Choose Your Garden - The Monastery Herb Garden

The ancient practice of maintaining a small distance or separation from the outside world, makes a monk's garden design one that works well as a garden of reflection, meditation, and a testament to self-sufficiency.

What a lot of people don't think of when they think of a monastery or a group of monks -- is the fact that many religious orders of monks, were experts at self-sufficient gardens and of gardening for the primary purpose of making spirit-based drinks.

Furthermore, monks (particularly of the Renaissance era) made liqueurs and wines that were infused with a sweet distillation of herbs. These liqueurs were known as:

• Balms
• Cremes
• Elixirs

They were sold or given away for a donation as:

• Medicines
• Tonics
• Love Potions

Religious Benedictine monks (Fécamp, France) were the first to make benedictine in 1510. Benedictine is a sweet healing cognac-based liqueur, enhanced various aromatics, fruit peels and herbs. The recipes by

It was originally made to treat malaria. It iis honey colored, sometimes almost amber in color. Its aroma is earthy and somewhat flora. If you are discriminating you can taste the flavors of honey, hints of citrus, and other herbs such as rosemary, basil, and sage. This liqueur is infused with roots, spices, and herbs, and sweetened with sugar. It's actually a form of cognac.

The exact ingredients of benedictine is to this day is a very closely guarded secrets. Bénédictine is still produced in France. It has a certain air of mystery about it's recipe as it was supposedly lost during the French revolution and then rediscovered in 1863.

The recipe was purportedly created in 1510, lost during the French revolution, and then rediscovered in 1863, in which it began production that continues until today.

Most benedictine is made from twenty-five to twenty-seven different herbs and spices, among them are:

• Angelica
• Anise
• Balm
• Caraway
• Coriander
• Elecampane
• Fennel
• Hyssop
• Mint
• Speedwell
• Sweet cicely
• Sweet flat root
• Sweet Woodruff
• Tansy
• Thyme
• Violets
• Wormwood

Generally, monastic gardens were three primary gardens:

• The herbal garden
• The medicinal garden
• The kitchen garden

So much care went into these monastery gardens, that they were also designed to be beautiful as well as function. Think useful as well as beautiful.

They even went as far as to plant fruit trees and berry bushes in their graveyards. Even more astounding is the fact that inside some monasteries, they built their outhouses next to the kitchen garden as sources of manure, but also to aid in making the outhouses more pleasant coming and going for the monks, both visually and aromatically. (However, I am not suggesting anyone design their garden in this manner).

As a former native Californian, I grew up visiting and having a love for all the old Spanish Missions scattered throughout the American West. They are every bit as garden design inspiring as monastery gardens found throughout the world.

While today, mission gardens aren't remotely like the practical early mission gardens, their history does include the fact that the padres were the first to introduce:

• Olive trees
• Pepper trees
• Pomegranates
• Orange trees (they planted the first Californian orange groves)
• Grape Vineyards (they were also the first to plant grapes)

My favorites are, of course, all of the ten missions established by Father Junipero Serra, particularly:

• San Luis Obispo de Tolosa-- The fifth California mission founded by Father Junipero Serra, Sept. 1, 1772. I'm particularly fond of the grape arbor/archway in the garden. While California is known for great wine, many people are unaware that all those vineyards came from the missions, and all started at Mission San Miguel.

Another mission's gardens, who form some of my earliest memories as a child playing on the grounds and on school field trips is:

• San Juan Capistrano-- To me garden wise, it represents the best of all worlds, as the plants are just magnificent: To honor it I always plant at least one Bougainvillea where ever I have lived. It has a glorious century-old pepper tree growing among the ruins and a Moorish-style fountain in the entry garden. You can also see Honeysuckle, Cape plumbago, bottlebrush, and lantana edge outer pathways near the ruins of the old stone church.

Moving east, over to Texas, I am particularly fond of the three Missions in the area of El Paso, Texas. They are:

• Ysleta Mission
• Socorro Mission
• Chapel San Elizario

While you won't find hardly a trace of the gardens that once were there, your imagination will hopefully see what once was, and still should be. Learning about the history and knowing about both monasteries and old missions should inspire any avid gardener to recreate a monastic garden or missionary garden of their own.

• Almond trees
• Apple trees
• Basil
• Borage
• Carnations
• Cheery
• Chestnut trees
• Cumin
• Comfrey
• Endive
• Fennel
• Feverfew
• Figs
• Grapes
• Gooseberries
• Hazel trees
• Iris
• Lavender
• Leeks
• Legumes
• Lovages
• Mint
• Melons
• Mulberry trees
• Nettle
• Onions
• Parsnips
• Pear trees
• Pennyroyal
• Plum trees
• Rue
• Strawberries
• Walnut trees
• Yarrow