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 [...]

The Garden of Deadly Delights We live in a garden of death. Virtually every day of our lives we are in intimate contact with many of the world’s most poisonous plants. Intentionally, we have surrounded ourselves with plants such as yew, the “bastard killer,” and the herbs of black magic. We tend and nurture them [...]

The Botanic Cathedral The architecture, the ceremony, the symbolism, even the mood of Catholicism make it a religion that attracts and fascinates the Gothic element, even if those Goths don’t actually practice the religion itself. The gothic aesthetic is obsessed with gargoyles, rosaries, gothic arches and stained glass, Orthodox icons, candelabras, crucifixes, and many trappings [...]

The Garden in Winter snow-covered tree “Now is the winter of our discontent” could be said almost every winter by a gardener. The sky is gray and dreary, the trees are merely the bones of their branches, the earth is cold and the wind is icy. The garden exists in its most skeletal form. If [...]

The Abortionist’s Garden Not strictly a “gothic” topic (well, unless you think dead fetuses are gothic) but definitely a macabre one…. Medieval Midwife at WorkThe old herbalists had quite a few ideas that were not very scientific, such as the Doctrine of Signatures. According to this Doctrine, if a plant looked like a certain part [...]

Growing your Grave Goods Unlike the modern aphorism, ‘You can’t take it with you’, most cultures around the world did a great deal to make the transition into the Afterworld comfortable for the being in question, which meant including objects in the grave which would travel with the person. These objects were often of a [...]

The Garden of Ill Omens Tired of being a perkygoff? Haven’t had anything to angst about in a while? Need some bad luck in your life? Well, I have the solution. All of these plants foretell some sort of disaster, from wetting the bed to a death in the family…. Queen Anne’s Lace If brought [...]

Gardening for the Fey Let’s get one thing straight here, fairies are not cute. Shakespeare made them seem cute, and Disney finished off the job (sorry, Heather, but it’s true). The Fey are capricious, mischievous, arrogant, menacing, and sometimes downright evil and dangerous to humans. The Fey include elves, fairies, gnomes, trolls, goblins, and a [...]

Le Jardin Sanguinaire This garden design is somewhat of a “pun” garden, but could still be quite creepy as you show a guest around….Imagine pointing out your bloodroot, love-lies-bleeding, blood flowers……Lick your lips as you glance at their throat….Smile. Bloodroot This plant has clusters of blue-green foliage and small white flowers. The root was used [...]

The Little Greenhouse of Horrors Every proper gothy-type mansion should have a greenhouse or conservatory attached to it. In this controlled environment, all sorts of horrid creations of nature can be grown. Feed Me, Seymour! Carnivorous plants eat insects and other lower animals in order to supplement their diet….they still photosynthesize, but they usually live [...]