Choosing Plants for Your Woodland Botanical Garden-Are You a Purist?

When we talk about shade medicinal herb gardens, I find there are two distinct groups of gardeners: those who will only use native medicinal plants and those who like to "mix it up a bit". As I wrote in the new home garden section of my book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals (you can order it by clicking on one of the "Add to Cart" buttons on the right sidebar of this blog) "As you make your shade garden plans, consider what kind of plants you want in it. Do you want to grow only native plants? Do you want mostly native plants with some exotics thrown in for color and interest? Do you want to plant only medicinal plants? What about designing a garden of medicinal and edible plants? Are you trying to create a particular garden that will need some specific trees and plants, such as Spanish moss hanging from tree limbs for a Southern garden ambiance? Don't take this all too seriously. Have fun. Collect plants from friends, festivals, and herbalists. If a plant is not a medicinal herb but you really like it, so what? Put it in your garden. And don't be afraid to make mistakes. You can always move plants!" 

Further along in that chapter, there are cautions about introducing invasive plants or potentially toxic plants, but I go on to describe a large number of medicinal herbs, vines, shrubs, small trees, big trees, ferns, berries, mosses, and non-medicinal plants to consider. The bottom line is this is your garden. You can make it whatever you want it to be. If you want it to look like a botanical garden with metal identification tags with common and scientific names in front of every plant, go for it. If you want it to be a whimsical fairy land with beautiful medicinal, edible, and decorative plants with gazing globes, a small waterfall, and wind chimes included, I love those, too. Gardening should bring us pleasure and make us smile-embrace it, have fun, and remember to share your pictures!