While the garden’s been open we’ve been collecting your personal recipes and remedies. Here’s a selection of herbal tips and treats that you’ve shared. Thank you!

“1tsp turmeric and 2tsp honey mixed together and eaten is the best natural antibiotic for sore throats and colds. Don’t drink or eat anything for an hour after eating it” – Caroline

“Paw paw / papaya ointment is great for burns, chapped lips, bites etc” – Sofie

“For toothache – heat honey with cloves for 15 mins in saucepan over a low heat. Place a clove over the tooth and keep there until the flavour gone. Repeat with the other cloves until pain is soothed” – Cheryl

“One can’t underestimate the reviving qualities of slices of cucumber on the eyes” – Emily

“Mint, ginger, ice and lemon” – Jill

“Chewing sage leaves works wonders for a sore throat” – Frances

“This works like an antibiotic and needs to be drunk in five consecutive days: steep dry thyme in hot water, add 1 tea spoon of black pepper and honey to taste. Drink as hot as possible, wrap up tight and go to bed. Thyme is good for respiratory infections and the pepper heats up your system to encourage sweating. I got rid of a terribly nasty bronchitis this way!” – Emel

“A few drops of geranium oil in a tub of coconut oil is a great, simple and inexpensive moisturiser and mood lifter” – Bani

“Nettle tea for cleansing” – Sally

“I have found slippery elm powder taken twice a day in water really helped sooth my painful IBS. It would shorten an attack, which was extremely painful to a few days instead of a week” – Sue

“Elderflower and oats skin cream” – Rasheeqa

“Peppermint tea for digestion” – Jen

“Chamomile tea with dried bay leaf helps against indigestion, stomach ache and cramps” – Alice

“A snail or slug placed on a burn on the skin can cool it down and the slimy helps help the wound” – Gillian

“Fresh lemon, fresh ginger, honey and hot water for a cold” – Tracey-Lee

“To get rid of the start of a sore throat – heat up Coke with lemon slices and serve HOT! It’s also a popular drink in Hong Kong cafes” – Gloria

“As a little girl, my daughter was prone to painful ear infections. A chopped up onion stuffed into a thin sock, slightly warmed up in the steam over the kettle (careful it does not get too hot) always worked wonders, especially at night” – Stephanie

“For colds the best thing is to sweat so mix a tablespoon of raw honey, 2 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger, the juice of three limes, 1 teaspoon of cardamom with hot water and drink. For mental exhaustion eat equal amounts of banana and avocado pulp first thing in the morning” – Nico

“Lavender oil for burns including sun” – Jo

“Aloe vera for sunburn and all skin allergies!” – Michelle

“1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and 8 oz of water to relieve allergies, boosts energy levels, restores inherent alkalinity of the body, clears nasal and throat congestion and increases metabolic rate for weight loss” – Joshua

“Cloves for toothache, before you get to the dentist – just bite down on a clove it numbs the pain” – Nav

“Chickweed Ointment
Bunch of chickweed
Grape seed oil
Beeswax
Essential oils
Shallow glass jar or tin with lid
Equipment
Double saucepan or glass bowl in saucepan of boiling water.
Cut a handfull of chickweed, cut into approx 2 inch lengths and put into an oven proof bowl. cover with vegetable oil (grape seed is best) and place in a warm oven. If you set it at 150 degrees, you can cook a batch of shortbread at the same time. After about an hour, remove and strain, keeping the liquid.
Method
In a double saucepan or a bowl standing in boiling water, melt some beeswax, about the size of a walnut. Add the liquid from the chickweed and allow to set. The consistency should be a soft cream. If too hard, heat again and add more oil. Too soft, heat again and add more beeswax.
When the consistency is right, re-heat to melting point and add a few drops of your choice of essential oil. Lavender is good. Stir and pour into a jar or tin.
Notes
Good for dry, irritated skin. Keep a jar by the kitchen sink to use after washing up. As this ointment contains no preservatives, make a small quantity.” – Jenny

“Fresh ginger tisane for throat infections” – Thadian

“I’m really into vintage home remedies and using herbs to create beauty / personal care products. I write a blog about it too – www.vintagesavoirfaire.com” – Amanda

These remedies have been generously donated by the public and may be anecdotal only, and as such the Urban Physic Garden cannot take responsibility for their efficacy or safety. We recommend that people see a professional medical herbalist or doctor for specialist advice. To find a registered medical herbalist, see www.nimh.org.uk or www.phytotherapists.org

Edibles with medical properties feature in many of the Urban Physic Garden wards, including roots and bulbs like garlic, liquorice, ginger and horseradish; seeds like caraway, coriander and fennel; fruits like wild strawberry and chilli pepper; and flowers like marigold, heartsease, nasturtium, thyme and coriander.  There are also delicious things like rosemary, basil, lemongrass, lavender, lemon balm and lemon verbena too.

