The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) Herb Walk will visit the nearby Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH) herb garden and James (Jim) Duke’s Green Farmacy Garden for a guided tour of both botanical gardens. Hop on the bus and join a faculty of renowned herbalists to learn about culinary and medicinal herbs and their traditional uses from each garden’s permanent collection of numerous plant species from around the world. Hearing about the various herbs from the experts will make this event one of the highlights of your Expo East visit.
The Green Farmacy Garden is a sanctuary located in Fulton, Maryland of approximately 300 native and non-native species of plants that have been used traditionally and/or researched for medicinal purposes. Retired USDA botanist, James A. Duke, PhD, and his wife, Peggy, have been collecting medicinal plants for over sixty years, and in 1997, they transformed part of their pasture land into a teaching garden highlighting the plants that are featured in Jim’s book, The Green Pharmacy. The Green Farmacy Garden is also a part of the United Plant Savers network of sanctuaries around the country, which strive to educate the public and replant native plants that have become at risk or endangered.
A place of quiet, communion, and learning, the MUIH herb garden is a haven for all who visit, work, and studyon campus. The herb garden provides students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience gathering and tending medicinal plants and offers a living example of many of the herbal medicines used in the Natural Care Center and Herbal Dispensary.
The herb garden contains more than 100 medicinal plant species from around the world, including vegetation of multiple habitats. Medicinal plants are in close proximity to each other, labeled and organized into multiple demarcated garden beds, making them easy to identify and learn about. Wild herbs are intermingled throughout the areas surrounding the garden. Herbs include everything from small plants and vines to shrubs and trees, annuals to perennials, natives and non-natives. Herbs in the garden include St. John’s Wort, Wormwood, Meadowsweet, Holy Basil, Marshmallow, Licorice, Ashwagandha, Echinacea, Turmeric, Ginger, Chaste Berry, and Elderberry.
Applying Permaculture design principles allows it to be in harmony with nature’s rhythms and energies, while using sustainable and regenerative approaches to water, weed, wildlife and waste management. Weeds are managed manually by hand, insect pests without the use of pesticides or any chemicals and wildlife through the use of various layers of fencing.
Cost: $60