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Our Garden

Aunt Helen's Herb Garden (1935)

Storrowton's Herb Garden was originally planned, planted and given to Storrowton Village in 1935 by the New England Girl Scouts. It was a gift of appreciation and affection for "Aunt" Helen, who was one of the organization’s most ardent and generous supporters.

The planting plan was drawn by Grace "Sunny" Hight Kirkwood (1906-1996), an internationally recognized landscape architect, teacher and former Girl Scout from Winchester, Massachusetts. Her other projects included gardens at Radcliffe College, Mount Vernon and Harvard Business School. She was assisted by botanist Helen Maria Fordham Noyes Webster (1875-1949), president of the Herb Society of America and the author of Herbs, How to Grow Them and How to Use Them (1933).

Our garden is filled with plants grown for their usefulness by the early New England settlers. It contains herbs brought over by the Pilgrims, as well as those indigenous to North America. Our garden has evolved into an educational garden, with sections designated for medicinal, culinary, household and textile purposes in the 1800s.

While we do use a few modern varieties that mimic the appearance of heirloom plants or that are close descendants of hard-to-find older varieties, we’re use varieties that were in use before 1900 as much as possible.

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Help our volunteer gardeners maintain Aunt Helen's Herb Garden and the Gilbert Farmhouse Kitchen Garden.

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The Village Gardens

Storrowton Garden Wish List

Our gardeners have been hard at work to bring our garden back to its original roots and below is their wish list:

Culinary Plants:

Coriander/Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) • Lovage (Levisticum officinale) • Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Medicinal Plants:

Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) • Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea or lutea) • Gentian, Blue (Gentianopsis crinite) • Gentian, Yellow (Gentiana lutea) • Verbena, a.k.a. Vervain (Verbena officinalis)

Household Plants & Strewing Herbs:

Chamomile, German / Scented Mayweed (Chamomilla recutita) • Geranium, Rose or other Scented Geranium (Pelargonium Graveolens, Radens, or Capitatum [NOTE: these are NOT the same as the ornamental geraniums used in window boxes and cemetery plantings]) • Hens & chicks (Sempervivum tectorum) • Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) • Sweet maudlin (Achillea ageratum)

Textile & Dye Plants:

Alkanet (Anchusa officinalis) • Chicory (Cichorium intybus) • Cosmos, Sulphur (Cosmos sulphureus) • Dyer’s Saw-wort (Serratula tinctoria) • Dyer’s Weld (Reseda luteola) • Madder (Rubia tinctorum) • Purple pincushion flower (Scabiosa atropurpurea) • Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)

As we are striving for a 19^th-century look in our garden plantings, we prefer open-pollinated, non-hybridized, heirloom, or “species” varieties of plants. Many growers now helpfully label seeds and plants as “heirloom” or “heritage” varieties, and some even specialize in heirloom varieties.

Pollinators in the Village

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Organic gardening is a method of growing plants that is 1000’s of years older than modern gardening and farming methods. It creates healthy fruits, vegetables and plants by using natural systems instead of chemicals to grow plants. The results are healthy fruits and vegetables brimming with more antioxidants than non organically grown fruits and vegetables. By its nature it leaves these foods free of toxic chemicals and their residue which can be harmful to humans.

Importantly, this method of gardening also protects pollinators by avoiding their exposure to toxic synthetic chemicals and by building rich, natural habitats for them. We need to help pollinators because they sustain our food supply, support plant reproduction, and maintain healthy ecosystems.

Pollinators are animals that help plants reproduce by spreading a powdery material called pollen among flowers of the same species. Animals, primarily bees, pollinate a majority of fruits and vegetables (non-grain crops) used in agriculture. Pollinators don’t just help plants; they rely on the rewards plants provide, such as energy-rich nectar and protein-rich pollen, to survive and reproduce.

There are many different types of pollinators in Massachusetts, from native bees to beetles to hummingbirds.

Within our own garden, pollinators include the green sweat bee, black swallowtail butterfly, potter wasp, monarch butterfly, bumble bee, and cabbage white butterfly.

Do you want to help support pollinators in New England? There are ways to help—and small changes can make a big difference.

Plant a pollinator garden with native and beneficial plants.
Try mowing less of your lawn or raise your mower to a higher setting to let violets and other small flowers remain.
Minimize the use of pesticides and herbicides, which can kill pollinators and the plants they rely on.
Buy or build a bee hotel, a structure for bees to nest in; many garden centers are starting to carry them.