Pungent garlic has an array of healing properties.  It’s anti-infective and is especially good at treating both bacterial and viral infections of the respiratory tract and digestive system.

Lemon balm helps ease stress-related headaches and digestive problems.  It can calm anxiety and relieve insomnia.  The essential oil acts as an insect repellent, while a crushed leaf will relieve a sting.

The broad bean contains levodopa, which can be used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.  Levodopa is a precursor to dopamine – the chemical messenger that Parkinson’s sufferers lack.

The dried flower heads of chamomile can be infused in water to make a tea that aids digestion and calms the nerves.  It has sedative qualities and can ease nausea, vomiting, hyperactivity and colic.

An urban weed that’s a tasty addition to any salad, chickweed is wonderful for treating itchy and irritated skin, as well as varicose ulcers, rheumatism and gout.

Peppermint oil is strong in menthol, a proven antiseptic that cools and numbs, while its powerful aroma works as decongestant.  Peppermint also aids and calms digestion.

Also known as calendula, the pot marigold plant generally helps to boost the body’s defences.  Taken internally, it supports the lymphatic system.  Externally the petals can be infused into ointments and creams to heal the skin.

—

The focus in the Urban Physic Garden is medical, but there’s a distinctly foody feel to the garden too.  There’s a cafe on site run by Rambling Restaurant, with an ex-ambulance at its heart.  Their alfresco kitchen is literally in the garden, with planters of herbs and leaves within arm’s reach of the chef, Abi Siri Andersen.  A life-long lover of culinary herbs, Abi has been enjoying the crossover between meal-making and herbal medicine.

“The Urban Physic Garden has made me see herbs really differently – it’s a totally new way of thinking.  There’s a tranquil atmosphere here.  When people come in, they relax instantly.  There are so many little bits and bobs to look at, read and play with.  The fire pit and the banqueting table beside the cafe have given the garden a friendly focal point” she says.

While synthetic drugs have superseded medicinal plants for many in the western world, some people argue herbal medicine is as relevant as ever.   “Modern medical herbalists have harnessed science to carry on and enhance herbal traditions” says Alex Laird, co-founder of Living Medicine.

Living Medicine run workshops designed to share knowledge about plant-based cures for common complaints, like allergies, digestion and cardiovascular problems.  They dream of a future where communal medical plots are found at the bottom of everybody’s street.  As Alex Laird wanders round the Urban Physic Garden, she points out the medicinal properties of some of the plants.

“Plants’ complex mix of chemicals don’t just give us nutrition and energy, they also offer a package of tools that range from anti-inflammatory to calming and hormone-balancing” explains Alex.

“If you have a sore throat, nibble on a sage leaf and it will release anti-bacterial essential oils to help engulf the infection.  If the sore throat becomes a chest infection, pungent horseradish root will help clear the lungs of catarrh.”

“Try mint for digestion, marigold for skin healing and berries for circulation.  Rosemary is good for the lungs, the liver and the mind. Seek out elderflower for viruses, colds, fever and allergies, and nettles for nutrition, skin and joints.”.

All these plants can thrive in allotments, gardens and window boxes, which, according to Alex, could then act as living first aid cabinets for modern kitchen gardeners.

A is for…

Anodyne – a medicine that relieves distressful symptoms
Antimycotic – a substance that checks fungal growth
Antiphlogistic – a substance that relieves and reduces inflammation
Antispasmodic – a remedy that prevents muscular spasms

B is for…

Biennial – a plant with a life cycle of two seasons
Bitter principle – the chemical component of a plant that’s responsible for its bitter taste

C is for…

Carminative – relieving flatulence
Coumarin – a fragrant, aromatic compound common in plant tissues. Coumarin is largely responsible for the scent of freshly mown hay.

