Native Medicine Garden: Creating Your Own Healing Space

An indigenous medicine garden is an in situ repository of medicinal plants that represents traditional knowledge. Additionally, these gardens serve as tools for plant identification and research.

Royal Roads University recently unveiled a garden as part of their Indigenous Studies diploma program, where land-based learning plays an essential role in Indigenous health and wellbeing.

Native Medicine Garden: Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants have become an increasingly popular trend, both commercially and through supplements. When treated correctly, many medicinal herbs thrive in North Carolina soil and climate; Craig Mauney and Margaret Bloomquist of NC State Extension’s agricultural crop experts introduce us to some such plants in this episode of Homegrown.

A medicine garden is a space to showcase your inner spiritual health through plants, natural materials and symbolic elements. It serves as a sacred healing space and often becomes the setting for ceremonies, blessings, cleansing or visions. A medicine wheel symbolizes life itself while providing us an opportunity to reflect on relationships between ourselves, each other and Mother Earth.

The University of Maine campus Medicinal Herb Garden features over 20 medicinal plants identified with metal placards. Selected by June Blue, an Anishinabe Ojibwe Elder and grandmother from White Earth Nation and member of Crane Clan.

Each herb was chosen for specific medicinal applications: treating respiratory infections or fevers; healing mouth sores or toothaches; soothing emotional distress or aiding digestion – some even contain toxic compounds which may need to be reduced with proper preparation and use;

most medicinal plants do contain potentially toxic compounds which must be reduced or even eliminated with proper use and preparation – most likely not being suitable options!

Native Medicine Garden: Site Selection

As part of creating a medicinal garden, it’s essential to consider how each plant fits into its surrounding landscape. Since medicinal plants tend to be tall, their growth could impede other plants in the area. Your chosen herbs should also work well with the growing conditions on site such as soil type and weather patterns – consult a landscaper, horticulturist or botanist for assistance in finding plants suitable for your climate zone.

One way of planning a medicine garden is using the Medicine Wheel, as shown here. This sacred design represents all four directions; Native Americans believed each direction brought different energies into the garden. Each quadrant represents different aspects of healing; herbs can be found that correspond with each quadrant.

As an example, the southern stone of a medicine wheel represents Coyote totem and symbolizes growth and fulfillment. This space would be ideal for planting nutritious foods like vegetables and berries as well as herbs that promote fast development such as southern sage or creeping thyme.

Native Medicine Garden: Plant Selection

When creating a medicine garden, choose plants that serve multiple functions – both edible and medicinal – such as wild blue violets (Viola sororia) and wild strawberry plants (Fragaria ananassa). Both can easily grow in landscape settings while providing vital nectar sources for pollinators populations.

Medicinal plants can be found both in the wild and from local nurseries. When selecting wild species for medicinal use, look for native varieties as this helps preserve ecology while mitigating any negative impacts to habitat or community.

Consider the cultural significance of each plant when selecting them for a medicine garden. Jewel weed, for instance, serves as an effective first aid treatment against poison ivy and other skin irritations; while yarrow is another native medicinal that can stop bleeding from cuts and scrapes and insect bites as well as reduce swelling and soothe headaches.

Plantain can be an essential addition to any native medicinal garden as it can remove stingers from bee stings!

Roos intentionally integrated cultural significance into her design by employing the Medicine Wheel both as a physical representation of her garden layout and an analogy for plant selection process.

She worked closely with Band Elders and Anishinaabe traditions during this process to ensure all elements were meaningful for the community.

Native Medicine Garden: Plant Care

At its heart, all gardens heal. From the therapeutic act of pulling weeds and digging in the dirt to gazing upon flowers – each element contributes to our sense of well-being. More formally speaking, medicine gardens are created with healing on an intrinsic spiritual level in mind.

Medicinal plants can not only enhance your landscape, they can also be delicious! Integrating herbs into meals and making herbal teas, tinctures, salves and oils is an easy way to incorporate medicinal plants into daily life.

Joann: In the community-based garden program where I work, medicinal and culinary herbs are part of our curriculum and help students gain more familiarity with each plant and its uses. This helps facilitate connection between students and plants and their medicinal or culinary benefits.

Dandelions may seem like common weeds, but they actually possess numerous medicinal uses. Dandelions stimulate appetites, promote healthy digestion and can even be gargled to soothe sore throats.

Dandelion grows well in USDA planting zones 3-10 and seed can easily be started within two weeks before frost date.

Fennel offers vivid blooms that add visual interest and mental wellness benefits, including supporting healthy lungs and respiratory system functions, correcting fungal imbalances, relieving muscle tension, and providing relief against fungal imbalances.

Sow seeds in either late fall or early spring for outdoor transplanting 12 inches apart in full sun with well-drained soil.