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A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Your Own Apothecary Garden
In the YouTube video “How to Design the Perfect Apothecary Garden: A Beginner's Guide to Medicinal Herbs & Herbalism,” Anna Fable walks viewers through how to design a small, personal garden full of medicinal plants. The goal is not just beauty, but creating a garden that supports your health, emotions, and lifestyle.
Anna starts by explaining the basics of herbalism — the traditional practice of using plants for healing. She describes how common plants like lavender, elderberry, chamomile, and peppermint can be prepared into teas, tinctures, salves, and syrups. She stresses the importance of covering your tea while steeping to preserve healing oils, and she introduces beginner-friendly techniques like making decoctions (simmered teas) for tougher plant materials like pine needles.
For beginners designing their own apothecary garden, Anna suggests starting with two simple lists:
One list of plants, smells, and colors you love.
One list of health needs you want support with, such as stress, sleep, digestion, or memory.
Your garden should be built at the intersection of these two lists — planting what you love and what can help you. Anna also breaks down categories of helpful plants:
Adaptogens like ashwagandha for long-term stress support
Nervines like chamomile and lemon balm for immediate relaxation
Sedatives like valerian for serious sleep struggles
Carminatives like ginger for digestion
Nootropics like rosemary for brain health
She shows examples of designing garden layouts using layers of height, color, and seasonal interest, using plants like thyme, lemon balm, and elderberry bushes. Anna encourages beginners to keep their medicinal herbs in easy-to-reach places and to treat gardening itself as part of healing.
The video ends with a live demonstration where Anna creates a small garden layout using free software and forages pine needles to brew vitamin C-rich tea.
The message is clear: your apothecary garden doesn’t have to be large or fancy. It just needs to be rooted in what you love and what you need. Gardening is not just about growing plants — it’s about reconnecting with nature, listening to your body, and finding small ways to heal over time.
