This summer the Urban Physic Garden blooms on a slice of neglected London land – the work of a collective of designers, urban growers and, over 150 volunteers!
Last year we designed the Union Street Urban Orchard, this year Wayward Plants returns to 100 Union Street (SE1 0NL) with a garden shaped by the hospital and the pharmacy, with a focus on medicinal plants and herbs that heal.
We are open Tuesday-Sunday, from 11am – 6pm, come by and visit the Rambulance Cafe.
What’s a physic garden?
A physic garden is a place where plants with medicinal properties grow. For thousands of years people have been using plants to cure all kinds of ills. London’s first physic garden opened in 1673 – an enchanting walled garden in Chelsea where the city’s apothecaries tended exotic species from around the world. The garden then stretched right down to Thames, and both students and botanical curiosities would arrive by boat. Still open, it’s been a green-fingered physician’s dream for over 300 years.
Magic meets medicine
While physic gardens are steeped in much wonderful myth and legend, botany is also incredibly important to modern medicine. The latest and most cutting edge cancer drugs are derived from plants. A physic garden brings an array of healing herbs into one potent place and becomes a space for learning, research and experimentation. A physic garden is also a valuable way of conserving rare and endangered species.
People as well as plants
People are as important as plants in a physic garden. This summer in the Urban Physic Garden hosts festival of talks, workshops, film screenings and events! The garden provides a platform for artists, designers, gardeners and health practitioners from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. It is a place for lively debate – an outside space where a range of people can come together to explore the role of plants in science, health, well-being and the environment.
Join us…
The Urban Physic Garden is a work in progress. If you have some free time, and would like to get your hands dirty helping out, sign up to volunteer. We’ll be running a series of workshops throughout the month where you can get involved while learning new skills. You can also help out by pledging a plant, as this garden will be built with plants grown throughout the back gardens and windowsills of the local community.