D is for…

Decoction – an extract prepared by boiling the crude drug in water

E is for…

Expectorant – promoting the discharge of matter from the throat or lungs by coughing

G is for…

Glaucous – covered with a waxy or powdery bloom

H is for…

Haemostatic – arresting loss of blood, something that staunches bleeding

I is for…

Inflorescence – a stem axis bearing flowers
Infusion – an extract obtained by steeping the drug in water

M is for…

Mucilaginous – a slippery and gelatinous extract with soothing and cooling properties

P is for…

Pharmacognosy – the study of the biological sources, chemistry and pharmacology of plant-derived drugs

T is for…

Tincture – a solution of active principles prepared by extraction in alcohol

Tonic – invigorating or strengthening

U is for…

Umbelliferous – umbrella shaped, flat topped or rounded flower structure

W is for…

Whorl – arrangement of three or more branches, leaves and flowers arising from the stem at the same point and encircling it

A work in progress by Helen Babbs, writer-in-residence

Tuesday
An afternoon in the Urban Physic Garden. Waiting for a friend and an excuse to drink more coffee. I sit squinting into a laptop, trying to avoid catching my own eye in a surface that’s been made into a mirror by the day’s odd light. The weather is an unpredictable mix of sunshine and sharp showers. A downpour begins at 4pm. The rain is amplified by the tarp stretched over the communal table. Something blows the internet connection out so I stare into the garden and watch as it changes colour from dry to damp. When the rain passes I venture out to explore. Tentative un-socked feet pick their way across spongy wood chip and stop to admire fat rain drops balling on the petals of the medicinal plants. The balloon flowers look wonderful studded with liquid jewels. Haven’t been here for a while. My how you’ve grown. And doesn’t the air always smell so good after summer rain.

Wednesday
1pm in the Urban Physic Garden. I’m sitting in the operating theatre at the far end of the garden. The sun is out and the garden is full of lunch breakers. The soundtrack is one of squeaking see-saw joints and the rhythmic bouncing click of balls moving back and forth in the ping pong skip. Lunchboxes are being unpacked and newspapers unfolded. Flasks are being unscrewed, releasing genie shaped puffs of steam. The hospital wards are busy with wanderers. For some it’s a first visit, an exploration of something new, a rare bloom in a once ignored part of town. For others this place is becoming a second home, a place they feel relaxed enough to lay down their own roots. Today we learn all about Florence Nightingale and her mahogany medicine chest. She was a medical icon and a recluse. She kept purgative powdered rhubarb and toxic carbonate of potassium amongst the medicines in her portable cabinet. And she wasn’t just an important nurse and health reformer, she also invented the pie chart.

Thursday
11am – 3pm in the Urban Physic Garden. A damp day, wrapped with fine rain that’s like mist and the occasional welcome ray of sun. Four hours sustained by huge mugs of coffee, then tea. Today I spend even longer admiring the blue balloon flowers in the respiratory ward. Before the flowers burst open, the slowly inflating buds really do look like small balloons, green and veined, but puffed up with air, buffeted by the wind on their string-like stalks. The plant is used in Chinese medicine to treat bronchial problems. Over lunch I join a guided herb walk round the garden, led by a medical herbalist. It’s incredibly interesting and reveals the depth and detail of the planting scheme. Each species has been carefully chosen and placed according to its medicinal properties. It results in a haphazard but beautiful aesthetic, with a fascinating layer of meaning that’s revealed once you find out what the plants do and their hidden powers.

By Helen Babbs, writer-in-residence

Rod’s in his late 50s and has a complexion like a warmed-up zombie, says Mala with a grin. He’s been a smoker since he was 11 and has a terrible cough. Mala begins rooting around in the flowerbed, hunting for a prescription. She alights upon thyme, an aromatic bushy little plant that’s sporting clusters of tiny purple flowers.

Thyme’s essential oil has antiseptic properties. If you feel like a cold is approaching, drop some thyme oil onto a tissue and place it over your bedside lamp. As it warms it will release aromas into the air.

For Rod, Mala will make a stimulating cough mixture using thyme syrup. It will loosen his phlegm and clear any infection. We begin a discussion about the colours of the phlegm rainbow and how the shade is an important indicator of what might be wrong with someone. It’s a glamorous job being a health professional!

Mala finds marsh mallow in the bed too – a tall plant with large soft pink flowers – and explains that if you steep the root or leaf in cold water overnight it will produce a viscous extraction that’s very soothing. She runs her fingers through some sage and reveals sage tea is great for sore throats. She also finds liquorice, which is covered with glorious purple blooms. Liquorice is a hero plant that, along with ginger, is found in many herbal prescriptions.

