Herb Society Meeting at Williamsburg, May, 2015, Part Four!

Shells Would be Typical for Paths in Colonial Times

Herbs Were Planted Closest to the Kitchen

A Row of Peonies for Decoration

Vegetables and Greens

More of the Greens

Cardoons or Artichokes

The Dynamic Kirk Brown

Christiana Campbell's Tavern Sign

The Front Door and Porch of Christiana Campbell's Tavern

A Toast to Williamsburg and the Herb Society of America!

One Last Stop on the Way Home to Plant Herbs at DeBaggio's Herb Farm!

2016 Herb of the Year Capsicum

Well, I must confess that while the merry band of herb lovers was happy with my garden tour in Williamsburg I made a big mistake.  So when we paid attention to Don Haynie and his dedicated volunteers from the Tidewater Unit who presented the different herb gardens in the historic area, it clicked with both Bonnie and I at the same time.  We rushed over after the presentations were done to take photos of the garden we had missed.  The kitchen garden at the Governor's Palace was RIGHT BEHIND the kitchen!  So here you go ladies.  It was terraced on a hillside starting with the most important plants, the herbs.  I loved the pathways which were of shells very typical for that time period. 

Saturday brought more great speakers including Kirk Brown, Dr. Doug Tallamy, Debra Knapke and one of our favorites, Holly Shimizu.  She and her husband have designed and planted a new historic garden in Lewes, Delaware.  It was very interesting as was all of the speakers.  Sometimes I get fidgety after a day of speakers but this went by quickly and it ended with us receiving a plant to take home to analyze as a 2016 Herb of the Year.  I got the 'Fish' pepper because next year capsicum is the herb of the year.

What an interesting plant this is besides being variegated, it is an African American heirloom which is a mutation of a Serrano pepper.  Click the link above to find out more about the 'Fish' pepper from one of my favorite herbalists, Susan Belsinger.  I will be giving our thoughts to the Herb Society as we go along.  We just transplanted it to a container and it should be just perfect for container gardening.

We ended our trip to Williamsburg and the HSA conference with dinner at one of my favorite taverns, Christiana Campbell's Tavern.  We pigged out and as you can see by our attire we enjoyed ourselves.  On the way home we made one more important stop at DeBaggio's Herb Farm in Chantilly, Virginia.  If you are going to be in the Chantilly area before July 1, please stop by.  You won't be disappointed.  They will be closed for the season on July 2.  Well, I hope you know from my posts that we had a wonderful time and learned a lot and had some great retail experiences, herbally speaking.

I just wanted to conclude by saying I loved being back in Williamsburg.  I thought it might be a busier time of year, but it wasn't.  It was not too hot and humid.  Good work Herb Society for picking this time in Williamsburg.  I would go back at this time again another year. I have one more post about Williamsburg but it can wait for another day.  Talk to you later.   

Herb Society Meeting in Williamsburg, May 2015, Part Three!

Pasteur & Galt Apothecary Garden

The Pleasure Garden of the Benjamin Powell House

The Kitchen Garden of the Benjamin Powell House

Leicester Longwool Sheep

Lots of Pleasure Gardens to See

The Best Pleasure Garden is One in the Shade

View of the York River from the Riverwalk Restaurant, Yorktown, VA

Had to Have Crab Cakes!

Finally Met the Elusive Carolee Snyder!

Beautiful Herbs on the Speakers Stage

So everyone in my little band of merry herb lovers wanted to see the apothecary garden.  It wasn't on the official tour map and I wondered why.  It was a lovely garden and one that should have been seen by all of the members of the Herb Society because medicinal herbs are such an important part of why we are learning about herbs in the first place.

Pasteur and Galt were competitors at first and then they formed a partnership and when Pasteur retired, Galt continued on.  So the inside of the apothecary is stocked and furnished just as it would have been in Galt's time.  During the war, they had to deal with public health issues such as small pox and whopping cough.  They obtained most of their potions and herbs from England at first.  What was fascinating and wonderful to me is that they treated both free and enslaved men and women.

The last garden was at the far edge of the Historic Area past the Capitol.  Not everyone ventured on, but Kathleen, Bonnie and I wanted to see it and I am glad we did.  The Benjamin Powell House and Garden was another combination of pleasure and kitchen garden.  Also they had sheep that Colonial Williamsburg is working to preserve, the Leicester Longwool sheep.  George Washington raised these sheep at Mount Vernon.

This part of the Historic Area had nice pleasure gardens and we were encouraged by the members of the Tidewater Unit to just go and walk into these gardens on our own.  It was really a lovely day.  We ended our day with dinner with Kathleen our long time friend from the Western Reserve Unit and long-time resident of Chagrin Falls and former owner of the Village Herb Shop.  We went down to Yorktown along the York River to the Riverwalk Restaurant.  A beautiful restaurant, great food and wonderful company!

On the first day of the conference I finally met Carolee Snyder who has sold her farm and is now semi-retired.  Don't try to find her at the farm, but she will still be writing her newsletter about all of her adventures.  I thought I did a lot when I travel.  Carolee seems to do twice as much.  We had wonderful speakers on the first day and day two would be even better if that's possible.

So one more post and I will finish our trip to the Herb Society Meeting in Williamsburg.  Talk to you soon. 

Herb Society Meeting at Williamsburg, May, 2015, Part Two!

The Back Entrance of the Governor's Palace

Ballroom Gardens

A Very Shaded Walkway to the Terraces and Canal

The Box Gardens

The Terraces and Canal

Just Like England!

You Can Get Around the Palace Green in Style!

Chowning's Tavern!  Time for Lunch!

