The Herb Society caught up with Bill Woods of Blackbrook Herb Gardens to speak to him about the joys of growing herbs.

Can you tell us a bit more about how you got started growing herbs and wildflowers?

Bill grew up with a large garden as a child and his mother was a keen herb grower, which helped to spark his interest. He was working full-time when completing a business start-up course prompted him to make the decision to start his garden business. He soon discovered that people were interested in specialist herbs, which led to creation of Blackbrook Herb Gardens as a small specialist nursery. He has found recently that March to May is a particularly busy time for the business, although people often expect to buy plants already in flower. People are used to seeing plants at supermarkets or large garden centres which are grown in heated greenhouses, which leads them to being further along in their growth and in flower earlier than is natural for the season. Part of the benefit of buying naturally grown plants from a small grower is that they are well-established and healthy plants, which just need a bit of time to grow and flourish. Patience is key!

Do you have any favourite herb gardens that you have designed or maintained?

Blackbrook Herb Gardens provides landscape herb garden design, planting and maintenance, and they have enjoyed working on some successful local gardens in and around their community in Cheshire. 

Bill’s garden design philosophy is based on matching the herb garden design to the garden’s surroundings. He prefers a more informal garden design, giving the example of one of his favourite gardens he’s worked on in his local community of Wilmslow, in which he’s added such plants as chamomile, Russian tarragon and Santolina. As a small grower they are better placed to provide design and plants for more informal gardens, as they haven’t the space to provide the large number of plants which would be needed for a more formal garden design.   

If you had to choose your favourite medicinal, wild and culinary plants to grow, what would they be and why?

In terms of favourite herbs, he spoke of his love for the mint family, including such varieties as ginger mint, pineapple mint, banana mint and strawberry mint. He loves to see the look on a customer’s face when they smell something like strawberry mint for the first time and realise how much of a strong strawberry scent the plant provides. 

Bill discussed his love for both Centranthus ruber (red valerian) and Valeriana officinalis (common valerian). Centranthus is often spotted growing along hedges, walls and pavements. Bill has had a lot of luck growing true valerian over the past few years, and has encouraged others to grow the plant in their gardens. Bill also delved into the medicinal uses and folklore of true valerian, mentioning its use as remedy to treat shell-shock during both World Wars and the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, who allegedly filled his pockets with valerian in order to lure rats out of the city. Bill also mentioned that often people believe Centranthus to be the native version of valerian, as it grows rampant in the wild, but it was actually introduced originally from the European continent. Valeriana officinalis is native to the United Kingdom

A favourite culinary herb is Rosemary, although he says this can be quite difficult to grow unless you have the perfect spot in your garden. 

Do you have any advice for difficult growing seasons?

Bill recommends patience in the garden, and sticking with plants which are easy to grow. Many popular culinary herbs such as coriander, dill and basil don’t do well in the damp and cold conditions which the UK has experienced earlier this spring and summer. He spoke of the problems many people may have had with perennial favourites such as mint this year, which may not have had a chance to establish itself in the spring before the onslaught of the hoards of slugs and snails decimated its growth.  

You are featured on the Herb Society Speakers’ list on our website – what sort of topics do you get asked to speak about?

Bill receives a substantial amount of requests for his services as a speaker on herbal topics, and has averaged one to two talks per month over the last year. He is often approached by U3A groups, garden societies, Women’s Institutes and other groups. His talks consist of much of the following:

• The history of what a herb is 
• The popularity of herbs with the rise of the conservation and green movements
• Herbal use in cosmetics
• Popular herbs for the garden
• Culinary uses of herbs
• Basic information on medicinal uses
• Historical uses of herbs
• The future of herbs
• Growing tips

He will often ask groups if there are particular herbs they would like more information on, and he will try to incorporate this into his talks.  Bill also likes to mention The Herb Society whilst giving his talks, which is amazing!

You can find out more about Blackbrook Herb Gardens on our Corporate Members page.

Bill’s contact details for speaking engagements is listed on our Speakers page under our speakers list for the North West and North East.

Blackbrook Herb Gardens is a Corporate Member of The Herb Society – your organisation can be too!!

Corporate Member benefits include:

🌿 Product promotion to Herb Society members with opportunity to offer members’ discount

🌿 Listing on our Corporate members online page

🌿 A banner advert in one Herbs magazine per year 

🌿 Free listing in each magazine’s Directory

🌿 Free Event listing on our website 

🌿 Opportunities to contribute to Herbs magazine and monthly e-newsletters

🌿 3 issues of the Herbs magazine delivered to your door each year

If you would like to become a Corporate Membership, please visit our membership page