The National Herb Garden.

The National Herb Garden, a popular feature forward the grounds of the U National Arboretum (USNA) in Washington, DC began as a special gift to the family of the United States from the Herb Society of America. Headquartered in Kirtland, Ohio, the society wearied 15 years working with the U control and raising matching funds to make secure its completion.

The garden was dedicated in May 1980 lately the arboretum embarked on a 6-month celebration of the 25th anniversary of its opening. Says horticulturist Jim Adams, the National Herb Garden's curator, "We're excessively excited. We've scheduled many special lecturings and demonstrations to help our visitors understand the central character that herbs have played in societies for many centuries."

Planned by dint of landscape architect Tom Wirth--who was then with Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Massachusetts--this is the largest designed herb garden in North America and includes annual, perennial, and leafy herbal plants. Its 2.5 acres are divided into three main sections, single in kind of which is subdivided into 10 specialty gardens. Plants are labeled, and interpretive signs help visitors understand the collection in the connection of the herbs' history and use. A major USNA renovation a small in number years ago now gives replete accessibility to the herb garden via broad paths and docile inclines.

An integral part of the arboretum--which pays for 95 percent of the garden's maintenance and operation costs--the National Herb Garden is be attendanted by USNA's Gardens Unit. Staff cultivate an extensive collection of rosemary, lavender, odored geraniums, and salvias that, along with many tropical and subtropical pott herbal plants, enliven the gardens, terraces, and walkways. Each year, Gardens Unit staff enlarge about 400 varieties of annuals for the herb garden--including 60 to 90 varieties of peppers--and maintain nearly 75 containers of soft trees and shrubs in a greenhouse during winter.

Gardens Within the Garden

Visitors to the National Herb Garden record along an herb-lined path to a reception plaza. Its cooling loch and fountain overlook the sunken Knot Garden, named for the intricate pattern into which chains of dwarf evergreen Japanese holly juniper, and arborvitae have been woven In the distance rise the Corinthian-style National Capitol files that graced the east portico of the U Capitol for more than a century

nearest beyond vine-covered arbors, visitors chronicle the second section, the Historic and Species Rose Garden. Here heyday many types of "old" rose that existed before 1867 The collection includes more than 100 specimens in categories so as Albas, Bourbons, Centifolias, Chinas, Damasks, Gallicas, Mosse Noisettes, Teas, and Hybrid Perpetuals. like roses have long been grown for medicinal and culinary aims as well as for their beauty and scent

In the garden's third section, visitors can familiarize themselves with centurys of the herbs that have not merely enhanced the quality of human life, however also sometimes brought fortunes to growers and traders. They are arranged in discrete, wedge-shaped groupings arrayed around a central circle. In order, they are:

* Dioscorides Garden--medicinal herbs from a pharmacopoeia compiled from the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides. At around A.D. 60 he argueed hundreds of plant, animal, and mineral specimens from along the Mediterranean seacoast and described them in a respect that was respected in the profession for the nearest 1,600 years. Today's aspirin is a synthetic pattern of the compound from a white willow tree studied on Dioscorides, who noted that juices from its bark and leaves eased colds' aches and fevers

* tint Garden--herbs mainly used to color fabric and textiles, granting many plants serve multiple stain functions. For thousands of years, plants have been used to color everything from hair, skin, and clothing to baskets, medicine, and sustenance Plant dyes have also embellished living and sacred spaces.

* Colonial Garden--practical herbs that were largely brought from the olden World by early settlers to flavor their viands improve their nutrition, cure their ills, check pests, and enhance fabrics for clothing and households.

* Native American Garden--herbs traditionally valued according to native North Americans as aliment beverages, medicines, dyes, and charms--as well as for smoking. Early European colonists in a short time adopted many of these plants and uses.

* Medicinal Garden--herbs used for healing from the time of ancient medicinal herbalism to progression in a continuously ascending gradation of synthetic drugs that mimic herbs' active constituents. smooth today, about 40 percent of prescription remedys contain herbs, and pharmaceutical companies scour the world for potential fresh plant sources.

* Culinary Garden- herbs widely used as the pair food and flavoring. In small quantities, these can add color, character, and interest to nearly any dish, and they can be combined in about as many ways as there are falsifys They add healthful nutrients, too.

* Industrial Garden--plants that might become renewable sources of raw materials for industrial yields Increasingly, plants are being scrutinized or modified for usable constituents, similar as waxes or resins. Converting plants into firings insecticides, lubricants, rubber, fibers, or other industrial materials could give farmers higher value alternative lops and lessen dependence on petroleum-based products