father, a carpenter, yarrow to stanch a bleeding wound. Also called Carpenter’s Weed.
References
Randolph, Mary - THE VIRGINIA HOUSEWIFE OR METHODICAL COOK, E.H. Butler and Co, Philadelphia and Co 1860
Tennant, John - EVERY MAN HIS OWN DOCTOR; OR POOR PLANTER’S PHYSICIAN, Second Edition, Williams Parks, 1734
FLORA VIRGINICA EXHIBENS PLANTAS, quas Nobilissimus VIR: Claytonus D.D. Johannesburg; Gronovia, D. Joh Fred: Barton, Benjamin Smith
A Citizen of Virginia (John Randolph) - A TREATISE ON GARDENING (1727-1784), Reprinted from THE AMERICAN GARDENER OF JOHN GARDINER and DAVID HEPBURN. Published 1728-1784
Brown O. Phelps, Dr. THE COMPLETE HERBALIST OR THE PEOPLE
THEIR OWN PHYSICIAN, GREAT CURATIVE PROPERTIES FOUND IN THE HERBAL KINGDOM; (Jersey City, 1878)
WWWForgottenBook., com; FB&c LTD, Dalton House London 2016
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Dalton House London 2016
Jefferson, Thomas; Annotated by Betts, Edwin Morris; THOMAS JEFFERSON’S GARDEN BOOK, With Relevant extracts from his other writings including NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA EXCERPTS,
The American Philosophical Society, Independence Square, Philadelphia 1985
Gerard, John, GERARD’S GENERALL HISTORIE OF PLANTES; Selections from the 1633 Enlarged and Amended Edition; virtues of all sorts of herbes; Authored by John Gerard, Master of surgery, enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson, Citizen and Apothecary of London; announced MMX (2010); Voluminous Preiss Nicholas Culpepper, edited by David Potterton, Foreword by E.J. Shellard; illustrated by Michael Stringer, CULLPEPPER’S COLORFUL HERBAL. Sterling Publishing Co, Inc. New York
NLM.NIH.gov; National Library of Medicine
HOLY BIBLE: King James Version; THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS, Nashville Tennessee, 1978
Covey, Herbert C.; AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE MEDICINE; (FORMAT KINDLE EDITION) Lexington Books; Lexington, 2007
Work Projects Administration (Format Kindle Edition) WHEN WE WERE SLAVES, HUNDREDS OF RECORDED INTERVIEWS, LIFE STORIES AND TESTIMONIES FROM SLAVES IN THE SOUTH; E-ARTNOW EBOOK 2020
Locretia, Vandyke (Format Kindle Edition): AFRICAN AMERICAN HERBALISM; ULYSSES PRESS, New York, Berkely, 2022
Morgan, Erin E., Perry, James E; TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL PLANT USE AMONG VIRGINI’S POWHATAN INDIANS; BANISTERIA, NUMBER 35, PAGES 11-31; VIMS. Edu; Virginia Natural History Society, 2010
University of Michigan at Dearborn, NATIVE AMERICAN ETHNOBOTANY DATABASE; A Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of native American Peoples, Derived from Plants, Naeb.brit.org; 1977 updated in 2003, Rappahannock, Iroquois, Cherokee
Culpepper’s Colorful Herbal, edited by David Potterton; Forward by E.J. Shellar; Illustrated by Michael Stringer, Sterling Publishing Co. Inc, New York
Michael Twiddy, THE COOKING GENE, Harper Collins,2017
Clayton, John, and Robert. “A Letter from the Revd. Mr. John Clayton, (Afterwards Dean of Kildare in Ireland) to Dr. Grew, in Answer to Several Queries Relating to Virginia, Sent to Him by That Learned Gentleman, A. D. 1687. Communicated by the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Lord Bishop of Corke, to John Earl of Egmont, F. R. S.” Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), vol. 41, 1739, pp. 143–62. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/104250. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
