In the News
"Historical Medicine Garden in West Philadelphia"
University City Review, May 9, 2007
Community Contributor (your call)
You might not have noticed, but a small garden on 43rd Street has joined a popular trend: herbal medicine. On the east side of South 43rd Street between Baltimore and Chester Avenues, right in front of Health Center #3, there is a historical “Healing Garden” full of medicinal plants, trees and shrubs.
You only need to look at the local CVS aisles to notice that herbal medicine has taken the country by storm. In 2002, sales of dietary supplements using herbs and other botanicals totaled $4.3 million. Of course plants have been used for thousands of years to cure diseases and improve health. Even the “Ice Man,” a mummified prehistoric human discovered in the Italian Alps in 1991, carried plant medicine: a birch fungus used as a natural laxative and anti-biotic. A bit later, thousands of plants were cataloged and used by people in the Middle Ages to regain their health. Two of those, digitalis and quinine, form the basis of two drugs still used today.
This local healing garden illustrates 30 natural remedies. Did you know that bayberry was used to help with jaundice? Or, that twigs from the dogwood tree were used to clean teeth? Quite a few of these remedies have gone out of favor, but many plants in the garden are still used today, such as witch hazel for bruises, St. John’s Wort for depression, and senna as a laxative. (However, the plants in this garden are for historical information purposes only; don’t try them out!)
Seven years ago, members of Baltimore Avenue in Bloom, a group of volunteers that preceded the creation of UC Green, (University City’s volunteer community greening non-profit), worked with Sy Stotland, a Powelton resident and then director of the Health Center to improve the bland patch of grass that fronted the Center. Bringing in other partners such as the nearby University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and the Tree Tenders program of the Horticultural Society of Pennsylvania, the idea of a Healing Garden was developed.
Local landscape architect Steve McCoubrey designed and directs the installation and care of this garden of plants with healing characteristics. The installation of trees and plants by UC Green volunteers and a new sitting area makes for a much more pleasant atmosphere for the many visitors the Health Center regularly receives. Additional benches for the visitors to are in the works.
Museum consultant and former University City resident Kate Stover and her husband Tim Wood developed the scavenger hunt and interpretative signage, and the UC Green Corps summer youth program helped install the markers.
One vision is to expand the gardens to an interior “activity garden” in the city-owned Health Center for further beneficial effects to the patients and staff.
Next time you are visiting the Health Center, stopping off at the Clark
Park Farmer’s market, or just out for a walk, visit the garden and learn
more about these ancient remedies. If you want to test out your detective
skills and have some fun learning about these old-fashioned remedies, you
can pick up a scavenger hunt game (meant for kids, but anyone can try it)
from a box by the front door of the health center. The game will also be
available at the Center and will be on hand at the UC Green MayFair table
on May 12th. For more info: www.ucgreen.org or 215-573-4684.