Lemon Sorrel (Rumex acetosa subsp. acetosa)

Lemon Sorrel (The Culinary Brightener)

A sharp, zesty herb with a vibrant citrusy punch, Lemon Sorrel (Rumex acetosa subsp. acetosa) has been a classic in European cooking for centuries. Its bright flavour is a timeless secret for cutting through richness and adding a fresh bite to everything from creamy soups to light spring dishes. It’s a simple plant with a powerful and elegant taste.

🌱 Perennial (dies back in winter and regrows each spring)

🌤️ Light: Full sun to partial shade

📏 Garden Size: Grows around 60 cm tall, spreading up to 30 cm wide

🪴 Pot Size: Ideal for medium containers (minimum 25–30 cm deep)

🥗 Flavour & Use: The tender leaves add a brilliant, lemony taste to dishes. Perfect for elevating salads, sauces, and seafood. It shines when blended into creamy soups or used as a fresh garnish to add a vibrant finish.

💚 Nutrition & Health: A simple way to invigorate your meals and your body, Lemon Sorrel is high in vitamin C and potassium. It is also rich in antioxidants, making it a fantastic addition for supporting digestion and immunity.

💪 Resilience: A reliable performer, Lemon Sorrel is highly resistant to common pests and returns faithfully each spring. It’s a hardy, low-maintenance herb that will brighten up your garden and your cooking for years to come.

Ewiger Kohl (Brassica oleracea var. ramosa)

Also known as everlasting cabbage, Ewiger Kohl is a hardy, low-maintenance leafy green grown for its reliable harvests and tender spring leaves. Unlike the tougher Daubenton kale often sold elsewhere, this is a softer, more pleasant-leaved form that makes an excellent choice for the kitchen garden. Ideal for sustainable growing, it provides a steady supply of fresh greens with very little fuss.

🌱 Perennial

Evergreen in mild winters and quick to regrow strongly each spring.

🌤️ Light

Full sun to partial shade.

📏 Garden Size

Can reach around 90 cm tall and spread to approximately 60 cm wide.

🪴 Pot Size

Best in open ground, but can also be grown in a large container at least 35 to 40 cm deep.

🥗 Flavour & Use

Produces mild, tender leaves that are ideal as spring greens. Harvest as needed and use fresh when young, or cook in the same way as kale or cabbage in stir-fries, soups, and other savoury dishes.

💚 Why Grow It

A reliable perennial crop that returns year after year, making it a great choice for productive, low-maintenance gardens.

💪 Resilience

A tough and dependable plant that copes well in a range of conditions. Once established, it is easy to look after and rewards with repeat harvests over a long season.

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)

A fragrant herb once sacred to the Druids, Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) was a staple in medieval mead-making and herbal medicine. Its delicate, creamy white flower clusters add both beauty and a subtle almond-like scent to the garden. With a history steeped in ancient rituals and folklore, this plant offers a touch of mystical charm to any modern collection.

🌱 Perennial (dies back in winter and regrows each spring)

🌤️ Light: Full sun to partial shade

📏 Garden Size: Grows 100–200 cm tall, spreading up to 90 cm wide

🪴 Pot Size: Needs a large container (minimum 30–35 cm deep)

🥗 Flavour & Use: The sweet-scented flowers and leaves can be infused into teas, syrups, and cordials, or used to add a delicate almond or vanilla flavour to desserts and preserves. It's a key ingredient for mead-making enthusiasts.

💚 Nutrition & Health: A true gift from ancient nature, Meadowsweet contains salicylic acid, the natural compound found in aspirin. It was used historically for its powerful ability to relieve headaches, fevers, and inflammation.

💪 Resilience: A consistent and graceful performer, Meadowsweet is highly resistant to common pests and returns reliably each spring, offering a bountiful and beautiful harvest year after year. It thrives with minimal fuss in its preferred moist conditions.

English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

A familiar presence underfoot for centuries, English Plantain is one of the most dependable and quietly useful plants in the ancient garden. Known long before formal cultivation, it was valued for its resilience and versatility, thriving wherever people lived and worked. Often gathered rather than sown, this unassuming perennial has supported daily life through food, medicine, and quiet reliability.

🌱 Perennial (returns year after year with minimal care)

🌤️ Light: Full sun to partial shade

📏 Garden Size: Low-growing rosette, typically 20–40 cm tall when in flower, spreading modestly

🪴 Pot Size: Suitable for containers (minimum 20 cm diameter); also thrives in poor soils and compacted ground

🥗 Flavour & Use: Young leaves can be eaten raw or lightly cooked, with a mild, slightly earthy flavour. Older leaves are best finely chopped or cooked to soften their texture. Seeds can be harvested and used as a traditional thickener or ground into flour.

💚 Nutrition & Health: Traditionally regarded as a powerful healing plant, English Plantain has long been used to support skin repair and soothe inflammation. It contains vitamins A, C, and K, along with calcium, iron, and beneficial plant compounds valued in folk traditions.

💪 Resilience: Exceptionally tough and adaptable, English Plantain thrives in poor soils, withstands trampling, and tolerates drought with ease. Its ability to flourish where little else will grow makes it a symbol of quiet endurance — a plant that asks almost nothing and gives steadily in return.

Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor)

Once a staple of medieval monastery and kitchen gardens, Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor) is an enduring herb that has proven its worth for centuries. Valued for its unique cucumber-fresh leaves and for its use in Tudor knot-gardens, this plant is a living piece of history. It offers carefree, evergreen greens that are perfect for pots or borders and provide a reliable harvest all season long.

🌱 Perennial (hardy; re-sprouts for many years)

🌤️ Light: Full sun to light shade

📏 Garden Size: 30–45 cm tall and wide

🪴 Pot Size: Medium container, ≥ 20–25 cm deep, with sharp drainage

🥗 Flavour & Use: The leaves add a mild, fresh cucumber note that elevates salads, dressings, and summer drinks. It is also a fantastic addition to herbal butters and light soups. Add the leaves fresh just before serving to get the best taste.

💚 Nutrition & Health: A traditional astringent with a history of use in tonics to help staunch bleeding, Salad Burnet is rich in vitamin C and antioxidant tannins. It was once brewed to aid in digestion and promote general wellness.

💪 Resilience: A truly reliable survivor, Salad Burnet is an evergreen that re-sprouts for many years with minimal fuss. It is highly resistant to common pests and holds its own in a variety of conditions, making it an excellent choice for a low-maintenance garden.

Lovage (Levisticum officinale)

A bold, aromatic herb with a powerful celery-like flavour, Lovage (Levisticum officinale) was once a staple in apothecaries and kitchens alike. Known for its commanding presence, just one plant can flavour an entire garden’s worth of meals. It's a confident, singular addition that offers a significant return, cementing its place as a favourite of gardeners and cooks.

🌱 Perennial (dies back in winter and regrows each spring)

🌤️ Light: Full sun to partial shade

📏 Garden Size: Grows 90–180 cm tall, spreading up to 90 cm wide

🪴 Pot Size: Needs a large container (minimum 45 cm deep and wide); thrives best in open ground

🥗 Flavour & Use: With a bold, celery-like flavour, every part of the Lovage plant is edible. The leaves add a deep, rich note to soups and stews, while the stems can be candied or simmered in broths. The seeds are also a fantastic, bold spice.

💚 Nutrition & Health: Historically used in apothecaries for its medicinal properties, Lovage is rich in vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, and potassium. It is traditionally valued for supporting digestion and acting as a natural diuretic.

💪 Resilience: A truly robust and dependable perennial, Lovage is highly resistant to common pests and is built for the long haul. It grows with very little fuss and returns reliably each spring, providing a continuous harvest for years to come.

Garden Purple Orach (Atriplex hortensis)

Once more popular than spinach and a medieval monastery staple, Garden Orach (Atriplex hortensis) is a vibrant and confident leafy annual. Also known as "mountain spinach," this plant shrugs off summer heat and a variety of conditions, supplying tender, mildly salty leaves that brighten borders with beautiful crimson foliage. It is a bold statement piece and a smart alternative for any garden.

🌱 Annual (sow each spring or return to The Forgotten Garden for fresh stock)

🌤️ Light: Full sun (tolerates light shade)

📏 Garden Size: Stems 60–150 cm tall, clumps 30–45 cm wide

🪴 Pot Size: Medium–large container, at least 25–30 cm deep, with free-draining compost

🥗 Flavour & Use: Young leaves have a fresh, spinach-like flavour with a mild, savoury saltiness that works beautifully in salads. Larger leaves hold their vibrant colour when cooked in sautés, soups, and pies, and can be used in any recipe that calls for spinach, even on hot summer days.

💚 Nutrition & Health: A nutrient-dense powerhouse, Garden Orach is rich in vitamins A, C and K, as well as folate and minerals such as iron, potassium, and magnesium. It is a fantastic source of nutrition for supporting immunity, blood health, and bone strength.

💪 Resilience: A truly hardy performer, Garden Orach is highly resistant to common pests and holds its own during the summer heat. This is a dependable choice for any gardener, providing both beautiful, vibrant foliage and a consistent harvest with minimal fuss.

Red Amaranthus (Amaranthus caudatus)

With its vivid red leaves and towering, cascading seed heads, Red Amaranthus (Amaranthus caudatus) is both a beautiful statement and an ancient staple. Cultivated for thousands of years across the world, this bountiful crop was revered by the Aztecs and has now returned to offer both its stunning visual appeal and its abundant nutritional value.

🌱 Annual (does not survive UK winters; may self-seed in warmer conditions)

🌤️ Light: Full sun

📏 Garden Size: Can reach up to 200 cm tall, spreading about 60 cm wide

🪴 Pot Size: Medium to large containers (minimum 30 cm deep); best performance in open ground

🥗 Flavour & Use: Every part of this plant is useful. Its young leaves are mild and earthy, perfect for steaming, sautéing, or adding to soups. The protein-rich seeds can be toasted, cooked like a grain, or ground into a nutrient-dense flour.

💚 Nutrition & Health: Revered for its nutritional density, Amaranthus is packed with protein, iron, calcium, and vitamins A and C. It is a fantastic source of plant-based goodness that supports strong bones, healthy blood, and sustained energy levels.

💪 Resilience: A truly tenacious survivor, Red Amaranthus is highly resistant to common pests and holds its own in a variety of conditions. Its towering growth is a testament to its hardy nature, making it a dependable choice even for the beginner gardener.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

A plant of roadsides, fields, and early gardens, Chicory has been grown and gathered for centuries for both sustenance and strength. With its striking blue flowers and deep taproot, it was valued as a hardy, dependable crop that thrived where richer plants failed. Bitter, resilient, and deeply rooted, Chicory reflects an older approach to food — one that favoured usefulness over ease.

🌱 Perennial (returns reliably each year once established)

🌤️ Light: Full sun

📏 Garden Size: Upright growth reaching 60–120 cm tall, with a deep taproot and modest spread

🪴 Pot Size: Best grown in open ground; deep containers (minimum 40 cm depth) required if grown in pots

🥗 Flavour & Use:  Roots can be harvested, dried, and roasted as a traditional coffee substitute, while flower buds and stems were also used in early kitchen gardens. Leaves have a pronounced bitter flavour and are best used young in salads or cooked to soften their intensity.

💚 Nutrition & Health: Traditionally valued for supporting digestion and liver health, Chicory was commonly used as a tonic plant. Rich in fibre, particularly inulin, along with vitamins and minerals, it was relied upon for its strengthening and cleansing qualities.

💪 Resilience: Deep-rooted and drought tolerant, Chicory thrives in poor, dry soils and exposed conditions. Its ability to draw nutrients from deep underground makes it a reliable survivor, returning year after year with minimal care.

Strawberry Spinach (Blitum virgatum)

Strawberry Spinach is a curious and quietly charming plant, grown as much for interest as for use. Known in European gardens by the early modern period, it combines edible leaves with striking, berry-like seed clusters that blur the line between vegetable and ornament. Hardy and self-sufficient, it rewards curiosity rather than perfection.

🌱 Annual (readily self-seeding once established)

🌤️ Light: Full sun to partial shade

📏 Garden Size: Upright growth reaching 40–80 cm tall, with a light, branching habit

🪴 Pot Size: Suitable for containers (minimum 25–30 cm diameter); also thrives in beds and borders

🥗 Flavour & Use: Young leaves can be used much like spinach, either raw or lightly cooked, with a mild, earthy flavour. The bright red seed clusters are edible but subtly flavoured, best enjoyed fresh or used as a decorative addition to salads and summer dishes rather than a true fruit.

💚 Nutrition & Health: Traditionally grown more for sustenance than medicine, Strawberry Spinach provides vitamins A and C along with iron and other minerals common to leafy greens. Its value lies in reliable greens rather than sweetness, despite its name.

💪 Resilience: Easy-going and adaptable, Strawberry Spinach tolerates cool conditions and modest soils with ease. Once allowed to seed, it often returns year after year with little encouragement, making it a dependable and quietly productive garden companion.

Cinnamon Basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Cinnamon’)

Fragrant and slightly unexpected, Cinnamon Basil brings warmth and spice to the garden in a way that feels both familiar and novel. While basil has been grown for centuries, this aromatic form reflects a growing interest in flavour variation and culinary refinement, where herbs were valued not just for use, but for character. Upright, decorative, and richly scented, Cinnamon Basil earns its place as a kitchen garden curiosity.

🌱 Annual (grown fresh each season)

🌤️ Light: Full sun (sheltered, warm position preferred)

📏 Garden Size: Upright growth reaching 40–70 cm tall, with narrow leaves and delicate flower spikes

🪴 Pot Size: Very well suited to containers (minimum 20–25 cm diameter); pots allow warmth and easy positioning

🥗 Flavour & Use: Leaves carry a warm, sweet spice reminiscent of cinnamon and clove, making them well suited to fruit dishes, teas, syrups, and lightly spiced savoury recipes. Flowers are also edible and aromatic, adding both flavour and visual interest.

💚 Nutrition & Health: Traditionally used as a digestive and warming herb, basil has long been valued for its aromatic oils and gentle tonic qualities. Cinnamon Basil shares these traits, offering antioxidants and plant compounds associated with general vitality and digestive support.

💪 Resilience: Quick-growing and productive in warm conditions, Cinnamon Basil thrives with regular harvesting and good airflow. While sensitive to cold, it rewards care with abundant growth, making it an ideal container-grown herb for sunny gardens and sheltered spaces.