Tea at Trianon: Plants with a Hidden Past

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Plants with a Hidden Past

Honeysuckle

From the BBC:

Studies of plants by ancient herbalists paved the way for the formal study of plants by the first botanists, many of whom were also physicians. Today, at least 28,000 plant species are recorded as being of medicinal use.

Fiona Davison says the long story of the "healing garden" is coming full circle and we're now thinking of gardens holistically as "healing spaces", where, by spending time in them, we're getting some well-being benefit.

Here are five garden plants that you can still find in your garden, that were once recommended by ancient herbalists. (Note: These plants may not be recommended for medical use today and may have side-effects or be harmful if ingested.) (Read more.)