The Healing Garden

“But”, browsers in Nigel Khan, Bookseller bookstores might ask themselves on seeing the internationally well-known logo “BBC” on the dust jacket, “but this is a book written for the British reader and gardener; it’s bound to be full of facts, hints and tips on temperate country plants, on plants that don’t thrive, or barely survive in the tropics.”

It’s true that quite a few of the flowers and herbs listed in this book won’t grow in Trinidad or Tobago, but don’t let that put you off. The author features plenty of plants that do well here.

“Healing” is the keynote of the book — the healing properties of plants and, to New Age thinking, aromatherapy. One plant I knew I’d see in that book is lavender with its lovely inflorescence (clusters of tiny individual flowers on a long stem). I’ve had a lavender bush growing in a pot in my backyard for the past nine or ten years. I don’t know what kind of lavender it is (there are several varieties).

Sadly, my lavender has never flowered but that doesn’t bother me — much. My small bush releases the scent of lavender as I brush past it to tend to other plants. Every so often I gather a few sprigs to put among the underwear on my closet shelf; occasionally I spare a dozen or so sprigs for the chef of a French restaurant here who, I’m told, does wonders with my lavender and some lamb.

Basil is another plant featured in this book. Regular readers of my recipe column know I grow my own to eat and to enjoy. My chief delight is citrus-flavoured basil with its sharp, clean smell of lime; I deliberately run my fingers through these plants as I pass by to enjoy the lemon-lime scent. Mint is another old favourite to use as garnish on the plate, or to rub between the fingers to release the fragrance of fresh peppermint. And sage (yes, you can grow sage here). And, of course, there’s Spanish thyme and fine-leaf thyme and …

I could go on and on about herbs, their comforting smells, their delicate tastes but medicinal plants are even more important to us. Almost all the drugs in our pharmacies are derived, one way or another, from herbs. This is the main reason for protecting the rain forests where indigenous people treat their ailments with herbal medicines unknown to the outside world.

In days long gone monasteries had medicinal herb gardens; then, as you will learn from this book, “in the 16th century the first physick gardens were established” to provide apothecaries (pharmacists) with the raw materials for preparing herbal medicines, and to teach students about the plants.

Incidentally, UWI has plans for the Herbarium to plant a physick garden featuring the healing plants of Trinidad and Tobago.

However, as the illustrations in this book show, the design of a garden, however small, is as important to aid in healing the mind and spirit as the curative properties of the plants for the physical body. There are some exquisite designs in this book, using gravel, rocks and water to inspire the gardener in TT.

You’ll find The Healing Garden by Gay Search at Nigel Khan, Bookseller, PricePlaza, Ellerslie Plaza, Gulf City and The Falls, Westmall.