Beyond the Thirteen:

Nascent Ideas for Theme Gardens

Every time I get sick of doing Gothic Gardening, I read something else that gives me some new idea for the webpage…and I rarely stop with just that idea. I keep going until I get absolutely sick of it again. That having been said, I really am sick of doing theme gardens. I may occasionally add a plant here or there to the ones I have already, and I’ll probably spruce them up and make them more visually appealing. But I really don’t feel like researching and writing any more of these. That doesn’t mean I don’t have any other ideas for theme gardens; unfortunately, my mind runs overtime thinking up weird and stupid stuff (and barely works at all for anything important). So here are my undeveloped ideas for other sort-of-gothically-inclined theme gardens….and I’ve now added plant lists for some of them. But they remain essentially undeveloped….the details are up to you.

* Devil’s Garden–This could be a combination of a pun garden (like Le Jardin Sanguinaire) and a folklore garden. There are lots of plants that have “devil” in the name, like Devil’s Backbone and Devil’s Tongue. And you could also throw in plants that are historically associated with the devil, like parsley. A few of these devil plants are listed in the Witches’ Garden, but there are more than just those few.

* Of Serpents and Dragons–Again, a combination pun and folklore garden. Snake’s Head Fritillary, Dragon Tree, Snapdragons, and Viper’s Bugloss could all be included, as well as plants traditionally thought to be cures for snakebite.

* Lunacy Garden–This garden would an homage to the moon, and as such would include the plants from the Night Garden, but would also include plants under the astrological influence of the moon, plants that are sacred to moon goddesses, and plants which have ‘moon’ as part of their common or scientific names. The garden could be planted in the shape of a crescent moon.

* Wicca or Herbcraft Garden–Modern day witches, who very often call themselves wiccans, wouldn’t grow the evil Witches Garden. That garden is based on the folklorish notions of what a witch does; this garden would be designed with modern herbcraft in mind.

* Shakepeare’s Tragedy Garden–The Shakespeare Garden has been done to death, and there are quite a few books out there that list *every* plant mentioned by Shakespeare in his plays. (A sure case of Need to Get a Real Life Syndrome, in my opinion.) But to give this old idea a gothesque twist, grow plants from only the tragedies. There’s enough in Hamlet alone for a small garden.

There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray,
love, remember: and there is pansies. that’s for thoughts….
There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue
for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it
herb-grace o’ Sundays: O you must wear your rue with
a difference. There’s a daisy: I would give you
some violets, but they withered all when my father
died: they say he made a good end….

One suggestion I recieved was an “Ophelia Drowned” theme water garden set up with a female manniquin at the bottom of the pool.

* Torture Garden–Why not do a garden consisting of plants that were used, in some manner, for torture?

* Voodoo Garden–This one should be obvious. If you’re interested in one of the many varieties of voodoo, this would be a good excuse to research it and find any significant botanical specimens that would be necessary for you to properly practice it.

* Historical Gardens–I’ve seen garden plans for just about any time period, including biblical, Egyptian, renaissance, medieval, colonial, and Victorian. If you are interested in growing heirloom plants, Grandmother’s Garden is a good place to start.

* Bog Garden–Well, I think bogs are pretty icky and spooky. Some cattails, skunk cabbage, and a few of the carnivorous plants, perhaps surrounding a pond filled with black koi, would make a pretty gothic garden….

* Exorcism Garden–This would consist of plants which are traditionally thought to drive evil spirits away, sort of the opposite of the Devil’s Garden. Laurel, herb-bennett, thistle, aloe, honesty, juniper, mugwort, peony, hellebore, elder, nettle, and St. John’s wort would all belong in this garden.

* Incense Garden–What determines gothic Incense? Dark, obviously, or nostalgically sweet – a blend of any of the following: roses, patchouli, opium (from opium poppies – not exactly legal to grow….), violets, vervain, basil, rosemary, bay, pine, cedar, wisteria, heliotrope, lavendar, orris (orris root is a fixative but it has a fragrance all its own, somewhat reminiscent of dry earth with a touch of sweet), cypress, mugwort, mint, wormwood, tansy, and willow. The rest are from plants which don’t grow well in the US – cloves, myrrh, benzoin, frankincense, sandalwood. A blend of rose, patchouli, lavendar, orris, woodruff, and sandalwood smells almost like a graveyard at sunset after a funeral, when the flowers are just beginning to wilt and the dirt is still fresh-scented – kind of sweeetish and earthy, with an undertone of new mown grass. Some other suggestions for an incense garden include alkanet for purification, althea for psychic powers, and asafoetida for exorcism incense. (thanks to Gothic Gardening readers Noddy and Joey)
New! incense recipes

* Love Slave Garden–For the dominatrix in all of us (ok, well perhaps not the guys). This garden would consist of plants used in love charms that can be used to make others swoon at your feet. Gothic Gardening reader Joey suggected the following: love apples or cherry tomatoes – an aphrodesiac; garlic – aphrodesiac; caraway – to attract lovers; rose – to attract certain kind of lover (red – sexual lover, pink – true love, white – virgin/pure love, yellow – jealous lover, orange – making you attractive); jasmine – to seduce men or to attract spiritual love; lavender – to seduce men; basil – for both love and lust; dill – love magick; gold marjoram – making you shine like the sun (sex speaking); vervain – love potions; corriander – seed in love potions; violet – mix dried flowers with lavender for love/lust potion

* Spider Garden–Well, there aren’t any plants particularly good for attracting spiders, but they love mulch. And there’s Spider Lilies (Hymenocallis and Lycoris), Spiderwort (Commelinaor Tradescantia), Spider Flower (Cleome), and Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum). And the garden could be planted in the shpae of a spider….

* Garden of the Seven Deadly Sins–Plants representing each of the Cardinal sins.

* Garden of Ruin–More a decorating scheme than a planting scheme. Broken pottery, broken statues, pots broken in half sitting propped up against stones, with plants growing out of them, over-turned pots of flowers, stumps (planted or unplanted), rotting wicker baskets with plants growing through them.

* Day of the Dead Garden–Marigolds are used on the day of the dead to decorate loved ones graves. Warihio amaranth also has a ceremonial purpose. An outdoor altar, especially in an ornate latin american or spanish theme would be appropriate (perhaps with milagros or a milagro cross). This garden would not be complete without the skeletons (real or plastic bones would do!)

* Glow in the Dark Garden–Fungi are the only plants which actually luminesce in the dark (and they aren’t actually plants). I have no idea how you’d get these started, but here’s the ones to look for:
o Omphalotus illudens (olearius)
o Clitocybe illudens
o Armillaria mellea
o Panellus stipticus