Colorado Shakespeare Gardens
self-guided tour
gladiolus.JPG

The Elizabethan Garden

Growing on the ground here is chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), also called “apple of the earth”. It has a fine scent, and we used it in many ways. Nowadays you mostly steep its flowers in hot water and drink it for your health or pleasure. The plant is a symbol of humility, because it grows the better for being pressed into the earth. We sometimes grew it like a carpet in garden paths, so that its scent filled the air as people walked upon it. In Henry IV, Part 1 Falstaff moralizes:

Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompanied: for though the chamomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears.

The Elizabethan Garden

 

Bordered by the unruly and abundant germander, our Elizabethan Garden is a showcase for some of the most favored and useful plants in Shakespeare’s time. There’s chamomile, which was grown for its lovely scent, and which no kitchen could possibly do without. And tiny lady’s bedstraw which had so many uses in the home, it’s shocking we’ve nearly forgotten about it.

Enjoy Elizabeth’s personal favorite eglantine rose against the wall, or our showy poppies, lupines, and digitalis. These plants were part of everyday life for the English of all classes.

 

Enjoy this slideshow of the plants in our Elizabethan Garden: