The visit to the Botanic Gardens was on a surprisingly warm day. Nevetheless, it didn’t matter, as this was my first time visiting in the two years that I had been at Cornell. The tour started off as expected, with our guide Betty showing us certain plants, flowers and aspects of the Botanic Gardens. Although we saw a lot of interesting features, I found the Robison York State Herb Garden to be the most unique. The air in that area was suffused with smells of different leaves and flowers.

For me, the word ‘herb’ usually brings food and cooking to mind. I expected to see a lot of thyme, rosemary and other common aromatic herbs but the garden was so much more diverse. It had 17 beds, each with a specific theme. The most interesting ones were the medicinal herbs and the herbs of the ancients.

The medicinal bed had a lot of unfamiliar herbs. Most are still very widely used as ingredients in the manufacture of medicines. Arnica was one such example, used to treat bruising and as pain relief.The herb I remember from the ‘herbs of the ancients’ bed was wormwood. It had a strong, pungent smell, which makes sense since it was used to protect wooden furniture against insects like ants.

The garden was a curiosity. I was only able to see a fraction of the plants there, which was unfortunate. I’ll probably visit the Botanic Gardens again in the near future, to explore the herb garden in its entirety.