In the end Rod is prescribed a syrupy cough mixture that’s flavoured with liquorice, aniseed and ginger and sounds quite delicious. We move on to the dermatology ward. Our skin is our biggest and most visible organ, and the one that we’re most conscious of when things go wrong. Often a skin complaint reflects an internal one.

Mala points out a few key plants and how they might improve the condition of the skin, ease an inflammation or heal a wound. Diminutive gotu kola is healer that’s good for scars and wrinkles, and makes the skin feel wonderfully smooth and soft. A fragrant tea of marigold petals will stimulate the lymphatic system and reduce puffiness. The red oil of the St John’s Wort plant and the gel-like sap of aloe vera are both great for burns.

Wild pansies cleanse and cool skin inflammations, chamomile makes a great balm to ease itches, comfrey root and leaves promote skin growth and are good for helping wounds heal quickly. Comfrey is also known as ‘knit-bone’ and promotes bone repair too. It’s found in magic spells for healing broken hearts.

We haven’t covered much ground geographically, but I’ve learned an awful lot during the walk so far. To finish off Mala let’s me choose an area I want to find out more about. I spot some rosemary growing and want to know its medicinal properties as I have some growing at home. Apparently rosemary is good for the memory and stimulates brain activity. If you walk into a hall where herbalists are taking an exam it will stink of rosemary laughs Mala.

Go on a Living Medicine herb walk round the garden if you get the chance! It really is a fascinating way to spend 45mins. You won’t look at humble herbs like thyme, sage and rosemary in the same way again. Check the events calendar for dates and tickets.

By Helen Babbs, writer-in-residence

I went on one of his guided walks yesterday, along with seven others, including two young doctors who were keen to find out more about the origin of some of the drugs they use to treat patients. Damp weather and rush hour crowds added an element of challenge to our stroll, but our sturdy group wrapped itself in a blanket of umbrellas and steeled itself against the 6pm rush to London Bridge.

We headed to Southwark Cathedral first, to peer down at the secret herb garden there from a balcony-like spot on the bridge. En-route, Peter – Emeritus Professor in Pharmacognosy at King’s College London – told us about his love of the buddleia bush. Buddleia grows everywhere in London, including out of roofs and the sides of buildings. Some people take offence, but insects especially love it for its nectar-rich spikes of purple flowers. Personally I love its audacity.

Peter has studied buddleia’s medicinal properties and told us how it had once been used in traditional medicine – the flowers in eyewashes and the leaves to heal wounds. The leaves are anti-bacterial and also promote new skin cell growth. Peter noticed the roots had a strong peppery smell and subsequently discovered the buddleia root had anti-fungal properties.

From our Southwark Cathedral vantage point we learned about notorious plants like deadly nightshade and mandrake, and admired the flowers of the feverfew and St John’s Wort. We discussed how sage was once thought to be good for improving the memory, and how studies have since revealed it contains chemicals that are currently used to help people suffering from Alzheimer’s.

We headed off towards St Thomas’ hospital and into the pretty King’s College campus. The end point of the tour, and definitely the highlight, was a visit to the university’s Museum of Life Sciences. Normally closed to the public, the walk gives you special access to this strong smelling, wood paneled space.

Packed with skeletons and exotic looking leaves and roots, it feels very Victorian and eccentric. Peter gave us a tour round some of the dried herbarium specimens and allowed us to peer into jars full of huge and exotic beans and pods. Odd smells wafted out of some, while others made lovely clinks as they jumped around inside the glass.

We met kalabar beans and cola nuts, senna pods and valerian leaves, ephedra and rauwolfia. We learned about the hydra headed tree of death. We saw a sample of Madagascan periwinkle, which has recently transformed leukemia treatment, and learned how yams are key to steroid production. The tour ended with a pill making session and a chance to explore the tiny museum alone.

More walks are planned on the 29th July, the 4th and 9th August, and tickets cost £10. See the events section and calendar if you fancy booking yourself a place.

By Helen Babbs, our writer-in-residence

Pop-up projects are all the rage in London of late. Full of energy and artistry, temporary interventions can be positive forces for local good and make practical use of spaces that are otherwise going to waste. This summer, the designers of the Union Street Urban Orchard have returned to the derelict Southwark site that they temporarily transformed with fruit trees last year (close to Tate Modern and Borough Market) and this time turned it into an Urban Physic Garden.

