How to Plant a Harry Potter Herb Garden

Hogwarts

The Harry Potter books enchanted people of all ages. With magical spells, amazing characters and a truly bewitching school, the books spark the imagination of both young and old. Much of the magic is created with the help of real and fictional plants and herbs. Planting an herb garden is satisfying and fun even to Muggles, people without magical powers. Planting with herbs from the Harry Potter stories is spellbinding and here are herbs to start your own Hogwarts garden.

Things You'll Need

• Herbs mentioned in the book, such as lovage, sage, scurvy-grass and ginger
• Garden figures such as owls and toadstools
• Bench for reading

Instructions

1. Start the amazing ginger root indoors in a planter. In spring, transplant the sprouting root to a shady garden spot with loose, rich soil. This herbaceous perennial is a handy culinary herb. Use in stir-fry and in seasoning fruits and vegetables. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, ginger is used in a wit-sharpening potion. The wild ginger is a Muggles-version spreading groundcover that does well in shady areas.

2. 

   Plant fluxweed in a well-watered area. This mint plant is an annual herb. In Harry Potter, this herb is an essential ingredient in the Polyjuice Potion. Unless you are making this potion, choose any enticing mint for the Muggles garden.

3. 

   Use lovely lovage in a spacious partly shaded garden nook. This herb will grow tall and bushy. Use it in cooking for a celery flavor with a touch of anise. It is well-suited to stews, salads and tomato dishes. In the Potter books, lovage was an ingredient in the Confusing & Befuddlement Draught

4. 

   Plant the flowery scurvy-grass as a groundcover. This biennial herb was taken aboard sailing ships in the old days. According to sailing lore, the leaves are high in Vitamin C and helped prevent scurvy, a devastating disease in sailors. In the Potter books, this herb is used in the Confusing & Befuddlement Draught.

5. 

   Plant sneezewort in a sunny area. It is drought tolerant and likes sun. The leaves can be dried and used as an insect repellent. When the leaves are dried and powdered, they make a great sneezing powder. In the Harry Potter books, sneezewort is one of the ingredients in the Confusing & Befuddlement Draught.

6. 

   Select the fragrant sage herb for its food-friendly traits. Sage is a slow-growing bush and is a strong herb. Use just a pinch of sage in cooking. In the Potter books, sage is used to help centaurs in their stargazing.

7. 

   Choose Muggles herbs to fill out the herb garden. The butterfly bush is a lavender herbaceous plant that can take the Flutterby's spot. Hogwort is a plant that herbal lore says is used for strength, power, prophecy and healing. Add figures of owls, frogs and toadstools to guard the garden, and don't forget a bench for Harry Potter reading.

Tips & Warnings

• Many plants in the Harry Potter books are purely fictional. You won't find them in the plant center.

• Children often will choose Muggles plants like chocolate mint for the joy of touching the fragrant mint.

• Children like to taste fragrant plants so be sure everything you plant is safe to eat. Do not use harmful herbicides or pesticide

• Many plants in the Harry Potter books are toxic. Wormwood and mandrake are poisonous, so be very careful what you plant.