Shakespeare's Herbs

Inspired by the China Bayles Book of Days, I'm thinking of planning a garden for The Blooming Bard.

"For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep
Seeming and savour all the winter long;
Grace and remembrance be to you both." —William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale

Shakespeare's plays and poems bloom with flowers. What could be more interesting than a corner of your own garden devoted to the herbs and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare's plays? You might want to add a label to each plant, citing the play or poem in which the plant is mentioned. And if you are a great admirer of the Bard's plays, you might want to make a Shakespeare garden album, with pressed flowers and leaves, a note about the plant, and a quotation from the plays.

Here are a few of Shakespeare's herbs and flowers. You'll find a complete list in China Bayles' Book of Days, in the entry for April 23.

Carnation The Winter's Tale 4:4
Fennel Hamlet 4:5
Holly As You Like It 2:7
Honeysuckle A Midsummer Night's Dream 4:1
Lavender The Winter's Tale 4:3
Marigold The Winter's Tale 4:4
Marjoram The Winter's Tale 4:4
Mint The Winter's Tale 4:3
Nettle Othello 1:3
Pansy Hamlet 4:5
Parsley Taming of the Shrew 4:4
Rose King Henry VI, Part 1 2:4
Rosemary The Winter's Tale 4:4
Rue The Winter's Tale 4:4
Thyme A Midsummer Night's Dream 2:1
Violet King Henry V 4:1
Wormwood Hamlet 3:2

"When daisies pied and violets blue
and lady-smocks all silver-white
and cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight." —Love's Labors Lost

Read more about the Bard's blossoms: Shakespeare's Garden, by James Bloom