Shaped by the hospital and the pharmacy, this community garden focuses on medicinal plants and herbs that heal. Built by volunteers in the spring, it opened in June and will charm people until August with a festival of talks, workshops, film screenings and events. It’s become a place for lively debate – an outside space where a range of people are coming together to discuss the role of plants in science, health, well-being and the environment.

Exploring herbal folklore is heaven for anyone who loves stories. A little light reading reveals that everyone should have a rosemary plant – “smell of it oft and it shall keep thee youngley” advised Banke’s Herbal in 1525. During a thunderstorm, wear a garland of bay leaves on your head to prevent getting hit by lightning. In need of answers? Twiddle a yarrow stalk in your nostril. If it results in a nose bleed, it means your true love loves you.

The language of the physic garden is also a delight. Where else can you roll words like elixir, poultice and pharmacopeia round your mouth? Herbal medicine talks of gums, resins and balsams, of tonics, tinctures and teas. It is in the physic garden that people can call themselves an alchemist or an apothecary. Herbs have great literary credentials too. Mullein (moly) appears in Homer’s Odyssey, viola tricolour (love- in-idleness) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, wild pansies and rosemary in Hamlet, and notorious mandrake in Romeo and Juliet.

Rumour has it that the screams of the plucked mandrake plant would kill anyone who heard them, so plant pickers of yore would stop their ears before harvesting it. One picking method involved tying a dog to the plant, before throwing it a stick to fetch. The poor canine would be sacrificed to the plant’s deadly cries as it was heaved it out of the earth. The root was meant to increase virility, but too much would put a person to sleep, perhaps forever.

London’s first physic garden opened in 1673 – an enchanting walled garden in Chelsea where the city’s apothecaries tended plants from around the world. The garden then stretched right down to the 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. Southwark itself has a long medical history – from the Old Operating Theatre and a little known herb garden in the grounds of Southwark Cathedral, to the huge St. Thomas and Guy’s NHS hospitals.

While physic gardens of old are steeped in much wonderful myth and legend, botany is also incredibly important to modern medicine. Today plants are used in both traditional herbal remedies and in the latest and most cutting-edge pharmaceutical drugs. Willow is why aspirin works, while yew is transforming cancer treatment. A physic garden brings an array of plants with special powers into one potent place and becomes a space for learning, research and experimentation. It also becomes a valuable way of conserving rare and endangered species.

In London’s newest physic garden at 100 Union Street, architectural structures made from reclaimed materials create a series of garden rooms, with plants grouped by hospital departments. In gastrology there’s chamomile and foxglove in cardiology. Aloe and chickweed grow in the dermatology department, while St John’s Wort thrives in the psychiatric ward.

A decommissioned ambulance is the kitchen of pop-up supper club Rambling Restaurant, who are serving up surprise lunch and dinner menus, including edible herbs and flowers. An operating theatre is a performance space and artist interventions and play structures are found dotted about the small site.

The garden was designed and produced by Wayward Plants, a collective of designers, artists and urban growers under the creative direction of landscape architect Heather Ring. Open Tuesday to Sunday, you’ll find the Urban Physic Garden at 100 Union Street, Southwark, SE1.

Helen Babbs is the Urban Physic Garden’s writer-in-residence and author of ‘My Garden, the City and Me: Rooftop Adventures in the Wilds of London’.

 
(Hand-sewn on teabag mesh)
 
 
Steep us in sleep, sweet chamomile.
In let it seep, despite all our guile.
Steep us in sleep, sweet chamomile.
Spare us time’s creep, the ticking clock’s trial.
Steep us in sleep, sweet chamomile.
If we should weep, watch over a while.
Steep us in sleep, sweet chamomile.
 
 
Laura Forman
(From Herbarium, a new poetry anthology. Launch and reading 22 July)

1. Of my bullocks gets chesty he asks for that lungwort
(I open him up)
2. Mullein sharks in lemon and lampblack
(Their going out clothes)
3. Old moleys burrowing deeper
(I bandage their paws)
4. Chemists notes made out to the shepherd
(COUMADIN 10 MIL)
5. Lady’s flannels for dabbing at blotches
(No wonder he hacked)
6. Humble bees for a tumerous throat
(And a pension strike)
7. Grey mullets, stinking and belly-up
(The piscicide hedgerows)
8. Flaming tapers for the funeral marches
(Antimagical drachms)
 
 
James Wilkes
(From Herbarium, a new poetry anthology. Launch and reading 22 July)