Colorado Shakespeare Gardens
self-guided tour
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Macbeth

Serene contemplation of nature’s beauty and bounty does not befit a play like Macbeth. It makes little mention of plant life at all, and that little speaks chiefly of poison and destruction. The witches cast hemlock and yew into their dreadful stew as they chant:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble. [Macbeth IV i]

Hemlock is a notorious poison. Yew, which is also poisonous, is common in English graveyards. In this Garden you can see yew, but not hemlock. Hemlock grows well here, but it is not a plant that the gardeners choose to encourage.

The Macbeth Garden

 

This sparse garden, dominated by the huge rhubarb leaves but otherwise nearly devoid of plant life, reflects the themes of Shakespeare’s most otherworldly play. Macbeth’s desire to rid Scotland of the English brings him to insanity, murder, delusions, and dire results.

Most of the plants mentioned in Macbeth are poisonous, from the notorious hemlock (not grown in our garden!) to the purgatives of rhubarb leaf and senna. Even the dainty primrose has connotations of hellfire in Shakespeare’s handling.

 

Special thanks to longtime CSF supporter and thespian Chuck Wilcox for voicing the part of The Bard in our video series. Full production credits available here. All images copyright Colorado Shakespeare Garden group.

Enjoy this slideshow of the plants we have in our Macbeth garden: