The Physic Garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, located just outside the monarch’s official residence in Scotland, is a free-to-visit garden that can be enjoyed year-round by the people of Edinburgh and visitors to the Palace.
The Physic Garden is located beside the Palace’s Abbey Strand Learning Centre, and over the past five years, more than 360 pupils from schools both local and further afield have taken part in educational sessions, with children learning how plants were used historically as remedies to improve health and wellbeing.
A further 400 ethnobotany students, members of community gardens, and nature-lovers of all ages have taken part in guided visits and events, reviving the garden’s centuries-old original purpose of teaching the medicinal properties of plants.
The Physic Garden was opened in 2020 to recreate some of the earliest recorded gardens in the Palace grounds, with three distinct sections each representing different periods in the Palace’s 900-year history.
Raised beds of herbs, flowers, and other useful plants reimagine the physic garden that was established in the Palace grounds 350 years ago by the doctors Sir Robert Sibbald and Sir Andrew Balfour, two founding members of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Created in 1670 to teach students about the medicinal properties of plants and to provide pharmacists with fresh medicinal ingredients, the Palace’s original physic garden was the first of its kind in Scotland and the forerunner to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
The new physic garden contains medicinal and culinary plants that would have grown in the 17th-century garden, including fennel, once used to aid eyesight and as an antidote to poisonous mushrooms, and lavender, bergamot, and lemon balm, used for scents, dyes, and insecticides.
A flowering meadow of medicinal plants including daisies, previously used for coughs, and mallows, an old treatment for scurvy, evokes the 15th-century monastic gardens of Holyrood Abbey, once one of the grandest medieval abbeys in Scotland, the ruins of which can still be seen today on a visit to the Palace.
The third area delights in late winter and spring with crocuses and tulips planted in geometric patterns, typical of 17th-century gardens. With such a variety of plants and styles, the garden has year-round appeal for locals and visitors curious to learn about local history and historic natural remedies.
Chris Walker, Learning Manager, Royal Collection Trust, said, “The Physic Garden is an oasis at the end of the Royal Mile, providing a welcoming green space in the city centre where locals and visitors alike can get outside, enjoy nature and learn some fascinating local history.
“We are delighted that almost 800 people have taken part in exciting activities where nature, science, and history meet, in addition to the countless others who enjoy this free community garden every day. Like our forebears 350 years ago, we understand the benefits of spending time in nature for our physical and mental wellbeing, and we hope the garden can be enjoyed for many more years to come.”
Some of the most interesting plants growing in the garden with historical uses are:
Angelica archangelica, thought to be used as a remedy during The Plague which ravaged Edinburgh
Valeriana officinalia, historically used to assist sleep
Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum), formerly used to repel ticks and lice in bedchambers, and
Artemisia abrotanum, known as southernwood, which was used as a scent to mask street odours.
Royal Collection Trust will offer a programme of events and school sessions in the Physic Garden throughout the summer and autumn to celebrate the anniversary.
The Physic Garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse is open every day, 9:30am–6pm from April to October, and 9:30am–2:30pm from November to March. Admission to the Physic Garden is free to all and non-ticketed.