John Who Reads His Poetry for the Tavern Audiences

Our Merry Herb Lovers at Lunch!

Our Entertainment Included a Fiddle Player!

The Wetherburn Tavern Herbs

The Prentis House Pleasure Gardens

The Prentis House Kitchen Garden and Orchard

A Bird Bottle Ready for Nesting

Also wanted to mention we had an herb lover from New Orleans named Ann tag along with the group.  From the start, Bonnie and I decided that we wanted to concentrate on the gardens and not worry about seeing the insides of the buildings in Colonial Williamsburg.  So with that in mind, I'm still talking about the garden tour day and continuing down the Palace Green to the Governor's Palace.  While we saw the pleasure gardens, we missed what I was really wanting to see and that was the kitchen garden.  Sorry ladies!  You will get to see that in Part Three!

I jumped ahead with the Geddy kitchen garden in the previous post so now it is time to go in style in a horse and carriage for lunch.  We just walked it!  We ended up right at Chowning's Tavern and had a delicious and very entertaining lunch.  You don't have to have lunch reservations at any of the taverns that are serving lunch, but not all of them serve lunch every day.

We then went to Wetherburn's Tavern which is one of the original buildings in the Historic Area and the one of the most complete inventories of objects, furniture and even plants, from seeds and pits from fruits and vegetables that were found in the well.  Again, the gardens including herbs, flowers and vegetables was very utilitarian!

The Prentis House garden is one of pleasure, a small kitchen garden and orchard.  As I told the ladies one of the first laws as Williamsburg was being developed was that the residential areas all had to have a fence of wood to keep out livestock, including horses, cows, sheep, etc. and I think also to define property lines.  The commercial buildings, the college, the church, the palace and the capitol were all surrounded by brick walls.

There is more to see.  I'm going to try to get the rest posted today if I can.  Dark clouds overhead here.  Hope you are safe if storms are coming your way.  Talk to you later. 

Herb Society Meeting at Williamsburg, May, 2015, Part One!

Herb Purchases Made Right At Home with  Our Wide Windowsills!

The Plants Enjoyed Their Stay As Much As We Did!

The Colonial Garden and Nursery

A Colonial Gardening Shed

Colonial Ladies Deciding What to Harvest!

The Colonial Garden and Nursery

A Lovely Combination of English Daisies and Forget Me Nots!

Always a Retail Experience!

One More Photo of the Colonial Garden and Nursery!

Lemon Verbena Lady Visits the Blair House Herb Garden!

Lovely Work by the Tidewater Unit of the HSA!

A Very Traditional Dooryard Herb Garden in Front of the Kitchen

The Kitchen Gardens of George Wythe

Kitchen Garden at the Wythe House

Kitchen Garden of the Geddy House and Foundry

My Herbal Companion and I got a roaring start driving to Williamsburg and stopping at two beautiful garden and herb farms.  One called Surreybrooke in Middletown, Maryland and had lunch at The Main Cup in Middletown.  And then it was off to Glen Allen, Virginia where we stopped at Lavender Fields Herb Farm for organic herbs, flowers and veggies and their lavender lemonade.  So good!  Since it can be a long day since I do all of the driving, I like to break up the time with lunch and plant purchases.

As you can see by the first two photos, we had big success purchasing herb plants at both Surreybrooke and Lavender Fields.  Our hotel room had the perfect wide windowsills to hold all of our purchases to give them light.  We decided to stay at the Woodlands because it included breakfast each day of our stay.  The conference was held at the Lodge.  Only a bus ride away.  It was very convenient!

My adoptive mother and I came to Williamsburg many times when I was young.  I hadn't been since the early 90's when The Herbal Husband and I had Thanksgiving at The King's Arms.  It has changed a lot during the years I have been away.  It is a much more interactive town.  Where can you hear the Declaration of Independence being read for the "first time" to the colonists outside the Capitol after it was adopted?  Gave me chills!

So the Herb Society had optional garden tours on the second day that were filled immediately.  I told Bonnie that she and I would just walk around and see the gardens that were in bloom.  Before I knew it I had a small group that was listening and following me.

Our Merry Band of Herb Lovers!  Thanks Ann for Sharing This!

I had a plan, but the Herb Society did give us a map of the herb gardens that were available for viewing.  It made it easier for me.  We first stopped at the Colonial Gardens and Nursery where they have colonial women and men working in the gardens and explaining with traditional tools how gardening was done in the 18th Century and of course a retail experience with books, seeds, tools and plants.

Then we went to the most iconic herb garden in Williamsburg in front of the Blair House Kitchen.  Can I just mention here that the wonderful Don Haynie has moved here to become the Director of the Colonial Williamsburg Herb Gardens and his wonderful team of HSA volunteers from the Tidewater Unit had the gardens looking immaculate.  They of course have the gardening staff of Colonial Williamsburg at their disposal as well.  Well done, ladies and gentlemen!

We moved on to the George Wythe house and kitchen gardens that were adjacent to the Bruton Parish Church.  Wythe was a professor of law at the College of William and Mary to Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall and  Henry Clay.  The house was used during the Battle of Yorktown as Washington's headquarters.  It is one of the grandest and most impressive private houses in town.  The kitchen garden again was very utilitarian, but beautiful in its simplicity.

We then moved on to the James Geddy House and Foundry which was first a gunsmith shop and then after the son took over a shop for a silversmith, goldsmith and watch repairs and where there was a more modest kitchen garden at the back of the property.  So don't worry I'm not finished with the tour or the conference.  More to come.

We have the ickies and stickies back again.  Storms coming later today!  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.