Known as “kitchen gardens”, they were typically tended by the lady of the house. The gardens found in rural areas were much less formal than those found in cities and towns; however, they were all arranged in an orderly manner. Every garden would have a border or fence around the perimeter, dedicated plots inside for various types of plants, and paths for walking among them.

Kitchen gardens contained a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Many of these plants served multiple purposes.

Flowers and herbs were often used to freshen the air, mask personal odors, and repel pests such as ants, mosquitos, fleas, moths, and mice. The fragrant stems, leaves and flowers of strewing herbs were scattered loose around the home and were frequently found in beds, on floors, under rugs, in storage containers, and among linens and clothes. Colonial strewing herbs included the following:

Balm (Lemon Balm) Basil Chamomile Costmary (Alecost) Cowslip Daisy Fennel Germander Hops

Lavender Marjoram Meadowsweet Mint Pennyroyal Pine Rose Rosemary Sage

Southernwood Sweet Violet Sweet Woodruff Sweet Flag Tansy Thuja Thyme Winter Savory

Pot herbs were used to season soups and stews. The following list of Colonial pot herbs comes from Leonard Meager:

Arach, red and white Blood-wort Burage (Borage) Bugloss Beetes Carrots Clary

Endive Langebeff Leeks Marygolds Nep Orach Parsley

Sives Strawberries Succory (Chickory) Violets Worts or Brocketts

Physick herbs were used medicinally for healing various ailments, and commonly used as ingredients for tinctures and teas. This list also comes from Leonard Meager:

Angelica Asarabacka Bears-foot (Setterwort) Carduus Dragons Dittander Elecampane Fetherfew (Feverfew) Goats Rue Germander Garlick (Garlic) Harts tongue

Horse radish Liverwort Lavender Cotton (Santolina) Liquorish Master-wort Marshmallows Mother-wort Pelletary of the Wall Pionies (Peony) Rubarb Rue Solomon’s Seal

Scordium Scorsonera Scurvy-grass Southern-wood Smalage Sneese-wort Tansie Greek Valerian Great Valerian (or Setwell) Winter Cherries Wormwood (both English and Roman)